Martin Frost

Mr. FROST

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, could I inquire of the time remaining on each side?

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

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Volkmer].

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Pallone].

Mr. FROST

Mr. FROST. If the gentlewoman will yield for just a moment, I have just been informed, for members of the Committee on Rules who may be watching this debate, that the Committee on Rules will meet at 10 o'clock this evening, in 30 minutes, to consider a resolution on this particular matter of the Government shutdown. We do not know all the details, but that there will be a Committee on Rules meeting at 10, and I hope that something constructive will come from that.

Mr. FROST

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida [Mrs. Thurman].

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I would inquire the amount of time I have remaining.

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Connecticut [Mr. Gejdenson].

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute and 30 seconds to the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Hoyer]. My. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, Americans, as I said earlier today, are distressed. They are angry. They do not understand why adult presumably responsible individuals they have sent to represent them from 435 districts throughout America cannot honestly debate and come to resolve the differences between them and, indeed, to compromise. Our Speaker has said that he will cooperate but not compromise. There is not an American who lives who has been in a family who knows that compromise is essential if those with differences are to make progress. We have shut down a portion of the Government. Not only will it not solve the budget deficit problem, it will add to it. There is a cost to doing that. Those of you on your side of the aisle talk about privatize go and contracting out and in fact we have done that. A lot of people talk about Federal employees, but let me tell you, there are a lot of contractors out there for NASA, somebody mentioned NASA, who have been told, you cannot work. They and their employees are not drawing a salary. And notwithstanding Mr. Gingrich's letter, nobody is saying they are going to be reimbursed. My colleagues, America expects of us responsibility. America expects us to act in a fashion which will bring credit to our Government and to our country. I am going to vote for this resolution but it ought to be a resolution affect go all of the Government that is shut down. parliamentary inquiry

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Bonior].

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I urge a note vote on the previous question. If the previous question is defeated, I shall offer an amendment to the rule which would make in order the text of House Joint Resolution 131. This resolution would provide for a clean continuing resolution that would fund the Government through January 26th and would also provide for the military pay raise and retiree COLA provided for in the Defense authorization bill that was passed by the House earlier this month. This amendment is in addition to the continuation of veterans' benefits. I include the text of the amendment at this point in the Record. H.J. Res. 131 Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California [Mr. Miller]. (Mr. MILLER of California asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. de la Garza]. Mr. de la GARZA. Mr. Speaker, I am getting tired of finger-pointing, blaming the President and Mrs. Clinton for everything that is happening. My friends, we are here tonight on the verge of closing the Government because you did not pass the appropriations bills in time. That is the main reason. It is a legislative failure, Mr. Speaker; the Republicans failed. I have told my colleagues, and I will tell them again, my colleagues waited 40 years to be in power and they have messed it up the first year. You did not pass the appropriation bills in time. You are saying the President vetoed them this week. Where were you when the fiscal year ended? You have the majority. You have an overwhelming majority, and the veterans and the people of this country should know it was a legislative failure. It has nothing to do with the President. He does not legislate it. You, my friends, messed it up. You messed it up royally. You cannot blame it on the President. It was pure simple legislative failure and you made it fail.

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Obey].

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut [Ms. DeLauro]. Ms. DeLauro. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of our veterans and against the previous question. I am pleased that America's veterans will not be held hostage to the budget impasse. What I do not understand is why Republicans are willing to make this concession for veterans but not for the 250,000 Federal employees who are out of work because of the shutdown. As we embark on the holiday season, I ask my Republican colleagues to think about those 250,000 families. The gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Moran] came to the floor yesterday and put a human face on the Government shutdown when he told a story about his visit to a local elementary school. He said that the teachers told him that the children were not enjoying the holidays as they had in the past. Why are these children not enjoying the holidays? Because many of their parents are Federal employees, hardworking men and women who now find themselves out of work at Christmastime. They want to be working. And the children? They hear their parents fighting, they know that Mom and Dad are not working. They listen to their parents explain that this will be a lean Christmas because they do not know when or if they will get their next paycheck. It is right that we are making certain that veterns do not suffer because the Republican majority failed to produce a budget. Now it is time to summon the same compassion for the 250,000 families who are the unfortunate pawns in Speaker Gingrich's game of budget blackmail. The Speaker would have you believe that he did not want to break his promise to the President to reopen the Government. He claims that the extremists in his party forced his hand. But we all know that this extreme agenda is the Speaker's agenda, to cut Medicare and Medicaid and education to pay for a tax break for the wealthiest Americans. Mr. Speaker, give Americans an early Christmas present, a budget that reflects their priorities and not yours.

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, point of order.

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank my colleague from Georgia for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. Mr. Speaker this continuing resolution is a very small step in the right direction. This resolution says to American veterans that they should not have to pay the price for this ridiculous game of political brinkmanship my Republican colleagues are playing. What I do not understand Mr. Speaker, is why my republican colleagues believe the entire country should pay this price. Why don't my republican colleagues tell the 383,000 people who are shut out of National Park Service facilities every day that Congress cares about them too? Why don't my republican colleagues tell the 80,000 people who are shut out of the Smithsonian and the National Zoo every day that Congress cares about them too? Why don't my republican colleagues tell the 2,500 people whose FHA home purchase loans aren't being processed that we care about them too? As the gentleman from Massachusetts noted up in the Rules Committee earlier this evening, although the Speaker and the Majority Leader supposedly had a very productive discussion with the President, a funny thing happened to the Speaker at the Republican conference, he found out his radical colleagues would rather cut Medicare and Medicaid than keep the Government running. He found out that Members of the Republican Party won't let a continuing resolution come to the floor at all. So, Mr. Speaker, I'm sure the country will support my attempt to defeat the previous question in order to expand this continuing resolution to the entire Government, not just the veterans. I'm sure the country wants Congressional Republicans to stop these games, leave Medicare alone, and fund the entire Federal Government through January 26. I urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question.

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman has removed the button from his lapel.

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Obey], the ranking Democratic Member on the Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Moakley].

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Frank].

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Durbin].

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Colorado [Mrs. Schroeder].

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes. Mr. Speaker, the previous speaker has brought into question the patriotism of the President of the United States. I would like to point out to the people on the other side the old saying that ``People in glass houses should not throw stones.'' Of the current elected Republican leadership of the House, not a single Member of the elected leadership of the Republican House has served in the military. The Speaker did not serve in the military. The majority leader did not serve in the military. The whip did not serve in the military. My counterpart, the chairman of the Republican Campaign Committee, did not serve in the military. On the Democratic side, the minority leader [Mr. Gephardt] served in the military. The minority whip [Mr. Bonior], served in the military. I served in the military. I resent the remarks made by the previous speaker, directed at the President of the United States, and I would suggest that he direct those remarks to the Members of his own leadership who chose not to serve in the military.