[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 148 (Thursday, September 21, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H9403-H9404]
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 yield to the distinguished majority leader 
for purposes of asking the schedule for next week.
  Mr. ARMEY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
   Mr. Speaker, I am sure everybody is aware that we have had our last 
vote for the day and indeed we have had our last vote for the week 
since the House will not be in session tomorrow.
   Mr. Speaker, in observance of the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah, 
there will be no recorded votes next Monday, September 25 and Tuesday, 
September 26.
  On Wednesday, the House will meet at 12 noon, although we do not 
expect any recorded votes before 1 p.m. Next week we will consider the 
following bills, all of which will be subject to rules:

[[Page H 9404]]

  H.R. 743, the Teamwork for Employees and Managers Act;
  H.R. 1170, the Three Judge Court Review for State-Wide Referenda Act;
  H.R. 1601, the International Space Station Authorization Act; and
  The District of Columbia Appropriations Act for fiscal year 1996.
  As we approach the end of the fiscal year, it will be necessary to 
put together a continuing resolution to keep the Government operating. 
There are many variables involved in this process, and therefore we are 
unable to fix a firm time for the House to complete its business.
  I must admit that if I had my druthers, we would adjourn the House on 
Friday, September 29 and start the October district work period then. 
However, Members should be advised that it may be necessary to continue 
working over the weekend and through to Tuesday, October 3. If this is 
the case we will adjourn no later than 12 noon on Tuesday.
  Mr. BONIOR. If I could ask the distinguished majority leader what he 
expects in the way of appropriation bills next week. It is a week now 
before the end of the fiscal year, and we have not had one single 
appropriation bill that has been sent to the President.
  We all understand that when the Congress fails to meet its 
responsibilities, we have to have what is known as a continuing 
resolution. We have heard through the rumor mill and through printed 
material that we have seen today that the majority is asking for a 6-
week extension through the continuing resolution.
  My question to the gentleman from Texas, the distinguished majority 
leader, would be, would it not be advisable to have a much shorter CR 
to keep the pressure on so we can get these appropriations bills--we 
only have a week to get them to the President, obviously we are not 
going to make it, but obviously it would keep the pressure on us to get 
them there, so we could finish our work and Members could return to 
their constituencies.
  Mr. ARMEY. I say to the gentleman, of course we will be taking up the 
conference reports as soon as the conferences do report. The Senate I 
am sure will do the same. We will move this legislation as quickly as 
we can to the President's desk. We will probably do some next week.
  The gentleman asked if I thought that maybe it would not be more 
advised for us to have a shorter continuing resolution than the one we 
expect to pass. My response is if I had thought that, I would have been 
bringing a shorter continuing resolution. I think the one we will bring 
will be appropriate to our circumstances.
  Mr. BONIOR. May I ask if the distinguished majority leader expects it 
to be longer than 2 weeks.
  Mr. ARMEY. My anticipation is that the continuing resolution will 
give us a period of time, approximately 6 weeks, which should be a 
comfortable period of time for everybody to get their work done.
  Mr. BONIOR. Do you expect to bring the TEAM legislation to the House 
next week?
  Mr. ARMEY. The TEAM legislation is scheduled for next Wednesday.
  Mr. BONIOR. Could I get a sense from the distinguished majority 
leader if indeed the conference appropriation bills that he expects 
might fall in the following categories, the Defense conference bill, 
the Interior bill, the Transportation bill, the Ag bill, and the 
Treasury and Postal Service bill, are those the likely candidates to 
come to the floor next week?
  Mr. ARMEY. If the gentleman will yield, they certainly are in the 
candidates and I have expectations that the work will be completed on 
some if not all of them. But again I would prefer to let the committee 
work and look forward to their report to the House and to the Senate.

                              {time}  1345

  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, finally, I would ask the gentleman from 
Texas, my friend, again, if he would not indeed bring up the Dingell 
resolution, which would allow the public to have time to understand the 
Republican Medicare plan. We are asking for 4 weeks of hearings and 
this resolution would be brought to the floor so Members could 
understand and absorb it.
  There are major, major, significant changes in Medicare in the 
majority's plan, and we think the country and the folks around the 
kitchen table ought to have the chance to absorb what is in it and we 
are asking to have a debate on that resolution and we ask the gentleman 
to bring it up.
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments of the gentleman 
from Michigan [Mr. Bonior] and with respect to the question put 
regarding the Dingell resolution, the gentleman should be advised that 
no, in fact I do not anticipate bringing up the Dingell resolution.
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, in that case I would advise the gentleman 
from Texas that since we are only going to have one day of hearings on 
the majority's direct plan, we anticipate that we will have our 
hearings on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol. We anticipate those hearings 
to commence tomorrow and will continue throughout the following week, 
so that the American people will have the right to understand and know 
that we are changing Medicare as we know it, and we are doing it not to 
save Medicare or to reduce the budget, but to provide tax cuts for the 
wealthiest people in our society.
  Mrs. SCHROEDER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BONIOR. I yield to the gentlewoman from Colorado.
  Mrs. SCHROEDER. Mr. Speaker, would it be possible, would there be any 
period of time that the gentleman from Texas would agree to extend? I 
mean, I am sure the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Dingell] would not 
want to cut the 4 weeks down, but would the gentleman from Texas agree 
to maybe 2 weeks or maybe 3 weeks or something? We have over 21 
cosponsors who really feel that we need more than 1 day.
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentlewoman's comments. In 
light of the fact that we have had over 30 hearings on Medicare already 
this year, we see no need, as you allege. But I would suggest that 
should the minority come up with a Medicare bill, we would certainly be 
willing to give some consideration to hearings on that bill, or make a 
place for that bill in the proceedings.
  To this point, I have not seen even so much as an inkling of such a 
bill and, therefore, see no good reason to slow down continued progress 
on the bill that our side of the aisle has been working on.
  Mrs. SCHROEDER. Mr. Speaker, would the gentleman from Michigan yield 
further? That is our problem. We have not seen so much as an inkling of 
a bill from the majority side. We understand there is like a 60-page 
concept paper, but the hearings would be there tomorrow and there is 
still no real there there.
  Mr. Speaker, I think it is interesting. I know the best defense is an 
offense, but really we have been waiting to find out what the real bill 
is. We still do not know, and there have not been any hearings on the 
real bill because there is no real bill yet.
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments of the gentlewoman 
from Colorado [Mrs. Schroeder] and the fact of the matter is that we do 
have a good deal of communication going on with the committees. We will 
continue to move on as scheduled.
  It is, of course, always a difficult proposition for the minority 
when they do not participate in the process very actively. The 
frustrations are real and I do appreciate their frustrations, but we do 
have a schedule and we will be moving on with it.
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I would just invite my friend 
from Texas to join us on the lawn as the American people come and 
testify on this particular bill and problem that we have before us in 
this Congress. We will be meeting tomorrow on the lawn of the U.S. 
Capitol to have hearings on this important issue.
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, would the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BONIOR. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the invitation of the gentleman 
from Michigan [Mr. Bonior]; unfortunately, I will be back in Texas 
speaking to my constituents tomorrow.
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, we wish the gentleman a good voyage.

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