[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 113 (Thursday, September 21, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H7965-H7966]
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. Madam Speaker, I rise to inquire of the distinguished 
majority leader the schedule for the rest of the day, week and any 
other information he might want to share with us.
  Mr. ARMEY. Madam Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BONIOR. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. ARMEY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's inquiry, and I know there 
is a great deal of interest on the part of the Members. We have just 
concluded our final vote for the day, but as we speak, the Interior 
appropriators are feverishly working to complete their work on the 
Interior appropriations bill. I am sure the body will join me in 
expressing appreciation and encouragement to the appropriators to 
complete that task in such a manner that will enable us to complete our 
consideration of that conference report tomorrow.
  So that as it stands today, we are waiting upon the Interior 
appropriators to complete their work and we would expect to vote that 
bill tomorrow in time to make our regularly scheduled departure time of 
2 p.m. tomorrow afternoon. I would ask the Members, of course, to be 
patient and to again express their appreciation for and encouragement 
to the appropriators as they struggle to complete this very important 
work and to stay in town and available for a vote on that bill which 
would be scheduled in the morning.
  Mr. OBEY. Madam Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BONIOR. I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin for an inquiry or 
a comment.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, let me simply ask of the distinguished 
majority leader. Obviously all of us want to get rid of as many 
appropriation bills as we can. We are going to have enough real

[[Page H7966]]

arguments on the bills where we have real differences that we ought not 
have arguments on bills where we may not have any real differences. But 
I would just like to caution, or raise one point of caution. We are 
going to go into conference again on the Interior bill about 2:30. We 
were in conference on it this morning until it was interrupted for a 
rollcall vote on the House floor and a leadership meeting, as I 
understand it. If we go back in, if everything goes well and everything 
is kissy-face and nobody has any problems with it, we might be able to 
finish by 5 o'clock or so, very optimistically speaking. But at that 
point it is my understanding that there is an expectation that there 
would then be a follow-up meeting with the White House to try to 
discuss the known objections that the White House has to the conference 
as it is being formed right now.
  Right now there are at least eight items which are still considered 
vetoable. One is the land legacy item where we have not only a $500 
million difference but substantial differences not between the parties 
but between the Congress as an institution and the Presidency as an 
institution on how that package is to be handled.
  We have considerable shortfalls in the Native American health area, 
which the White House is insisting be restored. We have a problem with 
energy conservation funds. We still have a large argument on the arts. 
We have had three additional riders that were added in the conference 
last night, the White River Forest in Colorado, the White Mountain 
rider in New Hampshire, and now the conferees are possibly going to 
also include a hard rock mining amendment.
  If that is the case, then we will have matters of major controversy 
between the Congress and the White House that still have to be 
resolved. Assuming that could be done today, which is a huge 
assumption, and my evaluation is that there is not much chance that is 
going to occur in that short a period, but assuming that could happen 
sometime today, it will take at least 7 or 8 hours after drafting those 
changes to get that bill in a position where the committee will then 
have to do its read-out where we walk through every paragraph to make 
certain that the bill does what the conferees agree.
  That means they will have to work all night. The earliest that they 
could possibly file would be about 5 or 6 in the morning. The earliest 
the Committee on Rules could meet would be tomorrow morning. Normal 
order would require a 1-day layover. And, in my view, it is highly 
unlikely that we are going to get there that fast. I do think if we can 
work out the differences, the bill could be ready for a vote on Monday. 
But I have very strong doubts that there is a prayer it will be ready 
tomorrow. And while we will be here on the Committee on Appropriations 
and I know the leadership will be here, I would simply ask the 
gentleman what is the utility of inconveniencing other Members who 
could go home or do whatever else they need to do rather than holding 
out a smidgen of a hope that this bill could be moved up one day? In my 
view given the large number of controversial items hanging out there, 
that is not likely to happen.
  I assure the gentleman I am raising this simply to try to help meet 
the convenience of Members who have a right to have a realistic 
assessment of what is likely to happen on this bill.

                              {time}  1330

  Mr. ARMEY. Madam Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BONIOR. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. ARMEY. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Michigan 
(Mr. Bonior) for yielding to me.
  I want to personally thank the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) 
for outlining before the body the enormity of the task and the enormous 
amount of work that there is. And, in fact, I appreciate the 
Subcommittee on Interior's efforts to accomplish this work.
  I think the gentleman has spoken eloquently and completely about how 
much good work they are doing and how important it is, and we can do 
nothing other than to elevate the appreciation.
  I know the Members of this body will show to the members of the 
Subcommittee on Interior their appreciation and, in fact, to even 
sharpen their degree of willingness to encourage them in completing 
this work. But the fact remains that every Member here in this body was 
notified in January that on this week the House would be in session and 
would be available to consider these very important bills until 2 
o'clock on Friday; and within the constraints then of that, due and 
full notification to all of us was given to plan our year, and, indeed, 
this week within this year.
  I believe the only fair way for us to show our appreciation for the 
appropriators is to wait upon their work, encourage them in every way, 
and to be available to then take our next step in the completion of the 
House's consideration of that bill after what the gentleman has clearly 
outlined will be for today and this evening and tomorrow morning a 
heroic effort on their part and one we certainly will want to stand and 
applaud them for when we have the bill on the floor.
  Mr. OBEY. If the gentleman would continue to yield.
  Mr. BONIOR. I yield further to the gentleman.
  Mr. OBEY. Madam Speaker, I certainly would like to say it is no skin 
off my nose if other Members are kept here, because I am going to have 
to be here anyway. But I really do believe that Members need to 
understand that the percentage chance we have of actually having an 
agreed bill that is not going to be vetoed, ready for the House to vote 
on by tomorrow is about 3 percent.
  I would note, for instance, that the National Journal indicated that 
last week when the House took up the NASA authorization act, it 
actually voted on and passed the wrong bill. It had the wrong text when 
we voted on it last week, and that is why we have to go through these 
readouts and we will be here.
  We will have to go through those readouts, but I do not think it 
helps individual Members for them to have to be stuck in their offices 
when they could be doing something more useful while we are running 
through those readouts to make certain that that does not happen again, 
when, in fact, the bill could easy be ready for Monday consideration if 
we reach agreement on it and we would not have messed up any other 
Members' schedules.
  Mr. ARMEY. If the gentleman would continue to yield.
  Mr. BONIOR. I yield further to the gentleman.
  Mr. ARMEY. Madam Speaker, I want to again affirm before the body that 
the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) has very good points in support 
of our commitment as a body to do the Nation's work, complete the 
Nation's work, and get it done as soon as is possible. I have no doubt 
that the gentleman from Wisconsin will be instrumental in that task, 
because he works in the committee to see that the work is done 
completely and accurately; and we appreciate the gentleman from 
Wisconsin for his effort.
  Madam Speaker, the House will stand now in anticipation of the 
committee completing their work. We will continue to stay in touch with 
the committee as their work proceeds, and should there at any time 
between now and tomorrow be any information that would change the 
circumstances, I would be happy to come to the floor and announce it to 
the body. But for now, I want to thank all the Members for their 
cooperation, their understanding, their patience and their commitment 
to the Nation's work and look forward to just being on the floor and 
voting that bill in the morning.

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