E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 105 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 144 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 1998 No. 94 House of Representatives The House met at 9:00 a.m. penditures from education individual The Assistant to the Sergeant at The Chaplain, Rev. James David retirement accounts for elementary Arms, Richard Wilson, announced the Ford, D.D., offered the following pray- and secondary school expenses, to in- President pro tempore and Members of er: crease the maximum annual amount of the U.S. Senate, who entered the Hall O gracious God, whose love is given contributions to such accounts, and for of the House of Representatives, the freely to all creation and whose mercy other purposes. President pro tempore taking the chair is without end, accept our prayers and f at the right of the Speaker, and the petitions this day. Members of the Senate the seats re- ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER We place before You, O God, our served for them. thanksgivings and praise for all Your The SPEAKER. The Chair desires to The SPEAKER. The Chair appoints goodness to us and to all people, for make an announcement. as members of the committee on the You have blessed us when we did not After consultation with the majority part of the House to escort his excel- deserve and You have healed us in spite and minority leaders, and with their lency, H.E. Emil Constantinescu, into of our errors. We confess that we have consent and approval, the Chair an- the Chamber: too often missed the mark and not nounces that during the joint meeting The gentleman from Texas (Mr. been receptive to Your grace. to hear an address by His Excellency, ARMEY); Open our thoughts and minds to Your Emil Constantinescu, only the doors the gentleman from California (Mr. loving spirit, that we will be Your peo- immediately opposite the Speaker and COX); ple and do the works of justice and of those on his right and left will be open. the gentleman from New York (Mr. peace. No one will be allowed on the floor of GILMAN); In Your name we pray, Amen. the House who does not have the privi- the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. f lege of the floor of the House. BEREUTER); Due to the large attendance that is THE JOURNAL the gentleman from New York (Mr. anticipated, the Chair feels that the SOLOMON); The SPEAKER. The Chair has exam- rule regarding the privilege of the floor the gentlewoman from Washington ined the Journal of the last day's pro- must be strictly adhered to. (Ms. Dunn); ceedings and announces to the House Children of Members will not be per- the gentleman from Pennsylvania his approval thereof. mitted on the floor, and the coopera- (Mr. FOX); Pursuant to clause 1, rule I, the Jour- tion of all Members is requested. the gentlewoman from Connecticut nal stands approved. f (Mrs. KENNELLY); f RECESS the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE HOYER); The SPEAKER. Pursuant to the the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. The SPEAKER. Will the gentleman order of the House of Tuesday, July 14, HAMILTON); from Ohio (Mr. KUCINICH) come forward 1998, the Chair declares the House in the gentleman from California (Mr. and lead the House in the Pledge of Al- recess, subject to the call of the Chair. LANTOS); and legiance. Accordingly (at 9 o'clock and 7 min- the gentlewoman from California Mr. KUCINICH led the Pledge of Alle- utes a.m.), the House stood in recess, (Ms. PELOSI). giance as follows: subject to the call of the Chair. The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the During the recess, beginning at about President pro tempore of the Senate, at United States of America, and to the Repub- 9:54 a.m., the following proceedings the direction of that body, appoints the lic for which it stands, one nation under God, were had: indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. following Senators as members of the f f committee on the part of the Senate to b 0954 escort the President of Romania into ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER the House Chamber: The SPEAKER. The Chair desires to JOINT MEETING BY THE HOUSE The Senator from Florida (Mr. announce that pursuant to clause 4 of AND SENATE TO HEAR AN AD- MACK); rule I, the Speaker signed the following DRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY H.E. the Senator from Indiana (Mr. enrolled bill on Thursday, June 25, 1998: EMIL CONSTANTINESCU, PRESI- COATS); H.R. 2646, to amend the Internal Rev- DENT OF ROMANIA the Senator from Indiana (Mr. enue Code of 1986 to allow tax-free ex- The Speaker of the House presided. LUGAR); 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. H5499 . H5500 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD Ð HOUSE July 15, 1998 the Senator from Oregon (Mr. SMITH); principle, as well as a source of inspira- During the 1950s and 1960s, hundreds the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. tion to other countries around the of thousands of my countrymen were DASCHLE); and world. But the term ``Land of Free- being thrown in concentration camps the Senator from Delaware (Mr. dom'' stands also for a virtual commu- and jails, tortured and killed only be- BIDEN). nity of like-minded and like-hearted cause they refused to yield their free- b 1000 people all over the world who believe in dom. Farmers were jailed because they the defense of liberty, of human rights, would not allow their land to be con- The Assistant to the Sergeant at and of human dignity. People of all fiscated. Priests were tortured when Arms announced the Acting Dean of races and backgrounds and religions they refused to forsake their beliefs. the Diplomatic Corps, His Excellency are welcomed to join. Intellectuals were sent to camps be- Dunstan Weston Kamara, Ambassador Regardless of where they live on the cause they chose to defend freedom and of Zambia. globe, people who believe in freedom The Acting Dean of the Diplomatic democracy. are citizens of the virtual Land of Free- In all the eastern and Central Euro- Corps entered the Hall of the House of dom. Since the fall of Communism, its pean countries, the armed resistance Representatives and took the seat re- numbers have grown steadily and en- against communism lasted longest in served for him. Romania. Romania's freedom fighters The Assistant to the Sergeant at thusiastically. Since 1989, 23 million were thousands of anti-Communist Arms announced the Cabinet of the Romanians are among the proudest guerilla fighters who operated in the President of the United States. members. The members of the Cabinet of the Your Founding Fathers have written: Carpathian mountains, including one President of the United States entered When a long train of abuses and usur- in my childhood village. The last mem- the Hall of the House of Representa- pation evinces a design to reduce peo- bers were not subdued until 1961. The tives and took the seats reserved for ple under absolute despotism, it is terrible dramas of those death-sunken them in front of the Speaker's rostrum. their right, it is their duty to throw off times, of suffering and humiliation, At 10 o'clock and 5 minutes, a.m., the such government, and to provide new were, and perhaps still are, sealed off in Assistant to the Sergeant at Arms an- guards for their future security. This is silence and oblivion. Romanians paid a nounced His Excellency H.E. Emil what the Romania people have done. terrible price for their fierce refusal to Constantinescu, President of Romania. My country threw off the yoke of surrender their freedom. Romania was His Excellency H.E. Emil Communism in 1989, and in 1996, it subjected to the harshest totalitarian Constantinescu, President of Romania, achieved its first fully democratic dictatorship in the region: The regime escorted by the committee of Senators transfer of power. As President of a of the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. and Representatives, entered the Hall fully democratic Romania, I bring you And yet, in 1989, Romanians sum- of the House of Representatives, and the greetings and the hopes of my fel- moned the courage to rise up against stood at the Clerk's desk. low citizens. It is their desire to live in that dictatorship: Hundreds of thou- (Applause, the Members rising.) the Land of Freedom alongside you and sands of people took to the streets, de- The SPEAKER. Members of Con- all other people who value freedom, fying Ceausescu's tanks and troops. gress, it is my great privilege and I human rights and human dignity. This Bare-chested young people chanted: deem it a high honor and personal desire has brought me to America and ``We shall die, but we shall be free''. pleasure to present to you His Excel- to this historic Chamber today. Over 12,000 of them paid dearly with lency Emil Constantinescu, President In the new global order, this Land of their lives, and thousands more were of Romania. Freedom spans the globe from West to injured during the anti-Communist (Applause, the Members rising.) East and from North to South. revolution in Romania, the only coun- try in central and Eastern Europe to f b 1015 have paid in blood the price of its free- ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY It is an expansive land of constantly dom.