December 16, 1999
Web posted at: 4:00 p.m. EDT

COMMUNITY RESOURCES CNN Chat Calendar How to Connect Message Boards Time Zone Converter Discussion Standards     ALSO Rep. J.C. Watts's (R-Okla.) year-end wrapup

Frost joined us on December 16, 1999, by phone from his district office in Dallas, Texas, and CNN.com provided a typist for him. The following is an edited transcript of our chat with him.

Chat Moderator: Welcome, Congressman Frost!

Rep. Frost: It is good to be with you. I am in my congressional office in Dallas, Texas.

Chat Moderator: Do you think this Congress had a productive year in 1999? What were the successes and failures?

Rep. Frost: I do not think the Congress was particularly productive. We failed to address some fundamental issues like HMO reform, prescription drug coverage for seniors, repairing old school classrooms and building new ones. We did nothing about ensuring the permanent viability of Social Security and health care We failed to address issues that address people's lives.

We did have some success in passing laws that reform banking and providing more money for teachers, but we left a great deal undone. I believe this was largely because the Republican Party was dominated by the far-right wing, and had no interest in reaching middle ground with Democrats.

Question from Jane: What are the most important issues we have to deal with in 2000?

Rep. Frost: Many of the issues that we will be facing in 2000 are ones that we did not successfully deal with in 1999. One is campaign finance reform, perhaps doing something about the availability of firearms through gun shows. We really left a great deal undone. Another item that we did not address was increasing the minimum wage. I would hope that some of these issues could be addressed in 2000, but I am not overly optimistic considering that it is an election year and we will have a short congressional session.

Question from Cletus: What will be the top priorities of Democrats if they were to win control

Rep. Frost: Clearly, Democrats would be interested in health care, education, campaign finance reform, and doing something about the long term viability of Medicare and Social Security. In the area of health care, we will try to pass a patient's bill of rights and a prescription drug coverage at an affordable rate for seniors.

In the area of education, we will try to provide assistance to local school districts to build new classrooms and remodel old ones.

Question from Jane: Will minimum wage be affected this year?

Rep. Frost: I hope that we will do something about minimum wage. We are proposing to increase it by one dollar in equal installments over two years. Republicans have blocked this proposal, but we hope that they will relent and let us have a vote.

We know that it is hard for working families to provide for their families on minimum wage, or for students who are working their way through college to pay for their education on minimum wage. Again, the fact that the Republicans in the House are dominated by the far right wing makes it difficult to increase the minimum wage.

Question from infuryum: How do you feel about the renewal of the Work Opportunity Credit portion of the Disabilities bill to be signed tomorrow?

Rep. Frost: I really don't know very much about that. I do think that we must continue to provide opportunities for disabled Americans. I had a personal experience earlier this year that drove home the point of what disabled persons face. I broke my ankle, and was in a wheelchair for several weeks. While this was a temporary condition, I did face the same circumstances that wheel-chair bound people face. I was very glad that we had passed the Americans with Disabilities Act, and I think we should do everything possible to help disabled people find work.

Question from bartman: Congressman, what are the Democrats going to do about the damage done to our military by Clinton?

Rep. Frost: First of all, we had an increase in defense spending this year. A number of us Democrats have supported a strong national defense for a long time. My father was an aerospace engineer; my wife is a brigadier general in the army. I hope that we will continue to find ways to increase defense spending. We are going to have to do some things differently because we are facing different challenges. We need more mobile forces that can respond quickly. There are a number of Democrats who have always been supporters of a strong defense regardless of who is president, and will continue to do so.

Question from sandy: In the wake of the recent violent school shootings, what are Democrats doing to help keep our children safe in public schools? I understand that you are working hard to provide more COPS in our schools?

Rep. Frost: I was the co-chair of a special task which Democrats and Republicans established on this subject during the last 3 months of the Congressional session. The other co-chair was Jennifer Dunne. We made a series of proposal to deal with this problem.

It was the consensus of the experts who testified that we need to deal with children at a very early age in establishing what is right and wrong. We need to provide counselors in schools and mental health professionals to help identify and treat troubled youngsters.

Although the task force did not discuss firearms, there are a number of us in Congress who think that we need to make changes in the availability of firearms at gun shows where they can be purchased without background checks.

We also need to encourage the media to help parents screen out objectionable material on websites and also to provide adequate warnings on violent games and shows on television and in the movies. I have posted some information on my congressional website to help parents do this. This is a complicated problem, and there is no one solution to the issue. We need to look at a range of considerations.

One proposal was to have additional policemen assigned to schools, and I have offered legislation supporting this. But it is not the only answer. We need more counselors and professionals assigned to the schools because we have not been able to identify and deal with children who have very serious problems.

Question from Jane: Will we EVER have a patients bill of rights?

Rep. Frost: My personal view is that you will not have one as long as the Republicans control congress because they are heavily influenced by insurance companies, and they don't want a patient's bill of rights.

The only reason it came to a vote in the House was because Democrats circulated a discharge petition which almost had enough signatures to force the bill to the floor. So the Republican leadership scheduled the bill for late in the session, and fought it every step of the way. It is now in conference committee, but the Speaker of the House refused to appoint Republicans to the conference committee who favored a strong patient bill of rights. So it is my belief that there will be no patients bill of rights with the current make up of the Congress.

Question from bartman: Representative, why do you insist on calling the Republicans 'far right wing'?

Rep. Frost: Because the people who are in leadership positions in the House are from the Right Wing , such as Tom Delay and Dick Armey - who are from my state. The Republican party is really three different parties. There is the far right with people like Tom Delay and Dick Armey. Then there are the pro-business conservatives who used to be in control, but now take a back seat to the far right. Finally, there is a small group of moderates, mostly from the northeast.

The Far Right blocks legislation containing issues like abortion rights, and block main street legislation because all they want to talk about is abortion and prayer in the schools. This is a recent development, but they have made it difficult for Congress to pass anything that is reasonable.

Tom Delay, who is the Republican whip, and Armey ,who is the majority leader, are in the far right wing of the party. It was the Far Right that refused to have the congress go on Record supporting Kosovo after the bombing had been underway 30 days. This is something the Democrats would never had done when an operation was already underway.

Question from Jane: Yesterday JC Watts was online and talked about the GOP's new technology venture. What are the Democrats doing to keep up with them?

Rep. Frost: First of all, we have had a series of task force meetings in the Democratic Caucus to talk about technology and technology issues. We are also having a Democratic issues conference in the first week of February, and we are going to devote about half that conference to technology issues. Republicans have spent a lot of money on high tech websites. We have not been able to spend as much money in this area, but we do intend to keep our members aware of high tech issues and the role technology will play in the future of this country.

Question from bartman: Congressman, why are the Democrats so concerned about firearms? I grew up with guns and ammo in the gun rack in the house as did most of my friends. Shouldn't we be prosecuting the criminals instead of the gun owners?

Rep. Frost: Actually, that is what we want to do. We want background checks at gun shows so that felons cannot purchase guns at these shows, but Republicans have prevented that from happening.

Question from Susanne: What has the Democratic Caucus done in terms of outreach to the hi-tech community?

Rep. Frost: As I mentioned earlier, we have had a series of task force meetings where we have invited the high tech community to talk to our key committee people. A number of us have visited Silicon Valley and high tech places in Austin and Virginia. I will be visiting Silicon Valley in January. A number of our members have taken a strong interest in this issue, and we have proposed legislation to help the high tech industry, like expanding visas for necessary workers and passing legislation on digital signatures.

Question from John: Do you think that Democrats in Texas will be in trouble in the House elections because Bush is so strong and Gore so weak?

Rep. Frost: Actually, when Bush ran for governor in 1998, he got 70% of the vote state wide, but Democrats re-elected all 17 Democratic House members and picked up a seat in the Republican state senate. So , we did very well despite Bush. I don't see any problems if Bush is the nominee. He had very short coattails in 1998, and I don't think they will be any longer in 2000. If Bush and Gore are the nominees, I think the vote nationally will be very close.

Question from chumley: How do our prospects look for taking congress back from Newt's party?

Rep. Frost: We are only down five seats in the House. We picked up nine seats in 1996 and picked up more in 1998. Only 5 Democrats have announced that they are not running for re-election, and 19 Republicans have announced that they are not running for re-election.

So it appears that the Republican members themselves are pessimistic about holding the house. We have recruited very good candidates, and the Congressional Campaign Committee has raised more money in this election than it has raised previously, and we do not have as many open seats to defend as in other elections.

Chat Moderator: Do you have any final thoughts

Rep. Frost: It has been a pleasure being with you. I encourage you to follow the elections very closely, and do it on line!