[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3457]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              LEGISLATION TO PREVENT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWNS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Gekas) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, I want the last two speakers to know that I 
am grateful for their emphasis on fiscal responsibility and to let them 
know how refreshing it is to hear Members of the other side of the 
aisle concentrate on reduction of debt, budget responsibility, fiscal 
responsibility. It gives impetus to my remarks about to be made on 
something that has been bothering me for 10 years and on which I have 
spoken at least 100 times on the floor and on which I will ask for 
their support when the time comes. This mainly is budget restraint 
through prevent government shutdown legislation.
  If there ever was a clamp on our ability to balance the budget and to 
exude fiscal responsibility, it is the lack of a mechanism to prevent 
government shutdown. What have I proposed over the last 10 years which 
now seems to be gathering more momentum?
  Everyone should recognize that on September 30, the end of the fiscal 
year for the Congress of the United States, for the U.S. Government, if 
no new budget is in place the next day, October 1, we enter into an 
automatic shutdown of government until a budget can be put into place. 
What we have resorted to in the past, as a Congress, has been temporary 
appropriations for 10 days, 2 months, sometimes more than that, but 
always with another crisis to face us at the end of that deadline on 
whether or not we will have a full budget.
  My proposal is so simple that it cannot penetrate the consciousness 
of Members of Congress, and that is this: That at the end of the fiscal 
year, September 30, if no new budget is in place the next day, if no 
new budget has been passed, then the next day automatically, by instant 
replay, like in professional football, instant replay, there will be 
enacted last year's budget.

                              {time}  1315

  What will that do?
  That means that forever we will avoid the possibility ever after of 
shutting down government because there will always be a budget in 
place. I ask for support of my instant replay legislation which is 
making the rounds now of the Members of the Congress because it makes 
common sense.
  In the past, I have been saying that the reason my proposal has not 
passed is because it makes so much sense. Now I want to turn that 
around and say: Because it makes so much sense, and because it is vital 
to fiscal responsibility, and because it is vital to the reduction of 
the debt, and because it is vital to keep the stream of American 
society moving past any impasse that we might have because of budget 
breakdowns, I urge that we now see the light of day and pass my instant 
replay legislation.
  No more government shutdowns, no more leaving our troops as we did in 
Desert Storm ready to fight that battle while the government back in 
Washington shut down. Can my colleagues imagine anything more 
disgraceful, more embarrassing, more revolting than that? My 
legislation would prevent that for all time.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge full and constant and instant support of my 
instant replay legislation.

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