[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 109 (Thursday, July 29, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H6591]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    WAIVING POINTS OF ORDER AGAINST CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 2465, 
             MILITARY CONSTRUCTION APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2000

  Mrs. MYRICK. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I 
call up House Resolution 262 and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                              H. Res. 262

       Resolved, That upon adoption of this resolution it shall be 
     in order to consider the conference report to accompany the 
     bill (H.R. 2465) making appropriations for military 
     construction, family housing, and base realignment and 
     closure for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year 
     ending September 30, 2000, and for other purposes. All points 
     of order against the conference report and against its 
     consideration are waived. The conference report shall be 
     considered as read.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. 
Myrick) is recognized for 1 hour.
  Mrs. MYRICK. Mr. Speaker, for the purposes of debate only, I yield 
the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Hall), my good 
friend, pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During 
consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose 
of debate only.
  Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, the Committee on Rules met and granted a 
rule for the conference report for H.R. 2465, the Fiscal Year 2000 
Military Construction Appropriations Act. The rule waives all points of 
order against the conference report and against its consideration. The 
rule also provides that the conference report shall be considered as 
read.
  Mr. Speaker, the United States military is clearly the best in the 
world. The young men and women in the Navy, Army, Air Force, and 
Marines are thoroughly dedicated and patriotic professionals, the best 
our Nation has to offer. So how do we reward them? We pay them with 
wages that are so low that many military families are forced to eat 
with food stamps, and we lodge them in substandard, World War II 
housing. These, among other reasons, are why we are losing good men and 
women who stop serving their country because the hardships on their 
families are too great.
  This is inexcusable, and Congress has been working hard to do 
something about it. This year we passed a 4.8 percent military pay 
raise, and with this bill, we will improve military housing.
  H.R. 2465 provides $747 million for new housing construction, and 
$2.8 billion for the operation and improvement of existing housing. The 
bill also provides $964 million for barracks and medical facilities for 
troops and their families. Finally, because of an increase in two-
income and single-parent families, the bill provides $21 million for 
child development centers.
  Mr. Speaker, H. Res. 262 is a normal conference report rule for a 
good, noncontroversial bill. I urge my colleagues to support this rule 
and to support the conference report.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HALL of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume. I want to thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. 
Myrick) for yielding me the time.
  This rule waives all points of order for consideration against the 
conference report on H.R. 2465, which is the Military Construction 
Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2000. The bill basically funds 
construction projects on military bases, including barracks, housing 
for military families, laboratories, hospitals, training facilities, 
and other buildings that support our Armed Forces. The bill also funds 
activities necessary to carry out the last two rounds of base closings 
and realignments.
  This conference report represents the most basic kind of compromise 
between the House and the Senate versions of the bill. The House bill 
funded $8.5 billion in military construction, the Senate amount was 
$8.3 billion, and the conferees split the difference, arriving at a 
total of around $8.4 billion.
  I am pleased that the bill contains $43.6 million for Wright-
Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, which is partially in my 
district and partially in the 7th Congressional District of the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Hobson). Since the days of Orville Wright, the 
Dayton area has been our Nation's center of military aviation science. 
Two of the Wright-Patterson projects funded in the bill are 
laboratories that will maintain the base's world-class research 
facilities.
  Once again, I commend the chairman of the Subcommittee on Military 
Construction, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Hobson), who has done a 
great job; and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Olver), the 
ranking minority member, for his work on this bill. This is the first 
of the 13 appropriations bills to go through the House-Senate 
conference and reach this stage. It is a testament to their skill that 
they have moved so quickly to complete House action on this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the rule and of the bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mrs. MYRICK. 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.

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