[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 14 (Thursday, January 23, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S305-S306]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CONGRESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY ACT

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, on another issue, I want to talk about 
the 30-year anniversary of a piece of legislation that I have been 
involved with.
  A lot has happened during the first week of the second Trump 
administration. Within just 3 days in the White House, President Trump 
has put the pedal to the metal, delivering on the mandate voters 
expected when they went to the polls on November 5.
  Now, thinking of history, it brings to mind a message the voters 
delivered 30 years ago. Some of my colleagues will remember what is 
called the Contract with America. That was a platform, if you remember, 
engineered by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich that led to 
what was called the Republican Revolution of 1994. In fact, it was so 
much of a revolution that I remember that in President Clinton's State 
of the Union Message, he said and opened his statement with these few 
words:

       The era of big government is over.

  That is how much the Gingrich contract rattled Washington, DC.
  So the American people expressed that they were fed up with 
government-knows-best and a Washington mindset that applied rules for 
thee but not for me. Sounds familiar, doesn't it, 30 years later with 
the Trump mandate?
  So I come to the Senate floor today to talk about one particular 
issue that still comes up at my county meetings. For years, Iowans have 
asked me something like this: Why doesn't Congress have to follow the 
same laws as we have to follow? That used to be true until we passed 
the Congressional Accountability Act. In fact, that law became law, law 
of the land, 30 years ago today.
  Prior to 1995, Congress was exempt from about a dozen workplace laws 
that applied to the private sector but not to us in the Congress. I 
want to revisit how it came about.
  In 1994, the American people delivered a landslide victory to 
Republicans. We gained majority control of the U.S. House of 
Representatives and the U.S. Senate. It was an epic victory considering 
that Democrats had run the

[[Page S306]]

House of Representatives for all but 4 years going way back to 1931.
  The best approach to good leadership is to keep an ear to the ground 
and a finger to the pulse of the American people, much like our 45th 
and 47th President has done since 2017. Throughout my public service, 
that is how this U.S. Senator has worked to represent Iowans. By 
listening, by keeping in touch, and by going home every chance I get, I 
hold myself accountable to the people. This year, I will start my 45th 
consecutive year holding meetings with Iowans, holding Q&A meetings in 
each of Iowa's 99 counties.
  Now, for a basis for keeping in touch and keeping government 
responsible, let's look at Federalist 57. In that Federalist Paper, 
James Madison wrote about the vital need for what he called ``communion 
of interests'' between the people and their leaders, ``without which 
every government degenerates into tyranny.'' In the 21st century, you 
could call that having skin in the game.
  Back to this 30th anniversary of the Congressional Accountability 
Act, during the period of Congress having exemption from some workplace 
rules, Iowa's small businesses and Main Street civic leaders hit the 
nail on the head. They said to me and other Members of Congress: What 
is good for the goose ought to be good for the gander.
  So some of us rolled up our sleeves and got to work. I teamed up with 
former Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut here in the Senate. Like 
many legislative efforts, it took years to build a bipartisan coalition 
to have these laws applied to the Congress of the United States. The 
1994 electoral victory was the boost that we needed to get across the 
finish line.
  On January 4, 1995, I reintroduced the Congressional Accountability 
Act. My good friend and former Senate majority leader Bob Dole summed 
up the reason for this legislation better than anybody else. I quote 
Senator Dole:

       Many of our citizens have begun to view the Senate and 
     House of Representatives not as a people's body, but as an 
     ``imperial Congress,'' as an institution that considers 
     itself above the law and without accountability.

  That double standard had to end. We had to restore confidence with 
the American people. That is why I championed the Congressional 
Accountability Act--to inject common sense into lawmaking.
  This Federal law would provide that lawmakers walk in the shoes of 
our constituents, abiding by the same workplace rights and worker 
protection laws, including civil rights, age discrimination, 
disability, overtime pay, and occupational safety and health laws.
  One of my opponents during those years of trying to get this 
legislation passed was Senator Stevens of Alaska. I remember as this 
bill passed the U.S. Senate and I was victorious, he came up to me and 
poked his finger in my chest and said: I hope you are the first Senator 
to get sued because of this legislation.
  Well, I haven't been sued, and I don't think anybody has been sued.
  The first bill that we sent to the President's desk in the 104th 
Congress was the Congressional Accountability Act. President Clinton 
signed it, as I mentioned earlier, 30 years ago today, on January 23, 
1995.
  Since then, I have led reforms to expand whistleblower protections to 
employees in the legislative and executive branches. In 2018, President 
Trump signed into law reforms to the law's reporting and resolution 
process for workplace harassment claims.
  Although the ink has long dried on the Congressional Accountability 
Act, we all still need to be fighting every day to keep a reality check 
here in Washington, DC.
  I am going to finish with this ironic statement. Even though this 
legislation was passed 30 years ago and even though I have heard about 
its need for a long time before that, I still--as I say, ironically--
hear at my town meetings some constituents say to me: Why don't you 
have to live under the same laws that we live under? Then I have an 
opportunity to tell them about the Congressional Accountability Act.
  I yield the floor.

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