[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 147 (Thursday, October 15, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H10993]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             STRIVE TO MEET DEADLINES IN THE 106TH CONGRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Minge) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MINGE. Mr. Speaker, today, we have seen quite a transformation of 
the nature of the debate. I think all of us remember the debate from 
yesterday, the day before. There was a great deal of anguish over how 
we would support education in this country. Would there be funds and 
assistance for school construction and modernization? Would there be 
money for teachers? Was this going to be Federal interference with 
local education?
  This body was badly polarized for all of us that sat and listened to 
the exchanges, horribly polarized. It is amazing. Here we are today, 
and it appears that we are uniform in supporting teachers in the 
reduction of class size.
  I think that it is important that, as we debate these issues, the 
Nation understands that sometimes the debate is rhetoric. Sometimes the 
debate is real. Probably even today, if one searched and scratched hard 
enough, one would find that code words are being used to illustrate 
differences that now we are more interested in glossing over.
  But I think it is a victory for the American people, for our students 
that we are focusing on reducing class size. I trust this is an 
initiative that is not just one that is being promoted here in 
Washington, but in State capitals around the country and in the offices 
of local school districts around the country and in the homes of the 
citizens of this Nation as all of us join together to emphasize the 
importance of small class size and the best possible educational 
preparation for our children.
  There is another aspect about the debate and the proceedings this 
week that I would like to touch upon, and that is the unseemly chaos 
that is accompanying the close of this 105th Congress.
  Some have complained that the President has not been here every day 
and every hour and blame the President for the fact that these last 
days have been added to the session.
  Others have pointed out, as I would like to emphasize, that we have 
not had a budget resolution to guide this body. The lack of a budget 
resolution certainly cannot be blamed on the White House. That budget 
resolution is a concurrent resolution adopted by the House and the 
Senate to guide this body in passing appropriations bills for the 1998, 
1999 fiscal year.
  I am sure that all of us are well aware that that fiscal year started 
October 1, 15 days ago. We are half a month into the fiscal year. We 
have no budget resolution. Indeed, we are 6 months past the due date 
for the budget resolution, April 15, 1998. We have no budget 
resolution.
  Going further, this will go down as the first Congress in 24 years of 
having a budget requirement that has failed to produce a budget 
resolution. We do not have a concurrent budget resolution. I submit 
that this contributes to the frantic nature of the negotiations and the 
delay that we have experienced in this 105th Congress in bringing our 
efforts to a close.
  I note with some concern that the same party controls this body and 
the Senate. I would have hoped that a budget resolution would have been 
enacted because of that leadership from the same political party. But 
unfortunately it has not.
  I can certainly see situations where my side of the aisle might well 
have had parallel difficulties. But the lesson to be learned here is we 
need to work together to find some way, even within our own caucuses, 
to bring closure to divisive debates.

  Certainly if we cannot within our own caucus and within our own party 
find a way to pass a budget resolution, how much more difficult is it 
in the body at large.
  Mr. Speaker, I think that we should make a resolution as we leave 
this institution and returned to our respective districts, that in the 
106th Congress, we will endeavor to do better and observe the deadlines 
that apply within the budget process, and hopefully we can then come up 
with an educational program earlier in the season and not have to have 
the debate delayed and become so divisive as it has here in the fall of 
1998.

                          ____________________