[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 147 (Thursday, October 15, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H10921-H10922]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    REPUBLICAN-LED CONGRESS IGNORES CRIES OF ``EXTREMISM'' TO PASS 
                           MEANINGFUL REFORMS

  (Mr. SHIMKUS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, most Americans do not think it is extremist 
to want to reduce the size and power of the Federal Government. In fact 
after 40 years of Democratic control in which the Federal Government 
got bigger and bigger, more costly, more out of touch, more meddlesome 
and less accountable to the people, the majority of Americans finally 
had had enough in 1994 and they have not looked back since.
  What has the Republican majority in Congress done since 1995 to 
reverse course? A Republican-led Congress passed the first balanced 
budget since 1969 and the first tax cuts in 16 years after it ignored 
the charges of extremism and warnings that it could not be done. A 
Republican-led Congress passed

[[Page H10922]]

welfare reform after years of hearing the other side defend a system 
that everybody knew was broken, again after ignoring the other side cry 
``extremism'' at every opportunity. And a Republican-led Congress 
reformed Medicare for the first time ever, something that should have 
been done a long time ago, so that our seniors would be able to retire 
with peace of mind.

                              {time}  1015

  I think the American people are right. It is not extremist, but 
responsible good government.

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