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Statement of The Honorable Paul McHale to the Joint
Committee on the Organization of Congress, 2/04/93

Thank you Mr. Chairman for inviting me to speak before this distinguished Joint Committee. My comments in the next few minutes will draw extensively from my thirty days experience in the U.S. House of Representatives and should be weighted accordingly.

Let me begin with a quote from David Broder:

"A pattern of self interest prevailing over collective responsibility is what's wrong with Congress. It is the end product of a political system that in almost every way has exalted individual self-aggrandizement over party and institutional responsibility."

We must act promptly to enact the mandate voiced by the people last November. Many of the new members of Congress were elected specifically because our constituents demanded reform, Congressional reform. The

comprehensive agenda now under thoughtful consideration by this Committee provides a once in a generation

opportunity to carefully restructure the Congress. Toward the accomplishment of that goal I would like to express the following thoughts.

First, a genuine sense of democratic

responsibility, shared by those who govern as well as the governed, will entail Congress living under the same laws and statutes which were enacted to guide the lawful behavior of all American citizens. I am a cosponsor of H.R 349, the "Congressional Responsibility Act", introduced by Representatives Swett and Shays. This legislation will make

Congress accountable under the provisions of: the Americans With Disabilities Act, the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Freedom of Information Act, to name a few.

Second, serious reform should also entail a comprehensive review of current standing committees, subcommittees, and their staffs. At a time when we are hastily, and I believe unjustly, eliminating the Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families, many standing Committees are continuing to operate with excessive staffs and unnecessary subcommittees.

Many opportunities and services available to members of Congress and their staffs have been abused. Foreign travel must be under much greater review and scrutiny. For some members it is simply too easy to travel to foreign countries at the taxpayer's expense. In addition, services provided to members of Congress should not provided at a reduced rate, but at fair market value.

Finally, I wish to lend my enthusiastic support to President Clinton's proposed ban on lobbying by former members for a period of five years. Today's corporate constituent should not be tomorrows employer.

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I am deeply honored to serve as a member in the most distinguished legislative body yet conceived and shaped by the enduring democratic values of Western civilization. Congress is a great institution reflecting the best of Constitutional democracy, but possessing the capacity for even greater achievement. An article in today's issue of Roll Call indicates that fully 59 percent of the American people disapprove of our collective performance in office.

The reforms which I have previously described would go a long way toward addressing their concerns.

I was proud the day I entered Congress. I hope to have even greater pride in the institution and its capacity for effective democratic government when the time comes for me to leave.

Thank you Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. Your efforts to reform Congress are timely and needed.

As some of you may know, I am a small businessman who never held public office before being elected to Congress two years ago. I was shocked when time after time we voted on major pieces of legislation with no copies of the bill available for individual members to study, or even to scan.

For example, we passed the $95 billion bailout of the FDIC and the RTC with one copy available for all 435 members to examine in the early morning hours the day before Thanksgiving.

Another example was when we passed H.R. 11 in the final hours of the 102d Congress. I don't believe there was a single member on the floor that night who knew what was really in that tax bill.

In the business world, a CEO or board member who proposed a major undertaking of that nature without making written copies available for each participant would be fired on the spot.

My legislation, H. Res. 26, simply amends the Rules of the House to prohibit putting the question on final passage of any measure until printed copies of that measure have been available to all members for at least one day.

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