Christopher Shays

Mr. SHAYS

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Smith]. (Mr. SMITH of Michigan asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the distinguished chairman of the Committee on Commerce, the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Bliley], control 12 minutes of the time.

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 5 seconds to point out that under the Medicare plan they have to take all; they cannot discriminate. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to yield 12 minutes to the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Shaw], who chairs the Subcommittee on Human Resources of the Committee on Ways and Means, the expert on welfare reform, and that he be allowed to control that time.

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 20 seconds to point out that next year, if one has four children, one will have returned in taxes $1,200. If one makes $40,000, one will get back $1,200. That is a middle-class family, and I think they will be happy to get that. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Bilirakis], who is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Health and the Environment of the Committee on Commerce. (Mr. BILIRAKIS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to allow the gentleman from California [Mr. Thomas] to control and yield as he may choose the next 12 minutes of our time. The SPEAKER pro tempore [Mr. Dreier]. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Connecticut?

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Archer], chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma, [Mr. J.C. Watts].

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. Bunning], who is a member of both the Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on the Budget.

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Miller].

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Hayworth], who will point out that taxes went up in 1993 and are going down in 1997.

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute, to say that tomorrow we will be debating the tax bill. As the bipartisan joint tax committee of Congress estimates, 76 percent of all the benefit goes to people who make less than $75,000, totally contrary to the facts that have been shouted out in the last 20 minutes. Ninety-two percent of the benefits go to people making under $100,000. We will be debating the tax bill tomorrow. It will be very, very clear who benefits. We will realize the people who benefit are the middle class in this country. Today we are debating a spending bill, a spending bill that allows spending to go up 3 percent a year, that allows Medicare to go up at 7 percent a year each year, not a cut, a significant increase. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Shaw].

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas [Ms. Granger].

Mr. SHAYS

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Hoyer].

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I would say that this amendment allows for burden-sharing. It is similar in essence to the amendment we passed last year, which passed by a vote of 353 to 62. It is seeking to get the European nations primarily to contribute more to the nonmilitary costs of our troops stationed in Europe, or to provide more defense spending, or to increase their foreign aid, or to increase their funds to national military operations in the United Nations. It is an attempt, a very good attempt, to get the Europeans to do more for the defense of this world and the free world.

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, at this time we bring forth an amendment that seeks to have our allies pay more of the share of supporting troops that we have stationed overseas. Presently Japan spends over $3.7 billion a year in direct contributions to the United States to pay for the nonsalaried costs of our troops in the Japanese theater. The total amount, Mr. Chairman, is almost $4.7 billion when we combine it with in-kind contributions. Korea pays 63 percent of our nonpersonnel costs, our nonsalaried costs. They contribute a total of $1.8 billion, and in direct contributions, $359 million for 37,000 troops. In Japan, we have 45,000 troops. Europe, on the other hand, contributes 24 percent of the nonpersonnel costs, $2 billion; but that is quite misleading, because for the 116,000 troops, only $46 million of the amount is in direct cash contribution. Here we have Japan that contributes in direct payment $3.7 billion, Korea $359 million, and all the European nations $46 million. Our amendment seeks to have the President of the United States negotiate with our European allies and have them pay a greater amount of the nonsalaried costs of our maintaining troops in Europe. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Frank], who is an equal partner in this amendment, control half of my time.

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Foley].

Mr. SHAYS

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time. Mr. Speaker, I find it abhorrent that someone would desecrate the flag of the United States of America. But I will not support an amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America to prevent it from being desecrated. When I think of the flag, I think about the men and women who died defending it. What they really were defending was the Constitution and the rights and freedoms it guarantees. In the 101st Congress, my colleagues and I sought to address this problem when we overwhelmingly passed the Flag Protection Act of 1989. I do not feel anyone should be allowed to desecrate the flag. I wish the Supreme Court had decided in favor of the law, but regrettably, by a 5-to-4 vote, it declared the act unconstitutional. Congress' anger and frustration with the decision has led us to consider amending the Constitution. Our Constitution has been amended only 17 times since the Bill of Rights was passed in 1791. This is the same Constitution that guarantees freedom of speech and of religion, and eventually outlawed slavery and gave blacks and women the right to vote. Republicans have proposed amendments to the Constitution to balance the budget, mandate school prayer, impose term limits on Members of Congress, institute a line-item veto, change U.S. citizenship requirements, and many other issues. Too many. Amending the Constitution is an extraordinarily serious matter. I do not think we should allow a few obnoxious attention seekers who choose to desecrate the flag to push us into a corner. They have become more important than anyone else and we should not allow them to do this, especially since no one is burning the flag and there is now no constitutional amendment to prevent it from being desecrated.

Mr. SHAYS

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Pitts]. (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes. I would just say to my colleagues, I am amazed at this debate. I think of how far we have come. As far as the press is concerned, there is no story here, because Republicans and Democrats are not fighting like little kids. When Republicans and Democrats get together and help save this country for future generations, no story here. Mr. Speaker, I think of this Chamber in 1989, when the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Kasich] introduced an amendment to start to balance our budget, get our country's financial house in order. Each year he took on that effort. It is the culmination, since 1989, what we are seeing today with the work on a bipartisan basis, with the help of the gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. Spratt] and others. I just first want to congratulate him for what he has done over these many years, with such good nature and freshness. We are going to get our country's financial house in order and balance the Federal budget, and I think we are going to do it in less than 5 years with this agreement. We are going to save our trust funds for not just future generations, but for present generations, because Medicare is running out of money as we speak. Our plan will save it for the next 10 years. We are going to transform this caretaking society into a caring society. We are not just ending welfare and moving mothers into work, we are ending corporate welfare, we are ending welfare for farmers as well in this budget agreement. We are moving from a caretaking society to a caring society, and in the process we are moving the power and the money and the influence back home where it belongs. This agreement is not everything everyone wants it to be, but it does the basic things that both sides felt were important. We want it to slow the growth of entitlements and save our trust funds and we are doing that. We wanted tax cuts, meaningful tax cuts in particular areas, and we are doing that. The other side in particular, and the President of the United States wanted some priorities for domestic spending, education, health care, and we are doing that. So hats off to both sides of the aisle. Congratulations, in my judgment, on a job well done. Our work is cut out for us in the next few years to make sure we all live up to it. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Hoekstra].

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas [Ms. Granger].