Jack Kingston

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. In fact, I think the gentleman from California said this will actually help the middle class from having higher taxes. It is kind of like ``Hello, is anybody home in there?'' Because I do not follow that. If I go into a fast-food restaurant today and they cannot squeeze out any more jobs, then my french fries and hamburgers and Coca-Colas are going to go up, along with the goods and services I get from everywhere else, from health care to groceries. The middle class, one more time, will get stuck with this. I want to kind of bridge this. As we are talking about the middle class, maybe we should talk about welfare reform, since we have a lot of news in there today. We have two different approaches on welfare reform, from the conservative point of view and from the liberal point of view. We have a President who promised to apparently extend welfare as we know it, and President Clinton currently has vetoed two welfare reform bills, and to date I think has now endorsed a bill that allows welfare benefits for felons. So as I said, the President seems to want to extend welfare as we know it. I hear over and over again from middle class people that they are tired of the giveaway programs when they are out working 40, 45, 50, 55 hours a week and more, busting their tails, and then they have got able-bodied people who refuse to work because of the generous welfare benefits. The President vetoed a bill that required able-bodied recipients to work 20 hours a week. As I go to the civic clubs in Georgia, I say, ``How many of you worked 20 hours a week and provided for your families?'' Not one hand goes up. And I think I will ask the gentleman from Arizona, can you make it at 20 hours a week in Arizona?

Mr. KINGSTON. Certainly not. And do you think it is unfair to ask able-bodied welfare recipients to work 20 hours a week?

Mr. KINGSTON. I thought it was vetoed. So here we have a President who has vetoed Congress, which on a bipartisan basis said no more Americans serving under U.N. command.

Mr. KINGSTON. Let me ask you another question, if I may. Now, in terms of globe trotting and playing police officer of the world, what about the War Powers Act? Have you strengthened that in your bill, or weakened it, because I share the concern. We are in Somalia without a mission. We are in Haiti, the mission is still undefined. We are in Bosnia. We have a mission for each month of the year. So what is happening in your bill on the War Powers Act, which says that the President cannot commit American troops overseas for more than 90 days without congressional permission?

Mr. KINGSTON. Now, you mentioned the Commander-in-Chief. Is the Commander-in-Chief a member of the military?

Mr. KINGSTON. Which lawsuit is that? There are several.

Mr. KINGSTON. If the gentleman will yield, I wanted to kind of go over to another topic. While we are on the legal profession and revising things, if we may, I want to talk about our criminal justice reform efforts, to keep the streets of America safe. It gets back to the same thing of twisting the laws and using it as a vehicle, rather than using it for is intended purpose of justice. But about 2 years ago, I had a call from a family telling me that a man who raped their daughter was about to get out of prison. Here were the circumstances. Their daughter actually is a grown woman. She was giving her 3-year-old a bath one day, the doorbell rings, and she does not answer it. The next thing you know, the back door gets kicked in and a man comes in, and here is a woman with a 3-year-old bathing the 3-year-old. And the rapist says, ``You cooperate with me and the kid doesn't get hurt.'' Needless to say, she cooperated. But, fortunately, they found out who the man was and they arrested him and so forth, and he was sent to jail for 10 years. Well, as it turns out, 3 years later, he is getting out. The family was calling me because they had been put on notice he was about to get out of prison. One of the things that we had done to make our streets safe is to require truth in sentencing, so that thug rapists like this gentleman, and, frankly, I think 10 years is a light sentence, but if he served the sentence for 10 years, he serves 10 years. Our Republican bill gives States money for new prison construction as long as they have truth-in-sentencing laws, which I think is one of the keys to have our streets of America safe. Because I am very concerned about the American middle class, and particularly the women who are home alone many hours, or who are out by themselves, and are subject to these attacks of rape. I believe that we need to continue those efforts as a party.

Mr. KINGSTON. If the gentleman would yield.

Mr. KINGSTON. My mom and dad are on Medicare, and probably your parents are, if you are fortunate enough to still have your parents. The fact is it is a 1964 Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan. I would like my parents to have all the options available in 1996. If they want to have a medical savings account, if they want to have a managed care plan, if they want traditional Medicare, if they want a physician service network, I want them to have that option and I want that health care to be there for them tomorrow. Our plan increases their benefit from $5,000 to $7,000. And we need to move in a direction where they do have a choice, they do have options, but the program is protected and it is there not just for their generation but for other generations that follow.

Mr. KINGSTON. He had one vote for him.

Mr. KINGSTON. And what Billy Mitchell was trying to accomplish was to show that America was not prepared.

Mr. KINGSTON. And he did it at the risk of his own military career. And I think history will show that he had his heart in the right spot. But I find it appalling, as somebody who is on the east coast near a Trident submarine base. The gentleman is telling me that a ballistic missile can be dropped in Saint Marys, GA, and we cannot do anything about it? I want to hear him say that again.

Mr. KINGSTON. And that is what I am hearing from the middle class. They are saying if somebody is desperate, let us help them out. We are Americans. We are compassionate. But if they are just lazy and they are refusing to work, why should I put in my overtime to pay him to sit on the porch?

Mr. KINGSTON. I hate to interrupt you when you are on your 10-dollar- word roll here.

Mr. KINGSTON. What they want is a Medicaid and Medicare waiver and a welfare waiver is when a State says, ``We want to take the poverty resolution program back in our own hands without having Washington mandate it,'' I want to make sure that people understand that that is what we are talking about.

Mr. KINGSTON. The Governor from Wisconsin says, ``We have a new plan. We want the waivers from Washington so we can implement it.''

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, would the gentleman yield a little bit?

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to touch on some issues that we have not really gone over tonight, but I do want to make sure Mr. Hayworth got in his last comment on missile defense.

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California [Mr. Hunter].

Mr. KINGSTON. Let me say this to the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Hayworth], the gentleman from California [Mr. Hunter], I am looking forward to your west coast boy scouts coming our way and we will show them what a real ocean and a real beach looks like. I just want you to remember that since I control the time, I can say that last. Mr. Speaker, what we are trying to do, what we have been talking about tonight is having a good welfare system, one that helps those who need a helping hand but puts able-bodied recipients to work; a criminal justice system that gets the thugs off the streets so that American families can walk down the streets without having to look over their shoulder and be scared; having a budget that is balanced so that interest rates go down, having the waste cut out of it. Above all, changing this Washington bureaucracy, rocking it, changing it permanently so that we can have a government that is limited and one that responds. Mr. Speaker, I include the following material for the Record: Jobs Lost The following is a very conservative State-by-State estimate of the number of jobs lost if the minimum wage is raised to $5.15: Number of State jobs lost Alabama..........................................................15,300 Alaska..............................................................300 Arizona...........................................................8,900 Arkansas..........................................................8,800 California.......................................................63,100 Colorado..........................................................8,000 Connecticut.......................................................4,000 Delaware..........................................................1,300 District of Columbia................................................600 Florida..........................................................35,500 Georgia..........................................................18,000 Hawaii..........................................................( \1\ ) Idaho.............................................................3,200 Illinois.........................................................29,200 Indiana..........................................................16,400 Iowa..............................................................4,200 Kansas............................................................7,300 Kentucky.........................................................12,100 Louisiana........................................................15,400 Maine.............................................................2,800 Maryland..........................................................7,400 Massachusetts.....................................................4,000 Michigan.........................................................23,000 Minnesota........................................................10,100 Mississippi......................................................10,500 Missouri.........................................................16,200 Montana...........................................................2,800 Nebraska..........................................................5,100 Nevada............................................................2,500 New Hampshire.....................................................2,200 New Jersey..........................................................900 New Mexico........................................................4,600 New York.........................................................29,900 North Carolina...................................................19,100 North Dakota......................................................2,400 Ohio.............................................................28,000 Oklahoma.........................................................10,800 Oregon............................................................2,100 Pennsylvania.....................................................27,400 Rhode Island......................................................1,300 South Carolina...................................................11,900 South Dakota......................................................2,400 Tennessee........................................................17,700 Texas............................................................60,600 Utah..............................................................5,400 Vermont.............................................................400 Virginia.........................................................15,000 Washington........................................................1,700 West Virginia.....................................................5,800 Wisconsin........................................................11,800 Wyoming...........................................................1,700

Mr. KINGSTON. Maybe underneath the Constitution. I know that is not read over there. The question that some of you just mentioned, and I think it is about time we need to close, but the other day I was speaking to a chamber of commerce for the gentleman from Columbus, Mr. Collins, and he was kind enough to get a good bipartisan group of speakers. He had somebody from the administration talking, and he was talking about the wonderfulness of Government partnerships. A small business, independent business person raised his hand and said: I tell you what. I do not want the government to be my partner. In fact, the less I see, the less I have to do with the government, the better for me and for my business. I think that said so much, because people do not want the Government in their lives setting up, as you just mentioned, these obstacles and then coming up and saying, ``But I will get you through them.'' ``Well, why do you not just remove the obstacles and get out of my life, too, and that would be better.'' But it is about time to wrap up, so let me yield to the gentleman from California first for a closing comment. Mr. Hunter. Let me just say I appreciate the gentleman from Georgia, whose tenacity and eloquence has really kept these very educational sessions alive, and also my great friend from Arizona, who is so articulate and who is so concerned about this country. I have got one thing I would like to ask you both. Speaking of single moms, we did a Boy Scout hike from sea to shining sea, from the Salton Sea to the Pacific Ocean, a couple months ago. We are going to take this walk. We had a lot of single moms, and there were Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts on this walk. 100 miles. We are going to take this walk literally from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic ocean, from the real sea to shining sea next year. I want the gentleman who has so much of Arizona, and the gentleman who has so much of Georgia to get their Scout troops to participate in this sea to shining sea walk.

Mr. KINGSTON. And, I want to point out, vetoed the provision in welfare reform that said no permanent welfare benefits for illegal aliens, and that then was vetoed by the President.

Mr. KINGSTON. What is interesting, Mr. Speaker, is that while the administration was busy not cutting taxes, they had no problem cutting drug awareness money. Last week I had the opportunity to speak at the Harris County DARE graduation, and just some statistics that are in my mind. The average age now nationally that teenagers smoke marijuana is age 13. Thirty-eight percent of parents think that their kids do not smoke or get involved in drugs, and yet, in reality, the percentage is often higher than that, depending on where they are. Twelve- and 13-year-olds and 14- and 15-year olds have one of the highest increases in marijuana use in the Nation, higher than any other age bracket. But one of the statistics that I think is very encouraging is that if you can keep your child off of drugs until he or she is 19 years old, then they have a 90 percent chance of staying drug-free for the rest of their lives. I think what we really need to do is talk to our teenagers about drug abuse. I think it should be drug and alcohol abuse and any other substance, legal or illegal, that they can abuse, because we have to keep our children drug-free. We have to keep our schools drug-free and the workplace drug-free. If we can do that, we are going to have a generation that will successfully take the torch on, and we will all be able to retire one day and they will pay for our Social Security.

Mr. KINGSTON. I will be happy to give you these figures, and I tell you one other, but the Clinton budget will cost us 3,000 more Federal bureaucrats, it creates 14 new Federal programs, and it claims to have $129 billion in tax relief, but it takes back $90 billion in increased taxes which were passed under the President, and then, as you probably know, the savings are all on the back end. Yes, the President's budget balances in the year 2002, but, as the gentleman in the well has pointed out it is equivalent of Mr. Hayworth saying, and I can get away with kidding him a little better than Mr. Hunter, but it is the equivalent of you saying that you are going on a diet and lose 30 pounds, but you are not going to in 1 year, but you are not going to lose any of it until November. Yes, you will be 30 pounds under by December 31. I would say to the gentleman from California [Mr. Hunter], if he wants to join in that, it might be a good idea.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.