Date: 1995-11-17
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to the conference report. Mr. Speaker. at the outset I want to make it clear that todays debate is not about balancing the budget: I support balancing the Federal budget. Todays debate is about the priorities we set in going about achieving a balanced budget. Mr. Speaker. it is because of the priorities that are established in this reconciliation bill that I sadly must oppose this conference agreement even though it achieves a goal I have long desired of this Congressthat of achieving a balanced budget. The process itself under which this bill has been considered has inevitably cost it its ability to be signed into law. It is a travesty that when the very thing Americans want most--responsibility in Federal fiscal affairsthat objective is being compromised by backroom deals orchestrated by Speaker GINGRICH and the Republican leadership. Mr. Speaker. the Republican budget approved this year was bad. It called for a huge tax cut to be paid for through drastic reductions in health care and major cuts in food and farm programs. That terrible budget yielded an even worse result in the package we have before us: It slashes health care for our seniors. devastates programs that provide assistance for children in poverty. and totally eliminates the farm programs that have so successfully safeguarded our Nations food security. And it is easy to see how the Republican leadership took it from bad to worse. All Americans know that at its very core. our form of government depends on openness. Good policy development requires a fair opportunity for all sides to be heard. We have this terrible bill before us because that basic principle has been abandoned. In this agriculture deal--engineered by Speaker GINGRICH and Mr. ARMEYthere are a shocking number of instances where Democratic principles were cast aside: There has not been one hearing on this proposal in either the House Agriculture Committee or the Senate Agriculture Committee and it eliminates farm programs. Not one subcommittee has had the opportunity to consider this bills provisions: and it eliminates farm programs. Only the full House Agriculture Committee has debated this planand a bipartisan majority of the committee defeated it. Nevertheless. agricultural policy experts GINGRICH and ARMEY took what was defeated in the Agriculture Committee. made their own modifications in the planand forced it into the reconciliation bill. The one proposal a bipartisan majority of the Agriculture Committee did adopt--one to help ease the burden on rural communities by making additional infrastructure improvement loans availablewas arbitrarily stripped out by Gingrich leadership. Subsequently. conferees were appointed in the traditional wayMembers from the majority and the minority. But the agreement was reached and Democratic conferees were completely shut out of the negotiations. Not only that--even the Republican conferees never once met until after the Speaker cut his deal: and what does this deal do? It completely eliminates farm programs. without debate. in the dark of night. behind closed doors. a deal manufactured by the GingrichArmey leadership. Mr. Speaker. there are no provisions related to the dairy program in this bill. The way that happened is a case study in how wrong things can go when we attempt to develop national policy without any input from the American people. From the start. the dairy farmers themselves knew and understood that all farmers would have to bear some of the burden of the cuts. They made several different proposals toward that end. Normally. then. what we would do is convene our subcommittees and our committee. we would have hearings to talk about the pros and cons of the different proposals. we would debate. we would argue. and we would vote. But this year: We did not have any hearings related to the specific proposals. the members of the Dairy Subcommittee. did not meet and did not consider any alternatives. the full committee only had the 1 day of markup and that was to discuss all farm program issues. and the members of the conference committee were never once convened to discuss how dairy policy should be addressed. As a result. the current dairy program will become extinct even sooner than programs for other commodities. all for the lack of a fair. honest. and open debate. Mr. Speaker. all of the shortcuts the leadership has taken in order to be in a position to ram their priorities through Congress have gotten us very lost. By making its policies in the dark--by rejecting the most basic values of our deliberative systemthe Gingrich leadership has imperiled our Nations food production system. endangered seniors and children in poverty. and compromised the very trust of the people who put them in office. Mr. Speaker. for nearly an entire year. the Republican leadership in this Congress has neglected the Nations business. precipitated a crisis of unprecedented proportions. and com pletely ignored the will of the American people. The American people do not want this bill. and that is why the President will veto it. Let us hope that when the Republican leadership gets a second chance. it will act to earn back the trust of the people in their Congress.