[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 61 (Thursday, May 14, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H3294-H3295]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

  (Mr. BONIOR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, I ask the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Armey), 
the distinguished majority leader, what the schedule for today and the 
remainder of the week and for the following week will be.
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BONIOR. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce that we have 
concluded legislative business for the week. The House will next meet 
on Monday, May 18, at 12 noon for a pro forma session. There will be no 
legislative business and no votes on that day.
  On Tuesday, May 19, the House will meet at 10:30 a.m. for morning 
hour and at 12 noon for legislative business.
  On Tuesday we will consider a number of bills under suspension of the 
rules, a list of which will be distributed to Members' offices.
  We also hope to consider H.R. 512, the new Wildlife Refuge 
Authorization Act, under an open rule, and begin general debate on H.R. 
3616, the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 1999. Time 
permitting, we will complete consideration of H.R. 3534, the Private 
Sector Mandates Act.
  Members should note that we do not expect any recorded votes before 5 
p.m. on Tuesday, May 19.
  On Wednesday, May 20, and Thursday, May 21, the House will meet at 10

[[Page H3295]]

a.m., and on Friday, May 22, the House will meet at 9 a.m. to consider 
the following legislation:
  Continued consideration of H.R. 3616, the National Defense 
Authorization Act for the fiscal year 1999;
  H.R. 3150, the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1998; and
  H.R. 2183, the Bipartisan Campaign Integrity Act of 1997.

                              {time}  1430

  We also hope to have a number of conference reports ready for next 
week, including H.R. 2400, The Building Efficient Surface 
Transportation and Equity Act conference report; and H.R. 2646, The 
Education Savings Act for public and private schools conference report.
  Mr. Speaker, we hope to conclude legislative business for the week on 
Friday, May 22. The House will be in recess for the Memorial Day 
district work period until Tuesday, June 2.
  The House will reconvene on Wednesday, June 3, at 10:30 a.m. However, 
votes will be postponed until after 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 3, the 
resumption of our work after the recess.
  I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time.
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, can the distinguished 
majority leader assure the House that we will vote on the final passage 
of campaign finance reform before the recess, as promised?
  Mr. ARMEY. If the gentleman will continue to yield, I want to, of 
course, thank the gentleman for his inquiry.
  Next week is, of course, a week where we have a great deal of work 
that is pending before the Nation and very important work. There is no 
doubt we will get to campaign finance reform. And this is, of course, a 
very big, broad-based debate, focused on honest and fair elections; and 
we intend to have that full debate and there will be full 
consideration.
  So I have no way of assuring the gentleman of our ability to complete 
that work, given the fact that we have just, I think, until the end of 
today to file substitutes. So my anticipation is there will be a large 
number of voices that will want to be heard.
  Mr. BAESLER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BONIOR. I yield to the gentleman from Kentucky.
  Mr. BAESLER. Mr. Speaker, if I could ask a question of the 
distinguished majority leader.
  Since we are the blue dog with the sponsor of the discharge petition, 
we are concerned, very clearly, that the whole matter be discussed next 
week. And I just heard the comments of the gentleman to the gentleman 
from Michigan (Mr. Bonior).
  So does the majority leader think that we are going to be able 
discuss the substance or just the rule next week?
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BONIOR. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. ARMEY. If the gentleman is still talking about the consideration 
of honest and fair elections, certainly, I have no doubt, we will get 
beyond the rule and into the bill.
  I simply cannot give my colleague any assurance about how far we will 
get relative to the amount of work to be done. But certainly the 
gentleman is correct; we will be discussing the legislation itself.
  Mr. BONIOR. Can I ask my friend from Texas how much time does he 
anticipate that he may be setting aside for the campaign finance reform 
bill, the honest election bill that he referred to?
  Mr. ARMEY. If the gentleman would further yield, I appreciate his 
interest. But we have sought full participation by everyone who has 
been working on this subject to give them an opportunity to present 
their recommendations and consider that. We will know more, of course, 
after the filing of all the substitutes before the committee. But we 
intend to give it as much time as it will take.
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend, the gentleman from 
Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter).
  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague the distinguished 
minority whip for yielding. I wonder if I might ask a question, under 
his reservation, of the majority leader.
  As the majority leader I think knows, there are bipartisan interests 
in activities of official business on Friday of next week, and I am 
wondering is it possible for the majority leader to give us a 2 o'clock 
or a 3 o'clock certain adjournment time, or, at least, would he be 
willing to entertain a request from this gentleman that we adjourn as 
early as possible on Friday?
  Mr. ARMEY. I thank the gentleman. I do understand the importance of 
the work that my colleague is discussing here. And it is a Friday 
before a district work period.
  We will undoubtedly find ourselves having to stay late on Wednesday 
night, perhaps Thursday night. And it is our intention to be able to 
conclude by 2 o'clock so that people can begin their district work 
period in a manner that would be consistent with the plans they have 
made.
  Mr. BEREUTER. If the gentleman would continue to yield, I just wanted 
to thank the majority leader for that indication. I think it would be 
helpful in our planning and it is of bipartisan importance.
  Mr. BONIOR. Finally, Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend, the gentleman 
from Texas (Mr. Stenholm) for an inquiry.
  Mr. STENHOLM. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  I would like to inquire of the majority leader if the leadership has 
ascertained as yet the nature of the rule under which we will consider 
campaign finance reform?
  As my colleague is I am sure aware, the discharge petition that many 
of us felt would have given a very free and open debate of the issue 
includes some mode of operation that we feel is very, very important to 
the consideration of these competing ideas. The so-called freshman bill 
and the Shays-Meehan bill, we believe very strongly, should be 
considered in what we call the Queen of the Hill, in which the one that 
gets the most votes becomes the base bill; and then the open rule that 
I believe everyone has promised for amendment would then occur 
thereafter.
  Could my colleague shed some light as to whether or not the 
leadership might be sympathetic to basically having the rule that was 
about to be discharged be the rule under which we will conduct the free 
and open debate?
  Mr. ARMEY. As I said before, the substitutes are still being filed. 
But I believe the kind of rule the gentleman from Texas outlined, and 
again, I do not of course have the authority to speak on behalf of the 
Committee on Rules, but I would anticipate that if the gentleman is 
requesting the kind of rule outlined, anticipating that, that he should 
have good expectations that he will be pleased with the rule, from the 
discussions that I have heard.
  Mr. BONIOR. I thank my colleague from Texas.

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