Rosa DeLauro

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, my Republican colleagues are trying to come to terms with the failure of their agenda. They are instead trying to repackage their image. They would have us believe that they are on the side of working Americans. But let me tell my colleagues that their agenda in fact would hurt working Americans. Just take a look at the issue of health care. There is today in this body a bipartisan bill to improve the health security for average working Americans. The bill would prevent the insurance companies from denying health coverage because of preexisting medical conditions. It would increase health care availability for all. And this bill has the support of Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate, but they will not bring it up for a vote. There has been no action and no activity on this bill, and they are trying to load it down with controversial proposals in order to try to defeat it. I will quote from the Wall Street Journal this morning that says, ``But passing the provisions that the House suggests, passing the provisions in the House, may set up a confrontation with the Senate'' and the bill would not pass. Mr. Speaker, if we are serious about helping working Americans, let us talk about health care security, bring up the bill.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I would like to know where the outrage of some of my colleagues was when the United States supported the Khmer Rouge and when the Khmer Rouge killed 1.2 million Cambodians. I guess the Cambodians do not vote in large numbers in this country. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition today to this bill. I oppose this bill, even though I know that it has support in this Congress. I oppose this bill even though I strongly condemn the Castro government's brutal murder of civilian Americans in the Florida Straits. I oppose this bill even though I strongly support freedom and democracy for the Cuban people. I oppose this bill because it is an unworkable solution to an intractable problem. The legislation would clog our Nation's courts with unenforceable new claims against foreign governments, companies, and individuals. It creates a quagmire of inflexibility which we will come to regret when needed change comes to Cuba. It would harm America's important relationships with our sister democracies abroad. It sets a dangerous precedent of rash action instead of reasoned and deliberate progress. Let us not do serious damage to our own national interest in response to atrocities which we universally abhor and condemn. Vote against this conference report.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Let me just interrupt my colleague for a second because I think the AmeriCorps Program is a perfect example of how we have, how they have, our values backward, what AmeriCorps is all about, and just to say that about 691 young people in Connecticut would be denied the opportunity to participate in the National Service Program if the funding is eliminated. But this says to young people you have an obligation to give back to your community. You need to participate in the life of your community, get involved with helping, whether it is in education, or in health, or in some other area, because if we are going to provide you with some help, you have got to do something for that. This is not, you know, just without any kind of responsibility. This is a way in which we try to instill responsibility in our people. And so many times today you hear from people about we do have, in whatever segment, if it is for young people, with adults or so forth, that people just do not have the responsibility that they had in the past, they do not take on areas where they need to demonstrate that they are willing to put their heart and soul into something, but they only want to grab a handout and not give something in return. This program epitomizes the values of work, responsibility, and community, and if you engage in those ways, then, yes, we will give you a tool, if you will, to help you meet your goals. But it is a two-way street. This is not just one way, and this is what is so incomprehensible, that on one side of their mouth they want to talk about how we want to stop this handout for people, which is right. But they also want to take away the opportunity for young people to contribute as well as to be able to engage and to move forward with their own objectives, and that is wrong. We need to have people be responsible and take on a direction or an acton and get involved before we are willing to do something for them.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, to try to make it a little easier for working families to be able to see some realization of their dreams and their aspirations for themselves and for their children, this is the direction that we ought to go in. On that score, it is my hope that we will have an agenda over the next several months where we will introduce legislation in this body here, and that we can get it on the floor for a vote.

Ms. DeLAURO. Let me just comment on that one because I think that there is--you made a very, very good point, which is that they are willing to do harm to young people who want to again further their education and go to college, hurt working families who are struggling to get their kids to school. I could not have gone to school without student loans. My folks could not have afforded it. This was, you know, they killed themselves to, you know, to see me through college and to utilize the student loan program to do that. But it is doing harm. But at the same time, and particularly with this one, is to cater to a special interest because the banks are up in arms about the direct lending program.

Ms. DeLAURO. Because they are not going to make their percentage. That is what this is about. This is not saying to hard-working middle class families you get the advantage, you get the incentive. Banks are doing OK. They can live without this. We want to give you a break, Mr. and Mrs. America. You want to have your kids get ahead. Do not take it away from hard-working families to cater to special interests and wind up hurting the family and the youngster. In that program in the State of Connecticut we will see 14 schools forced out of the direct lending program, losing over 14,000 loans.

Ms. DeLAURO. Costs you less money.

Ms. DeLAURO. That makes enormous sense, Mr. Speaker, because it is probably one of the areas that most parents are worried about, after a job or the increase in their wages, because they have not seen a raise for a number of years. But if you could target the tax cut to working families, to take the education costs as a deduction, it makes enormous sense. What you are seeking in that tax break package at the moment is that the richest corporations are winding up with the elimination of the alternate minimum tax getting a windfall again. You are seeing that special interest effort do very, very well. That is a $17 billion windfall for the richest corporations, if you will eliminate the alternate minimum tax.

Ms. DeLAURO. Yesterday when I went to visit the school I was in three kindergarten classes. You just see these little bits of kids, it was just astounding; there they are, in terms of the equipment, and they have these computers in front of them, and they are there with their earphones or their listening program, where they are listening to the story in order to prepare them to move on. But these kids with the computers, it is just really mind-boggling. There they are with the mouse going back and forth, and several of them were showing people how they were learning the alphabet, and they had the letter D, and then they were using the computer to point to a deer or a duck, and so forth, or using a C and pointing to a cake and so forth. Here they are, again, these little bits of kids, getting proficient in a technology which is our future, but it is their future more than it is ours. Why are we trying to be in the business of taking away these tools from them? One program that I wanted to mention was something called School-to- Work. The heart and soul is being cut out of the School-to-Work Program. This is a program that says to young people who are seniors in high school, who do not want to, cannot afford to, or maybe do not have the skills to go on to a 4-year liberal arts college, and God knows, we probably have enough history and English majors to last us a lifetime, but these young people want to go on from school to work. They want to be gainfully employed, they want to get some skills. This program has allowed that bridge from school to work, really, the first piece of legislation that in so many years has recognized the aspirations of these young people, and their dreams of moving from school to work, without having a 4-year college education. That is truly the fate of most of our young people in this country. The largest percentage do not go on to a 4-year college. But this program is going to be cut and decimated, and we just say one more time to these young people, ``Sorry, you really do not make any difference. Do it on your own.'' Why are we not in the business of trying to provide a bridge from school to work; again, responsibility? ``We will give you some tools so you can carry out what you need to make your way.'' We cannot do it for you. That is not what anybody is saying here, nor should we. We do not have the resources to do that. But how do we enable young people to move ahead? This is a program that works, it is gaining all kinds of endorsements from the academic communities, from the business community, because they are seeing the fruits of the labor here, because they are getting these kids who are well-trained, who have the skills, who can make it in their jobs. Now we are saying, ``Sorry, we are just going to close the door on this effort.'' It is wrongheaded. It really is wrongheaded.

Ms. DeLAURO. Just in terms of translating that 20 percent, and I think you have made the excellent point that there is a minuscule amount of Federal aid in education--sometimes people do not realize that or understand that--from this minuscule amount of money, we are looking at, roughly, if things continue the way they are with this, at this level, we are looking at about a $3.1 billion cut from those funds. We are looking overall, in terms of the college loan programs, you know, at almost $5 billion over the next few years in terms of cutbacks in college loans, to say nothing of what is going on in the Pell Grant Program. In the Pell Grant Program, what they did, the bill eliminates assistance to students who qualify for grants of less than $600; about 250,000 students in this Nation are going to be eliminated from the program. Perkins loans. Again, these are not great amounts of money that are being put in play at the moment, but the removing of that kind of money has an unbelievable effect on how many young people can look to a brighter future. I think you would agree with me that we are at a crossroads. We truly are at a crossroads, because we have never seen the level of cuts in education that we are seeing today. Education has always been the way for people to expand their horizons, move forward, and have a brighter future. That has been true with succeeding generations. This is the first time in the history of this country that if you talk to American families, working families, that today they do not see a bright future for their kids. They do not believe that their kids will have the same kinds of advantages that they had. That is a sad commentary on what our values are in this Nation and what our priorities are. So that there is a full-scale assault, whether it is on Head Start and you are looking at preschool programs, readiness; whether it is in a school lunch program that they would like to away with; whether it is in a summer jobs program that is being cut out so kids can make some money, go back to school, and then, again, demonstrate some responsibility; whether it is in education, skills training, and school-to-work, or whether it is in moving kids forward in terms of higher education. I do not understand it. I think it is outrageous. My hope will be in the next 2 weeks, as we discuss what is going to happen before March 15, that when it comes to the issue of education, that we are not about the business of doing harm, and doing harm for the special interests of this Nation, but that we are in the business of doing what people sent us here to do. That is to do something for the public good and particularly for the kids and for the future of the youngsters in this Nation. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for joining with me this evening. I am sure that we will be engaged in this conversation over the next few weeks.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with my colleague, the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Pallone], during this special order to really call some attention to an issue that I think is near and dear to the hearts of every American family, everyone in this country, and that is the whole issue of education and educating our children and providing for our children that opportunity, that first start, if you will, on the road to what their lives will be about in terms of opportunity, of economic ability, their ability to compete, to succeed in this great Nation of ours, something that, in fact, has been part of the American dream. What we want to try to call attention to in this time period is the fact that there are, as proposed by the congressional majority, devastating cuts to education. In fact,there are cuts that have been passed into law by our Republican colleagues. Congressional Republicans are on the brink of making the largest education cuts in our Nation's history, and thereby are on the brink of harming, truly harming, our Nation's children. At a time when Americans are rightly anxious about their job security, at a time when we all know that a good education is the key to a good job, we have congressional Republicans who are launching an assault on American education. Last week, Secretary of Education William Riley delivered his annual state of American education address. In those remarks he said, ``American schools are where the future of America is being created each and every single day.'' That, in fact, is so true about what goes on and is supposed to go on in our American schools. In fact, public education is the great equalizer in this country. It allows children, all children, regardless of their economic status, to be able to go as far as their God-given talents will allow them. That is what we are here to talk about, the fact that public education is under attack in this Congress. Ensuring a bright future is a basic part of the job that we have here, Mr. Pallone's job, my job, each and every Member of the Congress who is given that public trust, to come here. What we need to try to do is to ensure, in fact, a bright future for our children. Part of our sacred trust as elected officials is to honor those who have come before us, for example, by ensuring that our seniors have a dignified retirement and making the investments in our future so that the generation that comes after us can live a full and a prosperous and a secure life. Despite this obligation, we have congressional Republicans today who are making times tougher for kids who are trying to get a good education and for their parents, hard-working parents, I might add, who want to see their kids get ahead in life. They are making the largest cuts in the history of Federal aid to education. The temporary spending measure that they have passed that funds education, what is known as the continuing resolution, cuts basic skills training, which is known as title I, by 17 percent. Funding to keep our schools safe and free of drugs is being cut by 25 percent. Before we can expect our kids to do all of the great things that we wish them to do and they are anxious and excited to do, we need to provide them with some essentials, training in the basic skills, a safe place in which they can learn. But it is in these areas where my Republican colleagues have made the most crippling cuts. This temporary spending measure expires on March 15 so that Congress will soon have to face a choice. Will my Republican colleagues extend these cuts through the end of the fiscal year, or will they restore the funds that they have taken from America's classrooms? Let me tell my colleagues about what happens in my State of Connecticut. These cuts spell disaster. Yesterday, I met with parents and educators at a school in my congressional District, and we had represented there both urban schools and suburban schools. I will tell my colleagues what the parents and the educators are concerned about. They are concerned that these cuts will hurt school kids who are trying to build their basic skills, stay off the streets, and stay away from drugs. Under the Republican proposals for basic skill training, funding would be cut by $8.6 million in Connecticut, affecting 9,200 needy students. Schools in my district will lose $1.5 million. Under the Safe and Drug Free School Program, $729,000 would be cut in Connecticut. Let me read a quote from one of the parents who was there yesterday. Carolyn Jackson, who met with me, said the proposed cuts would eliminate students' chances of being competitive. This is her quote. ``They won't make it, they won't be trained, they won't be able to go on to a trade school or to college,'' she said. These after school programs that would be cut keep kids off the streets. It keeps them occupied, it gives them something positive to do. If they cut that out, the only place that they have left to go is to the streets. The teachers, the administrators, both again from urban and suburban schools, talked about having to cut math and reading programs, remedial programs, programs that provide our young people with being able to be ready to learn when they go to school. If these cuts go through, how, in fact, will we be able to deal with these issues? Mr. Speaker, what makes these cuts so wrong headed is that our Nation now stands at a crossroads, and I know my colleague, Mr. Pallone, understands that. We have been listening to and talking to people about if our people in this country do not have the basic skills to compete to win in the global workplace, how can we allow our people, our kids and their futures, to fall further and further behind as they try to compete with low skilled workers around the world for low skilled jobs? That is not what we want to do. We want our young people to have all of the advantages that they need and all of the tools that they need to be able to compete in a world order, in a New World order, to be able to compete right here in the United States so that they can have highly skilled, high paying jobs so that they can make their way for the future. Getting a good education has always been a big part of what enabled the people of this country to stake their claim in the American dream. My parents, other parents, have worked hard to see that their kids get the opportunities that they need so that they can serve, that they can have good paying jobs. We are taking away this American dream for parents today, but also for youngsters. These cuts will dash that dream for too many of our children. For generations, as I have said, public education has allowed children, regardless of their economic status, to go as far as their God-given talents will allow, but despite that public education is under attack today in this Congress. This week, as Congress considers a new spending measure for the rest of the year, I urge my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans and Independents, to remember the children in classrooms all over America and their hard-working parents, parents who have bright hopes for their kids' future. Please remember these people. We need to restore the Federal funds that enable our children to make those dreams a reality. And what I would like to do is to ask my colleague from New Jersey, Frank Pallone, to talk about his concerns about this issue and what effect it has in his own community and for us to have a conversation and a dialog about this issue.

Ms. DeLAURO. And an opportunity for people and young people.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, first, I want to express my sadness that our colleague, Representative Gibbons, is retiring. We will miss your leadership. I strongly support this bill to give favorable tax treatment to American troops, just as I strongly supported American troops during the debate on Bosnia. American service men and women who are keeping the peace in Bosnia deserve all of the support that we in Congress can give. Under this bill, we will allow our Armed Forces to focus on the difficult task at hand--keeping peace in a land ravaged by nearly 4 years of fighting--without worrying about filing their tax forms on time. We will signal how much we value the extraordinary service of American troops by exempting Operation Joint Endeavor pay from taxation. The bill also will make it easier for families to stay in touch during a time of separation by waiving the excise tax for troops to call home from Bosnia. This bill corrects a technicality, but one that I believe is extremely important. Troops in combat zones have traditionally received tax breaks, but American forces in Bosnia are there not to fight a war, but to keep the peace. I urge my colleagues to pass this bill and show our troops in Bosnia that we understand their sacrifice and value their service.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I visited a local school in my district and met with parents and educators, the people we entrust with the lives of our children, with the future of our Nation. Mr. Speaker, these dedicated people are afraid that the devastating education cuts passed by my Republican colleagues spell disaster for our schools and for our children. The temporary spending bill which expires in a week includes deep cuts in basic skills training and in Federal violence prevention funds to keep our schools safe. In my State of Connecticut, these cuts alone amount to a $9 million loss in aid to education. At a time when Americans are anxious about their job security and in an age the income you earn is tied to the skills you have learned, education is the last place we should cut. This week, we are scheduled to take up an extension of the spending bill through the end of the fiscal year. I urge my Republican colleagues to do more than pay lipservice to the anxiety in the American workplace. Retreat from your extreme agenda. Restore the funds you took from our classrooms, and give our students the tools they need.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to announce a new legislative initiative that I am introducing, the Laser Assisted Gun Crime Penalty Act. I have drafted this bill with the assistance of the greater New Haven area police departments to provide an effective response to a new threat to our law enforcement officers and the public in general. There has emerged on the scene recently a deadly addition to the arsenal deployed by gangs and other violent criminals. That new threat is called a laser sight. The enhanced accuracy these devices bring--in the hands of the violent criminal--create a ``super-gun,'' aimed with lethal precision at our police officers as they patrol our neighborhoods to serve and protect the public. The streets of the Third Congressional District of Connecticut are not immune to this new technology. On Christmas Day of last year and in the first weeks of the new year, guns equipped with laser sights have taken lives and evoked fear amongst families in my district and my local police forces. That is why I am introducing this vital legislation. Laser sights have become a new rage, the latest deadly fad. By dramatically improving the accuracy of deadly weapons, laser sights turn street thugs into sharpshooters. The Laser Assisted Gun Crime Penalty Act directs the U.S. Sentencing Commission to increase penalties for individuals convicted of crimes involving laser sights. This bill does not ban laser sight technology or guns equipped with laser sights. This measure punishes the criminal, not sportsmen and sportswomen or law-abiding gun users. This approach to crime and guns can be supported by both pro and antigun control advocates. My legislation will deter the use of laser sight technology in street crime and require the sentencing commission to collect data on the use and frequency of laser sighting devices in criminal activity throughout the Nation. My legislation has received strong endorsements from leading police organizations like the National Fraternal Order of Police, the International Brotherhood of Police, the Center for Prevention of Violence and Handgun Control, and the Violence Policy Center. I urge my colleagues to cosponsor my bill and make our streets safer by cracking down on criminals who target law abiding citizens with laser sighting devices. Not gun owners. We must send a strong signal to the criminal element that we will not tolerate the proliferation of this new brand of high-tech violence. Enacting this legislation will send a clear signal to anyone who would use a laser sighted super-gun, ``If you do that crime, you will do real time.''

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, now that the Republican Party has discovered working America, Newt Gingrich and his team are frantically working their agenda. They are desperate. The Contract With America has failed. Voters in the Republican Presidential primaries do not want the Gingrich agenda of the last 14 months. They demand that the concerns of working families be the priority in Washington. But a tiger cannot change his stripes. The Republican leadership is having a hard time crafting an agenda that deals honestly with the concerns of working men and women. Will the Newt Gingrich Republican agenda support education, protect pensions, raise the minimum wage? No. According to the majority leader, Dick Armey, who is taking over the day-to-day operations of the House from Speaker Gingrich, once again the new Republican agenda will be topped by a tax break for the wealthiest Americans. Mr. Speaker, this is not what working families need. They need help to pay their bills, send their kids to college and save for retirement. My Republican colleagues wanted to offer them the same old failed policies of the past in a brand-new package. The American people deserve better.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate Carroll Brown on the 10th anniversary of her founding of the West Haven Black Coalition. For the past decade, the West Haven Black Coalition has improved the lives of African-Americans and strengthened the West Haven community. By joining forces, African-Americans in West Haven have made their voices heard and have assumed leading roles in all walks of life. The West Haven Black Coalition has spurred efforts to register voters, improve parks, and educate our future leaders through its scholarship program. The West Haven Black Coalition's mission to encourage African- Americans to get involved in their community is a reflection of the organization's founder and president, Carroll Brown. Carroll's selfless devotion to helping others has improved Connecticut at both the State and local levels. She helped working people across Connecticut when she served as a labor committee staff member at the Statehouse in Hartford. It is in her own community, however, that Carroll has truly set herself apart and shown others not only the way, but their responsibility to better their neighborhoods and surroundings. Her dedication can be seen in many ways, including her pioneering service as the first African-American woman on the West Haven Board of Education. She has fostered this community spirit in her husband and three sons. Carroll realized the potential for greater community participation by African-Americans in West Haven and had the vision to create the West Haven Black Coalition. In the 10 years since, the coalition has unified West Haven's black community and given rise to true grass roots community involvement. Her oft-repeated words capture her commitment to a cohesive community: ``In unity there is strength. Together we stand, divided we fall.'' I have had the pleasure of working with Carroll Brown for many years and am pleased to take this opportunity to thank her and congratulate her on the 10th anniversary of the West Haven Black Coalition she has founded and nurtured over the years.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I have always been a little skeptical about death bed conversions, and as the bells toll for the demise of the Gingrich Republican revolution, we are witnessing an epidemic of conversions among my Republican colleagues. Suddenly the Republican Party has discovered working America. They are desperately trying to convince the hard-working families of this country who are struggling to get ahead that the Republican Party is their friend. But, in fact, since taking control of this Congress, they advanced an extreme agenda that would hurt working men and women of this country. Their budget would let companies raid pension funds. They would deny the children of working families college loans. Their budget would cut Medicare and long-term care, denying families a dignified retirement. And they would deny a raise in wages so that, in fact, people could pay their bills every week. But they, in fact, would provide to the wealthiest in this Nation a tax break, and tax breaks that would allow them to continue to reap the benefits. Mr. Speaker, what the Republican Party really does not understand is that the American people are too smart to fall for this. They did not buy Newt Gingrich's extreme agenda, and they will not buy this election-year gimmick either.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, today the House returns from a month-long recess. Our return to work must begin a turn toward the people's business and away from the extremist special interest agenda that has dominated the first 14 months of this Congress. The Republican majority has been in power for over a year now. And what do the American people have to show for it? Has this Congress given working men and women what they want and need? American families want to know they can count on the secure dignified retirement they have worked so hard for. But Republicans in Congress want to cut Medicare and Medicaid. Hard-working American families need a raise--so they can pay their bills. But congressional Republicans are cutting education and training at a time when workers need better skills to get a raise. Mr. Speaker, in pursuit of their extremist agenda, the Republicans have launched an assault on working Americans struggling to get ahead. The American people deserve better. Let us put Congress where it belongs: back on the side of hard-working American families, not dancing to the tune of special interests.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, it is time to get serious and it is time to stop the blackmail. It is the extremists in the House Republican conference that are playing political chicken with the credit rating of the United States. That is what it is about, is our credit rating. This Government has always paid its bills. For 220 years, through a Civil War and a Great Depression. Paying our bills is not just important to the bond market and to the investment bankers on Wall Street. If this nation defaults, the consequences will be most sharply felt by ordinary Americans. It is not only Wall Street, it is Main Street who pays the price. If this bill passes, Social Security checks will not bounce, and that is a good thing. But what about the countless other consequences of default? What about students whose college loan rates are set by the Government borrowing rate? What about people who bought their homes with adjustable rate mortgages, and what about those who hold credit cards? At a time when too many Americans are swamped with bills, they are afraid that they cannot afford to pay their bills. These are people who have not seen a raise in their salaries in months and years. A Government default would make paying their bills all the more expensive. This tactic hits working families in their pocketbooks. Mr. Speaker, we can easily avoid this crisis. Let us pass a bill that prevents default by lifting the debt ceiling and that protects the credit rating and the honor of this great Nation of ours.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, last month, House Republicans shut down the Government to try to blackmail the President into signing their extreme agenda. Now, they are at it again. This time, the crowd that brought us two Government shutdowns is threatening to destroy our country's credit rating by defaulting on our debt. If Republicans have their way, the United States will default on our financial obligations for the first time in our history. Think about that--for 220 years our country has paid its bills and now that is about to change because extremists in this Congress would rather force a Government default then compromise on their right wing agenda for America. Two hundred and twenty years is a long time and much has changed. Once America was led by Madison and Jefferson, who became known as the Founding Fathers of our democracy. Now, we are left with Gingrich and Dole, who seem intent on becoming the deadbeat dads of democracy.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Just to say, it is Texas, it is Connecticut, this is an editorial from the Hartford Courant from the end of last week: There they go again. Congressional leaders have a penchant for irresponsible comments about the ongoing budget crisis. Recently House Speaker Newt Gingrich's remarks that there probably would not be a budget agreement until after the November election caused the stock market to plunge by almost 100 points. Now House majority leader Dick Armey is demanding,'' ``substantial budget concessions from President Clinton if the House is to raise the Federal debt ceiling so that the government can pay its creditors.'' It goes on, for example, the comment here is that The stakes are high. If the government defaults on some of its bonds, investors, including both Americans and foreigners, will demand much higher interest rates to compensate for increased risk. Such an event could trigger runaway inflation. All investors' holdings would lost value, which would mean financial devastation from Wall Street to Main Street. If you keep it up, Mr. Armey, everyone will get burned. You are playing with fire. I mean in Texas, in Connecticut; I have to believe that this kind of editorial is being written all across this Nation. I have been talking to mayors and first selectmen and women in my community. I am sure the gentleman is doing the same. Towns, cities issue bonds, school bonds, all kinds of bonds, municipal bonds. They are worried. I would just ask the gentleman about his localities, if they are concerned about this default and what it means in terms of what our States and cities are going to face with this.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I went over to the veterans hospital in my community to say thank you to the people who worked there during the shutdown, at the outset not knowing whether or not they are going to get paid. A young woman there was very eloquent. She said, this is not a game. There are some people and the leadership in this House and some who are an extreme, self-styled, revolutionary band who view this as a game. She said, this is not a game. People's lives are at stake. People's livelihoods are at stake. She said, please carry that message back. She summed it up. The public is very aware of what is at stake. It is not a zero-sum game. If you do not like things, you just do not pick up the ball and go home. That is not what this is about. That is not what we are sent here to do. We have an obligation to lead and to negotiate and to make compromises sometimes and talk together so you further the agenda of the American people. I said at the outset, in my view, I think we do have an abdication of leadership here at the moment. I was reading in the newspapers over the weekend that I think a number of the Republican freshmen had a retreat and there were some ideologues who went to address them and who said to them, do not compromise. Do not back down. Continue to fight. No balanced budget, no dealing with the credit rating of the United States. Hold the President hostage. Keep doing this. I am hopeful that these folks were not listened to, that we can in the next several weeks, though we are not going to be in session, which is unbelievable, that the Republican majority would send Members home when it is not clear what is going to happen, dealing with the credit rating of the United States in the short term here. I was hoping that people would come back with a kind of a zeal and an effort to try to see if we can continue the dialog and the conversation and bridge the gap and move forward. I think the gentleman would agree that that is what we are sent here to try to do.

Ms. DeLAURO. It is, and I would just say, Mr. Speaker, it is very, very interesting, that to add this piece to the debt limit, because the fact of the matter is that if we default on an adjustable rate mortgage, that could go up around $1,200 to a family. We are talking about $125, as an election eve tax break for people, and it is mindless when you think about it in terms of a $1,200 potential increase on your mortgage payment if this country goes into default. So that it is one more of a political posturing once again to try to blackmail the President, to blackmail the Congress. I concur with my colleague, that the President was here last week and talked about a spirit of coming together, of looking at ways in which we could work together on some of these issues for the good of the country. We have the continual mantra, as our colleague, the gentleman from Hawaii, said, that says, ``No, we do not want to do that.'' What is also interesting to me is it is a very explicit strategy, this is not being hidden or covered up, where there are a number of Members on the other side who are just saying, ``Yes, what we want to do is to use this as leverage, to use it as blackmail, to use it to get the President to move.'' To move on what are we talking about now, because the President in fact laid down a 7-year balanced budget certified by the Congressional Budget Office. So in fact, the debate has ended. It is not the numbers. It does come down to what my colleague was talking about earlier, the values of this Nation, the priorities; what are the things that we do hold dear, what are the areas in which we want to build on? That has to do with a dignified retirement for people who have worked hard all of their lives, played by the rules, and they are deserving. They have paid a price. They have paid all these years. What about education, allowing people to be able to get the skills training they need to go to college, to get their kids to college, to be able to know that if they do have to leave a job, they can get the kinds of skill training that is important for them to succeed to grow the economy; to make sure that people have wage increases and a raise at the end of that year. Those are the issues and the things that people are concerned about. Government today is turning its back on people and not understanding that those are the directions that we ought to be going in, and not playing these silly games that people are trying to play to shut down the Government, to have the United States default on its credit limit. The public is deeply concerned about their future and what it is all about. Working men and women are frightened to death that they are not going to be able to give their kids, or the kids are not going to have the same opportunities that they had. That is what we need to be talking about today.

Ms. DeLAURO. Let me just go back a step with the gentleman, because he has made the point very, very well. I think what we have found in this process with the rhetoric of a balanced budget, that that in fact was what it was all about. It was not a balanced budget, but as you have pointed out and our colleague, the gentleman from Texas, has pointed out, it was the crown jewel. It is the tax break, in addition to which the President laid down his 7-year balanced budget under the economic assumptions that the Republicans called for, and he even included a modest tax break, for working families. That is not what the issue is, the issue is how you get to the tax break for the wealthiest Americans, so it is not a balanced budget, it is that tax break that was at stake, and in order to pay for that tax break, where do you go? You turn Medicare into a piggybank, you turn Medicaid into a piggybank, you decimate education, and you look at the environment. Now, having moved the goalpost, as you said, what they have tried to do is politically to come around the corner, because they have now backed off a 7-year balanced budget CBO scoring, because the President met that, so they cannot get out of that box now, and what they are trying desperately to do is to figure out a political way that they can try to maneuver. They want to talk about now muddying the water on the credit rating of the United States by putting this half-baked, if you will, notion and trying to muddy up the debt limit with this, once again to try to do something piecemeal that makes no sense at all in the way of holding up either the Government, or holding up the appropriations process in order to deal with the budget. You do not have to do that. You can have your differences on the budget and have Government move forward. Now they truly are, again, playing political chicken with the credit rating of the United States with this half- baked idea.