The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“RIVERBOAT POLITICS SHOULD NOT BE TOLERATED” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H16948-H16949 on Nov. 13, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
RIVERBOAT POLITICS SHOULD NOT BE TOLERATED
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Clinger). Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 4, 1995, the gentleman from California [Mr. Miller] is recognized during morning business for 5 minutes.
Mr. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, today the President had to veto the debt limit and will veto the continuing resolution. This should not come as a surprise to those of us who follow the politics and the people involved in this issue, because back in April the Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, predicted that he would create a titanic legislative standoff with President Clinton by adding vetoed bills to must-pass legislation increasing the debt limit.
In April, the Speaker made a decision that he would bring the government to a halt. But he was assuming that the President would have vetoed a whole series of bills that were to be passed by the Congress between April and now, and he would put those bills back on the debt limit or to a continuing resolution, and the President would have to sign those. He made it clear then that he was prepared to bring the Government down.
But what has happened since that time is there has been a massive failure by the Republicans to pass those legislative measures. They have passed only 3 of the 13 appropriations bills. So when the Government shuts down tonight at midnight, it will not affect the Department of Agriculture, because the Department of Agriculture's appropriations bill has passed. But the Republicans have had a massive failure, unlike anything seen in modern Congresses, an inability to pass legislative appropriations billings for the coming fiscal year.
So what have they decided to do? They decided to shift the light off of their ineptness and the fact that their party is now captured by the most extreme elements of the Republican Party, and they have decided to shift the light away from that, to suggesting that somehow the President wants to bring the Government to a standstill.
The President has made it clear from the time that he passed the clean continuing resolution that we are operating under today back in September, that there was no need to bring the Government to a standstill. When the Republicans passed their bills, we could consider them then and he would either sign or veto them. When the Republicans pass their budget tonight, tomorrow or the end of this week they can be considered then.
But what the Republicans have chosen to do is to try and put a gun to the President's head and say ``Sign this bill or the Government comes doen. Sign this bill, or the Government of the United States, for the first time in history, will default on its credit rate. Sign this bill, or millions of American homeowners will have higher interest rates because of that default.''
That is no way to negotiate. The President of the United States has never given in to terrorists. He cannot give in to these kinds of terrorist activities by the Republicans when they are playing with the credit and well-being of the U.S. Government.
A clean CR can be passed through the Congress of the United States in a matter of hours this evening, in the House and Senate. A debt limit can be extended if it is clean in a matter of hours, and the American public need not suffer. The American economy need not suffer that, and America's credit rating in the rest of the world need not suffer that.
The Speaker made it clear again in September, he said ``I do not care what the price is. I do not care if we have no Executive offices and no bonds for 30 days. Not this time.'' These are the reckless words of a reckless man, playing with his own ego, playing with his own political fortunes, whether he be up or down in the polls, as opposed to taking care of the business of this Nation, taking care of the economy of this Nation, and taking care of the credit rating of this Nation.
This kind of riverboat politics should not be tolerated. They should not be tolerated at a time when he sends a bill to the President suggesting that we are going to have to raise the premiums for Medicare recipients, but we will not address the other problems in Medicare costing money.
They did not send to the President a bill to address waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicare. They did not send a bill to the President on the debt limit to address the exorbitant doctors' fees and hospital costs that cannot be justified. They did not address those needs. No, they only addressed what the senior citizens have to increase in premiums, and, of course we know why they are doing that, because they seek to transfer those $270 billion in Medicare savings. They seek to transfer
$245 billion to among the richest people in this country, a tax cut that cannot be justified when they are seeking the kinds of cuts that are in the social fabric of this country, when middle income people are not doing as well as they were in 1973. Yet the massive effort that we see here now is all about getting a tax cut, half of which goes to the top 5 percent of the people in the country.
It is unacceptable. A clean continuing resolution should be passed, a clean debt limit should be passed, and we should get on with the debate over the bills when the Republicans finally finish their debate within their party and pass those bills.
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