[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 149 (Thursday, October 30, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H9784-H9785]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    WHAT A DIFFERENCE 4 YEARS MAKES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from South Dakota [Mr. Thune] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. Speaker, this last weekend as I do most weekends, I 
went back to my home State of South Dakota and had the opportunity to 
participate in the annual governor's pheasant hunt, which was a huge 
success in spite of the weather. It is always a great reminder and a 
great opportunity for me to get away to clear my head, get out in the 
beautiful country, in the fall in South Dakota, which is a wonderful 
time of the year, and participate in an activity which has become a 
trademark and something that is very much a part of our culture in my 
State of South Dakota. Oftentimes as I travel in my State when I am 
back home I will hear from some of my conservative friends who express 
frustration at the fact that sometimes Washington has not come, or that 
we have not done enough in terms of changing the culture of this city, 
that we are not making progress fast enough. What I often try to remind 
them of is what a difference 4 years has made.
  As I look at the progress that has been made here in the last 4 
years, I think it is important to keep in perspective from where we 
have come so we know where we are going. Four short years ago, we had a 
President who was trying to invent a national health care system, where 
the government, this huge bureaucracy, would take over the health care 
system in this country. We saw the largest tax increase in the history 
not only of this country but, as someone has said, I believe a Senator, 
the biggest tax increase in the history of the world. And now in 4 
short years and after the 1994 election, when those policies were 
repudiated and the Republicans took majority of the Congress, we began 
to take action to reverse the culture of this city, and it changed the 
value system that we have here.

  I would like to think that the values that we have brought here as a 
matter of value, that bigger is not necessarily better and that smaller 
is better in the area of the Federal Government and that my kids are 
infinitely better off if we have a Federal Government that is more 
efficient, more responsive and a better value for the taxpayers. As a 
basic statement of values, that it is not the government's money, it is 
in fact the people of this country's money, and they ought to be able 
to best determine how those dollars are spent. Furthermore, that we do 
not need Hollywood, as the Vice President suggested last week, to force 
us to consider what our values ought to be. But as a matter of fact, 
that we want to give a more active role to parents, to families, to 
churches, to communities, to allow parents to spend more time with 
their families so they will not have to work 3 jobs by giving them a 
lower tax structure so they can have the important role in shaping the 
values of the future of our country and the future of our kids.
  These are the things that I think we are making and the areas where 
we are making historic progress, as we consider the accomplishments of 
the past 4 years, welfare reform, the first balanced budget in some 30 
years, the first tax relief, lower taxes on American families and 
businesses and people who are farmers and ranchers in my State for the 
first time in 16 years. Medicare reform. So many issues we have tackled 
in this Congress and progress we have made.
  The short of it is I believe for the first time in a generation, we 
have taken bold steps to shift power out of Washington, D.C. and back 
home to the

[[Page H9785]]

folks who really need to be in a position to make the decisions that 
affect their daily lives. These are important steps. This is progress 
that we have made. There is a lot of room to go and a lot of room for 
improvement here. Those are the things that we are going to continue to 
work on.
  I think as we look into the next year and the challenges that are 
ahead of us, we have to do something to destroy the Tax Code that has 
become an abomination to the people of this country. In a very bold 
way, I believe that we are going to take on the issue of reforming the 
IRS and restructuring it and then taking this Tax Code and making it 
simpler and fairer and more practical for the American public. We are 
going to look at areas like education and making important reforms to, 
as a matter again of values, say that parents should have more input in 
how their kids are educated, that the taxpayers ought to get the best 
possible value that we can out of our education dollar and that we want 
to see the optimum, the very best quality of education for our kids.
  Those are important priorities for us and those are things that we 
are going to continue to move forward. We have made an important 
beginning here in the past 4 years. As a Republican majority in the 
Congress when we took over in 1994, these are accomplishments to which 
we can point with pride.
  I think it points also to the need to continue to build upon a vision 
for the future which envisions a Federal Government which again is 
smaller and more responsive, more efficient, and a recognition that it 
is in fact the people of this country and their initiative and when we 
give them the opportunity to keep more of what they earn, that they 
will do what is in the best interest not only of themselves and their 
family but they will also work in the areas of their communities to 
make this a better place in which to raise their kids, in which to 
build a better future for this country.
  I look forward to being a part of these initiatives that we are going 
to continue to work on to build upon the progress that has been made 
and to continue down the path into the future. We have had a great 
beginning. We now need to move forward.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Weldon] is recognized for 5 minutes.

  [Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania addressed the House. His remarks will 
appear hereafter in the Extensions of Remarks.]

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