H 4902 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—HOUSE May 12, 1995

budget together says let us push the

children away and let us push the elderly away, the most vulnerable in the

family, so those who are doing real

well can get a larger piece of the pie? I

do not know any family like that. That

is the traditional mogul budget.

So we have really turned it on its

head and turned traditional family values into traditional mogul values. And

if you are really wondering what to get

your mother this year for Mother’s

Day, they have now answered the question. Send her a check, send her cash.

She is going to need at least $900 to

$1,000 a year because there is going to

be an increase in premiums and an increase in all things that affect her

Medicare.

Not a good Mother’s Day present.

fb 1315

LET US EXERCISE LEADERSHIP

Mr. BUYER. To my good friend from

Colorado, I think there is a big difference between families in America.

Her vision is she wants every family in

America to drive the very same type of

car and for everybody to have the same

piece in size.

I submit right now we are going to

hear a lot of rhetoric with regard to

the Nation’s budget.

It is interesting, this morning,

though, when I saw C–SPAN, I got to

see the Vice President, the minority

leader here in the House, the minority

leader in the Senate. They were asked

a very important question by a member of the press. Intriguing. ‘‘What is

your plan to balance the Nation’s budget without a tax increase in 7 years?’’

They looked at each other, and there

was complete silence for a good 4 or 5

seconds. It was wonderful. It reminded

me almost of the Three Stooges; I saw

Curley, Larry, and Mo. They stood and

all kind of looked at each other.

The answer is they have no plan.

So my message is: Stop the squawking, stop the whining, and let us get

down and work on the Nation’s business, roll up our sleeves, and let us do

it. Because this is very serious business.

You want to talk about what happens

to the American family, the lady from

Colorado, the greatest threat to the

American family today is the national

debt. That is the greatest threat.

Folks, if we are successful, and it is

now 2002, the national debt will be in

excess of $7 trillion. Stop squawking,

and let us exercise leadership.

CALLING FOR THE NAMING OF AN

INDEPENDENT COUNSEL

f(Mr. VOLKMER asked and was given

permission to address the House for 1

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. VOLKMER. Mr. Speaker, today

marks the 113th day since the formation of the House Ethics Committee,

and no substantial action has yet been

taken with regard to our imperial

Speaker’s serious ethics problems.

Four very serious complaints have

been filed and have been pending before

the Ethics Committee now for months,

yet no action. It is obvious that an

independent counsel is needed. I advise

the Ethics Committee to follow the advice that Congressman GINGRICH gave

on July 28, 1988, when he said,

The rules normally applied by the Ethics

Committee to an investigation of a typical

Member are insufficient in an investigation

of the Speaker of the House . . . clearly this

investigation has to meet a higher standard

of public accountability.

I call on Chairperson JOHNSON and

members of the Ethics Committee to

quit dragging their feet and name an

independent counsel. Inactivity by the

Ethics Committee and press releases

from the Gingrich legal team will not

clear up this most serious situation.

An independent counsel will.

PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN’S

fFUTURE

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

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. TATE. Mr. Speaker, within a

decade, entitlements and interest will

consume the entire national debt, and

the President has presented no balanced budget, and the Clinton Democrats across the aisle have continued

the status quo.

The Republicans have announced a

plan to balance the budget and to protect our children’s future, and the

Democrats have announced yesterday

that they have no plan.

Well, let me tell you, folks, here is

their plan. Right here is what they do

on Medicare to save it. Right down

here is what they do to protect our

children. Right down here is what they

do to provide tax relief for working

families.

Folks, there is no plan. That is the

fact. The Republicans have a plan, a

plan to balance the budget, protect our

children’s future and to protect, preserve, and improve Medicare.

The Republicans are willing to stand

up to the plate and be counted and protect our future. The Democrats have

their plan right here.

MOST VULNERABLE POPULATIONS

Take a look.

REPUBLICAN PLAN UNFAIR TO

f(Mr. WATT of North Carolina asked

and was given permission to address

the House for 1 minute and to revise

and extend his remarks.)

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr.

Speaker, as we approach the budget debate next week, I think it is important

for the American people to put this in

perspective.

We have cut taxes now $600 to $700

billion over the next 10 years to benefit

the wealthy peoples. Now we have got

to come up with some cuts in the budget to offset that lost revenue, $600 to

$700 billion, to offset cuts in taxes for

rich people.

Well, we started by trying to do that

on the backs of poor people, and we realized that there was not enough

money in poor people’s programs to do

that. So now, next week, we are turning our attention to our senior citizens, and we will try to finish this job

under the Republican plan by balancing the budget on the backs of our

senior citizens, poor people, senior citizens, balance the budget on their

backs, my colleagues say. Unfair to our

most vulnerable populations.

PRESERVING THE AMERICAN

fDREAM

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

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. RIGGS. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, yesterday House Republicans

offered a plan to balance the Federal

budget by the year 2002. Our plan allocates $11 trillion for Federal spending

over the next 7 years. It protects Social

Security. It eliminates three Cabinetlevel departments, 13 agencies and 284

Federal programs, and it provides the

much needed tax relief for families, as

promised in our Contract With America.

Now, let us look at what will happen

if we take the House Democrats’ approach and do nothing but maintain

the status quo. A child born this year

can expect to pay $187,000 over the

course of his or her lifetime as a wage

earner and taxpayer just in interest on

the national debt, and in 2 years, interest on the national debt will exceed defense spending as the single largest

item in the Federal budget.

Mr. Speaker, which alternative would

the House choose next week: the status

quo or a plan to balance the budget by

limiting the growth in Federal spending and eliminating wasteful spending

and programs that simply have outlived their usefulness?

The answer is clear. We have to balance the Federal budget. We have a

moral imperative to preserve the

American dream for our children and

our grandchildren.

BALANCE PRIORITIES FIRST

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, you

can take each dollar that the majority

plans to spend on the wealthy through

their tax break and spend it on older

Americans through Medicare and still

have moneys to balance the budget

come the year 2002.

One wonders why there is such an insistence by the majority to take from

the poor and give to the wealthy. When