[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 18]
[House]
[Pages 25943-25944]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



  REFUTING STATEMENTS REGARDING LACK OF PROGRESS OF THE 106TH CONGRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I am here in Washington, D.C. representing 
the constituents of the 16th district in Florida, and I have heard a 
lot of conversation tonight about the lack of progress of this 
Congress. I must refute those statements vehemently and personally.
  I came to Congress in 1994 with a freshman class of the 104th 
Congress. What we inherited at that time was 40 years of Democratic 
leadership which brought us to record deficits, annual deficits, huge 
amount of monies owed, the U.S.Treasury or the taxpayers, $5.7 trillion 
of accumulated debt, a government that was spending money out of Social 
Security, Medicare and every other trust fund that they could find, and 
borrowing money out of Social Security in order to camouflage the real 
size of the deficit annually.
  When we were elected, we were told that we could expect, if we 
allowed the President and the majority party at that time to continue 
their spending ways, we would be probably this year spending in excess 
of $200 billion or $300 billion over and above what came in in 
revenues.
  Interestingly, 6 years later, as I am about to celebrate my sixth 
anniversary of being elected to this important and fine office, we have 
a balanced budget. We have welfare reform. We have reduced capital 
gains, which has led to the largest expansion on Wall Street and more 
income made by Americans in the equity markets than in our history.
  We have increased Medicare funding, and we have created a lockbox 
hopefully for Social Security. We have passed a marriage penalty 
elimination, but the President vetoed it. We passed estate tax relief, 
but the President vetoed it. We passed a repeal of a phone tax, but the 
President vetoed it.
  Mr. Speaker, we have restored military funding that was cut by this 
administration year after year. The White House sent us budgets that 
were inadequate for our military, and the Republican majority had to 
step up and make certain that our men and women in uniform were not 
only properly funded, trained, but that the personnel support that they 
need, the transportation support that they needed would, in fact, be 
there in a time of crisis.
  People say we are just sitting around doing nothing, I think when you 
have a fight over real issues, then it is worth staying. We can go back 
to the ways of yesterday and spend, spend, spend to our heart's content 
and not care about the voters, because after all it is all about 
Members of Congress. I have to get elected, so I have to bribe my 
constituents in order to make sure they vote for me. So they spend 
money just willy nilly out of the pockets.
  It is not theirs to pay, it just comes in the form of borrowed notes; 
and we fund the government excessively. We are here today over a few 
very, very minor issues. Yes, it was stated the President is away. He 
is in California.
  There are other Members of their side of the aisle away campaigning, 
because, after all, control of Congress is more important than doing 
the people's work, being in charge somehow around here is more 
important than accomplishment. I always heard from my parents put 
people before your politics, make certain you take care of those who 
cannot take care of themselves.
  As a Member of Congress, I voted for Head Start and a number of 
programs that the minority side has asked for. But at the same time, I 
recognize we have to have some fiscal restraint.

[[Page 25944]]

  The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young), the chairman of the Committee 
on Appropriations, bent over backwards to give the President and the 
White House and the minority side as much money as we possibly could 
find in order to make certain that their needs were met. But in the 
waning hours, it just was not enough, because it was more about 
shutting this place down, about causing gridlock, about trying to 
pretend that somehow nothing has been accomplished in this Congress.
  Campaign finance reform, we passed in the House. Patients' bill of 
rights, we passed in this House. I mentioned the tax cuts previously, 
so there is a record of accomplishment. People do not raise their 
voices.
  People do not need to belly ache and browbeat. People need to come 
together and solve the problems that face America. That is why we were 
elected. We were elected to make certain, yes, in a partisan sense as a 
Republican, to represent the core elements of what my party is all 
about. The gentleman from California (Mr. Horn), who will speak in a 
moment, and I veer off from time to time on our party for a number of 
issues, because we believe we have to represent our districts, mine in 
Florida, his in California. We care enough about our constituents to 
say we will do what is right, not what is political.
  The last 48, 72 hours, I have heard nothing but bellyaching from the 
other side of the aisle that has made me nauseous. It is not about 
doing something for people. It is about winning an election. It is 
about trying to gain power for the shear sake of having power. It is 
about being called chairman. That is not what this process is about; 
that will be decided November 7, and God bless America, it will be 
decided by people who pay taxes, who vote in this country, who make a 
difference, and who send us the money we spend here.
  Let us stop the acrimony. Let us stop the nonsense and let us stop 
the partisanship from that side of the aisle and recognize there has 
been a number of good accomplishments by the 106th Congress.

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