[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 26, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: January 26, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                          LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

  (Mr. MICHEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. MICHEL. Mr. Speaker, I inquire of the distinguished majority 
leader, the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Gephardt], regarding the 
program for next week.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. MICHEL. I am happy to yield to the gentleman from Missouri.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.
  Mr. Speaker, there are no more votes today. There will not be votes 
on Thursday or Friday. On Monday, January 31, the House will not be in 
session.
  On Tuesday, February 1, the House will meet at noon to consider bills 
on suspension. We have one bill, H.R. 1727, the Arson Prevention Act, 
at this point. There may be some other bills on suspension, but it is 
not clear. Obviously, we will be consulting with the minority on 
suspensions.
  There will be a vote on Tuesday. We will go in at noon, so the vote 
would be some time after noon.
  On Wednesday, February 2, and the balance of the week, the House will 
meet at 2 p.m. on Wednesday and 11 a.m. on Thursday and Friday, if 
needed, and we are looking at the possibility of taking up H.R. 3425, 
Department of Environmental Protection Act, subject to a rule, and a 
House Resolution on the emergency supplemental appropriations for 
earthquake assistance, again subject to a rule.
  Mr. MICHEL. I would ask, Mr. Speaker, we know of no conference 
reports that would be coming up yet at this time?
  Mr. GEPHARDT. That is correct.
  Mr. NUSSLE. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. MICHEL. I am happy to yield to the gentleman from Iowa.
  Mr. NUSSLE. Mr. Speaker, the question I have for the distinguished 
Majority Leader is, it is my concern under this emergency that we have 
going on in L.A. right now, we do need to move quickly. I am wondering 
why we are going all the way into late next week. I am just interested 
in why we are going so late into next week, when it appears that we 
have a financial emergency that we have to take care of. That would be 
my one question .
  The other is that we have been asking on this side of the aisle for 
some type of a task force to deal with emergencies in the future, 
disasters, natural disasters in particular. I am wondering if the 
Speaker or the leadership has made any decisions on that.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. If the gentleman will continue to yield, on the first 
question, it is my understanding that the Committee on Appropriations 
is meeting this week to process the bill. It would not have been 
possible to take it up this week.
  It is also my understanding that the money in the pipeline in the 
emergency agency is sufficient to deal with the problems that are out 
there right now. We are doing everything we can to get this bill to the 
floor as quickly as we can next week, so that the Congress can take 
action.
  On the second question, it is not at all clear exactly when this task 
force will all be announced, but we do expect today to announce the 
cochairs, in conjunction with the Minority Leader. It will be 
bipartisan, and it will include Members from both sides of the aisle.
  It may be possible to have all the names prepared today, but at least 
the cochairs of it will be named today, and we may be able to get all 
the Members named today.
  Mr. NUSSLE. I thank the distinguished leader.
  Mr. MICHEL. I thank the majority leader.

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