[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 78 (Thursday, June 7, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H2975-H2976]
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 and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, I take this time for the purpose of 
inquiring on the schedule for the remainder of the week and next week.
  I would yield to the distinguished gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Portman) 
for any information he wishes to impart to the body.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Michigan for 
yielding.
  I would announce, Mr. Speaker, that the House has completed its 
legislative business for the week. The House will next meet for 
legislative business on Tuesday, June 12, at 12:30 p.m. for morning 
hour and then at 2 o'clock for legislation business. We will be 
considering a number of measures under suspension of the rules, a list 
of which will be distributed to Members' offices tomorrow. On Tuesday, 
no recorded votes are expected until 6 o'clock.
  On Wednesday and Thursday, the House plans to consider the following 
measures, subject to rules. First, H.R. 931, the Sudan Peace Act; and, 
second, H.R. 1088, which is the Investor and Capital Markets Fee Relief 
Act. That would be Wednesday and Thursday.
  On Friday, no votes are expected in the House.
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, if I may inquire a 
question or two from the distinguished gentleman from Ohio.
  The security bill that the gentleman alluded to at the end of his 
remarks has been on the calendar numerous times over the last several 
months. Is it likely to be brought up this time?
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield further, I 
think our leadership is relatively optimistic that this time we can 
work out whatever differences there might be between the two committees 
of jurisdiction and take it to the floor next week.
  As the gentleman knows, the gentleman from Indiana (Chairman Burton) 
was out unavoidably this week due to personal health issues in his 
family, and the Committee on Government Reform does have jurisdiction 
over this issue, as does the Committee on Financial Services. But it is 
my understanding that we now have the ability to move it to the floor 
and differences are being worked out.
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman.
  If I could make just one other comment, Mr. Speaker, and this is not 
aimed at the gentleman from Ohio but at the Republican leadership in 
general; I want to express how angry our caucus is about the way the 
tax reconciliation bill was handled right before the Memorial Day 
recess.

                              {time}  1300

  Members were kept an additional 2 days here, waiting around for a 
vote. In fact, I think many know that we were kept waiting all night 
with a vote promised every hour.
  Now, I know these issues are difficult and sometimes they take turns 
that people do not expect in the negotiation process; and by the way, 
it would have been nice if the Democrats were invited to have 
participated in the negotiating process which we were kept from. But 
having said that, let me just say, the American people were also 
blocked from any knowledge of what was in the bill that would affect 
our Nation, perhaps for the next 2 decades. Memorial Day, as everyone 
knows in this Chamber, is a very special and important time for Members 
to be in their home districts to honor our Nation's veterans and the 
activities that surround that honoring.
  This is the second time, I will tell the gentleman from Ohio, who may 
want to relay this to others in the leadership, that this has happened 
this Congress. We have tried to work with our colleagues in a civil and 
bipartisan way the best we can, but there is a deep amount of anger 
about the way this was handled because it was the second time.
  I just want the gentleman and the Republican leadership to know that 
if we are brought into the process, I will say this once again, we will 
be fine. We will work with our Republican colleagues; we will try to 
figure this out the best we can. But if we are treated the way we were 
treated on the tax reconciliation bill, we will be very, very vigorous 
next time. We want to make sure that the people in this body who serve 
and represent literally tens of millions of people in this country, 
hundreds of millions on our side of the aisle, have the opportunity to 
participate and to know what is going on. It is not meant as something 
that is going to happen, but I just want the gentleman to know how 
strongly we feel about this, and I hope my friend from Ohio will share 
that with the Speaker, with the other leaders of the gentleman's party; 
and I will do so, especially when I see them, and have done so when I 
have talked to them already.
  Mr. Speaker, we are very serious about this, and we are trying to do 
this in a reasonable way; but when we are

[[Page H2976]]

shut out and we do not have a voice and we are kept guessing the way we 
were leading up to the Memorial Day recess, we can play that same game 
and we can tie this place up and we can create a situation that will be 
totally unpleasant for everybody else in this Chamber. We prefer not to 
do that, but we do not want it done to us. I will just leave it at 
that; and I thank my colleague, and I wish him a very happy and a good 
weekend.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BONIOR. I yield to the gentleman from Ohio.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I appreciate the gentleman's 
candor, as usual. I will say that there was frustration, of course, on 
both sides of the aisle with that process; and many Members who waited 
for those votes and spent the night in their offices probably felt that 
same frustration. It was the most comprehensive tax legislation in a 
couple of decades and there were a lot of complications working with 
the other body, including members of the gentleman's party. But the 
point is well taken with regard to the frustration.
  We, of course, had hoped that we could have kept to a more tight time 
schedule. It ended up not being possible, given all the complexities of 
moving the most comprehensive legislation in this area in a generation. 
But I appreciate the gentleman's comments and, again, his candor, as 
usual; and I look forward to trying to better work together in the 
future on these legislative projects.
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman.

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