John Boehner

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I offer a privileged concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 9) and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from California just finished talking about the ethics case that is currently pending against the Speaker of the House. Over a week ago, in a bipartisan fashion, the members of the Ethics Committee, five Democrats and five Republicans, came to an agreement that this case would be completed on or before January 21st of this year and that the case would be brought to the floor of the House before then. That was an agreement made by the 10 members of the Ethics Committee. I think what happened earlier this week when the House reorganized itself is that we confirmed that agreement. Subsequent to then, members of half of the committee, the Democrat side, have decided that they need more time. We believe that that agreement should in fact be kept. Further, the committee agreed yesterday that for the first time in the history of the Congress, that there would be an open hearing on an ethics case, primarily because the Speaker of the House, the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Gingrich], agreed to do that. So next week there will be up to 5 days of open hearings for the American people to watch on C-Span, other media outlets, to see the facts. The Ethics Committee here in the Congress, in the process that they follow, is really bifurcated. Over the last 6 months there has been a subcommittee of the Ethics Committee look at the Gingrich case, two Democrats and two Republicans. The Speaker has voluntarily turned over over 50,000 pages of information to the committee. This subcommittee has done its work in a bipartisan fashion. It is the subcommittee that is going to now report to the full committee its findings. They have issued a preliminary report outlining their findings to the Members and to the full Ethics Committee. So next week there will be ample opportunity for all of the Members and the American people to understand the facts about the case if they need to know any more than what they have already heard. I think that by January 21 the House will be in a position to make a decision on how to proceed from there.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Republican Conference, I offer a privileged resolution (H. Res. 12) and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Madam Clerk, I move to lay the appeal on the table.

Mr. BOEHNER. Madam Clerk, as chairman of the Republican Conference, I am honored and privileged to welcome my colleagues, their families, and the American people to this historic day. Two years ago we began a new chapter in American history, one of faith in the strength, creativity and goodness of Americans; one where we humbly recognize that although the people sent us here to do their business, we cannot do our job without their consent and their support. With their support, we began to change America by reforming Washington. And together, we will ensure our reforms improve Americans' quality of life. We will balance the budget, provide permanent tax relief, safer streets, better schools, a cleaner environment, and longer healthier lives with more affordable health care. It is an ambitious agenda, but it is what we were sent here to do. And we owe the American people nothing less. With pride in what we have accomplished in the past and anticipation of what we can do together in the future, I am directed by a unanimous vote of the Republican Conference to present the name of the Honorable Newt Gingrich, a Representative-elect from the State of Georgia, for election to the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives for the 105th Congress. Question of Privilege Offered by Mr. FAZIO of California The Clerk. The Clerk now recognizes the gentleman from California [Mr. Fazio] for a nomination.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I offer a privileged resolution (H. Res. 1) and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, as leader of the Republican Conference I am directed by that conference to notify the House officially that the Republican Members have selected as our majority whip the gentleman from Texas, the Honorable Tom DeLay.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, as chairman of the Republican Conference, I am directed by that conference to notify the House officially that the Republican Members have selected as their majority leader the gentleman from Texas, the Honorable Richard K. Armey.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Republican Conference, I offer a privileged resolution (H. Res. 12) and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I offer a resolution (H. Res. 7) and I ask unanimous consent for its immediate consideration.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Pennsylvania for yielding the time. Let me congratulate Members on both sides of the aisle for bringing this bill to the floor and the job that they have done in reauthorizing the FAA and in furthering many projects that need to be done to improve the Nation's airports. Now we all know that there has been a great change in this Congress. We have just not restored common sense back to Congress, but we have also brought an awful lot of accountability back to Congress, and when we make a mistake, we have had the courage to stand up and to correct that mistake. That is why we are here today, fighting over one small provision of this bill. When we eliminated the ICC last year, we made a drafting mistake, and I think every Member of this body understands it was truly a mistake. And since then, we have lawyers around America trying to exploit the mistake that was made when we eliminated the ICC. What we are trying to do today is to have the courage and the guts to stand up to do what is right and to fix the mistake that we made and to stop those from exploiting this innocent mistake for their own professional good or, frankly, for their own livelihood. Now the outrageous claims that were just made by the previous speaker, I am not going to even provide enough dignity to what was said to respond to it, other than no person's name, no company's name ever ought to be uttered on the floor of this House. We know we made a mistake. Let us stand up and do the right thing. We know in the Senate, where this provision came from, that the Senate Members unanimously agreed to put it in the bill. That means all of the Democrat Senators and all of the Republican Senators in the other body unanimously argued to put this provision in this bill. That is where it came from, that is why it is here, and that is why we are dealing with it today. But more importantly, we are dealing with it because it is the right thing to do, to admit we made a mistake and correct it.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, the tactics being employed on the floor today I think are extremely unfortunate. All 435 Members of this House know that the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct is made up in a bipartisan way, the only such committee of the Congress, where there are equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans. These 10 Members serve on this committee for the benefit of all of us, and there is not one Member that does not understand that they have a very, very difficult job. We also know that over the years this committee, under difficult circumstances, has always done its job, and they have done it in a bipartisan way. The committee continues to work in such a fashion, and we ought to respect the 10 Members, 5 Democrats and 5 Republicans, who are on this committee, respect the work they do on behalf of the institution, and on behalf of each and every one of us, who at some point in time or another have been subject to such allegations. Please respect their rights.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I thank my colleague, the gentleman from California [Mr. Thomas], for granting me the time and for his work on this very important legislation. I also would like to congratulate my colleagues on both sides of the aisle on the Committee on House Oversight, who have spent an awful lot of time putting this together, and my colleagues on the Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities, who have a section of this bill. One thing that we have all learned over the last couple of years is that the 435 Members of the House each has their own idea about how to change the campaign finance system we have in America. One of the most difficult things that I have seen in the 5\1/2\ years that I have been here is the difficulty that leadership has had on each side of the aisle in trying to bring enough consensus around any kind of a bill and bring it to this floor and to get it passed. I think that the bill that Mr. Thomas and our committee brings to the floor today is a sincere, honest attempt at trying to reform the system, albeit in a different way than the Washington establishment has wanted to do for some time. Yes, it is true, we do not have more bureaucracy. We do not have phony limits. We do not try to create a bureaucracy to try to control campaign spending from here in Washington. Our version says, let us let the people in each district around America decide because by requiring Members and candidates to raise half of their money for a campaign from their own congressional district, it is their contributors, their constituents who will determine in effect how much money is spent in those campaigns. The fact that it reduces the influence of PAC's by cutting the maximum PAC contribution in half, I think, further allows the people of these local districts to make the decision about how much is going to be spent there. But there is another very important part of this bill. That is, the last section that is the worker's right to know. What we are trying to do here is empower workers in America to have more control. Over what? Over their hard-earned money that they pay to unions around this country. There is not an American that has not seen some radical ad being sponsored by the AFL-CIO and others attacking freshmen and Republican Members. They have been all over the country. They are going to spend, according to a professor who came and gave testimony in our committee, $300 to $400 million in this cycle trying to influence elections. Yet all of the money virtually is being spent on one side of the political aisle. It is not on the Republican side. Forty percent of union members around America vote for Republican candidates. This money, their money is being spent against their will. We believe that what we ought to do is to empower those workers by doing just two simple things: Requiring unions to tell their employers just how much of their union dues is actually used for representational costs. So it requires the unions to tell their Members just how much of their dues are used for representational costs. The second thing that this section of the bill does, very simply, is to empower the worker to decide whether any money that he pays in dues, he or she pays in dues over the representational costs, can be used for other political activities. Now, at a time when we are trying to do more to empower workers, to encourage teamwork in America, I think this is a very modest proposal to help working men and working women in terms of using their hard- earned money for the purposes that they see fit.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, welfare should not be a way of life. Republicans are committed to replacing welfare with real work. However, President Clinton just wants to play politics with this issue, and there is no excuse that is too vague or too convoluted for President Clinton. As a candidate in 1992, the President promised to reform welfare as we know it, but he has vetoed welfare reform, not just once but twice. He has yet to keep his promise to the people of Wisconsin to sign their waiver to allow the Wisconsin works program to go into effect. He promised that he would have these waivers signed by last week, and now it is a week later. If welfare reform was so important to President Clinton, why can he not sign a welfare reform plan working with this new Congress and approve the Wisconsin reform waiver? Mr. Speaker, no more excuses, no more Washington political game. Let us reform welfare now.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, over the weekend we were saddened to learn of the death of one of our colleague, Bill Emerson. from the great State of Missouri. Many of the Members know that Bill had been fighting a battle with cancer over the last 10 months. Bill lost that battle over the weekend. Bill served here in Congress for almost 16 years, having first started in 1954 as a page here in the House, then going on to work for various Members as a staffer here on Capitol Hill. He served on the Committee on Agriculture, he served on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and he had a career-long interest in the issue of hunger, serving as the ranking minority member on the Select Committee on Hunger, and then going on to be the cochairman of the Hunger Task Force here in the Congress. His interest in hunger was certainly for those in a domestic purpose here in our country and also around the world. I share with all of our Members our grief in losing our dear friend Bill. We send our condolences to Jo Ann and Bill's four children, and ask them to remember that Bill Emerson was our friend, our colleague, and someone we dearly loved.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Iran Oil Sanctions Act of 1996. This legislation is the result of much hard work and compromise between the Committee on International Relations and the Committee on Ways and Means. I really want to commend my colleagues for bringing forward this very important piece of legislation. The bill is necessary to erode Iran's and Libya's ability to finance international terrorism in chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons development programs. By targeting these countries' primary moneymaking industries, this legislation strikes at the heart of Iran's and Libya's efforts to undermine the Middle East peach process and to terrorize its peaceful neighbors. This bill sends a clear message to these countries that the United States will not tolerate the flouting of international law and international norms of behavior. At the same time, it shows strong leadership to our allies and serves as an example to be followed. I urge my colleagues to support this very important bill.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, Republicans have a health care bill that ensures affordability, accessibility and ensures that preexisting conditions will not deny an individual health care coverage any longer. It makes health care more affordable to small businesses and to the self-employed and allows them to set up medical savings accounts. It allows tax deductions for long-term health care needs, and it fights fraud and abuse with tough new provisions. Mr. Speaker there are only two people standing between the American people and more affordable and available health care, and that is President Bill Clinton and Senator Ted Kennedy, and, Mr. Speaker, how long will they stand in the way and deny the American people these much needed reforms?

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, let me first commend the gentleman from Ohio, Chairman Kasich, and the members of the Committee on the Budget for doing an outstanding job in bringing this budget together and bring it to the floor tonight. Let me also thank and congratulate virtually all of my colleagues in this Chamber on both sides of the aisle, because for the first time in the generation Members from both sides of the aisle, virtually everyone in the House, is debating how to balance the budget. Over the last 25 years there has not been much discussion of this issue on both sides of the aisle, and that is the big change that has occurred over these last 18 months. The agenda in Washington is a lot different now than it was because we are talking about how to balance the budget, not the age-old debate that went on here about whether we should balance the budget. For months Republicans in Congress have talked about doing the right thing for our children's future, balancing the budget, stopping the borrowing from their futures and giving them a chance to live the American dream. Why? Because today's kids will not be able to live the American dream if they have to pay back everything that big government has borrowed from them. All of us have seen the most expensive credit card in the history of the world, a credit card that has a $5 trillion balance and budget deficits of another $150 billion a year for as far as the eye can see; $260 billion a year is the interest cost on this credit card and we have all got one. It is our voting card. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the most unconscionable thing that we are doing to our children and their children because it will not be those of us in this Chamber that pay off the debt on this credit card; it will be our kids and our grandkids. That is why over the last year and a half Republicans in Congress have kept our word. We have passed legislation last year that would balance the budget by the year 2002, that would have reformed welfare, would have saved Medicare for the next generation and given the American families tax relief. But instead of being constructive, the White House and their liberal allies have waged a campaign of fear and demagoguery. But once again we are keeping our word and, unfortunately, we believe the White House is continuing to play games. No one in this Chamber can doubt the fact that the President's budget is nothing more than a joke. Nobody in this room and nobody in this town believes that we can balance the budget the way the President has tried to present to all of us. The resolution that we have here before us tonight shows the hard work that we have all been at on both sides of the Chamber, and it also shows that we are able to have the courage to make the tough choices that it is going to take to balance the budget by the year 2002. No gimmicks and no blue smoke and mirrors; honest choices, tough choices for the American people. It preserves and protects Medicare for another 10 years. And if we do not do something, we all know what will happen. It is not only going to wreck Medicare for senior citizens, it will wreck the Federal budget in the future and provide more payments, more debt for our kids, and for theirs. This budget reforms welfare and it reforms Medicaid, moves power out of Washington and back to States and local communities where real reform can come, where we can actually be more compassionate in helping our fellow citizens. But most importantly, our $500 per child tax credit lets American families earn more, keep more, and do more for themselves and for their children. And ladies and gentlemen, if we are serious about moving power out of Washington, the way we have to do it is to move money out of Washington and allow the American people to keep more money in their own pockets. As I said before, our opponents, especially at the White House, are playing games. Last weekend's Washington Post, I think, outlined it pretty clearly in Dave Broder's column when he pointed out the President it telling us and the American people he is willing to make tough choices to balance the budget, but in fact is telling his own administration do not worry about it. Let us do the right thing for our children's future and pass this budget resolution.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, in 1992, candidate Bill Clinton refused to sign a waiver that would allow the FBI to release requested information from his FBI file. The candidate's, in 1992, press secretary said and I quote, ``It is a personal file and he is not going to do it.'' It just so happens that I have a staffer who works in my office whose name happens to be on that list of FBI files that happens to be at the White House. Nobody knows how. Nobody knows why. I wonder how she feels about her name and her file being displayed at the White House. Who saw it? What did they do with the information? Mr. Speaker, as the chaplain said, today is a new day. In 1992, Bill Clinton promised the most ethical administration in the history of this country, the most ethical. Today is a new day. I think it is time for the President and the White House to work fully with the FBI and to work openly and fully with this Congress to determine who knew what, when they knew it and what they are going to do to correct the problem.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, by now we all know about the White House's FBI files, background files, on some 349 Republicans here in Washington. A couple of them happened to be staffers that work for me. Now, only the White House knows why they asked for these files, and only the White House knows what they have done with these files over the last several years. Mr. Speaker, I think it is time for the White House to come clean, to work with the FBI so that we have no more coverups, and that we get to the bottom of this truth on this issue now, not after the election in November.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege and pleasure to recognize Roy E. Carlson for his years of service to the chambers of commerce in Ohio and Michigan. Roy has been with the Troy Chamber of Commerce for the past 10 years, and with his previous experience, has been professionally associated with the chamber for a total of 30 years. He has decided to retire at the end of this month. Though all of us who know Roy are happy for him for his upcoming retirement, we know his shoes will be hard to fill. Roy has devoted his time promoting economic development wherever he worked. Prior to his 10 years of service to the Troy Area Chamber of Commerce, Roy was executive vice president of the Findlay, OH, Area Chamber of Commerce. Before that he was manager of the Marshall MI, Chamber of Commerce. He is also active in the Ohio Development Association, Chamber of Commerce Executive of Ohio, and the Japan-Ohio International Network. I have had the opportunity to get to know Roy over the past 6 years and watched him work tirelessly to promote growth in the Troy, OH, area. His labor has benefited the community by bring new business opportunities and jobs for Miami County and the surrounding area. His drive and vision for Troy and Miami County have truly made a difference. Roy's position as president of the Troy Area Chamber of Commerce may be filled, but Roy can never truly be replaced. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I wish to recognize Roy E. Carlson for his service to his community through his leadership in the chamber of commerce. May be enjoy his years of retirement and take great pleasure in knowing that what he has accomplished over the years through his economic development efforts has touched the lives of those in the communities where he has served.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, the 1996 Medicare trustees report is expected to be released later today. Early reports are showing that the trust fund is headed toward bankruptcy much quicker than what we had expected. Last year Republicans had the courage to seriously address Medicare's impending bankruptcy. We produced and passed an honest and reasonable plan that would increase benefits for senior citizens, fight fraud and abuse, and extend long-term solvency to this very vital program. Our plan last year to address Medicare solvency problems increased per beneficiary spending from $4,800 in 1995 to $7,100 in the year 2002. The President's response, with the help of his liberal allies last year, was to divide our country by launching a scare campaign aimed at seniors. The President should stop misleading and scaring seniors and come to the table with a serious plan that addresses Medicare's serious solvency problem. What should scare our parents is that President Clinton is doing nothing to help solve the impending bankruptcy of Medicare.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, my colleagues, this weekend in Washington, there was a march. It was entitled ``Stand for Children.'' And I could not agree more that we should put politics aside and give our children a better nation than what we had inherited. If the President this year is willing to act and not just talk, I think that we can do this. In my hand is the world's most expensive credit card. It is a credit card that has accumulated 5 trillion dollars' worth of debt and accumulating budget deficits of $150 to $200 billion a year. This a voting card for a Member of Congress. This is the most unconscionable thing that any government could do to its children, because the adults in our country will not pay this. It will be our children and theirs who get to pay off this massive debt. Mr. Speaker, we can pass legislation this year that will balance the budget while at the same time providing $500 more for parents with dependent children at home, lowering the average cost of a college loan by $2,100, saving families over $100 a month on their mortgage, and will provide real opportunities for children when they get out of school and look for jobs. All we have to do is balance the budget. If the President really does feel the pain of kids today, he should put politics aside and begin to act.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, over the last 16 months there has certainly been some disagreement about what we have done in this new Congress. But I have to tell my colleagues that on our side of the aisle, what we have done here on the House floor every day was what we thought was in the best interest of the American people. We have been honest with the American people and that is why we passed the unfunded mandate legislation. If we are going to continue to uphold our responsibility to the American people, let us be honest with them today. Let us vote no, not to waive the point of order against this. Let us stand up and do the right thing once again.

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier in this debate, over the last 16 months the Republicans in Congress have had the courage to come to the floor of the House today and every day over those 16 months to do what we thought was right for the American people. We have had the courage to look past politics and had the courage to bring real change to this floor, real change in this Government to try to help all Americans. Now, I know today's debate on this minimum wage is a serious debate. It is a debate that is certainly strongly felt by people on both sides of this issue. But I would suggest to all of my colleagues here that everyone in this Congress wants to help low-wage workers. We all want every American's boat to be lifted, but especially those at the bottom of the economic ladder, we all sincerely believe and want to do what we can to help them. But the question is how. The proponents today bring a government-mandated minimum wage to the floor. What this is going to do, in my view, is going to hurt the very people we are trying to help. It is going to hurt small businesses that are the engine of new job growth in America, and I have to ask myself why would we want to do that when there is another way to help low-wage workers, and that other way is to help the private sector, help them in a strong growing economy so that they can provide more jobs and better wages for the American people because in the end low-wage workers will be much better off by allowing the private sector to do this rather than more government mandates, more government regulations. Now, Republicans over those last 16 months, we have tried to do this, and we have passed a $500 per child tax credit to help all workers in America. Unfortunately, it was vetoed by the President. We have passed a balanced budget plan in the House and Senate, and it was also vetoed, that would help all workers, especially low-wage workers who are hit with high interest payments on their car loans, their mortgages, if they have them. We could really help. A capital gains tax reduction; yes, capital gains tax rate reduction that would help the economy grow, help small businesses invest more in their business, more in equipment, and guess what would happen? We would have more jobs and we would have higher wages for low-wage workers. Now, over the last couple of days my friends on the other side of the aisle have had a lot of fun using a quote that was attributed to me that said I would commit suicide before I would vote to artificially raise the minimum wage. Now, why would I make such a quote? Well, I would like to tell all of my colleagues I grew up in Cincinnati with 11 brothers and sisters. I have had about every low-wage, sub-minimum wage job there is, and it was those jobs that were available that allowed me to learn the skills, allowed me the opportunity to learn how to get along in life, and yes, also taught me that maybe I ought to go back to school to improve myself if I were going to improve my lot in life. And, yes, it was because those low-wage jobs were there that, quite frankly, I am here today. I am a product of the private sector. I started a small business and spend 15 years building it before I came here. Fortunately, I did not have to pay any of my workers the minimum wage. I was successful enough to be able to pay them a good wage, but it was because we had a successful company. But a lot of small businesses do not have that, and on behalf of myself and my 11 brothers and sisters who had opportunities in America because these jobs were here, I from the bottom of my soul believe that we can help low-wage workers by providing and expanding the economy and help all workers. Let us do the right thing today and veto and vote ``no'' on this artificial minimum wage increase.