[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 63 (Wednesday, May 14, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H2612]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  THE AUTOMATIC CONTINUING RESOLUTION

  (Mr. FOGLIETTA asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. FOGLIETTA. Mr. Speaker, people in the Midwest are making the 
tough and necessary choices to rebuild their own lives. Everything has 
been taken from them. They very much need our help right now, but they 
may not get that help.
  Why? Because Washington is playing another one of its cynical games. 
Senator Byrd was just right when he called the CR an automatic pilot.

                              {time}  1230

  It would rescue us from the same public embarrassment they suffered 
from last year's Government shutdowns, but it also saves us from having 
to make the tough choices to balance our budget.
  The President has been to North Dakota and knows the need to provide 
assistance there as soon as possible, but he says that he will veto 
this bill because of the automatic pilot CR. He is right because it is 
bad policy, it is a gimmick. It enables us to avoid our constitutional 
responsibility to make budgets. And if we can lean back on automatic 
pilot and keep the Government going, how are we ever going to balance 
the budget?
  Let us not play Pennsylvania Ping-Pong. Why do we not invest the time 
in passing a budget resolution marking up the appropriations bills and 
getting the job done, not on automatic pilot, but doing the hard work 
of hard government. That is what we are paid to do.

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