[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 40 (Thursday, March 21, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H2564-H2577]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE PRESIDENT WILL NOT ASK SECRETARY O'LEARY TO RESIGN
(Mr. TIAHRT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. TIAHRT. Madam Speaker, Vice President Gore, in his national
performance review, indicated that Clinton's Secretary of Energy,
Secretary O'Leary, and the Department of Energy, was 40 percent
inefficient in their environmental management and it is going to cost
the taxpayers $70 billion over the next 30 years.
Madam Speaker, what does that mean to taxpayers or what is that like?
What is the equivalent of being 40 percent inefficient? That is like
filling your car with gasoline, putting 10 gallons of it in, or running
10 gallons out of the pump and 4 of it goes on the ground and 6 of it
goes in your tank. That is like sitting down at a restaurant, for every
five bites you attempt to take, two of them end up in your lap. That is
like sending your child to school and expecting your child to sleep for
more than 2\1/2\ hours every day.
Forty percent inefficient, I think that is too much for the
taxpayers. Seventy billion dollars, too much of a burden for the
taxpayers. Yet it is condoned by Mr. Clinton. He will not call for
reforms. He will not abolish the waste. He will not ask Secretary
O'Leary to resign.
[[Page H2565]]
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 165, FURTHER
CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 1996, AND WAIVING REQUIREMENT
OF CLAUSE 4(B) OF RULE XI WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN RESOLUTIONS REPORTED
FROM COMMITTEE ON RULES
Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I
call up House Resolution 386 and ask for its immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:
H. Res. 386
Resolved, That upon the adoption of this resolution it
shall be in order to consider in the House the joint
resolution (H.J. Res. 165) 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. The motion to recommit may
include instructions only if offered by the minority leader
or his designee.
Sec. 2. The requirement of clause 4(b) of rule XI for a
two-thirds vote to consider a report from the Committee on
Rules on the same day it is presented to the House is waived
with respect to any resolution reported from that committee
before April 1, 1996, and providing for consideration or
disposition of any of the following measures.
(1) A bill making general appropriations for the fiscal
year ending September 30, 1996, any amendment thereto, any
conference report thereon, or any amendment reported in
disagreement from a conference thereon.
(2) A bill or joint resolution that includes provisions
making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year
1996, any amendment thereto, any conference report thereon,
or any amendment reported in disagreement from a conference
thereon.
(3) A bill or joint resolution that includes provisions
increasing or waiving (for a temporary period or otherwise)
the public debt limit under section 3101(b) of title 31,
United States Code, any amendment thereto, any conference
report thereon, or any amendment reported in disagreement
from a conference thereon.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Burton of Indiana). The gentleman from
Colorado [Mr. McInnis] is recognized for 1 hour.
Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, for the purposes of debate only, I yield
the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Frost],
pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During the
consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purposes
of debate only.
Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 386 is a closed rule providing for
consideration in the House with 1 hour of debate equally divided
between the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on
Appropriations. The rule orders the previous question to final passage
without intervening motion except one motion to recommit which, if
containing instructions, may only be offered by the minority leader or
his designee.
Section 2 of the proposed rule merely waives the requirement of
clause 4(b) of rule 11 for a two-thirds vote to consider a report from
the Committee on Rules on the same day it is presented to the House for
resolutions reported from the Rules Committee before April 1, 1996,
under certain circumstances.
This narrow waiver will only apply to special rules providing for the
consideration or disposition of any measures, amendments, conference
reports, or items in disagreement from a conference that make general
appropriations for fiscal year 1996, include provisions making
continuing appropriations for fiscal year 1996, or any bill, or joint
resolution, that includes provision increasing or waiving the public
debt limit. The Rules Committee recognized the need for expedited
procedures to bring these legislative measures forward as soon as
possible. Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 386 is straightforward, and it
was reported by the Committee on Rules by voice vote.
In order to prevent a Government shutdown and provide the conferees
on the omnibus continuing resolution adequate time to iron out the
differences between the House, Senate, and administration, House Joint
Resolution 165 is necessary. The legislation will keep the Government
operating through March 29, and in the case of AFDC and the Foster Care
Program through April 3. I urge my colleagues to support House
Resolution 386 and the underlying legislation, House Joint Resolution
165.
{time} 1030
Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, this rule is proof positive that the Republican majority
cannot finish the job they were sent to Washington to do. It seems to
me that in addition to bringing about the revolution they have spoken
of so often in the past 15 months, their responsibility, as the
majority party, is to make sure that the trains run on time. Well, Mr.
Speaker, not only have the trains not run on time in this Republican
Congress, we have had to live through two major train wrecks, and now,
nearly 7 months into fiscal year, most of the train is still off the
tracks.
But, Mr. Speaker, my Republican colleagues have added insult to
injury by asking this House to once again impose martial law. And what
does martial law do, Mr. Speaker? Quite simply, martial law allows a
majority to disregard the rules that they once so vigorously defended
when they were in the minority. For 4 continuous months the House has
operated under procedures that, had they been imposed by the Democrats,
my Republican friends would have screamed bloody murder.
Today the Republican leadership plans to bring up the sixth martial
law resolution of the 104th Congress. The resolution allows the Speaker
to bypass the regular committee process and bring legislation
immediately to the House floor without the normal 1-day layoff period
required by the rules of the House. Usually this extraordinary
authority is granted only in the final days of a session as adjournment
approaches. But under, Republican control, the House has operated under
martial law continuously for 4 months, from November 15 through March
15. Today they plan to extend that authority again until April 1.
In the Democratic 103d Congress the House operated under martial law
for a total of 5 days with no martial law resolution lasting more than
1 day. In this Republican Congress a single martial law resolution,
House Resolution 330, lasted 50 days. In the Democratic 103d Congress
each martial law resolution applied to only one bill. Under the
Republican control all martial law resolutions have applied to entire
classes of bills encompassing everything from spending bills to Bosnia.
So, Mr. Speaker, I am going to make an offer my Republican colleagues
should not be able to refuse. Let us go back to regular order and use
the rules which have in previous Congresses served both the majority
and the minority. Let us not circumvent the rules and undercut the
democratic process in an effort to cover up the fact that the
Republican majority cannot do its job.
I intend to oppose ordering the previous question in order to be able
to offer an alternative rule which strikes the martial law provisions
recommended by the Committee on Rules Republicans. I think that after 7
months of delay, if the Republican majority is serious about finally
funding the Federal Government, the very least the Republican majority
can do is offer the Members of the House the opportunity to take the
time to read the bill. Martial law does not give anyone, Republican or
Democrats, such an opportunity.
So I would encourage those Members across the aisle who are serious
about maintaining democratic, with a small ``d,'' principles to vote
again the previous question and to support my alternative to the rule.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I think initially here we need to clarify a couple of
points.
Mr. Speaker, I think at the very initial stages here we need to
correct or clarify some of the statements made by my respected friend,
the gentleman from the State of Texas [Mr. Frost]. Circumvent the
rules? I think the gentleman is confused. This is the rules. That is
why we are down here today.
The gentleman and I were both in the Committee on Rules last night.
The gentleman did not ask for two rules. We had a voice vote. I did not
see this kind of vigorous debate in the Committee on Rules last night.
This is kind of a blind side that we are getting down here.
What we are asking for is approval of a rule, and then from that rule
let us
[[Page H2566]]
go into the debate. Let us talk about he comes up with this magic
phantom word called martial law. Again, in due respect to the gentleman
from Texas, I call it economic common sense. What does he want to do?
Stop the Government?
Of course, some leadership on the Democratic party would like to stop
the Government because this is an election year. This is a very
convenient time to try to put blame on the Republicans, who have
brought more economic sense to this Government than any governing part
of this body has brought for 40 years.
We have got some tough decisions to make here. We have got to move
this thing forward. We have got negotiations going on between the
administration, the President of the United States, between the U.S.
Senate and between the U.S. House. We need to allow them some continued
time for these kind of negotiations.
We are changing, Mr. Speaker, the habits of this House. We are
changing 40 years, in my opinion, of bad habits. We cannot do it
overnight. My colleague has got to allow the parties good faith, and he
has got to allow them time so that these good-faith negotiations can
continue. I do not think it helps the negotiations, it certainly does
not help the relations between the two parties on this House floor, to
use some of the types of exaggerations that I have just seen in the
previous statement.
I would urge my colleagues, look beyond the political aspect of this,
put aside the fact that we are in an election year right now, and let
us move toward the best interests of this country, and that is called
economic common sense.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
If I understand the previous speaker, he is generally making two
points. One is that the ends justify the means; and, two, that
democracy is a very dangerous thing. What law we are asking for is that
this House follow the rules of this House that have been followed for
years and years when Democrats were in the majority. The question is
are we going to suspend the rules of the House and not require a 1-day
layover, a simple 24-hour layover for the House to have a chance to
read bills before bringing up a rule on the floor of the House. We very
rarely did that when we were in the majority, and only at the end of a
session, and only for 1 day at a time.
The new majority wants to suspend the rules of the House for 4
months. I guess they consider democracy very dangerous. The ends
perhaps do justify the means in their view, not in mine.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, let us again address the points from the fine gentleman
from the State of Texas. We have got to have a bill by Friday. Does my
colleague want to shut the Government down? We have to have a bill by
Friday.
Now, I am sorry we cannot allow for time through next week and the
following week to read some of the things that the gentleman would like
to read. The fact is this Government continues second by second.
Now, we can either allow it to continue on Friday, or we can shut it
down.
Now, today is Thursday. That means we have less than 24 hours, or
about 24 hours, to do something to keep this Government operating. It
is the Republicans' priority to keep the Government on course, but to
run it on an economic course that is going to make common sense to the
average taxpayer in this country, and that is a balanced budget.
Furthermore, I think it is important to understand that the waiver
that we have talked about here, the narrow waiver, it is allowed by the
rules. Suspension of the rules is a rule. The gentleman from Texas [Mr.
Frost] has many years of experience on the Committee on Rules; he is a
very capable individual. He knows this is not undemocratic; that is how
the rules are written. We are utilizing the rules. I would be called
out of order, the Speaker would not allow me to continue this debate
today, if it was not in the rules. If I am not authorized to be on this
floor with this proposal, which, as the gentleman from Texas admitted,
the Democrats used while they were in the majority, if I were not
allowed to do that, it would not be in the rules. Of course it is
allowed.
We have got to have this, Mr. Speaker. We have got to continue to
allow this Government to operate in a fiscally sound manner.
Now, again it is a dramatic change in the last 40 years of leadership
in this House. In the last 40 years of leadership in this House we have
accumulated a debt that is about $38 million an hour. In other words,
our Government right now is spending about $38 million an hour more
than it is bringing in. We cannot do that. No country in the history of
civilization, no free country in the history of civilization, has
survived with the kind of economic factors that we now have in place
the way this Government has been run the last 40 years.
The gentleman from Texas [Mr. Frost] knows it, the gentleman and the
gentlewomen from all the 50 States in this Union know it. We have got
to face up to fiscal reality, and that means that we have got to get
some resolution, we have got to allow time for negotiations, and this
rule allows it, and that joint resolution will allow the Government to
operate in a commonsense, good judgment fashion.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished
gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Bonior], the Democratic whip.
Mr. BONIOR. I thank the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Frost] for yielding
the time this morning.
Mr. Speaker, the distinguished political analyst, Kevin Phillips, has
said that this is the most unproductive Congress in the last 50 years.
I have been here 20 years, and I have never seen this place run so
poorly, so inefficiently, and without care and deliberation.
What this resolution we have before us does is say to virtually all
Members of the Congress, at least the House, and all of the public,
``You can't participate.''
Now, what do we mean when we say martial law? The gentleman from
Texas [Mr. Frost] has referred to this word, martial law. It means that
the Speaker and the majority leader can bring legislation to this floor
without going through the committee structure, without hearings,
without giving us even a day's notice, bring it right to the floor, and
we vote on it, and, as Mr. Frost has said earlier, this is being done
for the fourth month in a row. Seventy-three percent of all the
bills that have been brought to the House floor have gone right to the
floor without committee consideration or approval this year, 73
percent.
Mr. Speaker, we started this Congress by shutting down voices, by
closing the Black Caucus, the Women's Caucus, the Hispanic Caucus, and
then there was an attack on public television, there was an attack on
the Endowment for the Arts, closing down those important voices in our
society, and now it has gotten to the point where Members of this body
cannot even participate in committee hearings or committee votes,
everything dumped right on the floor.
Mr. Speaker, the tragedy with this is it is not getting anything
done. It is not getting anything done. This is the sixth martial law
resolution we have had on the floor. We are going to be into our 12th
continuing resolution in a few minutes.
{time} 1045
Yet, we still have not done five appropriation bills from the 1996
fiscal year. We are going backwards. We are not getting anything done.
It is not me saying it, it is respected Republicans on the outside who
are looking in and saying, ``What in God's name is going on up there?''
How does this affect the general public? When you stop and you go and
you stop and you go in terms of these resolutions, you throw a lot of
uncertainty out there into the public. School boards and school
officials all across the country are trying to plan their school year
in September. They are trying to figure out how many teachers they need
next year, they are trying to figure out the curricula, they are trying
to figure out class size. They cannot do that because we have not dealt
[[Page H2567]]
with the education budget of this Nation from a Federal perspective.
The cuts that have been proposed by the Republicans have been in the
neighborhood of $3.3 billion, cuts in the DARE Program, the Safe and
Drug-free Schools Program, cuts in the Title I Program, which is for
math and reading; 40,000 to 50,000 teachers getting pink-slipped all
over the country, because they have not done their business.
This is a Congress of do little and delay. They have done little and
they have delayed, and they have delayed. My friend, the gentleman from
Colorado [Mr. McInnis], has had the nerve to stand up here and talk
about shutting down the Government. They shut down the Government twice
at the cost of $1.5 billion. That is what it costs to shut the
Government down, $1.5 billion.
Mr. Speaker, there is a better way to run this place. The fair way to
do it is to let the public participate, the Members participate, have
up and down votes, give us a chance to offer the amendments that are
necessary to keep our schools open, to take care of our toxic waste
sites. We have toxic waste sites that are not being dealt with because
they have not provided the money.
There is a better way to do this, Mr. Speaker. I ask my colleagues to
vote against this rule, and to look closely at what the gentlemen on
the other side of the aisle and the gentlewomen on the other side of
the aisle are offering us in the 12th continuing resolution, which is
closed for debate and for consideration by most of the Members of this
body and by the American people.
Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, it is obvious from the previous remarks that we are into
an election year. Let us look at the remarks made by the gentleman from
Michigan. First of all, clearly, none of this would have happened, and
I do not believe the gentleman's statistics are right. If 50,000 or
40,000 teachers got their pink slips because we said the Government had
to operate with a balanced budget, maybe, if in fact that many got pink
slips as a direct result of the negotiations here, it happened because
President Clinton vetoed and vetoed and vetoed and vetoed and vetoed
the budgets that we have given to him.
We are trying to get cooperation from this President. I can tell the
Members, we have moved the President a long ways. Did Members ever
think we would see this President saying that the era of big Government
is over? Did we ever think we would see this President talking about a
balanced budget? Finally we have gotten him to that point in the
negotiations, but this takes time.
Mr. Speaker, let me point out, too, to assist the gentleman from
Michigan, we have a Webster's dictionary up here. He keeps using this
words ``martial law,'' as if the gentleman knows what it says. He is
not using it in its proper context. Let me talk about martial law, as
given to us by the Webster's dictionary: ``Martial law,'' ``The law
temporarily imposed upon an area by State or national military
forces,'' military forces, ``when civil authority is broken down, or
during wartime military operations.''
If the gentleman wants to continue to use the term ``martial law,''
then he should clearly stand up here at the podium and talk about,
under his definition of martial law, the times the Democrats used it in
1993. I have it right here. House Resolution 61, February 3, 1993, they
did exactly the same thing. It is allowed under the rules. House
Resolution 111, March 3, 1993, allowed under the rules. House
Resolution 142, March 30, allowed under the rules, the same exact
thing.
Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman and the gentlewomen from the other side
there are trying to continue this argument, which clearly is a
diversion from what we need to do, that is to cooperate towards a
balanced budget, to cooperate keep this Government operating, if they
want to continue to divert attention by using these terms, they should
apply them to themselves. We are learning from them. We are using the
rules. I could go on and on with this.
I think it is critical to understand that while the President has
continued to veto, veto, veto, veto, and veto, we must, as a result of
those vetoes, continue to negotiate, negotiate, negotiate, and
negotiate. Do Members know what is going to happen as a result of those
negotiations? At some point we are going to reach a compromise, a
compromise that is good for the American people.
I know the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Bonior], and I must say right
off the bat, I am not educated at an Ivy League school. I went to a
very small school in the mountains of Colorado. I think I am very
capable, but not able to quote great scholars. He quotes a
distinguished scholar about his analysis of what is happening here in
the U.S. House.
Let me quote a couple of people: My buddy Al. He is a rancher, he is
not an Ivy League graduate, but do you know what he analyzed? He said
``It is about time, it is about time that somebody insisted that this
Government, that this Congress, run its budget like every average
American citizen has to do. It is about time somebody had enough guts
to stand up to the bureaucracy in Washington, D.C. and demand that a
balanced budget be in place. It is about time somebody called the
President on these vetoes after veto after veto.''
Those are the kinds of quotes I can give. I can talk about Linda, I
can talk about Betsy. These are just common folk out there. They know
what it means to have a balanced budget. They have to balance their
checkbook. So let us not use these diversionary tactics, first of all,
by using this term ``martial law,'' unless, of course, you want to
apply it to yourselves, as you used it for the last several years.
Let us talk about unity in working towards a balanced budget to bring
this Government to an economic, sensible, type of plan that will move
us forward in a positive fashion.
Mr. Speaker, let me say that sometimes it is easy for people who
observe us debating on this floor to go away with a pretty pessimistic
attitude. I am optimistic about the future of this country. I think we
have a great future ahead of us. But we do have some responsibilities
that we have to carry forward, so the greatness of this country can
continue. Those responsibilities right now center on fiscal
responsibility. In order for us to get to that fiscal responsibility,
we need to pass this rule.
Mr. Speaker, I should point out once again, and again, we can tell it
is an election year. We were just in the Committee on Rules last night,
so I have lost my memory on what occurred. We did not see this kind of
rancor last night. We did not see this kind of debate in the Committee
on Rules. In fact, this passed on a voice vote. Do Members know why?
Because it is a procedure that has been used in the past, it is a
procedure that is necessary to keep this Government from shutting down
by tomorrow. I urge that Members support the rule. I urge that we
support the House joint resolution.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds.
Mr. Speaker, what we have before us today is conclusive proof that
the governing Republican majority in this Congress is both incompetent
and does not care about democracy. The gentleman just mentioned that
Democrats suspended the rules during the last Congress. We did that for
5 days on five different occasions, 1 day at a time. They have done it
for 4 months now, and they want to do it even longer than that. There
is a basic disagreement on democracy, on how we should function as a
democratic institution.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York [Mr.
Nadler].
Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, the remarks of the gentleman from Colorado
are irrelevant . . . He talks about the suspension of the rules, as
if----
Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I ask that the words be stricken, the words
of the gentleman be stricken.
Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I did not refer to the gentleman in any way.
I said his remarks.
Mr. McINNIS. The gentleman referred to the gentleman from Colorado. I
ask that those words be stricken.
Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I said those remarks were . . . I did not
say he was.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. (Mr. Burton of Indiana). The gentleman will
suspend. The gentleman will be seated.
[[Page H2568]]
The Clerk will report the words.
{time} 1055
Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, rather than waste time, I will withdraw the
remarks.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman withdraws
the remarks.
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from New York may proceed in
order.
Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, let me say that most of what the gentleman
from Colorado was saying is irrelevant to the point that we are making.
The relevance of the balanced budget, the merits of the economics of
both sides of the House and of the President are not what is at issue
here. What is at issue is an abuse of the rules of the House.
The procedure for suspending the rules and what we call martial law
is for an emergency. Instead, it is being used for every single day of
this Congress, every single day of this Congress, not to give Members
the right to read the bills, to have a bill on the floor without a 1-
day layover so we can read them and look at them, to take bills away
from committees, put them on the floor without consideration. In an
emergency, maybe. The gentleman says it is an emergency. The Government
will shut down unless there is a continuing resolution.
No. 1, why do we not have a continuing resolution, instead of lasting
a week or two, that lasts until a budget agreement is reached or for
the balance of the year? But forgetting that, if that is the emergency,
why does the gentleman not ask for a rule that suspends the 1-day rule
for 1 day for this bill? Not for another few weeks and keep it going
that way.
The gentleman says it is within the rules to suspend the rules. Of
course. There is that emergency provision, but this is an abuse of it.
Lots of things can be done legally. The Reichstag passed the Enabling
Act to give certain powers to the chancellor legally. That was an abuse
of an emergency provision. Look what it led to.
I do not compare this to that, but it is the same abuse that
eliminates democratic procedures. There is no necessity for it. Let
them have a 1-day suspension, if necessary, so we can do this
continuing resolution that is made necessary by the irresponsibility of
the Republicans by not bringing it up earlier and by refusing lengthy
CR's.
But let us not let that excuse be used to say we need to suspend the
rules so that the Speaker can at any time bypass the committee, bring
brand new legislation to the floor without even a day for Members to
read it and a day for the Members of the public to read it. That, sir
is an abuse of the Members and of the public.
Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I certainly respect the comments from the gentleman from New York,
and I think that his point is a valid point. It is that exact reasoning
from the gentleman from New York that the Democrats, when they were
running this House floor and they had control of the Rules Committee,
used exactly what he is talking about, using the word ``emergency.''
Let me refer the gentleman from New York to House Resolution 111,
this is March 3, 1993, relating to the emergency unemployment
compensation. We can go on from there to House Resolution 150 on March
30, 1993, making emergency appropriations. We can move on from there to
House Resolution 153, making emergency appropriations, so on and so
forth.
Mr. Speaker, I am going to try and pull us back. I would love to
engage in debate with the gentlemen from the other side of the aisle. I
think it is exciting. But the fact is we have got to get on with
business. The fact is we need to keep this Government up and operating.
The fact is we need to operate this Government in an economic, fiscally
sane way. So let us pull it back to where we are today.
What are we debating right now? We are debating a rule. This is not
the first time that this rule has been debated. In the past this rule
has been utilized when the Democrats controlled the chair up there, and
now the Republicans intend to use this rule. We need to have it.
Yesterday we debated this rule in the Rules Committee. We did not see
this kind of vigorous debate in the Rules Committee. The only time we
have seen this kind of vigorous debate is when we are down here on the
House floor. Because up in the Rules Committee, we know that we have
got to cooperate to keep this Government open tomorrow. That is what we
are down to. We are down to 1 day. We are down to 24 hours.
Some would say, well, why did you let it get this close? The fact is
very simple. We have got good-faith negotiations going on right now
between the administration, between the Senate and between the House.
We can shortcut those negotiations. If we do, it is going to shortcut
all of us. It is going to fall way short of a goal that I think, once
we put the politics aside, once we put the election year aside, a goal
that we want, for this country to be fiscally sound.
We should support this rule. This rule is important for us to move
on. As I said, and again I stress this, this rule has been used in the
past when the Democrats headed the Rules Committee, and we are using it
today. It is not a subversion of democratic procedure. It is an allowed
rule up there. The reason for it is for the very kind of circumstances
that we face today.
The option, of course, is to go ahead, vote down the rule, as has
been proposed by some Members who have taken the opposite stance of
mine, and close down the Government tomorrow. We do not think it is
necessary to close down the Government tomorrow.
We think you should support this rule and help us keep the Government
open. We think your idea of closing down the Government by voting down
this rule is not a good idea. It does not make sense. Work with us on
this. Help us keep this Government operating for the next few days
while the negotiations continue.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from West
Virginia [Mr. Wise].
Mr. WISE. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Colorado movingly referred
a moment or two ago to his friends in Colorado who speak common sense
and my friends, Betsy and Al and others, are of much the same mind.
They know a couple of things, too. They know people have to pay their
bills on time, and they sure hate it when they lose their job because
somebody else did not do their job. That is what this debate is about.
There is a lot of talk about martial law and whether it is an unusual
remedy. It depends on the circumstances. Yes, Democrats did use it for
5 days over a 2-year period and then limited it to one bill at a time.
In the Republican majority in this Congress, not yet finished, they
have used it for 4 months and covered whole classes of bills.
The definition of an emergency is interesting. They are approaching
the definition of emergency about as long as Fidel Castro and Chiang
Kai-shek and Generalissimo Franco used their definitions of emergency.
Because what is this martial law resolution? It permits you to skip
committees, it permits you to avoid 1-day layovers so Members can read
bills. It sets up a situation so your representatives do not know what
is in those bills when they vote on them. This is a very, very serious
matter. Now they want another one, the 11th this year, to go until
April 1, not 1 day, not one bill, April 1.
The gentleman from Colorado speaks about economic common sense. Let
us talk about common sense, economic common sense. We are 6 months into
the 1996 budget year. Incidentally, they are already trying to work up
the 1997 budget even though we do not have a 1996 budget yet. We are 6
months into the 1996 budget year. There have been 11 temporary spending
resolutions and another 2 weeks of uncertainty coming up. This is
businesslike?
Because the Republican leadership cannot operate the House and cannot
agree on a budget, others must suffer. When this next continuing
resolution expires on April 1, the West Virginia school boards, 55 of
them, will have had to have laid off 226 teachers, 90 aides and denied
title I reading and math services to 6,500 students. That is economic
common sense, I ask you?
The gentleman says that economic common sense is necessary. What kind
of economic common sense is it that costs teachers, that costs parents,
that
[[Page H2569]]
costs children these opportunities, and is only going to suffer more
setbacks?
Let me talk about why they want martial law or why I believe that
what happens because of martial law, because nobody knows what will be
in the bills that come to the floor. Understandably, they do not know
yet. They have not written them. They do not know yet what is in them.
But I have to be honest, given what has come in the past, I would not
want to know what is in them, either, because it is just better that
way.
What finally bothers me is when I hear this analogy that somehow if
we do not vote for this, we are 2 days away from the deadline and you
are going to shut the Government down.
I tried that in my school, too. It does not matter what school you
went to, we all tried the same thing. I would go to the teacher and I
would say, ``You know, 2 days, I didn't have enough time.'' The teacher
would say, ``Yeah, Bob, but you had 6 months to work on this budget.''
Actually you had a year because you were supposed to have started a
year before. I am not impressed and I do not think the American people
are impressed, either. That is why this martial law is not good for the
Congress and not good for the democracy.
Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
The gentleman from West Virginia is an excellent speaker. He presents
his points well, but I think we need to look at the substance of the
points.
First of all, one of the points that the gentleman from West Virginia
says, ``Hey, we're 6 months into this process and we still don't have
an agreement.'' I will tell you why we do not have an agreement, is
because of that veto pen down there at the White House, veto, veto,
veto, veto.
When you talk about the difficulties that we have had on a compromise
up here, you should also point out, to be fair to all parties listening
to this debate, that there are three parties in this negotiation: The
administration, President Clinton; the U.S. Senate; and the U.S. House.
On some occasions the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate have come to a
compromise and it has been the administration which has vetoed these
bills and caused this kind of delay.
But let me also say, in fairness to the economic history of the last
40 years, it does make economic sense, if necessary, to delay this
process if we can move this country toward a balanced budget, if we can
get this country to quit spending more than it brings in.
Sure, you can look at the record of the last 40 years and say there
were not very many times, if any, and I do not know that history for
sure, but even if there were not any times that they went 6 months
beyond that deadline, take a look at the product that we got. The
product that we have got is a government that spends $40 million an
hour on its debt more than it brings in. The product we have got is it
now requires every man, woman, and child in this country to pick up
$18,000 on their share of what is going to be necessary to get us out
of debt.
It is kind of like running a credit card. Most of us have credit
cards. Sure, if you can continue to use the credit card and charge and
charge and charge and charge, and nobody ever calls you on it or nobody
ever forces you to pay up the bill, then it is pretty easy not to delay
buying something because you do not have the money. You just go down
and charge it. That is what has happened for 40 years. Now before we
let you use the charge card, we are saying, ``Wait a minute. Look at
how much we owe on the charge card.''
Certainly we are going to have to spend some money. Obviously
education is a priority for all of us. Obviously we have to have a
defense. But we need to spend the money more efficiently. Before we
just go down and willy-nilly charge anything we want, we have got to be
careful with that credit card. That is what we are saying. That is what
these negotiations are about.
I think further, let me say to the gentleman from West Virginia, he
continues to use the words ``martial law,'' but at least the gentleman
from West Virginia also applied that term when the Democrats had the
Rules Committee. I would venture to say to the gentleman from West
Virginia, the Democrats did not use martial law when they utilized this
rule. We are not using martial law by utilization of this rule.
I read the definition over here from Webster's dictionary, martial
law, which involves military forces. It is the utilization of the rules
to get us to a common point. That common point, which you are coming to
very resistantly, and you are tugging and you are pulling getting to
that point but you are moving to that point, is a balanced budget for
this country. I think that is the essence of what we have to get to.
You say we misuse the title of emergency. Well, folks, we are going
to have an emergency in 24 hours. The clock is ticking. It is ticking
second by second. That clock right up there, 24 hours from today, if
you do not cooperate with us, you are going to shut this Government
down.
We do not want the Government shut down. We want a government that is
going to operate in an efficient manner and we are asking for your
cooperation to give us some more time for good-faith negotiations. Is
that too much to ask from you? I do not think so.
Last night when we were in the Rules Committee, they did not think
so. We did not have this kind of argument last night in Rules. Let us
pass this rule, let us get a good, healthy debate on the floor and let
us keep the Government open.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from
Texas [Mr. Doggett].
Mr. DOGGETT. Well, you may not want it shut down this morning, but
you were mighty proud to shut it down twice last year. You use this
term ``civil disorder.'' You say that martial law is something that we
bring into play when there is civil disorder.
Well, what better term to describe the mess that you have made of
this Government? Coming to the American people and bragging about your
power to shut down the Government, not once but twice, costing the
American taxpayer $1.5 billion, frittered away by this Republican
leadership, totally and completely wasted so that they could have their
Government shutdowns. What do they propose today? Well, they want to
erect a monument to the mismanagement, to the failures of this Gingrich
Congress.
This year after those two Government shutdowns, what have they given
us? Loud talk and long weekends. It took them 3 weeks to celebrate
Valentine's Day, breaking from this Congress. They come in and they
break a little after noon.
There are people across America that these Republican colleagues of
ours simply do not understand. They are working families. They are
facing a tough time trying to make ends meet. If they for 1 week were
to handle their business in the total mismanagement fashion of our
Republican colleagues, taking 5 and 6-day weekends, taking 3 weeks for
Valentine's Day, working part-time, asking to be paid full time, and
caring about the real problems of the American people no time, then
those ordinary working families would be out without a job in their own
situation.
At the same time, we find ourselves in these sputtering spurts of
Government that occur here with the same kind of extremist rhetoric
that we heard all of last year from day one. When Republicans over in
the other body hear the cry of the American people and approve money so
that we can keep Head Start going instead of giving our young children
a wrong start, keep our teachers going with Federal support of
education, the response from the House Republican leadership is that
the Senate Republicans have somehow been spineless, rather than to
commend them for their willingness to finally come around and listen to
the American people.
There are programs for young people in this country that are going to
be shut down unless this kind of extremism can be put to a halt. We got
just this week another example of that same kind of extremism, where we
have one Member of this body coming and saying that he heard right here
in the House a great Republican say, `` `I trust Hamas more than I
trust my own government.' Those words hurt.''
They do indeed hurt, and they hurt not just the pride of this body.
They
[[Page H2570]]
hurt ordinary working families across this country, because they are
the ones that are being savaged, that are being impacted by this kind
of extremism in the House that has the Government operating literally
from 1 day to the next, without the planning that our local school
boards need and our Government agencies need to do their job.
{time} 1115
So what is proposed as a solution? What this rule does is to say they
think the solution to it all is to do one thing: Give Speaker Newt
Gingrich more power. I do not believe the American people think the
Speaker needs more power. I think they view him as part of the problem
instead of part of the solution.
This allows him to come forward with more sneak attacks, just like
tomorrow. Every time the American people realize what is happening to
them, they come up with some sneak attack and some distraction piece of
legislation. There is only one good feature of this resolution that our
Republican colleagues are offering, and that is this authority is going
to expire on April 1. Yes, they quite appropriately picked April Fools'
Day. I say the American people are not going to be fooled again by this
kind of nonsense.
Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I find it somewhat amusing that the gentleman defines a
sneak attack as an attack that comes tomorrow. That is not too sneaky
if it is coming tomorrow.
Second of all, the gentleman talks about how the Republicans have
stretched Valentine's Day for 3 weeks. I would let the gentleman from
Texas know, I actually got to spend Valentine's Day with my wife, and I
wish I could have figured out how to stretch that for 3 weeks, because
it was a wonderful day.
Let us get back to the rule here. You want to vote against this rule,
then you want to shut down the Government. That is how simple the
choice is. It is the bottom line. We can talk about quotes here and
there, and we can bring in posters and jump up and down and talk about
all these kind of things. But the fact is, if you want to vote against
the rule, you vote to shut the Government down tomorrow. No way around
it. It is that simple. If you vote against the rule, you shut down the
Government tomorrow.
I do not think that is what you really want to do. I think what you
really want to do is cause a little havoc, and that is certainly within
the debate here. I do not think that is going to get us anywhere. I
think we have to pull back, unify, and work towards a balanced budget.
You talk about the word ``extreme,'' this word ``extreme.'' What I
think most Americans would define as extreme is that you up here, some
of you, decide to vote against a rule, this is a procedure, a procedure
that has been used by the Democrats, a procedure used by the
Republicans, that you would vote against a rule just to demonstrate a
point to shut down the Government tomorrow.
Do not shut it down. You do not need to shut the Government down
tomorrow. That would be an extreme move. I would hope that the
gentleman from Texas votes for this rule, because if you do not vote
for the rule, then I think the next logical step is using the
definition of the word ``extreme.'' It shuts the Government down.
Again, let me remind my colleagues, last night when we were in the
Committee on Rules, we did not have this kind of debate. The members of
the Committee on Rules on both sides of the aisle understood that we
need to continue to operate the Government. They understood that we can
operate in a positive fashion. Now we have got a little insurgence,
coming over here today saying, hey, this is a bad rule. For some
reason, we could use the rule, but you cannot use the rule. We see all
these kinds of words being used, ``extreme, extreme, extreme.''
I would suggest we use the words ``veto, veto, veto,'' and once we
are through with that debate, let us get to the issue at hand, and that
is to vote ``yes'' on this rule so we can keep the Government from
closing down tomorrow.
This is serious business. If we do not pass this rule, this
Government is shutting down tomorrow. So let me urge all of my
colleagues, let me say to you, Democrats, if you really want to push
it, you may win the battle, you may beat the rule, but you are going to
lose the war. And who loses if you lose? We all lose. Tomorrow we have
got to keep this Government operating. There is no reason. In the past
there has been, I think, logical argument on both sides that you have
to bring an operation to halt that is spending $38 million an hour more
than it brings in. But tomorrow, you do not have that kind of
justification. You do not need to shut this Government down. Vote
``yes'' on this rule and keep the Government in operation.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute.
Mr. Speaker, my colleague on the other side of the aisle is a little
confused. I have listened to him and listened to him and tried to
understand what he is saying. He obviously is confused. Let me see if I
can set it straight.
We are not suggesting that the CR should not be brought up. The CR
will be brought up today, should be brought up today, even under what
we are suggesting. The only thing that we are asking is that the
martial law provision of this rule be stripped out. Strip that out, you
still bring the CR up today, because the CR is laid over 24 hours. That
is all we are asking.
The gentleman seems to be very, very confused. He seems to think that
if we won the previous question and we were able to strip out the
martial law provision, that the CR could not come up. That is not the
case at all. The CR would come up. It would be the next order of
business.
I guess perhaps the staff on the other side may explain that to the
gentleman, that even if we win, that the CR will be voted on today. I
know it is a little hard to follow, what goes on around this place
sometimes, but we are not suggesting the CR should not be brought up.
We are suggesting it should be brought up, voted on today, so the
Government can stay open.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from
Connecticut [Ms. DeLauro].
Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, today what we are seeing and what we are
listening to is another consequence of the incompetence of those who
run this House. The resolution that we debate will grant Speaker
Gingrich extraordinary powers to bypass the regular process of this
body and to bring bills immediately to the floor. What does this mean?
No time to read the bills, no time to understand what is being voted
on, no time for committees to air the process.
It is a subterfuge, a way in which you want to hide what you truly
want to do.
We have precedent here: The Medicare debate, its Medicare debate, one
hearing on dismantling the Medicare Program, which serves 99 percent of
the seniors in this Nation. However, we were able to expose what our
Republican colleagues wanted to do about Medicare, and now they have
backed off of that issue.
This is a subterfuge tactic to hide what they want to do. The
incompetent management has consequences in the lives of working
families. Medicare is an example. As we lurch now from one short-term
spending bill to another, citizens, businesses, have no idea what the
Federal Government is about. My State of Connecticut, the educators are
contemplating cutting reading, writing, mathematics programs, for our
kids, the programs that talk about making our schools safe for our
kids, providing the opportunity for high school students through school
to work to be able to move into a profession. College loans will be
cut. They do not know in my State of Connecticut what the Federal
Government wants to do in funding for education. They are unable to
plan for the school year.
I say to my colleague from Colorado that your friend Al's children
are in serious jeopardy. Let us not give Newt Gingrich any more powers.
Let us do the people's business, pass a budget that reflects the values
and priorities of this Nation.
Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I do find the previous Speaker's comments entertaining,
but I think it is important for us to address the comments of
substance, and those
[[Page H2571]]
are the comments from the gentleman from Texas. The gentleman from
Texas is correct, I am confused, because last night in the Committee on
Rules, we offered two separate rules specifically to the gentleman from
Texas. I remember his comments. I was there. I was right opposite him.
We said to the gentleman from Texas, ``Mr. Frost, would you like two
rules?'' The answer was no.
Now, why two rules? One rule, if you are having a problem with the
waiver of the bill, then we will give you a separate rule on the
continuing resolution which will stop the Government from shutting down
tomorrow. Then you can have a separate rule on this debate on the
waiver or on the procedure we are using.
The gentleman from Texas said no. Now I am confused. If he is not
attempting to shut down the Government tomorrow, why did he not ask for
separate rules last night? It is very clear. The fact is, there is a
little game playing going on here. That is OK. We are in a debate. But
it gets real, real serious here in about 24 hours. You are going to
shut down that Government if you vote ``no'' on this rule.
Last night, if you were really serious about your objections to the
waiver we have requested, you should have asked, you had the
opportunity to ask, and you did not ask, for a separate rule. You could
have had a separate rule. You did not ask. You did not go after it for
the continuing resolution.
Then maybe some of the comments you would have made would have had
more merit to me. As we stand right now, we are playing, again as I
say, a very serious game with the lives of 240 million Americans when
we do not need to. We do not need to shut down the Government tomorrow.
We are not at that point in a crisis. We are not at that point in our
negotiations where it requires a shutdown, where we walk off the job.
Let us stay on the job. The way we stay on the job is you vote ``yes''
on this rule. If you want to shut down the Government, then go ahead
with this game playing, vote ``no'' on the rule, and then we will see
who is confused tomorrow night at about midnight.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from
Oregon [Ms. Furse].
Ms. FURSE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today against this closed rule. This
is just another example of this 2-year experiment, which we have to
call the Republican control of Congress. I think in order to evaluate
this experiment, we need certain things. We need to look at issues and
numbers.
The first issue is priorities. This Republican Congress wants to cut
$3 billion this year from education. Another number, 22. It has
decided, this Republican Congress, to cut 22 percent of the
environmental protection moneys. That is the protection for health for
our children.
Another issue, failures. Another number, 11. This Republican Congress
has tried to shut down the Government, or actually failed to keep the
Government going, 11 times.
Now, in 208 years, that has never happened before. The U.S. Congress
has never threatened to shut down the Government 11 times.
Another failure is five, and another number, five. That is the number
of appropriations bills from last year that have not yet been passed
this year.
Value, what about value? Well, there is the number 133,000. That is
what Members of Congress get paid in order to run the Government, in
order to do their job. Well, I would say that the Republican majority
has not been able to do its job, so I would say that the American
public really has not got their money's worth from this Republican
control of Congress.
Mr. Speaker, I rise against this closed rule, another closed rule,
and I rise against the priorities of this Republican Congress.
Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, to the gentlewoman, let me tell you, there is a big
priority right here in front of you, it is in front of me, and it is in
front of every one of our colleagues, and that is if you do not vote on
this rule and we lose the rule and we shut down the Government
tomorrow, that should not be the priority, the shutdown of the
Government. We do not need it. The negotiations are not there.
Our priority, the Republican leadership's priority, is to try to keep
this Government operating. Now we are trying to negotiate in good faith
with the President. All we get is veto, veto, veto, veto, veto, veto,
veto, but we think we can negotiate something. We think we should
continue the good faith negotiation.
We do not think you need to shut down the Government tomorrow to
prove your point that you are displeased with the Committee on Rules.
If you are unhappy with the Committee on Rules, come up and have your
representative on the Committee on Rules entertain a motion.
Certainly yesterday the members of the Democratic Party on the
Committee on Rules had every right, they did not do it, they could have
done it, but they did not do it, to offer a motion to have two separate
rules. In fact, it was members of the Republican side of the aisle on
the Committee on Rules that asked the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Frost],
on the Democrat side, would they like two separate rules? The answer
was no.
I will tell Members, the cooperation last night in the Committee on
Rules was good. It was excellent. But you cannot hardly believe in less
than 24 hours the cooperation we saw upstairs in the Committee on Rules
has developed into this. There has not been any tough negotiations or
disagreements between us in the last 12 hours. What brought this on?
Come on folks. We have got to keep this Government going. We can do
it. Vote ``yes'' on this rule. It is absolutely essential if we want to
keep the Government operating.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Massachusetts [Mr. Frank].
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I sympathize with the
gentleman from Colorado. He has been left all alone on his side to
defend this latest trampling of open procedures, and he is a little
testy because he apparently thought he had a nice deal worked out last
night and democracy has broken out on the floor of the House. I
understand that is unsettling, but he has to learn to live with it.
On the other hand, I want to give him credit. Some people think
others do not learn things. Clearly he at least has learned that
shutting down the Government is a terrible idea. He has several times
today talked about how outrageous it is to shut down the Government.
One would not infer from that he is part of the majority that made a
habit of shutting down the Government as a deliberate tactic. People
boasted about shutting down the Government.
Well, they have learned that was not a good thing and the gentleman
from Colorado has the zeal of a convert against shutting down the
Government. He has joined Government-shutters-down-anonymous. We are on
a 12-step program. Unfortunately, it does not include democracy.
What we are being told here is you may not continue to debate these
issues openly. You may not have the rules which say you got to wait a
day so we can study this big thing. He says you better do this in a
hurry or we will shut the Government down.
Why is that the case? Because the Republican majority has not been
able to run the place sufficiently to give us enough time. So, yes,
they have created an emergency from which they now want to profit.
They are asking us to sacrifice democratic procedures on the altar of
their own incompetence. I agree, it is an imposing altar. I have never
seen incompetence so dazzlingly displayed. But I do not think that is a
justification for shutting down fair procedures.
What is their justification? ``Well, you guys did it, too. You guys
did it.'' Every time we talk about one more procedural outrage, they go
to the history books and they say ``Hey, the Democrats once did that.''
Well, as I recall, the Republicans ran in 1994 on a slogan of ``Throw
the bums out. They have run the House unfairly, they have been
undemocratic.'' Speaker Gingrich, whe he was still Speaker, before he
kind of deposed himself and put Armey in charge, he used to talk about
that.
Now what do we have? Every time the Republicans get in a bind because
[[Page H2572]]
of their own incompetence, they decide to do some shortcut that they
used to attack us for. So they used to run on the slogan ``Throw the
bums out.'' Then they decided to take power and emulate us, and this
year apparently their slogan for reelection will be, ``Keep the bums
in.''
Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I think there ought to be a new song and dance out there
called veto and spend, veto and spend, veto and spend. The gentleman
ought to mention a little of that in his comments, the gentleman from
Massachusetts.
But let me also say to the gentleman from Massachusetts, I respect
his compliment that I have unilaterally had to take on speaker after
speaker after speaker here for the last hour. Bring on your best. I
think I can handle it. I am ready for it.
The issue here is not whether or not we have had a great debate in
the last hour, and I think we have. Certainly it has been somewhat
entertaining. The fact is this: If we do not pass this rule, if we
carry through with the gentleman's comments to vote no on this rule and
this rule loses, we will close this Government down tomorrow.
{time} 1130
As I have said, there are times where it may be necessary to close
down the Government for a temporary period of time. This is not one of
those times. My colleagues do not need to bring this battle upon
themselves. Do not do it. Do not do it to the American people.
Vote ``yes'' on this rule and keep that Government operating
tomorrow. I can tell the Republicans intend to vote ``yes'' on this
rule. We do not think it is time to close down the Government, and we
urge them to reconsider their strategy of closing down the Government
tomorrow. Do not do it. Vote ``yes'' on the rule.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FROST. 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, today is another one of those sad days in
the history of the 104th Congress. Today, once again, you are seeing
the Democratic minority gagged basically by the Republican majority.
They are going to, by passing this rule, be able to take up legislation
in the foreseeable future all the way to the 1st of April,
approximately, without going through the normal process of the rules of
the House.
This is not new to the 104th Congress. This is a way that the 104th
Congress, under Speaker Gingrich, has operated for over a year. Yet, a
little over a year ago in this well, the gentleman from New York [Mr.
Solomon], the chairman of the Committee on Rules, said that we were
going to have openness in this Congress, we were going to have over 75
percent of the open rules. Where is the open rule?
So far this year, major legislation, the farm bill, antiterrorism,
today we will finish immigration, all of those, major legislation,
every one of them, closed rule, semi-closed rule. No open rule. Not
letting Members who are elected by their constituents to this house, to
this democratic body, any democracy at all, not letting them talk about
their amendments and offer their amendments.
Mr. Speaker, no, there is no democracy in this great House of
Representatives. This bulwark, this great light for every other nation,
we do not have democracy. We have a dictatorship, a strong
dictatorship, one that rules with an iron hand and tells Members they
do not have to participate. In fact, we cannot even participate in the
operation of this House and what legislation goes and what amendments
are offered and even what debate is had.
They are limiting time. Even if we get to offer an amendment,
opponents to it cannot get up and speak unlimited on it and discuss it.
No, no, 10 minutes, 15 minutes for a major amendment. Why? Because they
want to run this House with an iron hand, not with openness, not with
democracy. There is no democracy in this House of Representatives.
Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
It is awful hard not to like the gentleman from Missouri. His
comments are amusing, but his comments certainly are not relevant here.
He talks about the fact that I, as a representative of the majority
party here today, am trying to gag the minority party. I think he
probably had 20 speakers, I have spoken this entire time, he has had 20
speakers. There is no gagging going on here.
Let me just say that these comments are all fine, and it may play
good for the liveliness of this debate because sometimes these rule
debates get pretty boring; but the fact is this. Your President, our
President, the President of the United States agrees with this
continuing resolution. He does not want to shut down the Government
tomorrow. So I urge my colleague to call his President, call our
President, call the Democratic National Committee and say, should we
really vote no on this rule and shut this Government down? Is this the
right strategy to pursue, to shut down the Government tomorrow? It is a
darned risky strategy. I do not think they are going to succeed.
Mr. Speaker, I am trying to offer some advice to the Democrats over
there that are urging a ``no'' vote. Do not do it, it will backfire on
you. Do not shut down the Government. Work with us on this rule.
Cooperate with us. The President is going to sign it. It does not take
a rocket scientist to figure this thing out. We have got to keep the
Government operating tomorrow.
The gentleman talks about fairness and a gag, the minority leader has
the right to offer the final amendment tomorrow to the gentleman from
Missouri. We did not gag him. We did not gag any of them in the last
hour. There is plenty of time for debate. But do not let that debate
run the next 24 hours and shut this Government down. Because if they
do, they are making a mistake. We do not need to shut the Government
down.
Vote ``yes'' on this rule or take the option of shutting it down. Do
not do the latter because it will hurt every man, woman, and child in
this country.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
(Mr. FROST asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks and to include extraneous material.)
Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on the previous
question. If the previous question is defeated, I shall offer an
amendment to the rule which will provide an open rule for consideration
of a clean continuing resolution without the martial law provisions.
These extraordinary procedures would allow the House to bring up a
series of budget bills without the normal 1-day layover period required
by the rules. It's time to return to the regular order and live by the
rule which protects the rights of Members on both sides of the aisle.
I include for the Record the text of the amendment I would offer if
the previous question were defeated.
Amendment to H. Res. 386
On page 2, strike all after line 9 through the end of the
resolution.
On page 1, strike lines 1 and 2 and insert:
``Resolved, That at any time after the adoption of this
resolution the Speaker may, pursuant to clause 1(b) of rule
XXIII, declare the House resolved into the Committee of the
Whole House on the state of the Union for consideration of
the joint reso-''
On page 2, line 4, after the period add the following:
``After general debate the joint resolution shall be
considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. At the
conclusion of consideration of the joint resolution for
amendment the Committee shall rise and report the joint
resolution to the House with such amendments as many have
been adopted. Any Member may demand a separate vote in the
House on any amendment adopted in the Committee of the Whole
to the joint resolution.''
Explanation: The amendment to the resolution strips out the
martial law provisions of the rule and provides on open rule
for consideration of the short-term continuing resolution.
Mr. Speaker, every single rule the House has adopted this session has
been a restrictive rule; yes, you heard that correctly, the Republican
House has so far adopted 100 percent restrictive rules in this session.
And if it is adopted, the rule before us will leave that 100 percent
purely restrictive rules record intact.
This is the 62d restrictive rule reported out of the Rules Committee
this Congress.
[[Page H2573]]
In addition more than 72 percent of the legislation considered this
session has not been reported from committee--8 out of 11 measures
brought up this session have been unreported.
At this point I include the following information for the Record.
FLOOR PROCEDURE IN THE 104TH CONGRESS; COMPILED BY THE RULES COMMITTEE DEMOCRATS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Process used for floor Amendments in
Bill No. Title Resolution No. consideration order
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
H.R. 1*........................ Compliance........ H. Res. 6 Closed................ None.
H. Res. 6...................... Opening Day Rules H. Res. 5 Closed; contained a None.
Package. closed rule on H.R. 1
within the closed
rule.
H.R. 5*........................ Unfunded Mandates. H. Res. 38 Restrictive; Motion N/A.
adopted over
Democratic objection
in the Committee of
the Whole to limit
debate on section 4;
Pre-printing gets
preference.
H.J. Res. 2*................... Balanced Budget... H. Res. 44 Restrictive; only 2R; 4D.
certain substitutes.
H. Res. 43..................... Committee Hearings H. Res. 43 (OJ) Restrictive; N/A.
Scheduling. considered in House
no amendments.
H.R. 101....................... To transfer a H. Res. 51 Open.................. N/A.
parcel of land to
the Taos Pueblo
Indians of New
Mexico.
H.R. 400....................... To provide for the H. Res. 52 Open.................. N/A.
exchange of lands
within Gates of
the Arctic
National Park
Preserve.
H.R. 440....................... To provide for the H. Res. 53 Open.................. N/A.
conveyance of
lands to certain
individuals in
Butte County,
California.
H.R. 2*........................ Line Item Veto.... H. Res. 55 Open; Pre-printing N/A.
gets preference.
H.R. 665*...................... Victim Restitution H. Res. 61 Open; Pre-printing N/A.
Act of 1995. gets preference.
H.R. 666*...................... Exclusionary Rule H. Res. 60 Open; Pre-printing N/A.
Reform Act of gets preference.
1995.
H.R. 667*...................... Violent Criminal H. Res. 63 Restrictive; 10 hr. N/A.
Incarceration Act Time Cap on
of 1995. amendments.
H.R. 668*...................... The Criminal Alien H. Res. 69 Open; Pre-printing N/A.
Deportation gets preference;
Improvement Act. Contains self-
executing provision.
H.R. 728*...................... Local Government H. Res. 79 Restrictive; 10 hr. N/A.
Law Enforcement Time Cap on
Block Grants. amendments; Pre-
printing gets
preference.
H.R. 7*........................ National Security H. Res. 83 Restrictive; 10 hr. N/A.
Revitalization Time Cap on
Act. amendments; Pre-
printing gets
preference.
H.R. 729*...................... Death Penalty/ N/A Restrictive; brought N/A.
Habeas. up under UC with a 6
hr. time cap on
amendments.
S. 2........................... Senate Compliance. N/A Closed; Put on None.
Suspension Calendar
over Democratic
objection.
H.R. 831....................... To Permanently H. Res. 88 Restrictive; makes in 1D.
Extend the Health order only the
Insurance Gibbons amendment;
Deduction for the Waives all points of
Self-Employed. order; Contains self-
executing provision.
H.R. 830*...................... The Paperwork H. Res. 91 Open.................. N/A.
Reduction Act.
H.R. 889....................... Emergency H. Res. 92 Restrictive; makes in 1D.
Supplemental/ order only the Obey
Rescinding substitute.
Certain Budget
Authority.
H.R. 450*...................... Regulatory H. Res. 93 Restrictive; 10 hr. N/A.
Moratorium. Time Cap on
amendments; Pre-
printing gets
preference.
H.R. 1022*..................... Risk Assessment... H. Res. 96 Restrictive; 10 hr. N/A.
Time Cap on
amendments.
H.R. 926*...................... Regulatory H. Res. 100 Open.................. N/A.
Flexibility.
H.R. 925*...................... Private Property H. Res. 101 Restrictive; 12 hr. 1D.
Protection Act. time cap on
amendments; Requires
Members to pre-print
their amendments in
the Record prior to
the bill's
consideration for
amendment, waives
germaneness and
budget act points of
order as well as
points of order
concerning
appropriating on a
legislative bill
against the committee
substitute used as
base text.
H.R. 1058*..................... Securities H. Res. 105 Restrictive; 8 hr. 1D.
Litigation Reform time cap on
Act. amendments; Pre-
printing gets
preference; Makes in
order the Wyden
amendment and waives
germaneness against
it.
H.R. 988*...................... The Attorney H. Res. 104 Restrictive; 7 hr. N/A.
Accountability time cap on
Act of 1995. amendments; Pre-
printing gets
preference.
H.R. 956*...................... Product Liability H. Res. 109 Restrictive; makes in 8D; 7R.
and Legal Reform order only 15 germane
Act. amendments and denies
64 germane amendments
from being considered.
H.R. 1158...................... Making Emergency H. Res. 115 Restrictive; Combines N/A.
Supplemental emergency H.R. 1158 &
Appropriations nonemergency 1159 and
and Rescissions. strikes the abortion
provision; makes in
order only pre-
printed amendments
that include offsets
within the same
chapter (deeper cuts
in programs already
cut); waives points
of order against
three amendments;
waives cl 2 of rule
XXI against the bill,
cl 2, XXI and cl 7 of
rule XVI against the
substitute; waives cl
2(e) od rule XXI
against the
amendments in the
Record; 10 hr time
cap on amendments. 30
minutes debate on
each amendment.
H.J. Res. 73*.................. Term Limits....... H. Res. 116 Restrictive; Makes in 1D; 3R
order only 4
amendments considered
under a ``Queen of
the Hill'' procedure
and denies 21 germane
amendments from being
considered.
H.R. 4*........................ Welfare Reform.... H. Res. 119 Restrictive; Makes in 5D; 26R.
order only 31
perfecting amendments
and two substitutes;
Denies 130 germane
amendments from being
considered; The
substitutes are to be
considered under a
``Queen of the Hill''
procedure; All points
of order are waived
against the
amendments.
H.R. 1271*..................... Family Privacy Act H. Res. 125 Open.................. N/A.
H.R. 660*...................... Housing for Older H. Res. 126 Open.................. N/A.
Persons Act.
H.R. 1215*..................... The Contract With H. Res. 129 Restrictive; Self 1D.
America Tax Executes language
Relief Act of that makes tax cuts
1995. contingent on the
adoption of a
balanced budget plan
and strikes section
3006. Makes in order
only one substitute.
Waives all points of
order against the
bill, substitute made
in order as original
text and Gephardt
substitute.
H.R. 483....................... Medicare Select H. Res. 130 Restrictive; waives cl 1D.
Extension. 2(1)(6) of rule XI
against the bill;
makes H.R. 1391 in
order as original
text; makes in order
only the Dingell
substitute; allows
Commerce Committee to
file a report on the
bill at any time.
H.R. 655....................... Hydrogen Future H. Res. 136 Open.................. N/A.
Act.
H.R. 1361...................... Coast Guard H. Res. 139 Open; waives sections N/A.
Authorization. 302(f) and 308(a) of
the Congressional
Budget Act against
the bill's
consideration and the
committee substitute;
waives cl 5(a) of
rule XXI against the
committee substitute.
H.R. 961....................... Clean Water Act... H. Res. 140 Open; pre-printing N/A.
gets preference;
waives sections
302(f) and 602(b) of
the Budget Act
against the bill's
consideration; waives
cl 7 of rule XVI, cl
5(a) of rule XXI and
section 302(f) of the
Budget Act against
the committee
substitute. Makes in
order Shuster
substitute as first
order of business.
H.R. 535....................... Corning National H. Res. 144 Open.................. N/A.
Fish Hatchery
Conveyance Act.
H.R. 584....................... Conveyance of the H. Res. 145 Open.................. N/A.
Fairport National
Fish Hatchery to
the State of Iowa.
H.R. 614....................... Conveyance of the H. Res. 146 Open.................. N/A.
New London
National Fish
Hatchery
Production
Facility.
H. Con. Res. 67................ Budget Resolution. H. Res. 149 Restrictive; Makes in 3D; 1R.
order 4 substitutes
under regular order;
Gephardt, Neumann/
Solomon, Payne/Owens,
President's Budget if
printed in Record on
5/17/95; waives all
points of order
against substitutes
and concurrent
resolution; suspends
application of Rule
XLIX with respect to
the resolution; self-
executes Agriculture
language.
H.R. 1561...................... American Overseas H. Res. 155 Restrictive; Requires N/A.
Interests Act of amendments to be
1995. printed in the Record
prior to their
consideration; 10 hr.
time cap; waives cl
2(1)(6) of rule XI
against the bill's
consideration; Also
waives sections
302(f), 303(a),
308(a) and 402(a)
against the bill's
consideration and the
committee amendment
in order as original
text; waives cl 5(a)
of rule XXI against
the amendment;
amendment
consideration is
closed at 2:30 p.m.
on May 25, 1995. Self-
executes provision
which removes section
2210 from the bill.
This was done at the
request of the Budget
Committee.
H.R. 1530...................... National Defense H. Res. 164 Restrictive; Makes in 36R; 18D; 2
Authorization Act order only the Bipartisan.
FY 1996. amendments printed in
the report; waives
all points of order
against the bill,
substitute and
amendments printed in
the report. Gives the
Chairman en bloc
authority. Self-
executes a provision
which strikes section
807 of the bill;
provides for an
additional 30 min. of
debate on Nunn-Lugar
section; Allows Mr.
Clinger to offer a
modification of his
amendment with the
concurrence of Ms.
Collins.
H.R. 1817...................... Military H. Res. 167 Open; waives cl. 2 and N/A.
Construction cl. 6 of rule XXI
Appropriations; against the bill; 1
FY 1996. hr. general debate;
Uses House passed
budget numbers as
threshold for
spending amounts
pending passage of
Budget.
H.R. 1854...................... Legislative Branch H. Res. 169 Restrictive; Makes in 5R; 4D; 2
Appropriations. order only 11 Bipartisan.
amendments; waives
sections 302(f) and
308(a) of the Budget
Act against the bill
and cl. 2 and cl. 6
of rule XXI against
the bill. All points
of order are waived
against the
amendments.
H.R. 1868...................... Foreign Operations H. Res. 170 Open; waives cl. 2, N/A.
Appropriations. cl. 5(b), and cl. 6
of rule XXI against
the bill; makes in
order the Gilman
amendments as first
order of business;
waives all points of
order against the
amendments; if
adopted they will be
considered as
original text; waives
cl. 2 of rule XXI
against the
amendments printed in
the report. Pre-
printing gets
priority (Hall)
(Menendez) (Goss)
(Smith, NJ).
H.R. 1905...................... Energy & Water H. Res. 171 Open; waives cl. 2 and N/A.
Appropriations. cl. 6 of rule XXI
against the bill;
makes in order the
Shuster amendment as
the first order of
business; waives all
points of order
against the
amendment; if adopted
it will be considered
as original text. Pre-
printing gets
priority.
H.J. Res. 79................... Constitutional H. Res. 173 Closed; provides one N/A.
Amendment to hour of general
Permit Congress debate and one motion
and States to to recommit with or
Prohibit the without instructions;
Physical if there are
Desecration of instructions, the MO
the American Flag. is debatable for 1 hr.
H.R. 1944...................... Recissions Bill... H. Res. 175 Restrictive; Provides N/A.
for consideration of
the bill in the
House; Permits the
Chairman of the
Appropriations
Committee to offer
one amendment which
is unamendable;
waives all points of
order against the
amendment.
[[Page H2574]]
H.R. 1868 (2nd rule)........... Foreign Operations H. Res. 177 Restrictive; Provides N/A.
Appropriations. for further
consideration of the
bill; makes in order
only the four
amendments printed in
the rules report (20
min. each). Waives
all points of order
against the
amendments; Prohibits
intervening motions
in the Committee of
the Whole; Provides
for an automatic rise
and report following
the disposition of
the amendments.
H.R. 1977 *Rule Defeated*...... Interior H. Res. 185 Open; waives sections N/A.
Appropriations. 302(f) and 308(a) of
the Budget Act and cl
2 and cl 6 of rule
XXI; provides that
the bill be read by
title; waives all
points of order
against the Tauzin
amendment; self-
executes Budget
Committee amendment;
waives cl 2(e) of
rule XXI against
amendments to the
bill; Pre-printing
gets priority.
H.R. 1977...................... Interior H.Res. 187 Open; waives sections N/A.
Appropriations. 302(f), 306 and
308(a) of the Budget
Act; waives clauses 2
and 6 of rule XXI
against provisions in
the bill; waives all
points of order
against the Tauzin
amendment; provides
that the bill be read
by title; self-
executes Budget
Committee amendment
and makes NEA funding
subject to House
passed authorization;
waives cl 2(e) of
rule XXI against the
amendments to the
bill; Pre-printing
gets priority.
H.R. 1976...................... Agriculture H. Res. 188 Open; waives clauses 2 N/A.
Appropriations. and 6 of rule XXI
against provisions in
the bill; provides
that the bill be read
by title; Makes Skeen
amendment first order
of business, if
adopted the amendment
will be considered as
base text (10 min.);
Pre-printing gets
priority.
H.R. 1977 (3rd rule)........... Interior H. Res. 189 Restrictive; provides N/A.
Appropriations. for the further
consideration of the
bill; allows only
amendments pre-
printed before July
14th to be
considered; limits
motions to rise.
H.R. 2020...................... Treasury Postal H. Res. 190 Open; waives cl. 2 and N/A.
Appropriations. cl. 6 of rule XXI
against provisions in
the bill; provides
the bill be read by
title; Pre-printing
gets priority.
H.J. Res. 96................... Disapproving MFN H. Res. 193 Restrictive; provides N/A.
for China. for consideration in
the House of H.R.
2058 (90 min.) And
H.J. Res. 96 (1 hr).
Waives certain
provisions of the
Trade Act.
H.R. 2002...................... Transportation H. Res. 194 Open; waives cl. 3 0f N/A.
Appropriations. rule XIII and section
401 (a) of the CBA
against consideration
of the bill; waives
cl. 6 and cl. 2 of
rule XXI against
provisions in the
bill; Makes in order
the Clinger/Solomon
amendment waives all
points of order
against the amendment
(Line Item Veto);
provides the bill be
read by title; Pre-
printing gets
priority. *RULE
AMENDED*.
H.R. 70........................ Exports of Alaskan H. Res. 197 Open; Makes in order N/A.
North Slope Oil. the Resources
Committee amendment
in the nature of a
substitute as
original text; Pre-
printing gets
priority; Provides a
Senate hook-up with
S. 395.
H.R. 2076...................... Commerce, Justice H. Res. 198 Open; waives cl. 2 and N/A.
Appropriations. cl. 6 of rule XXI
against provisions in
the bill; Pre-
printing gets
priority; provides
the bill be read by
title..
H.R. 2099...................... VA/HUD H. Res. 201 Open; waives cl. 2 and N/A.
Appropriations. cl. 6 of rule XXI
against provisions in
the bill; Provides
that the amendment in
part 1 of the report
is the first
business, if adopted
it will be considered
as base text (30
min.); waives all
points of order
against the Klug and
Davis amendments; Pre-
printing gets
priority; Provides
that the bill be read
by title.
S. 21.......................... Termination of H. Res. 204 Restrictive; 3 hours ID.
U.S. Arms Embargo of general debate;
on Bosnia. Makes in order an
amendment to be
offered by the
Minority Leader or a
designee (1 hr); If
motion to recommit
has instructions it
can only be offered
by the Minority
Leader or a designee.
H.R. 2126...................... Defense H. Res. 205 Open; waives cl. N/A.
Appropriations. 2(l)(6) of rule XI
and section 306 of
the Congressional
Budget Act against
consideration of the
bill; waives cl. 2
and cl. 6 of rule XXI
against provisions in
the bill; self-
executes a strike of
sections 8021 and
8024 of the bill as
requested by the
Budget Committee; Pre-
printing gets
priority; Provides
the bill be read by
title.
H.R. 1555...................... Communications Act H. Res. 207 Restrictive; waives 2R/3D/3 Bi-
of 1995. sec. 302(f) of the partisan.
Budget Act against
consideration of the
bill; Makes in order
the Commerce
Committee amendment
as original text and
waives sec. 302(f) of
the Budget Act and
cl. 5(a) of rule XXI
against the
amendment; Makes in
order the Bliely
amendment (30 min.)
as the first order of
business, if adopted
it will be original
text; makes in order
only the amendments
printed in the report
and waives all points
of order against the
amendments; provides
a Senate hook-up with
S. 652.
H.R. 2127...................... Labor/HHS H. Res. 208 Open; Provides that N/A.
Appropriations the first order of
Act. business will be the
managers amendments
(10 min.), if adopted
they will be
considered as base
text; waives cl. 2
and cl. 6 of rule XXI
against provisions in
the bill; waives all
points of order
against certain
amendments printed in
the report; Pre-
printing gets
priority; Provides
the bill be read by
title.
H.R. 1594...................... Economically H. Res. 215 Open; 2 hr of gen. N/A.
Targeted debate. makes in
Investments. order the committee
substitute as
original text.
H.R. 1655...................... Intelligence H. Res. 216 Restrictive; waives N/A.
Authorization. sections 302(f),
308(a) and 401(b) of
the Budget Act. Makes
in order the
committee substitute
as modified by Govt.
Reform amend
(striking sec. 505)
and an amendment
striking title VII.
Cl 7 of rule XVI and
cl 5(a) of rule XXI
are waived against
the substitute.
Sections 302(f) and
401(b) of the CBA are
also waived against
the substitute.
Amendments must also
be pre-printed in the
Congressional record.
H.R. 1162...................... Deficit Reduction H. Res. 218 Open; waives cl 7 of N/A.
Lock Box. rule XVI against the
committee substitute
made in order as
original text; Pre-
printing gets
priority.
H.R. 1670...................... Federal H. Res. 219 Open; waives sections N/A.
Acquisition 302(f) and 308(a) of
Reform Act of the Budget Act
1995. against consideration
of the bill; bill
will be read by
title; waives cl 5(a)
of rule XXI and
section 302(f) of the
Budget Act against
the committee
substitute. Pre-
printing gets
priority.
H.R. 1617...................... To Consolidate and H. Res. 222 Open; waives section N/A.
Reform Workforce 302(f) and 401(b) of
Development and the Budget Act
Literacy Programs against the
Act (CAREERS). substitute made in
order as original
text (H.R. 2332), cl.
5(a) of rule XXI is
also waived against
the substitute.
provides for
consideration of the
managers amendment
(10 min.) If adopted,
it is considered as
base text.
H.R. 2274...................... National Highway H. Res. 224 Open; waives section N/A.
System 302(f) of the Budget
Designation Act Act against
of 1995. consideration of the
bill; Makes H.R. 2349
in order as original
text; waives section
302(f) of the Budget
Act against the
substitute; provides
for the consideration
of a managers
amendment (10 min.)
If adopted, it is
considered as base
text; Pre-printing
gets priority.
H.R. 927....................... Cuban Liberty and H. Res. 225 Restrictive; waives cl 2R/2D
Democratic 2(L)(2)(B) of rule XI
Solidarity Act of against consideration
1995. of the bill; makes in
order H.R. 2347 as
base text; waives cl
7 of rule XVI against
the substitute; Makes
Hamilton amendment
the first amendment
to be considered (1
hr). Makes in order
only amendments
printed in the report.
H.R. 743....................... The Teamwork for H. Res. 226 Open; waives cl N/A.
Employees and 2(l)(2)(b) of rule XI
managers Act of against consideration
1995. of the bill; makes in
order the committee
amendment as original
text; Pre-printing
get priority.
H.R. 1170...................... 3-Judge Court for H. Res. 227 Open; makes in order a N/A.
Certain committee amendment
Injunctions. as original text; Pre-
printing gets
priority.
H.R. 1601...................... International H. Res. 228 Open; makes in order a N/A.
Space Station committee amendment
Authorization Act as original text; pre-
of 1995. printing gets
priority.
H.J. Res. 108.................. Making Continuing H. Res. 230 Closed; Provides for ..............
Appropriations the immediate
for FY 1996. consideration of the
CR; one motion to
recommit which may
have instructions
only if offered by
the Minority Leader
or a designee.
H.R. 2405...................... Omnibus Civilian H. Res. 234 Open; self-executes a N/A.
Science provision striking
Authorization Act section 304(b)(3) of
of 1995. the bill (Commerce
Committee request);
Pre-printing gets
priority.
H.R. 2259...................... To Disapprove H. Res. 237 Restrictive; waives cl 1D
Certain 2(l)(2)(B) of rule XI
Sentencing against the bill's
Guideline consideration; makes
Amendments. in order the text of
the Senate bill S.
1254 as original
text; Makes in order
only a Conyers
substitute; provides
a senate hook-up
after adoption.
H.R. 2425...................... Medicare H. Res. 238 Restrictive; waives 1D
Preservation Act. all points of order
against the bill's
consideration; makes
in order the text of
H.R. 2485 as original
text; waives all
points of order
against H.R. 2485;
makes in order only
an amendment offered
by the Minority
Leader or a designee;
waives all points of
order against the
amendment; waives cl
5 of rule
XXI (\3/5\
requirement on votes
raising taxes).
H.R. 2492...................... Legislative Branch H. Res. 239 Restrictive; provides N/A.
Appropriations for consideration of
Bill. the bill in the House.
H.R. 2491...................... 7 Year Balanced H. Res. 245 Restrictive; makes in 1D
H. Con. Res. 109............... Budget order H.R. 2517 as
Reconciliation original text; waives
Social Security all pints of order
Earnings Test against the bill;
Reform. Makes in order only
H.R. 2530 as an
amendment only if
offered by the
Minority Leader or a
designee; waives all
points of order
against the
amendment; waives cl
5 of rule
XXI (\3/5\
requirement on votes
raising taxes).
H.R. 1833...................... Partial Birth H. Res. 251 Closed................ N/A.
Abortion Ban Act
of 1995.
H.R. 2546...................... D.C. H. Res. 252 Restrictive; waives N/A
Appropriations FY all points of order
1996. against the bill's
consideration; Makes
in order the Walsh
amendment as the
first order of
business (10 min.);
if adopted it is
considered as base
text; waives cl 2 and
6 of rule XXI against
the bill; makes in
order the Bonilla,
Gunderson and
Hostettler amendments
(30 min.); waives all
points of order
against the
amendments; debate on
any further
amendments is limited
to 30 min. each.
H.J. Res. 115.................. Further Continuing H. Res. 257 Closed; Provides for N/A
Appropriations the immediate
for FY 1996. consideration of the
CR; one motion to
recommit which may
have instructions
only if offered by
the Minority Leader
or a designee.
H.R. 2586...................... Temporary Increase H. Res. 258 Restrictive; Provides 5R
in the Statutory for the immediate
Debt Limit. consideration of the
CR; one motion to
recommit which may
have instructions
only if offered by
the Minority Leader
or a designee; self-
executes 4 amendments
in the rule; Solomon,
Medicare Coverage of
Certain Anti-Cancer
Drug Treatments,
Habeas Corpus Reform,
Chrysler (MI); makes
in order the Walker
amend (40 min.) on
regulatory reform.
H.R. 2539...................... ICC Termination... H. Res. 259 Open; waives section ..............
302(f) and section
308(a).
H.J. Res. 115.................. Further Continuing H. Res. 261 Closed; provides for N/A.
Appropriations the immediate
for FY 1996. consideration of a
motion by the
Majority Leader or
his designees to
dispose of the Senate
amendments (1hr).
[[Page H2575]]
H.R. 2586...................... Temporary Increase H. Res. 262 Closed; provides for N/A.
in the Statutory the immediate
Limit on the consideration of a
Public Debt. motion by the
Majority Leader or
his designees to
dispose of the Senate
amendments (1hr).
H. Res. 250.................... House Gift Rule H. Res. 268 Closed; provides for 2R
Reform. consideration of the
bill in the House; 30
min. of debate; makes
in order the Burton
amendment and the
Gingrich en bloc
amendment (30 min.
each); waives all
points of order
against the
amendments; Gingrich
is only in order if
Burton fails or is
not offered.
H.R. 2564...................... Lobbying H. Res. 269 Open; waives cl. N/A.
Disclosure Act of 2(l)(6) of rule XI
1995. against the bill's
consideration; waives
all points of order
against the Istook
and McIntosh
amendments.
H.R. 2606...................... Prohibition on H. Res. 273 Restrictive; waives N/A.
Funds for Bosnia all points of order
Deployment. against the bill's
consideration;
provides one motion
to amend if offered
by the Minority
Leader or designee (1
hr non-amendable);
motion to recommit
which may have
instructions only if
offered by Minority
Leader or his
designee; if Minority
Leader motion is not
offered debate time
will be extended by 1
hr.
H.R. 1788...................... Amtrak Reform and H. Res. 289 Open; waives all N/A.
Privatization Act points of order
of 1995. against the bill's
consideration; makes
in order the
Transportation
substitute modified
by the amend in the
report; Bill read by
title; waives all
points of order
against the
substitute; makes in
order a managers
amend as the first
order of business, if
adopted it is
considered base text
(10 min.); waives all
points of order
against the
amendment; Pre-
printing gets
priority.
H.R. 1350...................... Maritime Security H. Res. 287 Open; makes in order N/A.
Act of 1995. the committee
substitute as
original text; makes
in order a managers
amendment which if
adopted is considered
as original text (20
min.) unamendable;
pre-printing gets
priority.
H.R. 2621...................... To Protect Federal H. Res. Closed; provides for N/A.
Trust Funds. the adoption of the
Ways & Means
amendment printed in
the report. 1 hr. of
general debate.
H.R. 1745...................... Utah Public Lands H.Res. 303 Open; waives cl N/A.
Management Act of 2(l)(6) of rule XI
1995. and sections 302(f)
and 311(a) of the
Budget Act against
the bill's
consideration. Makes
in order the
Resources substitute
as base text and
waives cl 7 of rule
XVI and sections
302(f) and 308(a) of
the Budget Act; makes
in order a managers'
amend as the first
order of business, if
adopted it is
considered base text
(10 min)..
H.Res. 304..................... Providing for N/A Closed; makes in order 1D; 2R
Debate and three resolutions;
Consideration of H.R. 2770 (Dorman),
Three Measures H.Res. 302 (Buyer),
Relating to U.S. and H.Res. 306
Troop Deployments (Gephardt); 1 hour of
in Bosnia. debate on each..
H.Res. 309..................... Revised Budget H.Res. 309 Closed; provides 2 N/A.
Resolution. hours of general
debate in the House..
H.R. 558....................... Texas Low-Level H.Res. 313 Open; pre-printing N/A.
Radioactive Waste gets priority.
Disposal Compact
Consent Act.
H.R. 2677...................... The National Parks H. Res. 323 Closed; consideration N/A.
and National in the House; self-
Wildlife Refuge executes Young
Systems Freedom amendment.
Act of 1995.
PROCEDURE IN THE 104TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION
H.R. 1643...................... To authorize the H. Res. 334 Closed; provides to N/A.
extension of take the bill from
nondiscriminatory the Speaker's table
treatment (MFN) with the Senate
to the products amendment, and
of Bulgaria. consider in the House
the motion printed in
the Rules Committee
report; 1 hr. of
general debate;
previous question is
considered as
ordered. ** NR.
H.J. Res. 134.................. Making continuing H. Res. 336 Closed; provides to N/A.
H. Con. Res. 131............... appropriations/ take from the
establishing Speaker's table H.J.
procedures making Res. 134 with the
the transmission Senate amendment and
of the continuing concur with the
resolution H.J. Senate amendment with
Res. 134. an amendment (H. Con.
Res. 131) which is
self-executed in the
rule. The rule
provides further that
the bill shall not be
sent back to the
Senate until the
Senate agrees to the
provisions of H. Con.
Res. 131. ** NR.
H. R. 1358..................... Conveyance of H. Res. 338 Closed; provides to N/A.
National Marine take the bill from
Fisheries Service the Speakers table
Laboratory at with the Senate
Gloucester, amendment, and
Massachusetts. consider in the house
the motion printed in
the Rules Committee
report; 1 hr. of
general debate;
previous quesetion is
considered as
ordered. ** NR.
H.R. 2924...................... Social Security H. Res. 355 Closed; ** NR......... N/A.
Guarantee Act.
H.R. 2854...................... The Agricultural H. Res. 366 Restrictive; waives 5D; 9R; 2
Market Transition all points of order Bipartisan.
Program. against the bill; 2
hrs of general
debate; makes in
order a committee
substitute as
original text and
waives all points of
order against the
substitute; makes in
order only the 16
amends printed in the
report and waives all
points of order
against the
amendments;
circumvents unfunded
mandates law;
Chairman has en bloc
authority for amends
in report (20 min.)
on each en bloc..
H.R. 994....................... Regulatory Sunset H.Res 368 Open rule; makes in N/A.
& Review Act of order the Hyde
1995. substitute printed in
the Record as
original text; waives
cl 7 of rule XVI
against the
substitute; Pre-
printing gets
priority; vacates the
House action on S.
219 and provides to
take the bill from
the Speakers table
and consider the
Senate bill; allows
Chrmn. Clinger a
motion to strike all
after the enacting
clause of the Senate
bill and insert the
text of H.R. 994 as
passed by the House
(1 hr) debate; waives
germaneness against
the motion; provides
if the motion is
adopted that it is in
order for the House
to insist on its
amendments and
request a conference.
H.R. 3021...................... To Guarantee the H.Res 371 Closed rule; gives one N/A.
Continuing Full motion to recommit,
Investment of which if it contains
Social security instructions, may
and Other Federal only if offered by
Funds in the Minority Leader
Obligations of or his designee. **
the United States. NR.
H.R. 3019...................... A Further H.Res. 372 Restrictive; self- 2D/2R.
Downpayment executes CBO language
Toward a Balanced regarding contingency
Budget. funds in section 2 of
the rule; makes in
order only the
amendments printed in
the report; Lowey (20
min), Istook (20
min), Crapo (20 min),
Obey (1 hr); waives
all points of order
against the
amendments; give one
motion to recommit,
which if contains
instructions, may
only if offered by
the Minority Leader
or his designee. **
NR.
H.R. 2703...................... The Effective H. Res. 380 Restrictive; makes in 6D; 7R; 4
Death Penalty and order only the Bipartisan.
Public Safety Act amendments printed in
of 1996. the report; waives
all points of orer
against the
amendments; gives
Judiciary Chairman en
bloc authority (20
min.) on enblocs;
provides a Senate
hook-up with S. 735.
** NR.
H.R. 2202...................... The Immigration H. Res. 384 Restrictive; waives 12D; 19R; 1
and National all points of order Bipartisan.
Interest Act of against the bill and
1995. amendments in the
report except for
those arising under
sec. 425(a) of the
Budget Act (unfunded
mandates); 2 hrs. of
general debate on the
bill; makes in order
the committee
substitute as base
text; makes in order
only the amends in
the report; gives the
Judiciary Chairman en
bloc authority (20
min.) of debate on
the en blocs; self-
executes the Smith
(TX) amendment re:
employee verification
program..
H.J. Res. 165.................. Making further H. Res. 386 Closed; provides for N/A.
continuing the consideration of
appropriations the CR in the House
for FY 1996. and gives one motion
to recommit which may
contain instructions
only if offered by
the Minority Leader;
the rule also waives
cl 4(b) of rule XI
against the
following: an omnibus
appropriations bill,
another CR, a bill
extending the debt
limit. ** NR.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Contract Bills, 67% restrictive; 33% open. ** All legislation 1st Session, 53% restrictive; 47% open. ***
Legislation 2d Session. 91% restrictive; 9% open. **** All legislation 104th Congress 62% restrictive; 38%
open. ***** NR indicates that the legislation being considered by the House for amendment has circumvented
standard procedure and was never reported from any House committee. ****** Restrictive rules are those which
limit the number of amendments which can be offered, and include so-called modified open and modified closed
rules as well as completely closed rules and rules providing for consideration in the House as opposed to the
Committee of the Whole. This definition of restrictive rule is taken from the Republican chart of resolutions
reported from the Rules Committee in the 103d Congress. N/A means not available.
Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, as I stated earlier, I am asking for a ``no''
vote on the previous question. This matter, we fully explored this
matter today. I would only point out to the gentleman on the other side
the concept of martial law really was a concept that was talked about
by a Member on his side of the aisle during preceding Congresses, the
gentleman from Pennsylvania, Mr. Walker, who is still with us, and he
may want to discuss that with Mr. Walker some time. But it is Mr.
Walker, who when we were in the majority, stood up at that microphone
when they were in the minority and railed against this procedure time
and time again. I have not seen Mr. Walker on the floor today.
Mr. Speaker, I would be interested to share his observations at this
point because he was the leading proponent on your side of the aisle
for not suspending the rules, for not doing what you are doing today
and have done for 4 months now. I urge my colleagues to vote down the
previous question and to proceed with the consideration of this measure
in an orderly manner.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, let us first start out by advising the gentleman from
Texas that the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Gephardt] is the one who
first utilized this rule in this fashion. Second of all, I do consider
the gentleman from Texas a professional friend. We have had a good
working business relationship. But let me offer a little advice. Do not
shut down the Government in a battle over this rule. It is not right.
It is not going to work, and it is going to backfire on you.
Now, from a political viewpoint, maybe it would benefit the
Republicans for you to take the hit on this deal, but you do not need
to take the hit. I am putting myself above that partisanship and
worrying about 250 million people, 230 million people in this country.
We
[[Page H2576]]
do not need to shut the Government down. That is exactly what you are
doing by urging what is, in essence, a ``no'' vote on the rule. Let us
pass the rule. Let us get some more negotiating time for the good-faith
negotiations that are going on between the President, the U.S. Senate
and the U.S. House.
Mr. Speaker, on this issue of the rule, the gentleman from Texas [Mr.
Frost] had the opportunity last night to entertain the type of motions
that he is now having introduced into the Record. In fact, he did not
bring it up on his own initiative, as certainly he had in the past, but
he did not bring it up last night. I am not being critical of that
point. The point I am making is the chairman of the committee, the
Republican chairman, offered to the gentleman from Texas the
opportunity to do exactly what he is attempting to do today on the
floor.
Mr. Speaker, now they have revised their strategy, and I think their
strategy is headed straight for a Government shutdown as that hand
moves 24 hours on that clock. We do not want to close this Government
down. We should not want to close this Government down. Let us keep the
Government open. Let us vote ``yes'' on the rule.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the
previous question on the resolution.
The previous question was ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Burton of Indiana). 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.
Mr. McINNIS. 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.
Pursuant to clause 5 of rule XV, the Chair announces that he will
reduce to a minimum of 5 minutes the period of time within which a vote
by electronic device, if ordered, will be taken on the question of
agreeing to the resolution.
The Sergeant at Arms will notify absent Members.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 234,
nays 187, not voting 10, as follows:
[Roll No. 80]
YEAS--234
Allard
Archer
Armey
Bachus
Baesler
Baker (CA)
Baker (LA)
Ballenger
Barr
Barrett (NE)
Bartlett
Barton
Bass
Bateman
Bereuter
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bliley
Blute
Boehlert
Boehner
Bonilla
Bono
Brownback
Bryant (TN)
Bunn
Bunning
Burr
Burton
Buyer
Callahan
Calvert
Camp
Campbell
Canady
Castle
Chabot
Chambliss
Chenoweth
Christensen
Chrysler
Clinger
Coble
Coburn
Collins (GA)
Combest
Cooley
Cox
Crane
Crapo
Cremeans
Cubin
Cunningham
Davis
Deal
DeLay
Diaz-Balart
Dickey
Doolittle
Dornan
Dreier
Duncan
Dunn
Ehlers
Ehrlich
Emerson
English
Ensign
Everett
Ewing
Fawell
Fields (TX)
Flanagan
Foley
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
Morella
Myers
Myrick
Nethercutt
Neumann
Ney
Norwood
Nussle
Oxley
Packard
Parker
Paxon
Petri
Pombo
Porter
Portman
Pryce
Quillen
Quinn
Ramstad
Regula
Riggs
Roberts
Rogers
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Roth
Roukema
Royce
Salmon
Sanford
Saxton
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--187
Abercrombie
Ackerman
Andrews
Baldacci
Barcia
Barrett (WI)
Becerra
Beilenson
Bentsen
Berman
Bevill
Bishop
Bonior
Borski
Boucher
Brewster
Browder
Brown (CA)
Brown (FL)
Brown (OH)
Bryant (TX)
Cardin
Chapman
Clay
Clayton
Clement
Clyburn
Coleman
Collins (MI)
Condit
Conyers
Costello
Coyne
Cramer
Danner
de la Garza
DeFazio
DeLauro
Dellums
Deutsch
Dicks
Dingell
Dixon
Doggett
Dooley
Doyle
Durbin
Edwards
Engel
Eshoo
Evans
Farr
Fattah
Fazio
Fields (LA)
Filner
Flake
Foglietta
Ford
Frank (MA)
Frost
Furse
Gejdenson
Gephardt
Geren
Gibbons
Gonzalez
Gordon
Green
Gutierrez
Hall (OH)
Hamilton
Harman
Hastings (FL)
Hefner
Hilliard
Hinchey
Holden
Hoyer
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jacobs
Jefferson
Johnson (SD)
Johnson, E. B.
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Kennedy (MA)
Kennedy (RI)
Kennelly
Kildee
Kleczka
Klink
LaFalce
Lantos
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Lincoln
Lipinski
Lofgren
Lowey
Luther
Maloney
Manton
Markey
Martinez
Mascara
Matsui
McCarthy
McDermott
McHale
McKinney
McNulty
Meehan
Meek
Menendez
Miller (CA)
Minge
Mink
Mollohan
Montgomery
Moran
Murtha
Nadler
Neal
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Orton
Owens
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
Serrano
Sisisky
Skaggs
Skelton
Slaughter
Spratt
Stenholm
Studds
Stupak
Tanner
Taylor (MS)
Tejeda
Thompson
Thornton
Thurman
Torres
Torricelli
Towns
Traficant
Velazquez
Vento
Visclosky
Volkmer
Ward
Watt (NC)
Waxman
Wilson
Wise
Woolsey
Wynn
Yates
NOT VOTING--10
Collins (IL)
Forbes
Johnston
Moakley
Radanovich
Scarborough
Stark
Stokes
Waters
Williams
{time} 1159
Ms. RIVERS and Mr. COYNE changed their vote from ``yea'' to ``nay.''
Mr. GILMAN changed his vote from ``nay'' to ``yea.''
So the previous question was ordered.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
personal explanation
Mr. SCARBOROUGH. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 80, I was unavoidably
detained and was unable to vote. Had I been present, I would have voted
``yea.''
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Burton of Indiana). The question is on
the resolution.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
recorded vote
Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.
A recorded vote was ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. This will be a 5-minute vote.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 237,
noes 183, not voting 11, as follows:
[Roll No. 81]
AYES--237
Allard
Archer
Armey
Bachus
Baesler
Baker (CA)
Baker (LA)
Ballenger
Barr
Barrett (NE)
Bartlett
Barton
Bass
Bateman
Bereuter
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bliley
Blute
Boehlert
Boehner
Bonilla
Bono
Brownback
Bryant (TN)
Bunn
Bunning
Burr
Burton
Buyer
Callahan
Calvert
Camp
Campbell
Canady
Castle
Chabot
Chambliss
Chenoweth
Christensen
Chrysler
Clinger
Coble
Coburn
Collins (GA)
Combest
Cooley
Crane
Crapo
Cremeans
Cubin
Cunningham
Davis
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)
[[Page H2577]]
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
Montgomery
Moorhead
Morella
Myers
Myrick
Nethercutt
Neumann
Ney
Norwood
Nussle
Oxley
Packard
Parker
Paxon
Petri
Pombo
Porter
Portman
Pryce
Quillen
Quinn
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)
Souder
Spence
Stearns
Stockman
Stump
Talent
Tate
Tauzin
Taylor (NC)
Thomas
Thornberry
Tiahrt
Torkildsen
Traficant
Upton
Vucanovich
Waldholtz
Walker
Walsh
Wamp
Watts (OK)
Weldon (FL)
Weldon (PA)
Weller
White
Whitfield
Wicker
Wilson
Wolf
Young (AK)
Young (FL)
Zeliff
Zimmer
NOES--183
Abercrombie
Ackerman
Andrews
Baldacci
Barcia
Barrett (WI)
Becerra
Beilenson
Bentsen
Berman
Bevill
Bishop
Bonior
Borski
Boucher
Brewster
Browder
Brown (CA)
Brown (FL)
Brown (OH)
Bryant (TX)
Cardin
Chapman
Clay
Clayton
Clement
Clyburn
Coleman
Collins (MI)
Condit
Conyers
Costello
Coyne
Cramer
Danner
de la Garza
DeFazio
DeLauro
Dellums
Deutsch
Dicks
Dingell
Dixon
Doggett
Dooley
Doyle
Durbin
Edwards
Engel
Eshoo
Evans
Fattah
Fazio
Fields (LA)
Filner
Flake
Foglietta
Ford
Frank (MA)
Frost
Furse
Gejdenson
Gephardt
Geren
Gibbons
Gonzalez
Gordon
Green
Gutierrez
Hall (OH)
Hamilton
Harman
Hastings (FL)
Hefner
Hilliard
Hinchey
Holden
Hoyer
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jacobs
Jefferson
Johnson (SD)
Johnson, E. B.
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Kennedy (MA)
Kennedy (RI)
Kennelly
Kildee
Kleczka
Klink
LaFalce
Lantos
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Lincoln
Lipinski
Lofgren
Lowey
Luther
Maloney
Manton
Markey
Martinez
Mascara
Matsui
McCarthy
McDermott
McHale
McKinney
McNulty
Meehan
Meek
Menendez
Miller (CA)
Minge
Mink
Mollohan
Moran
Murtha
Nadler
Neal
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Orton
Owens
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
Serrano
Sisisky
Skaggs
Skelton
Slaughter
Spratt
Stenholm
Studds
Stupak
Tanner
Taylor (MS)
Tejeda
Thompson
Thornton
Thurman
Torres
Torricelli
Towns
Velazquez
Vento
Visclosky
Volkmer
Ward
Watt (NC)
Waxman
Wise
Woolsey
Wynn
Yates
NOT VOTING--11
Collins (IL)
Cox
Farr
Johnston
Moakley
Radanovich
Solomon
Stark
Stokes
Waters
Williams
{time} 1208
So the resolution was agreed to.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________