Date: 1981-11-05
Speaker: ST GERMAIN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. as I have Informed Members of thle House as well as the public in recent weeks. the Banking. Finance and Urban Affairs Committee Is in thle midst of a series of field hearings in an attempt to hear directly from the people Impacted by changing economic conditions and policies. This information. coming from the grassroots. will be invaluable as this committee meets Its responsibilities in housing. mornetary policy. municipal finance. economic stabilization. trade. and other areas of our jurisdiction. Some have suggested that the cost of hearing from the people is too high. Instead. they think the Congress should depend solely on the wisdom or the Washington crowdthe OMB expers. the Government economists. the uatin asvociatirns. and others who are fond of telling us that they are the ones who truly know what the pcople are thinking. And that they know what the people want. Mr. Speaker. wve have decided policies and programs all too often by hearing only from these ivory tower Washington experts. I realize that there are some In the Congress and In the executivei branch who shudder at Novemiber 5. 1981 the thought of having unemployment statistics translated into human terms. It is easier talking about percentages than actually facing thle worker with a family who doesn~t know where the next paycheck is coming from. It is easiermuch easierto sit in Washington and talk about the glories of esoteric Federal Research monetary policy than to look across the table in St. Paul. Minn.. at the small businessman who tells you he is going out of btusiness because of high interest ratesa lifetime of dreams down thle drain. Mr. Speaker. the American people do have a right to appear before Committees of Congress on their own home grounds and to tell us how they see and feel economic policies in their communities. Mr. Speaker. we heard 71 witnesses in Minnesota on October 19 and I do not know the political affiliations of any of them. They were simply peoplefrom all walks of lifewho wanted to be heard. to tell a Committee of Congress how they viewed economic -conditions. how they were faring in todays economy. Few of them would ever have an opportunity to come to Washington to testify and few to my knowledge had big national trade associations to broker for them in the capital. Mr. Speaker. I find it sad indeed that a Member of Congress would attack the idea of Washington going to the people. This more than anything else probably illustrates just how important and how long overdue is the need for this committee to go into the field and see the people. Let me assure those who attack the committees efforts that the problems are out there and people are ouit there. The problems are not going away by adopting a head in the sand. Washington knows best attitude. The attitude of some on the minority side is "Let them come to Washington if they have something to say." Mr. Speaker. I think such a cavalier attitude about the peoples concern over high Interest rates. Inflation. and economic uncertainties is appalling in the legislative body of the worlds greatest democracy. And the ultimate cost of this "Let them eat cake" approach Is far. far more costly than the costs of sending Members of Congress to hear from the people.