David Dreier

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. Livingston] the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I was contemplating yielding back the balance of my time so we can move ahead, but the speech that was just delivered compels me to yield myself the balance of the time.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Sanibel, Florida [Mr. Goss], the chairman of the Subcommittee on Legislative and Budget Process of the Committee on Rules. (Mr. GOSS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire of the Chair how much time is remaining on both sides?

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire of my dear friend from South Boston how many speakers he has remaining?

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished former mayor of Santa Clarita, CA, an area heavily impacted by the Northridge earthquake, the gentleman from California [Mr. McKeon]. (Mr. McKEON asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 151 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, still basking in the glow of passing the first balanced budget in 26 years, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York [Mr. Solomon], the distinguished chairman of the Committee on Rules.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Everett, PA [Mr. Shuster], the chairman of the Committee on Transportation and infrastructure.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, the sky is falling, the sky is falling. That is what we have been getting from the other side of the aisle. Only in Washington, DC., can an increase of from $4,700 to $6,300 for Medicare recipients over a 7-year period be labeled a Draconian cut. Nowhere else in the world would it possibly be considered that except on the floor of this Congress. This is a very fair and balanced rule. Last year they gave us 4 hours for general debate. This year we are providing 6 hours of general debate, a 50 percent increase over the allotted time from last year. Mr. Speaker, we have seen many of our colleagues come to the aisle over the past few minutes with pictures of individuals who they claim will be victimized by this budget. Yet virtually every single one of them who stood in the well on January 26 of this year voted in favor of one of the balanced budget amendments that would have, by the year 2002, brought us to a balanced budget. They talk about it and yet they will not recognize that we have to make some modifications without hurting those individuals if we are in fact going to get to a balanced budget. Mr. Speaker, this is a very important vote. This is a very important time for us as a Congress to step up to the plate and do the responsible thing. We are not going to be hurting those students. We are not going to be hurting senior citizens. It is nothing but rhetoric. We have to look at the facts. As we proceed with the next 6 hours of general debate, we will be doing just that. We are waiting for the Democrats' budget plan. A copy of it, in fact, is being held by the chairman of the Committee on Rules. It is empty. They are not stepping up to the plate. We are. We are simply encouraging them to join us so in a bipartisan way we should vote for the previous question, for this very fair and balanced rule, and move ahead toward our glide path of a balanced budget by the year 2002.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, apparently George Orwell has become the spin doctor for the leadership on the other side of the aisle. Only in Orwell's world or the old Washington, DC, when the Congress was under different leadership, could an increased of from $4,700 to $6,300 for Medicare be considered a draconian cut. That is right. Under our proposal we are increasing the level of spending for Medicare from $4,700 to $6,300 over the next 7 years, and time after time our colleagues have gotten down here and labeled this a draconian cut which is simply to pay for a tax cut for the rich. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is wrong for this message to be getting out and tragic that people are being frightened by this kind of message. Mr. Speaker, the American people want the truth, not the spin. George Orwell should not be the guide for any leadership in this Congress.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, words fall short of expressing the shock and revulsion Americans felt in the wake of the brutal terrorist bombing in Oklahoma City. Words especially ring hollow when we struggle with the vision of bloody and dying children. While we did not know these children or their families, we know in our hearts that not one ever did anything to warrant their fate. There is a well-worn saying that ``Time heals all wounds.'' In the wake of the tragedy in Oklahoma, we can draw some solace from it. Mercifully, the immediate pain and sadness of even a most horrible event pass over time. However, it does not mean that we are expected or should forget. With the TV pictures fresh in our minds, and the sadness of this time fresh in our hearts, we must come to grips with the fact that this crime was the work of Americans. It was the product of hate and evil that originated in this country. Hate and evil know no boundaries. This is an especially poignant time to recall another horrible act of hate and evil, the genocide committed against the Armenian people in Turkey 80 years ago. Just as we will never forget the terrorism committed in Oklahoma, it is important that we not forget the 1.5 million Armenian men, women, and children who were brutally murdered in the inaugural genocide of the 20th century. Each year, Americans, and not just Armenian-Americans, come together on this occasion. We do so to do more than simply remember that the Armenians were the first victims of what sadly has become man's bloodiest century. Rather, we each hope that raising the consciousness of past atrocities helps prevent similar tragedies in the future. With tragedy so near and so fresh in our minds, we are easily reminded that hate and evil are unfortunate aspects of the human condition. However, it is our responsibility as Americans to remain vigilant against hate, violence, and intolerance, whenever and wherever it rears its ugly head. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 129 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, for purposes of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to my very good friend, the gentleman from Woodland Hills, CA [Mr. Beilenson], and, pending that, I yield myself such time as I may consume. All time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. (Mr. DREIER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks, and include extraneous material.)

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, this rule responds to a national emergency in defense readiness and training. The rule makes in order for consideration the conference report to accompany the bill H.R. 889, making emergency supplemental appropriations and rescissions to preserve and enhance the military readiness of the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1995. The rule waives all points of order against the conference report and its consideration, and the conference report is to be considered as read. The conference report requires a waiver of the 3-day layover rule. This rule is being waived in order to permit the House to consider this very vital measure as quickly as possible. The Secretary of Defense recommended that this bill be completed by March 31, 1995, and since we failed to do that, we are trying to move as expeditiously as possible to get this done. Mr. Speaker, yesterday was an historic day in the House of Representatives. The new majority completed the final legislation outlined in our Contract With America. The new majority proved that Congress is finally led by legislators that keep their promises and live up the commitments that they make. The new majority proved that they value families ahead of Government, cutting taxes and ensuring that every dollar returned to the people that earned it comes from reduced Government spending, rather than adding to the deficit. And the new majority made the Washington establishment lash out in anger because we are doing something totally new: cutting taxes, reducing government, and cutting the deficit. People take note of major accomplishments, Mr. Speaker. They measure Congress by high profile legislation, like the tax relief deficit reduction bill that we passed late last night. However, I believe that it is in the more mundane legislative accomplishments that we can really measure the difference in the House of Representatives between this year and past years. When I use the term ``mundane,'' I do not mean in any way to criticize my very dear friend, the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations. The conference report on this emergency defense supplemental appropriations bill is proof that we are making a real difference, changing the long-ingrained culture of deficit spending in Congress. For years those of us on this side of the aisle have said that we are committed to fiscal responsibility, that the Federal Government must live within its means. However, I can understand how people would want to see some results before they actually are sure that that is the case. The Contract With America proved that we keep our promises, and this conference report begins to establish the real record of fiscal responsibility American taxpayers have demanded. Our $4.7 trillion national debt is so massive it is almost incomprehensive. How did we get there? You can probably get as many reasons as there are Members of Congress. But I know that one reason is that in the past the standard operating procedure for this House, dealing with emergency spending, is to simply add to the deficit. Well, Mr. Speaker, that era has come to an end. Things have changed. The new leadership has said that we will find offsetting cuts for all supplemental spending. While the big spenders said it could not be done with a $1.5 trillion Federal budget, it can. We are doing it here, and we will do it again with a disaster relief supplemental appropriations bill. In fact, it is now the only way for us to meet emergencies. Make no mistake, H.R. 889 makes supplemental appropriations of a truly emergency nature. It provides $3.04 billion in readiness funds. Those defense funds are offset with $2.5 billion in defense rescissions, $775 million in nondefense rescissions, and $142 million in foreign assistance rescissions. Two months ago some said that the House's original nondefense rescissions were going nowhere. They said the Senate would not even consider them. I would note, Mr. Speaker, that instead of failure, the House got much of what it wanted, and this bill cuts $746 million more than it spends. In other words, we are again doing the people's business and making a down payment on balancing the budget. Mr. Speaker, the real changes in Congress are at least as evident when we send a bill like this to the President as when we cut taxes and cut spending to pay for it. I urge all of my colleagues to support this very fair rule and permit the House to consider this conference report. There is a critical national security need that must be met, and H.R. 889 meets it. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I would simply urge support of this very important first step toward dealing with the deficit, and at the same time dealing with emergency spending, and again I have to apologize not only to the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations for in any way leading one to believe that this might be a mundane measure, but also the chairman of the Subcommittee on Defense Appropriations, Mr. Young, who has now joined us, and say that I believe this is extraordinarily important. I hope we can immediately report out this rule. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution. The previous question was ordered.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, over the past several weeks through this debate on taxes we have been listening to little more than class warfare, the ``us versus them'' mentality, pitting one segment of society against another. When one looks closely at what we call the crown jewel, there should be a realization that those people who are in the upper 10 percent of wage earners in this country actually shoulder 60 percent of the Federal tax burden. We also should recognize that the tax cut that is going to take place is much greater for those earning between $30,000 and $75,000 a year. It is actually 4.4 percent. Those who are earning over $200,000 a year get only a 2.9-percent cut. And the $500 per child tax credit, 90 percent of that will be going to families with incomes of less than $100,000 a year. We need to realize that this is a program for middle income, working families, and it has some incentives to create more job opportunities for those who are struggling to find greater opportunity. Remember, 4.7 million Americans are completely taken off the tax rolls because of that $500 per child tax credit.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in very strong support of this fair and balanced modified closed rule. Now, when the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Gibbons] came before the Committee on Rules, he requested a closed rule. We are not even going as far as the distinguished ranking minority member of the Committee on Ways and Means would like, but we do have a modified closed rule. It is a measure which is bringing to the floor an opportunity for us to do what the American people have said overwhelmingly that they want. They want us to try and reduce the size and scope of Government and allow them to keep a little bit of what they have earned. Now, as I have been listening to the rhetoric over the past few minutes about us versus them, class warfare, I am very discouraged. I have enjoyed working for years with the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Gibbons] on trade issues, but, when I hear him talking about the very few who will utilize the capital gains tax reduction versus those working individuals who do not or would not be able to, I cannot help but think of a column that appeared recently in the New York Post where Thomas Sowell said, Class-warfare politics is not just fraudulent, it is a cheap play on envy and a very serious disservice to the whole country. Not only does it divide us yet another way, it threatens the very process by which all of us have benefited economically. This is a balanced approach. We want to recognize that we are in this together. The American people want us to responsibly deal with deficit reduction. This bill is a very important step on the road toward a balanced budget. Why? Because every shred of evidence is that with this capital gains tax rate reduction, we are going to see an increase in the flow of revenues to the Federal Treasury. That increase is going to help us responsibly get to a balanced budget. I urge support of this fair and balanced modified closed rule, and urge my colleagues to join us.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, fascinating figures we have been hearing from our colleagues from the other side of the aisle about Mercedes Benzes and school lunches. Let us counter it just a little. A message for America's families: When the big-government party warns you how bad off you will be if you get to keep your money rather than sending it to Washington, DC, hide your wallet. We have heard a lot about student loans lately. Let us look at the real impact of spending money back to families rather than funding more government. If a family takes the $500 per child tax credit that we offer today and puts it in a tax-free American Dream savings account that we will offer today, they will have $14,766 tax free for each child after 18 years. Now, if in return the smaller government no longer subsidized interest on college loans, the end of the world according to big- government liberals, the average loan would cost $21 more per month over the life of a student loan. That is $2,520. Our answer to failed big-government liberalism is to give the people the chance to keep $14,766 of their own money. They can fully replace Government help with college and still have over $12,000 left.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, point of order. The House is not in order. There are conferences taking place. This is the first conference in 40 years from a Republican House of Representatives.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding time to me. Mr. Speaker, I want to extend congratulations to the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Clinger] and all of our colleagues who played a role in bringing about this very, very important success. Mr. Speaker, I want to say specifically that the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Bill Clinger, the gentleman from Ohio, Rob Portman, and the gentleman from Virginia, Tom Davis, and all of the people who have been involved in a bipartisan way in addressing this issue are to be congratulated. Rather than going through the litany of the people who have been involved in this issue here, I would like to talk about a couple of people who specifically raised issues of concern to me at the local level. I, just about 15 minutes ago, got off the phone with the mayor of the city of Los Angeles, Richard Riordan. He is absolutely ecstatic. He is ecstatic at the passage of this for several reasons. When one looks at what he describes, and sometimes we do not always agree with this, as well-intentioned Federal mandates, the cost for the city of Los Angeles for the Clean Water Act is over $3 billion over a 5-year period. The cost of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act is $112.7 million over a 5-year period; the ADA, it is $1.2 billion over a 5-year period. The Fair Labor Standards Act is $80.3 million over a 5-year period. These are the kinds of constraints that we are imposing on local elected officials, and I am happy to say that based on what this conference has done, we are finally turning the corner on that. In fact, what we are doing here today, Mr. Speaker, is really history in that it is the first time in 40 years that a Republican majority is actually bringing down a conference report. It could not happen on a better piece of legislation. Adoption of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act marks the beginning of an entirely new era of the relationship between State and local governments and the Federal Government. State and local officials now will have a seat at the table every time we here in the Congress write a law, or an agency writes a rule or regulation that imposes new burdens on them. Since the historic first election of President Ronald Reagan in 1980, those of us on this side of the aisle, as well as many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, have been working to restore the balance of power to take back, bring back to States and local communities, the power as it was envisioned in the Constitution, and of course, specifically, the 10th amendment. In fact, I will never forget here on the West Front of the Capitol when Ronald Reagan in his first inaugural address said ``The Federal Government did not create the States, the States created the Federal Government.'' Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, this piece of constitutional history has often been lost with the proliferation of unfunded mandates. Since 1980, Congress, Federal agencies, and even the courts have imposed hundreds of unfunded Federal mandates on State and local governments. Compliance with just 10 of those mandates will cost cities alone $54 billion between 1994 and 1998. The result has been fewer resources at the local level to deal with local problems, such as fighting crime, paving roads, maintaining parks, and recreational facilities, and cleaning up the local environmental problems. The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act will finally put the brakes on Washington's runaway power grab and regulatory excesses. It makes it harder for Congress to pass feel-good legislation while passing the buck to State and local governments. No longer will Congress be playing the role of drunken sailors having a good time while recklessly running up a tab at State and local taxpayer expenses. Mr. Speaker, S. 1 is a stronger bill than the one that we passed here in the House. It is going to go a long way towards bringing about the level of accountability that we need. I congratulate all my colleagues that have been involved in this process.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Chairman, I am very concerned about environmental quality in this country. I represent an area in southern California that has the highest number of first-stage smog alerts in the Nation. I have come to the conclusion that we must have a balanced policy. If we look at this issue of restoring forestry health, the need to create jobs and the opportunity to kill and actually salvage dead trees, this is the responsible approach for us to take. I strongly support the language that is included in this bill. I believe we can bring down the cost of lumber, the cost of housing to people out there who are trying to attain the American dream and maintain environmental quality. Support the committee position.