May 11, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—HOUSE H 4801

have had to depend on aggressive water

quality standards, challenging the

water company in court when health is

endangered by substandard water quality. This right to appeal is predicated

on the existence of strong enforcement

water quality standards. Standards

that H.R. 961 would roll back to erase

23 years of progress.

In addition, the Sixth Congressional

District of New York borders on Jamaica Bay, a fragile area of marshland

and islands that is widely used for fishing and recreation. Jamaica Bay is regularly contaminated by raw sewage

and toxins that result from combined

sewer overflow problems and storm

water. And we are not alone, a 1992

study showed that 14 large cities, including New York City, Atlanta, and

Minneapolis have deposited more than

165 billion gallons of raw sewage and

pollution into surface waters each

year. For my constituents, H.R. 961 seriously impedes any attempt to control

this problem by postponing action to

correct problems with combined sewer

systems for at least 15 years. While we

wait, the health concerns about fishing

grow. Jamaica Bay cannot wait until

year 2010 for this problem to be addressed. Can the waters in my colleagues district wait? Oppose H.R. 961.

REPUBLICANS BALANCE THE

fBUDGET

(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, the time to

balance the budget is now. It is time to

end 40 long years of reckless spending.

The Republicans yesterday passed an

historic budget. We believe it is wrong

to burden a child born today with

$187,150 in taxes in their lifetime just

to balance the budget. We think it is

wrong to do nothing and let Medicare

go by the wayside. We believe it is

right to cut waste, to cut duplication.

We believe we have a moral imperative

to balance the budget.

But where is the Democrat plan?

There is no plan, folks. That is the

problem.

We believe you should have a plan.

And I was taught as a young boy, if I

do not agree with something or I think

it is wrong. I should have a better plan.

There should be a better way to do

things.

Their idea is to say, you are cutting

kids. Well, there you go again. We have

a plan. We have a plan to save our children’s future, to protect Medicare and

to get us back on the road to fiscal responsibility. That is exactly what the

Republicans plan on doing. We are

going to join with the American people

in doing so.

b 1145

THE CONTRACT WITH AMERICA: A

DISASTER FOR MIDDLE-INCOME

AND WORKING PEOPLE

(Mr. SANDERS asked and was given

permission to address the House for 1

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Speaker, at a

time when the gap between the rich

and the poor is growing wider, I am not

impressed by the Republican plan

which provides huge tax breaks for the

wealthiest people in this country and

the largest corporations, and cuts back

savagely on a wide variety of programs

meant for low-income and middle-income people.

When thousands and thousands of

senior citizens in the State of Vermont

today are finding it very hard to pay

their health care bills, I am not impressed by a Contract With America

which savagely cuts back on Medicare

and Medicaid. When millions of middle

class families today cannot afford to

send their kids to college because of

the high cost of higher education, I am

not impressed by a Contract With

America which cuts back terribly on

loans that millions of young people

will need in order to get to college. The

Contract With America works for the

rich. It is a disaster for middle-income

and working people.

(Mr. PALLONE asked and was given

WATER CROSSES STATE LINES

fpermission to address the House for 1

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I was

disappointed yesterday that the substitute for the Clean Water Act was not

passed on the House floor, but I think

that during the course of the debate

one very important fact was brought

out.

Several speakers said and pointed out

that the problem with clean water, or

the problem with water in general, is

that it follows, it crosses State lines.

In other words, when we are dealing

with the various amendments to the

Clean Water Act today, we have to

keep in mind that each State cannot be

responsible totally for the water within

its jurisdiction, because it has an impact on other States. That is why I

think it was very important yesterday

that we were able to pass the amendment on coastal nonpoint source pollution, because it means that one State

will not be able to have a lesser standard or a lesser management program

than another State and negatively impact that State.

The same philosophy has to go before

us today when we are dealing with the

other amendments, whether it is ocean

discharge and waivers for secondary

treatment, or it is beach water testing.

All these things should be voted on and

looked at in the context of the fact

that water crosses State lines. Whatever one State does is going to have an

impact on another State.

WHERE IS THE CUT?

f(Mr. HOBSON asked and was given

permission to address the House for 1

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HOBSON. Mr. Speaker, where is

the cut?

House Democrats have come to the

floor, claiming that Republicans are

cutting Medicare.

But I have to ask my colleagues,

where is the cut?

If you look at this simple chart, you

will see that Republicans are not cutting Medicare at all. In fact, we are increasing Medicare spending per person

from $4,700 to $6,300.

So, where is the cut?

In a liberal Democrat’s mind, whenever you slow the growth of spending,

whenever you weed out waste and

fraud, whenever you give a bureaucrat

his walking papers, that is a cut.

But to the American taxpayers, these

are not cuts. To senior citizens, these

are not cuts. To people possessed of

common sense, these are not cuts.

These are reforms that preserve, protect and improve Medicare far into the

next century.

Mr. Speaker, I have to ask my colleagues, where is the cut?

BALANCED BUDGET, NOT EXCUSES

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WANT A

f(Mr. HAYWORTH asked and was

given permission to address the House

for 1 minute and to revise and extend

his remarks.)

Mr. HAYWORTH. Mr. Speaker, for

weeks now, liberal Democrats have

taken to this floor to decry, accuse,

condemn, denounce, declaim, vilify, incriminate, fulminate, remonstrate,

deprecate, and attack any plan to balance our budget. For some reason, they

see no need to balance our budget. We

have to make changes.

Despite all the carping from the

other side, our friends on this side offer

no alternatives. They offer no solutions. They offer no plan.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Republican majority introduced a plan to

balance our budget in 7 years. There is

no longer any excuse not to balance

the budget. We have exhausted all the

old methods. All of the old big government ideas have been tried and found

wanting and found lacking. for the liberals to come to this floor with their

hot air about class warfare is nothing

short of irresponsible.

The American people are tired of excuses. They want this Congress to balance the budget. Republicans will do

this, with or without the carping and

crying of the liberal Democrats.