[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 105 (Thursday, July 22, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H6295-H6296]
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 rise for the purposes of inquiring as to 
what the schedule may be for the remainder of this week and next week.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York for the purpose 
of answering the inquiry.
  Mr. LAZIO of New York. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished 
Democratic whip for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce that the legislative business 
for this week has been completed.
  The House will meet on Monday, July 26 at 12:30 p.m. for morning 
hour, and 2 o'clock p.m. for legislative business. We will consider a 
number of bills under suspension of the rules, a list of which will be 
distributed to all Members' offices tomorrow. After suspensions, we 
will begin consideration of H.R. 1074, the Regulatory Right to Know 
Act. Members should be aware that there will be recorded votes after 6 
o'clock p.m. on Monday, July 26.
  On Tuesday and the balance of next week, the House will take up the 
following measures: H.J. Resolution 57, a joint resolution disapproving 
China NTR; the Energy and Water Appropriations Act, the District of 
Columbia Appropriations Act, and the Foreign Operations Appropriations 
Act.

                              {time}  1730

  Mr. Speaker, I would also like to remind the House of the memorial 
arrangements that have been made to honor the life of our great 
colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. Brown).
  On Wednesday July 28 at 12:30 p.m. there will be a memorial service 
in California. We, therefore, will not schedule any votes on Wednesday 
in order to allow Members to attend that ceremony.
  On Friday, July 30, at 11:00 a.m., there will be a service in 
Statutory Hall open to all Members as well.
  I wish all Members safe travels back to their district, and thank the 
gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, I have a couple of inquiries of the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio). First, I would like to ask the 
gentleman what time on Tuesday will the China MFN be considered?
  Mr. LAZIO. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BONIOR. I yield to the gentleman from New York.
  Mr. LAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  My expectation is that it will be earlier in the day rather than 
later, although, of course, there is no certainty. I would expect that 
it would be earlier on Tuesday.
  Mr. BONIOR. I thank my colleague on that.
  Then let me also ask the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio), we 
assume that no votes will occur or any debate would occur on Wednesday, 
in honor of our late colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Brown), because of the services. Am I correct on that?
  Mr. LAZIO. Yes. If the gentleman would yield again, I expect that all 
recorded or requested votes will be rolled or postponed. We do not 
expect any votes, but we do expect legislative business on that day, 
including debate and possible other committee consideration, but there 
will be no votes, recorded votes, that will be held on that day.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BONIOR. I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin.
  Mr. OBEY. Let me simply strenuously object to that proposition. The 
fact is that the gentleman from California (Mr. Brown) was a 
distinguished Member of this House. He had a good many friends, and a 
lot of those friends were on the Committee on Appropriations. I do not 
believe it is right, when one of the most senior Members of the House 
and one of the most distinguished members of the House has a memorial 
service and a number of us would be denied the opportunity to attend 
that memorial service because they want our committees to stay here 
debating appropriation bills that day. It just seems to me that there 
ought to be another way that a civilized institution could honor one of 
its own without preventing some of his oldest friends from attending 
that memorial service.
  I would say that if we cannot find that kind of accommodation that 
there

[[Page H6296]]

are a lot of things that could be slowed down next week.
  Mr. LAZIO. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BONIOR. I yield to the gentleman from New York.
  Mr. LAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to try and respond to that, 
if the gentleman would like a response.
  Mr. BONIOR. I would be very happy to yield and would tend to agree 
with my friend, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), on his point.
  Mr. LAZIO. I thank the gentleman. I thank both gentlemen. It is 
certainly true that our colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Brown), deserves all the honor that he will be given on Wednesday. I 
can say that this House is trying to accommodate Members by ensuring 
that there will be no recorded votes on Wednesday, and we will be in 
discussions with the Committee on Appropriations to see the best we can 
do to ensure that Members are not put in a position where they need to 
choose; but as both gentlemen know, we are trying to get our 
appropriations work done.
  We are trying to work around Wednesday. We have scheduled no votes on 
that day. We are trying to ensure that Members can get out and make 
that flight in the morning so they can attend the service. That will be 
accommodated. There will be no votes, and we will take up the other 
remaining appropriations bills, working around that Wednesday; and we 
will do the very best we possibly can in terms of committee 
considerations. I do not know that I can say more than that.
  Mr. BONIOR. I would just remind my friend that the tradition of the 
House is to accommodate the Members when a Member of this body has 
passed away and services are held. That has been the long tradition in 
this House.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BONIOR. I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin.
  Mr. OBEY. Let me simply point out there are a number of Members in 
the California delegation who would need to be involved in the debate 
that would go on if they were here. It is unfair to them to expect that 
they ought to be here while they would like to be in California at the 
last opportunity to bid adieu to one of their colleagues.
  So it just seems to me that this House has adjourned fully for 
hundreds of Members in its history, and it ought to do the same for the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Brown).
  Mr. BONIOR. We would ask, again, that the majority revisit this issue 
and talk about it.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BONIOR. I yield to the gentleman from California.
  Mr. DREIER. I would simply like to say that I have the privilege of 
representing the district that adjoins the gentleman from California 
(Mr. Brown) in California, and he was a very dear friend to me. I am 
looking forward to the memorial service that we are going to have here 
in Statutory Hall and we are going to be participating in special 
orders for the gentleman from California (Mr. Brown) at some point, I 
think that is sometime next week, but I think that as my friend, the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio) has said, that it is very important 
for us to proceed with our work here.
  We appreciate the input that has come from a number of Members.
  Mr. STENHOLM. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BONIOR. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. STENHOLM. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. 
Bonior) for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to pose an additional question. I did not 
hear any mention of H.R. 402, a bill sponsored by the gentleman from 
Missouri (Mr. Blunt) and 228 other cosponsors, a dairy bill, that has 
overwhelmingly passed the House Committee on Agriculture. I did not 
hear whether or not it might be scheduled next week.
  Mr. LAZIO. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BONIOR. I yield to the gentleman from New York.
  Mr. LAZIO. I am just informed that the bill which the gentleman 
references is under consideration by the House leadership. It is not 
expected to be scheduled for next week; but it is under consideration, 
and I will try to ensure that the gentleman receives some update during 
the course of next week.
  Mr. STENHOLM. Might it possibly be scheduled the following week then? 
I am hearing that it might be postponed until September, and there is a 
little anxiety among the dairy community if that would be the fact. We 
would hope that it would and could be scheduled prior to our August 
break.
  Mr. LAZIO. Well, I would say to the gentleman that I am happy to try 
and give the gentleman an update sometime next week and we will do the 
very best we can. I know that the bill is under consideration by 
leadership now.
  Mr. STENHOLM. I thank the gentleman for that.
  Mr. LAZIO. The gentleman is welcome.
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, just to conclude, I thank my friend, the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio) and my friend, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Dreier), for their input and would ask once again that 
they go back and revisit this with the rest of their leadership, the 
question of Wednesday. I understand their need to move forward; and we 
appreciate that, having been in a similar situation ourselves, but with 
all due respect, especially for someone who has served with such great 
distinction in this body and who had so many friends, it will present a 
terrible conflict for Members to choose. That should not be the case. 
It has not been the tradition to have to face that choice, and I hope 
that we can revisit that decision.
  I thank the gentleman for the comments this evening.
  Mr. LAZIO. I thank the gentleman.

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