[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 53 (Wednesday, April 27, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H2628-H2629]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  ETHICS DISCUSSIONS IN WASHINGTON, DC

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. McHenry) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. McHENRY. Mr. Speaker, we are hearing a lot about ethics these 
days, ethical problems, ethical controversies. Why is ethics coming up 
as a topic of discussion here in Washington, DC? It is because the 
Democrat leadership has led their party on a campaign against our 
Republican majority through what I believe is a conspiracy of character 
assassination and misleading attacks.
  Let me quote this week's U.S. News and World Report. Democrat 
strategists, confident that voters are increasingly fed up with the 
Republican establishment, are planning an all-out attack on what they 
call the ``abuse of power'' by Republicans. Democrat strategists, Mr. 
Speaker. Those folks who live and crawl around the basement of the 
Democrat National Committee and the DCCC, they see ethics as a way that 
might be able to gain them a few congressional seats.
  I can tell my colleagues why they are doing this. It is because in 
the last 2 election cycles, Democrats, their agenda, their leaders, 
their ideas, or lack thereof, are going nowhere. They lost six U.S. 
Senate seats. They have posted double digit losses in the U.S. House of 
Representatives races. They are sitting back and trying to obstruct as 
Republicans pass tax relief. In fact, in just this Congress, we 
eliminated the death tax, the double taxation of inheritance. They 
watched as the Republicans passed an energy policy to keep and lower 
gas prices. They tried to obstruct class action lawsuit reform which 
Republicans passed to protect small businesses and individuals from the 
frivolous lawsuits of ambulance-chasing trial lawyers. They sat back as 
we passed comprehensive bankruptcy reform. And they are losing their 
own Members on these votes.
  Mr. Speaker, over 70 Democrats have abandoned their leadership, their 
Democrat leadership to support a Republican bill on bankruptcy reform. 
Forty-two Democrats bolted their leadership, their left-wing leadership 
to support the permanent repeal of the death tax. Forty-one Democrats 
abandoned their leadership on energy policy, because they see that our 
ideas are better than their party's. A whopping 50 members of the 
Democratic Caucus abandoned their leader, the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Pelosi), on class action lawsuit reform. The Democrat 
Party is hemorrhaging. They are hemorrhaging.

                              {time}  2100

  So how does the leadership fight back, when they cannot even win 
their own rank-and-file members? How do they fight back? It is by 
baseless, senseless attacks and character assassinations, that is how. 
Let me quote an article that ran in a January issue of the New 
Republic, a liberal left wing magazine. The article is called ``How the 
Democrats Can Overthrow the House.'' And I quote: ``Democrats should 
consider fighting back by extraparliamentary means, going beyond the 
standard perimeters of legislative debate and attacking Republicans not 
on issues but on ethics. Character. In other words, it may be time for 
Democrats to burn down the House in order to save it.''
  Not my words, Mr. Speaker. This is the liberal strategy for taking 
control of this House of Representatives. Burn down the House. Burn 
down this institution. That is the Democrats' plan. They are willing to 
tear down this very institution so they can gain raw political power. 
We have seen this before, and that is why you are hearing all of this 
about House rules and ethics.
  But here is the deal. Democrats want to apply the rules, Mr. Speaker. 
They do. They just do not want to apply the rules to themselves. 
Consider the Democratic leader, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. 
Pelosi). She called for an investigation of the House majority leader, 
our Republican majority leader, for alleged irregularities for his 
travel records.
  But ABC News reported last night that members of her very own 
Democrat leadership staff have not properly disclosed their own travel 
forms. Not just once. Not just twice. But a dozen times. The 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones) who is a member of the ethics 
committee, Mr. Speaker, the gentlewoman is a member of the ethics 
committee, she went on a trip to Puerto Rico. I do not blame her for 
wanting to go on a nice trip. The gentlewoman from Ohio went on this 
with the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi) herself, as well as a 
number of other Democrats.
  According to ABC News last night, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. 
Jones) said the incident was paid for by a registered lobbyist, while 
the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi) said it was paid for by a 
different organization.
  Then, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones) went back and amended 
her forms to say that the lobbyist did not pay for it. But you know 
what? Two other Democrats that went on that trip did not even disclose 
their travel. Did not even disclose it. When asked, one Member told the 
Washington Times, this happened 4 years ago; I am not sure why this is 
even relevant. Wow.
  Do you hear hypocrisy? This is the pot calling the kettle black.

[[Page H2629]]

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Carter). The time of the gentleman has 
expired.

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