Gilbert Gutknecht: “I rise out of frustration today about what is happening with the flood relief money for northwestern Minnesota and the…”

“I rise out of frustration today about what is happening with the flood relief money for northwestern Minnesota and the Dakotas. But I am mostly frustrated with some of the rhetoric, and I am very disappointed with the some of my colleagues for trying to turn this into a partisan political issue. Some people say, ``Well, this bill is not perfect.'' Absolutely it is not perfect. There is money in there for the troops in Bosnia. I do not support that. There are a lot of other things in this bill that I do not support. But if I wait for the bill that is perfect, that has only in the bill what I absolutely agree with, we are never going to get a bill. I think the President is being absolutely unreasonable on this because there is money, as I say, in there for Bosnia, there is money in there for parking ramps, there is a lot more money in there, and incidentally, there is money in there that the President did not request. It is money for relocation, and that is very important money for the folks up in the Red River Valley. So if we wait for all the lights to turn green, we are never going to leave the house. Now why is the President holding up this flood relief money? Because he does not like the anti-Government shutdown provision in it. Is there any Member in this body that will stand on this floor and say they want to make certain that we have the chance to close down the Government come October 1? If they believe that, they ought to come to the floor and say that.”