[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 11 (Wednesday, February 9, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H258]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                DISAPPOINTMENT WITH LACK OF COOPERATION

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, I was disappointed to read last week a Roll 
Call story entitled ``Democrats Feel Cocky After Big Speech.'' It said 
basically that House Democrats feel it is going to be ``their way or 
the highway going into November.''
  When Mr. Hastert became Speaker a year ago, he gave a speech in the 
House that reached out to our Democratic colleagues offering to meet 
them halfway, and that he expected them to meet us halfway. Now the 
Democrat leadership seems determined that there will be no legislative 
progress this year, preferring to sit idly by. The Speaker said, 
``Stalemate is not an option. Solutions are.''
  The American people want us to pay down our debt, they want us to 
give relief from the marriage tax penalty, to ban the raid on Social 
Security, to renew inner cities and to provide seniors with affordable 
prescription drugs.
  Madam Speaker, I hope the President will reject the foot-dragging 
tactics of the House Democrats and work with us. I am disappointed they 
do not want to work, by their own admission, in behalf of a productive 
agenda.

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