[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 102 (Thursday, July 17, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H5451]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             THIS HOUSE NEEDS TO GET ITS BUSINESS IN ORDER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas [Ms. Jackson-Lee] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I think today was one of those 
more unique days in the U.S. Congress, particularly this House, and I 
think it deserves an explanation to the American people, for the real 
issue today is that this House needs to get its business in order.
  I join today on one of the very rare occasions with the gentlewoman 
from California [Ms. Pelosi] along with many other women in this House, 
Congresswoman Pelosi being the ranking member on the Committee on 
National Security, to raise the question of fairness and the irony that 
we are supposed to be here to work things out. Those who might have 
seen the constant rising might have wondered what the business of this 
House was today. The business was to indicate to those who control this 
House, my Republican friends, that bipartisanship is something that 
they called for and that we called for but they are not acting upon. 
How disturbing to find that in foreign operations where an amendment 
was worked out dealing with international family planning, and some may 
say, ``How small an issue,'' but the issue bears on many concerns that 
this country has; one, its international relations with helping many, 
many countries formulate in a fair manner the treatment of women who 
are interested in family planning.
  If you really want to promote families, then you will promote women 
having the choice to plan families and to have the knowledge and 
understanding which, in fact, may avoid abortions, of which many of my 
colleagues to the right are so vehemently opposed to, then promote 
family values and work with countries like China and the continents of 
Africa and South America in promoting family planning. But yet the 
bipartisan amendment that was worked out was thrown aside and 
discarded. Women who have worked on this issue for so long, it was 
substituted for by a Republican amendment that just a couple of weeks 
ago had failed badly.
  What is the intent of that? To dash the hopes of those who would work 
fairly in this House to pass an amendment that would work fairly on 
behalf of the international community and support family planning, and, 
yes, to dash the hopes of anyone who would think that we would work 
together in a bipartisan manner. How tragic.

  It is important that this House gets itself in order, and I hope that 
by rising today and voting time and time again to adjourn this Congress 
the message got out that women stand for something, Democratic women in 
this Congress; we stand for fairness and, yes, we stand for 
bipartisanship. We stand for understanding that the way to solve the 
world's problem is working together, training people on the way to 
manage their families and to be successful.
  Then, as we proceeded in discussing this issue called tax reform and 
tax cuts, let me also acknowledge that our Republican friends need to 
get their House in order. I do not know. For some reason it seems that 
the school-teacher and the police officer, the fire fighter, the bus 
driver, and the single working mother on the Republican tax plan do not 
deserve to get a tax cut when just 2 years ago, 3 years ago in 1994, 
when almost a majority of the Republicans signed the Contract on 
America, they agreed that those who either paid income tax received an 
earned income tax credit; those are the working poor, or paid payroll 
tax were deserving of a child tax credit. Today their memories have 
faded them. These people are not around to lobby, they are not out in 
the hallway. So they have forgotten the bus driver, they have forgotten 
the school-teacher, they have forgotten the single working mother, they 
have forgotten the police officer.
  These are the families that the Republicans are saying are looking 
for welfare. They are preschool and kindergarten teachers, teachers 
aids, sales clerks, carpenters, rookie police officers, in-home 
caregivers. They are the millions of people across America who work 
hard and struggle every month to pay their bills and to provide for 
their children. Most of them would be pretty surprised to find out that 
the Gingrich Congress does not think they deserve tax breaks like 
everyone else, even though a big chunk of their paychecks go to paying 
Federal taxes.
  So, I think that we need to know why we are here. First, to put 
forward legislation that works, the family planning amendment that 
women negotiated under the leadership of the gentlewoman from 
California [Ms. Pelosi] and got an agreement to be passed.
  And then, if we talk about tax reform and tax breaks, go outside 
these halls and look at the everyday working American and tell me that 
they do not deserve the $500 a year tax credit because they are a 
rookie police officer, a teacher, a bus driver.
  Let us get our House in order, and let us plan to work so that the 
legislation that comes out of this House speaks the right language, and 
that is for all of America and not special interests.

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