[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 54 (Wednesday, April 24, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H3745-H3746]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FURTHER CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS, FISCAL YEAR 1996
Mr. LIVINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 411, I call
up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 175) making further continuing
appropriations for the fiscal year 1996, and for other purposes, and
ask for its immediate consideration in the House.
The Clerk read the title of the joint resolution.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 411, House
Joint Resolution 175 is modified by striking title II.
The text of the joint resolution, as modified, is as follows:
H.J. Res. 175
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
TITLE I--CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS
Sec. 101. Public Law 104-99 is further amended by striking
out ``April 24, 1996'' in sections 106(c), 112, 126(c),
202(c), and 214 and inserting in lieu thereof ``April 25,
1996''; and that Public Law 104-92 is further amended by
striking out ``April 24, 1996'' in section 106(c) and
inserting in lieu thereof ``April 25, 1996''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Louisiana [Mr. Livingston] and the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Obey]
will each control 30 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. Livingston].
General Leave
Mr. LIVINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their
remarks on House Joint Resolution 175, and that I may be permitted to
include extraneous and tabular material.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Louisiana?
There was no objection.
Mr. LIVINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I hope that it will not be necessary to use anywhere
near the time allotted for this measure. This is a 24-hour continuing
resolution intended primarily to allow the negotiators in the
conference between the House and Senate Republicans and Democrats to
finalize the negotiations with the White House and Mr. Panetta, the
Chief of Staff, on the omnibus wrap-up appropriations bill for fiscal
year 1996.
This wrap-up bill would conclude all of the remaining as yet unsigned
into law subcommittee bills, namely Commerce-Justice-State, Interior,
VA-HUD, Labor-Health, and the District of Columbia. The intent would be
that, because I think that we have narrowed the issues now, within the
next few hours hopefully we can finalize the deliberations on all of
the remaining outstanding issues of difference between the White House
and both houses of Congress, and that we will indeed have a bill ready
to bring to the House of Representatives tomorrow morning after going
to the Committee on Rules.
That is my expectation at this point. There are still some real and
meaningful differences, between all the parties, between the Houses,
and between the Congress and the White House, but my expectation is
those differences will be resolved in a matter of hours and that we
will have a final agreement to bring here to the floor. If that is not
to be, then we will have other statements to make later on, but that is
our plan at this point. I would hope that, frankly, everything I have
said will come to pass.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, this is, what, the 13th continuing resolution?
Let me simply say that if this continuing resolution were for longer
than 1 day, I would not support it, because it would be yet another
confession of futility on the part of the Congress. But the gentleman
from Louisiana [Mr. Livingston], the distinguished chairman of the
committee, is correct. We are that close to having agreement on the
omnibus continuing resolution, which would finally, finally, put to bed
all of the appropriation issues for the fiscal year into which we are
now halfway.
Let me just say that I think Members have had a right to be
concerned, because school districts are being squeezed. You still have
the problem of some 40,000 title I teachers who are about to be pink-
slipped if there is not a resolution of the problem.
The conferees have met ad nauseam the last 3 days, actually since
Friday, and I think at this point virtually every issue seems to be
resolved except the issues surrounding the environmental riders and two
other issues, which I expect can be resolved.
So it is my hope that when we reconvene meetings with Mr. Panetta at
2 or 2:30 today, that we will have agreement. To do so, the White House
has made clear the remaining environmental riders, which are simply
causing problems, will need to be dropped, or at least reshaped in a
way that allows the President to protect the public interest as he sees
it.
{time} 1200
And if that is accomplished, then we can bring that bill to the floor
and finally finish this and move on to next year's appropriation
matters.
It is my deep hope that that will, in fact, occur, but I thought it
was going to happen yesterday but at 9 o'clock last night we were
further apart than we were at 5 o'clock in the afternoon which I find
interesting and incredible and frustrating but I guess it sometimes
happens in legislative bodies.
So I simply hope that cooler heads will prevail and we will wind up
with those riders being dropped so that we can bring legislation to the
floor which solves the problem.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from
Wisconsin [Mr. Kleczka].
Mr. KLECZKA. Mr. Speaker, let me thank my colleague for yielding time
to me. When the rule was before the body to bring up this continuing
resolution, the gentleman from California [Mr. Dreier] was very lengthy
and eloquent in his support of a provision that was in the resolution
but was struck by adoption of the rule. That provision had to deal with
the resolve for a problem we are facing with the savings and loan
insurance fund, which is the SAIF fund.
It was kind of surprising to me that the gentleman from California
spoke in strong support of it even though the Committee on Rules that
he served on did pull it out of the product that we are ready to vote
on the floor.
I would like the chairman of the committee, Mr. Livingston, to
possibly yield for a question, because I am aware that he also
supported this provision. Is it possible that the long-term continuing
resolution that we should be seeing hopefully tomorrow would contain a
fix for that very knotty problem?
Mr. LIVINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. KLECZKA. I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana.
Mr. LIVINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I would say to the gentleman it is not
my intention to put that on the bill tomorrow. We have a very tough
situation on a bill that has been pounded out over months and months,
and, frankly, I do not think it can bear any more weight. So I would,
frankly, be not inclined to put it on.
Mr. KLECZKA. Well, Mr. Speaker, it seems surprising to me that the
gentleman from California, who serves on the Committee on Rules, was
supporting a provision although he supported pulling it out of this
resolution. If I had known that was the opinion of the chair of the
committee, I surely would have tried to object to adoption of the rule,
which we have just adopted in the House, and called for a roll call to
see if we could not retain that in this short-term CR.
It seems it is an important issue, which I think we have to address
before the end of the session, because it will
[[Page H3746]]
just keep floating around out there. And, naturally, it is looking for
a vehicle to be attached to because as a stand-alone, chances are it
will not come before us.
So I am very disappointed to hear it will not be a part of the
product that we will be addressing probably tomorrow. I thank the
gentleman for yielding.
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute to say that I hope
that by this afternoon we will have a resolution of this long-term
problem. It would be a shame if the continued existence of these
legislative provisions on environmental issues would prevent us from
reaching agreement on the budget, and I hope that they are dropped so
that we can proceed to give the country what it needed 6 months ago,
which is completion of congressional action on all of these
appropriation bills.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. LIVINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Radanovich). Pursuant to House
Resolution 411, the previous question is ordered on the joint
resolution, as modified.
The question is on the engrossment and third reading of the joint
resolution.
The joint resolution was ordered to be engrossed and read a third
time, and was read the third time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the passage of the joint
resolution.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 400,
nays 14, not voting 18, as follows:
[Roll No. 129]
YEAS--400
Abercrombie
Ackerman
Andrews
Archer
Armey
Bachus
Baesler
Baker (CA)
Baker (LA)
Baldacci
Ballenger
Barcia
Barr
Barrett (NE)
Barrett (WI)
Bartlett
Bass
Bateman
Beilenson
Bentsen
Bereuter
Bevill
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bishop
Bliley
Blute
Boehlert
Boehner
Bonilla
Bonior
Bono
Borski
Boucher
Brewster
Browder
Brown (CA)
Brown (FL)
Brown (OH)
Brownback
Bryant (TN)
Bunn
Bunning
Burr
Burton
Buyer
Callahan
Calvert
Camp
Campbell
Canady
Cardin
Castle
Chabot
Chambliss
Chapman
Chenoweth
Christensen
Chrysler
Clay
Clayton
Clement
Clinger
Coburn
Coleman
Collins (GA)
Collins (IL)
Collins (MI)
Combest
Condit
Conyers
Cooley
Costello
Cox
Cramer
Crane
Crapo
Cremeans
Cubin
Cunningham
Danner
Davis
de la Garza
Deal
DeFazio
DeLauro
DeLay
Dellums
Deutsch
Diaz-Balart
Dickey
Dicks
Dingell
Dixon
Doggett
Dooley
Doolittle
Dornan
Doyle
Dreier
Duncan
Dunn
Durbin
Edwards
Ehlers
Ehrlich
Emerson
Engel
English
Ensign
Eshoo
Evans
Everett
Ewing
Farr
Fattah
Fawell
Fields (LA)
Fields (TX)
Filner
Flake
Flanagan
Foley
Forbes
Ford
Fowler
Fox
Frank (MA)
Franks (CT)
Franks (NJ)
Frelinghuysen
Frisa
Frost
Funderburk
Furse
Gallegly
Ganske
Gejdenson
Gekas
Gephardt
Geren
Gilchrest
Gillmor
Gilman
Gonzalez
Goodlatte
Goodling
Gordon
Goss
Graham
Green (TX)
Greene (UT)
Greenwood
Gunderson
Gutierrez
Gutknecht
Hall (OH)
Hall (TX)
Hamilton
Hancock
Hansen
Harman
Hastert
Hastings (WA)
Hayes
Hayworth
Hefley
Hefner
Heineman
Herger
Hilleary
Hilliard
Hinchey
Hobson
Hoekstra
Hoke
Holden
Horn
Hostettler
Houghton
Hoyer
Hunter
Hutchinson
Inglis
Istook
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jacobs
Jefferson
Johnson (CT)
Johnson (SD)
Johnson, E. B.
Johnson, Sam
Jones
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Kasich
Kelly
Kennedy (MA)
Kennedy (RI)
Kennelly
Kildee
Kim
King
Kingston
Kleczka
Klink
Klug
Knollenberg
Kolbe
LaFalce
LaHood
Lantos
Largent
Latham
LaTourette
Lazio
Leach
Levin
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (GA)
Lewis (KY)
Lightfoot
Lincoln
Linder
Lipinski
Livingston
LoBiondo
Lofgren
Longley
Lowey
Lucas
Luther
Maloney
Manton
Manzullo
Markey
Martinez
Martini
Mascara
Matsui
McCarthy
McCollum
McCrery
McDermott
McHugh
McInnis
McIntosh
McKeon
McKinney
McNulty
Meehan
Meek
Metcalf
Meyers
Mica
Millender-McDonald
Miller (CA)
Miller (FL)
Minge
Mink
Moakley
Molinari
Mollohan
Montgomery
Moorhead
Moran
Morella
Murtha
Myers
Myrick
Nadler
Neal
Nethercutt
Neumann
Ney
Norwood
Nussle
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Orton
Packard
Pallone
Pastor
Paxon
Payne (NJ)
Payne (VA)
Pelosi
Peterson (FL)
Peterson (MN)
Petri
Pickett
Pombo
Pomeroy
Porter
Portman
Poshard
Pryce
Quillen
Quinn
Radanovich
Rahall
Ramstad
Rangel
Reed
Regula
Richardson
Rivers
Roberts
Roemer
Rogers
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Rose
Roth
Roukema
Roybal-Allard
Royce
Rush
Sabo
Salmon
Sanders
Sanford
Sawyer
Saxton
Schiff
Schumer
Scott
Seastrand
Sensenbrenner
Serrano
Shadegg
Shaw
Shays
Shuster
Sisisky
Skaggs
Skeen
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (MI)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Smith (WA)
Solomon
Souder
Spence
Spratt
Stark
Stenholm
Stockman
Stokes
Studds
Stump
Stupak
Talent
Tanner
Tate
Tauzin
Taylor (MS)
Taylor (NC)
Tejeda
Thomas
Thompson
Thornberry
Thornton
Tiahrt
Torkildsen
Torres
Torricelli
Traficant
Upton
Visclosky
Volkmer
Vucanovich
Walker
Walsh
Wamp
Ward
Waters
Watt (NC)
Watts (OK)
Waxman
Weldon (FL)
Weldon (PA)
Weller
White
Whitfield
Wicker
Wise
Wolf
Woolsey
Wynn
Yates
Young (AK)
Young (FL)
Zeliff
Zimmer
NAYS--14
Barton
Becerra
Clyburn
Coble
Gibbons
Hastings (FL)
Hyde
McHale
Owens
Scarborough
Stearns
Thurman
Velazquez
Williams
NOT VOTING--18
Allard
Berman
Bryant (TX)
Coyne
Fazio
Foglietta
Johnston
Laughlin
McDade
Menendez
Oxley
Parker
Riggs
Schaefer
Schroeder
Towns
Vento
Wilson
{time} 1222
Mr. STEARNS changed his vote from ``yea'' to ``nay.''
Mr. DORNAN changed his vote from ``nay'' to ``yea.''
So the joint resolution was passed.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________