[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 13 (Monday, January 23, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H528-H529]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MOTION TO PERMIT COMMITTEES AND SUBCOMMITTEES TO MEET DURING THE 5-
MINUTE RULE FOR THE BALANCE OF THE WEEK
Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I move that all the committees of the House
and their subcommittees may have permission to sit for today and the
balance of the week while the House is meeting in the Committee of the
Whole House on the State of the Union under the 5-minute rule.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. This is a privileged motion. The gentleman
from Texas [Mr. Armey] is recognized for 1 hour.
parliamentary inquiry
Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will state his parliamentary
inquiry.
Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, I understand this motion is debatable for 1
hour. Will the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Armey] yield the customary
time to the minority for the purpose of debate?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. It is the Speaker's understanding that the 1
hour is to be held in its entirety by the majority leader, the maker of
the motion, and time will be sought from the majority leader.
Mr. BONIOR. Continuing my parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Speaker, will
the gentleman be willing to yield half the time for the minority for a
discussion of this issue?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. That is not a parliamentary inquiry. The
request will be made.
Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
(Mr. ARMEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, as Members know, the House Republicans have
an ambitious legislative agenda for Congress' first 100 days. In order
for the House to complete the action on the contract items, the
committees and subcommittees have their work cut out for them. The
purpose of this resolution is to allow this important work to take
place and to move legislation to the floor for further debate.
Mr. Speaker, this resolution allowing committees to meet during the
5-minute rule is not a new policy for the House. In the last Congress,
blanket authority for committees to meet during the amendment process
was standard procedure.
In this Congress, we have changed our rules, and therefore it is
necessary within our rules for me to have sought this exception to our
rules. It is not something that I expect will be a commonplace practice
on the part of the majority, but during this contract period, for our
committees and subcommittees to be able to carry out our work, I have
made this request.
{time} 2150
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan [Mr.
Bonior], the distinguished minority whip.
Mr. BONIOR. I thank my friend from Texas for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, just 2 weeks ago, the House approved a bipartisan
package of sweeping reforms that the other side touted as major reform
in this Congress on the first day. Now what we are finding this evening
is that the Republicans are backtracking on that reform just 2 weeks
into this session.
Mr. Speaker, Members cannot be in two places at one time. They cannot
be on the floor voting while they are voting in committee and they
should not have to run back and forth from committee to the Capitol
every 5 minutes.
Now it would not be so laughable, Mr. Speaker, if this was not the
centerpiece that we are going to be discussing next week, the balanced
budget amendment, of their contract. While they are asking us to be
here on the floor discussing the contract, they want to have the line-
item veto in the Government Reform Committee. They want to deal with
the Mexican loan bailout in the Banking Committee.
Mr. Speaker, we have over 160 amendments on this mandate bill, over
40 substitutes on the balanced budget amendment. We worked hard for
those reforms that you were so proud of: ban proxy voting, eliminate
the three committees, restrict the number of subcommittees.
All of a sudden we are into 2 weeks of the session and backtracking
we go. I do not think the American people will agree with the reforms
that you have put forward and the backtracking that you are about to
undertake in this very first 2 weeks. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I hope my
colleagues will vote against this ill-conceived resolution.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. BONIOR. I yield to my friend, the gentleman from Massachusetts
[Mr. Frank].
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I disagree with the majority
leader's statement that this last year and the year before was blanket
permission.
As I understand the rule, unless the House granted such permission,
any Member in a committee that was sitting in a markup could have
objected. Any Member could have objected. If you sat during the 5-
minute rule to mark up a bill in committee, the objection of a single
Member in committee ended that meeting. You had to come to the floor,
and any 10 Members could block it.
This is an arrogation to the majority far beyond what we had. I sit
on the Banking Committee. I do not want to be forced to choose between
debating safeguards for the American people on the Mexico loan and
protecting Social Security in the balanced budget amendment.
What you have done is a brandnew procedure. The intolerance for
debate is already starting to rise, shout them down, don't yield time.
The gentleman has an hour.
May I ask the gentleman from Texas how much time he plans to allow us
to debate this?
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Thomas). The time of the gentleman from
Michigan [Mr. Bonior] has expired.
Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, once again I would say the people's business
requires prompt attention to their work from the committees and the
subcommittees.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the
previous question on the resolution.
The previous question was ordered.
parliamentary inquiry
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary
inquiry.
[[Page H529]] How much time of the hour did the gentleman from Texas
consume?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Texas [Mr. Armey]
consumed 5 minutes of his time and he yielded 3 minutes, which the
gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Bonior] consumed.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. And yielded back 55 minutes.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Texas [Mr. Armey].
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
recorded vote
Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.
A recorded vote was ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. This will be a 17-minute vote maximum.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 232,
noes 187, not voting 15, as followings:
[Roll No. 29]
AYES--232
Allard
Archer
Armey
Bachus
Baker (CA)
Baker (LA)
Ballenger
Barr
Barrett (NE)
Bartlett
Barton
Bass
Bateman
Bereuter
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bliley
Blute
Boehlert
Boehner
Bonilla
Bono
Brownback
Bryant (TN)
Bunn
Bunning
Burr
Burton
Buyer
Callahan
Calvert
Camp
Canady
Castle
Chabot
Chambliss
Chenoweth
Christensen
Chrysler
Clinger
Coble
Coburn
Collins (GA)
Combest
Cooley
Cox
Crane
Crapo
Cremeans
Cubin
Cunningham
Davis
DeLay
Diaz-Balart
Dickey
Doolittle
Dornan
Dreier
Duncan
Dunn
Ehlers
Ehrlich
Emerson
English
Ensign
Everett
Ewing
Fawell
Fields (TX)
Flanagan
Foley
Forbes
Fowler
Fox
Franks (CT)
Franks (NJ)
Frelinghuysen
Frisa
Funderburk
Gallegly
Ganske
Gekas
Gilchrest
Gillmor
Gilman
Goodlatte
Goodling
Goss
Graham
Greenwood
Gunderson
Gutknecht
Hamilton
Hancock
Hansen
Hastert
Hastings (WA)
Hayworth
Hefley
Heineman
Herger
Hilleary
Hobson
Hoekstra
Hoke
Horn
Hostettler
Houghton
Hunter
Hutchinson
Hyde
Inglis
Istook
Jacobs
Johnson (CT)
Johnson, Sam
Jones
Kasich
Kelly
Kildee
Kim
King
Kingston
Klug
Knollenberg
Kolbe
LaHood
Largent
Latham
LaTourette
Lazio
Leach
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (KY)
Lightfoot
Linder
Livingston
LoBiondo
Longley
Lucas
Manzullo
Martini
McCollum
McCrery
McDade
McHugh
McInnis
McIntosh
McKeon
Meyers
Mica
Miller (FL)
Molinari
Moorhead
Morella
Myers
Myrick
Nethercutt
Neumann
Ney
Norwood
Nussle
Oxley
Packard
Paxon
Petri
Pombo
Porter
Portman
Pryce
Quillen
Quinn
Radanovich
Ramstad
Regula
Riggs
Roberts
Roemer
Rogers
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Roth
Roukema
Royce
Salmon
Sanford
Saxton
Scarborough
Schaefer
Schiff
Seastrand
Sensenbrenner
Shadegg
Shaw
Shays
Shuster
Skeen
Smith (MI)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Smith (WA)
Solomon
Souder
Spence
Stearns
Stockman
Stump
Talent
Tate
Taylor (NC)
Thomas
Thornberry
Thornton
Tiahrt
Torkildsen
Upton
Vucanovich
Waldholtz
Walker
Walsh
Wamp
Watts (OK)
Weldon (FL)
Weldon (PA)
Weller
White
Whitfield
Wolf
Yates
Young (AK)
Young (FL)
Zimmer
NOES--187
Ackerman
Andrews
Baesler
Baldacci
Barcia
Barrett (WI)
Becerra
Beilenson
Bentsen
Berman
Bevill
Bonior
Borski
Boucher
Brewster
Browder
Brown (CA)
Brown (FL)
Brown (OH)
Bryant (TX)
Cardin
Chapman
Clay
Clayton
Clement
Clyburn
Coleman
Collins (IL)
Collins (MI)
Condit
Conyers
Costello
Coyne
Cramer
Danner
de la Garza
Deal
DeFazio
DeLauro
Dellums
Deutsch
Dicks
Dingell
Dixon
Doggett
Dooley
Doyle
Durbin
Edwards
Engel
Eshoo
Evans
Farr
Fattah
Fazio
Filner
Foglietta
Frank (MA)
Frost
Furse
Gejdenson
Gephardt
Geren
Gibbons
Gonzalez
Gordon
Green
Gutierrez
Hall (TX)
Harman
Hastings (FL)
Hayes
Hefner
Hilliard
Hinchey
Holden
Hoyer
Jackson-Lee
Jefferson
Johnson (SD)
Johnson, E. B.
Johnston
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Kennelly
Kleczka
Klink
LaFalce
Laughlin
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Lincoln
Lipinski
Lofgren
Lowey
Luther
Maloney
Manton
Markey
Mascara
Matsui
McCarthy
McDermott
McHale
McKinney
McNulty
Meehan
Meek
Menendez
Mfume
Miller (CA)
Mineta
Minge
Mink
Moakley
Mollohan
Montgomery
Moran
Murtha
Nadler
Neal
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Orton
Owens
Pallone
Parker
Pastor
Payne (NJ)
Payne (VA)
Pelosi
Peterson (FL)
Peterson (MN)
Pickett
Pomeroy
Poshard
Rahall
Rangel
Reed
Reynolds
Richardson
Rivers
Rose
Roybal-Allard
Sabo
Sanders
Sawyer
Schroeder
Schumer
Scott
Serrano
Sisisky
Skaggs
Skelton
Slaughter
Stark
Stenholm
Stokes
Studds
Stupak
Tanner
Tauzin
Taylor (MS)
Tejeda
Thompson
Thurman
Torres
Torricelli
Towns
Traficant
Tucker
Velazquez
Vento
Visclosky
Volkmer
Ward
Waters
Watt (NC)
Waxman
Williams
Wilson
Wise
Woolsey
Wyden
Wynn
NOT VOTING--15
Abercrombie
Bishop
Fields (LA)
Flake
Ford
Hall (OH)
Kennedy (MA)
Kennedy (RI)
Lantos
Martinez
Metcalf
Rush
Spratt
Wicker
Zeliff
{time} 2207
So the motion was agreed to.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________