[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 120 (Wednesday, September 15, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H8338-H8339]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    WAIVING POINTS OF ORDER AGAINST CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 2490, 
        TREASURY AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2000

  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I 
call up House Resolution 291 and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                              H. Res. 291

       Resolved, that upon adoption of this resolution it shall be 
     in order to consider the conference report to accompany the 
     bill (H.R. 2490) making appropriations for the Treasury 
     Department, the United States Postal Service, the Executive 
     Office of the President, and certain Independent Agencies, 
     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.

                              {time}  1445

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Sununu). The gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Sessions) is recognized for 1 hour.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, for the purposes of debate only, I yield 
the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
Moakley), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. 
During the consideration of this resolution, all time is yielded for 
the purposes of debate only.
  Mr. Speaker, the proposed rule before the House today provides for 
consideration of the Conference Report to accompany H.R. 2490, the 
Treasury, Postal Service and General Government Appropriations bill for 
fiscal year 2000. The proposed rule waives all points of order against 
the conference report and against its consideration. The rule also 
provides that the conference report will be considered as read.
  Mr. Speaker, the underlying legislation, which makes the 
appropriations for the Treasury Department, United States Postal 
Service, the executive office of the President, and certain Independent 
Agencies, is important legislation. A large portion of the activities 
funded under this bill are devoted to the salaries and expenses of 
approximately 163,000 employees who are responsible for administering 
programs such as drug interdiction, collection of revenues, 
presidential protection, violent crime reduction, and Federal financial 
management. Through a judicious bipartisan process of hearings and 
testimony, the Committee on Appropriations arrived at the funding 
levels contained within this legislation. The funding levels are 
consistent with this Congress's policy of fiscal discipline, yet 
provide sufficient funding for agencies within the bill's jurisdiction 
to carry out those important statutory responsibilities.
  Americans who have experienced frustration with the Internal Revenue 
Service will be pleased to know that this legislation also appropriates 
funds necessary to carry out the IRS reforms that were passed by the 
last Congress and stand to benefit taxpayers all across America.
  This legislation was crafted in a bipartisan manner. The gentleman 
from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe), chairman of the Committee on Appropriations 
Subcommittee on the Treasury, Postal Service and General Government, 
along with the ranking member, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) 
deserve accolades for not only their hard work, but also for working 
together. This rule and conference report deserve bipartisan support 
today.
  It is understandable that some Members may not feel this is the 
perfect appropriations legislation, but this legislation does represent 
a consensus, bipartisan agreement. Members should be reminded that the 
legislation maintains the fiscal restraints mandated in the Balanced 
Budget Act of 1997.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this rule and the 
underlying legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. 
I thank the gentleman for yielding me the customary half-hour.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleagues, the gentleman from 
Arizona (Mr. Kolbe), the chairman of the subcommittee, and the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) for their hard work in bringing 
this bill to the floor. It has certainly had its ups and downs, and I 
am very happy to lend my full support to the bill that is before us 
today. The conferees that brought the Treasury-Postal appropriations 
bill back from the grave, and they are to be congratulated.
  Once upon a time, Mr. Speaker, this bill contained some cuts that 
would have made it very hard for some of our major agencies to 
function. It was so bad, Mr. Speaker, that it passed the House by only 
one vote. But today, those cuts have been reversed. Today, this bill 
funds the Treasury Department at $12 billion; it includes funding for 
the new law enforcement agencies; it funds the office of national drug 
control policy to the tune of $460 million. Mr. Speaker, this bill also 
allows government agencies to use appropriated money to provide child 
care for lower-income Federal employees, which will help them make sure 
their children are well taken care of when they work.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, this bill makes sure that the Federal employees 
receive a 4.8 percent COLA, equal to that of the military. Mr. Speaker, 
these people work hard for a living, and at the very least their 
salaries should keep up with inflation.
  Mr. Speaker, once again, I thank the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. 
Kolbe) and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) for their hard work, 
and I urge my colleagues to support the rule and the bill.

[[Page H8339]]

  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  What we see is that it is another example of bipartisan support of 
people who are working together in Washington, D.C., the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Moakley), the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe), 
the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), myself, we are trying to work 
together on these important issues that are important not only to 
people, but people who anticipate and expect that Republicans and 
Democrats alike are able to craft our business in a way that we can be 
successful.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Andrews).
  (Mr. ANDREWS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. ANDREWS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of both the rule and the 
bill because I appreciate the work that Chairman Kolbe and ranking 
member Hoyer have done. I do want to note for the record my objections 
to one very unfortunate decision the conference made with respect to 
the issue of children's sleepwear.
  In 1972, the Consumer Product Safety Commission adopted a rule which 
required clear understandable labeling for children's sleepwear, so 
before you put your infant to bed, you would have to know if the 
sleepwear was flame retardant or not. That is a standard that was 
lauded by emergency room physicians, nurses, arson investigators, 
firefighters around our country for a long time. It worked.
  In 1996, for inexplicable reasons, that standard was loosened and 
weakened by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Working with the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon) and the gentlewoman from 
Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), I was able to have included in the House 
version of this bill an amendment which effectively banned the import 
of children's sleepwear that did not have that safe labeling provision.
  I appreciate the efforts of the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe) 
and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) to cooperate with us in 
that respect and their efforts in conference. I regret the fact that 
the result of the conference was not satisfactory on that.
  I will support this bill, nevertheless, because of its basic merits, 
but I would call upon the Speaker and others in leadership in this 
House to permit us to bring to the floor a freestanding bill that lets 
us have a fair debate as to whether or not this important children's 
sleepwear standard should, once again, become the law.
  That is the proper forum for this. Just as strongly as I would urge 
passage of this bill, I would urge a fair procedure so that America's 
firefighters and arson investigators and nurses and emergency room 
physicians can be heard, and so that America's children can once again 
be protected.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume 
to once again thank the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe) not only for 
his judiciousness in the handling of this important matter, but also 
for making himself available if we needed him.
  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 SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the resolution.
  The resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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