John Joseph Moakley: “last night the host of ``Crossfire'' quoted Edward Crane, President of the Cato Institute; we know that the Cato…”

“last night the host of ``Crossfire'' quoted Edward Crane, President of the Cato Institute; we know that the Cato Institute is not a liberal organization. Edward Crane was quoted as saying, ``The record of the 105th Congress, Republican-controlled in both Houses, is an abomination. Spending is up, and the Tax Code is more complex than ever.'' Even the Congressional Quarterly says that as long as the records go back, no Congress has worked fewer days or accomplished less. Since the American people deserve more from their Congress, I urge my colleagues to defeat this previous question. If the previous question is defeated, Democrats will be able to bring initiatives to the floor before this Congress adjourns. An initiative to modernize schools that the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Goodling) talked about; reduce class size by hiring 100,000 new teachers; an initiative to implement true HMO reform that protects patients and lets the doctors and nurses make the decisions, and not accountants and insurance companies; an initiative that saves 100 percent of the Social Security surplus and keeps it in the trust fund. Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on the previous question to speed up consideration of school modernization, HMO reform, and legislation to save Social Security.”