Tom Lantos: “Mr. Chairman, San Francisco has two representatives in Congress, and I am proud to join the gentlewoman from California…”

“Mr. Chairman, San Francisco has two representatives in Congress, and I am proud to join the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), my friend and colleague, in expressing my strongest disapproval of this proposed amendment. This amendment by the gentleman from California (Mr. Riggs) should be called the ``Big Brother Amendment,'' because it engages in a preposterous degree of micromanagement of the affairs of a city. And it is not surprising that the national organization representing the mayors of our country and the national organization representing the counties in our country are as opposed to this amendment as are we. It is simply preposterous for the Federal Government to interfere with city ordinances that merely provide for equality of opportunity and fairness. Micromanagement has no role in our legislative process. And to find a subsection of a section of the San Francisco city ordinance to be unacceptable to the Congress of the United States by individuals who favor block grants and who tell us to allow local decisionmaking is so hypocritical as to boggle the mind. But this is not just interference in local decisionmaking. This is a poorly disguised assault on a persecuted minority, and I hope my colleagues across this political spectrum, from the far right to the left, will oppose this amendment.”