[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 152 (Monday, December 11, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H12067-H12068]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.J. RES. 129, FURTHER CONTINUING 
                    APPROPRIATIONS, FISCAL YEAR 2001

  Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I 
call up House Resolution 670 and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                              H. Res. 670

       Resolved, That upon the adoption of this resolution it 
     shall be in order without intervention of any point of order 
     to consider in the House the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 129) 
     making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year 
     2001, and for other purposes. The joint resolution shall be 
     considered as read for amendment. The previous question shall 
     be considered as ordered on the joint resolution to final 
     passage without intervening motion except: (1) one hour of 
     debate equally divided and controlled by the chairman and 
     ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations; 
     and (2) one motion to recommit.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Linder) is 
recognized for 1 hour.
  Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose 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 
consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose 
of debate only.
  Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 670 is a closed rule providing for 
consideration of House Joint Resolution 129, which makes further 
continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2001 through December 15.
  H. Res. 670 provides for 1 hour of debate on the joint resolution 
equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority 
member of the Committee on Appropriations. The rule waives all points 
of order against consideration of this joint resolution.
  Finally, the rule provides one motion to recommit, as is the right of 
the minority.
  Mr. Speaker, because the President refuses to sign continuing 
resolutions of any longer duration, the joint resolution covered by 
this rule simply extends the provisions of our current continuation 
resolution by 4 days.
  Mr. Speaker, after months of hard work, the House has just a few 
issues left to resolve. Like my Republican colleagues, I am determined 
to pass fair and fiscally responsible appropriations bills, and I will 
stay here as long as it takes to achieve this goal for the American 
people.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope the President will join us in our good-faith 
efforts to negotiate a fair, bipartisan solution to the disagreements 
still before us. I am hopeful that the fair, clean continuing 
resolution covered by this rule will give us the time we need to 
complete the appropriations process in a thoughtful and judicious 
manner.
  The rule was unanimously approved by the Committee on Rules, and I 
urge

[[Page H12068]]

my colleagues to support it so that we may proceed with general debate 
and consideration of this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague and my friend the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Linder) for yielding me the customary time.
  Mr. Speaker, the resolution before us is the 20th continuing 
resolution this year. That means that 20 times we have had to pass 
stop-gap spending measures, these measures to keep the Federal 
Government running, despite my Republican colleagues' inability to 
finish the appropriations bills on time.
  Mr. Speaker, it is about time my Republican colleagues finished.
  The fiscal year began October 1, which means that Congress was to 
have finished the 13 appropriations bills and have them signed into law 
by that day some 2\1/2\ months ago.
  Instead, Mr. Speaker, my Republican colleagues continue to make 
virtually no progress on the unfinished appropriations bills and, 
instead, pass continuing resolution after continuing resolution.
  But it really does not have to be that way, Mr. Speaker. Republican 
and Democratic appropriators and the President have reached bipartisan 
agreement. That agreement could have made record increases in 
educational funding, would have helped local school districts hire 
12,000 more teachers to reduce class size, it would have provided money 
to repair thousands of schools that are falling apart, it would have 
also expanded after-school programs for nearly one million children, 
and it would have improved Pell Grants and Head Start.
  But the Republican leadership does not want us to continue that 
agreement at this time. Instead, they want to go back to the drawing 
board.
  But, Mr. Speaker. I have to say that patience is growing short. If 
this 4-day continuing resolution does not settle the issues once and 
for all, I suspect that Members will be less likely to agree to another 
continuing resolution.
  So I wish my Republican and Democratic colleagues good luck in the 
negotiations.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LINDER. 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.

                          ____________________