[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 118 (Tuesday, September 9, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H7016]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




[[Page H7016]]



FUNDING FOR IMPORTANT PRIORITIES AND OBEYING EXISTING LAWS FOR CAMPAIGN 
                                FINANCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997, the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Hayworth] is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HAYWORTH. Madam Speaker, there is much that the lady from North 
Carolina had to say with which I agree, and we are honored to serve in 
this Chamber where we can both agree and disagree about a variety of 
subjects. I would simply hearken back to one of the most poignant and 
pointed observations ever made in this city just down The Mall when Dr. 
King came here in the early 1960's and dreamed of an America where his 
children would be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the 
content of their character.
  And, yes, the appropriations process is very important. That is why I 
hope the gentlewoman and many others on the other side of the aisle 
will join with Members of the new majority to appropriate funds to 
those who most need the funds.
  One example of that will come later in our Labor-HHS appropriations 
bill with an amendment I offer to put an additional $18 million into 
funding for Impact Aid school construction, because there is a Federal 
role to be played, both because of sacred and solemn treaty rights and 
obligations to native Americans, and also to the many children who are 
dependents of those in military service and who live on military bases 
both here in the United States and abroad.
  To be sure, Madam Speaker, we confront many issues of great and grave 
importance in our constitutional Republic, but I would like to address 
one that I think has been discussed a great deal this morning during 
the morning hour, and that has to do with campaign finance reform.
  Madam Speaker, it is ironic that so many of my liberal friends come 
to this floor now crying for campaign finance reform. Indeed, Madam 
Speaker, it is akin to having Bonnie and Clyde, during their heyday, 
call a press conference to demand that there be a cop on every block, 
on every street corner in America. That is the incredible irony.
  Madam Speaker, there is one central truth with which we should all 
agree, and that is that everyone should obey existing laws. Indeed, 
Madam Speaker, as we read the revelations in recent headlines, it is 
becoming painfully apparent that there are serious questions involving 
members of the executive branch and the actions they have taken that 
appear to be in violation of those same campaign finance reform laws.
  Indeed, Madam Speaker, one need only remember back a few months ago 
to hear the words of the Vice President of the United States when he 
deigned to claim that there was ``no controlling legal authority,'' end 
quote, to keep him from making fundraising calls on Federal property. 
Indeed, as records later revealed, the Vice President of the United 
States made several fund-raising calls from his office on the White 
House grounds. That is in clear contradiction to existing law and to 
the precedents and the ethics of government where, Madam Speaker, as 
the gentlewoman from Missouri knows from her own experience, and indeed 
Members on both sides of the aisle know, we are told from day one that 
as Members of Congress, we are not here to solicit campaign funds on 
Federal property. We are not supposed to make use of the taxpayers' 
dollars to place money in the campaign till.
  Campaign finance reform? Certainly. But reform begins with a 
recognition of existing law. That is why hearings continue in the other 
body; that is why hearings will take place under the aegis of this 
House, the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, to check and 
to examine the many disparate claims and the disturbing revelations 
which we read of almost daily. That is why, despite the great hue and 
cry for campaign finance reform, we need in this House, we need in this 
Nation, to take charge and to examine the deeds of those who perhaps 
have not obeyed existing law.

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