[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 16] [House] [Pages 22427-22428] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]WE DO NOT NEED ANOTHER MONTH IN OUR CALENDAR TO CONTINUE DOING NOTHING (Mr. DOGGETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.) Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, with only 6 congressional working days remaining in this Federal fiscal year, only one of the 13 appropriations bills necessary for the continued operation of our Government has actually been signed into law. This is the kind of record of inattention to duty, of inaction that brought us the costly Republican government shutdowns in the all-too-recent past. It is perhaps most symbolic of this Congress that one of the few bills that [[Page 22428]] has been approved was a commemorative medal for the great explorers Lewis and Clark, for I think that not even such great explorers could find any accomplishment in this Congress. In the words of the majority leader, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Armey), ``We have sort of bumped into a wall.'' With this Congress, America is bumping into a wall of inaction. Now the Republican leadership is even considering the creation of a thirteenth month on the Federal calendar. If they worked more than halftime during the first 12 months, we would not need such nonsense. ____________________