Volume 144, No. 143 covering the 2nd Session of the 105th Congress (1997 - 1998) was published by the Congressional Record.
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.
“WHAT IS GOING ON IN CONGRESS?” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H10527-H10528 on Oct. 11, 1998.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
WHAT IS GOING ON IN CONGRESS?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, it is interesting to be here on a Sunday afternoon after watching the talking heads on television this morning. I listened to the distinguished gentleman from Oklahoma who cannot understand the gentleman from Connecticut's outrage at what has happened in the medical system. I am a physician and you are a physician. I have spent time on telephones calling Omaha, Nebraska trying to get additional time for my patients in hospitals. I understand. It does take a persistent doctor. But it should not be necessary for you and I and all our colleagues in the medical profession to spend their time arguing with some bureaucrat who has never seen the patient making a decision about how long you can keep a patient in the hospital. I think the American people understand that. They understand that doctors have somebody between them and the patient. It is always an insurance company person. The failure of this Congress, even if you want to take your bill, your patient protection bill, you could not get it through the Senate. You guys did not come around here enough. The majority party cannot work with the majority party in the Senate to get something done. It is an absolute failure. There is an article here in the newspaper today. It is an analysis, it is on the editorial page of the New York Times. I will enter it in the Record. It is by Mr. Herbert. It is called the GOP Cover Story. He talks about the impeachment the other day. He says,
It was, frankly, chilling. To watch Newt Gingrich presiding over the possible impeachment of a Democratic President, even one as spectacularly vulnerable as Bill Clinton, is insane.
He said,
This is the same Newt Gingrich who several years ago told a group of young Republicans: ``I think one of the great problems we have in the Republican Party is that we don't encourage you to be nasty. We encourage you to be neat, obedient, loyal, faithful and all those Boy Scout words, which would be great around the campfire but lousy in politics.''
And then he says,
The Republican Party, refashioned by Mr. Gingrich and his right-wing cronies, no longer has that problem. Since winning control of Congress in 1994, it has consistently pursued a mean-spirited extremist agenda and is now determined to turn the self-inflicted wounds of the President into an even larger majority.
Now, he says and this is what the American people should be thinking about:
Try to imagine the implications of a bigger, more powerful, more aggressive, more right-wing regime of Republicans in Congress. This is a party that is not content with trying to roll back abortion rights. It is fighting on several fronts against contraception. Just last week the Republican leadership in the House, under pressure from the right, killed a measure that would have required Federal health plans that cover prescription drugs to cover the cost of contraceptives. No one seemed to think it was crazy to have abortion foes opposing a measure that would reduce the need for abortions. They could not grasp that.
He goes on to talk about the party that fought a meat inspection system designed to protect the people from the deadly E. coli. Members from my State, where we had children die, lingering deaths of E. coli infection voted against increasing meat inspections. I know we do not want big government. But there are some things the government should do. It should inspect the meat. Children should not die in fast food restaurants or in children's hospitals after a month of hospitalization of something contracted in a fast food restaurant. There is no question.
He also says,
Of course, you can't expect much from the Republicans because their whip denounced the Environmental Protection Agency as the Gestapo of the government.
The Gestapo of the government. This is the kind of talk we get.
He goes on to talk about the leadership's ethics and talks about a whole bunch of things, including one of the leadership who comes out on the floor and delivers tobacco checks on the floor to Members of Congress. I mean, this is right here on the floor. We talk about why we need campaign finance reform. We got Members and the leadership of the majority party walking around handing out checks right here on the floor, while we are fighting about whether we should do something about tobacco. There is lots more but the people ought to be worried about what is going on in this Congress.
G.O.P. Cover Story
Throughout Thursday's impeachment debate in the House you could hear the uncharacteristally low-keyed voice of the G.O.P.'s chief inquisitor.
``The gentleman from Missouri is recognized for three minutes,'' Newt Gingrich would say. Or he would rap his Speaker's gavel for quiet and ask, oh so formally and respectfully, ``Does the gentleman move the previous question?''
Every now and then he would smile hideously, reminding us that hypocrisy is as abundant in Washington as fertilizer on the farm.
It was, frankly, chilling. Newt Gingrich presiding over the possible impeachment of a Democratic President, even one as spectacularly vulnerable as Bill Clinton, is insane.
This is the same Newt Gingrich who several years ago told a group of young Republicans: ``I think one of the great problems we have in the Republican Party is that we don't encourage you to be nasty. We encourage you to be neat, obedient and loyal and faithful and all those Boy Scout words, which would be great around the campfire but are lousy in politics.''
The Republican Party, refashioned by Mr. Gingrich and his right-wing cronies, no longer has that problem. Since winning control of Congress in 1994, it has consistently pursued a mean-spirited extremist agenda and is now determined to turn the self-inflicted wounds of Bill Clinton into an even larger majority.
Try to imagine the implications of a bigger, more powerful, more aggressive, more right-wing regime of Republicans in Congress.
This is a party that is not content with trying to roll back abortion rights. It is fighting on several fronts against contraception. Just last week the Republican leadership in the House, under pressure from the right, killed a measure that would have required Federal health plans that cover prescription drugs to cover the cost of contraceptives. No one seemed to think it was crazy to have abortion foes opposing a measure that would reduce the need for abortions.
This is a party that tried to eliminate Federal nutrition standards for school meals and fought hard against a meat inspection system designed to protect the public from the deadly E. coli bacteria.
It's a party that attacked Medicare and Medicaid and went out of its way to trash the environment. Clean air? Clean water? Forget about it. Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, the majority whip and a sharp critic of Mr. Clinton, denounced the Environmental Protection Agency as the
``Gestapo of the Government.''
You want ethics? Pull the clips on Mr. Gingrich and learn how not to behave. Or check out John Boehner of Ohio, chairman of the House Republican Conference. I wrote a column in 1996 describing how he took money from tobacco lobbyists and handed it out to certain of his colleagues on the floor of the House, while the House was in session.
These are men who couldn't find the high road if they approached it by parachute.
There is no doubt that Bill Clinton brought his problems on himself. He destroyed his own Presidency. But there are consequences to be paid if the Republicans are allowed to feast too ravenously on the political spoils.
Democrats have already lost the opportunity to control the campaign season with discussions of such issues as the rights of patients in the era of managed care, the need to move boldly to rebuild the public school system, the concerns of working Americans in a chaotic economic environment and the outlook for Social Security.
Having been handed the gift of Monica Lewinsky, the Republicans are running with her. She conceals their real agenda. If they can parlay the Monica madness into substantially increased majorities in the House and Senate, they can renew their conservative assault on government and their submersion of the interests of ordinary working Americans and the poor.
Keep in mind that this is a party that crafted extraordinary tax breaks for billionaires while claiming the sky would fall if the minimum wage was raised to $5.25 an hour.
Bill Clinton and the Democrats fended off the most extreme aspects of the so-called Republican revolution of the mid-90s'. Now Mr. Clinton has given the right-wingers the opportunity to take care of their unfinished business. Only the voters stand in the way.
____________________
Alerts Sign-up