[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 144 (Monday, October 12, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H10564]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, last Friday the President decided that wag 
the dog was not good enough. Congress passed a bipartisan agriculture 
appropriation bill that included billions of dollars in emergency 
assistance to hard-hit farmers, and the President vetoed it. He played 
wag the farmer, in a suspicious attempt to divert attention from the 
national debate over whether or not felonies by the chief magistrate of 
the United States would rise to the level of an impeachable offense.
  Now the President is poised to go to yet another fund-raiser, this 
one in New York, while the important business of government is left 
unattended and a government shutdown is upon us.
  Mr. President, we in Congress urge that you do not shut the 
government down. Do not wag the farmer and do not go to New York to 
raise money from the very people you bash whenever Republicans propose 
tax cuts. The President should clear his fund-raising calendar and stay 
in Washington and work with Congress to finish the job we were elected 
to do.
  Mr. Speaker, I suggest the President not shut the government down.

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