[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 27 (Friday, March 11, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 11, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                          LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

  (Mr. GINGRICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. GINGRICH. Mr. Speaker, for purposes of ascertaining the 
legislative program, I yield to my good friend, the gentleman from 
Missouri [Mr. Gephardt].
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, obviously votes are finished for today. 
There will be no votes on Monday, March 14. On Tuesday, March 15, the 
House will meet at 10:30 a.m. for Morning Hour. The House will then 
meet at noon for three bills on suspension, H.R. 2815, Farmington Wild 
and Scenic Rivers Act; S. 375, Rio Grande Designation Act of 1994; and 
H.R. 1933, The King Holiday and Service Act of 1994.
  Recorded votes on these suspensions will be postponed until 
Wednesday, March 16.
  On Wednesday, the House will meet at 10. However, I would say to 
Members, there will not be a vote until after 11. It could be right at 
11 or right after 11. If there is a vote on the Journal, it will be 
rolled or postponed until after 11. There could be a vote on a rule at 
about that time on the balanced budget amendment, House Joint 
Resolution 103.
  The other matters that could be brought up on Thursday, and possibly 
Friday, are S. 636, a motion to go to conference on the Freedom of 
Access to Clinic Entrances Act, and H.R. 6, the elementary and 
secondary education amendments of 1993.
  Mr. YATES. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, I wonder whether 
the majority leader could postpone the votes on Wednesday until later 
than 11, because we will be coming back from Chicago. We have a primary 
on Tuesday. The votes will not come in until 8. There are no planes 
that we can take.
  In the past, the majority leader has set votes for 4 or 5 o'clock in 
deference to the problems of those who had primaries. I wonder whether 
we could do that in this instance?
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield further, our 
problem is it is not possible to roll the vote on the rule on the 
balanced budget amendment. It may be that no one will call for a vote 
on the balanced budget amendment rule, but we have to have a rule in 
place before we can proceed with the debate.
  Mr. GINGRICH. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, if I might comment 
from our side, and this is obviously not a guarantee to Members, but my 
understanding is that no one at the present time sees a vital need that 
would be served by getting a vote on the rule. We would certainly on a 
bipartisan basis try to avoid any vote that early. I would say this to 
my friend from Chicago [Mr. Yates], although Members' rights are 
protected and we cannot guarantee that a member will not ask for a 
vote.
  Mr. YATES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for that assurance. I 
understand the dilemma of the majority leader. I hope no vote is called 
for.
  Mr. GINGRICH. Mr. Speaker, I wish to make one comment and ask one 
question about Friday. I do want to note for our colleagues that I 
believe on Wednesday, and I appreciate very much the cooperation that 
the gentleman from Texas and the gentleman from Oregon have given us in 
trying to arrange the schedule so everything can work right, but I 
think we will have the first of the Oxford debates that have been 
commented on.
  I mention that because I think in terms of establishing for the 
country what the House does and how it operates, that this will be a 
useful thing. It is not formally on the schedule, but I do think it is 
a good thing for us to be trying to do.
  I did not know if the majority leader wanted to comment on that 
before I ask about the Friday schedule.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield further, in a 
moment I will ask unanimous consent to establish the procedure that we 
will use in those debates. But his will be the first of such debates. 
There will be two to follow, at least. We hope they will continue after 
that. It will be a 90-minute debate under Oxford style rules, and the 
debaters will be on C-SPAN during that debate period. It is 
a first for the House, and I think it will be a very positive 
experience.
  Mr. GINGRICH. Mr. Speaker, I understand that while I was out of the 
room trying to get something arranged here on the floor, it was agreed 
there would be no staff on the floor at all for either side. So this 
will be a genuine test of whether or not Members can in fact function 
in a staffless environment. Some of our colleagues may watch just to 
see how rusty we are at doing this purely on our own.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. We feel it is much more likely to be a success in this 
body than in the other body.
  Mr. GINGRICH. Mr. Speaker, without in any way commenting on the other 
body, which would be so inappropriate under our rules, let me say my 
one question is, there is some talk we might possibly not have votes on 
Friday. I did not know if the majority knew what the status of Friday 
was.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, it is our 
hope there will be no votes on Friday. We will try to make that call as 
early in the week as we can so Members can plan.

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