[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 132 (Monday, September 28, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H9088]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     ISSUES THAT CONCERN AND SOMETIMES CONFUSE THE AMERICAN PUBLIC

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Ewing) is recognized 
during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. EWING. Mr. Speaker, I come here today with some concerns. We all, 
over the weekend, had maybe time to watch the reporting of political 
events in America, and I come here, I guess, to speak to the people of 
this great country and to the people in my district about things that 
concern me; things that are going on in America today that concern all 
Americans.
  There is in the political system today the effort by many, on both 
sides of the aisle, to put their spin out on what is happening in 
America. I guess the first point that bothers me is the spinning of all 
these issues. We want the American people to understand that we are 
here to do their business and to uphold the law. The American people, I 
believe, want justice and fairness. They want the laws of this country 
to be applied to all of us, equally. And sometimes, with all that is 
going on, we might find that the American public is confused about 
whether that is happening and whether, in fact, it will happen.
  Our system works. We must give it time to work. I would like to say 
to people that I am talking about the debate here on the House floor, 
and the political rancor that sometimes seizes the Capitol and the 
parties. This is where we make our decision. This is where we decide 
where the compromise is. This is where we decide what is fair. We do 
not, any of us in this body, worry that we have to look down 
Pennsylvania Avenue and see tanks rolling up the street because someone 
in power decides that they are being unfairly treated by this body. 
This is where our system works.
  The bottom line on the first point I want to make is, too much spin 
from any source, on any side, of what is going on in America today is 
wrong, and I believe and hope that the American people can see that.
  The second point that I thought was brought up a lot on the Sunday 
talk shows dealt with attacks on the Congress. Some of those attacks 
came from the First Couple, attacks made mostly at fund-raising events 
around the country.
  A little aside. My wife traveled to Washington on Friday evening, 
because we were in session, and her plane was delayed for several hours 
because of the arrival in Chicago of Air Force One. That is 
disconcerting. This is one of the major airports in America, and we 
appear to have an imperialism that affects the chief executive. The 
rest of the country can cool their heels and wait while the First 
Family or the President comes in for a fundraiser. I think we should 
watch that in America.
  We do not want an imperial presidency, we do not want maybe 1200 
people going to China at the cost of $40 million or more. We have to 
watch that. And it is very easy to get into a pattern where that 
becomes more and more the norm instead of the exception.

                              {time}  1100

  But some of the criticisms leveled at the Republican Congress dealt 
with education, improving education, affordable child care, expanding 
health care, protecting the environment, stabilizing the international 
economy.
  I would just like to talk about each of those points for just a 
minute, to answer the criticism of the administration in regard to 
that.
  Improving education. I would like to know what Dollars to the 
Classroom is, if that is not a big improvement to education. I can 
imagine that almost every teacher in America will be glad to see $400 
average go to their classroom for education. What we are doing with the 
reenactment and the renewal of the higher education bill is indeed very 
important. What we are doing with the $500 child tax credit certainly 
makes child care more affordable.
  Expanded health care. We passed a bill out of this House that 
provides more health care for more Americans than ever before, and we 
hope the Senate will soon move on that.
  In closing, there is much been said about attacks on this Congress. I 
think there is much to be said for what we have done, and I appreciate 
the time to come here and speak about it.

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