[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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