[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 146 (Wednesday, October 14, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H10877-H10878]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1515
                       MAJOR WORK REMAINS UNDONE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, what a difference a week makes. Last week 
the Republican leadership was cruising toward an early adjournment 
after the Congress had worked only 107 days despite the fact the 
Congress' work was not yet done. They had hoped to roll it all into one 
giant bill that none of us would have been allowed to read or 
understand under a special rule, and vote on it, and leave town, and go 
home and spend their special interest money to get reelected.
  Well, things have changed. Here we are, Day 111. Pretty heavy lifting 
for this Republican led Congress. We have now worked 111 days in 
Congress with our $137,000 salary. Of course the average American 
working for $40,000 or so has worked 202 days so far this year, and 
they have had to finish their job day in, day out, every day of the 
year before they go home to their families. But this Congress has not.
  But there is a change of heart in the Republican leadership. Maybe? 
No, not really. They have not decided to address the major work left 
undone, not at all. They are held here against their will.
  They still refuse to address health maintenance organization 
insurance industry reform, patient provider rights so people can have a 
right of appeal when they are denied tests they need to restore their 
health, and when their doctors order tests to restore their health and 
is denied by the insurance industry. They will not touch that with a 
10-foot pole because of the tens of millions of dollars flowing in from 
that industry to help their reelections.
  Teen tobacco prevention? That has dropped off the charts, too, 
because the tobacco industry is providing one heck of a lot of money 
for their reelections. Social Security? The only time they addressed 
Social Security was to attack the trust fund to attempt to give it away 
by calling it a surplus and spend it as tax cuts.
  Now, held in D.C. against their will, they have discovered something. 
The people of America would like to see an investment in the public 
education, in the investment of their kids, in the education of their 
kids.
  Let me say the Speaker earlier, the President has just come recently 
to this; he just discovered education. The President proposed back in 
January smaller class size, 100,000 new teachers and a major 
reconstruction program for the one-third of our schools that are 
falling apart and the other one-third that are obsolescent. They are 
the ones who did not discover it until this week, until they had to 
discover it. There has not been a single hearing held by the Republican 
led Congress on the issue of 100,000 new teachers, smaller class size 
or the crumbling state of our schools and federal assistance for them. 
They had ample time. We took three votes, three votes in this Chamber 
on school vouchers, taking our tax dollars and transferring them to 
private religious institutions. That is their agenda: do not help the 
public schools, help the private schools, help the religious schools 
despite what the Constitution might say.
  They have spent a lot of time trying to eliminate the Department of 
Education that administers the Head Start program and the student loan 
programs. They have attempted to cut, and we blocked, school lunches 
for small children. They have enacted or tried to enact tax cuts for 
wealthy taxpayers to send their kids to private schools, again 
abandoning the public system, eliminating the summer jobs program for 
kids, eliminating the school to work opportunities for high school 
students, eliminating the in-school interest subsidy for student loans, 
and I heard someone over here wax eloquent about what they have done to 
lower the interest rate on loans. Yes, a tiny, tiny, tiny bit, but you 
were really drug kicking and screaming to that, too, because the banks 
did not want to give up anything on these loans where they never lose a 
penny that are guaranteed by the Federal Government. They cannot even 
be discharged in bankruptcy. They still want outrageous rates of 
interest. So finally the Republicans paid them off. The banks are still 
going to get the

[[Page H10878]]

high rate of interest, the taxpayers are going to pay it, and the 
students will get a tiny, tiny cut, less than 1 percent.
  Oh, that is a great deal, that is a great way to do this. Get rid of 
the banks, give the loans directly to the kids through the schools. You 
could give another 600,000 students loans next year at a much lower 
rate of interest. They have tried to eliminate the Safe and Drug-free 
School Program and after school programs. That is quite a record. But 
they have become born again on the issue of public education. Now they 
say what they really want to do is fight over how the money they did 
not want to spend on public education is spent because we have held 
them here against their will. Because they want to bolt out of town 
without finishing their work, we have managed to get another $1.1 
billion commitment for education. They are saying, well, they are 
really concerned about how that money might be spent. They want it to 
be spent under something called title VI. Title VI, the first 16 
percent goes to administration. Republicans like that. And the other 84 
percent can go to anything, does not go to teachers, smaller class 
size. It is not even necessary to be invested in rebuilding our 
schools.
  They can spin and spin and spin as much as they want as they wax 
eloquent about the importance of public schools. They are a billion 
point one late and 4 days late.

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