February 24th, 1999
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, the threats of bombing did not bring a peace agreement to Kosovo. The President has no authority to wage war, and yet Congress says nothing.
When will Congress assume its war power authority to rein in the President? An endless military occupation of Bosnia is ignored by Congress, and the spending rolls on, and yet there is no lasting peace.
For 9 years, bombing Iraq and killing innocent Iraqi children with sanctions has done nothing to restore stability to Iraq, but it has served to instill an ever-growing hatred toward America. It is now clear that the threats of massive bombing of Serbia have not brought peace to Kosovo.
Congress must assume its responsibility. It must be made clear that the President has no funds available to wage war without congressional approval. This is our prerogative. Therefore, the endless threats of bombing should cease. Congress should not remain timid.
Merely telling the President to reconsider his actions will have little effect. We must be firm and deny the funds to wage war without our consent. We live in a republic, not a monarchy.
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February 24th, 1999
WASHINGTON, DC — Earlier this year Rep. Paul sent a survey to many of the 14 th District’s leaders — mayors, school administrators, county judges and sheriffs — asking them to identify the needs in their communities. Many have already responded.
“It is heartening to receive these responses,” said Rep. Ron Paul said of the results of his recently completed “Community Leader’s Survey.”
“I have always believed in the ideals of local self-government; I have been sent to Washington as a representative to our federal government, to protect the rights of our people and local governments,” said Paul. “During my tenure as a US representative, I have met with numerous local officials to learn how I could be of assistance in local projects. However with a district as large as ours, it is not always possible to sit down with every community leader, that is why I wanted to undertake this survey of local leaders.”
Rep. Paul said he sent the survey out district-wide and has thus far received response from “a good cross-section of leaders from all four corners of the district and everywhere in between.”
The purpose of the survey, Paul noted, was to identify local issues in which federal assistance was allowable, practical and could be of benefit to the community.
“I have learned a lot from my review of the responses regarding basic infrastructure issues like water and sewer projects, Army Corps of Engineers work, road repairs and highway off-ramps. I am committed to supporting state action where appropriate, and to bringing back the monies which our beleaguered taxpayers are made to pay into the federal treasury each year.”
As a member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, Rep. Paul said he was pleased with the response from school administrators.
“I have been working diligently on these important issues. Last Congress I made the case to my colleagues on the committee that the federal government continues to burden local schools with far too many onerous mandates; the responses of 14 th District educators re-enforces my position. I’m encouraged to work even harder to restore true local control to our schools.”
Rep. Paul said he is more convinced than ever that the 14 th District has mayors, county judges and other local leaders who govern their municipalities effectively and responsibly.
“In Washington, I will continue to work for lower federal taxes, less federal intervention and more local control.”
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February 24th, 1999
WASHINGTON, DC — US Senator Bob Smith (R, NH) announced on the Senate floor on Tuesday that he will soon introduce legislation to stop President Clinton’s proposal to send US troops into Kosovo.
Senator Smith’s legislation will mirror a similar measure introduced in the US House on Feb. 9. Rep. Paul’s legislation, HR 647, has already garnered two dozen cosponsors.
Both measures prohibit President Clinton from committing troops to Kosovo without prior congressional approval.
“I’m proud that in addition to my colleagues in the House who have signed on as cosponsors of my legislation, that Mr. Smith stepped forward in the Senate to stop this unconstitutional action by the president,” said Rep. Paul on Tuesday. “Too often in the past, presidents — including Mr. Clinton — have placed troops in harms’ way without congressional approval. Suddenly, it becomes politically unpopular to vote against actions because administrations ‘spin’ such a vote as being anti-soldiers. In fact, the best support we can give our troops is to keep them out of meaningless, unconstitutional battles in the first place.”
On the Senate floor, Mr. Smith said he has opposed participation in Bosnia, Haiti and similar operations, but that the proposed Kosovo mission was “the last straw.”
“I don’t believe there ought to be any troops in any sovereign nation unless there is a declaration of war, or at least a specific authorization by Congress,” said Sen. Smith. “The recklessness with which this administration treats our men and women in uniform is shameful.”
Both Rep. Paul and Sen. Smith have noted the administration’s lack of goals and unfulfilled promises in ongoing military actions.
“The president promised our troops would be in Bosnia for less than six months; after three years, they are still not home — with no end in sight,” said Rep. Paul. “This president seems determined to spread our troops as thinly as possible, with no true missions or objectives, apparently in the hopes of creating a Vietnam-style legacy for his administration.”
With Mr. Smith taking up the issue in the Senate, Rep. Paul said the likelihood of congressional action increases.
“The administration needs to be told in no uncertain terms that we will not tolerate his — or any other president’s — continued usurpation of powers delegated to Congress in the Constitution by our Founding Fathers,” said Rep. Paul.
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February 19th, 1999
WASHINGTON, DC — Describing as “reckless” the president’s plan to bomb Serbia into peace and threatening Kosovo with invasion unless they submit to a leader they abhor, US Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), is calling on congressional leaders to “reign in President Clinton’s war on common sense.”
Rep. Paul has introduced H.R. 647, legislation to stop the President from sending troops into Kosovo without an explicit Act of Congress. Already the legislation has garnered the support of two-dozen Members of Congress.
“Only Congress has the power to declare war, and I know of no other description for bombing a foreign country than a declaration of war,” said Rep. Paul. “When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, it was clearly understood that they were declaring war on our nation. To think the serbian people, or the Kosovars will not be similarly enraged by this action is a dangerous gamble, and one only Congress is authorized to make.”
Rep. Paul said the president is “endangering the lives of the very troops to whom he and his administration have shown consistent disregard.”
“It is difficult to decide which is worse: a refusal to acknowledge the Constitution’s separation of powers, or a callous disregard for the life of our soldiers so as to be seen as an international king-maker.”
Rep. Paul said that while every president since World War II has subverted the Constitution in matters of war, this president has been the most willing to engage US troops in situations where there is “absolutely no relationship to our national security interests.”
“This has been an on-going problem of these last fifty years, this president is simply ratcheting up the level. It all must be stopped.”
If the “reckless policies” of this president go unchecked, Rep. Paul said, there is no end to where this policy may lead.
“We bomb Iraq without a second thought when the President feels the need to spill blood. Our troops are preparing for deployment into Kosovo to disarm a liberation army, while planes are being readied to bomb Serbia. What’s next? Will we bomb the ‘trouble-making’ Kurds in Turkey? Or go after the Turks? Why not next send troops into Ireland and bomb London? Or southern Mexico? The possibilities are as endless as they are frightening.”
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February 11th, 1999
Mr. PAUL. Madam Speaker, we have troops in 144 countries of the world today. President Clinton has announced that he will now send troops to Kosovo. We are bombing in Iraq on a daily basis. We have been in Bosnia now for three years, although we were supposed to be there for six months. We should not go into Kosovo; we should not go there, absolutely, without congressional approval.
I have introduced legislation that will prevent the President from sending troops to further expand our intervention around the world without congressional approval. This is very, very important. We are spending so much money on intervention in so many countries around the world at the same time our national defense is being diminished. Worst of all, the President is planning to put these thousands of troops under a British commander.
It is time we took it upon ourselves to exert our authority to restrain the President in spreading troops around the world.
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February 11th, 1999
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Davis-Bacon Repeal Act of 1999. The Davis-Bacon Act of 1931 forces contractors on all federally-funded contraction projects to pay the ‘local prevailing wage,’ defined as ‘the wage paid to the majority of the laborers or mechanics in the classification on similar projects in the area.’ In practice, this usually means the wages paid by unionized contractors. For more than sixty years, this congressionally-created monstrosity has penalized taxpayers and the most efficient companies while crushing the dreams of the most willing workers. Mr. Speaker, Congress must act now to repeal this 61-year-old relic of an era during which people actually believed Congress could legislate prosperity. Americans pay a huge price in lost jobs, lost opportunities and tax-boosting cost overruns on federal construction projects every day Congress allows Davis-Bacon to remain on the books.
Davis-Bacon artificially inflates construction costs through a series of costly work rules and requirements. For instance, under Davis-Bacon, workers who perform a variety of tasks must be paid at the highest applicable skilled journeyman rate. Thus, a general laborer who hammers a nail must now be classified as a ‘carpenter,’ and paid as much as three times the company’s regular rate. As a result of this, unskilled workers can be employed only if the company can afford to pay the government-determined ‘prevailing wages’ and training can be provided only through a highly regulated apprenticeship program. Some experts have estimated the costs of complying with the paperwork imposed on contractors by Davis-Bacon regulations at nearly $200 million a year. Of course, this doesn’t measure the costs in lost job opportunities because firms could not afford to hire an inexperienced worker.
Most small construction firms cannot afford to operate under Davis-Bacon’s rigid job classifications or hire the staff of lawyers and accountants needed to fill out the extensive paperwork required to bid on a federal contract. Therefore, Davis-Bacon prevents small firms from bidding on federal construction projects, which, unfortunately, constitute 20 percent of all construction projects in the United States.
Because most minority-owned construction firms are small companies, Davis-Bacon keeps minority-owned firms from competing for federal construction contracts. The resulting disparities in employment create a demand for affirmative action, another ill-suited and ill-advised big government program.
The racist effects of Davis-Bacon are no mere coincidence. In fact, many original supporters of Davis-Bacon, such as Representative Clayton Allgood, bragged about supporting Davis-Bacon as a means of keeping ‘cheap colored labor’ out of the construction industry.
In addition to opening up new opportunities in the construction industry for smaller construction firms and their employees, repeal of Davis-Bacon would also return common sense and sound budgeting to federal contracting which is now rife with political favoritism and cronyism. An audit conducted earlier this year by the Labor Department’s Office of the Inspector General found that inaccurate data were frequently used in Davis-Bacon wage determination. Although the Inspector General’s report found no evidence of deliberate fraud, it did uncover material errors in five states’ wage determinations, causing wages or fringe benefits for certain crafts to be overstated by as much as $1.08 per hour!
The most compelling reason to repeal Davis-Bacon is to benefit to the American taxpayer. The Davis-Bacon Act drives up the cost of federal construction costs by as much as 50 percent. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office has reported that repealing Davis-Bacon would save the American taxpayer almost three billion dollars in four years!
Mr. Speaker, it is time to finally end this patently unfair, wildly inefficient and grossly discriminatory system of bidding on federal construction contracts. Repealing the Davis-Bacon Act will save taxpayers billions of dollars on federal construction costs, return common sense and sound budgeting to federal contracting, and open up opportunities in the construction industry to those independent contractors, and their employees, who currently cannot bid on federal projects because they cannot afford the paperwork requirements imposed by this act. I, therefore, urge all my colleagues to join me in supporting the Davis-Bacon Repeal Act of 1999.
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February 10th, 1999
WASHINGTON, DC — US Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) introduced a resolution Tuesday night to stop the Clinton Administration from putting yet more troops in harms’ way for the sake of “fuzzy policies that have nothing to do with national security.”
The legislation specifically prevents the Clinton Administration from deploying U.S. Armed Forces in Kosovo unless that deployment is specifically authorized by an Act of Congress. Rep. Paul introduced the measure with a dozen original cosponsors , including: Helen Chenoweth of Idaho , Dana Rohrabacher of California , John Hostettler of Indiana , Tom Campbell of California , Matt Salmon of Arizona , Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland , Bob Schaffer of Colorado , John J. Duncan, Jr., of Tennessee , Walter Jones of North Carolina , Jack Metcalf of Washington , Joe Scarborough of Florida and Barbara Cubin of Wyoming .
“This president, like so many of his predecessors in the 20 th Century, has shuttled our troops around the world to the detriment of national security, the safety of the men and women in uniform, and at great cost to the taxpayer,” said Rep. Paul. “President Clinton proposes to once again place our troops in harms’ way for no other reason than to be the policeman of world. In a region that has seen violent ethnic fighting for millennia, it is either the height of arrogance or the most gross ignorance which assumes placing American soldiers between the warring factions can stop the bloodshed. The best we could hope for by such an action would be to limit the number of Americans who are injured or killed in the crossfire.”
Rep. Paul said there are three specific concerns with the President’s proposed action.
“The President’s actions gives Slobodan Milosevic, the so-called ‘Butcher of the Balkans’ and a former communist party official who now leads the Socialist Party in Serbia, a great victory. Meanwhile, the people of Kosovo who hope for independence would be see their cause stopped in its tracks. Second, US troops would be put in the hazardous position of having to disarm the Kosovo Liberation Army,” said Rep. Paul. “Most egregious, though, are news reports indicating that President Clinton would put our troops involved in this action under a foreign military command.”
Rep. Paul said Congress must reassert its constitutional authority in matters of committing troops to hostile situations.
“It is the job of Congress, not the president, to determine when America’s sons and daughters in uniform should enter combat zones. Our troops should be allowed to do their job, defending our nation and national security, not being used as pawns in international politics or to help a president divert attention from his scandalous problems.”
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February 9th, 1999
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, since World War II, our presidents have been sending troops overseas without Congressional approval. Prior to World War II, it was traditional and constitutional that all presidents came to the Congress for authority to send troops.
Recently, the President has announced that he will most likely be sending thousands of American troops under NATO command to Kosovo. I think this is wrong. I have introduced legislation today that says that the President cannot send these troops without Congressional approval, merely restating what the Constitution says and how we followed the rules up until World War II.
Three years ago, the President sent troops into Bosnia and said they would be there for 6 months. They have been there now 3 years. We have spent over $20 billion. Nobody even asks hardly at all anymore when these troops will be coming home.
We have been bombing and interfering with the security of Iraq for now over 8 years, and that continues, and we do not give Congressional approval of these acts. My legislation is simple. It just denies funding for sending troops into Kosovo without Congressional approval.
This is not complicated. It is very precise and very clear and very important that we as a Congress restate our constitutional obligation to supervise the sending of troops around the world.
It would be much better for us to spend this money that is being wasted in Bosnia and Iraq on our national defense. We spend less and less money every year on national defense but we spend more and more money on policing the world. I think that policy ought to change and it is the responsibility of the Congress, the body that has control of the purse strings, to do something about this.
If the President is permitted to do this, he does it not because he has constitutional authority but because the Congress has reneged on their responsibility to supervise the spending.
It is a bit ironic now that we are sending or planning to send troops to Kosovo. We have all read about and heard the horrible stories about the Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, and yet our troops going to Kosovo are going to be sent with the intention that Kosovo cannot be independent; that they will not be able to separate themselves from Serbia; that they cannot decide under what government they want to live.
It is also interesting that one of the jobs of the troops in NATO, if they go into Kosovo, will be to disarm the Kosovo Liberation Army. That is hardly good sense. First, it is not good sense for us to give the permission or renege on our responsibility, but it does not make good sense to get involved in a war that has been going on for many years, but it certainly does not make good sense for us to go in for the sole purpose of supporting Milosevic. He is the one that has been bombing the Kosovars and here we are, we want to disarm the liberation forces and at the same time prevent Kosovo from becoming independent.
The issue here is money, but there is also a bigger issue and that is the responsibility that we have to decide when troops should be sent. Once troops are sent into a foreign country, it is very difficult for us to bring our troops home.
Troops in Kosovo will not serve the interests of the United States. They will not help our national security. It will drain funds that should be spent on national defense. At the same time it will jeopardize our national security by endangering our troops and raising the possibility of us becoming involved in a war spreading through the Balkans. This should not occur.
So, Mr. Speaker, I am asking my fellow colleagues to join me in cosponsoring this legislation just to say that it is not the prerogative of the President to send troops around the world whenever he pleases. That is the prerogative of the Congress.
I do know that it has not been stated this clearly in the last 40 years, but it is about time we did. And besides, one thing more, the President has admitted, at least it has been in print, that he is likely to place these troops under a foreign commander, under a British general.
Mr. Speaker, we do not need this. We need to restrain the President’s ability to send troops.
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February 3rd, 1999
WASHINGTON, DC — In an effort to reclaim the eroding privacy rights of American citizens, US Rep. Ron Paul on Wednesday introduced his financial privacy package that includes three separate pieces of legislation.
“Today we proclaim that American citizens have the right to be free of the snooping, spying, prying eyes of government bureaucrats,” said Rep. Paul. “This legislative package will, once enacted, give Americans the peace of mind that comes from knowing that their every financial step is not being filed away and viewed as potentially criminal. This package restores and protects the fundamental privacy and due process rights that are the foundation of our system of government .”
The centerpiece of the package is the Know Your Customer Sunset Act , which will stop federal agencies from implementing recently proposed regulations that would essentially turn bankers into the frontline spies and investigators for the federal government. The proposed regulations have garnered more than 14,000 opposition comments from customers and bankers alike. Rep. Paul was the first Member of Congress to take a stand against the proposed regulations.
“These rules are more like ‘Spy on your neighbor,’ and I have not yet met anyone who likes them,” Rep. Paul said. “I’ve heard from literally thousands of people, and not one of them wants the government to require banks to implement these massive new programs which turn every customer into a presumed-guilty suspect.”
An informal group of organizations and individuals actively opposing the proposed rules and supporting Rep. Paul’s legislation ranges from the liberal American Civil Liberties Union to the conservative Eagle Forum. In addition, the Texas Bankers Association, the California Bankers Association and the American Bankers Association are actively opposing the rules.
The Know Your Customer Sunset Act has about a dozen original co-sponsors, including Majority Whip Tom Delay of Texas, Government Reform chairman Dan Burton of Indiana and the Resources Committee chairman Don Young of Alaska.
Rep. Paul’s financial privacy package also includes the Bank Secrecy Sunset Act . The measure would require that Congress either re-write the poorly-written and abused Nixon-era law, or choose to devolve the power of regulation to the states.
Finally, there is the FinCEN Public Accountability Act . This measure would allow Americans to view the files created on them by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, much as citizens are currently allowed to view their FBI and credit report files.
“It’s time for Congress to reign in the creeping Surveillance State; the time has come, the people are demanding it.”
A special section on Rep. Paul’s web site contains a great deal of background information on the important topic. It can be found at: http://www.house.gov/paul/privacy/ .
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February 2nd, 1999
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I ask my fellow colleagues, how long will the war go on before Congress notices? We have been bombing and occupying Iraq since 1991, longer the occupation of Japan after World War II. Iraq has never committed aggression against the United States.
The recent escalation of bombing in Iraq has caused civilian casualties to mount. The Clinton administration claims U.N. resolution 687, passed in 1991, gives him the legal authority to continue this war. We have perpetuated hostilities and sanctions for more than 8 years on a country that has never threatened our security, and the legal justification comes from not the U.S. Congress, as the Constitution demands, but from a clearly unconstitutional authority, the United Nations.
In the past several months the airways have been filled with Members of Congress relating or restating their fidelity to their oath of office to uphold the Constitution. That is good, and I am sure it is done with the best of intentions. But when it comes to explaining our constitutional responsibility to make sure unconstitutional sexual harassment laws are thoroughly enforced, while disregarding most people’s instincts towards protecting privacy, it seems to be overstating a point, compared to our apathy toward the usurping of congressional power to declare and wage war. That is something we ought to be concerned about.
A major reason for the American Revolution was to abolish the King’s power to wage war, tax, and invade personal privacy without representation and due process of law. For most of our history our presidents and our Congresses understood that war was a prerogative of the congressional authority alone. Even minimal military interventions by our early presidents were for the most part done only with constitutional approval.
This all changed after World War II with our membership in the United Nations. As bad as it is to allow our presidents to usurp congressional authority to wage war, it is much worse for the President to share this sovereign right with an international organization that requires us to pay more than our fair share while we get a vote no greater than the rest.
The constitution has been blatantly ignored by the President while Congress has acquiesced in endorsing the 8-year war against Iraq. The War Powers Resolution of 1973 has done nothing to keep our presidents from policing the world, spending billions of dollars, killing many innocent people, and jeopardizing the very troops that should be defending America.
The continual ranting about stopping Hussein, who is totally defenseless against our attacks, from developing weapons of mass destruction ignores the fact that more than 30,000 very real nuclear warheads are floating around the old Soviet empire.
Our foolish policy in Iraq invites terrorist attacks against U.S. territory and incites the Islamic fundamentalists against us. As a consequence, our efforts to develop long-term peaceful relations with Russia are now ending. This policy cannot enhance world peace. But instead of changing it, the President is about to expand it in another no-win centuries-old fight in Kosovo.
It is time for Congress to declare its interest in the Constitution and take responsibility on issues that matter, like the war powers.
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