[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 110 (Monday, July 10, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H6723-H6725]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PERMISSION FOR ALL COMMITTEES AND THEIR SUBCOMMITTEES TO SIT FOR
REMAINDER OF WEEK DURING 5-MINUTE RULE
Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I offer a privileged motion.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the motion.
The Clerk read as follows:
Pursuant to Clause 2(I) of rule XI, Mr. Armey moves that
all committees and subcommittees of the House be permitted to
sit for the remainder of the week while the House is meeting
in the Committee of the Whole House under the 5-minute rule.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Texas [Mr. Armey] is
recognized for 1 hour.
Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I will not take the 1 hour.
Mr. Speaker, let me say at the outset, this is a rather routine
request. The request is made necessary by our desire to keep floor
consideration of spending bills as open as possible and accessible to
all the Members of the body, while at the same time, of course,
committee work must go on. We feel like this is a necessary
accommodation, and appreciate the fact that the committees are so
willing to accommodate our need to maintain a floor schedule and move
our spending bills.
I should like to tell the Members of the body that after a very brief
debate on this motion, we will have a vote, and it will be the last
vote of the evening.
Mr. Speaker, with those comments, I yield for 5 minutes for purposes
of debate only to the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Frank].
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I do take note of the fact
that the majority has decided we will do no further legislative
business today of any sort, and that will allow us to leave. But I was
particularly struck when the majority leader said this is a routine
request. Indeed, it has become so.
It has become routine for the Republican Party to ignore the rules it
so proudly proclaimed at the first day of the session, because one of
the great reforms that they brought to us, one of the new ways of doing
business, was the one that was to say that the House will not sit
simultaneously with the committees.
You would not, if you were on the Committee on the Judiciary, have an
important markup on the terrorism bill at the same time a
constitutional amendment is on the floor. You would not, if you were on
the Committee on Appropriations, have a full committee markup while a
bill is on the floor. That was one of the great reforms the Republicans
were bringing us, and as the gentleman from Texas has honestly said, it
has now become----
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will suspend until we get some
order.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I thank the Speaker
for his efforts, but it has been my experience that when people do
not want to hear something, you cannot make them listen.
The Republicans do not want to hear the reminders of how short-lived
their promises were about running the House. This is an example. They
made a big deal about how they were changing its rules so we would not
have that
[[Page H 6724]]
conflict between committee business in the House, and it is now routine
to change it. When that is changed, of course, they make a mockery of
the rule on proxies.
We were told you cannot have proxy voting; be there in committee. But
what do you do when a bill that you are seriously interested in is
being debated on the floor and the committee on which you are a member
is simultaneously meeting? Maybe it is a bill on which that committee
has jurisdiction. How do you avoid missing one or the other?
So what we have had is, at least in the committees I have seen, a
very creative contest by the chairs of the committee on how to get
around the proxy rule. Let's roll the votes. Let's hold the votes.
Let's reconsider. Let's have some mock votes.
In area after area, we have seen the rules disregarded. We were told
we would have a strict limit on the number of subcommittees a member
can be on. We are. Members are strictly limited on the Republican side
to the number of subcommittees on which they wish to serve and no more.
And that need bear no relationship to the basic rule.
We have been told, in the substantive areas as well, that the
Republican Party will honor the right of the States. They do. They
honor the right of the States to make any decision with which the
Republican Party is in agreement. But where the States may misdecide,
they will overrule those decisions.
We are here talking about a very fundamental issue.
Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I am listening intently to the gentleman and
having difficulty hearing.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman is correct. The House is not
in order. The House will be in order.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I appreciate the solicitude and care with
which the gentleman from Texas has helped me get attention.
I would appreciate even more, however, some solicitude for the
ability of the House to legislate in a sensible way. The Committee on
Appropriations members will be put to the problematic task of sitting
in full committee while they are in fact having bills on the floor. The
Committee on the Judiciary has now called a markup on the very
sensitive subject of abortion, and members of the Committee on the
Judiciary will be asked to be at that full committee while there is
legislation on the floor.
It is a very clear example. Politicians who have been caught being
inconsistent like to misquote Ralph Waldo Emerson, they leave out a
couple of adjectives, about how consistency is for the small-minded. I
want to congratulate my colleagues on the other side. They must feel
large-minded indeed these days, because there is scarcely a principle
which they brought forward on the opening day of the session which they
have not violated, as the gentleman from Texas has said, routinely.
Routinely we get the proxy cut aside. Routinely the notion of family
friendly is ignored. Routinely the committees meet while the House is
in session. Routinely, if you do not like what the States do, States
rights become something you put back under the rug.
Mr. Speaker, this is one more example of a failure to live up to
those professions of concern.
Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I yield to the gentleman from
Connecticut.
Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding.
Mr. Speaker, this is more than just a process issue. The way the
House has been run has denied Members their ability to adequately
represent their constituency. Being a Member of Congress puts you in an
area where you have many responsibilities. One is on the floor. As
legislation moves through the floor that you are particularly involved
in, you have a responsibility to be here on the floor. But you are also
a member of several committees, and under this new process, where there
is no proxy voting, where sometimes the votes are held until the end of
the committee, sometimes they are not, this is not simply a change in
process. It is actually again stacking the deck against Members.
Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I do want to say I appreciate the kind remarks of the
distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Frank] and also want to
express my appreciation for the kindness of the gentleman from
Connecticut as well. But I do feel compelled, which is a rare
opportunity for anybody in this body, to correct the gentleman from
Massachusetts.
{time} 2015
The quote that the gentleman struggled for is, in fact, ``a foolish
consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, charlatans and divines,''
if I can get that corrected.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the
previous question on the motion.
The previous question was ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Walker). The question is on the motion.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the noes appeared to have it.
Recorded Vote
Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.
A recorded vote was ordered.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 234,
noes 176, not voting 24, as follows:
[Roll No. 477]
AYES--234
Allard
Archer
Armey
Bachus
Baker (CA)
Baker (LA)
Ballenger
Barr
Barrett (NE)
Bartlett
Barton
Bass
Bateman
Bereuter
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bliley
Blute
Boehlert
Boehner
Bonilla
Bono
Brownback
Bryant (TN)
Bunn
Bunning
Burr
Burton
Buyer
Callahan
Calvert
Camp
Canady
Castle
Chabot
Chambliss
Chenoweth
Christensen
Chrysler
Clinger
Coble
Coburn
Collins (GA)
Combest
Cooley
Cox
Crane
Crapo
Cremeans
Cubin
Cunningham
Davis
Deal
DeLay
Diaz-Balart
Dickey
Doolittle
Dornan
Dreier
Duncan
Dunn
Ehlers
Ehrlich
Emerson
English
Ensign
Everett
Ewing
Fawell
Fields (TX)
Flanagan
Foley
Forbes
Fowler
Fox
Franks (CT)
Franks (NJ)
Frelinghuysen
Frisa
Funderburk
Gallegly
Ganske
Gekas
Gilchrest
Gilman
Goodlatte
Goodling
Goss
Graham
Greenwood
Gunderson
Gutknecht
Hall (TX)
Hancock
Hansen
Hastings (WA)
Hayes
Hayworth
Hefley
Heineman
Herger
Hilleary
Hobson
Hoekstra
Hoke
Horn
Hostettler
Houghton
Hutchinson
Hyde
Inglis
Istook
Jacobs
Johnson (CT)
Johnson, Sam
Jones
Kasich
Kelly
Kim
King
Kingston
Klug
Knollenberg
Kolbe
LaHood
Largent
Latham
LaTourette
Laughlin
Lazio
Leach
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (KY)
Lightfoot
Linder
Livingston
LoBiondo
Longley
Lucas
Manzullo
Martini
McCollum
McCrery
McDade
McHugh
McInnis
McIntosh
McKeon
Metcalf
Meyers
Mica
Miller (FL)
Molinari
Montgomery
Moorhead
Morella
Myers
Myrick
Nethercutt
Neumann
Ney
Norwood
Nussle
Packard
Parker
Paxon
Petri
Pombo
Porter
Portman
Quillen
Quinn
Radanovich
Rahall
Ramstad
Regula
Riggs
Roberts
Rogers
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Roth
Roukema
Royce
Salmon
Sanford
Saxton
Scarborough
Schaefer
Schiff
Seastrand
Sensenbrenner
Shadegg
Shaw
Shays
Shuster
Sisisky
Skeen
Skelton
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Smith (WA)
Solomon
Souder
Spence
Stearns
Stockman
Stump
Talent
Tate
Tauzin
Taylor (NC)
Thomas
Thornberry
Tiahrt
Torkildsen
Upton
Vucanovich
Waldholtz
Walker
Walsh
Wamp
Watts (OK)
Weldon (FL)
Weldon (PA)
Weller
White
Whitfield
Wicker
Wolf
Young (AK)
Young (FL)
Zeliff
Zimmer
NOES--176
Ackerman
Andrews
Baesler
Baldacci
Barcia
Barrett (WI)
Beilenson
Bentsen
Berman
Bevill
Bishop
Bonior
Borski
Boucher
Brewster
Browder
Brown (FL)
Brown (OH)
Bryant (TX)
Cardin
Chapman
Clay
Clayton
Clement
Clyburn
Coleman
Collins (IL)
Collins (MI)
Condit
Conyers
Costello
Coyne
Cramer
Danner
de la Garza
DeFazio
DeLauro
Dellums
Deutsch
Dicks
Dingell
Dixon
Doggett
Doyle
Durbin
Edwards
Engel
Eshoo
Evans
Farr
Fattah
Fazio
Fields (LA)
Filner
Flake
Ford
Frank (MA)
Furse
Gejdenson
Gephardt
Geren
Gibbons
Gonzalez
[[Page H 6725]]
Gordon
Green
Gutierrez
Hall (OH)
Hamilton
Harman
Hastings (FL)
Hefner
Hilliard
Hinchey
Holden
Hoyer
Jackson-Lee
Johnson (SD)
Johnson, E. B.
Johnston
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Kennedy (MA)
Kennedy (RI)
Kennelly
Kildee
Kleczka
Klink
LaFalce
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Lincoln
Lipinski
Lofgren
Lowey
Luther
Maloney
Manton
Markey
Martinez
Mascara
Matsui
McCarthy
McDermott
McHale
McKinney
McNulty
Meehan
Meek
Menendez
Miller (CA)
Mineta
Minge
Mink
Mollohan
Moran
Murtha
Nadler
Neal
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Orton
Owens
Pallone
Pastor
Payne (NJ)
Payne (VA)
Pelosi
Peterson (FL)
Peterson (MN)
Pickett
Pomeroy
Poshard
Rangel
Reed
Richardson
Rivers
Roemer
Rose
Roybal-Allard
Rush
Sabo
Sanders
Sawyer
Schroeder
Schumer
Scott
Serrano
Skaggs
Slaughter
Spratt
Stenholm
Stokes
Stupak
Tanner
Taylor (MS)
Tejeda
Thompson
Thornton
Thurman
Torres
Torricelli
Traficant
Velazquez
Vento
Visclosky
Volkmer
Ward
Waters
Watt (NC)
Wilson
Wise
Woolsey
Wyden
Wynn
NOT VOTING--24
Abercrombie
Becerra
Brown (CA)
Dooley
Foglietta
Frost
Gillmor
Hastert
Hunter
Jefferson
Lantos
Mfume
Moakley
Oxley
Pryce
Reynolds
Smith (MI)
Stark
Studds
Towns
Tucker
Waxman
Williams
Yates
{time} 2033
So the motion was agreed to.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________