June 7, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H 5627

Just last year it seemed that the Tax

Code maybe would not be reformed at

all. Now, this year, it is not a question

of whether it is going to be reformed,

but just when and how. We look forward to making sure that we have a

taxpayer-friendly Code in the future.

URGING SUPPORT FOR FEDERAL

LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS

fIN THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AND THE BLM

(Mr. MILLER of California asked and

was given permission to address the

House for 1 minute and to revise and

extend his remarks.)

Mr. MILLER of California. Mr.

Speaker, National Park rangers and

BLM rangers and other Federal law enforcement officers are daily subjected

to threats of violence and danger. The

men and women who protect our resources and our citizens deserve our respect and our support, whether they

wear the uniform in the streets of our

cities or in the desolate back woods of

our public lands. However, we see a Bureau of Land Management law enforcement ranger in Montana responding to

knife assaults, a BLM ranger in California coming upon a drug deal that is

turning into a shootout, guns are fired

at BLM vehicles in New Mexico, and

the list of violent incidents are growing: 29 homicides, 110 cases of arson, 166

weapons violations, and hundreds of

more serious offenses on BLM land

every year.

That is why Americans are shocked

to hear about Members of this House

calling for the disarming of law enforcement officials or suggesting that

those who violate public laws have an

irrational fear of their government.

Now they are getting very specific.

The Chairman of the House Committee

on Resources, in a letter to the Committee on Appropriations, has called

for zero funding of BLM resources protection of law enforcement and huge

cuts in law enforcement in the Forest

Service. The Members of this House

should stand with law enforcement.

URGING A ‘‘YES’’ VOTE ON THE

AMERICAN OVERSEAS INTERfESTS ACT

(Mrs. CHENOWETH asked and was

given permission to address the House

for 1 minute and to revise and extend

her remarks.)

Mrs. CHENOWETH. Mr. Speaker,

today the House resumes work on legislation designed to take our Nation’s

foreign affairs operations out of the

dark days of the cold war and into the

sunshine of the 21st century.

H.R. 1561—the American Overseas Interests Act—recognizes that we won

the cold war. It reorganizes our foreign

affairs agencies, cuts spending, and

refocuses our resources to priorities

that support American interests.

The bill eliminates three agencies

that our cold war victory has rendered

obsolete—the Agency for International

Development, the U.S. Information

Agency, and the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.

It cuts spending by nearly $3 billion

over 2 years—and by $21 billion over 7

years—while supporting our allies and

punishing our opponents.

A vote in favor of this bill is a vote

to downside the Federal Government

and to cut foreign aid. I urge my colleagues to join me in voting ‘‘yes’’ on

final passage of the American Overseas

Interests Act.

BREAKING THE PUBLIC TRUST—

MAKING MONEY IN THE REPUBfLICAN CONGRESS

(Mr. LEWIS of Georgia asked and was

given permission to address the House

for 1 minute and to revise and extend

his remarks.)

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker,

the Republicans won the elections last

November and they promised no more

business as usual, and were they ever

right. The ethical standards that have

been adopted by the Republicans in

this House are at the lowest level I

have ever seen.

Lobbyists writing legislation, Members letting outside groups send out

partisan political mailings on their office stationary and, of course, at the

center of it all, the Speaker of the

House and his infamous book deal.

Now, in the latest chapter, the

Speaker has ignored the ethics committee and signed his contract with

Rupert Murdoch. He has even launched

a nationwide book tour. This, despite

saying he would wait for the ethics

committee to approve the deal, which

they have not.

They cut school lunches, they cut

Medicare, they cut students’ college

loans, while the Speaker joins the club

of millionaires.

For Republicans, it is no more business as usual, it is time for making

money.

CHILD SURVIVAL PROGRAMS A

PRIORITY IN FOREIGN AID

fBUDGET

(Mr. WALSH asked and was given

permission to address the House for 1

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. WALSH. Mr. Speaker, I rise

today in strong support of H.R. 966, the

James P. Grant World Summit for

Children Implementation Act. As we

revise our foreign aid priorities it is

critical that we not reduce spending for

cost-effective programs like child survival that provide benefits to children

throughout the world.

Spending for kids’ programs must

continue to be a priority in our foreign

aid budget. Minimum Federal investments in child survival, basic education, and micronutrient programs

has had a dramatic impact in improving the lives and well-being of children

in underdeveloped countries. In 1980,

for example, over 5 million kids died

from vaccine preventable diseases. Because of our investments in child survival programs such as immunization

and oral rehydration therapy we are

saving millions of childrens’ lives each

year.

Nearly 13 million children worldwide

die each year, 35,000 per day, due to

largely preventable diseases and malnutrition. These miserable conditions

create a cycle of poverty and hopelessness that can be broken through proven, cost-effective child survival strategies.

Last year, we provided $280 million

for child survival program activities

and increased funding for these activities is desperately needed. While it is

clear that overall foreign aid levels

will be reduced this year, it is essential

that the committees dealing with foreign affairs ensure continued U.S. participation in child survival. The World

Summit for Children Implementation

Act, a bill which I have sponsored with

my good friend and leading hunger advocate, TONY HALL, maintains and increases our investment in child survival, basic education, micronutrient

programs, and UNICEF. Congress needs

to keep its commitment to these costeffective child development assistance

programs and I plan on working with

my colleagues to see that these priorities are incorporated into foreign affairs legislation.

ABSENCE OF APPROVAL BY ETHICS COMMITTEE REVIVES TALK

fOF OUTSIDE COUNSEL ON

SPEAKER’S BOOK DEAL

(Ms. DELAURO asked and was given

permission to address the House for 1

minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)

Ms. DELAURO. Mr. Speaker, earlier

this year, Speaker GINGRICH promised

to get approval for his book deal from

the Ethics Committee before signing

the contract. Now, the Speaker has embarked on a nationwide book tour, so

the Ethics Committee must have given

its OK, right? Wrong.

In fact, the Ethics Committee did not

get a chance to rule on the propriety of

the Speaker’s multimillion-dollar book

contract, before it received a letter

from Mr. GINGRICH’s lawyer saying that

Mr. GINGRICH was going ahead with the

deal. The letter reads: ‘‘We will assume

that Mr. GINGRICH’s book publishing

complies with House rules.’’

But, the chairwoman and the ranking

member of the committee quickly

wrote back to Mr. GINGRICH’s lawyer

saying: ‘‘You should make no such assumption.’’ This advice was ignored.

The Speaker never received approval

from the Ethics Committee on his book

contract, as he promised. Mr. GINGRICH’s wanton disregard of the Ethics

Committee makes the case for an outside counsel to investigate the other

charges pending against him. The

Speaker will be unable to ignore the

ruling of an outside counsel in the way