Scott McInnis

Mr. McINNIS

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Mica].

Mr. McINNIS. Regular order, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, no I will not yield. parliamentary inquiry

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I think probably some of the correspondence the gentlewoman has received on the elimination of the Department of Commerce is from some of the employees of the Department of Commerce.

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the gentlewoman from Colorado, my colleague, resents the [[Page H 12003]] fact that I have the courage to stand up and debate with her? Sometimes people will not stand up to the gentlewoman. Mr. Speaker, It is about time some of the facts of the gentlewoman be called to order.

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Speaker, I think it is important that we talk a little more about the Department of Commerce and the importance of making it more efficient in this Government. First of all, this is an issue that has been talked about. Every major newspaper in the country has written about it and debated about it. This is not something that came in the late of night and suddenly appeared on the House floor today. We did talk about it in the reconciliation package. Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to take a look at the business community. A recent poll by Business Week revealed that by a 2-to-1 ratio, Business Week executives say, ``Eliminate the Department.'' How many of us in these House Chambers have received letters from small businesses in our district that are not direct beneficiaries or do not have a contract with the Department of Commerce, how many of us have received correspondence from these people saying, ``Save the Department of Commerce,'' or, ``If the Department of Commerce is eliminated, we are not going to be able to compete out in that world''? Mr. Speaker, the important elements of that Department, and they are very, very few in my opinion, the important elements of that Department have been preserved on transfer out of that Department to other agencies. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I think probably two, possibly three.

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, first of all, and I say this constructively to my good friend, the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Hall], and that is I think that his staff needs to do a little more research on his statement that this is the first time that the United States has defaulted or could possibly default on its debt. That is not true. If my colleague looks at the gold clause which occurred in the first year of Franklin Roosevelt's Presidency, he will find that the United States did in fact default on its debt, and that was upheld by the United States Supreme Court, so I think at the onset here to my good colleague across the aisle that we need to especially, when we speak to the other body here, that we need to be accurate in our historical facts. Second of all, I think it is very easy to whine and complain about, look, what is on this bill, but I think what my colleague needs to do, instead of complaining about the amendments that are on the bill, take a look at what those amendments contain, talk about breast cancer, talk about prostate cancer. Those are amendments on this bill. Let us go further than that, and let us talk about the balanced budget. This Government is eating its debt at a rate of about $37 million an hour. That is what we spend more than we bring in, and, no, I am not going to yield. Is it not about time that this Government stood up to the plate and said ``We can't do that anymore''? Do my colleagues think we are going to get this through if we do not have some tough negotiating sessions? What my good colleague from across the aisle, and I say this with all due respect because I have a great deal of respect for him: what he is saying is, ``Let's go into this battle unarmed. Let's let the President run this thing the way he wants to run it.'' We have got to have some negotiating power on this side of Pennsylvania Avenue. We got to know what we are doing here. We got to be willing to go in with some strength, and we are not doing it. I am not going to yield, but I certainly will yield to this gentleman as soon as I am finished, but of course the gentleman has his own time as well. But talk about the habeas corpus reform. Americans all across this country are crying for reform in death penalty cases in this country. We are not going to get it otherwise. We have got to go in negotiations with strength. Finally, of course the Department of Commerce. I have yet to find somebody can really look me in the eye and honestly defend the Department of Commerce. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I hope, before the gentleman yields, and first of all I appreciate him looking me in the eyes and saying that, but I think he ought to complete his statement. The completion of the statement would say that we have a net savings of $4 billion if we eliminate that department. Furthermore, I think the gentleman ought to go on to say that we are going to eliminate several thousand bureaucrats and we are going to make this operation much more efficient for American business. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Walker].

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida [Mr. McCollum].

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Walker].

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out a couple of things. First of all, I am appalled by the language that has just been used by the previous speaker. Maybe consideration at some point in time ought to be given to the Americans of the next generation who are going to face this deficit of $37 million an hour. My colleagues talk about impact on homeowners. They talk about impact on the children and the next generation. That is where the impact is. And they want to talk about special interests. Are my colleagues saying special interests are the people that want cancer treatments or special interests are small businesses? I think those are the things they ought to consider. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my good friend, the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Mica].

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

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, again, I hope the gentleman does not leave the Chamber, because I would like to continue this. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Kasich], the chairman of the Committee on the Budget.

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the gentlewoman from Colorado [Mrs. Schroeder], my colleague, talks about show and tell. How much cooperation has the gentlewoman given us on this budget? How many balance budgets has the gentlewoman voted for during her career? Now very many, if we take a look at it. Mr. Speaker, if the gentlewoman wants to talk about what is going to help business in this country, small business in this country, it is not the Department of Commerce. They do not help my little business in New Castle, CO, or small business in the gentlewoman's district in Colorado. Mr. Speaker, talk about tort reform. Where was the gentlewoman, my colleague from Colorado, on tort reform? Talk about regulation relief. Where was the gentlewoman on regulation relief for the small businesses in Colorado?

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from the State of Ohio [Ms. Pryce], my colleague on the Committee on Rules.

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Walker].

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, my good colleague and ranking member of the Committee on Rules talks about a political gamble. If he wants to talk about a political gamble, he had better talk about the $37 million an hour that this country spends more than it brings in. The biggest financial political gamble of this century is this deficit. This bill is going to help us address that. If the gentleman thinks we are going to be able to go down to the White House and go into that White House unarmed to try and defend ourselves or to try and negotiate with that President, he is wrong. We have to be prepared for some very tough negotiations. The President is a good negotiator. We would be foolish not to go in there as well- equipped as we could possibly be. When we talk about the gamble, let us talk about the overall picture of the gamble, what we have to lose in this country if we do not do something about this deficit. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. McINNIS. The gentleman is correct. I am not ignoring the gentleman's question. I will, however, have a speaker here who can speak a little more profoundly on that issue. The gentleman is here. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Walker].

Mr. McINNIS. I yield to the gentleman from California.

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, first of all, again to address the comments of the gentleman from California or my colleague, the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Hall], let us talk about the pages. The gentleman says in the past we have only had six pages. In the past we have not had the kind of negotiations we are facing right now. I think my colleague over there would freely admit that the toughest negotiations we have seen in Congress in a long time are going to be coming up in the next couple of weeks. We have got a President down there who has promised to veto almost everything we send to him. We have got a President who, when he ran for office, said he would balance the budget in 5 years. That was later changed to 8 years, then 10 years, and then about 2 weeks ago it went back to 7 years. These are the kinds of negotiations we are dealing with. That 300 pages or whatever amount of pages, that is not frivolous paper put on there. Those are some pretty tough negotiating points that we have got to deal with, and I think it is perfectly in order, perfectly in order for us to expect this side of the House, for the House as a whole, to go into these negotiations as well armed as possible. We have got a lot to lose here. We have got to do something about this national deficit.

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Goss], my colleague on the Committee on Rules.

Mr. McINNIS. 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.