H 4676 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—HOUSE May 10, 1995

words just do not go far enough. However, our deeds can help show our respect. We must protect the Medicare

trust fund.

THE INVISIBLE DEMOCRAT PLAN

TO BALANCE THE BUDGET

f(Mr. KINGSTON asked and was given

permission to address the House for 1

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, yesterday House Republican leaders introduced our 7-year program to balance

the budget. Democrats and liberal critics immediately jumped on it, crying

and screaming and insisting there is

another way to balance the budget

without cutting spending.

So to keep the debate in perspective,

I thought I would introduce to the people the Democrat plan to balance the

budget and take care of Medicare. Here

it is. Excuse me, it is upside down,

backward. There you go. There you go.

This is it, Mr. Speaker, the Democrat

plan to balance the budget and take

care of Medicare.

I hope it is not in too much detail for

my friends on the other side of the

aisle. I am sorry to get into such detail

during a 1-minute speech. But the fact

is, it is May. We have been in session

since January. Balancing the budget is

a bipartisan responsibility. We are $4.8

trillion in debt. The third largest expenditure on the budget is the interest

service on the national debt. Medicare

will be broke in 6 years. If we want to

help senior citizens, Mr. Speaker, we

have got to do a little bit more than

this.

SUNDRY MESSAGES FROM THE

fPRESIDENT

Sundry messages in writing from the

President of the United States were

communicated to the House by Mr.

Edwin Thomas, one of his secretaries.

JAPAN TAKES UNITED STATES TO

fCOURT

(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,

Japan is suing Uncle Sam. And guess

what? This new court is the World

Trade Organization. Remember GATT?

Supposedly created to promote and enforce free trade? GATT is now being

used by the most protectionist nation

in world history, Japan, to kill free

trade. And listen to what Japan says.

We here in Japan believe we have a better than 50-percent chance of winning

in court.

Unbelievable, ladies and gentlemen.

Congress has been a bunch of wimps,

allowed Japan to wreck our economy,

wreck our jobs, and now Japan is taking us to court. What is next, Congress?

A judgment in favor of Japan in this

kangaroo court? Beam me up. Shame,

Congress. You have allowed our jobs to

be stolen, our companies to be taken

overseas, and you are talking about

some wild Disney business around here.

Straighten out our order of business,

our balance of payments, or you will

never, never balance our budget.

THE BUDGET

f(Mr. BAKER of California asked and

was given permission to address the

House for 1 minute and to revise and

extend his remarks.)

Mr. BAKER of California. Mr. Speaker, today, the House Budget Committee

starts work on the first fiscally responsible budget the American people have

seen in decades. Many House Democrats will come to the floor, attacking

various parts of the budget for being

too hard on their special interest

groups, I ask my colleagues to reflect

on the choice before us today.

We can continue to do things the

Democrats’ way. We can continue to

waste more of the taxpayers’ money for

more Government programs, more bureaucracy, and more Federal intrusion

into the lives of the American people.

Or we can go a different route. We can

start taking steps that will mean a

brighter future for our children, better

jobs for working Americans and more

security for our Nation.

In the election of 1994, the American

people decided that fiscal irresponsibility and broken promises were a thing

of the past. With the budget process we

start today, Republicans will lead the

way to a balanced budget.

PASS BOTH A BUDGET BILL AND

A FARM BILL

f(Mrs. CLAYTON asked and was given

permission to address the House for 1

minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, we are

now in the process of shaping a budget

for America for the next fiscal year.

Soon, we will consider reauthorization

of a farm bill for the next several

years. It is my hope that we will pass

a budget bill and pass a farm bill. The

two bills should not be mixed.

None will dispute that cuts in the

budget are inevitable; all will agree

that farm programs should bear a share

of the cuts. But, $15 billion in reductions is not a cut, Mr. Speaker, it is a

severance. $15 billion in reductions will

gut the farm programs, will disrupt

vital revenue sources in rural communities, and will affect the economy in

severe and unintended ways. This issue

transcends party and region. It is a direct hit on rural America, and it also

strikes a blow against urban America.

Let us pass a budget bill. Then, let us

pass a farm bill, but, in our effort to

stabilize the budget, we must be careful not to destabilize food production

for working families who are America’s

consumers.

PROTECT AMERICAN

AGRICULTURE

(Mr. NETHERCUTT asked and was

given permission to address the House

for 1 minute and to revise and extend

his remarks.)

Mr. NETHERCUTT. Mr. Speaker, we

have many tough choices to make during the next several weeks and Republicans have been the first to come forward and face these challenges. But we

need to take great care in reducing

those programs that have had such a

profound effect on our rural communities over the last 60 years. America’s

rural communities are fading examples

of American history—neighbor helping

neighbor, family helping family.

We cannot turn back 60 years of farm

programs overnight and expect our

rural communities to survive. Farm

communities can survive through tax

and regulatory relief, farm program reform and better trade policy reform.

Remember, farm programs have declined an average of 9 percent each

year since 1985—a reduction of over $15

billion. If all other Federal programs

had taken the same budget reductions

during this period, our budget would

balance. Assaults on agriculture are

not productive, so I challenge my colleagues to roll up our sleeves and learn

how important farming is to America.

REFORM THE MINING LAW OF 1872

(Mr. RAHALL asked and was given

fpermission to address the House for 1

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, 123 years

ago today, President Grant signed into

law a bill aimed at promoting the settlement of the Western States. This

bill allowed folks to mine valuable

minerals such as gold and silver from

Federal lands in those States for free.

It also allowed people to obtain title to

these lands for $2.50 an acre. In one

sense, the mining law of 1872 served

much the same purpose as the Homestead Act.

Today, the Homestead Act has long

since been repealed. The West is well

settled. Yet, the mining law of 1872 survives intact, in this age of skyrocketing Federal budget deficits still allowing the wholesale giveaway of valuable

Federal lands and minerals. It is incredible, but true, that annually under

this law the United States allows about

1.8 billion dollars’ worth of gold and

silver to be mined for absolutely free.

And for the most part, these minerals

are not being mined by the lone prospector of old, but rather, by multinational corporations who reap the

benefits of this last great giveaway of

American natural resources.

What a shame. What a shame, Congress, to allow lands, owned by every

American, to be given away for fast

food hamburger prices. To allow billions of dollars worth of the public

wealth to be produced for free by corporations based in Luxembourg, Toronto, and London.