[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 51 (Friday, April 25, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S3722]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWNS

  Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire. Also, Mr. President, I want to comment on 
a piece of legislation that two of my colleagues, Senator McCain, and 
the Senator from Texas, Senator Hutchison, introduced regarding the 
prevention of the Government shutdown.
  We went through this game, as you know, last year, and wound up 
having the Government shut down and innocent people, who were doing a 
good job in their capacity working for the Government, were caught in 
this whipsaw of conflict between the Congress and the President.
  Senator Hutchison and Senator McCain have brought forth this 
amendment, this idea, which essentially will see that that does not 
happen. I am a bit surprised, given the amount of criticism that we 
took from the President on the Government shutdown--he gave us most of 
the blame, although he, I think, deserves equal credit, if you will--at 
the opposition, stated opposition to this amendment by the President. I 
hope the President could support a proposal which eliminates the threat 
of a Government shutdown as we work toward getting a budget agreement.
  Basically, it locks in place spending at last year's appropriation 
levels until we do it, and not shut down the Federal Government. I hope 
the President will reconsider that and endorse this proposal which I 
believe will be attached to the supplemental, and see that we do not 
have a Government shutdown again, and that Congress and the President 
get together and do what the American people want them to do, which is 
come to a budget agreement that balances the budget, that really 
balances the budget by the year 2002--no smoke and mirrors--and that we 
get entitlement reform, we get some tax relief for the American people, 
and do it all.
  If there is gridlock because we do not get that agreement, then the 
people who are trying to run the Federal Government, from passing out 
the Social Security checks to immigration, visas and so forth, that we 
do not get those people again caught in that conflict.
  I commend my colleagues for that and am pleased to be a supporter of 
it.

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