[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 140 (Thursday, October 8, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H10120-H10121]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 WAIVING ENROLLMENT REQUIREMENTS FOR REMAINDER OF 105TH CONGRESS WITH 
 RESPECT TO ANY BILL OR JOINT RESOLUTION MAKING GENERAL OR CONTINUING 
                  APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 1999

  Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, 
I call up House Resolution 580 and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follow:

                              H. Res. 580

       Resolved, That upon adoption of this resolution it shall be 
     in order to consider in the House the joint resolution (H.J. 
     Res. 131) waiving certain enrollment requirements for the 
     remainder of the One Hundred Fifth Congress with respect to 
     any bill or joint resolution making general or continuing 
     appropriations for fiscal year 1999. The joint resolution 
     shall be considered as read for amendment. The previous 
     question shall be considered as ordered on the joint 
     resolution to final passage without intervening motion 
     except: (1) one hour of debate on the joint resolution 
     equally divided and controlled by the Majority Leader and the 
     Minority Leader or their designees; and (2) one motion to 
     recommit.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart) 
is recognized for 1 hour.
  Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, for purposes of debate only, I yield 
the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Hall), pending 
which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration 
of this resolution, all time yielded is for purpose of debate only.
  House Resolution 580 provides for the consideration in the House of 
House Joint Resolution 131, waiving certain enrollment requirements 
with respect to any bill or joint resolution making general or 
continuing appropriations for fiscal year 1999.
  The rule provides 1 hour of debate on the joint resolution, equally 
divided and controlled by the majority leader or minority leader or 
their designees, and it provides for one motion to recommit.
  For Members who may not recall, the law, sections 106 and 107 of 
Title I of the U.S. Code, requires enrolled bills, measures that have 
passed the House and Senate in the same form and require the 
President's signature to become law, it requires that these be sent to 
the President on parchment paper.
  From what I understand, this is a very time-consuming effort, 
especially for measures as extensive as the anticipated appropriations 
measures. It is my understanding that to enroll these bills on 
parchment paper could take over a week on each one, on each piece of 
legislation, meaning the President would not be able to sign them for 
that period of time.
  This type of joint resolution has usually been considered in the 
House in previous Congresses under a unanimous consent request. 
Unfortunately, attempts to reach a unanimous consent agreement were 
unlikely due to expected objections.
  In fact, when we were in the minority, Mr. Speaker, in the 100th 
Congress, in 1987, during the consideration of the reconciliation 
legislation, Majority Leader Foley brought up an almost identical joint 
resolution waiving the parchment requirement for the enrollment of 
budget reconciliation and the full-year continuing resolution for 
fiscal year 1988.
  Congressman Bob Walker, one of our parliamentary experts on our side 
of the aisle, asked Mr. Foley to explain if all the House was doing was 
to provide for the waiving of parchment copies, to which Mr. Foley 
responded in the affirmative. There was no objection from our side of 
the aisle, and the joint resolution was considered by unanimous 
consent.
  However, because of possible anticipated objections certainly earlier 
in the week when we attempted to reach an agreement for unanimous 
consent, and because this type of joint resolution is not privileged, 
it requires a special rule to provide for its consideration.
  Once these important bills have passed the House, enrollment on 
parchment paper will be the impediment keeping them from reaching the 
President's desk in a timely manner. Therefore, I would urge my 
colleagues to support this rule and the joint resolution so that these 
bills can be signed into law as soon as possible.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HALL of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague the gentleman from Florida 
(Mr. Diaz-Balart) for yielding me the time.
  This is a closed rule. It essentially reduces the printing 
requirements for the appropriation bills that are passed during the 
remainder of the Congress. It will speed up, though, getting these 
bills to the President for signature. It is necessary to make sure that 
the flow of money to the Federal agencies is not interrupted when the 
current funding expires.
  As my colleague has described, this rule provides for 1 hour of 
debate equally divided and controlled by the majority leader and the 
minority leader or their designees.
  Mr. Speaker, this is noncontroversial. It has been done before when 
we needed to speed the printing of completed bills. It was adopted by 
voice vote in the Committee on Rules, and I urge its adoption.
  Mr. Speaker, I do not have any speakers.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, we as well have no further speakers.

[[Page H10121]]

  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 resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 580 just 
passed, I call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 131) waiving certain 
enrollment requirements for the remainder of the One Hundred Fifth 
Congress with respect to any bill or joint resolution making general or 
continuing appropriations for fiscal year 1999.
  The Clerk read the title of the joint resolution.
  The text of House Joint Resolution 131 is as follows:

                             H.J. Res. 131

       Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
     United States of America in Congress assembled, That the 
     provisions of sections 106 and 107 of title 1, United States 
     Code, are waived for the remainder of the One Hundred Fifth 
     Congress with respect to the printing (on parchment or 
     otherwise) of the enrollment of any bill or joint resolution 
     making general appropriations or continuing appropriations 
     for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1999. The enrollment 
     of any such bill or joint resolution shall be in such form as 
     the Committee on House Oversight of the House of 
     Representatives certifies to be a true enrollment.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 580, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas) and the gentleman from 
Connecticut (Mr. Gejdenson) each will control 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas).
  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, as was just discussed, Mr. Speaker, this resolution 
allows us to, notwithstanding the law requiring enrollment bills on 
parchment, to enroll any bill or joint resolution in such form as the 
Committee on House Oversight of the House of Representatives certifies 
to be a true enrollment. That is the sum and substance of the bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, we have no objections to this particular 
proposition. It is part of the housekeeping efforts to keep us going 
and trying to get things done.
  But, frankly, we are about to leave town, in my opinion, without 
getting some of the most important things we need to get done. There 
are seniors losing their HMO benefits across my State and much of the 
Nation. We are not addressing that issue. We are not addressing the 
issues of class size and the quality of education our kids get. We left 
campaign finance reform hanging around, lingering a slow death.
  Mr. Speaker, some people said this is the least effective Congress in 
the history of this Union. I am not interested in rating the Congress. 
I am interested in dealing with these issues. Our seniors deserve to 
have a Congress that is engaged, and we should not be leaving until we 
deal with a couple of these critical issues. They are life-and-death 
issues.
  Senator Dodd and I had a meeting where one gentleman had a heart 
attack. He was so anxious about his health care policy and the company 
dropping him.
  Mr. Speaker, again, we have no objection to this particular 
provision, but we do have an objection to the way this Congress has 
been run and the little it has done to deal with the needs of the 
American people.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, I will restrain myself and tell the 
gentleman I have no further speakers if he wishes to yield back the 
balance of his time.
  Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, how much time do I have remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas) 
has 28 minutes remaining.
  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, I have 28 minutes, and they have yielded 
back the balance of their time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman is correct.
  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, let me indicate that I will yield back the 
balance of my time as well.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
  The joint resolution is considered read for amendment.
  Pursuant to House Resolution 580, the previous question is ordered.
  The question is on engrossment and the third reading of the joint 
resolution.
  The joint resolution was ordered to be engrossed and read a third 
time, was read the third time, and passed, and a motion to reconsider 
was laid on the table.

                          ____________________