[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 125 (Thursday, September 23, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H8562]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 WE DO NOT NEED ANOTHER MONTH IN OUR CALENDAR TO CONTINUE DOING NOTHING

  (Mr. DOGGETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, with only 6 congressional working days 
remaining in this Federal fiscal year, only one of the 13 
appropriations bills necessary for the continued operation of our 
Government has actually been signed into law. This is the kind of 
record of inattention to duty, of inaction that brought us the costly 
Republican government shutdowns in the all-too-recent past.
  It is perhaps most symbolic of this Congress that one of the few 
bills that has been approved was a commemorative medal for the great 
explorers Lewis and Clark, for I think that not even such great 
explorers could find any accomplishment in this Congress. In the words 
of the majority leader, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Armey), ``We have 
sort of bumped into a wall.''
  With this Congress, America is bumping into a wall of inaction.
  Now the Republican leadership is even considering the creation of a 
thirteenth month on the Federal calendar. If they worked more than 
halftime during the first 12 months, we would not need such nonsense.

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