Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 106 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION
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E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 106 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 145 WASHINGTON, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1999 No. 118 House of Representatives The House met at 12:30 p.m. and was S. 28. An Act to authorize an interpretive year by the U.S. Treasury to pay inter- called to order by the Speaker pro tem- center and related visitor facilities within est on U.S. bonds that are held by the pore (Mr. GIBBONS). the Four Corners Monument Tribal Park, Fed to back our money. What a foolish and for other purposes. f and costly system, to rent Federal Re- f serve notes for $25 billion a year, when DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO the U.S. Treasury could issue our own TEMPORE MORNING HOUR DEBATES currency, our own United States notes, The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- without debt or bonds or any interest fore the House the following commu- ant to the order of the House of Janu- at all, just as we issue our coins. nication from the Speaker: ary 19, 1999, the Chair will now recog- Our coins are minted by the United WASHINGTON, DC, nize Members from lists submitted by States Treasury and essentially spent September 13, 1999. the majority and minority leaders for into circulation. The Treasury makes a I hereby appoint the Honorable JIM GIB- morning hour debates. The Chair will neat profit on them of over 80 percent BONS to act as Speaker pro tempore on this alternate recognition between the par- of the face value of the coins issued. day. ties, with each party limited to 30 min- That is a lot of profit. A grave question J. DENNIS HASTERT, utes, and each Member, except the ma- is, why do we not issue our paper Speaker of the House of Representatives. jority leader, the minority leader, or f money the same way we issue coins, the minority whip, limited to 5 min- and gain an immense profit or seignior- MESSAGE FROM THE SENATE utes. age for our Treasury, and, of course, A message from the Senate by Ms. The Chair recognizes the gentleman for the American people? McDevitt, one of its clerks, announced from Washington (Mr. METCALF) for 5 It has been said that the U.S. Govern- that the Senate had passed with an minutes. ment goes further into debt whenever amendment in which the concurrence f it issues currency, but makes a profit when coins are placed into circulation. of the House is requested, a bill of the MONEY House of the following title: This is truly a system that defies logic. H.R. 1906. An Act making appropriations Mr. METCALF. Mr. Speaker, my Again, why do we not issue our own for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food topic today is money. About the only paper money, just as we issue our and Drug Administration, and Related Agen- thing most of us know about money is coins? There is no legitimate reason cies for the fiscal year ending September 30, that we need more of it. But there is why we do not. 2000, and for other purposes. really a lot more that we need to know I am pleased to present a simple and The message also announced that the about our money system. realistic way to accomplish this. Con- Senate insists upon its amendment to For example, most people do not gress needs only to pass legislation re- the bill (H.R. 1906) ``An Act making ap- know that we pay rent on our money; quiring the U.S. Treasury to print and propriations for Agriculture, Rural De- yes, interest or rent on the cash we issue U.S. Treasury currency in the velopment, Food and Drug Administra- use. It costs every American about $100 same amount and the same denomina- tion, and Related Agencies for the fis- every year indirectly to rent our cash, tions as the Federal Reserve notes. cal year ending September 30, 2000, and that is, our paper money, from its own- The Treasury would issue these new for other purposes,'' requests a con- ers, the Federal Reserve. U.S. notes through the banks, while ference with the House on the dis- Of course, the Fed does not just withdrawing a like amount of Federal agreeing votes of the two Houses there- spend that money. It is returned to the Reserve notes. Thus, there would be no on, and appoints Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. Federal Treasury. Thus, in reality, if it change in the money supply. As these SPECTER, Mr. BOND, Mr. GORTON, Mr. goes to the Treasury, it is a tax or rent Federal Reserve notes are collected by MCCONNELL, Mr. BURNS, Mr. STEVENS, we Americans pay to the Fed for the the U.S. Treasury, they must be re- Mr. KOHL, Mr. HARKIN, Mr. DORGAN, privilege of using the Fed's money, an turned to the Fed to buy back or re- Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. DURBIN, and Mr. indirect tax on our money in circula- deem the face value, the same face BYRD, to be the conferees on the part of tion. value in U.S. interest-bearing bonds the Senate. We all know that we are taxed on now held by the Fed, a total of about The message also announced that the nearly everything, but not many peo- $500 billion. So over a couple of years, Senate has passed a bill of the fol- ple know that we pay a tax on our we would have real U.S. currency cir- lowing title in which concurrence of money. This tax, about $25 billion, or culating, and the U.S. debt would be re- the House is requested. $100 per person, is paid to the Fed each duced by substantially more than $400 b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. H8101 . H8102 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD Ð HOUSE September 13, 1999 billion. It sounds too simple, does it Nations personnel, priests, nuns, Indonesians and the world keep their not? There must be a down side. Well, women, and children have been at- commitments. We in Congress should it is that simple, and there is no down tacked and killed. Hundreds, perhaps use every opportunity in the days side. thousands, of deaths have been added ahead to keep the spotlight trained on In fact, there is a substantial up side. to the over 200,000 lives that have been this troubled island. The U.S. debt would be reduced by over lost on this troubled island over the f $400 billion, and U.S. interest on the last 25 years. debt reduced each year by about $25 The situation in East Timor is indeed RECESS billion. Ask the chairman of the Com- complex and delicate, because Indo- The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- mittee on the Budget if it could help to nesia is simultaneously trying to re- ant to clause 12 of rule I, the Chair de- reduce U.S. Treasury expenditures by store its own democracy after years of clares the House in recess until 2 p.m. $25 billion each year. I intend to intro- military dictatorship, repair a shat- Accordingly (at 12 o'clock and 42 duce legislation to carry out this con- tered economy, and retrain its military minutes p.m.), the House stood in re- cept. to respect civilian authority. cess until 2 p.m. f Whether it will be able to do those things is very much an open question. f EAST TIMOR There is a great deal at stake in Indo- b 1400 The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under nesia's resolving these problems. It is the Speaker's announced policy of Jan- indeed a huge country, the fourth most AFTER RECESS uary 19, 1999, the gentleman from Or- populous in the world. It has the larg- The recess having expired, the House egon (Mr. BLUMENAUER) is recognized est Muslim population in the world. It was called to order by the Speaker pro during morning hour debates for 5 min- is rich in natural resources. It was, tempore (Mr. FOLEY) at 2 p.m. until recently, aspiring to be an Asian utes. f Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, and a world leader. Now it is just try- earlier this year I had an opportunity ing to hold itself together. Struggling PRAYER with centrifugal forces of ethnicity are to travel with a congressional delega- The Chaplain, Reverend James David tion chaired by the gentleman from Ne- Nation's separatist movements that could splinter this vast Nation created Ford, D.D., offered the following pray- braska (Mr. BEREUTER) and the gen- er: tleman from Arizona (Mr. KOLBE) to and held together by force. But the greatest threat to Indo- We know, O God, that You are the the island Nation of Indonesia. God of grace and forgiveness. At our There we had an opportunity to meet nesia's future is to allow the hardliners best moments we realize that You wish with President Habibie, to meet in to overturn the referendum through vi- to save us from any conceit or selfish- prison with Jose Alexandre Gusmao, olence and fear. Tolerating this would ness that keeps us from being truly who is likely to be the president of an send exactly the wrong message to the human.