[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 41 (Wednesday, April 9, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H1344]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      CONGRESS IN PERMANENT STALL

  (Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon asked and was given permission to revise and 
extend her remarks.)
  Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, we are very frustrated by the slow 
start of this Congress. Even though we are about to pass the 100-day 
marker, this Congress is still stuck at the starting gate. To date we 
have only taken 60 votes compared to 2 years ago where we took 302 
votes.
  I would like to think that this Congress is sort of like an old car 
that is just taking a little while to get warmed up, but the troubling 
thing about this session is we seem to be in a permanent stall. We are 
not working on issues that matter to American families now, and there 
is no plan to work on them in the future.
  The real tragedy is that these are issues both Democrats, Republicans 
and the Americans would like to work on, issues like reforming campaign 
finance, balancing our budget and improving our schools. We are not 
just working on them now, but they are not scheduled for the future.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time for this Congress to abandon the ``who 
cares'' legislative agenda that has dominated the first 100 days of 
this Congress and get to work on the issues that really matter to the 
American people.

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