[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 17, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H247]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


            ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING RULES COMMITTEE MEETINGS

  (Mr. SOLOMON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minutes.)
  Mr. SOLOMON. Mr. Speaker, I want to remind my colleagues that the 
Rules Committee will meet tomorrow at 11 a.m., to report an open rule 
for the consideration of H.R. 5, the Unfunded Mandate Reform Act of 
1995.
  The rule may include and this is why I rise today, to let Members 
know, a provision giving priority in recognition to Members who have 
caused their amendments to be printed in the amendment section of the 
Congressional Record prior to their consideration--though this would 
not be mandatory.
  General debate is scheduled for Thursday of this week on the floor, 
and the amendment process will begin on Friday, so Members wishing to 
have priority recognition should submit their amendments for printing 
in the Record no later than Thursday.
  I would point out that it is not necessary to submit your amendments 
to the Rules Committee or to come up and testify, since we do plan on 
providing an open amendment process.
  Members should use the Office of Legislative Counsel to ensure that 
their amendments are properly drafted to an amendment in the nature of 
a substitute, we will make in order the changes recommended by the 
committees of jurisdiction.
  Mr. Speaker, I also would like to let the membership now that we 
intend to meet at 1 p.m. on Monday, January 23, to take testimony on a 
rule for the consideration of House Joint Resolution 1, which is the 
balanced budget constitutional amendment.
  As I announced last Wednesday on the floor and through a ``Dear 
Colleague'' letter sent to all Members last week, the rule may include 
a provision permitting only the offering of amendments in the nature of 
a substitute by Members who have caused their amendments to be printed 
in the amendment section of the Congressional Record, and this is the 
important part, no later than this coming Friday, January 20.
  Mr. Speaker, Members wishing to testify in support of their 
substitutes at next Monday's hearing should contact the Rules Committee 
at extension 5-9191 by Friday of this week.
  Mrs. SCHROEDER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield for an inquiry?
  Mr. SOLOMON. If I have the time I will be glad to yield to the 
gentlewoman from Colorado.
  Mrs. SCHROEDER. Mr. Speaker, the only inquiry I have is that members 
of the Committee on the Judiciary were concerned because the committee 
did not have a 7-day notice before the markup, and had written the 
chairman of the Judiciary Committee asking him to reopen it because 
many amendments were not presented in the markup of that constitutional 
amendment.
  My understanding is the Parliamentarian said we should have to deal 
with the 7-day notice. Will the Rules Committee delay the meeting on 
the rule until we have had the 7-day notice?
  Mr. SOLOMON. I would say to the gentlewoman we could not do that. We 
are under a time constraint, as the gentlewoman knows, and since 
January 4 we have set the time schedule so that Members developing 
alternatives in the nature of a substitute have had plenty of time. I 
for one am interested in that myself and we have been discussing it 
with Members on both sides of the aisle. I believe by this coming 
Friday, 3 weeks will have passed and we all will have had time to 
develop our alternatives if we have them. And we are going to consider 
all of those alternatives, as you know, up in the Rules Committee.
  Mrs. SCHROEDER. If the gentleman will yield further, the issue was 
not that per se, but that the Committee on the Judiciary, which marked 
up the constitutional amendment, did not get 7 days' notice as of the 
markup, which under the rules of the House is required, and we did not 
get to deal with the issues that go right to the core of that balanced 
budget amendment: Judicial review and standing. Those to me go right to 
the core of whether it works or not. So that is our issue.
  Should not the committee finish that, because we will not know what 
kind of substitutes?
  The SPEAKER. The Chair recognized the gentleman from New York for 1 
minute. This is not debate time beyond that.
  Mr. SOLOMON. I thank the Speaker. We cannot take up more of the time. 
I will tell the gentlewoman I will be glad to discuss it with the 
chairman and ranking member of the committee. I believe the 7 days' 
time has been ample, but we will discuss it with 


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