[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 91 (Thursday, July 14, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 14, 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 have asked to proceed for 1 minute that I 
might inquire of the distinguished majority leader the program for the 
balance of this week and for next week.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. MICHEL. I am happy to yield to my friend, the gentleman from 
Missouri.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, there will be no additional votes today. There will be 
no votes tomorrow.
  On Monday, the House will meet at noon. There will not be business.

                              {time}  2010

  On Tuesday and the balance of the week, the House will meet at 10:30 
a.m. on Tuesday for morning hour. We will meet on five suspension bills 
which I believe the gentleman has in front of him; also, a motion to go 
to conference on the National Competitiveness Act; and the Intelligence 
Authorization for Fiscal Year 1995
  On Wednesday, July 20, and the balance of the week, the House will 
meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. We will be taking up 
the Export Administration Act, Anti-Redlining in Insurance Disclosure 
Act, Budget Control Act of 1994, California Desert Protection Act, 
Housing and Community Development Act, and the Environmental 
Technologies Act of 1994.
  Members should expect votes on Tuesday at about 1 or 2 o'clock and on 
Friday up until 3 o'clock.
  Mr. MICHEL. There is nothing in the program relative to the Oxford 
Debate. Is that still going forward on Wednesday?
  Mr. GEPHARDT. It is my understanding that we will be finishing in 
time for the Oxford Debate on Wednesday night.
  Mr. MICHEL. And would the gentleman volunteer any information on when 
we might be sending the Campaign Reform bill to conference?
  Mr. GEPHARDT. We are hoping that that will happen imminently, maybe 
even next week.
  Mr. MICHEL. Let me also inquire, there have been these stories that, 
well, if we slipped in our schedule, et cetera, et cetera, the August 
recess would be delayed. I think the gentleman and I have over a period 
of time talked about how pretty sacrosanct that is, particularly with 
families and their schedules and for vacations with their family.
  I would just want to make the observation that if we have got a big 
workload to fulfill, I have no objection to our meeting late at night 
and, yes, meeting on, you know, Mondays or Fridays, if that is required 
in order to honor that commitment that we, I think, have made pretty 
much to all of our Members that on such and such a date we would be out 
of here for the regular summer recess that most members like to hold 
with their families.
  Would the gentleman want to respond or make a comment on that at all?
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Obviously everyone wants to make plans for that break, 
and we will do everything in our power to get that to happen. As the 
gentleman knows, we have major legislation coming before us in these 4 
or 5 weeks, the health bill, the crime conference, the campaign reform 
conference, the lobby reform conference, and we hope to finish all of 
that business.
  We are working very hard. I know Members on the other side of the 
aisle are working very hard on committees and in conferences to get 
these done. We are going to do everything we can to get them done 
before that break occurs.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. MICHEL. I yield to the gentleman from California.
  Mr. DREIER. I thank the distinguished minority leader for yielding.
  I simply would like to ask what we can expect on H.R. 3801, the 
congressional reform package which was debated here earlier today which 
we have been told would be considered on the House floor before 
adjournment of the first session of the 103d Congress, then in early 
spring, early summer, and here we are into July. There are many Members 
who have been asking me to pursue this issue of congressional reform.
  I know the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Hamilton] joins me in 
expressing concern about some of the reports we have gotten about the 
prospective breaking up of the package into bits rather than having an 
overall reform package.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. If the gentleman will yield further, we are very 
concerned and interested in that set of legislation.
  I cannot tell the gentleman exactly when it will come, but it will 
come hopefully in this period. Exactly how it will come up has not been 
fully discussed, considered and decided. But I understand the 
gentleman's view. I have heard him in other forums, and I know that he 
feels strongly, and others feel strongly. We are going to do our best 
to get that legislation out.
  Mr. GINGRICH. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. MICHEL. I yield to the distinguished whip on our side, the 
gentleman from Georgia.
  Mr. GINGRICH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the leader for yielding to me.
  I want to ask my good friend, the gentleman from Missouri, clearly in 
about 3 or 4 weeks we are going to take up one of the most important, 
if not the most important, domestic legislation of this decade. I would 
hope you could reassure the House on two items. One is we would expect 
to have a reasonable length of time, and as you know a letter has been 
sent to you and the Speaker, asking for 10 legislative days to look at 
any health bill, but certainly some significant length of time for 
outside experts, for Members, for the country to know what is in the 
bill; and, secondly, we could agree well in advance on a rule which 
would ensure that if there was a bipartisan alternative that had broad-
based support and that offered a different approach to solving the 
health problem, that would clearly be made in order in a fair way, and 
that we would have some sequence of votes that would allow Members to 
work their will on the floor.
  I wonder if you could comment both on the notion of a long enough 
period of printing a fixed bill, again on both sides, and we recognize 
that everyone should have their plans on the table for a length of time 
to be reviewed, and then, second, some assurance on a rule which would 
genuinely place in order both a bipartisan alternative as well as the 
Clinton administration's bill.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. I understand the comment.
  We have received the letter, and my thought is that we will try to 
have an early meeting with the leadership on the other side to discuss 
a reasonable procedure.
  Obviously some things cannot be finally decided now because we do not 
know which bills will be coming up. But we can begin to discuss that. I 
think it is an important moment for the House and an important moment 
for the country to have this considered in a way that people feel it is 
fair and all of the issues can be clearly debated and discussed in an 
informative way.
  Mr. GINGRICH. I thank the leader.
  Mr. MICHEL. I have two time questions.
  On the Oxford Debate, what would be the time for that next Wednesday?
  Mr. GEPHARDT. If the gentleman will yield, we obviously try to do 
this at a reasonable time. We will consult with the minority on what 
that time would be.
  Mr. MICHEL. And the gentleman, in response to an earlier question, 
said he thought the campaign reform bill going to conference would be 
imminent. Would the gentleman define imminent?
  Mr. GEPHARDT. If the gentleman will yield further, it could be 
sometime next week or the week after that. That is what we are aiming 
for.
  Mr. MICHEL. We will use that definition for imminent in all things 
from here on.
  I thank the distinguished gentleman.

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