Congressional Record, Volume 141 Issue 44 (Thursday, March 9, 1995)

[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 I have withdrawn the request, Mr.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 The gentleman has withdrawn his request.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.

____________________