[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 183 (Friday, November 17, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H13276-H13278]
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.)
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from 
Texas [Mr. Armey] so that he may announce the schedule.
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for 
yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, we have concluded legislative business for the evening. 
We will meet again tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. to consider the 
conference report for the Balanced Budget Act, if it is necessary after 
Senate action on the bill; a continuing resolution, which may be 
considered under suspension of the rules, and any appropriations 
conference reports that are ready for floor action.
  Mr. Speaker, the House will not be in session on Sunday, November 19. 
On Monday, November 20, the House will meet at 12:30 p.m. for morning 
hour, and 2 p.m. for legislative business.
  We plan on taking up one bill under suspension of the rules, H.R. 
2361, a bill regarding commencement dates of certain temporary Federal 
judgeships. We will then complete consideration of H.R. 2564, the 
Lobbyist Disclosure Act of 1995, and act on any appropriation 
conference reports that are ready. There is also the possibility that a 
disposition of a veto message will be necessary.
  Mr. Speaker, Members should be advised that there will be no recorded 
votes before 5 p.m. on Monday, November 20, although Members should be 
prepared to work late in the evening on that Monday.
  I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the majority 
leader if 5 p.m. is a definite time on Monday? There are those who have 
asked for 6 p.m. on our side. Is there any possibility of that?
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's inquiry, and if 
I may say, on behalf of all the inquiries we have had from so many of 
the Members, these are very tough times for us and our families. The 
work must go on, we all accept that, but we must try our best.
  We have done our best to accommodate them, but I cannot guarantee 
that votes will take place at any time other than after 5 p.m.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from 
Maryland.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I 
would again address the question to the majority leader.
  We are now, as I said last night, in the longest shutdown of 
Government by virtue of the inability of the President and the Congress 
to come to grips with funding the Government in the history of this 
Nation. We, apparently, are going to have a relatively short day 
tomorrow. Everybody is going to go home. Eight hundred thousand people 
across this land are going to worry about whether or not they have a 
job to go to on Monday, whether they are going to have a paycheck 
Thanksgiving week, or a couple weeks before Christmas.
  I am concerned, Mr. Leader, that we are apparently having a short day 
tomorrow. We are not going to be here Sunday, and we are not coming 
back, essentially, apparently to vote, until after 5 p.m. on Monday. 
That means that we are most assuredly going to have at least another 24 
hours on Monday of a Government shutdown.
  I am wondering what kind of negotiations are ongoing to try to 
overcome this impasse between the Congress and the President so that 
Government can get back to work.
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would continue to yield.
  
[[Page H 13277]]

  Mr. FAZIO of California. I yield to my colleague from Texas.
  Mr. ARMEY. The gentleman from Maryland is again quite right in his 
concern. As the gentleman knows, the President did veto a continuing 
resolution sent to him by the Congress, thus causing this shutdown. We 
have passed from this body, and the other body has worked on a second 
continuing resolution for the President, and the President has said 
again that he would veto that, thus continuing his shutdown of the 
Government.
  We have spent a good deal of the time today talking with 
representatives of the White House. We expect to get that continuing 
resolution to the President for his signature so that perhaps we might 
be able to resolve the problem by his signing that CR over the weekend. 
In the meantime, we will continue talking to the White House to see 
what we can do.
  I do appreciate the gentleman from Maryland's concern.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would further 
respond.
  There is no question that folks on this side of the aisle are anxious 
to proceed in Washington, if possible, to complete whatever business is 
before us in hopes that we can not only return to our communities and 
to our families for Thanksgiving, but that we could also remove the 
burden, the pressure on all these Federal workers and those they serve.
  Is there any way the gentleman can talk to us about what happens next 
week, in general? We are anxious, as the majority leader has heard from 
the gentleman from Maryland, to stay Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Now, 
what about Tuesday, Wednesday? When, if at all, does the gentleman 
anticipate people being reunited with their families and their 
districts?
  Mr. ARMEY. I appreciate the gentleman's concern. We do all we can. We 
sent a second continuing resolution. We will send the Balanced Budget 
Act to the President as soon as the Senate is done acting. We will 
continue to move legislation. The appropriations bills are moving to 
the White House.
  I fully expect that we will have a long evening Monday night. We will 
undoubtedly work late trying to get as much done as possible and 
waiting for responses from both the Senate and the White House.
  We will work on Tuesday. It is our hope that by Tuesday, 2 p.m., we 
might be able to see Members get back to their districts or district 
work relationships and time with their families for Thanksgiving.
  But as the President has so sternly said, he is prepared to sit here 
for 30, 60, 90 days, however, long it takes. We must, therefore, be 
prepared to do what we can at what time we can to move as much as 
possible forward, and then snatch those times with our families and our 
constituents as are available to us in the interim, while work that we 
have shipped to the White House is up there for Presidential decision.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would respond 
further.
  We really do have in this House the prerogative of placing before the 
body a CR that perhaps might satisfy the President. Is there any desire 
on the part of the majority to introduce another CR, should this one, 
as the President has indicated, not meet his expectations?
  Is there any willingness on the part of the majority to find a way to 
keep the Government functioning during the Thanksgiving period and 
beyond?
  Mr. ARMEY. The majority is, of course, as the gentleman knows, 
committed to the historic event of passing a Balanced Budget Act and 
having it signed into law, and we are working with the White House in 
every way we know toward that end.

  Mr. FAZIO of California. We have already heard that is likely to be 
vetoed, but that, of course, is still not before the President.
  I am hopeful the gentleman will help us find a way to once again 
offer the President another opportunity, because this body has some of 
the responsibility as well.
  Mr. ARMEY. If I may again remind the gentleman, the second CR, the 
second effort to pass a second CR to the White House to be signed, will 
be, if not already, soon be on the President's desk. He will have the 
opportunity to sign that short-term continuing spending resolution and 
reopen the various offices of the Government.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair would like to note that he is 
being as lenient as possible with this 1 minute, but it is probably not 
the place to debate policy.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from 
Maine [Mr. Baldacci].
  Mr. BALDACCI. Mr. Speaker, if the majority leader would respond, 
there are a lot of us that are here for the first time, and we are very 
interested in working every day that people are not working and feel 
very uncomfortable going back and forth at a time when people are not 
working.
  I have introduced a piece of legislation trying to keep us going on 
Sunday and not losing that opportunity that we could work and working 
together to resolve the situation. I was wondering, would the gentleman 
be opposed if a majority of the Members in your caucus and our caucus 
were interested in working through the weekend?
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman from California, who 
controls the time, would yield.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from 
Texas for a response.
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, again I say we have completed our work on the 
short-term continuing resolution. We have sent and will soon finish 
tomorrow, after the other body acts, the balanced budget. We are moving 
to the White House for their careful consideration and signature 
everything we can as fast as we can.
  I believe the Nation is aware of the fact that, given the grueling 
hours we are working, that it is perfectly reasonable for us, as well 
as all or most other people in the Nation, to have Sunday with our 
families.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from 
Michigan [Mr. Stupak] for a query to the majority leader.
  Mr. STUPAK. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the majority leader's concern 
to move this legislation expeditiously. Since the Senate has not yet 
pushed that second CR to the President, if the Senate still has an 
opportunity to amend that CR before it goes to the President, if they 
could reach an agreement with the White House on the second CR, which 
may be different from what the House has passed, can we have assurances 
from the majority leader that he would forthwith bring up a new CR that 
came over from the Senate, which may be different from the one we voted 
on Wednesday night?
  Mr. ARMEY. Well, if the gentleman will continue to yield for a 
response.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. I yield to the gentleman from Texas for his 
response.
  Mr. ARMEY. A continuing resolution cannot originate in the Senate.

  Mr. STUPAK. No, but they can amend it or make changes to the one they 
received from the House of Representatives before it goes to the White 
House, and then it would come back to this body for further 
consideration.
  I am asking if the distinguished majority leader would then bring it 
forth to the floor as soon as possible?
  Mr. ARMEY. I believe the Senate passed that 60 to 37 already, so it 
is not possible.
  Mr. STUPAK. That is correct, Mr. Majority Leader, but it has not gone 
to the White House, so no veto has taken place. Therefore, they can 
revisit the issue before it goes to the White House; is that not 
correct?
  Mr. ARMEY. The Senate is a mysterious place and it may be possible in 
that body. I would consider it highly irregular.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield one more time to the 
gentleman from Maryland for questions about the appropriations bills.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. I realize this has 
gone longer, but we do not have a crisis of this type very often.
  The majority leader has indicated we were sending bills down as 
quickly as we could to the President for consideration to move beyond 
this present crisis. The Treasury-Postal bill was passed on Wednesday. 
The legislative bill is also ready to go to the President. I am 
wondering if we have sent those down or we are expecting to send those 
down to the White House.

[[Page H 13278]]


                              {time}  2115

  I know we seem to be inconveniencing the gentleman from Ohio. I am 
really sorry that, the 800,000 people that twist in the wind. But I 
would like to know whether or not the bills are going to be sent down?
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will continue to yield, I 
fear we have tried the patience of some of our colleagues.
  The Treasury-Postal bill is, in fact, available for the President and 
these discussions we have been having with the President, this is one 
of the topics. Again, we would hope that the President would find a way 
to agree to sign legislation that could get us by this impasse. We 
continue talking to the White House.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I will urge the President to sign both the 
Treasury-Postal and the legislative bill, if they are sent down there. 
They have not been sent down there. As I said at the Committee on 
Rules, I do not blame your side any more than my side, because I think 
it has been sort of mutually agreed. But my point is, there are 200,000 
people affected by those two bills, over 200,000.
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's point. I truly 
do. We will continue working.

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