[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 139 (Friday, September 8, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H8710-H8711]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                          LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

  (Mr. FAZIO of California, asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield to the 
gentleman from Texas [Mr. Armey], the majority leader, for the purpose 
of inquiring about the schedule.
  Mr. ARMEY. I thank the gentleman for yielding, Mr. Speaker.
  Mr. Speaker, let me preface my remarks on the schedule for next week 
by informing all the Members that we have had our final vote for today 
and for this week. There will be no more votes today.
  Mr. Speaker, the House will not be in session on Monday, September 
11.
  On Tuesday, the House will meet at 10:30 a.m. for morning hour and 12 
noon for legislative business to take up H.R. 2150, the Small Business 
Credit Efficiency Act, which will be considered under suspension of the 
rules. However, we will not have any recorded votes until 3 p.m.
  For Tuesday afternoon and the balance of the week, we plan to 
consider the following bills, all of which will be subject to rules: 
H.R. 1594, the Pension Protection Act of 1995; H.R. 1655, the fiscal 
year 1996 Intelligence reauthorization bill; H.R. 1162, the Deficit 
Reduction Lockbox Act; and H.R. 1670, the Federal Acquisition Reform 
Act of 1995. Members should also be advised that conference reports may 
be brought to the floor at any time.
  On Wednesday and Thursday, the House will meet at 10 a.m. for 
legislative business.
  Tuesday it will be our hope to adjourn around 7 or 8 p.m. On 
Wednesday we may work a little later, and it is our hope to have 
Members on their way home to their families by 6 p.m. on Thursday.
  The House will meet in pro forma session on Friday, September 15. 
There will be no recorded votes.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Speaker, if I could further inquire of 
the majority leader, let me open by saying that I appreciate the fact 
that we seem to have returned to a more normal schedule here, and I 
think this will be conducive to families having an opportunity to have 
at least a late supper, if not a regular dinner together. I am sure we 
are all relieved because of the difference that this makes with the 
last couple of weeks that we had prior to our August recess.
  I would like to ask, however, when we would be bringing to the floor 
the legislation on gifts and lobbying reform. We were chastised roundly 
earlier in the week because we attempted to use the legislative branch 
appropriation bill to bring that before the body. I know there are 
hearings in the Committee on the Judiciary. I am wondering, because of 
the importance of having time to appreciate and understand the changes 
it will require of Members and their offices, whether or not we are 
going to be able to see that law enacted in time to implement the rules 
and the statute by January 1.
  Does the majority have any ability at this time to give us an 
indication as to when we will bring that to the floor and when it might 
be effective?
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will continue to yield, I 
thank the gentleman for his inquiry. I do appreciate the inquiry. As 
the gentleman noted, hearings were held this week. We are looking at 
that. We are talking among ourselves and with the committee, looking 
for an opportunity to bring that up. I am sorry we have nothing 
definitive to report at this time.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. I would ask the gentleman, is it possible it 
may be added to our list of ``must pass'' legislation so it would be 
considered by the end of this calendar year in order to be effective in 
January?
  Mr. ARMEY. Of course, as the gentleman knows, all things are 
possible. I 

[[Page H 8711]]
just simply cannot attach any probability or likelihood to it at this 
time until I have further discussion with other relevant people.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Speaker, could the majority leader 
indicate to us when we will be able to begin the process of analysis 
and numbers crunching on the Medicare provisions that will be a central 
part of reconciliation? Perhaps the gentleman could update us on when 
reconciliation is expected to come to the floor, and when we will be 
able to begin the process of understanding the full impact of those 
cuts in the Medicare Program that are obviously going to be very 
contentious and need a great deal of attention before we should be in a 
position to vote on them.
  Mr. ARMEY. If the gentleman will continue to yield, again I thank the 
gentleman for asking. It is a little difficult to tell right now. We 
hope to complete our work. We have had a lot of people working very 
diligently on Medicare, and of course all the other work that is being 
done on reconciliation. We should begin to start seeing some of the 
fruits of the labor maybe as early as the end of next week, but I would 
say it would probably be somewhere closer to the end of September 
before we could really have
 defining work out here for us to examine.

  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Speaker, could the gentleman tell us 
when we anticipate reconciliation being brought to the floor? Has that 
been agreed to finally?
  Mr. ARMEY. If the gentleman will again yield, I think once we get 
into the period of time where we have some very important recesses 
necessary for the Jewish holidays, that as we try to work our way 
around that, we might anticipate it would be perhaps the week before or 
the week following those Jewish holidays recess.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. There is no intent to change our current 
schedule that has been announced and disseminated to Members on either 
Jewish holidays or the Columbus Day break?
  Mr. ARMEY. I really appreciate the gentleman asking. Everybody should 
have a printed schedule in the form of calendars, and those dates for 
when the week begins and where it ends, and what days are off because 
of the holidays, those are firm. There would be no changes in there 
except possibly, should things go well on floor action, we might every 
now and then be able to have a pleasant surprise and get out a little 
earlier or maybe have an extra day to spend in our districts, but there 
would be no days in addition to those that are already in the schedule 
for the Members.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's 
reassurance. I am sure the Members appreciate that. We would look 
forward to only pleasant surprises, and no unhappy eventualities that 
might set us back.
  Mr. ARMEY. If the gentleman will yield further, I am sure the 
gentleman realizes, or maybe does not realize he misspoke earlier, but 
Mr. Speaker, just for the record, I want to encourage the gentleman to 
appreciate the fact that we do not intend to see any package in which 
there will be Medicare cuts.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. I was wondering if the gentleman might not 
have caught that. Reductions in the rate of increase, is that the 
jargon?
  Mr. ARMEY. I would like to think of it as a generous increase.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. For those who note the aging of America and 
the increasing population of the aged and the often double digit 
increases in the cost of health care, perhaps this is a much more 
important debate than simply a semantic one. We can hold that for the 
eventual introduction of the Medicare increase reductions.
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman.

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