Rosa DeLauro

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, over the weekend, I joined a fact-finding trip to Bosnia. I left with strong reservations about our military mission there, but I have returned with the knowledge that our troops are ready and our mission is clear. I have also returned with a belief that we have a moral obligation to do what only a U.S.-led force can do: Keep the peace. One of the highlights of our trip was a stopover in Germany to visit with American troops who will be deployed in the coming weeks. While there, I had a chance to speak with a young soldier from New London, CT, Pvt. Jarion Clarke. Private Clarke told me that he is well trained, has faith in his leaders, and believes in the United States mission in Bosnia. I asked Private Clarke what I could do for him: ``Tell the American people that we are ready and we need their support,'' he said. So, that is the message I bring. Our soldiers need our support. They deserve our support. The peace-keeping mission in Bosnia deserves our support.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, the more the American people know about the Gingrich revolution, the less they like. I was so proud yesterday when the President vetoed the Gingrich budget. It is what the American people have asked him to do. The American people have spoken. They do not support a budget that cuts Medicare and Medicaid, education and the environment to pay for tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. Last month the President cut a deal with the Republicans to balance the budget in 7 years while protecting the priorities of the American people. The budget that the President vetoed yesterday failed to meet that agreement because it did not protect the values that the American public holds so dear. It is time for the Republicans to send the President a balanced budget that protects the priorities of the American people and then he will sign it and then we can get on with the business of the people.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to express my dismay at the devastating cuts to the environment and environmental programs that my Republican colleagues are really shoving through this Congress. Without question, these cuts will spoil our Nation's water, air, and land. I am delighted to join my colleague the gentlewoman from New York [Mrs. Lowey], in listening to her comments, and I applaud my colleague the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Pallone], who is organizing people tonight to speak on this issue. I commend him for his leadership on environmental policy. I am pleased to join my colleague the gentlewoman from New York [Mrs. Lowey] also in sponsoring legislation for the cleanup of Long Island Sound. This is one of our real concerns about what is happening with regard to the environment, and without question, the cuts, as I said, will spoil our Nation's water, air, and our land. Americans can take great pride in the progress that we have made over the years in cleaning up our Nation's environment. But Republicans, the Republican majority, are really turning back the clock. They are wiping out decades of improvement to the environment and giving polluters a license to pollute. They are not achieving this through open debate where we could have a back and forth on these issues, but they are doing it through funding cuts that are hidden in massive spending bills that the Congress is taking up. I also want to commend my colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle who, in fact, have stood up to the pressure and turned back legislation that is harmful to the environment. Time and again, this year and over the decade, Democrats and Republicans have come together in a spirit of bipartisanship to protect the environment. That has been true over and over again in our Nation's history, and unfortunately that kind of bipartisanship is being rent and pulled apart. Despite the bipartisan efforts, the Republican majority is taking a wrecking ball to environmental protections in this country. More than $1.5 billion will be slashed from the Environmental Protection Agency's budget next year. Slashing EPA's budget by more than 20 percent will cripple the agency's ability to ensure that our water is safe to drink and our air is safe to breathe. The Federal Superfund Program, which cleans up our Nation's worst hazardous waste dumps, will be cut by nearly $300 million in 1996. This is another 20 percent cut from current spending levels. In my own congressional district, the Superfund has been responsible for clearing up the Raymark Superfund site. From 1919 to 1984, Raymark Industries spewed asbestos, lead, dioxins, and PCB's throughout Stratford, CT. The homes of neighborhood families and local businesses as well as the parks where children play and the schools they all attend were all severely contaminated by this toxic waste, and now, due to Superfund, this site may soon become clean enough to develop as a retail shopping center. As a matter of fact, there is a developer who is ready to put in a $50 million project in this area. EPA's work at Raymark is a wonderful success story in the making, and working with State and local officials, the EPA has been effective, efficient, and responsive, and I might add the State has been effective, efficient, and responsive, as well as the local community and the local government. Their tireless efforts have made Raymark the Nation's model for accomplishing the cleanup work that Superfund was designed to do. Do my Republican colleagues really believe that Americans would rather balance the budget than clean up toxic waste in American communities? Look at any child, look them in the face and explain this to them. The question is, as the President has done this evening in vetoing the budget, which, I might add, 60 percent of the American public wanted him to veto the budget because of what was being done in Medicare, Medicaid, the environment, turning the clock back on environmental legislation, and in tax fairness to working Americans; the public does not want to see the budget balanced under any set of circumstances and giving up our principles and giving up the movement forward we have made in these areas. Let us have individual votes on environmental cuts. Then Americans will truly understand what this new majority in the Congress stands for. I urge my colleagues to vote against spending bills that contain environmental cuts.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, for 14 months the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct has dithered, dallied, and delayed making a decision on the complaints against Speaker Newt Gingrich. As we learned earlier this year, delays in the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct investigations give the appearance of a coverup. The secrecy and delays connected with the Bob Packwood investigation brought disgrace to this institution. Let us not repeat the same mistake when it comes to the Speaker of the House. Public pressure and the increasing public disclosure of potential wrongdoing has compelled Republicans on the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to consider an outside counsel, but only with severely limited duties, so that many of the questions that need to be answered would be left untouched. Mr. Speaker, we need an outside counsel allowed to conduct a full investigation, and let the chips fall where they may. As Mr. Gingrich himself said in 1988, the only way to ensure a thorough nonpartisan investigation of the highest ranking Member of the House is to appoint an outside counsel with, and I quote, ``The independence necessary to do a thorough and complete job.'' The time to appoint an outside counsel is now. Further delays will cause damage to this institution.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I would just say to the prior speaker that, in fact, that credit counselor would say, ``You are crazy.'' Crazy that in a difficult time economically for our country, that we are about to provide a $245 billion tax break for the wealthiest Americans. That is a free lunch for the wealthiest Americans. Mr. Speaker, we have spent a lot of time in this Congress talking about the cuts in Medicare contained in the GOP budget. Democrats believe that those cuts go too far, too fast and would be harmful to the 37 million seniors who rely on Medicare for their basic health care. But, it isn't just Medicare cuts which threaten the health security of our senior citizens. The proposed budget also makes deep cuts in Medicaid which put seniors and their families at risk. Last week, the Consumers Union, better known as the publisher of Consumer Reports, warned that the Medicaid overhaul would add significant new financial burdens on husbands, wives, and adult children of nursing home residents that could force families into poverty. The group estimates that the $163 billion in proposed cuts will cause hundreds and thousands of nursing home residents to lose their Medicaid coverage. We all know Consumer Reports as the publication that tells us if we're getting a good deal or a bum deal on a new car or a new computer. This time, they've looked at the Republican Medicaid proposal from a consumer's point of view and have declared it a bum deal for American families. Currently, Medicaid covers 60 percent of nursing home patients nationwide. The average cost of nursing home care is approximately $38,000 a year. Without Medicaid, nursing home care would be beyond the reach of middle-income Americans. According to the Consumers Union, families of nursing home residents can expect the following changes if these Medicaid changes are approved: Adult children may be held financially liable for the nursing home bills of their parents. Family assets including homes may be sold or seized by Medicaid liens. No one is guaranteed Medicaid nursing home eligibility; States may set unreasonably low income levels so that thousands of people will be denied help in paying the high costs of nursing home care. Families may be forced to spend their life savings for long-term care of a loved one. A representative from the National Senior Citizens Law Center, Patricia Nemore, said of these changes: ``Congress is taking us back to a time when it was commonplace for Americans to lose their homes and their life savings to ensure that their husbands, wives, or parents had adequate nursing home care.'' She is right, this policy is wrong. Yesterday, I met with people in my district who have parents in nursing homes. They told me that these changes would be devastating to their attempts to take care of their parents in their old age. Jack and Patricia D'Urso of Branford, CT, have seven children and two parents, both in nursing homes. Without the help of Medicaid, they don't know how they would care for their parents. While comfortable in their retirement, they simply do not have the resources to pay approximately $80,000 a year to pay for long-term care of two parents. Zelda Cooper of Hamden, CT, has two parents receiving nursing home care. She could not believe that Congress would consider ending the guaranteed coverage that her family relies on and has no idea how she would care for her parents should they be forced out of their nursing home. Now, my Republican colleagues have made much ado of late about losing their message on the budget. They theorize that the American people aren't with them because they haven't heard the Republican message. The opposite is true. The message is coming through loud and clear to the American people. In fact, the more the American people know, the less they like the Gingrich budget. It's not a bad message that is hurting Republicans, it's bad policy. It is bad policy to ask families to hawk their homes to pay for the nursing home care for loved ones. It is bad policy to impoverish middle-income families to balance the budget. That's why Consumer Reports has labeled the GOP Medicaid proposal is a bum deal for American families.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I strongly support the Senior Citizens' Right to Work Act urge the measure's unanimous passage today. This essential legislation increases the amount that senior citizens under age 70 may earn without having their Social Security benefits reduced. Under current law, Social Security beneficiaries aged 65 through 69 who earn too much lose $1 in benefits for every $3 they earn above specified limits. The limit is indexed so that it increases annually to reflect the increase in average wage growth. The current limit is approximately $11,000. Seniors who are able to work should be encouraged to do so. Without this measure, the [[Page H 13971]] Federal Government is telling our elderly citizens to stay at home, and not to pursue gainful employment. That is not the message that I want to send to the seniors in the 3d Congressional District of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, our Nation's seniors have too much to offer for us to simply turn them away. We need their wisdom, their expertise and their zeal. Older Americans have tremendous potential to contribute to our communities, both in terms of professional expertise and productivity. It is a shame to lose those invaluable resources. Furthermore, Seniors who are active live longer and lead happier lives. I strongly support the Senior Citizen's Right to Work Act, and I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this important legislation.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Gerri Schmidt and Robin Dorman of Branford, CT for their truly heroic effort to save the lives of three small children from a fire last Wednesday. These women displayed inspiring selflessness in aiding their neighbors and dousing the flames that engulfed a local condominium. According to the authorities with the Branford Fire Department, three children aged 5, 3, and 14 months are alive and well today because of these two fine women. Careless playing with matches by one of the children is said to have caused the blaze. Yesterday, as Gerri Schmidt walked her dog and Robin Dorman backed her car out of the drive, an elderly woman raced from a condominium on Watch Hill Road, screaming, ``Fire! Fire!'' Schmidt and Dorman ran to the woman who told them of the children trapped by the fire inside the building. Not thinking of themselves, these women raced inside. There Schmidt found the five-year-old and the three-year-old in a bedroom and the 14- month-old in a hallway and carried them outside to safety. Dorman, meanwhile, ran up the stairs through heavy smoke and beat back the flames with a blanket. By the time the firefighters arrived on the scene, the children were safe and the flames were nearly extinguished. Real life heroes are all too rare in this day and age. Gerri Schmidt and Robin Dorman have earned our praise, our thanks, our admiration and our acknowledgement, and I want to recognize them for their bravery. Webster's Dictionary defines heroism as ``fulfilling high purpose or attaining a noble end.'' On behalf of the House of Representatives, I would like to extend my praise of Gerri Schmidt and Robin Dorman who truly define heroism. Thanks to our hometown heroes.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, this Saturday, December 2, the Connecticut Hospice will celebrate its 21st anniversary with a holiday celebration, ``Lumieres de Noel.'' It is with great pleasure that I rise today to salute this wonderful organization, and to thank all of its supporters for brightening the lives of terminally ill patients and their families. Twenty-one years ago, the Connecticut Hospice pioneered a new approach for treating terminally ill patients by addressing their emotional and spiritual needs in addition to their physical ones. The individuals who began the Connecticut Hospice understood the need for patients to be cared for in a familiar, comforting environment, surrounded by their loved ones. Their work helped to transform how our society handles terminal illness and brought dignity and comfort to those in the last stages of life. Under the leadership of the Connecticut Hospice, the hospice movement has brought the science of comfort and the art of caring to a new level, providing release from pain to ensure quality of life. Families are both recipients and partners in high-touch care, while hospice staff are the givers of high-technology care. Physicians, nurses, social workers, pastors, pharmacists, dieticians, and artists combine their competence with compassion to make life full and meaningful. The John D. Thompson Hospice Institute for Education, Training, and Research, an affiliate of the Connecticut Hospice, Inc., enables hospice expertise and information to be shared with health care institutions throughout the world. Through the institute, medical students and other health care personnel are educated in all aspects of hospice care. The institute also provides the means to conduct in-depth research, allowing the Connecticut Hospice to benefit from the latest in health care technology and to be able to upgrade constantly the standards of patient care. As the JDT Institute and the Connecticut Hospice carry their 21 years of experience into the 21st century, they are able to reach the Nation and the world. This year, ``hospice.com'' was established as a home page on the World Wide Web. Requests for information have been received from all over the United States, from Japan, Malaysia, and countries in Africa, widening the circle of the hospice community. I congratulate the Connecticut Hospice for inspiring a nation, for what it has done for America, and for what it can do for the world. I urge all communities around the Nation to support hospice care in every way possible.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, no, we will not join in an effort that, as the report issued on Wednesday by the Consumers Union says, and these are the folks, my friends, when you go to buy your car, you look at the Consumer Reports to find out if you are getting a bum deal or if you are going to get a good deal. Let me tell you what kind of a bum deal that the folks in this country are going to get. The Republican plans for the transformation of Medicaid may force thousands of American families into financial ruin. Mr. Speaker, Medicaid pays the bills of 60 percent of nursing home residents in this country. Under the Republican plan, 395,000 of our Nation's long-term care patients are likely to lose Medicaid payment for their care. Most appalling is that the Republican plan would repeal current regulations that protect the assets of the families of nursing home patients. In fact, this bill would actually allow a State to place a lein on your home if your mother or father is in a nursing home and cannot pay the bill. Mr. Speaker, families should not have to hawk their homes to pay for the medical care of loved ones. Impoverishing American families is no way to balance the budget.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this conference report. Once again, we are witnessing an all out assault on the quality of our Nation's water, air and land. The Republican Party is trying to accomplish through funding cuts what they failed to do through an open debate on environmental policy. Time and again this year, and the last several years, Democrats and Republicans have come together in a spirit of bipartisanship to protect the environment. This conference report will cut enforcement of environmental laws, cut funding for safe drinking water, cut funding for wastewater treatment, and cut hazardous waste cleanup. Slashing EPA's budget by more than 20 percent, will cripple the EPA's ability to ensure that our water is safe to drink, our food is safe to eat, and our air is safe to breathe. I urge my colleagues to vote against this conference report.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, Members on both sides of the aisle feel very passionately about their positions in the budget debate, and we should feel passionately about this issue because in fact what we are debating is the future of our country. The debate is about far more than numbers. It really, in essence, is about the values and the priorities of the American people. Democrats are concerned about the level of cuts that this budget makes in Medicare, in education, and in environmental protection. We believe that the cuts that are currently there, the cuts in this budget, go too far and too fast and will hurt too many people. We are also very concerned about the tax package that is contained in this budget. Because of that tax package, we think that it is wrong to impose higher taxes on those who can least afford it while lowering the taxes on those who can in fact most afford it. That seems to have the priorities of this Nation out of whack. We are not alone in thinking that the budget has its priorities upside down. If you take a look at what the American people are talking about, and there are recent surveys that have discussed this issue, the surveys indicate that 60 percent of the public today would like to see the President veto this budget as it currently stands. I think that there are a number of us here who concur that that is what the President should do if Republicans refuse to lessen the blow on our seniors, our students, and on our environment. Congress should not force its priorities on the American people. It is time to start to listen to them, to compromise on a balanced budget that protects the priorities of the American people. No one disagrees about getting our fiscal house in order, about achieving a balanced budget. There is a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. What we want to try to do is to protect those principles and those priorities that the American public has asked us, in fact, to protect. That means protecting educational opportunity, environmental protections, and it means protecting Medicare. As it currently stands, the Republican budget, and this number has not budged in all these months, cuts $270 billion from Medicare to help to finance a tax cut for the wealthiest Americans. Over 50 percent of the tax cuts go to the richest 1 or 2 percent of the people in this country. The cuts go too far too fast and will devastate a health care system that is serving 37 million seniors. It is not only the seniors who are going to be hurt, and it is not just Democrats who are warning about the impact of the deep and the dangerous Medicare cuts. The most recent issue of Money magazine, there is an article. It tells families, actually, in the article, to hold on to their wallets because health care costs are going to go up if this budget passes. In fact, because of the cuts in Medicare payments to hospitals under this plan, administrators say that they will have to raise health care costs for the rest of the population in order to have to make up the difference. [[Page H 13769]] According to a recent article in the New York Times, the Medicare cuts will shift more than $11 billion in costs onto small businesses and American workers. That is because if people wind up having additional people wind up with not having insurance, once more, as our current situation indicates to us, that those people who are without insurance, if they do get health care, and they will, that those costs do not just fall into an abyss, into a vacuum. Those costs get picked up by all those who, in fact, are currently paying health care costs. We will just add to the number of those who are uninsured, and those additional costs will have to be borne by those who are currently picking up health care costs today. That is a burden on individuals, and it is a burden on our businesses today and our workers that they simply cannot afford. The GOP Medicare proposal is fundamentally flawed by controlling spending, but, by not controlling costs, it ensures seniors will be forced to pay more out of pocket while health care costs continue to rise. That would mean a giant step backward for America's seniors. That is not the way to balance the budget. That is not the American way.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, 11 months ago, a new Republican majority promised to drive special interest lobbyists from the halls of Congress. What they did not tell us was that the lobbyists would be out of the halls and into their offices. In fact, instead of ending the cozy relationship between the corporate special interests and lawmakers, Speaker Gingrich has elevated it to an art form. An article in Monday's Washington Post revealed how the Republican leadership has boasted of twisting arms to raise campaign contributions and rewriting legislation for the highest bidder. The Republican Campaign Committee even keeps this book on what they call friendly and unfriendly PAC's. The unfriendly PAC's are those that contribute to Democrats. Simply put, those groups are told to give more to Republicans or else. It is time to break the ties with special interests. This is the people's House. Let us return it to the people today by passing a clean lobby reform bill.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, last night's agreement was a victory for the American people. The agreement gives us an outline for the budget talks, that truly reflects the values of the people of the United States. For months and months and months, Democrats have been fighting to protect Medicare, education, and the environment from the budget ax. Yesterday, President Clinton stood firm for those principles and he stood up for our seniors, for our students, and for our environment. The agreement also reaffirms the commitment of Congress and the President to balance the budget. The question in this battle has never been, Will we balance the budget, but how will we balance the budget? Yesterday, the President ensured that we will balance the budget in a fair manner and in a way that protects health care for our seniors, educational opportunities for our children, and that protects our environment. A balanced budget is a goal that we all share, but there is nothing balanced about cutting Medicare for seniors, student loans for our children, and rolling back environmental protections while cutting taxes for the wealthy. Democrats believe that it is wrong to balance that budget by cutting Medicare, education, and environmental protections, while doling out massive tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. That is why we are so pleased that the Republicans have agreed to protect those priorities and to put the $245 billion tax cut on the bargaining table. President Clinton has started the ball rolling on a real balanced budget, one that protects America's priorities: Protecting Medicare, education, and our environment.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I was proud to be a Democrat. Proud as a Democratic President stood firm on the principles of our party, and stood up for our seniors, our children, and our environment. Yesterday's agreement lays the framework for balancing the budget in a way that reflects the priorities of the American people. Balancing the budget means balancing the books, but it also means balancing our priorities. Protecting health care for our seniors, educational opportunity for our youngsters, and our natural resources for the next generation, must be our goals. Those are the priorities of the American people. Those are the priorities of the Democrats in Congress. Yesterday, the President stood firm for those principles and stood up for our seniors, our students, and our environment.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, this continuing resolution is a victory for the American people. For the first time, the Republicans have agreed with the President to protect Medicare, education, and the environment. Additionally, while seniors and families were the winners in this agreement, Speaker Gingrich has said that the crown jewel of the Republican contract, the $245 billion tax break for the rich, is on the table for the long-term budget negotiations. Mr. Speaker, this bill is a winner not only because it gets the Government back to work. This agreement is a winner because it sets the right ground rules for the coming negotiations on a long-term budget. No cuts in Medicare, education, or the environment. No increase on taxes for working middle-class families to pay for tax breaks for the rich. That is important, because the budget debate is not some heartless discussion about formulas, numbers and budget scoring. It is about the lives of the American people and protecting what is important to them. We need to balance the budget in a way that protects health care for our seniors, educational opportunity for our youngsters, and cleans up our environment. This Thanksgiving, as American families give thanks for the blessings of this past year, let Congress work to give the American people something to be thankful for in the coming years: A balanced budget based on the values that we all share.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. I yield to the gentleman from Maryland.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, let us be clear about what is going on here. First of all, I would say to the prior speaker with regard to earned income tax credit, the earned income credit has been eliminated for families without children. Now, if you do not call that a cut for those folks, I do not know what you call a cut. So it has been eliminated, eliminated, done, finished, for families who do not have children. There is a cut in the earned income tax credit.

Ms. DeLAURO. That is a tax break for the wealthiest Americans in this country. That is what this budget is about.

Ms. DeLAURO. Just one more sham. Let me tell you what this is about. It is not about a balanced budget. That is not what the issue is about today. It is about holding the President of the United States hostage to a set of Republican budget assumptions which say that what we ought to do is to cut $270 billion in Medicare, throw senior citizens in this country in disarray and provide devastating cuts, increase their premiums, and deny them their choice of doctors. That is what they want to do. They want to cut Medicaid, which allows nursing home coverage. That is one issue, one area that this is about, and holding the President hostage. The President is right. The President is absolutely right in saying ``no'' to $270 billion in Medicare cuts, ``no'' no to the slashing of education benefits for our young people. I do not know how all of you got to school. I went to school with student loans. We are about to cut student loans and deny working middle-class families in this country the opportunity to send their kids to school. They would like to hold the President hostage on those assumptions. The President has said ``no'' to that. He is right to do it.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, today, the Gingrich budget comes to the floor. The Republicans like to call it the balanced budget plan but there is nothing balanced about Speaker Gingrich's bill. There is nothing balanced about raiding Medicare to pay for a tax cut to the wealthy. There is nothing balanced about slashing education while eliminating the corporate minimum tax. There is nothing balanced about gutting environmental protection in order to placate corporate polluters. There is nothing balanced about raising taxes on people making under $30,000 a year while cutting taxes for people making $500,000. There is nothing balanced about the Gingrich budget, it takes from our most vulnerable citizens to lavish gifts upon the most well to do. to quote an old song, if the Republicans want the President to sign their budget: Try a little tenderness.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, the chairman of the Committee on Rules is right, Republicans have been waiting for this day for a very, very long time. This bill is precisely what the Gingrich Republicans are all about. What it does, the Gingrich plan provides a massive tax break for big corporations and rich people, paid for at the expense of seniors' health, education for our children and protection of our environment. The Gingrich budget plan is an unconscionable assault on the future of middle-class Americans. It raids $270 billion from Medicare to finance a lavish $245 billion tax break for people who do not need it. It slashes investments in education, guts environmental protection, exposes pension funds to corporate raiders, and raises taxes on working families, and it pays off Gingrich Republicans' high roller political supporters. They will talk to you today and will make pious speeches about this budget for our children. This is the worst assault on this Nation's children probably in the history of this country. Vote against the rule, vote against this awful bill.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, it is time that we restore the integrity of the House of Representatives by banning gifts to Members of Congress. These gifts threaten the bonds of trust that we need in order to govern in this body. We are here to do the people's business, and we are compensated very well for that. We do not need paid vacations, frequent-flier miles or free meals to sweeten the deal. Most of all, Members of Congress do not need lobbyists' paid golf weekends. If Members want to play at Pebble Beach or Augusta, they should do it on their own time and on their own tab. I am pleased a bipartisan effort is being made to finally ban gifts. I commend my colleagues on the other side of the aisle for their work on this issue. I must register my disappointment that Congress has not acted sooner. In fact, Democrats have tried to bring gift ban measures to the floor of the House 4 times since the first day of this Congress but have been blocked each time. The House passed a strong gift ban bill last year with a 3-to-1 bipartisan majority, only to see that bill blocked in the Senate. This year, the Senate passed a gift ban 98 to 0. It is time to make sure that the House follows the same strict rules as the Senate. I urge my colleagues to support the resolution, oppose the Burton amendment or any other changes that would weaken the gift ban, create loopholes for lobbyists or would impede the momentum that has pushed this House toward finally banning unnecessary and harmful gifts.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Speaker Gingrich threw a tantrum and revealed the real reason he has shut down the Government--because the President did not pay enough attention to him on Air Force One. The Speaker's outburst at breakfast, gives new meaning to the phrase whine and dine. Meanwhile, I got a call yesterday from a small businessman who told me that he will have to lay off employees because his business relies on contracts from the Department of Energy and Department of Defense that have not been paid. Across the country, 56,000 seniors and workers have been denied Social Security benefits, 15,000 veterans have been unable to file compensation, pension and education benefit claims--all because the Speaker did not get his ego stroked on Air Force One. The Speaker's massive ego gets bruised, so he puts people out of work and denies seniors and veterans their benefits. Mr. Speaker, quit whining, quit playing games with people's lives, and do your job.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, Speaker Gingrich tries to blame the President for the Government shutdown but he has been planning this now for months. Just take a look at the Speaker's words in September: ``I don't care what the price is. I don't care if we have no executive offices and no bonds for 30 days--not at this time. ``I don't care what happens.'' That is what Speaker Gingrich says. President Clinton does care. He cares about seniors, he cares about our children, and he cares about our environment. The question is not will we have a balanced budget, the question is how will we balance the budget. What are our priorities? The President and the Democrats are standing with the American people in opposition to Medicare, education, and environmental cuts to pay for tax breaks and tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. This is not the American way. It is wrong.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, sometimes it's a good idea to go outside the beltway to get a better understanding of what is happening here in Washington. In yesterday's USA Today, a letter to the editor from Joann Rossall of Snohomish, WA, hit the nail on the head when it comes to the Government shutdown. It reads: It seems to me if Gingrich and his troops had done the job that I and every other citizen in this country pay them to do, they would have presented a finished budget over six weeks ago. Republicans knew the budget was due by Oct. 1--they've had elephants and clowns at the Capital, they've had wild animals parading up the halls, but they haven't done the job they were hired to do. Joann Rossall hit the nail right on the head. If it weren't for the Gingrich public relations extravaganza of the first 100 days, we wouldn't be in this mess. Stop whining and do your job.