[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 15]
[House]
[Pages 20942-20943]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



  CURIOUS, COARSE, CALLOUS POLITICAL CALCULATIONS AT THE OTHER END OF 
                          PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hayworth) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HAYWORTH. Mr. Speaker, I think the preceding two speeches offer a 
classic contrast where we come as a free people to debate ideas because 
my friend from Oregon who precedes me is caught up in the politics of 
envy. Mr. Speaker, I would suggest that as Americans, Republicans and 
Democrats, liberals and conservatives, we would do well to set aside 
the politics of envy and embrace the policies of opportunity.
  Mr. Speaker, as all of my colleagues had the opportunity on recess to 
spend time with their families, I also spent a good bit of time with my 
constituents in the Sixth Congressional District of Arizona, a district 
in square mileage almost the size of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 
and in 13 town halls held across the width and breadth of the Sixth 
District I found that constituents were consistently rejecting the 
politics of envy for the policies of opportunity as enunciated by our 
common-sense majority in the Congress as we pledged during this 106th 
Congress, number one, to save and secure Social Security and Medicare 
not only for today's seniors, but for tomorrow's, as we also move to 
save and strengthen and rebuild our national defenses and our national 
security, as we work to improve education by empowering leaders at the 
local level, locally elected school boards; but, more importantly, 
teachers in the classroom and parents in the home because we know that 
teachers in the classroom and parents at home can deal far better with 
the educational challenges of their youngsters than any Washington, 
D.C. bureaucrats.
  And finally what my good friend from Georgia mentioned, tax relief 
and tax fairness for all Americans. My friend from Oregon had one 
glaring omission in his diatribe against letting the American people 
hold onto more of their hard-earned money. He failed to cite the fact 
that the top 5 percent income earners in this country pay well over 60 
percent of the taxes taken in by the Federal Government.
  But be that as it may, tax relief for everyone is encapsulated and 
included in death penalty relief, easing the penalty of the death tax 
on the American people, reducing the marriage tax penalty, reducing 
capital gains taxes so that you are not punished for succeeding or 
investing wisely and offering to small business 100 percent 
deductibility for health care insurance instantly if the President will 
sign the bill even as we lock away over $2 trillion to save Social 
Security and Medicare and pay down the national debt.
  These are the opportunities that confront us, and, Mr. Speaker, I 
would be remiss if I did not mention one other topic that has come to 
the fore in town hall meetings and has been part of our electronic town 
hall in talk radio and in discussions on television, and that is the 
unbelievable actions of our Chief Executive to grant clemency to Puerto 
Rican terrorists. I am sure, Mr. Speaker, that Osama Bin Ladin and 
others who embrace terrorism are watching with great interest.
  The power to pardon, to grant clemency is given to our Chief 
Executive by the Constitution. How curious that our President, having 
issued clemency only three times, would grant it in blanket fashion to 
over a dozen Puerto Rican terrorists who waged a campaign of terror for 
well over a decade if they would only promise to renounce violence.
  Mr. Speaker, when will it end; the pilfering of 900 FBI files of 
political opponents, the curious and tragic actions at Waco, putting 
the Lincoln bedroom up for sale to the highest bidder in terms of 
political donations, and, Mr.

[[Page 20943]]

Speaker, on the subject of campaign financing, donations from front 
companies for Communist China?
  Mr. Speaker, it is shocking, and as the people of the Sixth District 
of Arizona told me last week, Alice may have said curiouser and 
curiouser when she stepped through the looking glass, but, Mr. Speaker, 
as we look to the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue for curious, coarse, 
callous political calculation and decisions that actually are not in 
the best interests of the American people and their children, all we 
can say, Mr. Speaker, is: Shame. If only those who bear the 
responsibility were capable of feeling the shame they ought at this 
hour in this moment.

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