[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 138 (Tuesday, October 6, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H9652]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          DO-NOTHING CONGRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Wise) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WISE. Mr. Speaker, while I have another matter to talk about, I 
also want to rise in tribute to my colleague and classmate, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Torres). We came together in the 
Congress of 1983. I view the gentleman as being a true renaissance 
person in so many ways in the best sense of the word. He has always 
represented our class well, and I wish him good luck from one of his 
fellow classmates.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about a couple of things: scheduling and 
investigations.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, I think it ought to be pointed out that as we 
hopefully wind into the final week of this Congress, we are today at 
October 6. October 1 is the beginning of the Federal fiscal year, and I 
think it is time that the American people understand that there is no 
Federal budget. There was no Federal budget passed this year. This 
Congress, while it can find time to do all kinds of investigations, and 
we ought to be investigating where it is necessary, could not find time 
to pass a Federal budget. So we are operating under a temporary or 
short-term continuing resolution until October 9. Presumably, we will 
either have another continuing resolution or another short-term one to 
carry us forward or the government shuts down.
  One of the basic things that the Congress ought to be able to do is 
to pass a budget for the next fiscal year. Incidentally, in the 13 
appropriation bills that really make up the Federal budget, as of a 
couple of days ago, I believe one had been signed into law, several 
more are finally beginning to work their way through. Most of those 
will not be passed in a timely manner either and, once again, we will 
be faced with a continuing resolution.
  So if we had all of this time to conduct all of these investigations, 
what is it we did not have time to do? Well, the investigations 
curiously, many of them, and I sit on the Committee on Government 
Reform and Oversight that has been involved in many of the 
investigations, many of them dealt with campaign finance reform. So it 
would seem logical after millions of dollars of investigations, 
hundreds of subpoenas and depositions and inquiries and witnesses, it 
would be logical that Congress would try to fix the problem, right? The 
problem being millions of dollars of soft money being abused by both 
Republicans and Democrats. That was the problem in 1996. That is what 
the investigation is about.
  The American people will not see a campaign finance reform bill this 
year. It passed the House, it cannot be brought up in the other body.
  One would think that with 70 percent of the American people covered 
by their employers in health insurance, and those 70 percent, they are 
in managed care plans; one would think there would be a Patients' Bill 
of Rights to protect those. That is one of the problems that I hear the 
most about. There will be no meaningful Patients' Bill of Rights for 
managed care plans this year.
  One would think with Social Security being on everybody's lips, there 
would be something being done by this Congress about Social Security. 
Sorry, no Social Security reform this year.
  One would think that with millions of Americans having lost much of 
their retirement in just the last 2 months because of the stock market 
going into the tank, one would think that that could be something 
that Congress could deal with. Millions of Americans are going to get a 
surprise this month when they go to open their quarterly statement on 
their 401(k) or thrift plan, retirement plan to find out how much their 
holdings have diminished because of the stock market decline. Sorry, 
this Congress is not taking that up this year.

  Nor will it take up anything apparently that will deal with the Asian 
situation, including funding for the International Monetary Fund to 
stop the hemorrhage. Sorry, this Congress is too busy. But what can 
this Congress do? Boy, it can investigate.
  That is why I find it so interesting, when there are some who want to 
urge the Committee on the Judiciary to be open-ended, to go beyond the 
matters that have been brought to it, and instead to get into 
Travelgate, Filegate, Whitewater, maybe even Watergate, who knows.
  The irony to this is that these have been covered extensively for the 
last 2 years. The Senate Thompson hearings, the Committee on Government 
Reform and Oversight hearings on Filegate and Travelgate. The Committee 
on Banking and Financial Services hearings on Whitewater. Our committee 
alone spent 22 days of hearings on these matters, including campaign 
finance reform, millions of dollars spent.
  So when we hear the talk about, well, we need to have the Committee 
on the Judiciary open all of these up, this is what this Congress, all 
it has done for 2 years. Where are the results?
  Mr. Speaker, the reality of the situation is, this is a do-nothing 
Congress, and unfortunately, there is a lot of diversion going on to 
cover that fact up. No budget, no campaign finance reform, no Patients' 
Bill of Rights, no Social Security reform, nothing done about the 
economy, nothing done about the stock market, nothing done about the 
Asian economy, nothing done about South America.
  Mr. Speaker, if people love investigations, they will really like 
this Congress. Let me just suggest one more investigation. Who is 
responsible for this do-nothing Congress?

                          ____________________