[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 206 (Thursday, December 21, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H15533-H15543]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE SPEAKER TO DECLARE RECESSES SUBJECT TO THE 
  CALL OF THE CHAIR FROM DECEMBER 23, 1995, THROUGH DECEMBER 27, 1995

  Ms. PRYCE. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I 
call up House Resolution 320 and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                              H. Res. 320

       Resolved, That the Speaker may declare recesses subject to 
     the call of the Chair on the calendar days of Saturday, 
     December 23, 1995, through Wednesday, December 27, 1995. A 
     recess declared pursuant to this resolution may not extend 
     beyond the calendar day of Wednesday, December 27, 1995.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from Ohio [Ms. Pryce] is 
recognized for 1 hour.
  Ms. PRYCE. Mr. Speaker, for purposes of debate only, I yield the 
customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Moakley], 
the distinguished ranking member of the Committee on Rules, pending 
which I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the 
purpose of debate only.

[[Page H15534]]

  Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 320 is a simple, straightforward 
resolution that allows the Speaker of the House to declare recesses 
subject to the call of the Chair on the calendar days of Saturday, 
December 23, 1995, through Wednesday, December 27, 1995. The resolution 
further provides that any such recess may not extend beyond the 
calendar day of Wednesday, December 27, 1995.
  Mr. Speaker, the Rules Committee brings this resolution to the floor 
today for several important reasons. First, the resolution specifically 
provides for the Speaker to declare recesses, and not to adjourn the 
House at the end of business this week. This is an important 
distinction which will permit the House to be on stand-by should 
further progress be made in budget and other negotiations between our 
leadership and the White House.
  As our colleagues know, several functions of the Federal Government 
are not yet operating at this time, and adjourning the House may 
unnecessarily hamper our ability to consider legislation should a 
breakthrough be reached in our discussions with the President.
  Despite recent news stories to the contrary, we are making progress 
toward resolving our differences, and Members on this side of the aisle 
remain just as committed today to a 7-year balanced budget plan as they 
have been all year. By recessing the House, key committees can swing 
into action, if necessary, to begin the process of crafting final 
balanced budget legislation and re-opening the Federal Government.
  No less important is the fact that Members and staff would certainly 
benefit from a brief respite from the legislative program. You don't 
need to be a veteran Hill watcher to recognize that the intensity of 
our work here over the past several weeks is taking its toll.
  In fact, the Congressional Research Service just recently issued a 
report on the breakdown of civility and decorum in the House. And that 
is unfortunate because no matter how controversial the issues are which 
we debate on this floor, rational, reasonable men and women can agree 
to disagree, and still remain friends.
  I am concerned, Mr. Speaker, that if the House does not take a brief 
recess in the next few days, at least for the sake of goodwill, 
``Grumpy Old Men'' will end up being more than just the title of a 
funny movie.
  While some Members may prefer to work right through this holiday 
weekend, I believe the vast majority of our constituents would want us 
to legislate carefully, thoughtfully, and deliberately, with clear 
minds as we undertake the serious challenge of finalizing a fair, 
workable plan to balance the Federal budget in 7 years' time.
  Finally, the resolution before us will give Members the opportunity 
to enjoy a short, but hopefully meaningful and fulfilling Christmas 
holiday with their friends and family.
  And for some of us, it will mean being able to interact, however 
briefly, with our constituents back home as we continue to gauge the 
American people's support for fiscal restraint and responsibility.
  Now I would just like to add, Mr. Speaker, that there are many 
Federal employees who reside in my congressional district and 
throughout each Member's district. Our message to them is that we have 
not abandoned you, despite the heated rhetoric you might hear.
  While the situation facing many Federal workers clearly is 
uncomfortable in the near-term, especially as we approach the holidays, 
our goal for the long-term is to give all Americans the best Christmas 
gift possible, and that is a balanced Federal budget. It is the key to 
our Nation's future economic prosperity, and I am confident that all 
those affected by the current budget situation will understand that we 
have their best interests at heart.
  In closing, Mr. Speaker, let me emphasize that with this resolution, 
we are not abdicating our responsibility to complete the people's 
business. In fact, the situation is just the opposite.
  We on this side of the aisle are hopeful and optimistic that a budget 
agreement can be reached in the very near future. We encourage the 
President to continue to participate in the negotiations so that a 
serious budget agreement can be reached without any further delay.
  If that should happen, the terms of this resolution would permit the 
House to come back into session to respond appropriately. And I know 
several key Members of the House, including the distinguished chairman 
of the Rules Committee, Mr. Solomon, will be here this weekend working 
to bridge the budget gap with the President.
  Mr. Speaker, under normal circumstances, the House would more than 
likely have been adjourned by now and everyone would be comfortably at 
home enjoying friends and family, and the goodwill of the holidays. But 
as our colleagues know all too well, circumstances regrettably are far 
from normal. This resolution is appropriate in light of these 
circumstances. I urge my colleagues to support it.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio [Ms. Pryce] for 
yielding me the customary half-hour.
  Mr. Speaker, let me make something very clear: We would not be here 
today if my Republican colleagues had done their job; the Government 
would not be closed today if my Republican colleagues had done their 
job; and we would not have to pass this rule giving the Speaker the 
authority to declare recess if my Republican colleagues had done their 
job.
  Congress' primary responsibility is to pass 13 appropriations bills 
before October 1, but here it is, December 21 and my Republican 
colleagues are still bickering among themselves over the remaining 
bills.
  For that reason and that reason alone the Federal Government is shut 
down for the eighth day this year.
  Mr. Speaker this shut down is unprecedented and so is this rule.
  This rule allows Speaker Gingrich to declare the House in recess so 
that he doesn't have to adjourn the House.
  I want to remind my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, that the Constitution 
prohibits the House from recessing for more than 3 days--any recess or 
adjournment longer than 3 days requires the concurrence of the other 
body.
  When the Democrats were in the majority, we never passed a rule 
making a recess an adjournment. If Congress needed to adjourn, we 
adjourned.
  It appears that my Republican colleagues want to be able to say that 
they stood by their guns, that they insisted on cutting Medicare and 
Medicaid to pay for tax breaks for the rich, even if it meant closing 
down the Government, but they do not want to vote outright to go home.
  Mr. Speaker, make no mistake about it. This is just an adjournment in 
recess clothing. An adjournment by any other name would still mean 
Congress is going home.
  Anyone who votes for this rules change is voting to adjourn the 
House. Period.
  Without this rule, my Republican colleagues would have to vote to 
adjourn the House. In other words they would admit that they want to go 
home for Christmas before they've finished their work. There are 
260,000 Federal workers waiting to get back to work, but my Republican 
colleagues want to call it quits.
  Mr. Speaker, Congress should not vote to go home until Federal 
workers can go back to work and my Democratic colleagues and I are 
willing to stay until we get the job done.
  Finally Mr. Speaker, let me just say that this is a horrendous way to 
do business. The resolution just reported out of the Rules Committee 
moments ago is a sham which will allow the Congress to try and fool the 
American people into thinking that we are still at work.
  Make no mistake about it. The resolution we are considering right now 
is an adjournment resolution plain and simple.
  We will go home to our families for the holidays while the Government 
remains closed and thousands of Federal workers remain furloughed, 
wondering if they will get paid. This is an injustice and a tragedy.
  Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time I will move that the previous 
question be defeated. If I am successful, I will move that the rule be 
amended to include language which will not allow the Congress to recess 
in any way, shape, or form, until a clean continuing resolution is 
adopted keeping the Government running until January 26.

[[Page H15535]]

  This is the right thing to do. I urge my colleagues, if you want to 
be honest with the American people, defeat the previous question and 
accept my amendment.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. PRYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from New York [Mr. Solomon], the distinguished chairman of 
the Committee on Rules.
  Mr. SOLOMON. I say to the gentleman from Massachusetts, my colleague, 
after that speech, which I would not say that the gentleman was not 
sincere because I have too much respect for him to do that, but, as my 
colleague knows, we are going to be back here next Wednesday, I am, and 
after the gentleman's speech I could almost guarantee him that I am 
going to have votes on this floor on Wednesday; I want my colleagues 
all to know that because, as my colleagues are aware, this rhetoric 
continues to go on. We hear words like, ``These are cuts, cuts, cuts 
for the rich,'' almost like they could gag when they say ``for the 
rich.''
  Mr. colleagues, capital gains tax cut. I have got people in my 
district; Sears Roebuck is one of the major employers, and have got 
people that have worked for them for very low wages because Sears does 
not pay high wages, but they have good retirement benefits, and they 
have things called stock options, and I have got people that have 
worked all their lives that even now, after 40 years with Sears 
Roebuck, they may be only making $30,000 a year, but they have 
accumulated stock over all those years, they have saved it, and now 
they want to sell it. Well, they are rich because they own some stock.
  In addition then we have got people where their spouses have died, 
and they have the stock and they want to sell it and maintain a decent 
living even though their income has dropped so much over all those 
years after they lost their spouse, and now they are rich because they 
want to sell the stock and they do not want to give all the money to 
the Government.
  Then there is a thing called a marriage tax penalty. As my colleagues 
know, they get penalized for being married around here. And then there 
is a question of giving a tax break to people with children so that 
they can keep a little bit of their take-home pay, and they could 
afford a mortgage, they could afford a downpayment on a car.

                              {time}  1545

  I really get broken-hearted when I hear this ``tax cut for the rich'' 
business. It actually turns your stomach.
  Let us just talk about something else here. The gentleman from 
Massachusetts [Mr. Moakley] was saying that the Republicans have not 
done their job. Let me tell you something; I have a list of all the 
appropriation bills which provide for the function of all the 
Government. This Congress has done its job. This Congress has sent this 
President all of these appropriation bills. We sent one to the 
President the other day, which is the Interior bill. That is a very, 
very important bill. It provides for keeping the Smithsonian 
Institution open, the Washington Monument, and all the national parks 
back in your district. And the President vetoed it.
  Then we sent him another bill dealing with the Department of Veterans 
Affairs that funds all of the veterans hospitals across this Nation, 
and all the outpatient clinics, and he vetoed it because there was not 
enough money in the bill.
  I am just going to tell you Members something. Some of us are going 
to stay around here, and I am going to personally check up on all of 
you with your rhetoric saying, ``We wanted to stay here and work,'' 
because I am going to be here, and I am going to call your offices, 
your district offices back home, your homes, and I am going to find 
you, track you down, find out where you are, because we are going to 
stay here and we are going to provide for this recess authority, we are 
going to provide for this recess authority, so that in case we do reach 
an agreement and he wants to sign that Department of Veterans Affairs 
bill, and the gentleman from Virginia, Jim, your people can then go 
back to work. We are going to be here to give it to him, and we are 
going to be here to give him all those bills.

  Let us be reasonable. If you do not want to be here, go on home, but 
the rest of us will. This simply provides for recess authority right 
now so you could get on a plane tomorrow afternoon or evening and go 
home for Saturday and Sunday and Monday, the holidays, and be back here 
Tuesday, and there could probably be votes on Wednesday if we reach any 
kind of an agreement. The same thing holds true on Thursday and Friday, 
and then if we have not reached an agreement, maybe you can take 
Saturday and Sunday off, but you are going to be back here on January 
3, and I am going to see to it.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Virginia [Mr. Moran].
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding time to 
me.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to respond to the chairman of the Committee 
on Rules that the Democrats will be here. We will be here as long as it 
takes to open up this Government, Mr. Speaker. I want to move over to 
the Republican microphone here, as my friend, the gentleman from New 
York, moved to the Democratic microphone, because it is the Republican 
side of the aisle I would like to address.
  The gentlewoman from Ohio [Ms. Pryce], who introduced this 
resolution, suggested that she was concerned about us becoming grumpy 
old men. That may be a concern, but we need to be more concerned about 
being responsible legislators. We cannot pass this resolution. Let me 
explain to you why, those Members who are in the body here, and those 
Members who are watching television.
  In the first place, Mr. Speaker, if we do not pass this legislation, 
on December 26, 13 million welfare recipients cannot get their checks. 
Many of them can't survive without them. They do not have any assets to 
tide them over. They live on their monthly checks alone. They will not 
be able to buy food for their children. Families will not be able to 
pay their rent which is due on the first of the month. If we do not 
have a continuing resolution in effect by December 27, the States will 
not receive $11 billion of Medicaid money. They cannot function without 
that money. They have to get that money. We have to pass a continuing 
resolution now. This is too serious a threat to the well-being of this 
Nation if we don't get a continuing resolution passed now to reopen the 
Federal Government.
  Mr. Speaker, let me also tell the Members if we go until January 3, 
Federal employees, and I appreciate the fact that the Speaker signed a 
letter saying they will get paid, but Federal employees will get paid 
at that point $1.6 billion for not having performed any work. How can 
we justify that to the American taxpayer? That is what the bill is 
running, every day we go on. It was $750 million during the first 
Government shutdown. I am counting that money. It will be $1.6 billion 
if we do not have a continuing resolution and those 260,000 
nonemergency workers are still out of work by January 3. We cannot let 
this happen. We cannot pass this resolution. We have to stay here and 
do our work. We cannot leave when the Government is shut down.
  Mr. VOLKMER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. MORAN. I yield to the gentleman from Missouri.
  Mr. VOLKMER. Mr. Speaker, it is very obvious to me that the majority 
does not care a bit about what you are saying. They just do not care if 
all those people suffer. That is fine.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, I am not going to reach any conclusions. I am 
just trying to tell all my colleagues who I very much respect, I do not 
think we have a choice. I do not think we can pass this. In any good 
conscience, we cannot go home and leave the Government shut down, no 
matter how much we would like to be with our families at Christmas. We 
have to do our job. Please vote against this resolution.
  Ms. PRYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Walker].
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, that was useful exercise, I guess, in 
shouting in the House, but it does not bear much real resemblance to 
reality. I personally have had a chance to talk to some of the 
Governors who were just talked about, three of them this morning. It is 


[[Page H15536]]
certainly our understanding at this point that the States intend to go 
ahead and pay the welfare benefits. The States know that the money is 
going to be coming later on.
  There are largely State-administered programs. The States will in 
fact get made up and are going to go ahead and pay the welfare checks. 
All three of the Governors that I met with this morning indicated that 
that would be the case, so the gentleman's hysterics I think enliven 
the debate, but the fact is that what he is talking about simply is not 
going to take place.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Wisconsin [Mr. Obey], the ranking member of the Committee on 
Appropriations.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, every day in every way, this place gets 
sillier and sillier and sillier. This is a shameful, adolescent 
abdication of responsibility. You are going to be going home to the 
comfort and warmth of your families for the next 11 days, and 
abdicating your responsibility to the public to see to it that they get 
the public services which they have already paid for. You are going to 
cost the taxpayers $1 billion for nothing. You are going to pay workers 
for work they have not performed.
  Last night you would not even let workers volunteer to come in to 
work. Where is your sense of responsibility? Where is your sense of 
decency? Where is your sense of judgment? Where is your sense of 
balance?
  I have just been informed that families caring for 273,000 foster 
care children will not receive maintenance payments, and 100,000 
adoption assistance children will be affected by delayed grants. Less 
than half of the second quarter grants for Medicaid could be awarded. 
If you want to go home to your Christmas under those circumstances, 
without opening the Government, shame on you.
  Ms. PRYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Iowa 
[Mr. Ganske].
  Mr. GANSKE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak against this resolution. We 
have work to do. It would be one thing to take Christmas off, or maybe 
even start it on Christmas Eve, and then come back the next day. The 
Government is not working, at least part of it is not. There is a lot 
of work to do. I think this is the wrong thing to do. I would urge a 
``no'' vote on this resolution.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
North Carolina [Mr. Hefner].
  (Mr. HEFNER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. HEFNER. Mr. Speaker, it would be very nice here, my grandchildren 
are in town. I do not have to leave town. All these folks, their 
grandkids have come in, their children have come in. If someone from 
this side, if someone can explain to me, people keep saying balance the 
budget in 7 years. A lot of things can happen between now and 7 years. 
There can be calamities, a lot of things that change. The assumptions 
can change.
  To guarantee a budget in 7 years, and we have people out there, I 
will just give Members a personal experience. There is a young lady who 
saved up her money and she and her fiance want to go to Egypt. They 
cannot get their visa and passport. She is in tears. It may not be a 
big deal to folks here or other places, but it is a big deal to her. 
That is just one of the many that is going to be affected.
  My grandkids are in town. Your grandkids are in town. You want to go. 
Why in the name of God are we keeping 270,000 people out of work when 
it has absolutely nothing to do with a balanced budget? The people can 
continue to negotiate and yell at each other on the budget, but this 
has absolutely nothing to do with balancing the budget.
  What leverage does it give you with the President of the United 
States to keep 270,000 people away from their families, anxious? They 
have children. They are anxious about the future. If this had some 
bearing on the budget deliberations and a balanced budget, I could see 
that. But 7 years? You are keeping 270,000 people out of work for 
something that is supposedly going to take place in 7 years? I would 
say to the gentleman from New York, Jerry, for God's sakes, you are a 
compassionate man; this has nothing to do with a balanced budget. I 
want to support a 7-year balanced budget, and I am working with a 
group, but this is ridiculous.
  Come on, folks. Let us not be the grinch that stole Christmas. Let us 
have a good Christmas and go home to our families, our grandchildren, 
and talk the balanced budget. We have 7 years to talk about it. For 
God's sakes, let us act in the spirit of Christmas.
  Ms. PRYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished 
gentleman from California [Mr. Cunningham].
  Mr. CUNNINGHAM. Mr. Speaker, my colleagues on the other side of the 
aisle talk about not delaying dollars to Federal workers. A balanced 
budget, someone with a home mortgage of $90,000, at 8\1/2\ fixed over a 
30-year period means $38,000 to that individual. You are stealing that 
money by not balancing the budget. A student loan of $11,000 over a 4-
year period is $4,500 back in that person's pocket.
  You want to talk about delaying money, you want to talk about being 
the grinch that stole Christmas, then balance the budget. Mr. Speaker, 
this is about a principle. It is about a principle whether you want the 
power here in Washington, DC, so people can disburse money down so they 
can get reelected, and to do that you need a big bureaucracy, which 
takes away the dollars. Welfare will only get 30 cents out of a buck 
down to the welfare recipient. In education we only get 23 cents 
because of the bureaucracy. We are saying we want to balance the 
budget, give the money back to the people instead of keeping it here in 
River City. That is what we are talking about. That is the real grinch 
that stole Christmas.
  Mr. Speaker, if Members really want to help, go along and override 
the President's veto of a balanced budget in 7 years. You will get more 
money to those Federal workers, you will give them a brighter future. 
And guess what? their kids will have something in the future, and the 
seniors will have something in the future.
  Mr. Speaker, if we take a look at those 270,000 workers, the 
President has appropriations bills on his desk that would put them back 
to work. I am not saying Republicans or Democrats are to blame. I am 
saying if you really want to sit about and talk about this thing with 
some legitimacy, let us do it, but let us do it now. Let us do it. I 
ask for support of the resolution.

                              {time}  1600

  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 10 seconds to the gentleman from 
North Carolina [Mr. Hefner].
  Mr. HEFNER. Mr. Speaker, I would say to the gentleman, I cannot for 
the life of me, and I am not the smartest guy, but I did not just fall 
off of a potato truck, either.
  Let me tell the gentleman something. We have to pay them. We have to 
pay these people to do the job that they ordinarily do. If we are going 
to pay them, for God's sales, let them do their job.
  Mr. CUNNINGHAM. Mr. Speaker, we have done that for years with 
welfare.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Illinois [Mr. Durbin].
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. Speaker, I have served in this body for 13 years. 
This is the saddest, cruelest strategy that I have ever witnessed in 
this Chamber.
  I cannot believe that my colleagues on the Republican side of the 
aisle will go home this Christmas season to be with their loved ones 
and their children, will kneel down in church in the Christmas spirit, 
and be able to erase from their minds for one moment that 270,000 
innocent Federal employees who showed up for work prepared to work are 
being denied that opportunity and left with uncertainty.
  I cannot imagine the gentlewoman from Ohio [Ms. Pryce], who is a good 
person, I have had the good fortune of meeting her family; they are 
wonderful people. The gentlewoman must be thinking in her mind over 
this Christmas season that people who receive AFDC checks who have 
nothing to live on will have those checks delayed because of the 
strategy behind this resolution--people who are destitute.
  I visited a family in Chicago on Saturday on Madison Street on the 
west side, four people who, because there is no LIHEAP, have no heat in 
their apartment. Their pipes burst last 

[[Page H15537]]
month; they have no water, either. A husband and a wife and two small 
children huddled in a room with a space heater because of our political 
strategy. In the spirit of Christmas, how can we countenance imposing 
this suffering on innocent people?
  Let me offer this. If you want to stand up for principle, if the 
Republicans want to show their commitment to principle, here is what I 
suggest: stay here and work, as the gentleman from Iowa [Mr. Ganske] 
suggested; and second, give up your paycheck, say that you will 
sacrifice your own paycheck in commitment to a balanced budget.
  Mr. Speaker, to impose this burden on innocent Federal employees, on 
innocent poor people across America does not show character, it shows 
cowardice. Show your character, put your own paycheck on the line, not 
the paychecks of innocent people. Five different times Speaker Gingrich 
has stopped ``No-budget, No-pay.'' If it would pass, this crisis would 
end.
  Ms. PRYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  All of the money for the LIHEAP has been sent to the States already. 
We keep hearing rhetoric from the other side, and all of it is not 
completely correct. I believe that the seriousness of this is not going 
unnoticed by anybody, and we have to be attendant to the details of 
getting this budget balanced.
  The responsibility rests with our leadership and with the President. 
Everyone in this House knows that these negotiations are going on at a 
level that many of us are not involved in at all, and the fact of the 
matter is that we should allow those negotiations to proceed, Mr. 
Speaker. When we are needed, this resolution gives us the maximum 
flexibility to be called back into action by the Speaker when we need 
to ratify action that has been taken. However, for us to linger around 
here for nothing better than to muddy the waters, it is irresponsible.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman 
from California [Mr. Cox].
  Mr. COX of California. Mr. Speaker, Christmas is only a few days 
away. A balanced budget may be nearer than that, because as we speak, 
our budget chairmen from the House and the Senate are conducting 
negotiations with Mr. Panetta who now works in the White House, and 
President Clinton, to bring us to a balanced budget. This Congress, of 
course, not just the House of Representatives, but also the Senate, has 
passed long since a balanced budget scored by the Congressional Budget 
Office, as the Clinton administration agreed it should be. We have the 
document, it is there, it is ready.
  The issues that are under discussion could be resolved in a day if 
the White House is only willing to do so, because the White House has 
yet to produce a balanced budget. The budget passed by the Congress is 
the only one balanced 7 years that we can work with.
  As long as we are needed to vote on a final budget, I suggest that we 
not adjourn; I suggest that we be here. The resolution that is proposed 
is not an adjournment resolution, it just says, recess subject to the 
call of the Chair. We do that around here all the time. The moment the 
bells ring, we are back in here and we will vote. If they cut a deal at 
the White House and the White House says we have not produced a 
balanced budget yet, but we are willing to agree to the following 
changes in your balanced budget, then you know we are going to be right 
here on the floor, and that is as it should be. Balancing the budget is 
what this is all about.
  Yes, it is hard. Yes, we are in session later this year than we had 
hoped, but we are going to stay here, and the reason we are going to 
stay here is that it is the first time in 30 years that we are going to 
have solved this crisis of a generation. It is the first time in 30 
years that we will, not cooking the books, but using honest numbers 
prepared by the CBO as the President has agreed, that we are going to 
have taxes and revenues equal one another and, for the first time, not 
increase the national debt.
  I would just point out before I yield back to the Members of the 
Committee on Rules who are conducting this debate that interest on the 
national debt is the cruelest entitlement rip-off of all. It is an 
entitlement program, because it is completely out of control; there is 
nothing we can do about it. If we want to appropriate less for interest 
on the debt, we cannot. We are paying it as the national debt goes up 
and up and up and every single year of the Clinton unbalanced budget 
that has been proposed.
  Right now, the status quo which everybody is trying to maintain: 
please, let us open the Government without changing anything; let us 
just open the Government right now and not do the hard stuff, the 
people who want to maintain the status quo have to recognize that 
interest on the national debt right now consumes over half of all of 
the individual income taxes paid by everybody in America.
  Now it is the end of the year and people are starting to think about 
paying their taxes, just imagine this: everybody in my home State of 
California, 31 million people, can take all of their 1040's, all of 
their income tax forms and the checks that they send with them, and 
everybody west of the Mississippi, every single individual American and 
all of those income taxes will buy not a single social service. They 
will not fund a single welfare check, no national security, no 
education, no environment.
  Mr. Speaker, all of that money will go for nothing but interest on 
the debt: about $300 billion wasted. It is a tragic and cruel thing. 
That is what we are here finally to stop after 30 years.
  For the first time, we are going to produce a balanced budget. I 
guarantee you as we all sit here, we are not going home. Yes, we will 
be in recess subject to the call of the Chair because they are 
negotiating at the White House, not here on the floor of the House of 
Representatives, but as soon as that deal is ready for us to vote on, 
as soon as the President agrees: I am going to sign on to a 7-year 
balanced budget with honest numbers, it is going to be voted on here in 
the House, it will sail through the Senate, and the American people 
will have the best Christmas present of all, and they deserve it.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Texas [Mr. Doggett].
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. The supporters of 
this measure refer to it as standby authority. That is the whole 
problem. They have been standing by while we have a governmental crisis 
here that affects all of America. It should be better termed a take-
our-marbles-and-go-home approach, because rather than staying here and 
doing the job, they propose to go home and, as the sponsor said, 
interact with their constituents.
  Well, perhaps there needs to be a little more interaction right here 
on the floor of Congress rather than attempting to confuse an 
adjournment and a recess. This is an attempt to do the very same thing 
that our Republican colleagues did back in November when we as 
Democrats stayed here and worked and saved the people of America money 
by being here, ready to work, when something was finally resolved.
  If there has been any recess here, it is a recess from reality, 
because surely, anyone who looks at what is happening every day in 
America has got to feel that something has occurred here that is a 
recess from reality.
  Mr. Speaker, $40 million a day. That is what our Republican 
colleagues are paying Federal workers not to work. Anyone who needs a 
passport cannot get it. Anyone who wants to close an FHA loan cannot do 
it. Anyone in the State of Texas or anywhere else in this country come 
January 1 that gets foster care, that relies on child support 
enforcement, that relies on emergency family assistance, that needs 
child care because they have gotten off welfare and they are back into 
workfare, they are not going to have it as a result of this. All of 
this as a result of pursuing your approach or no approach.
  I read in this morning's paper the self-described description of the 
Republican freshman class as the purest, most worthy in my lifetime. I 
thought they were talking about ivory soap. But no, indeed they 
describe themselves as being so pure and so much better than everyone 
else in America that they have to have it their way or no way. I think 
that the American people are calling on us to come together and solve 
this problem rather than simply to have Republican excellence in the 
pursuit of error.
  Ms. PRYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  
[[Page H15538]]

  When the gentleman suggests we return to reality, I suggest that we 
are about to do just that. Reality does not necessarily exist here in 
the beltway. Reality is out in our districts with our constituents and 
with our families, and it is good for us as Members to return to that 
reality on occasion.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from 
Arizona [Mr. Salmon].
  Mr. SALMON. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate this opportunity to address the 
House.
  Let us make no mistake. A lot has been said about this side and that 
side, the freshman this, the freshman that. Let me make one point 
perfectly clear. As a freshman, I am perfectly willing to be here and 
to work as long as there is work worth doing, but this President has 
made a mockery of this negotiation process. One day he makes an 
agreement; the next day before the ink is dry on the agreement the 
previous day, they change their story. It is like playing ping-pong 
with a person that hides the ball in their pocket or quick-serves while 
you are not looking.
  Frankly, the American people are frustrated. We kept our part of the 
bargain. The President signed an agreement, a law, 30 days ago that he 
should abide by a 7-year budget as scored by CBO. Now, the Speaker and 
the gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Kasich, and the gentleman from New Mexico, 
Senator Domenici, have been in negotiations with the President day in 
and day out, and it changes every day. He agrees to one thing one day 
and the next day he says, no, I did not say that yesterday. What does 
it do to us? We are wasting away precious time when we could be with 
our families and we are wasting it for a deal that is not going to 
happen.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Massachusetts [Mr. Frank], my dear friend.
  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, the Republicans have a 
problem. We are not simply talking about balancing the budget, but how 
to do it. They want to do it in a very extreme, radical way that does 
not appeal to most Americans. They want to cut Medicaid drastically, do 
away with a Federal guarantee for people who are sick and in need; they 
want to substantially reduce what Medicare would otherwise produce. 
They do that to increase military spending, to reduce taxes.
  They are in this dilemma. Here is the problem: they send the 
President their bills; they cannot pass the regular legislation, so 
they load up the appropriations bills. They do that 2 or 3 months late. 
The President then, as he is constitutionally entitled to do, vetoes 
them. What do they do? They take the Government hostage. They started 
out being for a line-item veto for the President, but then they 
realized Bill Clinton was president.
  Now they are not only not for a line-item veto, they are 
unconstitutionally trying to write the regular veto out of the 
Constitution. Because what they say is, if you do not accept our 
extreme procedures about Medicaid, about school lunches, about 
environmental protection, we will shut the government down.

  The problem, of course, is that they know that that is unpopular, and 
there is one thing we should be very clear about. One reason they are 
taking this elongated recess, they are afraid to let their own members 
vote.
  The chairman of the Committee on Rules, he announced last week he was 
very powerful. He said, people ought to be horse whipped if they 
disagreed with him on the ethics bill. Now what he is saying is that he 
will see that the Republicans cannot vote, because if we vote on a 
clean resolution to keep the Government open it might win. So they do 
not like the Constitution, they do not like democracy, they are not 
only taking the Government hostage, they are doing it somewhat 
incompetently.
  I wish this was not a game, but watching them, it appears that to 
them it is my. I am reminded of what Jim Breslin said in the title of 
his book, ``Chronicling the First Year of the Mets,'' and this is their 
first year of running the House: Can't anybody here play this game? 
Can't anybody here run this House? Can't anybody here keep this 
Government functioning?
  Ms. PRYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. In 
response to the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Frank] I love the 
Constitution, and I love democracy, and we are learning, we are 
learning how to play this game, and I think we are playing it pretty 
darn well.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Georgia 
[Mr. Kingston].
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me 
this time.
  I wanted to offer this to the previous speaker, my friend from 
Massachusetts [Mr. Frank] who said, well, Medicare is being cut. Here 
is your check. If Medicare is being cut, then you have already 
established what it takes to receive your $1 million, and all you have 
to do is go prove it.
  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. KINGSTON. I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts.
  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Well, first, the gentleman was not 
listening, because that was addressed to me. I said cutting Medicaid 
and I said reducing Medicare from what it would otherwise produce. I 
agree it is more, but it would be a lot less than it would have been if 
you did not change the law.

                              {time}  1615

  Mr. KINGSTON. Reclaiming my time, I am sorry, the gentleman said 
reducing.
  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I said of Medicaid.
  Mr. KINGSTON. I understood the gentleman to say cut.
  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I said Medicaid. You will reduce it 
beyond what it would otherwise be.
  Mr. KINGSTON. That is OK. Let me talk about some of the radical 
extreme problems we are seeming to have.
  We want to get rid of SSI for people who are in jail. We want to quit 
giving American jobs and social benefits to illegal aliens. We want to 
quit the scare tactics and the demagoguery on American seniors.
  I think more than anything else we are driven by the fact that this 
Congress will be leaving and I would say this administration will be 
leaving the children of America a $5 trillion debt. If a baby is born 
today, he or she owes over the next 75 years $187,000 as his or her 
share of interest on the national debt, above and beyond State, local, 
and Federal taxes. That is not what we want to do to America's 
children.
  I think, Mr. Speaker, my friends on the Democrat and Republican side, 
that maybe it is time to take a step back. Maybe it is time to say that 
this budget dilemma is perhaps beyond Democrats and Republicans in 
Washington. Maybe it is something that the American people need to 
drive a little bit more, and we need to all cool off a little bit and 
think about putting America first and trying to do what is best, 
because Dwight Eisenhower said, and I will paraphrase, that once the 
American people have made their mind up about something, there is 
little that can be done to stop it.
  I would say to my friends that the American people have made up their 
mind about balancing the budget. Let us work together as Democrats and 
Republicans, as elected leaders of this country, to do what the 
American people want, and that is to balance the budget.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Mississippi [Mr. Taylor].
  Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, we are being asked once again 
to waive the rules. The highest lawmaking body in this country, 
probably in the world, is asking to excuse itself from its own rules 
once again.
  This body has a law called Gramm-Rudman that says we have to balance 
the budget. Yet the budgets proposed by the Democrats and even the 
budget proposed by the Republicans this year is $270 billion in annual 
operating deficit for this coming year, because you waived the rules.
  They passed tax increases, you are supposed to have a three-fifths 
vote, but they waived the rule on that, so a simple majority can do it.
  I do not think we are in trouble because of the laws of this land. I 
think we are in trouble because we will not enforce the laws of this 
land. It has got to start with ourselves.
  If the House has a rule saying that we can only recess for 24 hours 
at a time, let us obey it. If you want to 

[[Page H15539]]
change the rule, then propose a change to the rules. But we are the 
highest legislative body in the world, as far as I am concerned, and no 
one is going to respect us if we do not respect our own laws.
  Person after person came to the floor and talked about a Republican 
balanced budget. Jerry, I voted for your 5-year budget because I 
thought it would truly get us there. The budget you all are proposing 
has $270 billion in deficit for next year.
  And my Democratic colleagues, guys, they really are increasing the 
money for Medicare and Medicaid. You cannot call it a cut, and we are 
never going to get there if we are not honest.
  We are 3 days from Christmas and there are 300,000 Federal employees 
out there who are counting on us to keep our word to them. If I was 
them, since we have had so much trouble keeping our word, I would 
really wonder if their paycheck was going to be there.
  So I think we ought to stick around and make sure we pass something 
so those people get paid. If they are vital, let us pay them. If they 
are not so vital, then let us let them go but do not leave them out 
there in limbo, certainly not 3 days before Christmas.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Maryland [Mr. Hoyer].
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I do not know how many Members are listening 
to WTOP. There is some dramatic music that comes on: ``Capital Crisis, 
Shutdown 2, Day 6.'' This proposes day 7 through 18, shutting down the 
Government by recessing from 3 days to 3 days. What kind of Alice in 
Wonderland are we subjecting our Federal employees and the country to?
  Does anybody believe that because we recess without a continuing 
resolution to have the Government workers on the job, that we have 
somehow put pressure on the President? Or put pressure on the Congress 
that is going to be, as the gentlewoman said, going to go home to 
reality?
  Believe me, nobody believes that reality is here. That is for sure. 
And this resolution is as far from reality as it gets. A simple 
continuing resolution which adopts exactly this premise but puts people 
back to work. That is the only difference. No greater or lesser 
pressure. No more balanced budget or less.
  I voted for the coalition budget. I voted for the balanced budget 
amended. I believe that we need to balance the budget in 7 years with 
CBO numbers. Period. And I believe we are going to do that.
  But why, my friends, do we in that process compound the deficit, 
destroy the morale of Federal workers, and disrupt the country? It 
makes no sense. It makes no common sense. As I have said so many times, 
it is irresponsible. Let us change our minds. Let us do the right 
thing. Pass a clean continuing resolution.
  Ms. PRYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, it is obviously very difficult to predict what will 
happen with the budget negotiations over the next few days. But if 
there is some sudden movement, make no mistake, we are not adjourning. 
We are recessing at the call of the Chair. We will all be back here to 
ratify the actions taken by our leadership and the President. When the 
President gets serious, we will be here to do what it takes.
  You may call that optimistic, Mr. Speaker, but after all it is a 
season of miracles and perhaps we will see some movement, and I 
certainly hope that is the case.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentlewoman, for whom I have a great 
deal of respect, yield?
  Ms. PRYCE. I yield to the gentleman from Maryland.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate what the gentlewoman has just 
said. Let me suggest if an agreement is reached tomorrow or the next 
day or the day after, I think everybody in the House, if an agreement 
is reached, will come here, most of us, and vote to ratify that 
agreement on January 2 or 3.
  It will make no difference that we have recessed or adjourned and put 
the Government back to work. We will do that. Why? Because our 
President will have agreed, your Speaker will have agreed, and the 
majority leader will have agreed. Therefore, my point was, this gets 
you nothing other than a continuing disruption of the Government and 
the country.
  I agree with the gentlewoman. If an agreement is reached, we will 
ratify it. I hope that happens, because I share your objective.
  Mr. SOLOMON. Mr. Speaker, will the gentlewoman yield?
  Ms. PRYCE. I yield to the gentleman from New York.
  Mr. SOLOMON. Mr. Speaker, I say to my good friend Steny Hoyer, and he 
is a good friend and I have a lot of respect for him because he has a 
lot of common sense, but if you read the resolution, it was constructed 
this way for the very purpose that you have just stated. It says the 
Speaker may declare recesses subject to the call of the Chair now, 
subject to the call of the Chair on calendar days of Saturday--that is 
day after tomorrow, because we are going to be in here and voting on 
legislation all day tomorrow, that is Friday--but it will be subject to 
the call of the Chair on the days of Saturday, December 23 through 
Wednesday, December 27.
  That means we could be back on Sunday. We can be back here on Monday, 
or Tuesday. And we are going to be here. The only day we probably will 
not really be here is Sunday itself. But many of us are going to be 
here and we are going to continue our negotiations.
  There are a lot of things that we are going to be working on. We are 
going to be working on the Balanced Budget Act. There is a lot that has 
to be done to put that together. We are going to give it back to the 
President, in a effort to be sincere and to compromise and to work, and 
we are going to be here, Steny. So it is not as if we are adjourning.
  The gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Moakley], my good friend up in 
the Rules Committee, wanted to have a resolution to adjourn, and I said 
no, we are not going to adjourn. We are going to continue to work and 
try to get the job done. That is sincerity from this part of the aisle.
  Mr. HOYER. If the gentlewoman will continue to yield, I think my 
friend is sincere, but I say to the gentleman, the construct you have 
discussed can be accomplished while at the same time putting the 
Government back to work until January 2 or 3, whichever date you 
choose, that Monday or Tuesday, without the disruption to the country, 
and with much less angst to Federal employees that both you and I have 
supported very strongly through the years.
  I say to my friend that I am going to be here. As you know, I live 
close by, so it is easy for me. I have been here for the last 12 days 
in a row. I was here last Saturday and Sunday working on this budget, 
at the White House. You were as well. I do not know whether the 
gentlewoman from Ohio [Ms. Pryce] was, but we are all dedicated to 
doing this.
  What I am saying is, common sense, it seems to me, would dictate that 
we simply tell the Government, ``You are going to operate until January 
2 and we are going to continue to stay here and work.'' You do not need 
to recess from day to day to do that. You can adjourn, or recess, if we 
have a CR to accomplish that objective.
  Mr. SOLOMON. Steny, if I could just reclaim my time, if the 
gentlewoman has a little extra time, if we had made some progress the 
last time and if we felt there was really sincerity at the other end of 
Pennsylvania Avenue, I would be up here fighting for you for that CR. 
But the trouble is, you know the President the other day met with the 
Republican leaders, President Dole--he will be in in about a year--but 
Senator Dole and Speaker Gingrich, and when he came out of that meeting 
we were all excited because we really thought we had made some 
progress.
  Then Vice President Al Gore comes out and refutes almost everything 
that was said there. Then the Speaker's press secretary about an hour 
later came out and even changed what Vice President Gore was saying. 
Then on top of that, our former colleague, Mr. Panetta, the Chief of 
Staff of the President, comes out and says something else.
  Steny, it is so frustrating and confusing. It is hard to have faith 
that there is going to be anything there. That is why we cannot gamble. 
We have to hold their nose to the grindstone and see if we cannot make 
some progress. I am trying.

[[Page H15540]]



                announcement by the speaker pro tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Barrett of Nebraska). The Chair would 
make an observation to the body. The Chair would request that all 
Members address each other through the Chair and not use first names.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from 
Vermont [Mr. Sanders].
  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Speaker, all over the State of Vermont our Federal 
employees are extremely anxious. Those who are furloughed, those who 
are working. Our Federal employees should not be held hostage because 
the Republican Party has a 7-year disastrous budget that they want to 
push through the White House and this Congress. We have the moral 
obliation to reopen Government today, put our Federal employees back to 
work, and then we can debate the 7-year balanced budget.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman 
from New York [Mr. Hinchey].
  Mr. HINCHEY. Mr. Speaker, the resolution before the body today asks 
us to convey to the Speaker of this House extraordinary powers, beyond 
those which he normally possesses. It would be irresponsible for me to 
vote for such a resolution, and I think for any Member of this House to 
do so, simply because the Speaker has not exercised those powers which 
he possesses now in a responsible way.
  We are in the process of trying to establish a budget to meet the 
needs, the health, safety, and welfare of the people of this country. 
In the absence of that budget, the Speaker has the responsibility and 
the authority to put before the House a continuing resolution which 
would allow the Government to continue to operate in the interim 
period, to keep Federal Government workers at their post and to ensure 
that the 14 million children of families who are dependent upon checks 
that come from this Government in one way or another do not have a 
black coal in their stocking this Christmas.

                              {time}  1630

  So do not ask me to give the Speaker of this House additional power 
when he is not doing the responsible thing with the power that he has.
  Let us get a continuing resolution out here. Let us keep this 
Government running while we negotiate a budget. If we do that, then we 
are doing the right thing, and I am prepared to do that.
  I am prepared to stay here every minute. I am prepared.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Barrett of Nebraska). The gentleman did 
not yield.
  Mr. VOLKMER. Regular order. We do not permit that.
  Mr. HINCHEY. Mr. Speaker, excuse the interruption. I want to answer 
my dear colleague and friend from New York who asked that question. I 
am prepared to stay here every minute. If we get whatever it takes, I 
am prepared to stay here every minute of every day until we get this 
Government back working again, whatever it takes, right here. Whatever 
it takes, I am prepared to be here. And I think to do anything else is 
irresponsible. Let us get a continuing resolution out here.


                         parliamentary inquiry

  Mr. VOLKMER. Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will state his parliamentary 
inquiry.
  Mr. VOLKMER. The rules of the House, do they not require that the 
person who has the time be permitted to exercise that time without 
interruption by other Members?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman is correct.
  Mr. VOLKMER. Then why did the Speaker not attempt at least to make 
sure that the gentleman from New York did not interrupt the other 
gentleman from New York?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair did use the gavel.
  Mr. VOLKMER. Pardon?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair did use the gavel in an attempt to 
prevent that interrogation.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
North Carolina [Mr. Watt].
  Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I do not really think there 
is a Member in this body who would not like to go home for Christmas. 
So this is really not about whether we want a recess or do not want a 
recess. It really is about whether it is responsible to recess without 
having a continuing resolution, and we believe it is not.
  So let me talk about this continuing resolution thing for just a 
second so that people understand.
  Without a continuing resolution, we are going to have 270,000 Federal 
employees out of work, but the Speaker has committed to pay those 
employees. That makes absolutely no sense. Without a continuing 
resolution passed either today or tomorrow, 4.7 million families will 
not get aid to families with dependent children. That is 14 million 
children.
  Listen to what I am saying: 14 million children who do not have any 
say in this budget fight, who do not have a dog in this fight, the most 
vulnerable, the poorest people in this country these people would leave 
exposed without the benefit of their AFDC benefits.
  Now, one of them got up and said, well, that is not a problem because 
the States are going to step into this void. There are 30 States that 
have legislation on their books that prevent them, prohibit them from 
stepping into this void if the Federal Government does not live up to 
its responsibility.
  Since when did we start telling States you have got to fulfill the 
responsibilities that the Federal Government has undertaken already? An 
unfunded mandate if I have ever heard of one, and we have spent 3 
weeks, 4 weeks, 5 weeks talking about how unfair unfunded mandates 
were.
  This is ridiculous. It is irresponsible. And we ought to defeat this 
resolution.
  Ms. PRYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to my friend, the gentleman 
from Virginia [Mr. Davis].
  Mr. DAVIS. Mr. Speaker, my colleague from North Carolina just made a 
statement that made me come out of my seat.
  Do you believe then Federal employees should not be paid for the 
time? You just criticized the Speaker for saying the Federal employees, 
who, through no fault of their own----
  Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. DAVIS. I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina.
  Mr. WATT of North Carolina. If you are going to shut the Government 
down, then shut it down.
  Mr. DAVIS. Should they be paid?
  Mr. WATT of North Carolina. You are responsible for shutting the 
Government down while you stand here and go home and enjoy Christmas. 
You are irresponsible.
  Mr. DAVIS. Should they be paid? Reclaiming my time, the gentleman did 
not answer my question. I think it was a cheap shot at Federal 
employees. They are the innocent victims in this. I applaud the Speaker 
and the leadership of both parties. I applaud the leadership of both 
parties for recognizing that this budget impasse continues if the 
President has refused to sign some of the bills.
  Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. DAVIS. I yield to the gentleman from Rhode Island.
  Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island. Mr. Speaker, I think your question was 
should the Federal workers still be paid, and yet not be able to do the 
work that they are mandated to do under the laws of this country.
  Mr. DAVIS. We are talking about retroactively. I would love to put 
them back to work today.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
West Virginia [Mr. Wise].
  Mr. WISE. Mr. Speaker, from the other side earlier I heard a lot of 
talk about balanced budget. I heard talk about Medicare. I saw checks 
for a million dollars. I saw lots of things. What I did not hear was 
discussion about whether or not you ought to recess, and that is what 
is on the floor today: Should you recess for 3 days at a time when the 
Federal Government is in the crisis that it is in? This is about a 
recess authority.
  But this really is not about recess. This is about having a recess to 
avoid a process, and the process is the honest debate that has to take 
place and the honest negotiations that have to take place. This is 
about a recess to avoid a process of debate, to avoid the Constitution, 
of avoiding a vote whether or not to adjourn.
  Make no mistake, when you vote for this recess, which I will not be 
voting 

[[Page H15541]]
for, when you vote for this recess, you sign the warrant for continued 
Government shutdown. You sign a warrant for continued furlough of 
hundreds of thousands of Federal employees who cannot do the job they 
want to do. You sign the warrant, for instance, for State Department 
personnel who have to be called off of furlough to go identify bodies 
in Colombia or to get visas for people in the former Russian States. 
You sign a warrant for the 66,000 students who need to apply for Pell 
grants but are unable to do that paperwork, for the millions of AFDC 
children. At Christmastime? This is the kind of warrant you want to 
sign.
  Taxpayers are not getting what they paid for. This is the 6th day now 
of cumulative 12th day of a Nation held hostage. With this recess, this 
hostage-taking process only continues. When you vote for this, you know 
you may be voting to go home, but make no mistake about it, Federal 
workers will not be working, and constituents will not be buying what 
you are trying to sell. That is what this is about. It is about a 
recess. It is the wrong time. And it is about a recess to avoid the 
process.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Missouri [Mr. Volkmer].
  (Mr. VOLKMER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. VOLKMER. Mr. Speaker, Members of the House, and especially 
earlier, one of the gentlemen from North Carolina and the gentleman 
from Maryland [Mr. Hoyer], the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Moran], 
talked about the Federal workers. We also heard about the AFDC 
recipients and the children out there.
  Folks, remember, these guys do not care about those people. That is 
what it is all about. They do not care. To them, the whole idea is 
something up here in Utopia. We are going to have a balanced budget in 
7 years, and anything can happen in that 7 years. In the meantime, 
children can starve, old folks can go hungry, Federal workers can have 
no Christmas, none whatsoever, with their kids.
  They are still going to get their paychecks. They are going to put it 
in their pocket. They are going to be under this resolution, which I 
urge Members strongly to oppose. They are going to be able to be with 
their families. They already have their Christmas gifts I am sure, 
already bought because they have plenty of money.
  They do not really care about the downtrodden. You can tell that. 
Just look at the welfare bill we just voted on. They would just as soon 
do away completely with AFDC. They do not want any AFDC. They would 
just as soon do away with the Federal Government except defense.
  I had one of them once tell me, one of these people, these radicals, 
tell me all the Federal Government should do is defend our shores, 
deliver the mail, and get out of our pocketbook. That is what I am 
hearing over here. That is all they want to do. Anything else can go to 
pot.
  You think they worry about employees at EPA? They want to do away 
with EPA. They do not want EPA. You name it, all Federal regulatory 
bodies. What did we see in the 100 days? Look at the legislation. And 
now they are saying their platitudes, ``We are going to have an 
agreement in these next few days.'' Baloney.
  I say to the President, no CR, no budget negotiations.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from 
Virginia [Mr. Moran].
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, just like the veteran that left the message 
last night, he did not want his interests being put ahead of the 
American public's interests, we cannot put our interests ahead of the 
American public's interests. We cannot go home and enjoy Christmas with 
our families if we have not done our job, if the Government is still 
shut down.
  Consider these 13 million welfare families. They cannot get payments 
at the beginning of the month. We know they have no disposable income. 
They have spent all of their money on Christmas presents at the 
beginning of the month. They have to pay their monthly rent. They are 
not going to have money for food, never mind monthly rent.
  How can we go and enjoy our families when they cannot even survive 
because we have not done our job?
  Ms. PRYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished 
majority leader, the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Armey].
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this 
time.
  I want to thank all of my colleagues for what has been a 
scintillating debate.
  This is a very difficult time for all of us, and certainly we can 
acknowledge that. Let me just say very quickly what this is about. This 
is very likely to be the last vote we have today. We have a few items 
that are important that we will be able to act on tomorrow, and then, 
quite frankly, even though we have two or three other items that are of 
consequence to the country, important to us, they would not be ready to 
be brought to the floor for a while.
  That being the case, while the negotiations proceed, beginning with a 
9 o'clock meeting at the White House tomorrow on the budget, we feel 
that it is prudent for us to have a recess authority that would allow 
us to recess the Chair and, during that period of recess, allow those 
Members who are able to spend time with their families at Christmastime 
to do so and, in the process of their doing so, they can do so with a 
good deal of confidence that the negotiations will continue at the 
White House and that, in fact, that that work which can be continuing 
to prepare legislation to bring back to the floor as soon as possible 
can be in those final stages of preparation. And at that point, when we 
have important work that is available to the floor, the Members will 
get a call so that within the day they can get back and deal with any 
important work that must be dealt with.
  That strikes me as an opportunity for us to, on one hand, continue 
the work on those few remaining items that need to have progress 
continue on them, while, on the other hand put us in the kind of recess 
that would enable Members to spend time with their families.
  I must say that seems to me to be a reasonable move for us to take on 
behalf of all of the Members and all of the work that is before the 
Congress.
  Ms. FURSE. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. ARMEY. I yield to the gentlewoman from Oregon.
  Ms. FURSE. You know, I think that this is just not very truthful, 
because I cannot get here from the west coast in anything less than 8 
hours. So I have to tell you, Mr. Majority Leader, that it is not true 
that, if you recess, that I can be back at the call of your office.
  Mr. ARMEY. If I may reclaim my time, no Member would have anything 
less than 12 hours' notice under the most rigorous of circumstances, 
and there is no doubt that we understand the very large number of our 
Members who would be traveling from the west coast.
  Certainly, we would understand it would be impossible to reconvene 
the House without giving them ample time.
  These things are not that difficult to figure out.

                              {time}  1645

  Mr. VOLKMER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. ARMEY. I yield to the gentleman from Missouri.
  Mr. VOLKMER. Mr. Speaker, I would like to inquire of the majority 
leader, in the negotiations that hopefully will take place, do they not 
have to negotiate not just Medicare, not just Medicaid, but in that 
reconciliation package do you not also have such things as school 
lunches, do you not have food stamps, do you not have big tax cuts? All 
of these things are in there.
  I have been here a little while. Is the gentleman trying to tell me 
there is a possibility that he is going to have this done by next 
Wednesday?
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, we will work as hard as 
we can. As long as we can make good progress, we will continue working. 
I cannot promise the gentleman anything. As we know, these are troubled 
times. We will do our best.
  In the meantime, I would say to my colleagues in the House on both 
sides of the aisle, if they will vote for an opportunity to give us the 
flexibility to respond to both the legislative needs of 

[[Page H15542]]
the country and the very real and heartfelt family needs of our 
Members, we will exercise that with judicious responsibility on behalf 
of both needs.
  Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Speaker, would the majority leader kindly yield 
for one question?
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, time is controlled.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Barrett of Nebraska). Does the gentleman 
from Massachusetts yield to the gentleman from Hawaii?
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 10 seconds to the gentleman from 
Hawaii [Mr. Abercrombie].
  Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Speaker, in that context, can you inform me then 
if this resolution passes, does that mean that all codels will be 
canceled?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has not stated a parliamentary 
inquiry to which the Chair can respond.
  Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Speaker, I did not ask a parliamentary inquiry. 
The Speaker admonished everybody to address questions through him. I 
asked, Mr. Speaker, whether the maker of the resolution could advise me 
whether or not that means that all codels will be canceled? I think 
that is a fair question.
  Mr. THOMAS. Are you going somewhere?
  Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Speaker, most respectfully, I thought I was 
obeying your admonition to speak through you.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the previous 
question. If the previous question is defeated, I will offer an 
amendment so that this House does not recess until we adopt a clean 
continuing resolution keeping the Government running until January 26.
  I include for the Record my proposed amendment.

            Previous Question Amendment to Recess Resolution

       At the end of the resolution, add the following:
       ``Sec.   . Immediately upon the adoption of this resolution 
     the House shall without intervention of any point of order 
     consider in the House the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 131) 
     making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year 
     1996, and for other purposes. The joint resolution shall be 
     debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the 
     chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on 
     Appropriations. The previous question shall be considered as 
     ordered on the joint resolution to final passage without 
     intervening motion except one motion to recommit with or 
     without instructions.
       Sec.  . The recess authority provided in the previous 
     sections of this resolution shall be effective only on or 
     after the date on which H.J. Res. 131 is presented to the 
     President for approval.''

  Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  Ms. PRYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 320 was reported by the Committee on 
Rules last night by voice vote authorizing the Speaker to declare 
recesses subject to the call of the Chair.
  The amendment I will offer would authorize the Speaker to declare 
recesses subject to the call of the Chair on calendar day Thursday, 
December 28, through Saturday, December 30.
  The amendment would further provide that after the House has been in 
session on calendar day Saturday, December 30, the Speaker may declare 
recesses subject to the call of the Chair on calendar day Saturday, 
December 30, through Wednesday, January 3.
  Mr. Speaker, the Speaker needs this authority to keep the House in 
recess next week subject to the call of the Chair, pending the ongoing 
negotiations over the budget.
  Members should be aware that the House will not be adjourned, but 
rather in recess on standby, should budget negotiations prove 
successful.


                     amendment offered by ms. pryce

  Ms. PRYCE. Mr. Speaker, I offer an amendment authorized by the 
Committee on Rules.
  The Clerk read as follows:

       Amendment offered by Ms. Pryce of Ohio: Strike all after 
     the Resolved clause and insert:
       That the Speaker may declare recesses subject to the call 
     of the Chair on the calendar days of Saturday, December 23, 
     1995, through Wednesday, December 27, 1995.
       Sec. 2. The Speaker may declare recesses subject to the 
     call of the Chair on the calendar days of Thursday, December 
     28, 1995, through Saturday, December 30, 1995.
       Sec. 3. After the House has been in session on the calendar 
     day of Saturday, December 30, 1995, the Speaker may declare 
     recesses subject to the call of the Chair on the calendar 
     days of Saturday, December 30, 1995, through Wednesday, 
     January 3, 1996.
       Sec. 4.(a) A recess declared pursuant to the first section 
     of this resolution may not extend beyond the calendar day of 
     Wednesday, December 27, 1995.
       (b) A recess declared pursuant to section 2 of this 
     resolution may not extend beyond the calendar day of 
     Saturday, December 30, 1995.
       (c) A recess declared pursuant to section 3 of this 
     resolution may not extend beyond 11:55 a.m. on the calendar 
     day of Wednesday, January 3, 1996.

  Ms. PRYCE. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, I yield 
back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the 
resolution.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on ordering the previous 
question.
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the noes appeared to have it.
  Ms. PRYCE. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a 
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not 
present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Evidently a quorum is not present.
  The Sergeant at Arms will notify absent Members.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 228, 
nays 179, not voting 26, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 878]

                               YEAS--228

     Allard
     Archer
     Armey
     Bachus
     Baker (CA)
     Ballenger
     Barr
     Barrett (NE)
     Bartlett
     Bass
     Bateman
     Bereuter
     Bilbray
     Bilirakis
     Bliley
     Blute
     Boehlert
     Boehner
     Bonilla
     Bono
     Brewster
     Brownback
     Bryant (TN)
     Bunn
     Bunning
     Burr
     Burton
     Buyer
     Camp
     Campbell
     Canady
     Castle
     Chabot
     Chambliss
     Chenoweth
     Christensen
     Chrysler
     Clinger
     Coble
     Coburn
     Collins (GA)
     Combest
     Cooley
     Cox
     Crane
     Crapo
     Cremeans
     Cubin
     Cunningham
     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
     Gillmor
     Gilman
     Goodlatte
     Goodling
     Goss
     Graham
     Greenwood
     Gunderson
     Gutknecht
     Hall (TX)
     Hancock
     Hansen
     Hastert
     Hastings (WA)
     Hayes
     Hayworth
     Hefley
     Heineman
     Herger
     Hilleary
     Hobson
     Hoekstra
     Hoke
     Horn
     Hostettler
     Houghton
     Hunter
     Hutchinson
     Hyde
     Inglis
     Istook
     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
     Moorhead
     Myrick
     Nethercutt
     Neumann
     Ney
     Norwood
     Nussle
     Oxley
     Packard
     Parker
     Paxon
     Petri
     Pombo
     Porter
     Portman
     Pryce
     Radanovich
     Ramstad
     Regula
     Riggs
     Roberts
     Rogers
     Rohrabacher
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Roth
     Roukema
     Royce
     Salmon
     Sanford
     Saxton
     Scarborough
     Schaefer
     Schiff
     Seastrand
     Sensenbrenner
     Shadegg
     Shaw
     Shays
     Shuster
     Skeen
     Smith (MI)
     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

                               NAYS--179

     Abercrombie
     Andrews
     Baesler
     Baldacci
     Barcia
     Barrett (WI)
     Becerra
     Beilenson
     Bentsen
     Berman
     Bevill
     Bishop
     Bonior
     Borski
     Boucher
     Browder
     Brown (CA)
     Brown (FL)
     Brown (OH)
     Cardin
     Clay
     Clayton
     Clement
     Clyburn
     Coleman
     Collins (IL)
     Collins (MI)
     Condit
     Costello
     Coyne
     Cramer
     Danner
     Davis
     de la Garza
     DeFazio
     DeLauro
     Dellums
     Deutsch
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Dixon
     Doggett
     Dooley
     Doyle
     Durbin
     Engel
     Eshoo
     Evans
     Farr
     Fattah
     Fazio
     Fields (LA)
     Flake
     Foglietta
     
[[Page H15543]]

     Frank (MA)
     Frost
     Furse
     Gejdenson
     Gephardt
     Geren
     Gonzalez
     Gordon
     Green
     Gutierrez
     Hamilton
     Hastings (FL)
     Hefner
     Hilliard
     Hinchey
     Holden
     Hoyer
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Jefferson
     Johnson (SD)
     Johnson, E. B.
     Johnston
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Kennedy (MA)
     Kennedy (RI)
     Kennelly
     Kildee
     Kleczka
     Klink
     Levin
     Lewis (GA)
     Lincoln
     Lipinski
     Lofgren
     Lowey
     Luther
     Maloney
     Markey
     Mascara
     Matsui
     McCarthy
     McDermott
     McHale
     McKinney
     McNulty
     Meehan
     Menendez
     Mfume
     Miller (CA)
     Minge
     Mink
     Moakley
     Mollohan
     Montgomery
     Moran
     Morella
     Murtha
     Nadler
     Neal
     Oberstar
     Obey
     Olver
     Ortiz
     Orton
     Pallone
     Pastor
     Payne (NJ)
     Payne (VA)
     Pelosi
     Peterson (FL)
     Peterson (MN)
     Pickett
     Pomeroy
     Poshard
     Rahall
     Rangel
     Reed
     Richardson
     Rivers
     Roemer
     Rose
     Roybal-Allard
     Rush
     Sabo
     Sanders
     Sawyer
     Schroeder
     Schumer
     Scott
     Sisisky
     Skaggs
     Skelton
     Slaughter
     Spratt
     Stark
     Stenholm
     Stokes
     Studds
     Stupak
     Tanner
     Taylor (MS)
     Tejeda
     Thompson
     Thornton
     Thurman
     Torres
     Torricelli
     Towns
     Traficant
     Velazquez
     Vento
     Visclosky
     Volkmer
     Ward
     Waters
     Watt (NC)
     Waxman
     Wilson
     Wise
     Woolsey
     Wyden
     Wynn
     Yates

                             NOT VOTING--26

     Ackerman
     Baker (LA)
     Barton
     Bryant (TX)
     Callahan
     Calvert
     Chapman
     Conyers
     Edwards
     Filner
     Ford
     Gibbons
     Hall (OH)
     Harman
     Jacobs
     LaFalce
     Lantos
     Manton
     Martinez
     Meek
     Myers
     Owens
     Quillen
     Quinn
     Serrano
     Williams

                              {time}  1711

  So the previous question was ordered.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Barrett of Nebraska). The question is on 
the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from Ohio [Ms. Pryce].
  The amendment was agreed to.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the resolution, as 
amended.
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the noes appeared to have it.


                             recorded vote

  Ms. PRYCE. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.
  A recorded vote was ordered.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 224, 
noes 186, not voting 24, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 879]

                               AYES--224

     Allard
     Archer
     Armey
     Bachus
     Baker (CA)
     Ballenger
     Barr
     Barrett (NE)
     Bartlett
     Barton
     Bass
     Bateman
     Bereuter
     Bilbray
     Bilirakis
     Bliley
     Blute
     Boehlert
     Boehner
     Bonilla
     Brewster
     Brownback
     Bryant (TN)
     Bunn
     Bunning
     Burr
     Burton
     Buyer
     Camp
     Campbell
     Canady
     Castle
     Chambliss
     Chenoweth
     Christensen
     Chrysler
     Clinger
     Coble
     Coburn
     Collins (GA)
     Combest
     Cooley
     Cox
     Crane
     Crapo
     Cubin
     Cunningham
     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
     Gekas
     Gilchrest
     Gillmor
     Gilman
     Gingrich
     Goodlatte
     Goodling
     Goss
     Graham
     Greenwood
     Gunderson
     Gutknecht
     Hancock
     Hansen
     Hastert
     Hastings (WA)
     Hayes
     Hayworth
     Hefley
     Heineman
     Herger
     Hilleary
     Hobson
     Hoekstra
     Hoke
     Horn
     Hostettler
     Houghton
     Hunter
     Hutchinson
     Hyde
     Inglis
     Istook
     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
     Longley
     Lucas
     Manzullo
     Martini
     McCollum
     McCrery
     McDade
     McHugh
     McInnis
     McIntosh
     McKeon
     Metcalf
     Meyers
     Mica
     Miller (FL)
     Molinari
     Moorhead
     Myrick
     Nethercutt
     Neumann
     Ney
     Norwood
     Nussle
     Oxley
     Packard
     Parker
     Paxon
     Petri
     Pombo
     Porter
     Portman
     Pryce
     Radanovich
     Ramstad
     Regula
     Riggs
     Roberts
     Rogers
     Rohrabacher
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Roth
     Roukema
     Royce
     Salmon
     Sanford
     Saxton
     Scarborough
     Schaefer
     Schiff
     Seastrand
     Sensenbrenner
     Shadegg
     Shaw
     Shays
     Shuster
     Skeen
     Smith (MI)
     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--186

     Abercrombie
     Andrews
     Baesler
     Baldacci
     Barcia
     Barrett (WI)
     Becerra
     Beilenson
     Bentsen
     Berman
     Bevill
     Bishop
     Bonior
     Bono
     Borski
     Boucher
     Browder
     Brown (CA)
     Brown (FL)
     Brown (OH)
     Cardin
     Chabot
     Clay
     Clayton
     Clement
     Clyburn
     Coleman
     Collins (IL)
     Collins (MI)
     Condit
     Costello
     Coyne
     Cramer
     Cremeans
     Danner
     Davis
     de la Garza
     DeFazio
     DeLauro
     Dellums
     Deutsch
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Dixon
     Doggett
     Dooley
     Doyle
     Durbin
     Engel
     Eshoo
     Evans
     Farr
     Fattah
     Fazio
     Fields (LA)
     Flake
     Foglietta
     Frank (MA)
     Frost
     Furse
     Ganske
     Gejdenson
     Gephardt
     Geren
     Gonzalez
     Gordon
     Green
     Gutierrez
     Hall (TX)
     Hamilton
     Hastings (FL)
     Hefner
     Hilliard
     Hinchey
     Holden
     Hoyer
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Jefferson
     Johnson (SD)
     Johnson, E. B.
     Johnston
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Kennedy (MA)
     Kennedy (RI)
     Kennelly
     Kildee
     Kleczka
     Klink
     Levin
     Lewis (GA)
     Lincoln
     Lipinski
     LoBiondo
     Lofgren
     Lowey
     Luther
     Maloney
     Markey
     Mascara
     Matsui
     McCarthy
     McDermott
     McHale
     McKinney
     McNulty
     Meehan
     Meek
     Menendez
     Mfume
     Miller (CA)
     Minge
     Mink
     Moakley
     Mollohan
     Montgomery
     Moran
     Morella
     Murtha
     Nadler
     Neal
     Oberstar
     Obey
     Olver
     Ortiz
     Orton
     Pallone
     Pastor
     Payne (NJ)
     Payne (VA)
     Pelosi
     Peterson (FL)
     Peterson (MN)
     Pickett
     Pomeroy
     Poshard
     Rahall
     Rangel
     Reed
     Richardson
     Rivers
     Roemer
     Rose
     Roybal-Allard
     Rush
     Sabo
     Sanders
     Sawyer
     Schroeder
     Schumer
     Scott
     Sisisky
     Skaggs
     Skelton
     Slaughter
     Spratt
     Stark
     Stenholm
     Stokes
     Studds
     Stupak
     Tanner
     Taylor (MS)
     Tejeda
     Thompson
     Thornton
     Thurman
     Torres
     Torricelli
     Towns
     Traficant
     Velazquez
     Vento
     Visclosky
     Volkmer
     Ward
     Waters
     Watt (NC)
     Waxman
     Wilson
     Wise
     Woolsey
     Wyden
     Wynn
     Yates

                             NOT VOTING--24

     Ackerman
     Baker (LA)
     Bryant (TX)
     Callahan
     Calvert
     Chapman
     Conyers
     Edwards
     Filner
     Ford
     Gibbons
     Hall (OH)
     Harman
     Jacobs
     LaFalce
     Lantos
     Manton
     Martinez
     Myers
     Owens
     Quillen
     Quinn
     Serrano
     Williams

                              {time}  1728

  So the resolution, as amended, was agreed to.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________