[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 44 (Thursday, March 9, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H2913-H2914]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PERMISSION FOR MEMBERS TO PREFILE AMENDMENTS ON H.R. 1158, EMERGENCY 
SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS AND RESCISSIONS AND H.R. 1159, SUPPLEMENTAL 
                     APPROPRIATIONS AND RESCISSIONS

  Mr. SOLOMON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that Members would 
have until 5 p.m. on Monday to prefile their amendments on the 
rescission bills.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ewing). Is there objection to the 
request of the gentleman from New York?
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, would the 
gentleman be kind enough to withhold that request until we clear it 
with our leadership on this side, because I am sure this comes as quite 
a surprise.
  Mr. SOLOMON. If the gentleman will yield, the gentleman is one of my 
best friends, and I would be glad to withdraw it at his request.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. I thank the gentleman.
  Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I would also like to reserve the right to 
object.
  Mr. SOLOMON. I have withdrawn the request, Mr. Speaker.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has withdrawn his request.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. SOLOMON. I yield to the gentleman from Maryland.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, let me ask the gentleman two questions that 
relate to the original announcement made by the gentleman from New York 
[Mr. Solomon], the committee chairman.
  First of all, the gentleman mentioned legislating on an appropriation 
bill. Am I correct that the intent of the Committee on Rules will be to 
protect that legislation that is on the bill as it was reported by the 
committee?
  Mr. SOLOMON. Absolutely. We intend to abide by the rules of the 
House.
  Mr. HOYER. So you will be protecting----
  Mr. SOLOMON. All we are saying is that if Members have amendments 
that would reinstate any of the cuts appearing in the bill that they 
would have to have offsetting cuts by chapter. In other words, in the 
Department of Veterans Affairs, HUD and Independent Agencies chapter, 
if you were going to reinstate a cut in that chapter, then you would 
have to provide for offsetting cuts within that chapter. But you are 
still allowed to offer further cuts on any of the chapters if you see 
fit, without offsetting anything.
  Mr. HOYER. I understand. So if you wanted to make a cut in the 
defense chapter, there is no defense chapter, but if there were, you 
would have to make the cut in defense?
  Mr. SOLOMON. Absolutely.
  Mr. HOYER. That was, however, not the same when we added to the 
defense and made rescissions in the domestic side of the ledger some 
weeks ago. So we are changing that; is that correct?
  Mr. SOLOMON. As we are doing it by chapter, right, because of the 
complexity of this legislation.
  Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. SOLOMON. I yield to the gentleman from Michigan.
  [[Page H2914]] Mr. DINGELL. What I am trying to do is to find out 
from my good friend the gentleman from New York, when will the basic 
legislation be available to us and when will the requirement for 
publication take place so we understand how much time we are going to 
have between the time the legislation becomes available and the time 
that the amendments----
  Mr. SOLOMON. It is in today's Record. The gentleman has access to it. 
It was filed last night.
  Mr. DINGELL. It was filed last night?
  Mr. SOLOMON. Yes.
  Mr. DINGELL. If the gentleman would yield further, could the 
gentleman tell me whether there will be changes in the legislation 
between now and the time that the printing requirement bites, so that 
we can understand that our amendments if drafted will be drafted to the 
legislation that will be considered by the House?
  Mr. SOLOMON. To my knowledge, there will be no changes made. The 
report has been filed and the legislation is before you. It is pretty 
cut and dried.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman from New York [Mr. 
Solomon] has expired.
  Mr. SOLOMON. I am waiting for the gentleman from Massachusetts up in 
the Committee on Rules. We are holding up all these people.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address the 
outstanding chairman of the Committee on Rules.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Massachusetts?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. The gentleman from New York [Mr. Solomon] says this is 
all cut and dried. So is there any reason for any amendments to be 
offered by Democrats? Are we going to be given any choice when you are 
picking out the Democratic amendments?
  Mr. SOLOMON. There is a prefiling requirement. We intend to place a 
time limitation, but we would hopefully be able to take care of 
anyone's amendments, Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative. 
We want to be as fair as we possibly can.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I want to yield to our mutual friend, the 
chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, the Honorable General 
Montgomery.
  Mr. SOLOMON. He is not the chairman. He is the former good chairman, 
though.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. He is always chairman to me.
  Mr. MONTGOMERY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, I have been 
talking to him about the rescission of $206 million on veterans 
programs, mainly outpatient clinics which have been very, very 
important to take care of the older vet now that we have got about 20 
million that are over age 60.
  I have talked to the gentleman before. How does this affect the 
veterans?
  Mr. SOLOMON. This means if you want to offer an amendment reinstating 
the cuts that appear in that chapter of the rescission bill--and I 
would support such an amendment, and I will take the floor and fight 
for it with you--it means that you are going to have to offset that 
reinstatement with a like amount of dollar cuts from other items 
appearing in that same chapter. Again that chapter takes in the 
Department of Veterans Affairs, it takes in HUD and independent 
agencies.
  Just, for example, if you want to reinstate the veterans' cuts--and I 
do want to reinstate them, too--you are going to have to take them out 
of something like the National Service Corps, Americorps. In other 
words, we are going to have to decide which is the priority, and I will 
support the gentleman no matter where he takes it out of, out of that 
chapter.
  Mr. MONTGOMERY. Will the gentleman support me if we do not take it 
away from anybody and just offer a clean amendment?
  Mr. SOLOMON. No, I would not support that, because we have a 
responsibility to maintain the defense budget. With all the money that 
has been taken out of the defense budget for all of the peacekeeping 
missions, that is wrong. We have got to reinstate it someplace, and I 
will support your amendment if you offer it and will take the cuts out 
of somewhere else in the chapter.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time has expired.
  (By unanimous consent, Mr. Moakley was allowed to proceed for 1 
additional minute.)
  Mr. MOAKLEY. I yield to the gentleman from Mississippi.
  Mr. MONTGOMERY. To the chairman of the Committee on Rules, one more 
question.
  Mr. SOLOMON. One more time.
  Mr. MONTGOMERY. In that chapter, the only thing the veterans have 
would be compensation and pensions, and I certainly would not want to 
cut compensation and pension programs.
  Mr. SOLOMON. No.
  Mr. MONTGOMERY. In that chapter, what else does it include that we 
could get the money from? And would you let me offer a clean amendment 
just to take care of the $206 million?
  Mr. SOLOMON. Sonny, as a matter of fact, here is a list I will be 
glad to give to you. There are a lot of items in that chapter. 
Certainly I would not want to see you take it out of other veterans' 
benefits, but if you want to take it out of the National Service Corps, 
I will support your amendment. If you do not want to do that, I will do 
it.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Is the gentleman from New York [Mr. Solomon] going to 
allow the amendments that have been subject to the Appropriations 
Committee's----
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time has expired.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. May the gentleman from New York [Mr. Solomon] have 
enough time just to answer the question Mr. Speaker?
  Mr. SOLOMON. That is up to the Committee on Rules, Joe, and you are 
the ranking member.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. You are the Committee on Rules. I am asking.
  

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