[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 22513]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                       RENDEZVOUS WITH OBSCURITY

  (Mr. DOGGETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, when this House recesses early today at 
2:00 in the afternoon, it will be another recess from reality. To 
continue the normal operation of our Federal Government, Mr. Speaker, 
13 appropriation bills should be passed by next Thursday, the last day 
of the Federal fiscal year. One has thus far been signed into law. With 
so much yet to be done and so many other issues, from gun safety to 
public education that this Congress should be addressing, the 
Republican leadership response is to declare a long weekend recess and 
to meet next week for 3\1/2\ days before the end of the fiscal year.
  Mr. Speaker, if this plan represents ``making the trains run on 
time,'' as the Republican leadership has so often professed, maybe we 
would be better off taking a plane or even a bus.
  Little wonder that one distinguished congressional historian recently 
observed that ``this Congress has a rendezvous with obscurity.''




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