[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 77 (Friday, June 17, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 17, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                          LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

  (Mr. WALKER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I have asked for this 1-minute for the 
purpose of ascertaining the schedule for next week.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. WALKER. I yield to the distinguished gentleman from Maryland [Mr. 
Hoyer], the acting majority leader.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for 
yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, we will finish here shortly, and on Monday there will be 
no session, and on Tuesday, June 21, and the balance of the week, we 
will consider the supplemental appropriation for the Department of 
Housing and Urban Development which was passed out of the Committee on 
Appropriations today. We will also consider the Independent Counsel 
Reauthorization Act conference report, subject, of course, to a rule. 
We might possibly, assuming the time is available, continue with the 
consideration of the California Desert Protection Act. We will then 
have three appropriations bills which have been reported out of the 
committee, all subject to rules except for the HHS bill on which there 
will not be a rule, I understand, Commerce, Justice, State 
appropriations bill, the Interior and related agencies bill, and, as I 
said, Labor HHS and Education appropriations bill.
  The last item on our calendar at this point in time will be the Anti-
Redlining In Insurance Disclosure Act, also subject to a rule. In 
addition there may be other motions to go to conference. We expect to 
adjourn on Friday.
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I just have a couple of questions, if I may, 
of the gentleman.
  Do we expect conferences reports to come back for possible votes next 
week?
  Mr. HOYER. There are obviously conferences going on, and we are not 
positive that they will report back, but, if they did, that would be a 
possibility.
  Mr. WALKER. Does the gentleman have any idea on what days we may 
schedule some of these appropriation bills? Is there a preliminary 
schedule in terms of when the various appropriation bills are likely to 
arrive? Can we assume that the supplemental appropriations will 
possibly be on Tuesday and will be the first order of business?
  Mr. HOYER. Let me first go to the gentleman's question on the 
appropriation bills. This is the probability. Obviously it is subject 
to change. But probability is that on Wednesday Commerce, Justice, 
State will be on the floor, Interior and related agencies on Thursday, 
and then the Labor HHS bill on the floor on Friday.
  Mr. WALKER. And on Tuesday the supplemental, and we would anticipate 
no votes before any particular time?
  Mr. HOYER. One or two o'clock. The earliest, we think, would be by 
one o'clock.
  Mr. WALKER. There are a couple of events that are going to involve 
fairly large numbers of Members next week. The White House is having a 
picnic. Can we assume that the House is planning to adjourn in time to 
take care of that eventuality?
  Mr. HOYER. There are events of interest to both sides of the aisle, 
and, to the extent we possibly can, we want to accommodate those that 
we are going to try to accommodate.
  Mr. WALKER. I think the gentleman from California [Mr. Dreier] has a 
question.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. WALKER. I yield to the gentleman from California.
  Mr. DREIER. The question that I would like to ask of my friend is:
  In 1992, Mr. Speaker, by an overwhelming majority at the end of the 
102d Congress we established the Joint Committee on the Organization of 
Congress. It was put into place for 1 year, and in November 1993 we 
reported out a bill, H.R. 3801, and there was an indication that we 
were going to consider that package, H.R. 3801, which is charged with 
the responsibility of reforming the institution, with the generous rule 
that would allow for the provisions that were considered in our 
committee, to be voted on here on the House floor, and I wondered if my 
friend might give me some indication as to when we can expect the full 
package, H.R. 3801, which was reported out of our committee, to get to 
the House floor here.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California [Mr. 
Dreier] for his question.
  While I cannot give the gentleman the specific answer to his 
question, I can tell him that the Speaker has met with, and the 
gentleman serves on, the Committee on Rules which is considering the 
package, along with the gentlemn from California [Mr. Beilenson] who, I 
understand, chairs the task force considering it, but the Speaker has 
met with both the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Moakley], the 
chairman of the Committee on Rules, and the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. 
Hamilton], the gentleman's fellow chair on that task force, with the 
specific objective of trying to come up with that answer and, in as 
timely a fashion as possible, try to bring that to the floor.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would continue to yield, I 
just want to say that we have been waiting for a long period of time. 
It was reported out last November, and early indications were that we 
were going to finally have an opportunity to vote on the reform 
question in November of last year, then in the early spring of this 
year, and then late spring of this year, and here we are now, based on 
the way this beautiful Maryland-Virginia-Washington, DC weather is, we 
are well into the summer, and it seems to me that this would be a 
timely opportunity for us to finally bring the reform package to the 
floor.

  I would simply like to say, as I have to my counterpart, the 
gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Hamilton] and my colleagues on the 
Committee on Rules, that I hope we can move it here in an expeditious 
manner.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, we appreciate the gentleman's concern, and 
the fact is that this has been under consideration. This is obviously a 
major piece of legislation, as the gentleman knows. It is under 
consideration of the Committee on Rules. The Committee on Rules' 
subcommittee has been considering it, and, as I said and will repeat, 
the Speaker wants to see this matter moved as quickly as possible, has 
talked to the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Hamilton] and the gentleman 
from Massachusetts [Mr. Moakley] just this week with the objective of 
getting this matter to----
  Mr. DREIER. I would just like to inquire if there is an indication as 
to whether or not we will have the package in toto as it was reported 
out of the joint committee at the end of last year.
  Mr. HOYER. I have not talked to the Speaker since he has talked to 
the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Moakley] and the gentleman from 
Indiana [Mr. Hamilton], and I do not have that information.
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, so the gentleman from Maryland might 
understand some of our concern, we read in Roll Call earlier this week 
that there is some concern that the August recess may have to be 
delayed because of the press of business on health care and other 
items, and there has been little movement on the congressional reform 
bill. It sounds as though we are beginning to run out of time for major 
legislation, and some of us who did spend a year out of our lives 
working pretty hard on the congressional reform issue would like to 
think that this is going to be something that is going to be 
prioritized and brought to the floor within what is becoming a 
relatively tight schedule.
  Mr. HOYER. I think the leadership on this side appreciates that view 
and has every intention of pursuing it.
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. 
Hoyer].

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