[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 162 (Tuesday, November 16, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H12059-H12060]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF MOTIONS TO SUSPEND THE RULES

  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I 
call up House Resolution 374 and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                              H. Res. 374

       Resolved, That it shall be in order at any time on or 
     before the legislative day of Wednesday, November 17, 1999, 
     for the Speaker to entertain motions to suspend the rules, 
     provided that the object of any such motion is announced from 
     the floor at least one hour before the motion is offered. In 
     scheduling the consideration of legislation under this 
     authority, the Speaker or his designee shall consult with the 
     Minority Leader or his designee.
       Sec. 2. Provides that House Resolution 342 is laid on the 
     table.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) 
is recognized for 1 hour.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the 
customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from South Boston, Massachusetts 
(Mr. Moakley); 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. DREIER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks, and include extraneous material.)
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 374 provides for 
consideration of motions to suspend the rules at any time up to and 
including the legislative day of Wednesday, November 17. It requires 
the Speaker to consult with the minority leader on the designation of 
any matter for consideration under suspension of the rules. Finally, it 
provides that the subject of any motion to suspend the rules be 
announced from the floor at least 1 hour prior to its consideration.
  Under clause 1 of rule XV of the rules of the House, the Speaker may 
only entertain motions to suspend the rules on Mondays, Tuesdays, and 
the last 6 days of a session. Since the House has not yet passed an 
adjournment resolution, the last 6 days of this session, we hope we are 
in the midst of them, it has not yet been determined. Therefore, Mr. 
Speaker, it is necessary for us to pass this resolution in order to 
allow the House to consider suspensions tomorrow.
  Mr. Speaker, we have nearly completed our business for the first 
session of the 106th Congress. To tie up the remaining loose ends and 
prepare to return to our districts, it is imperative to allow ourselves 
the utmost flexibility in scheduling and considering the few 
noncontroversial, yet very important, items of business that remain 
before us.
  The resolution is just an extension of the resolution that we passed 
here in the House on November 3. It is simple, straightforward, and I 
urge its adoption.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, 
and I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier), my dear friend, 
for yielding me the customary half hour.
  Mr. Speaker, here we are again considering a rule making every day a 
suspension day. Under this rule, the Republican leadership can bypass 
all the House rules and schedule bills at last minute with only 1 
hour's notice.
  Two weeks ago when we did the identical rule, I asked my Republican 
colleagues on the Committee on Rules to give us a 2-hour notice, and 
they so graciously agreed. Last week, something changed.
  Last week, I asked my Republican colleagues for 2 hours' notice; 
instead,

[[Page H12060]]

they gave me 1 hour's notice. I thought I was going to get that same 
gracious accommodation that I got last week, but something changed. 
This week, we get nothing.
  The problems with the bills coming up too quickly are really not only 
limited to the minority. Even the majority Members get only 1 hour's 
notice on bills that they are presumed to support. Some people actually 
want to read the bills before they vote on them.
  These suspension rules are part of a pattern of bypassing the 
committee process that my Republican colleagues have turned into a 
state-of-art form. I just cannot support this rule that will make it 
even easier for my colleagues on the Republican side to bypass 
committees and rush bills to the floor with only 1 hour's notice.
  So I urge my colleagues to oppose this rule.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to 
say that I suspect that the gentleman's statement was written last week 
when we thought we might be considering this. We are not asking for 
every day to be a suspension day, only one day, tomorrow. This expires 
tomorrow.
  I will say, from having been in contact with the gentleman from Texas 
(Mr. Armey), the majority leader, I know that they want to contact the 
Members, as I said, at least an hour before and maybe even many hours 
before suspensions come to the floor.
  I guess I should also say that, if we continue to hear a real 
complaint about this, maybe we will not ever be able to make those 
kinds of modifications to the rules in the future. But we will always 
take into consideration the very thoughtful arguments that are 
propounded by the gentleman from South Boston, Massachusetts (Mr. 
Moakley).
  So I urge my colleagues to support this rule.
  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 question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the ayes appeared to have it.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a 
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not 
present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Evidently a quorum is not present.
  The Sergeant at Arms will notify absent Members.
  The Chair also announces that there will be a series of 5-minute 
votes immediately following this vote on H. Res. 374.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 214, 
nays 202, not voting 17, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 590]

                               YEAS--214

     Aderholt
     Archer
     Armey
     Bachus
     Baker
     Ballenger
     Barr
     Barrett (NE)
     Bartlett
     Barton
     Bass
     Bateman
     Bereuter
     Biggert
     Bilbray
     Bilirakis
     Bliley
     Blunt
     Boehlert
     Boehner
     Bonilla
     Bono
     Brady (TX)
     Bryant
     Burr
     Burton
     Buyer
     Callahan
     Calvert
     Camp
     Campbell
     Canady
     Cannon
     Castle
     Chabot
     Chambliss
     Chenoweth-Hage
     Coble
     Collins
     Combest
     Cook
     Cooksey
     Cox
     Crane
     Cubin
     Cunningham
     Davis (VA)
     Deal
     DeLay
     DeMint
     Diaz-Balart
     Dickey
     Doolittle
     Dreier
     Duncan
     Ehlers
     Ehrlich
     Emerson
     English
     Everett
     Fletcher
     Foley
     Fowler
     Franks (NJ)
     Frelinghuysen
     Gallegly
     Ganske
     Gekas
     Gibbons
     Gilchrest
     Gillmor
     Gilman
     Goodlatte
     Goodling
     Goss
     Graham
     Granger
     Green (WI)
     Greenwood
     Gutknecht
     Hansen
     Hastings (WA)
     Hayes
     Hayworth
     Hefley
     Herger
     Hilleary
     Hobson
     Hoekstra
     Horn
     Hostettler
     Houghton
     Hulshof
     Hunter
     Hutchinson
     Hyde
     Isakson
     Jenkins
     Johnson (CT)
     Jones (NC)
     Kasich
     Kelly
     King (NY)
     Kingston
     Knollenberg
     Kolbe
     Kuykendall
     LaHood
     Largent
     Latham
     LaTourette
     Lazio
     Leach
     Lewis (CA)
     Lewis (KY)
     Linder
     LoBiondo
     Lucas (OK)
     Manzullo
     McCollum
     McCrery
     McHugh
     McInnis
     McIntosh
     McKeon
     Metcalf
     Mica
     Miller (FL)
     Miller, Gary
     Moran (KS)
     Morella
     Myrick
     Nethercutt
     Ney
     Northup
     Norwood
     Nussle
     Ose
     Oxley
     Packard
     Paul
     Pease
     Peterson (PA)
     Petri
     Pickering
     Pitts
     Pombo
     Porter
     Portman
     Pryce (OH)
     Radanovich
     Ramstad
     Regula
     Reynolds
     Riley
     Rogan
     Rogers
     Rohrabacher
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Roukema
     Royce
     Ryan (WI)
     Ryun (KS)
     Salmon
     Sanford
     Saxton
     Scarborough
     Schaffer
     Sensenbrenner
     Sessions
     Shadegg
     Shaw
     Shays
     Sherman
     Sherwood
     Shimkus
     Shuster
     Simpson
     Skeen
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Souder
     Spence
     Stearns
     Stump
     Sununu
     Sweeney
     Talent
     Tancredo
     Tauzin
     Taylor (NC)
     Terry
     Thomas
     Thornberry
     Thune
     Tiahrt
     Toomey
     Traficant
     Upton
     Vitter
     Walden
     Walsh
     Wamp
     Watts (OK)
     Weldon (FL)
     Weldon (PA)
     Weller
     Whitfield
     Wicker
     Wilson
     Wolf
     Woolsey
     Young (AK)
     Young (FL)

                               NAYS--202

     Abercrombie
     Allen
     Andrews
     Baird
     Baldacci
     Baldwin
     Barcia
     Barrett (WI)
     Becerra
     Bentsen
     Berkley
     Berry
     Bishop
     Blagojevich
     Blumenauer
     Bonior
     Borski
     Boswell
     Boucher
     Boyd
     Brady (PA)
     Brown (FL)
     Brown (OH)
     Capps
     Capuano
     Cardin
     Carson
     Clay
     Clayton
     Clement
     Clyburn
     Coburn
     Condit
     Conyers
     Costello
     Coyne
     Cramer
     Crowley
     Cummings
     Danner
     Davis (FL)
     Davis (IL)
     DeFazio
     DeGette
     Delahunt
     DeLauro
     Deutsch
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Dixon
     Doggett
     Dooley
     Doyle
     Edwards
     Engel
     Eshoo
     Etheridge
     Evans
     Farr
     Fattah
     Filner
     Forbes
     Ford
     Frank (MA)
     Frost
     Gejdenson
     Gonzalez
     Goode
     Gordon
     Green (TX)
     Gutierrez
     Hall (OH)
     Hall (TX)
     Hastings (FL)
     Hill (IN)
     Hilliard
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Hoeffel
     Holden
     Holt
     Hooley
     Hoyer
     Inslee
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Jefferson
     John
     Johnson, E. B.
     Johnson, Sam
     Jones (OH)
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Kennedy
     Kildee
     Kilpatrick
     Kind (WI)
     Kleczka
     Klink
     Kucinich
     LaFalce
     Lampson
     Lantos
     Larson
     Lee
     Levin
     Lewis (GA)
     Lipinski
     Lofgren
     Lowey
     Lucas (KY)
     Luther
     Maloney (CT)
     Maloney (NY)
     Markey
     Martinez
     Mascara
     Matsui
     McCarthy (MO)
     McCarthy (NY)
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McKinney
     McNulty
     Meek (FL)
     Meeks (NY)
     Menendez
     Millender-McDonald
     Miller, George
     Minge
     Mink
     Moakley
     Mollohan
     Moore
     Moran (VA)
     Murtha
     Nadler
     Napolitano
     Neal
     Oberstar
     Obey
     Olver
     Owens
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Pastor
     Pelosi
     Peterson (MN)
     Phelps
     Pickett
     Pomeroy
     Price (NC)
     Rahall
     Rangel
     Reyes
     Rivers
     Rodriguez
     Roemer
     Rothman
     Roybal-Allard
     Rush
     Sabo
     Sanchez
     Sanders
     Sandlin
     Sawyer
     Schakowsky
     Scott
     Serrano
     Shows
     Sisisky
     Skelton
     Slaughter
     Smith (WA)
     Snyder
     Spratt
     Stabenow
     Stark
     Stenholm
     Strickland
     Stupak
     Tanner
     Tauscher
     Taylor (MS)
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Thurman
     Tierney
     Towns
     Turner
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Velazquez
     Vento
     Visclosky
     Waters
     Watt (NC)
     Weiner
     Wexler
     Weygand
     Wu
     Wynn

                             NOT VOTING--17

     Ackerman
     Berman
     Dunn
     Ewing
     Fossella
     Gephardt
     Hill (MT)
     Istook
     McIntyre
     Meehan
     Ortiz
     Payne
     Quinn
     Smith (MI)
     Watkins
     Waxman
     Wise

                              {time}  1829

  Messrs. BERRY, ENGEL, RODRIGUEZ and LEVIN changed their vote from 
``yea'' to ``nay.''
  Messrs. BUYER, NUSSLE and GRAHAM changed their vote from ``nay'' to 
``yea.''
  So the resolution was agreed to.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________