DEPARTMENTS OF COMMERCE, JUSTICE, AND STATE, AND JUDICIARY, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1999

U.S. House of Representatives - August 05, 1998
(from the Congressional Record)

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, during the Civil Rights movement, thousands upon thousands of Americans joined together for a single cause: To fight discrimination and have all Americans treated equally under the law. Discrimination was not right then and it is not right now. Excluding someone from the workplace because of their sexual orientation is discrimination, plain and simple. It is wrong. It is dead wrong.

The President's executive orders strengthens our Nation's commitment to equality. It bans discrimination based on sexual orientation. It is a simple thing to do. It is the right thing to do.

Why? Why must we come to this floor again and again to demand equality for all Americans? What could be more American? It is unbelievable to me that 33 years after Selma and the signing of the Voting Rights Act we must still battle the forces of bigotry, discrimination and intolerance. I have fought too long and too hard against discrimination all of my life to go back now. We cannot go back. We will not go back. We must never go back.

I urge all of my colleagues to stand for fairness, stand for justice, stand up for what is right. Oppose discrimination and vote against this misguided amendment.

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay).

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Hefley amendment and urge my colleagues to support it, and because I only have 1 minute, I am going to try to condense my points as quickly as possible.

This is not really an issue, in my mind, of sexual orientation or not. There are two basic issues here: One is this President of the United States is legislating by Executive Order. He has instructed the entire bureaucracy to promulgate regulations that have no authority in law, and he is writing executive order after executive order against the Constitution of the United States and the concept of checks and balances.

Under our Constitution, the President cannot legislate by executive order, and he is doing so. The gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Hefley) is trying to strike down some executive orders to bring attention to the American people that he is doing so.

It is, therefore, conceivable that the implementation of this particular executive order might require that the Federal Government inquire into the private lives and practices of Federal employees to accurately assess their sexual orientations.

Now, most Americans believe that every human being has basic rights, and the American people stand for fairness, not for special breaks or special interests.

I support the Hefley amendment.

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 15 seconds.

Mr. Chairman, first, I must say, with all regret to my friend, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), probably no more hugs for awhile.

Secondly, the President has explicitly disavowed any intention of this leading to this kind of inquiry based on sexual orientation. Under the existing executive order, it covers religion, it covers AIDS. There have been no such inquiries.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Hefner).

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Mr. HEFNER. Mr. Chairman, as I look around this room I see only a couple of people that are older than I am, and I want to talk about discrimination. I know discrimination when I see discrimination.

When I was a small boy, growing up in rural Alabama, we used to go to the grocery store. Some of my black friends, they would stand at the back door and the clerk would have to come and ask them what they wanted and they would bring it to them. I could go in the front door. That is discrimination.

I have never been in the marches like the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis) has been. I do not know what it is like to be in the minority. I do not know the life-style of gay people, but I can tell you this: Discrimination is wrong. It is totally wrong and we should not be participating in anything that discriminates against anybody going out and making a living for their family.