[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 98 (Thursday, June 15, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H6022-H6023]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     ANNOUNCEMENT OF AMENDMENT PROCESS FOR THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH 
                             APPROPRIATION

  (Mr. SOLOMON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. SOLOMON. Mr. Speaker, the Rules Committee is planning to meet on 
Monday, June 19, to grant a rule which may limit the amendments offered 
to the legislative branch appropriations bill.
  Members who wish to offer amendments to the bill should submit 55 
copies of their amendments, together with a brief explanation, to the 
Rules Committee office in H-312 of the Capitol, no later than noon on 
Monday, June 19.
  Amendments should be drafted to the bill as ordered reported by the 
Appropriations Committee. Copies of the text will be available for 
examination by Members and staff in the offices of the Appropriations 
Committee in H-218 of the Capitol.
  Members should use the Office of Legislative Counsel to ensure that 
their amendments are properly drafted and should check with the Office 
of the Parliamentarian to be certain their amendments comply with the 
rules of the House.
  Any offset amendments should be scored by CBO to ensure compliance 
with clause 2(f) of rule 21, which requires that they not increase the 
overall levels of budget authority and outlays in the bill.
  If Members or their staff have any questions regarding this 
procedure, they should contact Bill Crosby of our staff at extension 5-
9191.
  We appreciate the cooperation of all Members in submitting their 
amendments by the noon, June 19 deadline in properly drafted form.
  Mr. VOLKMER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. SOLOMON. I yield to the gentleman from Missouri.
  Mr. VOLKMER. Mr. Speaker, the only reason I asked for this is it is 
apparent for me that I always prefer a copy of the report and a copy of 
the bill, and I am suggesting to Members that if they would contact the 
Appropriations Subcommittee at H-218, I am sure that they can obtain a 
copy of the subcommittee report--I mean a full [[Page H6023]] committee 
report and the bill at that time. They would not have to go down there 
and just look at it themselves. That was of concern to me, and I think 
that is available to them.
  The other thing that I am very curious about:
  This will be the second bill, appropriations bill, to be taken up. We 
are going to be taking up one tomorrow.
  Mr. SOLOMON. That is correct.
  Mr. VOLKMER. And that is under a rule; correct?
  Mr. SOLOMON. Yes.
  Mr. VOLKMER. Are we going to be doing rules on every appropriation 
bill?
  Mr. SOLOMON. If they have to come to the Committee on Rules, as the 
gentleman knows----
  Mr. VOLKMER. No appropriation bill has to go to the Committee on 
Rules.
  Mr. SOLOMON. Well, it does if they contain unauthorized legislation.
  Mr. VOLKMER. That is correct.
  Mr. SOLOMON. And of course, if that has not been passed by both 
Houses, then it is going to require a rule. But we intend to make sure 
that all of it is going to be subject to the authorizing committees; 
that is important.
  Mr. VOLKMER. In other words, if something has passed the House that 
has been authorized, then the gentleman wants to make sure that it is 
protected under the rule so it can- 
not be stricken on a point of order from 
the----
  Mr. SOLOMON. That is right, such as the defense authorization bill 
that just passed the House a few moments ago. The military construction 
bill coming up tomorrow is going to be subject to that, and all of the 
succeeding bills will be the same thing.
  Mr. VOLKMER. Does the gentleman plan to go further in that and 
protect other things, legislative language and things like that that 
have not been covered by authorization but that somebody wants to put 
an appropriation bill because they did not get it in the present law?
  Mr. SOLOMON. I would certainly hope not. We want to try to protect 
the committee system in this Congress. It has worked well for many 
years, and we do not want to violate the rules of the House. That would 
be a violation which would be subject to waiver if this body saw fit, 
but I personally oppose it.
  Mr. VOLKMER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman very much.
  Now the other thing, and last thing, I would like to ask the 
gentleman about:
  In the rule for the MILCON, military construction, tomorrow the 
gentleman from Oklahoma [Mr. Brewster] had requested that his amendment 
be in order. Is that amendment going to be in order?
  Mr. SOLOMON. No, we have a completely open rule on the military 
construction appropriation bill that will be on the floor, and that 
means that it will be subject to all the rules of the House.
  Mr. VOLKMER. So it has to be germane.
  Mr. SOLOMON. That require waivers. It also comes under the 
jurisdiction of the Government Operations Committee and the Committee 
on the Budget. Hopefully we can deal with those so we do not have to 
deal with each individual one. That would require waivers of the House, 
and we did not make any waivers in order for legislating in 
appropriations bills.

                              {time}  1545

  Mr. VOLKMER. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from New York 
for his explanations. I appreciate the comments.


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