H 4448 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—HOUSE May 2, 1995

tragedy in Oklahoma showed us so very

well that these people bleed real blood,

they cry real tears, and they lose real

lives.

To paraphrase a familiar saying, we

have met the government, and it is us.

WORK ON BALANCING BUDGET

BEGINS TODAY

f(Mr. CHABOT asked and was given

permission to address the House for 1

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, what a

difference this Republican majority

has made. I think it is real simple. We

did what we said we were going to do.

It was promises made and promises

kept. The American people like what

they saw in the first 100 days, and the

Republican majority is committed to

keeping our promise with the American public, to balance the budget and

make Government smaller and less

costly and more efficient and more accountable to the people.

But much remains to be done. Much

of the heavy lifting remains to be done.

Now we have to get to work, balancing

this budget. We begin today.

GOVERNMENT MUST BE A

PARTNER IN TRUTH

f(Mr. TRAFICANT asked and was

given permission to address the House

for 1 minute and to revise and extend

his remarks.)

Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, no

doubt the bombing in Oklahoma City

was an evil act, and those responsible

truly deserve the death penalty. But

April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City, and

April 19, 1993, Waco, TX, do not appear

to be a coincidence to me, and I think

the investigation should also focus on

that. Many Americans simply did not

believe the Federal Government’s account in Waco, TX. And when our Government, Mr. Speaker, appears to conceal and hide the truth, our Government plays right into the hands of radical fringe groups with an ax to grind.

Mr. Speaker, the American people deserve to know the truth about Oklahoma City; and, Mr. Speaker, the

American people deserve the truth

about Waco, TX. The truth shall set

you free, there is no substitute for the

truth, and the Government must also

be a partner in the truth factor in

America.

BRINGING TOGETHER THAT WHICH

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WANT

f(Mr. HOKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HOKE. Mr. Speaker, we come

back fresh, relaxed; refreshed in the

spirit of good will, working together,

feeling good; feeling good about having

been away, frankly, away from the partisan ship, away from the negativity,

away from the acrimony. And we come

back with the high hopes for balancing

our budget, for bringing together the

things that the American people want.

I am reminded of something that

Abraham Lincoln said over 100 years

ago, and I wanted to share it with the

House in the hopes that it might encourage my colleagues to bring this

spirit in the next 100 days.

He said: ‘‘You can’t bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You

can’t strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You can’t help the wage

earner by pulling down the wage payer.

You can’t further the brotherhood of

man by encouraging class hatred. You

can’t keep out of trouble by spending

more than you earn. You can’t build

character and courage by taking away

man’s initiative and independence. You

cannot help men permanently by doing

for them what they could and should

do for themselves.’’

(Ms. NORTON asked and was given

SUPPORT FOR FREE SPEECH

fpermission to address the House for 1

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, the Oklahoma City tragedy has spread some

connective tissue among Americans. It

has compelled us not only to recognize

our fragile vulnerability, but to reaffirm our basic unity. I am bemused by

the new crop of civil libertarians the

crisis has awakened. They are a welcome sight, especially those who regularly vilified others who defended unpopular speech on the left and right.

Talk show hosts and Members of Congress now often sound like card-carrying members of the ACLU.

I hope that the new found zeal for

civil liberties carrier forward when the

next bill to curtail them comes to the

floor, or when the militia come at us

from the left instead of the right.

As a young constitutional lawyer, I

was put to the first amendment test

when I was called on to defend racists

and neo-Nazis. I really had no choice.

Surely now we know that none of us

do. Free speech is unequivocal, unpolitical, and indivisible.

REAUTHORIZATION OF LEGAL

fSERVICES

(Mr. GEKAS asked and was given

permission to address the House for 1

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, very soon

now the Congress of the United States

will be taking up the vexatious issue of

the reauthorization of Legal Services.

Over the years, the original purpose of

this effort to help the poor has become

warped and expanded, and sometimes

described as out of sight from the original purpose. The shade of opinion as we

sit here today ranges from an attempt

to zero it out entirely to expanding

even further the powers that already

are vested in it.

We intend in our committee, in the

Administrative Law Subcommittee of

the Committee on the Judiciary, to

take up this issue through a reauthorization set of hearings, possibly beginning next week. At that time we will

let the American public know what

these opinions are. Should we expand

the powers of Legal Services or should

we zero it out, or perhaps somewhere in

the middle. To go back to the original

purpose, to allow the poor to have access to the courts, should be the guiding light of what we finally do with

Legal Services in our country.

fb 1115

TRIBUTE TO FEDERAL

EMPLOYEES

(Mr. WARD asked and was given permission to address the House for 1

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. WARD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today

in remembrance of the victims of the

Oklahoma City bombing at the Alfred

P. Murrah Federal Building and I wish

to pay tribute to all Federal employees

who are so dedicated in their service to

our Nation.

At 9:02 a.m. on Wednesday, April 19,

when the blast leveled half of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, Federal employees were helping veterans

receive benefits and other assistance

they need; Federal employees were

helping poor families afford decent

housing and to one day own their own

home; Federal employees of the Social

Security Administration were helping

seniors obtain retirement benefits they

so rightly deserve, and Federal employees of the ATF and FBI were working

to make our streets safer and our lives

more secure.

Ironically enough, we saw the clearest evidence of the invaluable work of

Federal employees after the Oklahoma

City bombing. We saw Federal employees from FEMA go to Oklahoma city to

help free victims from the rubble of

steel and cement and help save lives.

We saw Federal employees of the FBI

quickly respond with an all-out manhunt which produced the prime suspect

within hours of the bombing. We saw

Federal employees here in Washington

volunteering their accrued leave time

for the benefit of the survivors of the

bombing.

Mr. Speaker, it is the dedication of

these Federal employees that truly

makes our Nation a united one in

times of crisis and hardship.

REVOLUTION SWEEPING ACROSS

fAMERICA

(Mr. SCARBOROUGH asked and was

given permission to address the House

for 1 minute.)

Mr. SCARBOROUGH. Mr. Speaker, it

certainly is an honor to be here this

morning, and it was an honor to be

back in my district during the break

and see the excitement that people had