E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 104 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 141 WASHINGTON, MONDAY, JULY 17, 1995 No. 115 Senate (Legislative day of Monday, July 10, 1995) The Senate met at 9:30 a.m., on the RECOGNITION OF THE ACTING GUARDING AGAINST expiration of the recess, and was called MAJORITY LEADER BUREAUCRACY to order by the President pro tempore The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, any suc- [Mr. THURMOND]. able acting majority leader is recog- cessful entrepreneur who starts out nized. small and gradually builds their busi- PRAYER SCHEDULE ness up knows about bureaucracy. Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, leader As his or her company grows, so do The Chaplain, Dr. Lloyd John time has been reserved for today. There the piles of paperwork, and the number Ogilvie, offered the following prayer: will be a period for morning business of employees handling it, and pretty soon projects that used to take a day Commit your way to the Lord, trust also until 10 a.m. At 10 a.m., the Senate will are taking weeks, or even longer. Lines in Him and He shall bring to resume consideration of S. 343, that is of communication that used to be clear pass***rest in the Lord, wait patiently the regulatory reform bill, with the and open become tangled and confused. for Him***.—Psalm 37:5,7. Glenn substitute amendment pending. The first votes today will begin at 6 What began as a lean machine too Lord, as we begin a new week we p.m. The first one will be a 15-minute often turns into a convoluted, Rube take these four vital verbs of the vote on the motion to invoke cloture Goldberg contraption. ‘‘In every small business lies the psalmist as our strategy for living in on the Dole-Johnston substitute seeds of a bureaucracy.’’ the pressure of the busy days ahead. amendment to S. 343. That will be fol- I read that line in a recent column in Before the problems pile up and the de- lowed by any votes ordered on or in re- the Minneapolis Star-Tribune—a piece mands of the day hit us, we delib- lation to amendments considered by Mark Stevens entitled ‘‘Action erately stop to commit our way to throughout the session today. Needed to Guard Against Bureauc- You, to trust in You, to rest in You, Further votes are also expected be- racy.’’ and wait patiently for You. Nothing is yond those ordered for 6 p.m., and a more important than being in an hon- ‘‘Rules begin to sprout,’’ wrote Mr. late night session is possible in order Stevens, ‘‘and procedures start to take est, open, receptive relationship with to make progress on the regulatory re- You. Everything we need to be com- hold that do more to complicate life form bill. than to achieve objectives. Left un- petent leaders comes in fellowship with Also today, Senators are reminded You. We are stunned by the fact that checked, these enemies of efficiency under the rule XXII, second-degree tend to multiply until they choke the You know and care about us. We are amendments to the Dole-Johnston sub- business.’’ amazed and humbled that You have stitute must be filed by 5 p.m. today in How many entrepreneurs, do you sup- chosen to bless this Nation through our order to qualify postcloture. pose, have choked on their own en- leadership. In response, we want to be Also, a second cloture motion on the emies of efficiency? How many have spiritually fit for the rigorous respon- Dole-Johnston amendment was filed on been done in by a self-generated bu- sibilities. So, we turn over to Your con- Friday, which will ripen tomorrow, if reaucracy that simply ate up re- trol our personal lives, our relation- necessary. In connection with that clo- sources, devoured precious time, and ships, and all the duties You have en- ture motion, any further first-degree clouded the original goals outlined in trusted to us. We trust You to guide us. amendments must be filed by 1 p.m. the business’ master plan? We seek the source of our security and today. Judging by the rate that small busi- strength in You. We will not run ahead f nesses come and go in this country, I of You or lag behind, but will walk guess that it is a significant number. MORNING BUSINESS with You in Your timing and pacing to- Bureaucracy is a lot like hail on a ward Your goals. You always are on The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. cornfield—a little is not going to hurt, time and in time for our needs. May INHOFE). Mr. President, under the pre- but too much of it can be disastrous. the serenity and peace we feel in this vious order, there will now be a period And nobody knows more about bu- time of prayer sustain us throughout for the transaction of morning busi- reaucracy than the folks who work this day. We thank You in advance for ness, not to extend beyond the hour of here on Capitol Hill. a great day filled with incredible sur- 10 a.m., with Senators permitted to Mr. Stevens was writing about small prises of sheer joy. In Your all-powerful speak for up to 5 minutes each. business in his article, but he could name. Amen. The Senator from Minnesota. just as easily have been describing the ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S10079 . VerDate Aug 31 2005 05:51 May 28, 2008 Jkt 041999 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 J:\ODA15\1995_F~1\S17JY5.REC S17JY5 mmaher on MIKETEMP with SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS S10080 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 17, 1995 Federal Government—the biggest bu- More Government jobs are not the year. Far too often, Government pro- reaucracy this world has ever known. answer. grams get their annual funding simply I have said it often: small business That is why the efforts in this Con- because they are there. Unmonitored and Government actually have a great gress toward regulatory reform, and and unevaluated, they are often auto- deal in common. But the bureaucratic the legislation we are considering on matically renewed for decades. And problems that can plague a small busi- the floor, are so critical. nothing breeds more bureaucracy than ness are magnified a million times in Cutting back the forest of Federal an entity which never needs to justify Washington. regulations will make Government its existence. Imagine having so many new regula- more efficient. Loosening the bureauc- If Washington is serious about guard- tions that it took 65,000 pages to print racy will free Government to meet its ing against bureaucracy, it will build them last year alone. objectives. accountability into the budget process Imagine having so many employees STEP NO. 2: by sunsetting Federal spending. Con- that you are not only far and away the Take a fresh look at payroll, asking if you gress needs the opportunity to reexam- largest employer in the Nation, but really need all of the people who work at ine what works and what does not. Just your annual receipts put you at the your company. Investigate whether some because a program has been around for very top of the Fortune 500 list as well. people have been added to back up others— a while does not mean it is a good in- Imagine having your finger in so who have little to do themselves—or to en- vestment. force the wasteful rules and procedures al- many pies that diversified is just too STEP NO. 4: ready in place. small a word to describe your oper- Grant responsible employees the authority ation. Small business owners often work 80- to make certain decisions—for which they Your employees are overseeing thou- hour weeks just to barely break even. now need approval—unilaterally. Elaborate sands of individual little bureauc- When they see how the Government approvals do little more than slow the com- racies, thousands of programs, wastes their tax dollars, they get furi- pany’s response time and make it more dif- ficult to serve customers. projects, and agencies that have taken ous. They could not run their business on lives of their own, and have little the way Congress runs the Govern- For the Federal Government, that accountability to the home office or ment, with reckless overspending and means moving the concentration of the folks who ultimately pay the billion dollar deficits. The Government power from Washington back to the bills—the taxpayers. would toss them in jail. States, where it belongs. There is more That is the Federal Government. Many businesses, large and small, re- than just a physical distance between But just as small business owners alized during the past decade that big- Washington and the rest of the coun- need to take steps to clear out the cob- ger does not necessarily mean better. try. There are different priorities out- webs of bureaucracy and get back to To help boost their profit margin and side here as well, and nobody on the basics to survive, so should Wash- cut back on the waste, they began other side of the Beltway really be- ington. downsizing. It is a move that has saved lieves that Congress can spend the tax- In fact, the line that originally many businesses from extinction and payers’ dollars better than local offi- caught my eye in Mr.