[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 144 (Thursday, October 6, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 6, 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 would inquire of the gentleman from 
Missouri [Mr. Gephardt], the distinguished Majority Leader, how we 
intend to proceed for the balance of the evening, and maybe tomorrow's 
schedule.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. MICHEL. I am happy to yield to the gentleman from Missouri.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.
  Mr. Speaker, our intention is to go to the rule now on California 
Desert, and the conference report. Those votes will be the last votes 
of today, this evening. this morning.
  Then tomorrow, I would like to move after that for unanimous consent 
that we come in tomorrow at noon. Then we go to the PILT bill, and we 
have a number of other conference reports. We are discussing with the 
minority a list of unanimous consent requests that we will work on 
tonight and tomorrow morning and refine. There is the matter of 
compliance that is still out there. That is about it.
  Mr. Speaker, as to when we would finish tomorrow it is really 
difficult, not knowing what the Senate will produce and when it will 
produce it. I could imagine that we could get to a point where we 
cannot have further votes at some point tomorrow evening. What time 
that would be, there is no way to predict at this point. We will make 
it as early as possible.

                              {time}  0110

  Mr. MICHEL. Might I inquire, has the decision been made, then, that 
we would adjourn until the date in November?
  Mr. GEPHARDT. That is correct.
  Mr. MICHEL. I thank the gentleman.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. MICHEL. I yield to the gentleman from California.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, if I could ask a question of 
the majority leader, I would appreciate it.
  The gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Gephardt] and I have had a number of 
conversations today and the last several days as we have danced around 
the desert bill and I must say to the House and to him publicly that he 
has been extremely cooperative in trying to work out the schedules that 
make sense.
  Earlier this evening we had a conversation that I had hoped would 
solve a part of this evening's problem; that is, it seemed to me that 
there were a couple of technical difficulties with this conference 
report that need to be solved between now and tomorrow. If we could 
solve them, we could easily put this whole thing over and get rid of 
this bill in 15 minutes tomorrow and because of a lack of solution, 
there appears to be a more extended discussion and maybe even votes 
this evening.
  I want to know if anything has changed since the last time we talked. 
I would not suggest that the gentleman is the problem, but indeed there 
has been a technical problem.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. If the gentleman will yield, we are still working on 
the technical problems and they may be able to be solved tonight, but 
we still need to process the bill tonight so that it can get to the 
Senate on a timely basis tomorrow. If we came in tomorrow at noon and 
even went through a shortened procedure, it would not meet up with the 
schedule that the leader on the Senate side is trying to meet. We will 
try to meet the technical problems this evening. It may be possible, we 
are working on it now, to solve those technical problems. The chairman 
of the Committee of Natural Resources and staff is working with Members 
on the other side to solve those problems.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. If the gentleman will yield further, in 
commenting, I certainly would be willing to come in at 9:30 or 10 or 
otherwise, if we could solve those technical problems. I do not think 
we need an extended debate tonight and I know the gentleman does not, 
but it is not going to make a difference in time in a real way at the 
other end.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. If the gentleman would yield, we would be happy to have 
a shortened procedure tonight if these technical problems are worked 
out. And I think they can be. There is no reason we could not go 
through a shortened debate on the rule and on the conference report. 
Again, it is not going to change the ultimate outcome and timing in the 
other body. Our problem is that the majority leader there needs the 
bill at about 11 in the morning, and the other side has asked for a 
conference in the morning and we have accommodated that request and, 
therefore, we really cannot get to the floor until about noontime.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. If the gentleman would yield further, we do 
intend to go forward with the rule and we will have some debate there, 
cover part of the product, I suppose, and maybe some of those technical 
problems could be solved before we get to the bill.
  In the meantime, I want the House to know that the majority leader 
and others have been very cooperative. It has not been totally 
satisfactory across the board, but we do appreciate the work of the 
gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Gephardt].
  Mr. MICHEL. May I ask the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Gephardt] if 
the hour for reconvening or for coming in, then, tomorrow, is 
definitely set for 12 noon?
  Mr. GEPHARDT. I am going to ask unanimous consent in a moment to ask 
for that.
  Mr. MICHEL. I thank the gentleman.
  Mr. GINGRICH. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. MICHEL. I yield to the gentleman from Georgia.
  Mr. GINGRICH. On our side, I think we just want to make sure in case 
any Member is confused, that the conference was moved to 11, so the 
Members are aware that they need to be in by 11 in the morning prior to 
going in at 12.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. I failed to mention that there will likely 
be votes, at least one vote in this process, not too far down the line, 
we hope.

                          ____________________