[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 72 (Wednesday, May 3, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H4518]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                          LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

  (Mr. BONIOR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, I wish to take this opportunity to inquire 
of the majority leader the schedule for next week.
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BONIOR. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, the House will not be in session on Monday, 
May 8. On Tuesday, May 9, the House will meet at 12:30 p.m. for morning 
hour and 2 o'clock p.m. for legislative business to take up H.R. 1139, 
the Striped Bass Conservation Act Amendments of 1995.
  Mr. Speaker, of course, this is very important legislation, and we 
will want to give it our immediate attention. Mr. Speaker, this bill 
will be considered under suspension of the rules.
  After we complete H.R. 1139, we plan to take up H.R. 1361, the fiscal 
year 1996 Coast Guard reauthorization, which is subject to a rule. 
While it is our intent to complete consideration of H.R. 1361 on 
Tuesday, we do not expect Tuesday to be a late night for Members. 
Members should be advised that we do not expect any recorded votes to 
be taken before 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
  On Wednesday the House will meet at 11 o'clock a.m. to consider H.R. 
961, the Clean Water Act Amendments of 1995, subject to a rule. We 
expect consideration of this bill to extend through the end of the 
week. The House will meet at 10 o'clock a.m. on Thursday and Friday. It 
is our hope to have Members on their way home to their families and 
their districts by no later than 3 o'clock p.m. on Friday.
  Mr. BONIOR. If I might inquire to my friend from Texas, on Tuesday we 
have the suspension bill that the gentleman mentioned, which I know is 
of great interest particularly to my friend from Texas, who is one of 
the best at that sport. But let me ask you this: Is it possible if we 
could not hold the votes until 5 p.m. on Tuesday, given the fact we are 
going to have a suspension bill and the Coast Guard authorization will 
be under an open rule?
  Mr. ARMEY. Well, I appreciate the gentleman's inquiry, but we do 
believe there will be some important amendments offered on the Coast 
Guard bill that follows. We do not expect a vote on the rule, but I do 
think in fairness to all Members who would participate in that 
important legislation, that we need to be prepared to have the 
membership prepared to have a vote as early as 3:30, but not before 
3:30, on Tuesday.
  Mr. BONIOR. Before 3:30?
  Mr. ARMEY. 3:30, yes.
  Mr. BONIOR. Does the gentleman plan to vote directly on the 
suspension on Tuesday, or are we going to take that up after the Coast 
Guard bill?
  Mr. ARMEY. If there is a vote on the suspension ordered, we will roll 
that vote. But we do not intend to roll votes that might be called 
while we are in the Committee of the Whole.
  Mr. BONIOR. I thank the gentleman. So Members would be safe until 
3:30, and presumably longer?
  Mr. ARMEY. Right.
  Mr. BONIOR. Do you expect votes on Friday?
  Mr. ARMEY. At this point, I think we have to be prepared for votes on 
Friday. We will be working on the Clean Water Act, and again we want to 
be able to, as we prepare for the week, be prepared to accommodate all 
the participation that any of the Members might want to make on that.
  Mr. BONIOR. On the clean water bill that we will have before us, 
since it is probably one of the most important environmental pieces of 
legislation that we will consider in this body this Congress, I would 
ask my friend, what do you anticipate with respect to a rule?
  It is our hope, obviously, that the rule will be open and we will not 
have a time cap on amendments, especially as the latter part of the 
week looks as if it is open and we can use indeed Thursday and Friday 
to complete this. I would hope that we would have an open process on 
this important bill.
  Mr. ARMEY. Well, again, the gentleman is absolutely correct on that, 
although a rule has not yet been granted. It is anticipated that will 
be an open rule, and on that basis it is our anticipation we should 
expect some votes on Friday.
  Mr. BONIOR. I would hope we would not have a time cap on that bill, I 
would ask my colleague. We want to clean up the waters of the country 
so you can catch all the great bass you referred to.
  Mr ARMEY. The gentleman's priorities are those I applaud in that 
regard. We want to keep this as open a process as possible.
  Mr. BONIOR. Finally, I would inquire from my
   friend from Texas with respect to the budget resolution. We are now 
into the 3d day of the month of May and we are past the April 15 
deadline in which a budget resolution is required to be produced by 
this Congress. We are weeks behind. It is the first time that we have 
been behind in a number of years.

  When are you going to bring the budget bill to the floor?
  Mr. ARMEY. It is our anticipation we can have the budget bill to the 
floor the week after next on May 17. Obviously the committee is working 
very hard and working as much as it can in conjunction with other 
committees. I checked with the committee, and we are very confident 
that that timetable will hold up.
  Mr. BONIOR. I thank the gentleman and yield back my time.
  Mr. ARMEY. If the gentleman would yield for one final observation, as 
long as we are on the subject of striped and other bass, may I just ask 
the Nation, catch 'em, kiss 'em, and release 'em.

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