[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 119 (Saturday, August 20, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 20, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                          LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

  (Mr. GEPHARDT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, I would like to engage the distinguished 
minority leader in a colloquy and explain to Members that there will be 
no votes this morning. The crime conference, as Members know, is 
currently meeting as I speak. We intend to adjourn tonight to meet at 1 
p.m. tomorrow when we will take up the crime conference report. Members 
should expect that there would be a journal vote soon after 1 p.m., and 
we would hope that we could move then to the rule consideration and to 
the crime conference itself. So Members could expect votes obviously in 
the afternoon tomorrow.
  Mr. WALKER. If the gentleman would yield, are we going to have the 
same kind of assurance for tomorrow that we had today that the rule 
would not come up until it has been agreed to by our side? The reason 
why I ask is I just came from the conference. I do not believe that the 
problems were created maliciously in any way, but there were problems 
in the language in the conference report. I would think they are going 
to be worked out, but they were in a couple of very sensitive 
agreements in terms of the agreements that were made.
  I would think we are probably going to want to review the conference 
report as it comes out to make certain that all that language got 
properly taken care of and that the people who did the negotiating are 
indeed satisfied before the rule came to the floor. I just wanted some 
assurance that we would have those opportunities once we got back in 
here tomorrow and before something moved in the case of a rule.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. We obviously have been trying throughout the process to 
make sure that the language reflected agreements that had been made. I 
am not aware of any problems. There have been some, and we have been 
able to work them out, and we will continue to do that. I can assure 
the gentleman and others that there will be adequate opportunity to 
look at language so that there are no mistakes and Members can feel 
that all the agreements have been carried out properly.
  Mr. WALKER. I think that is being done. I think we are working in 
good faith over there at the present time. I hope all that can be 
worked out. As I say though, the language was just given to the 
conferees at the moment they sat down at the table. In fact, the 
conference had to go into recess for 15 minutes just to allow them to 
leaf through the pages, to figure out what was there. In such a 
process, it is conceivable that something will get overlooked that will 
only be found by less tired people tomorrow.
  I just want to make certain that we have some opportunity to get 
those corrections done before a rule would come to the floor.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. We will do that.
  Mr. MICHEL. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, I just want to 
make the observation the Majority Leader has been dealing very 
forthrightly and in good faith, and I would trust the gentleman's word 
when he says, as he has earlier in the day, that he would make sure 
that what we were asking for was going to be satisfied.
  Mr. SOLOMON. If the Majority Leader would yield, how will we go about 
filing the conferenced report? My chairman of the Committee on Rules, 
Mr. Moakley, has called the Committee on Rules for 12 noon, and we will 
have that conference report prior to the rules meeting?
  Mr. GEPHARDT. That would be my understanding. I think that is our 
intent.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. That is our understanding. In fact, we come in 1 hour 
before the House comes in, so we will have to do the extra work that 
may be needed before the House gets here, before we report it out.
  Mr. SOLOMON. But the House will not convene until 1 p.m.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Right.
  Mr. SOLOMON. So that I would just hope that we would have it in the 
Committee on Rules so we could give it to other Members, since it is 
not going to be able to be filed out here, since we will not be in 
session.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. If the gentleman will yield, we would be happy to 
entertain unanimous consent request that they would have until noon 
tomorrow to file the report.
  Mr. SOLOMON. Just one last question.
  The SPEAKER. Does the gentleman mean to say noon today?
  Mr. GEPHARDT. I meant noon today. I am very sorry. The days are kind 
of moving together.
  Mr. SOLOMON. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That was helpful. Might I just 
say that it is my understanding that we will, when we put out a rule 
tomorrow at 12 noon allowing the bill to come to the floor today, 
excuse me, today, that we would have a motion to recommit made in order 
offered by our Republican leader, Mr. Michel, or his designee. Is that 
the understanding of the chairman of the Committee on Rules?
  Mr. MOAKLEY. When the Majority Leader gets through, I am going to ask 
unanimous consent to waive the two-thirds requirement so that we can 
bring the rule to the floor this afternoon.
  Mr. SOLOMON. But it is the intent of the Democrat leadership to allow 
Mr. Michel or his designee the normal traditional right of the minority 
for their motion to recommit with instructions?
  Mr. MOAKLEY. The gentleman is correct.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. The gentleman is correct.
  Mr. SOLOMON. I thank the gentlemen for their cooperation.

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