[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 147 (Wednesday, September 20, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H9255-H9256]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


 REQUEST FOR PERMISSION FOR SUNDRY COMMITTEES AND SUBCOMMITTEES TO SIT 
                       TODAY DURING 5-MINUTE RULE

  Mr. RIGGS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the following 
committees and their subcommittees be permitted to sit today while the 
House is meeting in the Committee of the Whole House under the 5-minute 
rule.

[[Page H 9256]]

  The Committee on Agriculture, the Committee on Commerce, the 
Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, the Committee on 
International Relations, the Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee 
on National Security, the Committee on Resources, the Committee on 
Science, and the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  Mr. WISE. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, I might note 
that all of these committees are sitting. We would like to actually 
have them sitting a little more and holding hearings on Medicare and 
Medicaid rather than the one hearing on Medicare they will be getting 
and the no hearings on Medicaid. Apparently, they are not going to sit. 
We are not going to delay that process, but everyone should know the 
train is rolling here. We think it is a sad day when you cannot have 
hearings on health matters that affect 70 million Americans.
  Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, and I may 
object, I think it is a legislative sin and a shame that you have been 
in control of this House for 10 months, you have been promising a 
Medicare bill for 10 months, and today nobody has seen a copy of that 
bill. That is the most complicated piece of legislation that this 
Congress will take up this year.
  You are trying to sneak it past us, very cleverly, very stealthily, 
without any hearings. No one will understand it. No one will understand 
it.
  Look at me now, how can you do such a thing and then come here and 
ask unanimous consent that people can work while other things are going 
on? That is the most ridiculous argument I have ever heard.
  The silence, the silence of the Republican side is typical of the 
silence that they have had all along on this Medicare proposal. They 
are going to take $270 billion out of the pockets of Medicare people 
and put it into the hands of the very rich constituents. You know that 
is what you are doing, and you will not give us any hearings, 1 day, 
and we do not even have a bill to have a hearing on. What a joke. What 
a joke.
  We are going to have a Medicare hearing on Thursday, and we do not 
even have a bill. Shame.
  Mr. Speaker, I object.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Objection is heard. The Chair will state 
that it requires 10 Members to object.
  Mr. GIBBONS. Will the gentleman from Texas tell us where the bill is?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman is out of order.
  (Messrs. WISE, WAXMAN, GIBBONS, FAZIO of California, FROST, LEVIN, 
BONIOR, HEFNER, OBEY, and SABO also objected.)
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. A sufficient number has objected.
  Objection is heard.

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