[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 153 (Wednesday, November 5, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11788-S11789]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TIME TO RECONSIDER `RACIST' RHETORIC

 Mr. ABRAHAM. I would like to bring to my colleagues, attention 
a recent article in Asian Week by Susan Au Allen, president of the 
United States Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce, who points out 
Senator Brownback's significant work on behalf of Asian Pacific 
American families. It was Senator Brownback who stood up in the House 
of Representatives last year and opposed those who wanted to slash 
family immigration. If the elimination of the brothers and sisters and 
adult children categories had passed, tens of thousands of Asian 
Pacific families would have been unable to reunite with their loved 
ones. Ms. Allen writes, ``When the chips were down last year, he came 
through to preserve freedom for our close family members to immigrate 
to the United States. And for that Asian Pacific American families 
across America are grateful to him.''
  I ask that the text of the article by Susan Au Allen be printed in 
the Record.
  The article follows:

                  Time to Reconsider `Racist' Rhetoric

                          (By Susan Au Allen)

       No pain, no gain. No money, no talk. No raise money, no get 
     bonus. Are these offensive words? Several Asian Pacific 
     American organizations think so. The Organization of Chinese 
     Americans, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus 
     Institute, and the Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium 
     have been complaining unfairly about a phrase that Sen. 
     Brownback, R-Kan., uttered during a recent Senate 
     Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on the Democratic 
     Party's campaign finance scandal.
       The argument is that the ``So no raise money, no pay 
     bonus'' phrase is racist. I saw the videotape of the occasion 
     and did not find it offensive.
       Sen. Brownback was speaking to an educated white male, 
     Richard Sullivan, former finance director of the Democratic 
     National Committee. The senator neither mimicked nor changed 
     the tone of his voice. He was drawing a conclusion to a 
     series of questions he asked Sullivan, who was playing 
     escape, evasion, and dissemble. The senator wanted Sullivan 
     to tell the truth about the unusual compensation package that 
     former DNC fundraiser John Huang negotiated with the 
     Democratic Party--the same truth Sullivan told investigators 
     in an earlier deposition.

[[Page S11789]]

       The senator asked, ``If he didn't produce, no more money. 
     You said, ``If things worked out,'' were your terms. Is that 
     correct?
       But the recalcitrant Sullivan did his best to duck the 
     question and replied incoherently, ``Yes. But, senator, if 
     he--he never raised it, and it was more of a--if he had 
     raised it, we--as I've stated, we had no reason to believe 
     anything was improper or illegal. And if he had raised it in 
     April or May I'm certain that it would have been met.''
       The truth is that when John Huang took a pay cut to become 
     the Democratic National Committee's top fundraiser, he was 
     paid a base salary of $60,000, plus a bonus based on the 
     amount of money he would raise. To close the circle, Sen. 
     Brownback concluded with a straight face, ``So, no raise 
     money, no get bonus.'' Even Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, 
     said that Brownback ``didn't mean to slight anybody by this 
     remark.''
       Now, why would these Asian Pacific American organizations 
     get so offended by that remark? Every time they make a public 
     statement about the campaign finance scandal, the leaders of 
     these groups mention the senator's utterance. Why? It's clear 
     that a number of these groups are led by, for the lack of a 
     better word, liberals. As friends of the Clinton-Gore 
     administration, groups like the Organization of Chinese 
     Americans, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus 
     Institute, and the Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium 
     are playing partisan politics and, quite implausibly, 
     becoming more outraged at a single misinterpreted comment by 
     a Republican senator than by Democratic Party individuals, 
     including the president, whose fundraising improprieties have 
     cast aspersions on millions of law-abiding Asian Pacific 
     Americans.
       Their complaint against Sen. Brownback is out of place and, 
     more importantly, shows a lack of serious interest in the 
     truth. Otherwise, they would have found out that Sen. 
     Brownback is a true friend of the Asian Pacific American 
     community. In 1996, Congress was debating a contentious 
     immigration bill which could cut legal immigration by one-
     third. The proposed bill would stop American citizens from 
     petitioning for their parents, adult children, brothers, 
     and sisters for immigration.
       However, the senator introduced the famous Brownback 
     amendment which preserved all these immigrant categories in 
     the law. Not only did he cosponsor the amendment, he worked 
     very hard to persuade two dozen Republicans to fight the cut 
     in legal immigration. He told those who would listen that 
     ``It's wrong for us to turn the clock back to the 1920s when 
     we shut the door to immigrants.'' Because of this, tens of 
     thousands of Asian Pacific Americans are and will be able to 
     petition for their parents, adult children, brothers, and 
     sisters for immigration. Perhaps these Asian Pacific American 
     organizations did not know about his work at the time because 
     they only worked with the Democratic side of Congress.
       Now all of them should know who their friends are and who 
     their enemies are. As to the enemy? Well, who got them into 
     this campaign finance scandal in the first place? Try 
     President Clinton, Al Gore, and the Democratic National 
     Committee. And who is a true friend to Asian Americans? Try 
     Sen. Brownback. When the chips were down last year he came 
     through to preserve freedom for our close family members to 
     immigrate to the United States. And for that, Asian Pacific 
     American families across America are grateful to him.

                          ____________________