[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 25 (Wednesday, February 8, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H1436]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  REQUEST FOR CERTAIN COMMITTEES AND SUBCOMMITTEES TO SIT ON TOMORROW 
                        DURING THE 5-MINUTE RULE

  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
the following committees and their subcommittees be permitted to sit 
tomorrow while the House is meeting in the Committee of the Whole House 
under the 5-minute rule.
  Agriculture; Banking and Financial Services; Commerce; Economic and 
Educational Opportunities; International Relations; Resources; 
Transportation and Infrastructure; and Veterans Affairs.
  It is my understanding that the minority has been consulted and that 
there is no objection to these requests.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
request of the gentleman from Pennyslvania?
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, we have in 
the last couple of weeks, I think, worked with the minority in a 
cooperative manner to facilitate the needs of the committees meeting.
  In every case, we have been able to come up with an agreement, a 
bipartisan agreement, I might add, to the issues that we face. However, 
we are troubled here on this side of the aisle over what occurred today 
in the Committee on Science.
  Mr. Speaker, the members of that committee, we believe, were not 
provided in a timely manner with the bill which they marked up, a very 
important bill. Secondly, we were not accommodated in terms of voting.
  There were votes going on in the Committee on Science while there 
were votes going on directly here on the floor. Of course, without 
proxy voting and the other reforms that we initiated at the beginning 
of the Congress, it is impossible for people to be in two places at one 
time. In fact, Mr. Speaker, there were a number of votes today, I 
understand, that were taken in that committee that occurred while 
Members were on the floor here, and they were not able to register 
their votes when they returned back to the committee.
  Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I just mention that for the second time on 
the floor, and I did it earlier this afternoon, just to alert my 
friends in the majority that if this type of activity continues, we 
will be constrained to object in the future. I hope, Mr. Speaker, that 
this type of behavior will be corrected and that we can work amicably 
so we can move this agenda, which I do not agree with in many 
instances, but nonetheless, take it up and discuss it in a fair and 
open manner in which the American people can have some pride and 
respect for our work.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania?
  There was no objection.
  

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