Dan Burton

Mr. BURTON of Indiana

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. The fact is you are turning everything on its head. The gentleman knows that.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. He has chosen to shut the Government down, not us.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. If the gentleman will continue to yield, the minority well knows that in the past there have been many, many, many times when we did not pass all the appropriations bill and we ran this place with continuing resolutions, short-term CRs. When we did that, the Democrats, when they were in charge, sent to the President of the United States things that he did not want.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. If the gentleman will yield, as the gentleman well knows, we made a commitment to the American people that we were going to pass a Contract With America in the first 100 days. Because we spent the time making good on that commitment and did it in 93 days, the appropriations process was set back. He knows that. We are trying to catch up and we will catch up. We will pass all 13 appropriation bills, as well as reconciliation, but it is a bogus argument in my opinion, and I have great respect for my colleague, the gentleman from Texas, to say that we are playing games here. The fact is we want a balanced budget and we are on a trend line to do that. The legislation we sent to the President gets us on that track.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. I appreciate that.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. If the gentleman will yield further, the fact of the matter is, and my colleague well knows, the President has stated his opposition to a number of the provisions [[Page H 12168]] in the short-term CR and the debt bill that he said he opposes. These are things that we believe America wants. He said he opposes them. The only way we could get around the President was to send him a bill that he could not veto.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I agree with just about everything my colleague the gentleman from Florida, who preceded me, has just said. I have been in Congress now for 13 years, and I have gone out and had a lot of town meetings with senior citizens and people from all across my district. I have talked all across the country. When you talk to people about the pain of cutting spending, people say, ``We have to balance that budget. We do not want to leave a legacy of debt to our kids and to our grandkids. We do not [[Page H 12167]] want to see hyperinflation in this country.'' After you get through talking, we start going around the room and we let them ask questions. Inevitably, somebody will say, ``You are not going to cut this program, are you?'' Somebody will say, ``You are not going to cut this program, are you?'' Before you know it, everybody in the room has some program that the Federal Government funds, or partially funds, that they are all interested in; maybe highways, maybe Medicare, maybe Social Security, maybe welfare. It may be a number of things, but everybody wants the budget balanced and they want their kids to be secure and their future to be secure, but they do not want their programs to be cut. We have had 40 years of movement toward socialism, toward complete government control over our lives. Make no mistake about it, we are at a point now where if we do not make some real hard decisions, we are going to get what we do not want as a Nation. If you look around the world, and I am on the Committee on International Relations, I can tell you a lot of countries that have hyperinflation have disintegration of government and government services because they have gone too far. We are heading in that direction. We have to make some choices. The people in this country last year elected a Republican majority in the House and Senate because they wanted change. They wanted a balanced budget. Eighty-eight percent of the people in this country want a balanced budget. If I were talking to America tonight, Mr. Speaker, I would say, ``Look, there is no easy way out. We are going to have to bite the bullet. Everybody is going to have to have a little bit of the share of pain.'' We are not cutting these programs. We are slowing the growth of the programs. Medicare is not going to be cut. The growth in Medicare is going to be 6.5 percent over the next 7 years. It is going to grow. But we are not going to allow it to grow at 10 to 15 percent, like it grew before. We are going to give money for the school lunch program. It is going to grow, but we are going to send the money back to the States so the Governors can more efficiently spend the money, rather than have some bureaucracy here in Washington spend it. We have to do something about welfare reform. The President now says he is going to veto welfare reform. Everybody in the country knows welfare is out of control. There is flagrant fraud in the welfare system. We have to do something about it. Now he says he is going to veto it. The bottom line is, Mr. Speaker, if I were talking to America, I would say if we want a balanced budget, then we are going to have to get on with it. We are going to have to get on with it. We are going to have to slow the growth in these programs. Yes, we are going to have to cut out some bureaucracy and some governmental agencies. We intend to do that. The President is pandering to the fears of senior citizens. He knows that the premiums for Medicare are going to have to go up, but he wants to postpone these major changes until after the next election. I am telling seniors, if they are paying attention, that after the next election these increases are going to be there, but they are going to be bigger, because we will have postponed them for a year. We want to deal with the problem now. We want to deal with it in an equitable and fair way. The benefits will continue to go up. The premiums are going to go up a little bit. There is no question about it. But we know that the Medicare system is going to fail if we do not do something. The President's commission said it is going to go bankrupt if we do not do something, so we are trying to do it in a responsible way, and he is down there at the White House with his glasses down over his nose, vetoing it, saying he is going to save it for seniors. The fact of the matter is he knows, we all know, we are going to have to deal with that problem. We want to deal with it now, in an equitable way, so the pain they are going to feel in a year is not as severe as it would be right now. We have no deal with the budget deficits. We are at $5 trillion. In a few years it will be $7 trillion. The interest alone on the debt will be so high we will not be able to manage this Government without printing money and causing hyperinflation. We have to control the deficit. We have to balance the budget, and we have a plan to do it in 7 years. He does not want to do. He says how about 9 years, 10 years, 11 years. There is going to be no end to it, America. We will never have a balanced budget until we make the decision to do it. We want to do it now. We want to hold the President's feet to the fire. I think that is what America wants. If we do not do it now, it will never happen, and we will rue the day that we turned our backs on this opportunity.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution, and with a very heavy heart to join in the grief over the cruel death of a great hero of Israel, and a great friend of America. Yitzhak Rabin epitomized all that we admire and appreciate about the state of Israel. He was a valiant and brave soldier who played a crucial role in Israel's war of independence in 1948. At that time, he commanded the brigade that protected the road to Jerusalem--Israel's very lifeline. As chief of staff of the Israel defense forces during the Six-Day War in June 1967, General Rabin presided over a stunning victory in a war of self-defense that preserved Israel's very existence. Yitzhak Rabin was Prime Minister of Israel in the mid-1970's, a period that saw the historic disengagement accords with Egypt and Syria, and the electrifying Entebbe rescue. He also helped to heal the national wounds in the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. When he became Prime Minister again in 1992, largely on the strength of his own personal popularity and credibility with the people of Israel, he courageously embarked on a search for peace and coexistence with Israel's Arab neighbors, a quest that is nothing less than a fulfillment of the Zionist dream. It was that brave quest which cost him his life. Yitzhak Rabin's life story is a microcosm of the story of Israel--the fierce determination to persevere coupled with the tireless yearning for peace. As our hearts are broken over his passing, let us all determine to remember him, and to achieving what he strove for--a true peace with security for the people of Israel.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to a very special woman and recognize a very special event. On November 17, 1995, the friends and family of Dora Fink will gather to celebrate her 90th birthday. Mrs. Fink, who was born in Mooreland, Graham County, KS in 1905, lived in a ``sod house'' on the plains of western Kansas. In her life she has seen world wars, she raised her children through the ``Great Depression'', watched with love and pride the troubles and triumphs of her family. But perhaps Dora's greatest accomplishment has been the example she has set for three generations. While many of us talk about the importance of family values, the virtues of work ethic, faith in God, and service to the community, Mrs. Fink has exemplified these words in her actions. We often recognize world leaders, kings, and notable persons for some unique feat. Today, I rise to honor Dora Fink, who has helped make this country great by passing the ``American spirit'' from generation to generation by her example. Mr. Speaker, I ask that you and my other colleagues join with Mrs. Fink's two children, five grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and many friends in saluting this extraordinary woman and wish her a very happy birthday.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a moment to pay tribute to a great high school band in my district. The Sheridan High School Band, from Sheridan, IN, recently won the annual class D, Indiana State Band Championship. All too often, Mr. Speaker, we pay homage to athletic teams, and fail to recognize the other accomplishments to which our young [[Page E 2116]] people aspire. Unfortunately, in our culture, sports seems to dominate the fascination of our minds. As many of our young people will learn as they get older, athletics is not everything. Many of them will gain an appreciation for other things as well. Whether its learning and playing an instrument, expanding their knowledge by reading books and other literature, or writing creatively, there are many other positive things our young people can participate in and enjoy for the rest of their lives in addition to athletic competition. It is in that spirit that I would like this House to recognize the hard work and long hours of practice that the Sheridan High School Band has put in over the years in order to be the best. Mr. Speaker, I ask that you and my other colleagues now join me in saluting the extraordinary efforts of band director Jim Haskell and the Sheridan High School Band by extending to them well-deserved congratulations.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow the Embassy of the State of Eritrea will raise its flag in Washington, DC, for the first time. This is a momentous occasion. The Eritrean people won their long struggle for freedom in 1991, and declared independence in 1993, after a referendum. The people of Eritrea have earned the admiration of the entire world for their perseverance, commitment, and dedication. They are an inspiration to us all, and it is an honor for our country to have the Eritrean flag flying in our Capital. I would like to salute President Issaias Afwerki, Foreign Minister Petros Solomon, Ambassador Amdemicael Kahsai, and the entire Eritrean nation on this happy day. I commend to the attention of my colleagues an article in the Washington Times based on an interview with President Issaias. In it, he boldly calls for increasing self-sufficiency and development of resources in Africa, and emphasizes the limited utility and effectiveness of foreign aid. I hope that we can all pay close attention to these wise words. I also wish to highlight the recent cooperation in the medical field between Eritrea and Israel as reported in Eritrea Profile. The health minister of Israel, Dr. Ephraim Sneh, recently visited Eritrea and signed an agreement to provide incubators for Eritrean hospitals. Israel has an exemplary recorded of International cooperation and I hope that this particular relationship is able to expand. Finally, I wish to insert into the Record an article from the Economist about the problem of Sudanese subversion in the Horn of Africa, and Eritrea's courageous response. [From the Washington Times, Sept. 25, 1995] Struggling Eritrea Agrees U.S. Should Cut Foreign Aid (By Terry Leonard) Asmara, Eritrea.--U.S. lawmakers intent on cutting foreign aid have unlikely allies in this small, poor nation that receives more of it per person than any other country in Africa. ``Aid is used and abused, so why not cut it?'' President Isaias Afewerki said in an interview. ``We favor the new American approach to reconsider aid.'' He said the country must not depend on aid to survive. ``If we here have faith in foreign aid as the maker and breaker of Eritrea, then that is the end of Eritrea.'' Eritrea, Africa's newest country, is determined to avoid the same trap that has mired so many African nations in debt and dependence on foreign handouts. ``We believe we need aid. But we don't believe aid can solve our problems,'' Mr. Afewerki said. The country desperately needs help as it emerges from 30 years of devastating war that finally brought independence from Ethiopia in 1993. But Mr. Afewerki and other government leaders say they would like to see aid limited to projects that promote development and not rely on handouts. ``The effective use of aid is to free society from any dependence on outside sources,'' the president said. Eritrea was the most industrialized country in Africa before war took its toll. Now the economy and the infrastructure are in shambles. Average life expectancy is 46 years. Annual per capita income is less than $150. Two-thirds of Eritrea's 3 million people rely on food aid. Although most citizens make their living from agriculture, only 25 percent of the land is arable, and only about 10 percent of that is under cultivation. This year, the U.S. government has promised Eritrea $13.2 million in development aid and $6.2 million in direct food aid. Under expected reductions for next year, development assistance is to fall to $9.6 million and direct food aid to just over $4 million. Saleh Meky, Eritrea's U.S.-educated minister of marine resources, said he does not believe Eritrea will suffer from the reduction. He said the United States is giving his ministry computers and teaching his people how to use them to determine the sustainable yield from Eritrea's bountiful fishing grounds in the Red Sea. They were virtually untouched during the three decades of war. America provides up to 30 percent of Eritrea's food aid and is spending $2.3 million to help analyze food security problems and develop strategies to solve them. Overall, American contributions amount to only about 5 percent of the total bilateral aid to Eritrea, officials said. U.S. aid is improving the woefully inadequate primary health care system in an effort to make the work force healthier and more productive. Washington proposes to spend $3.7 million on that project next year and on support for family planning. The birthrate here of 6.8 children per woman threatens to double the population in 23 years. The United States also intends to spend $1.5 million helping the government transform the state-controlled economy into one dominated by private business. Although U.S. lawmakers are still wrangling over which programs will be eliminated or reduced, reductions to all aid programs are expected to average more than 30 percent. Eritrean, officials have not said how they intend to make up the difference except that they want to become self- reliant. ``We get lots of offers of technical aid. Experts of all sorts, many of which have no use,'' said Nerayo Teklemichael, director of the Eritrean Relief and Rehabilitation Agency. ``We need projects that eventually will make us self-reliant in food. We must have more food, and we must cultivate more land for food.''

Mr. BURTON of Indiana

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Chairman, let me just say to my colleague from Florida it is our responsibility as the Congress, because this is the Nation's Capital, to keep an eye on what goes on here, so we do involve ourselves in managing this city, and we better because it was a real mess just a year ago. Now let me just say to one of my colleagues from Illinois that spoke awhile ago; he said we are opposing the free speech. The NEA can say anything they want to, and they do, and we do not object, but we do believe they should not get a $1.6 million tax break just because they are the only union in this city that gets that tax break, the only one. And so they should not get that tax break. Now I want to read to my colleagues something that was in the Indianapolis Star newspaper editorial just a week ago because this really upsets me. It says: This summer the NEA annual convention passed a resolution supporting a month-long celebration ``as a means of acknowledging the contributions of lesbians, gays and bisexuals throughout history.'' The celebration was the brain child of Rodney Wilson, a gay high school teacher from St. Louis. What Wilson wanted in this October and every subsequent October, was for public high schools to focus on a gay curriculum detailing the history of homosexual persecution and acknowledging the homosexuality of some historical figures. The latter alone should give parents the jitters. According to a Concerned Women of America ad, the Alyson Almanac, ``the fact book of the lesbian and gay community,'' claims some research indicates that Jesus Christ, Winston Churchill and George Washington were homosexuals. According to Newsweek magazine, ``not a single school district in the nation accepted the history month idea or a proposed gay curriculum. Even the NEA has gotten skittish after hundreds of teachers threatened to quit when the resolution passed in July.'' The Concerned Women organization was right to target the NEA action and any move to promote a gay history month. Comparing such a month, as some advocates have done, to Black History Month is an affront to social consciousness and common sense. Public education has embraced one foolishness after another in recent decades, but parents should scream bloody murder at the first sign a school in their district is prepared to adopt this latest.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, as I understand it from talking to the gentleman, the President has discretion on the $75 million.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will continue to yield, and that money will go forward for infrastructure for the PLO?

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will continue to yield, I appreciate the accountability features that he has put in there. The fact of the matter is, the administration supports strongly the peace process, as we do and as I do. So that money will go forward. My point is, and I know the gentleman can put a hold on this money if he sees fit, as some others may, I hope that he will do everything in his power to get accountability for this American that was murdered.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, again reclaiming my time, $75 million is the first tranche. Does the gentleman disagree that he is going to get $500 million?

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. I yield to the gentleman from California.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, as a Member of the Committee on International Relations, I had an opportunity to read recent statements by Yasser Arafat regarding Israel and the peace process. Some of the statements that I read were hair-raising, to say the least. He talked about things that fly in the face of the peace accords. He talked about war and torture and retribution. All of these things are not harmonious with the peace accords that we are talking about in the Middle East. We extended in this legislation the accountability factor by 18 months. There really is no more accountability for Yasser Arafat to contend with for the next 18 months, and yet we are going to give him $500 million of American taxpayers' money--$500 million. Mr. Speaker, while we are giving him this money we realize or know or believe from British intelligence that the PLO has between $8 billion and $12 billion in Swiss bank accounts and other bank accounts around the world. Eight billion dollars to $12 billion, and we are giving them $500 million for infrastructure. Mr. Speaker, while we are doing this, there was a murder committed. The security forces for the PLO in Jericho took an American citizen, 52-year-old Azem Musllh, an American citizen. They took him out of a restaurant and took him to a jail. His wife went to get him out of jail and they said he was not there. She came back a second time and they said she would have to come back the next day. Mr. Speaker, when she came back, he was dead. They said he died of a heart attack. When they saw the body, his jaw was broken. He had lacerations on his face. He had burns on the bottoms of his feet that looked like cigarette burns. The man had been literally tortured to death. Mr. Speaker, this is an American citizen of Palestinian descent. Yet, we are going ahead and giving Yasser Arafat, even though he has talked against the peace process in some of his speeches, we are giving him an 18-month extension, $500 million, and there has been no accountability as far as this man's life has been concerned.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, the long-term agreement is $500 million bill. While the bill has a lot of merit, this is one thing with which I take issue. Mr. Speaker, before we give them one dime, there should be complete accountability about this man's death and those who tortured him and murdered him, who are members of the security forces of the PLO, should be brought to justice before one dollar of taxpayers' money should go to the PLO.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I ask the gentleman if he agrees it is going to be $500 million?

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, the $500 million is the long-term agreement.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Madam Speaker, about a week and a half ago the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight of the House held an investigative hearing into what is known as Travelgate and during that hearing, we went from the top to the bottom of the entire investigation. There were still some unanswered questions, so I would like to try to illuminate the issue for my colleagues and anybody else who may be paying attention. Madam Speaker, when this administration took office, some people in the administration, including the First Lady, felt like it was imperative that they do away with the people who were in the travel office that made travel arrangements for the press that followed the President around the country and put their people in. In other words, they wanted to get rid of the people from the previous administration in charge of the travel office and replace them with people from their administration. The problem was that the people in the press liked the people who were already there. So, even though the administration had the ability to make this change, they chose not to do it because they did not want to make the press corps angry. At least that was the gist of what we heard. So, Madam Speaker, they had some people start digging around to see if there were any improprieties in the travel office and so claim there was chicanery going on and then fire them. They even got the FBI to start investigating alleged violations or disappearances of small amounts of money in the travel office. Nevertheless, this started. Once it started, it started becoming a quagmire for them. They tried to get the FBI involved and other agencies involved in something that really need not have taken place. One of the things that happened was there was a contractor in Tennessee called Ultrair. Ultrair was a contractor for the White House and did some travel arrangements for press and other personnel that followed the President around the country when he went on his trips. Ultrair, in October 1992, because they handled transactions like this, contacted the IRS on their own. They contacted the IRS to find out if excise taxes should have been withheld or charged for these travel arrangements. They did this voluntarily. Then about 5 or 6 months later, the day after the White House fired the travel office employees, it was reported in the newspapers, the Wall Street Journal and others, that there was some possible kickbacks involved and Ultrair was mentioned in a bad light, even though they had not done anything wrong. All they had asked for was a decision or review by the IRS on whether or not they should withhold excise taxes. The next day after it appeared in the paper, a horde of IRS agents descended on their office and took control of their books and had them for 2 years. Some people believe this may have been an obstruction of justice, because at a cocktail party later on there was a conversation which was recorded and given to us at the committee meeting by John Podesta, the White House staff secretary, the principal author of the White House travel office management review. At this cocktail party he put in his notes that, ``BK said that PR was on top of it.'' BK was Bill Kennedy, the assistant counsel to the President of the United States at the time, and PR was Peggy Richardson, who was the commissioner of the IRS. BK said PR was on top of it. She said at the party the IRS is on top of it, and some references that the IRS agents are aware of something like that which would indicate that the head of the IRS, the commissioner for the IRS was working with the White House to keep control of these documents, which we believe may be an obstruction of justice. When we had the hearing the other day, I asked the IRS people about this and they said they could not respond because of section 6103 of the Tax Code, which prohibits public disclosure of tax information about a specific taxpayer without the taxpayer's consent. The fact of the matter is we already had a release from the taxpayer for the IRS to give us that information and the IRS, nevertheless, would not give it to us. They said they would, if they saw the document and they would come and talk to our leadership at a closed meeting. Madam Speaker, this smacks of obstruction of justice. It is something that should be investigated. The IRS is suspect by a lot of people in this country and when the head of the IRS starts saying that she is putting a lid on something and using the power of the IRS to constrict information that is vital to an investigation like Travelgate, it smacks of an obstruction of justice. Madam Speaker, we need a full-fledged investigation of this. We need to have the IRS come before us in a closed hearing to explain why those documents were taken from Ultrair in Tennessee; why they were held for 2 years; why the FBI couldn't have access to them for the investigation, and why the head of the IRS said at a cocktail party she was keeping a lid on it.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the time for debate on this measure be extended by an additional 20 minutes, to be equally divided by the proponents and opponents of this resolution.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that debate on this resolution be extended by 5 minutes on each side.