This is not a time that the American people are demanding more tax breaks and loopholes in our Tax Code. They are demanding equity. They would like for us to move forward. The President of the United States came here to this very body last…

Sometimes you get the impression that it is almost un-American to work toward common ground, to try to resolve differences, to have some give and take, to realize that there is no party that has a monopoly on truth. There are insights we…

And how truly ironic that this is happening at a time when Vice President Gore has done such a wonderful job with the reinventing Government initiative, when this administration has actually brought down the size of the Federal work force…

indeed, there is in this country for individuals a whole credit counseling profession; that is, a group of individuals trained in counseling people about their credit needs. But there is no credit counselor available for a nation as large…

I would ask the gentlewoman, is the thrust of this rule to give even more power to a Speaker who already has extraordinary power?

I would just conclude by noting the reaction of one person, an investment banker, to note what may happen if they carry us over the cliff, but what already happened yesterday in taking us right up to the brink of disaster as this…

These are also the same Republican leaders who for decades have presented themselves to the American people as the party of fiscal prudence, of fiscal integrity. And now they are the ones who are engaged in this most imprudent act of…

That stigma of a bad credit rating has stayed with their family and prevented them from borrowing, when they had necessities that they needed for their family, for years. Does the gentlewoman have any idea of how long, if the Gingrich…

So much of our discussion here this afternoon has been on what might happen in the future, and the prospects are dire, indeed. But I think it is important for the American people to understand what has already happened as of yesterday…

if the gentlewoman would continue to yield, I heard the Speaker of the House, who will have extraordinary power, announce last night on national television that his effort to dismantle Medicare this year has failed and that he is giving up…

last evening we had another reminder that democracy is alive and well in this great country. Yes, on national television Speaker Gingrich conceded that his effort to dismantle Medicare this year, in his words, let it wither on the vine…

They may well take us, in the month of February, right to brink of fiscal disaster, to default on this Government's full faith and credit. And when they get there to the cliff, if they mishandle this whole issue of Government default the…

neither political party has a monopoly on truth. We need to work together, as President Clinton urged last night, to find some common ground about the problems that this Nation faces. There is not any good reason why we cannot put the…

if word were out this afternoon that a governmental official had wasted $150,000 of taxpayer money to further a political agenda, someone would surely be here denouncing it, and if the figure were instead $1.5 million, I am sure the line…

I rise in defense of the freshmen House Republicans. They have been unfairly maligned. Blaming them for this Government shutdown is like blaming the followers of the Pied Piper for being mesmerized by him. They voted with Speaker Gingrich…

the bloom is finally off the Republican pay-more-get-less plan. There it is, in all its ugly splendor. Let us look at the real details of the plan. To protect the Medicare trust fund, let us drain 4 years of revenues from the fund. To…

I actually was noting that I visited with Carlene Wiley in Austin, TX on Saturday morning at a grocery store in North Austin, and she is one of those people who is just too concerned about estate taxes for her mother, because the only way…

I was wondering in that regard if the gentlewoman had the opportunity last night to see the reality check. She is aware of the need that this Republican leadership has to do a reality check, because sometimes we wonder where they came from…

In other words, instead of letting all the ego of names stay right here in the Congress, so that it is the Joan Smith Act, this could be known as the Golden Rule-Gingrich Act to Cut Medicare or whatever one might want to call it.

this afternoon I want to discuss two of the most critical issues facing this Congress. They are, first, the question of ethics, the question of special interest influence on the people's House, and whether the people's interests out there…

I believe this issue of ethics and special interest domination of this body and the Medicare cuts of $270 billion are closely interrelated. We must deal with both. We have a date for dealing with one of these next week. It is time to get a…

I believe the gentlewoman was a supporter of a proposal by a colleague of ours, the gentleman from California [Mr. Miller], to actually suggest as a part of lobby reform that we identify the lobbyists that come up with these great ideas…

In other words, if they pick out the healthiest seniors and leave traditional Medicare with those that are the weakest and the sickest and lack good health, that need the most care, they cherry pick those, as the term is used in the…

I always thought when they talked about Mediscare, they were talking about the Republicans who were mediscared to come out here on the floor and explain these cuts that they are making, and they still have not as of today. We have yet…

So Golden Rule contributed to this farm team program called GOPAC to train and tutor people, and these were the same people that were going around, regardless of what office they were running for, and telling the American people that they…