Jack Kingston

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Taking back my time, absolutely. In 1980, the total revenue is $500,000. By 1990, it is $8 trillion.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, to a carefully assembled crowd of special interest groups, power brokers, government bureaucrats, Democrat Party stalwarts and the other sycophantic apple polishers, the President kicked off his reelection effort with his Atlanta economic summit. Boasting on his economic record to this tough audience, the President somehow failed to mention that interest rates are higher than when he was first elected. The public debt is expected to rise another $1 trillion, trade deficits are at an all- more importantly, he did not respond to the charge of Dan Ratachzak who said that real income of Americans has fallen, which means that, while one may be making more, than their actual spending power has fallen. Perhaps, if the President and the Democrat Party acknowledged this, then they would join the Republican Party in working for a middle-class tax cut because, after all, cutting taxes is not Congress sending Government money to the people. It is just that we are not going to take the people's money in the first place. I hope that we will get some bipartisan support on this much needed tax cut.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, our Contract With America states the following: On the first day of Congress, a Republican House will require Congress to live under the same laws as everyone else. We promise to cut the congressional budget. And we have. Next we passed a balanced budget amendment, legislation on unfunded mandates, and a line-item veto. We have kept these promises. We also promised to pass a new crime package that would take violent criminals off our streets; a National Security Restoration Act; Government regulatory reform to cut down on regulations; and commonsense legal reform. Mr. Speaker, we have done these things. Next we passed welfare reform to encourage work, not dependence. Today we will be debating congressional term limits. For the first time in years that will be on the floor of the House for a vote. Next we are going to have tax cuts for the middle class and Senior Citizens Equity Act to allow senior citizens to work without Government penalty. Mr. Speaker, this is our Republican Contract With America.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Chairman, I support the Hilleary amendment and the substitute tonight. I think it is a very reasonable approach. It allows States to have their own term limit if they want to go for 6 years, 10 years or whatever. It is important. But I also think the thing about the amendment offered by the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Hilleary] that is important is that it does embody not just this current freshman class, but a new spirit in America saying, ``Come on home, guys. We don't want you to be prima donnas and become Washingtonian on us.'' Term limits is a concept. Think about it. We limit the term of the President of the United States. He is in charge, he or she is in charge, of the greatest country the world has ever seen, 260 million people, but a limited term. In my hometown on a smaller basis we limit the term of our mayor, and yet our mayor does a fine job. Mr. Chairman, I was a part of the Georgia General Assembly. The Georgia General Assembly is comprised of citizen legislators, housewives, doctors, railroad retirees, lawyers, teachers, farmers, business people. All of them are connected to the real world. That is what term limits is all about, to get rid of professional politicians. Mr. Chairman, I think this a good idea, and I hope my colleagues will support the Hilleary amendment.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to talk a little bit about the Contract With America. I think it is very important that folks understand that the Contract With America was a campaign promise, and it is a promise which, unlike previous campaigns and previous promises, it is a promise that Republican Members of the House are keeping with them. We are looking at it daily. It is the instruction. You may not agree with Contract With America, but I think what is important is that here is a fundamental contract, a handshake with the American people saying when we say we are going to do something, we are going to do it. Now, the Senate is going to debate it. They are going to change some things. It is going to come back to the House, and we are going to have some changes. But I think it is very important to remember that the Contract was a campaign pledge and a promise that we are not going to forget, unlike other times in office when many, many members of both parties would make certain campaign warranties or promises and then forget them after they are elected. This contract is different. One of the key planks of that is that we are going to get these issues on the floor of the House for a vote. It does not necessarily guarantee passage on everything, but getting them to the floor of the House, as the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Hilleary] had said just a few minutes ago, is the key element, and that is what we are doing with term limits. It is going to take 290 votes because it is a constitutional amendment. That is a lot of votes. And we are working with Democrats. We are working with with freshman Members, trying to get that passed. Now, the Hilleary amendment, what is so good about it and why I think it is important that this House support it is because it does two things. It says that you will have a 12-year limit, but also if States have individual term limits, 8 years, 6 years, 10 years or whatever, they can keep their own State law in place to self-impose term limits that are different as long as they do not go over the 12 limit. Now, I am going to support that. I am also going to support the McCollum bill. Mr. McCollum of Florida has a bill that sets a 12-year term limit, and it is a uniform bill. The thing that I believe is important about that is that Congressman McCollum has introduced term limits, I believe, every year since he personally has been a member of this body and has been out there as a lone wolf crying in the wind for term limits far before it was popular. I think that it is great that finally, after all these years of him coming up, and there were others along with him who supported term limits, finally he is going to get a vote on it. And I plan to support both these bills and both these versions, and I hope we do get 290 votes on one of them so that we can move the legislation for him. Now another key element of the Contract With America that is going to be coming up is the tax stimulus. This tax stimulus, unlike the Clinton stimulus 2 years ago which was a tax increase, this is a tax decrease. You know, this gets a lot of people nervous because the American Federal system of government has been robbing taxpayers for so many years now. You know, in the 1950's the average American family paid 2 percent Federal income tax. Today that same American family pays 24 percent Federal income tax. Now that, along with all your intangible tax, your sales tax, your local option sales tax, insurance premium tax, utility tax, State income tax, in some cases municipal income taxes, these have been going up. The average American family right not is paying 40 to 50 percent of their income in taxes. I believe it is time to return that money back to their pockets, and I would rather trust my constituents to spend their own money than some of the bureaucrats that I have seen up here. Because the bureaucrats, when they get their money, they overspend. They sit around and come up with new regulations, new ways to take freedom away from Americans. But I promise you, as we know it with a study of economics, that lowering taxes will stimulate the economy because people will have more disposable income. They will buy more shoes, more clothes, more hamburgers, more cars, ultimately more houses. When they do that, jobs are created because businesses have to expand to create the new demand. When that happens, more people are working; and revenues go up. This was proven in 1980 with the Reagan tax cuts, 1982 actually, but 1980 the revenues to the Federal Government were $500 million and in 1990 they were over a trillion dollars. Unfortunately, the spending outpaced revenues so we still had runaway deficits during that time period. I would certainly say that that is a bipartisan problem. You had the Democrats controlling the House, but part of the time the Republicans controlled the Senate and the White House, so it is a bipartisan problem. But these tax cuts are designed to create jobs which will increase revenues. And when that happens, Mr. Speaker, with all the reductions that we are doing we will be able to pay down the debt, reduce the deficit and turn this country around, which I think is extremely important for us to do. So I am proud to be here tonight, and I am proud to support both term limits and a tax decrease that will stimulate the economy.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, not long ago a fisherman off the coast of Savannah discovered if he sailed his boats to a certain spot each day and fed a school of dolphins that they would start gathering at that spot daily. Next he observed a lot of Yankees heading south on I-95 who had pockets and briefcases and purses full of money. So, being an astute entrepreneur, he then put one and one together and he said, hey tourists, want to see some fish? For 20 bucks I will take you out in my boats. You will see hundreds of them, and for an extra 5 bucks I will throw in a fish head and you too can play Jacques Cousteau, and the tourists just kept pulling off I-95 and jamming the exit. The fisherman was growing rich and the dolphins fat. Then enter Fish and Wildlife. Hold everything, they said, you cannot do this; you are making the fish dependent, you are disturbing their ability to fend for themselves. And they were right. It was not in the best long-term interests of the dolphins. Question: Why do not we elevate people to the same status of dolphins? Let us consider what the welfare system is doing to our fellow man. If the dolphin beaches itself, let us help it back out to the ocean. If a fellow American falls down, let us help him get back up, but let us not throw him in a hopeless mire of a welfare system that does not work.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Forty.

Mr. KINGSTON. No. They got a lot of religion November 8.

Mr. KINGSTON. Generally.

Mr. KINGSTON. 1965.

Mr. KINGSTON. Yes.

Mr. KINGSTON. Reclaiming my time. When we are talking nutrition, and I guess we scored a hit because the gentleman has moved over to another field, let me say this real quickly. There is something that is very fundamentally important about this whole welfare debate, and I am glad we are here tonight. I am glad to hear folks like you talking about the Deal bill because it would have never gotten to the floor of the House had the Republican majority not taken over. It just frankly was a very, I think, fairly responsible moderate proposal, but it never would have made it to the floor last year, and it did it now. You know, the President said he is going to end welfare as we know it. He never offered a bill. Never. He ended welfare debate as we know it by not offering a bill.

Mr. KINGSTON. If the gentleman would yield back. Also, the Governor of Massachusetts could put that 20 percent into the nutrition program rather than take it out. Now I do not know who the Governor is, but I would trust my Governor. My Governor is a Democrat Governor of Georgia, and the Democrat Governor of Georgia, who is a big Newt Gingrich supporter--he is in the national Democratic clique--he says, ``Give me the money. I can spend it better.'' Now, whether your Governor is Democrat or Republican, I will bet our Governor will be willing to go up there and show you fine people up in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts how to better spend your money. And if the people of Massachusetts do not trust him, maybe it is time to change water. That might be true also of the State senate and State legislature.

Mr. KINGSTON. Let me reclaim my time only to keep it going quickly because we have got 5 minutes. I yield to the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Hoke].

Mr. KINGSTON. I control the time, but I would be happy to yield to you.

Mr. KINGSTON. I am going to yield to you, but we have got a real brief time, so please go quickly. No speeches.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. I just want to make sure the record is complete. One of the other statements of the previous speaker was that the program has been rocking along for 41 years to everyone's satisfaction and there have not been any problems. Here is the problem, and this is something really, I wish the President was watching tonight. We spend the third largest item on our national budget is interest on the national debt. We have not had a balanced budget since 1969. The third largest item is interest. It is just short of $20 billion a month that we pay in interest on the national debt. To say that this program is not a problem is to me unbelievable. Program after program is okay, not this program, not this one, everything is running fine, hunky-dory, no problems at all. If you want to help children, you keep the country from going broke. How many kids are you going to feed when you are broke? You cannot do it. I am telling you, you cannot always lead with your heart. You have to use your brain and the formula.

Mr. KINGSTON. I still was confused if the State of Ohio is getting, is this 11 million, $11.5 million more?

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to speak out of order and substitute for the gentlewoman from Washington [Mrs. Smith].

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. I thought it was the Democrat chart that had a T shape on our plan versus your plans. I was only responding to your plan.

Mr. KINGSTON. Will the gentlewoman yield?

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, if the gentlewoman will yield, I will never accuse you of being an inside-of-the-Beltway person because I fly home with you every weekend. I will say this: I hope you tell some of the stories to the leadership in your party who do tend to be a little bit more inside the Beltway than someone like yourself.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Let me say one thing about the Deal alternative. I do agree, Mr. Speaker, with the previous speaker. It is the best alternative that is out there, not as good as H.R. 4, the Republican plan, but in terms of an alternative, I agree that the moderate Democrats are showing some leadership over there, and I hope maybe you can inspire your official leaders to show some leadership, too. One thing though I do want to say about the Democrats' newfound interest in deficit reduction is that, you know, for since 1969, the Democrats have controlled the House, and each year we have a new debt. Now, I say since 1969; that is the last time we had a balanced budget, but year after year the deficit has gone up. But I say this: It is a Republican and A Democrat obligation to address it, because I believe both parties created the deficit, and I am glad now that both of us are talking about it, and let us have this one-upmanship. Let us see who can top each other's deficit-reduction plan. That is what two parties are all about.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I want to pick up on the comments of the last speaker. I think it is important to note that the gentleman from Tennessee thanked the majority party for getting the unfunded mandates legislation to the floor of the House as has the majority party brought welfare reform finally to the floor of the House. And I will say this to my moderate Democrat friends over there, that we are glad you have a plan. I was real disappointed when the President decided to end the welfare debate as we know it by not offering a plan. I thought he was going to end welfare, but it was just end the welfare debate. So I am glad you all have stepped in and filled what is obviously a leadership vacuum and tremendous void over there both from the White House and I would say the party leadership. I am glad to see the Deal plan is on the floor. A lot of a good aspects on the Deal plan, a lot of good aspects in it and I am looking at it. Favor H.R. 4 though. It is a bill that offers hope and independence and opportunity for people. I think it is important. Today I had an opportunity to meet a lady named Felicia Patterson from Savannah, GA. She had been on welfare. She is right now living in public housing and she has now got a job. She is asking for a little help on something that to my knowledge the Deal plan does not address, H.R. 4 I hope will address in the future. It is something I think both parties ought to come back and work on and that is the subject of rent reform. You know in a public housing unit when somebody is making money, as Ms. Patterson is, and their income goes up, their rent goes up, so what they find themselves doing is running faster just to stay in place; and in a situation where they get married or the father decides to live at home, they get thrown out completely. Or if, as in Ms. Patterson's case, you have a 16-year-old child who wants to go to work but knows that all of the money is just going to go to additional rent, it is kind of hard on them. We have to make it so that the transition to getting off of public assistance in its entirety is a little bit smoother. Now the Republican plan has a lot of flexibility. It allows States to work with people like Ms. Patterson and it grants some waivers, and I think stuff like that is important. I will not say it is totally complete. But all of these bills we are going to have to come back. After all, the current welfare system is one of despondency and dependence probably as a result of 40 years of negligence and political payoffs and so forth. We did not get here overnight. We got here slowly. And we are probably going to pull out of this thing slowly. The thing I do like about the Republican plan is it consolidates 45 different welfare programs into 4 flexible block grants. Anytime I her the idea of eliminating duplication of consolidating Federal programs I get excited, because as a member of the Committee on Appropriations, I cannot tell you, Mr. Speaker, the number of government agencies that come in day after day, doing the exact same thing, but have a little bit different title, and of course it is a tad bit different turf and they are all saying please keep us alive, we are the only agency that can deliver such service. That is not true. The Republican plan consolidates services, it consolidates a number of different things that will free up money by eliminating bureaucrats' jobs and free up money to help create more flexibility to States, and lowers the tax burden for taxpayers so that the private sector can go out and create jobs. One of the aspects I like about the Republican plan is the idea of requiring work. I think that that is important because we have got to give people the opportunity to end the cycle and become independent, and have that hope that you and I have when we get our paycheck and buy our own car and buy our own food and put a down payment on a House and so forth. I think all of that is very important. The other thing that I like about it, I am not sure if the moderate Democrat plan addresses it or not, but illegal aliens, one of the problems particularly in California, Texas, and even in Georgia, we have 28,000 illegal aliens. This restricts benefits to illegal aliens. I am sick and tired, as I know my constituents in Georgia are, of going out and earning a living and then seeing a percentage of your paycheck go to people who are illegal aliens who have never paid American taxes and do not even have proper citizenship cards. I am glad to see the Republican Party addressing that. Stopping the welfare payment and the new benefit for having a baby, we have interviewed people who have said listen, there is in fact to some women out that and some people a motivation to have an additional child if they are going to get paid for it. These things, Mr. Speaker, are addressed in the Republican plan. I think it is a good plan. We will look at the Deal plan; I think it has some good aspects, but I hope you all will look at ours.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. If the gentleman will yield, let's do this. Let's say if you are represented by a Democrat, write and get a copy of these. Send them to your representative and ask him why those numbers are not the truth. If you are a Republican, we are going to send them to you. Let us just talk to the Democrat district tonight: Write and ask for those numbers.