[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 165 (Friday, November 6, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H12540-H12544]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RECOGNIZING 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ENDING OF THE COLD WAR
Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the
resolution (H. Res. 892) recognizing the 20th anniversary of the
remarkable events leading to the end of the Cold War and the creation
of a Europe, whole, free, and at peace.
The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
The text of the resolution is as follows:
H. Res. 892
Whereas the year 1989 witnessed a series of remarkable
events in Europe that helped lead to the end of the Cold War
and the beginning of the creation of a Europe whole, free,
and at peace;
Whereas, on February 6, 1989, after almost 10 years of
unarmed struggle, the Polish free trade union Solidarity
finally succeeded in
[[Page H12541]]
forcing the Government of Poland to begin talks on broad
political and economic change;
Whereas, on April 6, 1989, Solidarity was legalized,
enabling it to contest elections for 35 percent of the seats
in the Sejm and all the seats in the Senat, resulting in the
historic election victory for Solidarity on June 4 in which
Solidarity won all the seats available to it in the Sejm and
99 out of 100 seats in the Senat, leading to the installation
of the first non-Communist government since January 1945;
Whereas, on May 2, 1989, the Hungarian government began
dismantling the barbed wire fence separating Hungary in the
Soviet-controlled East from Austria in the free West, causing
a ``tear in the Iron Curtain'' that was never to be closed
again;
Whereas, following the exodus of several hundred East
Germans from Hungary between May and mid-July 1989, the
Hungarian government announced on September 10, that as of
midnight, the border to the West would be open for all East
Germans wishing to leave, leading to the departure of
thousands of East Germans and representing the first break in
the Warsaw Pact policy of preventing each other's citizens
from fleeing to the West;
Whereas, on August 23, 1989, 2,000,000 people living in the
Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania linked hands
to form a human chain almost 400 miles long in a peaceful
protest of Soviet rule and in order to demand the restoration
of independent statehood;
Whereas, on November 9, 1989, in response to protests that
had grown to include over a million people in Berlin's
Alexanderplatz, now referred to as the ``Peaceful
Revolution'', Gunter Schabowski, the communist East German
Minister of Propaganda, announced that the border would be
opened for ``private trips abroad'';
Whereas, on November 9, 1989, thousands of East Germans
streamed into West Berlin, following the opening of
checkpoints between the two halves of the divided city and
resulting in the days that followed in one of the most
momentous events of the 20th century, the tearing down of the
Berlin Wall;
Whereas, on November 24, 1989, months of protests by pro-
democracy forces in Czechoslovakia led by visionary leader
Vaclav Havel resulted in the culmination of the ``Velvet
Revolution'' and the en masse resignation of the entire
Czechoslovak ruling Politburo, followed by the resignation of
President Gustav Husak on December 10, and a new democratic
beginning with the election of President Havel on December
29;
Whereas in November 1989, the first-known post-war public
protests in Bulgaria organized by civil rights groups led to
the ouster and resignation of Communist Party leader Todor
Zhivkov after 34 years in power, and the first free elections
since 1946 in Bulgaria the following June;
Whereas, on December 17, 1989, in the town of Timisoara,
Romania, citizens protesting against the arrest of a local
priest were brutally killed by Romanian security forces under
orders of President Ceausescu, causing international outrage
and condemnation, and leading to mass protests and escalating
violence throughout the country, resulting at the end of the
year in the overthrow of the Ceausescu regime and his
execution;
Whereas the events of 1989 prove that the will and the
desire of millions of people for freedom cannot be forever
repressed and that the actions of a few courageous leaders
can inspire millions of others to join the inexorable
struggle to be free;
Whereas in the past 20 years, most of the countries of
Central and Eastern Europe have become stable, prosperous,
and vibrant democracies, with many becoming members of the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European
Union (EU);
Whereas in the past 20 years, the prospect of membership in
NATO and the EU has been a major stabilizing force and has
helped promote greater peace and prosperity within Europe;
and
Whereas there is still much work that needs to be done to
overcome the remaining challenges within Europe and to create
a Europe whole, free, and at peace: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) recognizes the events of 1989 that helped lead to the
end of the Cold War;
(2) congratulates the countries of Central and Eastern
Europe who have made great progress in the past 20 years and
emerged as strong, vibrant democracies;
(3) expresses strong support and friendship for the
countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and reaffirms its
commitment to the solemn obligations set forth in article 5
of the North Atlantic Treaty;
(4) welcomes the commitment by the European Union (EU) and
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to keep the
door to membership open for all European countries which meet
the conditions for accession; and
(5) supports the continued efforts to create a Europe
whole, free and at peace.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
California (Mr. Berman) and the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-
Lehtinen) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.
General Leave
Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include
extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
If, on January 1, 1989, anyone had predicted the events that would
occur in Central and Eastern Europe during the following 12 months
culminating in the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War,
he or she would have been called a hopeless dreamer, a lunatic, or a
naive revolutionary. And yet by January 1 of 1990, the region and
indeed the whole world had fundamentally changed.
The events of 1989 were indeed remarkable, beginning with the opening
of talks between the communist Polish Government and the Solidarity
trade union in February and ending with the execution of Romanian
dictator Ceausescu on Christmas Day.
They began with a few ripples and became a tidal wave that swept
throughout the region, toppling governments and destroying the walls,
real and virtual, that had divided the continent of Europe for so many
years.
The initial fissures had begun some years before, aided by the
actions and policies of the United States and Western Europe, as well
as the reform measures of glasnost and perestroika introduced by Soviet
General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. But the real cracks that led to
the crumbling of the Wall and the entire regime were brought about by
the courageous actions of the men and women of Central and Eastern
Europe in 1989.
This resolution commemorates those events and those people:
The startling election victory of Solidarity, winning every seat it
was allowed to contest in the lower House and 99 of 100 in the Senate;
The unprecedented decision by the Hungarian Government to open the
border to Austria, enabling thousands of East Germans to flee to the
West;
The amazing 400-mile-long human chain across Estonia, Latvia, and
Lithuania, comprising 2 million citizens linking hands to protest
Soviet rule and to demand restoration of independent statehood;
The ``Velvet Resolution'' in Czechoslovakia, which caused the
resignation of the communist government and the free election of
President Vaclav Havel;
The protests in Bulgaria that led to the end of the 34-year rule of
Communist leader Zhivkov and the first free elections since 1946;
The uprising of the people in Romania against the efforts to arrest a
popular priest and the brutal killing of innocent protesters that
followed, that led to the deposing and the execution of Romanian
dictator Ceausescu;
And, of course, the iconic event of 1989, the tearing down of the
Berlin Wall and the joyous celebrations of people who were finally
free.
Today these countries are important, vibrant, strong democracies,
important partners in NATO and the European Union. I am proud to call
them our allies and our friends. We have worked together to address the
challenges in Afghanistan, the threats posed by terrorists and the
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the risks to our
environment, to energy security and economic well-being. We share the
same values and hope for the future.
We still have much work to do to resolve difficult issues remaining
within Europe, but 20 years after it was considered inconceivable, the
dream of a Europe, whole, free, and at peace is finally within reach.
I urge my colleagues to join me in commemorating the 20th anniversary
of the remarkable events leading to the end of the Cold War and the
creation of a Europe, whole, free, and at peace.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
I rise in support of House Resolution 892 commemorating the
extraordinary events in 1989 which led to the end of the Soviet
regime's domination over Eastern Europe and those people it held
captive within its borders.
As this resolution points out, 1989 was an important and pivotal year
for
[[Page H12542]]
freedom in Europe. In the course of only 365 days, walls fell, free
elections were held, dictators were washed away, and people who had
long yearned for freedom crossed barriers and walked into liberty. The
trade union Solidarity won its historic election victory leading to the
first noncommunist government in Poland since 1945.
Two million people living in the Baltic States linked hands to form a
human chain almost 400 miles long in a dramatic, peaceful protest
against Soviet rule.
In response to protests that had grown to include over a million
people, East Germany opened the border with West Berlin for ``private
trips abroad''; then thousands of East Germans flooded across the
border and the Berlin Wall fell.
The ``Velvet Resolution'' protests in Czechoslovakia led to a free
election of a new democratic government.
Romanian security forces brutally murdered brave Romanians who were
protesting the arrest of a local priest, but subsequent mass protests
overthrew the communist regime there.
Mr. Speaker, and while I do support this resolution, it might have
been an even more important statement by this House if it had clarified
more specifically the great importance that membership in the NATO
alliance now holds for these countries formerly trapped behind the Iron
Curtain.
While this measure indeed reaffirms our commitment to article 5 of
the alliance, I would like to point out some disturbing recent
incidents involving some of our allies in Eastern Europe which would
seem to call for an even stronger statement of the strength and
commitment of our alliance.
In April of 2007, the Russian Foreign Minister threatened serious
consequences after the Estonian Government moved the site of a Soviet
war memorial in Tallinn. Subsequently, Estonian Internet and
technological information systems were subjected to large-scale,
systematic cyberattacks suspected to have originated in Russia.
Furthermore, Russian officials recently threatened undefined
aggressive actions against Poland and the Czech Republic if those
states agreed to the deployment by their NATO ally, the United States,
of strategic missile defense components on their territory.
In August of 2008, a Russian general stated, ``By hosting (missile
defense components on its territory), Poland is making itself a target.
This is 100 percent certain. It becomes a target for attack. Such
targets are destroyed as a first priority.''
Recent efforts undertaken by Russia and its state-controlled energy
companies to monopolize control over energy supplies to European states
have raised concerns over future Russian intentions regarding influence
over political processes in those states. Again, this measure would
have been a good opportunity to include specific references to those
incidents.
The kinds of statements and actions emanating from the Russian
Government are extremely serious and they must be viewed with the
utmost concern for the sake of security of the countries of Eastern
Europe that did work so hard to gain the freedom they finally achieved
in 1989, the subject of this resolution.
{time} 1745
Overlooking such statements and actions, the measure before us today
forgoes the opportunity to send a truly clear and powerful message that
we will not ignore statements and actions of that nature aimed at our
allies, that their hard-won freedom and security do matter to us, and
that we will stand with them against such intimidation.
In closing, Mr. Speaker, I would like to note today's news report
concerning comments just made by the Russian Foreign Minister. These
statements can only be interpreted as a subtle warning to our Polish
ally against allowing any U.S. troops--its NATO ally--being deployed on
sovereign Polish territory.
When told that the Polish Foreign Minister had stated that the United
States should deploy troops in Central Europe, the Russian Foreign
Minister replied, ``I'm astounded, because he and I discussed in tiny
detail the objectives that Russia pursues with its initiative on a new
treaty on European security.''
With such comments in mind, let us take note of the serious
challenges that our allies in Eastern Europe continue to face today and
send a strong message of support against any attempts to threaten or
intimidate them.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 6 minutes to my good friend, the
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton), who is the ranking member on the
Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia.
Mr. BURTON of Indiana. I thank the gentlelady for yielding.
I was afraid you were going to leave, Mr. Chairman, before I got to
talk to you. I always like to address you when I am down in the well.
You made a comment about my colleague, Mr. Kingston, when he said
something about our bill being so much smaller. You said, I think it
was 10 times bigger because it did 10 times more. It does do a lot
more. It spends a lot more. It is 1,990 pages--now don't walk away, I
want you to hear this--and each word, each word in the bill is $2.25
million. Each word, not each page out of 1,990 pages. Each word. And it
is going to cost not $1 trillion but about $1.3 trillion. And it is
going to cause rationing of health care. And it is going to cause a big
cut of Medicare and Medicare Advantage.
I see you moving. You are moving toward the door. I want to tell you,
Mr. Chairman, I love you, but this is not the best bill that I have
ever seen. In fact, I think it is a bill--well, he is leaving now. He
is going out the door. So, Mr. Chairman, I will just tell you, I would
like to take issue with that.
I would like to just say one more thing before you leave, because I
want to talk about Ronald Reagan for a minute. When you did your
dissertation--hold it. When you did your dissertation, you didn't
mention Ronald Reagan and what he did and when he said, ``Mr.
Gorbachev, tear down this wall.''
Now you can go.
Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to address their
remarks to the Chair.
Mr. BURTON of Indiana. I'm sorry. Oh well, he is gone now anyhow.
Mr. Speaker, Madam Ranking Member, Ronald Reagan forced Gorbachev and
the Soviet Union to spend money they didn't have, like we are doing
right now with that health care bill, spend money they didn't have to
build T-55 tanks and weapons to keep up with us in the Cold War, and he
forced that country, that Soviet Union, and all of the countries
involved, to fall apart. And he said, ``Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this
wall.'' And I thought at the time, that's a great speech, Mr.
President, but it will never happen.
And I went to Namibia to monitor the election in Namibia with former
Senator Edwin Muskie about a year and a half later, and we were going
to a German beer garden for lunch before the election took place. I
walked in, and everybody was holding steins, and I thought it was a big
birthday party or wedding party. And I said, What's going on?
And this guy with tears rolling down his cheeks, a German fellow,
said, Haven't you heard? The Berlin Wall is coming down.
I got tears in my eyes and said, I'll be darned; he got it done.
Ronald Reagan is one of the greatest Presidents this country has ever
had. I'm serious. I really mean that. He did whatever it took to deal
with the Soviet Union, and he won.
But not only that, Ronald Reagan said if we ever move toward
government control of health care, it would be a strong move toward
socialist control of everybody in this country. I'm paraphrasing him,
but he actually said that. When Ronald Reagan came in, instead of
moving toward more government control over our lives, he said instead
of raising taxes and creating more government, we are going to cut
taxes and give people more disposable income and we are going to give
businesses more money so they can expand. And what happened, we ended
up with the longest period of economic recovery that I can remember and
probably in our history.
So the Obama administration comes in and they take over the car
industry, the financial industry, the banking industry. They want to
take over the energy industry, and now they want to take over 18
percent of our entire society's economy, and that is health care. It is
going to be destruction of much of what we believe in and the way we
live
[[Page H12543]]
in this country. We don't need socialism in America, and that is what
it is.
And if you say that is a pretty strong word, go to the dictionary and
look and see what socialism is. It is government control over people's
lives. It is government regulation over everything.
And this health care bill is an absolute disaster. Seniors are going
to see rationing of health care first, and then others will. They will
see the cuts in Medicare and Medicare Advantage, $500 billion. They are
going to see all kinds of problems that they don't realize right now.
I just hope, I just hope that the people of this country who appeared
on the mall yesterday by the thousands will continue to fight, Mr.
Speaker, will continue to fight to stop this bill before it gets passed
into law. Because it is going to change everybody's life, and it is
going to mortgage the future of our kids and our grandkids. Inflation,
higher taxes, all of the things that we don't want.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to
the my good friend, the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Terry), a member
of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Mr. TERRY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution.
I want to talk about the cold war that has been created in the House
of Representatives over this health care bill. This is my 11th year
here, and I have never seen this House so divided and vitriolic. It is
intense around here, and it doesn't have to be this way. We have heard
speech after speech from my friends on the other side of the aisle
saying that we, because we oppose government involvement in our health
care and a $1.2 trillion price tag, that somehow we want people to die,
we don't want there to be or somehow we support the preexisting
exclusion in contracts or caps or insurance dumping.
Frankly, when you get past that level of vitriolic leadership-
supported rhetoric, what you find out is that we actually agree on a
lot between the two sides. We just haven't been able to actually
discuss a real bill between us because the Republicans have been shut
out. We are angry about that. I think that is the root or part of the
problem with this health care bill, is that we have not been involved
in its shaping at all.
For example, the bill that I supported or drafted and is up in Rules
Committee and may be heard at 1, 2 or 3 in the morning, I guess,
specifically forbids the use of a preexisting clause in a contract,
that eliminates the caps that have been put on, either yearly or
lifetime, that prevents the dumping. These are the type of things that
we tend to all agree on, but we can't work together to get those done
that have been identified as part of the problem.
Another part of the problem that I think we all agree on is the high
price of the policies in health care in general prevents many people
from being able to access or purchase health insurance. Therefore, not
being able to access as well as many others the health care system. But
there are ways to deal with that as well.
The GOP alternative, and the one I put in, allows people to be
packaged together in large groups. We attack the underlying costs of
health care, and we make it more affordable and policies available to a
lot more people by doing that. Mine is a replication, an exact
identical twin of what we have as Federal employees and Members of
Congress. And that is 9 million people.
I agree with the insurance exchange idea where you can put maybe 15
million people that are uninsured, don't have access to one large group
and let the private sector compete for them. This has been found by
most economists to really dramatically reduce the costs by buying in
bulk in the competition, and those two principles are embraced in the
alternatives.
But I want to break down a little bit where we start separating,
because really the real problems between the philosophical basis for
our bill boils down to the public option. Theirs has a public option
where it involves the government in health care. It sets up, and if you
read the bill and understand how it works, you see where we will have a
single-payer, totally-run-by-the-government health care system within
10 years. I oppose that. I ran on individual liberties, not growing
government. That is where we are going to hopefully have the debate
tomorrow, instead of the rhetoric that we have heard to date.
This is not only on the principles of big government versus limited
government, individuals and patient rights versus big government and
centralized leadership over health care, but it is also going to be a
debate about $1.2 trillion or more. And even some of this, there is
additional costs that are even hidden. Let me just give you one before
I yield back my time.
In order to help insure the lower-income people right above the
poverty mark, this bill tomorrow moves Medicaid from 100 percent of
poverty as the eligibility cutoff to 150 percent. Why is that? Why do I
say that is a trick? Well, it is good that they get uninsured, but ours
would allow them access and probably a little bit of support to be able
to help them. What this does then is shifts those costs to the State.
Because Medicaid, most of the dollars for Medicaid people are borne by
the State. So the price tag for this bill is actually higher.
One of the things that we are going to hear is, yes, they soak the
rich, which involves a lot of small businesses, but the middle-income
people are the ones that are going to get hit when they put these
burdens on the States. When the States, like Nebraska, have to come up
with tens of millions of more dollars at a time when we are in a
special session trying to figure out how to balance that budget, the
reality is they are going to have to raise taxes, and that is sales
taxes and property taxes. So this bill trickles down to the local
levels by forcing the States to have to expand their Medicaid coverage,
hiding the costs, the true costs of this bill, but also is going to
increase the local taxes. I think that is unfair and I think the
American public needs to know about some of these little nuances or
even tricks, as I would call them.
So I stand up in opposition to the health care bill; and when
hopefully this bill is defeated or can't get the votes, then we can
come together in a bipartisan way and fix the problems that we all
agree on and we can actually help the American public, as opposed to
creating this large new bureaucracy.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from New
York (Mr. McMahon) will control the time of the gentleman from
California.
There was no objection.
Mr. McMAHON. Mr. Speaker, I request to know how much time I have
remaining.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 16\1/2\ minutes.
Mr. McMAHON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from
Tennessee (Mr. Cohen).
Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this
time. I had planned on doing a 1-minute on the Berlin Wall. I think the
20th anniversary of the falling of the Berlin Wall is a historic
occasion. It is a story about freedom and oppression and people having
the opportunity to have that freedom.
I had the opportunity to visit Berlin before the wall came down and
after the wall came down.
{time} 1800
The contrast in East Berlin and West Berlin, when the wall was up,
was about as stark as the debate is from this side of the aisle and the
other side of the aisle. There was the idea of light and frivolity and
freedom and action and caring--and just life on one side, and the other
side of the wall was dark, negative, gray and repressive.
When I traveled over there, it was just startling for me to
experience it. Kurfurstendamm, which is the main street in West Berlin,
was a street of people and musicians and buskers on the street and
wonderful food and all kinds of life and freedom, and the other side
was dark. As soon as the people went home in these communist-style,
Stalinesque architecture buildings, they went home, they were not out,
there was no nightlife.
The waitress that waited on us in an East German, East Berlin
restaurant was almost afraid to talk to us. She yearned to visit the
West and to visit around the world, didn't know if she would ever have
that opportunity. We
[[Page H12544]]
tipped her handsomely, and I hope she used that money at some time to
make her trip across to the free world.
When we went through Checkpoint Charlie, I gave the guard there--and
it was one of the most ominous moments that I've experienced seeing a
combination of a police person, a border patrol person, a German--and I
say that in all the best respect to Germans, just a characterization
thereof, the same for police and border guards--and a communist
checking you through Checkpoint Charlie. It was rather stern and
official-like and intimidating. I slipped him an Elvis Presley swizzle
stick, which he kind of looked askance and took his hand and got it
into his hand and stuck it in his pocket and never moved his eyes from
looking forward. I was happy to pass Elvis along.
While I agree with the gentleman who spoke earlier about President
Reagan and some of the things he did in spending to help defeat the
Soviet Union and bring down that wall, a lot of what brought down that
wall was the people and their yearning for freedom, which was expressed
through Radio Free Europe and other manners in which the German youth
heard American music and saw American life. They saw blue jeans and
they heard rock and roll, they heard Elvis, they heard the Beatles,
they heard all kinds of people. Eventually that wall came down and they
heard Pink Floyd; Pink Floyd played and the world listened and the wall
came down.
When I returned years later to Berlin, I drove through the
Brandenburg Gate, which I don't think I was supposed to, but I did. And
that was fun, I could do it, it was freedom.
I thought back upon the last time I had been in East Berlin and you
couldn't do anything; it was such an ominous state. East Berlin now is
a fun, thriving, great place with great restaurants and art scenes and
freedom and people. It has really become more happening than the KuDam
or Kreuzberg or the other areas in the West which are happening as
well. But it was a great day when that wall came down.
The Newseum has three or four portions of the wall here in
Washington. I went there last week. I would encourage everybody, Mr.
Speaker, to go to the Newseum, which is a great museum. It's a museum
about history in America and the world, not just the news media, but
about freedom. The reason they've got the Berlin Wall there is because
of that freedom in the First Amendment, the freedom of press, the
freedom of expression, and the freedom of association. You can learn
about that and value it.
You look at that wall and you see pictures of the people who died
trying to get across, and coming up with ways to tunnel their way under
the wall or to leap or to create some type of flying machines, and all
the different ways, being inside cars or under cars and taken to
freedom. Many died, some made it. It's a great tribute to people's
yearnings for freedom and their desires to overcome the barriers put
before them by repressive regimes.
So I wanted to speak today because that was a momentous occasion in
my life to see the Berlin Wall, to go into East Berlin and see the
difference between our type of government and the Soviet repression,
and then to go back later and see the joy that is now in East Berlin
and the freedom that has been allowed to flourish.
So I thank the gentleman for bringing the resolution, I thank the
lady for bringing the resolution, and I encourage everybody to go to
the Newseum and to cherish their freedom.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, just to close on our side, I thank my
good friend, the esteemed chairman of our Foreign Affairs Committee,
Mr. Berman, for introducing this resolution.
As important as it is to pass feel-good resolutions, I think that
this resolution would have been strengthened if we would have talked
about the difficult realities that we are confronting now with Russia
and other states that are threatening the stability and the democracy
and the integrity of those countries who fought long and hard for their
independence, for their freedom, and for their democracy.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. McMAHON. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would also echo the words of
the gentlelady from Florida and all of those who spoke on the relevant
issue this evening of the resolution which honors the incredible
accomplishments that transpired in 1989, the fall of the wall, the
opening of the gate, and the spirit of freedom that blew through
Eastern Europe.
And it was not the result of one individual or one group of people.
Hundreds of thousands of people yearned and thirsted for freedom for
decades, and it finally came in the great fruition of that physical
breaking down of that wall.
We heard tonight about the memory of Ronald Reagan, and we are
reminded of what a great role he played in ordering Mr. Gorbachev to
open the gate and tear down the wall. I would close by only reminding
all of those in this Chamber tonight that I think if he were here,
Ronald Reagan would be a little disappointed in those who come in this
great august body at a time that we are honoring such a momentous
occasion in the history of our world and use it to discuss things,
though important, not relevant, and to seem to do so for political
advantage rather than honoring the memory of those who lost their lives
fighting and questing for freedom. They are an inspiration to all of
us, and they should be for all time.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from California (Mr. Berman) that the House suspend the rules
and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 892.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. McMAHON. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not
present.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be
postponed.
The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.
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