[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 102 (Friday, July 29, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 29, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                          LEGISLATIVE CALENDAR

  (Mr. MICHEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. MICHEL. I requested this time in order to proceed and inquire of 
the distinguished majority leader the program for the balance of this 
day and the program for next week.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield.
  Mr. MICHEL. I yield to the majority leader, the gentleman from 
Missouri.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, obviously there will be no more votes today.
  On Monday the House will meet at 10:30 a.m. for morning business. 
Then the House will meet at noon. We will consider 11 bills on 
suspension, and they are listed on the sheet. I think the gentleman can 
see the different bills that will be presented on that day.
  H.R. 4768, Veterans' Education and Training Act;
  H.R. 4776, Veterans' Employment Act of 1994;
  H.R. 4724, Veterans' Housing Amendments of 1994;
  S. 725, Traumatic Brain Injury Act;
  H.R. 4535, Unlisted Trading Privileges Act;
  H.R. 2826, providing for an investigation of the whereabouts of the 
United States citizens who have been missing from Cyprus since 1974;
  Senate Joint Resolution 195 to designate August 1, 1994, as 
``Helsinki Human Rights Day'';
  H.R. 1690, to authorize certain elements of the Yakima River Basin 
Water Enhancement Project;
  H.R. 4448, to amend the act establishing Lowell National Historical 
Park;
  H.R. 3898, to establish the New Bedford Whaling National Historical 
Park in New Bedford, MA;
  H.R. 4158, to establish the Lower East Side Tenement Museum National 
Historical Site.
  Mr. Speaker, there will be votes Starting at about 5 p.m., on Monday, 
and I suspect that we will have votes until about 8 p.m. There could be 
a number of votes.
  H.R. 4506, a motion to go to conference on energy and water 
appropriations for fiscal year 1995. There would be a motion to 
instruct on that, I am told.
  H.R. 4453, military construction appropriations, fiscal year 1995 
conference report, and obviously any suspensions that will require 
votes after having been debated during the day.
  On Tuesday, August 2, and the balance of the week: The House will 
meet at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday on morning business, then at noon on 
Tuesday. Then we have a private calendar.
  The House meets at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
  We will be taking up the Maritime Administration authorization 
subject to a rule, H.R. 4003; also Little Traverse Bay Bands of Ottawa 
Indians and Little Band of Odawa Indians Act, subject to a rule, Senate 
1357; S. 1066, restoring Federal services to the Pokagon Band of 
Potawatomi Indians; the Omnibus Crime Control Act, subject to a rule; 
the Federal Crop Insurance Reform Act, a subject to a rule; Export 
Administration Act, complete consideration; provide for the management 
of the Presidio, subject to a rule; foreign operations appropriations 
for fiscal 1995, conference report; Social Security Administrative 
Reform Act of 1994 conference report, subject to a rule; community 
development financial institutions/interstate bank branching conference 
report, subject to a rule; Congressional Accountability Act, subject to 
a rule; regarding China MFN, subject to a rule. Conference reports may 
be brought up at any time. Any further program will be announced later.
  I would also say to the gentleman that when we are finished, the 
distinguished chairman of the Committee on Rules will be making an 
announcement regarding requirements for the filing of bills and 
alternative bills on the health care legislation next week.

                              {time}  1420

  Mr. MICHEL. Might I first inquire: The gentleman made mention of 
delay of the votes on suspensions and the regular legislative business 
on Monday, probably beginning at about 5 p.m. and going on for several 
hours conceivably.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. That is correct.
  Mr. MICHEL. That suggests a question relative to the rest of the week 
on the time frame. There is a certain traditional thing that takes 
place on Tuesday evening around here. Does that mean we would adjourn 
by a certain time on Tuesday or--and then, of course, Wednesday, 
Thursday, and whatever we have to----
  Mr. GEPHARDT. If the gentleman would yield, on Tuesday we not only 
have the annual baseball game, we also have a number of States that 
have primaries. So we are going to try to arrange for as few of votes 
as we can possibly engineer on that day, and we will be quitting in 
time for the annual baseball game.
  Mr. MICHEL. And then would Members be on notice to spend some late 
nights, Wednesday, Thursday?
  Mr. GEPHARDT. The gentleman is correct.
  Mr. MICHEL. The gentleman made mention of the chairman of the 
Committee on Rules making an announcement. Would it be appropriate for 
this leader to ask the majority leader several questions pertinent to 
what we might consider to be an announcement?
  Mr. GEPHARDT. I would be happy to do that when the distinguished 
chairman makes the announcement. I will be available here, and we will 
try to answer any questions.
  Mr. MICHEL. I think we probably ought to because obviously there will 
be some observations and comments we would like to make at the time to 
buttress and assure the Members how the program, as we envisioned it at 
least preliminarily, would unfold and Members' rights being protected 
in that process, and I would be happy to yield at this juncture unless 
the gentleman wants to request his own time.
  Mr. DERRICK. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, it is the intent of the leadership of the House to bring 
the health care bill to the floor the second week in August. Obviously 
health care reform is a matter of immense scope and complexity. People 
want to know the details of the various proposals which will be 
presented to the House for a vote.
  We have been asked by Members on both sides of the aisle to make the 
text of these measures available to the membership for scrutiny and 
advanced consideration on the floor. That is the only fair and wise 
policy.
  Accordingly, Mr. Speaker, we are asking Members who have alternate 
health care bills which they would like considered during the upcoming 
health care debate to submit those proposals to the House, proposals to 
the House Committee on Rules, by 6 p.m. on Wednesday, August 3. The 
committee offices are in H-312 in the Capitol.
  Let me just make a couple of points here: First, the committee is 
asking for legislative language to be submitted by the deadline, not a 
description of the major concepts. Second, at this time the committee 
is not asking for single-issue amendments, but entire substitutes to be 
filed by the August 3 deadline.
  I want to thank my colleagues for their cooperation in this effort to 
make available in advance the text of competing bills.
  Mr. MICHEL. I thank the distinguished gentleman.
  Might I inquire then of the majority leader if those groups or 
entities that have something to offer in the field of health care in 
the form of a substitute or entire proposition, as distinguished from 
individual line item amendments, be prepared to present those to the 
committee by 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. That is correct.
  Mr. MICHEL. And the gentleman did make mention earlier, in our 
earlier conversation, of the possibility of refinements to those 
propositions on the following day, Thursday. Is that a possibility?
  Mr. DERRICK. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would yield, there will be 
further time for that.
  Mr. MICHEL. I want to yield to my distinguished friend from Illinois 
who has done so much work on our side in helping to craft a bipartisan 
proposition here, but we are up against the gun when it comes to the 
facilities of the legislative counsel because we are talking about 
lengthy measures, very technical in language, and to make certain that 
we have--we are really writing what we think we have, we are at some 
disadvantage with the limited staff of legislative counsel. Maybe I 
might yield at this juncture to more clearly refine that inquiry to the 
gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Hastert].
  Mr. HASTERT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished minority leader 
for yielding that I might inquire.
  One of our problems in trying to draft language is there are other 
enterprises going on at the same time on the other side of the aisle 
and other places dealing with health care that have consumed a great 
deal of time and resources of the legislative counsels. It has been 
very difficult to get somebody to draft that language or go over 
language that is drafted. I would hope that, if we present all 
propositions to the Committee on Rules by 6 p.m. on Wednesday, that all 
groups that are trying to draft legislation to present propositions to 
the Congress for consideration have the opportunity, equal 
opportunities, to get their propositions drafted.
  Mr. DERRICK. That, I am sure, will be provided.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would yield, we obviously 
want to have these bills done. The only thing we cannot ensure is that, 
if there are other groups other than a bipartisan group or the 
Republican group that wants to offer something, and overtax unduly, or 
kind of unreasonably, the legislative counsel, we are going to have to 
deal with that problem, and we ought to stay in close communication and 
find out where we are day by day so that we can try to hit this goal.

  We will work with the other side in every way that we can.
  Mr. HASTERT. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments by the 
distinguished majority leader. I think we need to keep in contact day 
by day. Obviously there are very limited resources and a huge job to do 
for all those people that are concerned, and we want to be able to get 
that language in a timely basis, but on the other hand, if we get it in 
at the very--if we are pushed to the end of the line, then all of a 
sudden we are pushed to a situation where we cannot present that 
language in legislative form, which the distinguished chairman of the 
Committee on Rules has mentioned, and we do not want to be in that 
situation.
  Mr. MICHEL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his contribution, 
and let me pursue, if I might, a little bit further with the majority 
leader.
  If everything goes according to plan with the propositions that will 
be presented to the Committee on Rules by 6 p.m. on Wednesday, with 
possible refinements on Thursday, when would the Committee on Rules 
actually then be meeting on the crafting or making a determination with 
respect to the rule under which we would consider one or more of these 
propositions? I assume it will be the following week when we will 
really come to grips with it, and I would also then remind the 
distinguished majority leader of our earlier conversations throughout 
the year of how we would hope to leave by our recess date of, say, 
August 12 and whether or not this comports and can be accommodated 
within that time frame.
  Would the gentleman make an observation on that?
  Mr. GEPHARDT. If the gentleman would yield, we are trying to get to 
the Committee on Rules sometime the week after next, in the early part, 
and try to get to this bill as quickly as we can. It probably will be a 
number of days, a few days, under consideration on the floor, and we 
are going to do everything we can to meet our schedule. But obviously 
we cannot give Members a specific time of a specific day that we are 
going to be finished at this point. There is no way to do that.
  Mr. MICHEL. I can appreciate that, and I suspect, after the measures 
have been formally introduced on Wednesday, and refinements by 
Thursday, by Thursday and Friday, and morning hour, Members will be 
talking about the proposals. It would not be a formal debate, but 
certainly it is no secret that during morning hour Members are free to 
make whatever comments they might wish to make, and I frankly think it 
would be good if they were pretty much concentrated in that field 
because that is what we are all leading up to, is trying to come to 
some agreement and finalize, before we do have a recess, this biggest 
and most important of all measures to come before this session, and I 
am happy to yield.

                              {time}  1430

  Mr. GEPHARDT. If the gentleman would yield further, I would hope we 
have a debate starting early, with different groups that have bills 
exposing those bills to the public in morning hour and in special 
orders. We could even begin some back and forth and give and take in 
those periods. We will obviously have a full debate on the floor. It 
may even be that Members will not have so many committee meetings in 
that period and can sit on the floor and listen to the debate. 
Hopefully this will be a high moment for the House of Representatives 
as we go through this very important legislation.
  Mr. MICHEL. I am happy to hear the distinguished majority leader 
express it in that form and fashion.
  Mr. ARMEY. If the gentleman will yield, if I might address a question 
or inquiry to the Committee on Rules, clearly we have an extraordinary 
circumstance here.
  As I understand it, the Committee on Rules anticipates having bills 
filed with it by Wednesday of next week, and that the Committee on 
Rules would expect these bills to be in legislative language, which we 
understand could be a problem with drafting, and perhaps we could 
expect that to be overcome. The Committee on Rules obviously is then 
willing to entertain two or more different bills, if anybody can get 
them drafted and get them in.
  Mr. DERRICK. The deadline on Wednesday applied to substitutes. You 
will be able to perfect them at least the next day.
  Mr. ARMEY. In addition to that, in the ordinary course of conducting 
the Nation's business, the Members at large would have a bill that has 
been reported out of committee, and in that report a clear 
understanding of the chapter and verse details of the bill, and much 
time to prepare amendments to be offered to the floor if accepted by 
the Committee on Rules.
  In this case I understand we have a bill that will be introduced to 
the Committee on Rules by the majority leader on behalf of himself and 
the President, the Clinton-Gephardt bill, as it were, which no one will 
have seen until it gets to the Committee on Rules. How then would I, as 
a Member of Congress that might seek to amend that bill, be 
accommodated by the Committee on Rules in my effort to make the request 
to make amendments to that bill with respect to such things as mandated 
benefits, defined benefits packages, taxes, or any of the things that 
might be of interest to my middle income American taxpaying citizens 
back home?
  I am sure that there must be some way that I can approach the 
Committee on Rules with a request, given that I cannot see the language 
from which to draw my amendment in technically acceptable form until 
after it is reported out by the Committee on Rules. Is there some way I 
can make an amendment on the floor, a request for such a thing?
  Mr. DERRICK. We ask that you have all substitutes, including the 
majority leader's substitute, before the Committee on Rules by 6 
o'clock on Wednesday. There will be plenty of time for a look at the 
substitutes, there will be plenty of time to perfect them with 
amendments, and we will probably take up the rule on the eighth, I 
would imagine, but the first of the following week. I think that is 
going to give everyone ample time.
  Mr. ARMEY. If the gentleman will continue to yield, is the gentleman 
saying I am being assured that I can look at the bill that is 
submitted, because I have only a rough outline of the bill right now by 
Mr. Gephardt, and have time where I could make, as an individual 
Member, not a substitute bill, but an effort to amend that particular 
bill?
  Mr. DERRICK. Yes.
  Mr. ARMEY. I have the gentleman's assurance I will have that 
opportunity to make that request?
  Mr. DERRICK. You do.
  Mr. ARMEY. I appreciate that, and I am sure that that assurance is 
extended to all the Members of the body.
  Mr. DERRICK. It is.
  Mr. ARMEY. In light of our special relationship, I do think we need 
to clarify that.
  Mr. DERRICK. It is.
  Mr. MICHEL. I yield further to the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. 
Hastert].
  Mr. HASTERT. I thank the distinguished minority leader for yielding. 
I have had a couple of Members come up to me since our conversation and 
say they are either working on a Republican bill, or others that they 
have been bumped from the drafting process. It is really important, 
again, to the distinguished majority leader, that we have the ability 
to get bills drafted, and that we not be bumped from that procedure and 
lineup. So I am looking forward to working with the gentleman on that. 
If you have a comment, I would appreciate it.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. If the gentleman would yield, we are more than willing 
to do that on a day-by-day basis. My only admonition is if there are 
three Republican bills and five bipartisan bills, and we are expecting 
to get all of those drafted by next Wednesday, we are going to have 
problems. If, however, there is one Republican bill and one bipartisan 
bill, and that is essentially what we are talking about, then I think 
it is feasible to get through this.
  Mr. HASTERT. I will offer to the distinguished majority leader that 
we will work to make sure that we have those priorities in place, but 
look forward to working with you on that issue.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. I thank the gentleman.
  If the gentleman will further yield, I wish to announce that Chairman 
LaFalce has decided to not go forward with the small business 
reauthorization bill tonight on general debate and other matters 
without votes. That will be rescheduled for next week, likely Tuesday.

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