[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 96 (Wednesday, June 26, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H6963-H6964]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  0100
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 3675, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 
              AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATION ACT 1997

  Ms. GREENE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on 
Rules, I call up House Resolution 460 and ask for its immediate 
consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                              H. Res. 460

       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 bill (H.R. 3675) making appropriations for the Department 
     of Transportation and related agencies for the fiscal year 
     ending September 30, 1997, and for other purposes. The first 
     reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. Points of order 
     against consideration of the bill for failure to comply with 
     section 401(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 are 
     waived. General debate shall be confined to the bill and 
     shall not exceed one hour equally divided and controlled by 
     the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on 
     Appropriations. After general debate the bill shall be 
     considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. Points 
     of order against provisions in the bill for failure to comply 
     with clause 2 or 6 of rule XXI are waived except as follows: 
     beginning with the colon on page 10, line 25, through 
     ``program'' on page 11, line 3. Where points of order are 
     waived against part of a paragraph, points of order against a 
     provision in another part of such paragraph may be made only 
     against such provision and not against the entire paragraph. 
     The amendment printed in section 2 of this resolution shall 
     be considered as adopted in the House and in the Committee of 
     the Whole. During consideration of the bill for further 
     amendment, the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole may 
     accord priority in recognition on the basis of whether the 
     Member offering an amendment has caused it be printed in the 
     portion of the Congressional Record designated for that 
     purpose in clause 6 of rule XXIII. Amendments so printed 
     shall be considered as read. The Chairman of the Committee of 
     the Whole may postpone until a time during further 
     consideration in the Committee of the Whole a request for a 
     recorded vote on any amendment. The Chairman of the Committee 
     of the Whole may reduce to not less than five minutes the 
     time for voting by electronic device on any postponed 
     question that immediately follows another vote by electronic 
     device without intervening business, provided that the time 
     for voting by electronic device on the first in any series of 
     questions shall be not less than fifteen minutes. After the 
     reading of the final lines of the bill, a motion that the 
     Committee of the Whole rise and report the bill to the House 
     with such amendments as may have been adopted shall, if 
     offered by the majority leader or a designee, have precedence 
     over a motion to amend. At the conclusion of consideration of 
     the bill for amendment the Committee shall rise and report 
     the bill to the House with such amendments as may have been 
     adopted. The previous question shall be considered as ordered 
     on the bill and amendments thereto the final passage without 
     intervening motion except one motion to recommit with or 
     without instructions.
       Sec. 2. The amendment considered as adopted in the House 
     and in the Committee of the Whole as follows:
       Page 8, line 18, strike ``proceeds from the sale of''.
       Page 8, line 20, strike ``credited as offsetting 
     collections to this account so as to result'' and insert in 
     lieu thereof ``disposed of in a manner resulting''.
       Page 8, line 22, strike the comma after the figure and all 
     that follows through ``Act'' on page 9, line 1.
       Page 11, line 18, strike ``$2,742,602,000'' and insert in 
     lieu thereof ``$1,642,500,000''.
       Page 27, line 4, strike ``$400,000,000'' and insert in lieu 
     thereof ``$460,000,000''.
       Page 48, line 12, strike the colon and all that follows 
     through ``funds'' on line 15.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). The gentlewoman from Utah [Ms. 
Greene] is recognized for 1 hour.
  Ms. GREENE of Utah. For purposes of debate only, Mr. Speaker, I yield 
the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. 
Moakley], pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. 
During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for 
purposes of debate only.
  Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 460 is an open rule providing for 
consideration of H.R. 3675, the fiscal year 1997 Transportation 
appropriations bill. The rule provides for 1 hour of general debate, 
equally divided between the chairman and the ranking member of the 
Appropriations Committee.
  The rule contains a technical waiver of section 401(a) of the Budget 
Act, which prohibits consideration of legislation containing contract 
authority not previously subject to appropriations, and two waivers of 
rule XXI: clause 6, prohibiting reappropriations, and clause 2, 
prohibiting unauthorized and legislative provisions, with the 
exception, as requested by the authorizing committee, of a provision 
relating to funding for a boating safety grant program.
  In keeping with our commitment to ensure that the appropriations 
bills comply with authorizations, the rule resolves certain concerns 
expressed by the authorizing committee by providing that an amendment 
printed in section 2 of the resolution is considered as adopted.
  In order to better accommodate members' schedules, the rule allows 
the chairman to postpone votes and reduce voting time to 5 minutes. The 
rule also permits the majority leader to offer the privileged motion to 
rise and report the bill back to the House at any time after the final 
lines of the bill have been read. Finally, the rule provides for 
priority consideration of amendments that have been pre-printed in the 
Congressional Record, and provides for one motion to recommit, with or 
without instructions.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out that this is the seventh 
appropriations bill that we have considered this year, and that all 
seven appropriations bills have been considered under open rules. Under 
this open, deliberative process, we have given every member of the 
House an opportunity to offer an amendment on any issue they feel 
important.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to once again emphasize that this is an 
open rule, providing for fair consideration of the important issues 
contained in this bill. I urge my colleagues to support the rule.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleagues on the other side of the aisle 
for this open rule. The Rules Committee acted appropriately in exposing 
certain parts of this bill to points of order. In doing so, they 
followed the long-standing tradition in the House of honoring the 
authorizing committees' request to be able to raise points of order 
against legislative language in spending bills. This rule will give 
them that opportunity.
  I also commend Mr. Wolf and Mr. Coleman for this bipartisan bill 
they've put together which I fully support.
  This bill allocates $12.5 billion for transportation programs across 
the country which are very good investments in our country's 
infrastructure.
  Most importantly, Mr. Speaker, this bill emphasizes safety. It 
allocates $4.9 billion for the Federal Aviation Administration to 
continue the good work they do making sure our skies are safe. Thanks 
to this bill, the FAA will be

[[Page H6964]]

able to hire 660 new employees entirely devoted to passenger safety.
  Even though our planes are among the safest in the world, as last 
month's tragedy in Florida showed us, we are still not as safe as we 
should be.
  Although I am disappointed that this bill doesn't provide any new 
funding for the Northeast corridor, the most traveled passenger rail 
route in the country, I understand that there is a balance from 
previous appropriations to fund the continued construction of this 
project.
  I urge my colleagues to support this open rule and to support this 
bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. 
Obey], the ranking member of the Committee on Appropriations.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I simply want to say I support this rule. It 
is far preferable than the rule that we just considered. I would simply 
observe that with respect to the previous rule, this country has walked 
away from our values in dealing with trade. There is absolutely no 
reason in my view for us to provide MFN treatment for a country that 
produces goods through slave labor. I think it is a preposterous joke 
that we should in any way give credence to the idea that a country with 
a controlled economy is a fitting participant in free- or fair-trade 
arrangements. By definition, they are not. I thank the gentleman for 
his time.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. GREENE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, 
I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question 
on the resolution.
  The previous question was ordered.
  The resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________