Lloyd Doggett

Mr. DOGGETT

Mr. DOGGETT. Well, you may not want it shut down this morning, but you were mighty proud to shut it down twice last year. You use this term ``civil disorder.'' You say that martial law is something that we bring into play when there is civil disorder. Well, what better term to describe the mess that you have made of this Government? Coming to the American people and bragging about your power to shut down the Government, not once but twice, costing the American taxpayer $1.5 billion, frittered away by this Republican leadership, totally and completely wasted so that they could have their Government shutdowns. What do they propose today? Well, they want to erect a monument to the mismanagement, to the failures of this Gingrich Congress. This year after those two Government shutdowns, what have they given us? Loud talk and long weekends. It took them 3 weeks to celebrate Valentine's Day, breaking from this Congress. They come in and they break a little after noon. There are people across America that these Republican colleagues of ours simply do not understand. They are working families. They are facing a tough time trying to make ends meet. If they for 1 week were to handle their business in the total mismanagement fashion of our Republican colleagues, taking 5 and 6-day weekends, taking 3 weeks for Valentine's Day, working part-time, asking to be paid full time, and caring about the real problems of the American people no time, then those ordinary working families would be out without a job in their own situation. At the same time, we find ourselves in these sputtering spurts of Government that occur here with the same kind of extremist rhetoric that we heard all of last year from day one. When Republicans over in the other body hear the cry of the American people and approve money so that we can keep Head Start going instead of giving our young children a wrong start, keep our teachers going with Federal support of education, the response from the House Republican leadership is that the Senate Republicans have somehow been spineless, rather than to commend them for their willingness to finally come around and listen to the American people. There are programs for young people in this country that are going to be shut down unless this kind of extremism can be put to a halt. We got just this week another example of that same kind of extremism, where we have one Member of this body coming and saying that he heard right here in the House a great Republican say, `` `I trust Hamas more than I trust my own government.' Those words hurt.'' They do indeed hurt, and they hurt not just the pride of this body. They hurt ordinary working families across this country, because they are the ones that are being savaged, that are being impacted by this kind of extremism in the House that has the Government operating literally from 1 day to the next, without the planning that our local school boards need and our Government agencies need to do their job. So what is proposed as a solution? What this rule does is to say they think the solution to it all is to do one thing: Give Speaker Newt Gingrich more power. I do not believe the American people think the Speaker needs more power. I think they view him as part of the problem instead of part of the solution. This allows him to come forward with more sneak attacks, just like tomorrow. Every time the American people realize what is happening to them, they come up with some sneak attack and some distraction piece of legislation. There is only one good feature of this resolution that our Republican colleagues are offering, and that is this authority is going to expire on April 1. Yes, they quite appropriately picked April Fools' Day. I say the American people are not going to be fooled again by this kind of nonsense.

Mr. DOGGETT

Mr. DOGGETT. Madam Speaker, still high on the agenda of this Gingrich Congress is the assault on public education. It began last year with school lunch. You will remember the Speaker's assault and attempt to destroy a program that had enjoyed 50 years of bipartisan support to assure and guarantee school lunches for our Nation's young people. Then it was on to college. Let us add $5,000, the Speaker said, to the cost of going to college for those families that have struggled to get their kids through public school. This year it is back to our smallest children. It is the program of giving not a Head Start, but a wrong start, to millions of American children. In my hometown it means cutting prekindergarten for 2,300 children in half. That is the program of placing obstacles in the way of opportunity for America's young children. I know Speaker Gingrich was very gleeful yesterday at this microphone as he blocked educational opportunities for immigrant children. Well, what about all the people that have been here and spent all of their lives and generations in this country and the hopes and aspirations of their parents? Let us stand up against this assault on public education.

Mr. DOGGETT

Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, this is a Congress that operates in spurts, and it is sputtering today as its Members head home for yet another extended weekend with the work of this country not done. The reason that that has occurred, and the reason that this is a Congress of near total failure, is that we have got a Speaker of the House who rejects any meaningful bipartisanship, and we have a whole lot of Members in the Republican Caucus who seem to think that working to achieve common ground to solve the real problems of working families in this country is somehow a sin. Who bears the brunt of this failed Congress? It is the children of our country. It is the 12,000 Texas children to whom this Republican leadership says, ``No Head Start for you. We will give you the wrong start,'' not the Head Start to be advancing within our society. It is the same Republican leadership that says to over 2,000 prekindergarten students in my home of Austin, TX, ``You get half the kindergarten that you would otherwise get because we are not going to give you educational opportunity.'' We Democrats say more educational opportunities. These Republicans say more education obstacles.

Mr. DOGGETT

Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I agree with my colleague on the Republican side that there is certainly something new about this Congress. Indeed, it has achieved new heights. It has scaled new mountains when it comes to mismanagement, near total and complete mismanagement. When we look back over the course of the last 14 months of this great new revolutionary Congress, what is there to show for all the effort? Near nothing, somewhere between nothing and next to nothing; a lot of hot air, a lot of rhetoric. But in terms of doing anything that affects the lives of ordinary working people in this country, nothing has been accomplished by this Congress. This year it has been hurry up and stop. Mr. Speaker, I am really pleased that my Republican colleagues have so much love in their hearts that they needed 3 weeks to celebrate Valentine's Day. I wish they would express a little of it on the floor of this Congress. I wish they would come here and get to work on the problems this country faces. Their great division is not with us, not with the President, it is with their Republican colleagues over in the Senate, who rejected in these past few days their radical cuts in Head Start. What they propose is not a continuing resolution but a continuing nonsolution.

Mr. DOGGETT

Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, the real language problem in this country is not the one we just heard about, but it is the fact that our Republican colleagues cannot understand in any language the call of the American people to deal with the real problems that affect their lives. Instead, we have a House Republican majority that has produced one failure after another in the last 14 months. As if that were not enough, they are proposing to chalk up yet again another failure this weekend as they head home in the face of a third Government shutdown. It is as if no matter what language you speak, they cannot hear the voice of the American people, because instead of solving these problems, they continue to bicker among themselves. The House Republicans cannot agree with the Senate Republicans concerning how many American young people they should deny an educational opportunity to. The Senate yesterday rejected the extreme House Republican cuts in education. They have got a great battle going on between the far right, the extremists who want to cut out any Federal commitment to education, and the not-so-right that say, ``Well, let's just cut a few children.'' The American people, whatever the language is, want to support educational commitment and opportunity for our young people, and we ought to get about that job.

Mr. DOGGETT

Mr. DOGGETT. Well, I thank the gentleman for trying to put some perspective on the little bit that is being done here and the whole lot that is not getting any correction at all.

Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield further, sharing the concern with the gentleman from New Jersey about those who lack health insurance, let me ask the gentleman about this particular bill, about this data bank which has been brought to the floor under an unusual procedure never used before by this Congress, that by the very nature of the procedure bringing it to the floor, we are as Members denied an opportunity to amend this bill to address some of these very real problems that relate to the health care and the lack of access to insurance that affect millions of working families across this country.

Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, surely it is permissible in the course of one of these debates, and I can understand the gentleman's desire not to get into this destruction to the health care of our seniors across the country by raising this issue, but surely it is appropriate under the rules of the House to make an inquiry of someone who is opposed to this legislation as to what the legislation affects. That is all I have asked, is whether or not the seniors in America are going to be affected by changing this data bank to seniors who would lose out if there are no standards to protect them in nursing homes.

Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I would like to be heard on the point of order.

Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to inquire whether any of the data bank information that would be affected by this legislation would relate to complaints of patient abuse in nursing homes, the kind of violation of Federal standards. I am referring to the standards that the Gingrichites propose to just eliminate entirely in their proposal last year and deny our seniors any kind of safety in nursing homes. Would that be affected by this legislation?

Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will continue to yield, as far as the nexus, is there any nexus between this bill and any other bills that are pending there in the committee from whence this bill came that do deal with the very real problems of American families? Or is this just an isolated correction of some problem that is not really a problem?

Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield further, in other words, this is a so-called corrections day bill, but it does not correct any of the real problems that affect the American families that are out there struggling to make ends meet.

Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, may I be heard on the point of order?

Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I have just received a copy of the House Republican National Strategic Plan for 1996, and I am wondering if the gentleman has an opinion as to how this piece of legislation, which I believe is the first piece of legislation dealing specifically with any aspect of Medicare, might fit into that plan, which I will tell the gentleman specifically calls and says, and I quote, not you and me of course, but the Republicans ``will pursue a targeted inoculation strategy on Medicare.'' Does this bill have relevance to that targeted inoculation strategy on Medicare? point of order

Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to ask a question as to what this legislation does, because whether you were here at the very beginning of the debate or at the very end of the debate, whether the gentleman is opposed to or for this legislation, it should be proper, as the Speaker has ruled, for a Member of this House to be able to determine whether the legislation will have an adverse effect by changing this data bank on the seniors of America. Now, does this legislation have any impact on all this proposed Gingrichite repeal for standards of health and safety in nursing homes across this country?

Mr. DOGGETT

Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, promises made, promises broken. That is, after all, the recurrent theme of this Gingrich revolution. There is no better example than what is occurring right here today. I have a letter here dated February 1, 1996. It is addressed to the President of the United States at the White House. It says, in part, and it is a very short letter, ``You emphasized that authority to raise the debt limit is needed by the beginning of March. Your administration has communicated to use that action must be taken by February 29 to ensure there is not default. Congressional Republicans are committed to act by this date in a manner acceptable to both you and the Congress in order to guarantee the Government does not default on its obligations,'' and it is signed by the gentleman from Georgia, Newt Gingrich, by the gentleman from Texas, Dick Armey, and by Bob Dole. What happened on February 29? Yes, it was leap day and leap year, and our Republican colleagues leaped right over their pledge, because February 29 came and went and there was no permanent extension with reference to this matter of the full faith and credit of the United States. This is not some trivial matter. This is the creditworthiness of our entire country that is being messed with and meddled with in 2- week spurts. Why is that? Because our Republican colleagues cannot agree among themselves. They cannot figure out which part of their extremist agenda to tack onto the debt limit, now that they have that hostage. They are over there saying, ``Well, should we use it to restrict the health care choices of American families?'' And then they have another group that says, ``Oh, no, this is a good opportunity to have unilateral disarmament with reference to law enforcement on environmental matters, clean air and clean water.'' Then they have another group that says, ``No, we could use this as hostage to place more obstacles in the way of public education.'' They cannot agree among themselves, so they need another 2 weeks to figure out what part of their extremist agenda to tack on and hold hostage the creditworthiness of the United States. Let us reject that kind of extremism, as the American people have done. For once, we ask our Republican colleagues to keep their word.

Mr. DOGGETT

Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, these followers of Speaker Gingrich have threatened the health care security of millions of seniors in America with Medicare cuts. They demonstrated, as Gingrichites, such indifference to the job insecurity of American working families that now they are even being criticized within their own party. But to top it all off, they come to this Congress today proposing to place more hurdles in the way of our youngest Americans with reference to educational opportunities. Yes, the cuts that the propose in education are very real. In my home town of Austin, the school district is contemplating having to cut the opportunity in half for 2,200 young Austinites with reference to their prekindergarten program, just slashing it in half solely as a result of these Federal cuts. As one AISD official, Gloria Williams, said, if the pots gets smaller and the number of kids gets larger, we will not be able to support a full day prekindergarten program. There is no doubt we have an education deficit in this country because these followers of Newt Gingrich just cannot seem to learn.

Mr. DOGGETT

Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, promises made, promises broken, the true motto of this failed Republican Congress. One would think that at least here on Leap Day once every 4 years, Speaker Gingrich could keep his promises. But, no, indeed, when one turns to a letter written the first day of this month, Speaker Gingrich, Mr. Dole, and Mr. Armey all wrote President Clinton saying, ``Your administration has communicated to us that action must be taken by February 29 to ensure there is no default. Congressional Republicans are committed to act by this date in a manner that is acceptable to you and the Congress in order to guarantee the Government does not default on its obligations.'' Where is their action? It is not here on Leap Day. Next week we are going to talk about most-favored-nation treatment for Bulgaria, and they have yet to resolve the question of whether we will protect the full faith and credit of this country. Promises made, promises broken, and the American working people are the ones who are going to have to pay the price for this failure unless we can turn this country and this Congress around.

Mr. DOGGETT

Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, our Republican colleagues have, of course, already voted four times in this very Congress to adjust the debt limit to the full amount necessary. But now that it really counts, now that we are up against the line, they break their promise to the American people. They whine and moan about a budget deficit, but as soon as the President proposes a balanced budget calculated by their numbers, the Speaker declares defeat. A broken promise. You see, that is the watchword of this Gingrich Republican leadership: Promises made, promises broken. The Republicans promised to give us a country that is governed responsibly, and then they come forward and waste $1.5 billion with two Government shutdowns that were totally unnecessary, which even Speaker Gingrich has now confessed was an error. They promised to guarantee the fiscal integrity of this country, and now they act in a way that constitutes the biggest broken promise in American economic history. They promise to breach the promise of the full faith and credit of this country. Republican promises made and Republican promises broken, the whole story of the 104th Congress. They have broken so many promises in this Congress to the American people, they now want to go out and break somebody else's promise, and that is the promise that generations of Americans have stood by to protect the fiscal integrity of this country. Can any responsible American, regardless of party, regardless of philosophy, conceivably be out there saying, Oh, go to Washington. Do not pay the bond holders. Do not pay those who rely on U.S. savings bonds. Just bring everything to a halt and default until you get your way? Mr. Speaker, that is precisely what has been advocated here tonight. Nobody but a crackpot would advance that point of view. But indeed, while that might have been true a few years ago, and though we just heard promises, let us listen to what the Speaker of the House of the United States said: ``I don't care what the price is. I don't care if we have no bonds for 30 days.''

Mr. DOGGETT

Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, that is interesting to hear, since it was a limit that was already in the Republican reconciliation bill. You have already voted to do that two or three times here. But now you feel a need to have a crowbar to highjack the Government, to pressure the President, to threaten the future of this country by waiting until a few days before we enter the first default in the 200-plus-year history of this country. It is that kind of political shenanigans that the people of this country are rejecting. Mr. Speaker, I heard on the way over here this morning that there was another low in the temperature in Embarrassment, MN. They had gotten down to minus 40 or minus 50. That may be a low in terms of the temperature, but you know, I have not seen a low like we have here in this House this morning. Just look around. You will not find many Members on the floor. Why is that? Because after a 5- or 6-day weekend that we just celebrated, the Republican leadership does not have one piece of legislation on this floor for the Congress to act on today. They think work is not only a four-letter word, but a dirty four-letter word. What is this Congress doing, if here, even before the lunch hour, we cannot get about working and dealing with the critical problems that this country faces? I will tell you, Mr. Speaker, all the news from the north end of this country is not cold news, because I see a report here from the State of Oregon. Our distinguished colleague here in the House, the gentleman from Oregon, Congressman Ron Wyden, is now Senator Ron Wyden, because the people of Oregon had an opportunity to consider this proposal to let Medicare wither on the vine, to consider the proposal to have unilateral disarmament on our environment, to consider the mistaken priorities of this House Republican leadership, and they voted ``no,'' and in favor of sending a Democrat to the U.S. Senate. Mr. Speaker, last week the Senate came within one vote, one vote, of passing the very kind of adjustment in the debt limit to protect the full faith and credit of this country, the same type that I asked the gentleman form Ohio [Mr. Hoke] to come down here and sign, along with over 150 Democrats, to not threaten the creditworthiness of our country. One vote. And now Senator Ron Wyden will be over there to cast a vote for fiscal responsibility. I commend and congratulate him, Mr. Speaker, but I particularly commend the people of Oregon for speaking out against this extremist agenda and doing what they have the power to do, and that is hold their public officials accountable, and replace a Republican with a Democrat, and a very progressive and responsible Democrat, to do something about the tragic circumstances which this extremist agenda has placed the country in.

Mr. DOGGETT. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I think they would throw out the management of the company. That is exactly what the people of the United States are going to do if we continue to have the kind of shenanigans that have been going on here. It is time to protect the full faith and credit of this country.

Mr. DOGGETT

Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to substitute my name for that of the next Democrat who is up. THe SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Texas?