[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 63 (Friday, May 19, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H3455-H3456]
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 take this time for the purpose of 
inquiring from the majority leader the schedule for the remainder of 
the day and next week.
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BONIOR. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce that the House has 
completed its legislative business for the week.
  The House will next meet on Monday, May 22, at 12:30 p.m. for morning 
hour and 2:00 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 Members' offices later today. On Monday, no recorded 
votes are expected before 6:00 p.m.
  Mr. Speaker, it should be noted that there will be continuing work 
for a short period of time in this Chamber today on the Intelligence 
reauthorization, but no votes will be ordered.
  On Tuesday, May 23, and the balance of the week, the House will 
consider the following measures, all of which will be subject to rules:
  H.R. 4461, agriculture appropriations for fiscal year 2001;
  Legislative branch appropriations for fiscal year 2001;
  H.R. 4444, authorizing the extension of nondiscriminatory treatment 
to the People's Republic of China;
  H.R. 3916, the Telephone Excise Tax Repeal Act; and
  H.R. 1304, the Quality Health-Care Coalition Act of 1999.
  Mr. Speaker, conferees are also working very hard to wrap up their 
work on S. 761, the Millennium Digital Commerce Act, and H.R. 2559, the 
Agricultural Risk Protection Act. I am hopeful that we will be able to 
schedule both of these conference reports for consideration in the 
House next week.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I wish all my 
colleagues a good weekend back in their districts.
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for the information, 
and would ask him what days he expects the two appropriation bills, the 
agriculture bill and the legislative branch bill, to come to the floor?
  Mr. ARMEY. I thank the gentleman for his request. It is our hope and 
expectation we will do agriculture appropriations on Tuesday, and 
expect then also to follow up with the other appropriation bill as 
quickly as possible.
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, on the China debate, the Speaker has 
indicated to me that he expects that to occur on Wednesday. Is that the 
gentleman's understanding on the debate and vote on China?
  Mr. ARMEY. Again, if the gentleman will continue to yield, I think it 
is probably better to say Wednesday or Thursday. We want it as soon as 
possible, but, as the gentleman knows, on votes of this magnitude any 
number of things can come along. So it will be Wednesday or Thursday; 
hopefully Wednesday.
  Mr. BONIOR. So it is possible that it may slip until Thursday?
  Mr. ARMEY. It is possible. I do not anticipate that, but I think it 
is only prudent to say that.

[[Page H3456]]

  Mr. BONIOR. I guess it is possible it might slip altogether.
  Mr. ARMEY. If the gentleman will continue to yield, the gentleman's 
optimism is not contagious in that regard.
  Mr. BONIOR. Let me request of my colleague and the distinguished 
Committee on Rules chairman that adequate time be reserved on this 
issue for all Members to have a chance to express themselves. If it is 
indeed, as some on your side have said, one of the biggest votes, not 
only of this Congress but in a generation, then it seems to me that all 
Members on all different sides of this issue ought to have a chance to 
express themselves. So I would hope that the majority would err on the 
side of generosity with respect to time here, as opposed to trying to 
cram this into a short afternoon or a morning.
  Mr. ARMEY. I thank the gentleman for that observation. If the 
gentleman would continue to yield, let me just say we will work with 
both sides of the aisle on both sides of the issue to try to get ample 
time for all Members.
  Mr. BONIOR. I gather from the gentleman's comments that the majority 
has not decided yet on how to treat the Bereuter-Levin proposal in 
terms of whether it will be grafted on to the main issue at hand, or it 
will come out separately. Has there been a decision made on that that 
we could apprise people of?
  Mr. ARMEY. If the gentleman will continue to yield, first of all, I 
should like to take a moment to thank both the gentleman from Nebraska 
(Mr. Bereuter) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin) for their 
hard work and willingness to work with everybody concerned with this. 
We will do everything we can to find a way to make sure they can be 
assured their work will be managed throughout the entire process.
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman.

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