[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 57 (Wednesday, May 4, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H2942-H2943]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         SENIOR DEMOCRATS SHOULD LISTEN TO THEIR RANK AND FILE

  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, I certainly appreciate the time here on the 
House floor to discuss a pressing matter not only to this House of 
Representatives but to the future of our country, really, and the type 
of debates we are going to engage in as a body.
  It has been interesting to read press reports, press reports that 
some on the other side of the aisle have been pushing forward regarding 
this House and the behavior of our Republican Members on this side. It 
turns out that senior Democrats, the senior Members of the other party, 
have focused on the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), our Republican 
majority leader. They focused on the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) 
because he has been an effective conservative here in the United States 
House of Representatives, an effective leader for this House for all 
Republicans, and actually for all Americans, to pass tax relief, to 
pass limitations on lawsuits, to pass good conservative social policies 
that actually help our country move forward. The Democrats are 
attacking him because he is an effective leader, and they are rising to 
this challenge. Instead of debating the issues, they are debating 
process. Instead of debating substance, they are debating process.

                              {time}  1645

  Because they cannot beat us on the issues that we are fighting for 
every day on this side of the aisle, and because many of their rank-
and-file join with us on these votes, some in the leadership on the 
Democrat side of the aisle have resorted to ethical complaints against 
the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay).
  What has been found in recent days, many reports indicate that those 
leaders are casting stones; yet they are living in a glass house, and 
their leadership, many leaders on the other side realize that there are 
ethical violations on their own side, so perhaps they should not engage 
in this battle.
  Over the last couple of weeks, we have found that the leadership on 
the other side, many leaders, at the very least, realize that perhaps 
they should not take this line of attack against our Republican 
majority leader, because they have violated the very same rules that 
they point to him for violating.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I ask many of the leadership on the other side to 
listen to their rank-and-file and realize that we need to be debating 
the great issues of the day, not debating ethics. We need to have a 
functional Ethics Committee here in the House. We need to have a House 
that can actually move policies forward and not sit here every day and 
listen to the other side of the aisle complain about process.
  So I ask those senior Democrats to listen to their rank-and-file, the 
rank-and-file that voted with us on the energy bill, the rank-and-file 
that voted with us on the Republican side for an energy policy, for tax 
relief, for a good budget; those that are actually looking at 
reasonable reforms to move our Nation forward, instead of resorting to 
what the New Republic says is their strategy, and I quote from this 
article, ``Democrats should consider fighting by extra-parliamentary 
means, going beyond the standard parameters of legislative debate and 
attacking Republicans not on issues but on ethics, character. In other 
words, it may be time

[[Page H2943]]

for Democrats to burn down the House in order to save it.''
  Burn down the House, Mr. Speaker. That is their strategy. Many on the 
left think that that is the way to take back this House, and we on this 
side of the aisle are going to continue working on the issues that the 
American people care about and continue moving this Nation forward.

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