[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 163 (Wednesday, November 17, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H12112]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TAKE PORK OUT OF SPENDING BILL

  (Mr. MINGE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MINGE. Mr. Speaker, we have essentially a colloquy here this 
morning, and I would like to join with my colleague from Texas (Mr. 
Stenholm) in pointing out the irony of what is happening.
  We are dipping into the Social Security Trust Fund, according to the 
leadership's plan, by at least $17 billion. We are cutting across the 
board, or proposed to have cut, 1 percent. But at the same time, as 
Senator McCain, a Republican, has pointed out, we have billions and 
billions earmarked for pork barrel projects.
  As the cochair of the House bipartisan Pork Barrel Coalition, I am 
strongly opposed to this type of pork barrel spending, and I call on 
our leadership here in the House of Representatives and in the Senate 
to excise all of these earmarked projects from this massive bill that 
is to be presented to us this week. If we would take that one simple 
step, we would be able to avoid going into the Social Security Trust 
Fund.
  We owe it to our Nation's seniors, and we owe it to the next 
generation to take this modest step.




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