Stop Government Abuse Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. I thank the gentleman for yielding and for the wise words of his opening statement. I also thank him for retrieving the views of law enforcement officials--inasmuch as we had no hearing on this bill. They were very informative.

Madam Speaker, with most of the business of the Nation languishing with no action in this House, Republicans have rushed to the floor with these so-called ``messaging'' bills. Let's make sure we get the message:

Republicans--the party that champions states' rights--want to preempt the States, to require Federal employees acting for the government to record conversations with clients. Republicans--the party that wants the Federal Government to operate like the private sector and pay people on the basis of merit--wants to deny bonuses to Federal employees who deserve them, regardless of merit. Perhaps worst of all, Madam Speaker, Republicans--who spent most of this term accusing IRS employees of denying due process to Republican organizations--now propose to fire SES employees without due process.

And get this: the Republican version of due process is to give the employee the right to apply for reinstatement to the political appointee who fired him. Then, after the fact, having never had a hearing, the dismissed employee can now appeal to the MSPB. This last one, of course, reverses the age-old principle of innocent until proven guilty, but it's much worse. Not only is there no due process, there's no process at all. You're fired. That one is embarrassingly unconstitutional.

These are messaging bills all right, Madam Speaker, and we get the message. Republican principles apply--except when they don't.

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