[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 115 (Thursday, September 12, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H6240-H6241]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1215
                          LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

  (Ms. PELOSI asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I take this time to inquire of the 
distinguished majority leader what the schedule is. Was that the last 
vote of the day, and how are we going to proceed?
  I am pleased to yield to the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Armey).
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California for 
yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, the House has completed its legislative business for the 
week. The House will next meet for legislative business on Tuesday, 
September 17, at 12:30 p.m. for morning hour and 2 o'clock p.m. for 
legislative business. I will schedule a number of measures under 
suspensions of the rules, a list of which will be distributed to 
Members' offices tomorrow. Recorded votes on Tuesday will be postponed 
until 6:30 p.m.
  For Wednesday and the balance of the week, I have scheduled the 
following measures: H.R. 1701, the Consumer Rental Purchase Agreement 
Act, and H.R. 4687, the National Construction Safety Team Act.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I would like to inquire 
of the majority leader when he expects the bill that was just pulled to 
be rescheduled?
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her inquiry.
  We do have some technical considerations. We will have to have some 
discussions among ourselves, the bill sponsor and the committee of 
jurisdiction. I will announce in ample time for everybody's 
consideration before we reschedule it again.
  Ms. PELOSI. I would further like to inquire of the majority leader 
when the appropriations bills will come to the floor?
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentlewoman's concern on 
that. We wait upon the circumstances that allow us to bring our 
appropriations bills to the floor in a manner that is consistent with 
the budget passed by the House. We know this is a difficult 
circumstance for the House, in light of the fact that the other body 
has not passed a budget whatsoever and is seeking to spend anywhere 
from $9 billion to $19 billion beyond the President's request and the 
House budget. So we continue to work on these difficult problems.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. I was particularly 
interested in the Labor, Health, Human Services and Education bill, 
when that would come to the floor, because in its present form it cuts 
$7 billion in education from the Leave No Child Behind bill that was 
passed, H.R. 1, with great fanfare early in the year. So we are very, 
very interested in the resolution and the debate on that bill.
  Would that bill be coming up next week?
  Mr. ARMEY. Again I want to thank the gentlewoman for the inquiry.
  The Labor, Health and Human Services bill has always been a bill that 
this side of the aisle, the Republican majority, has given special 
attention to. Indeed, Mr. Speaker, we have more than doubled spending 
on that bill since 1996, going from $67 billion at that time, the first 
year in which we had majority jurisdiction, to $130 billion today. So 
we continue to have great emphasis on that bill. Indeed, we plan a 5.3 
percent increase over the previous year; a 3.7 percent increase over 
last year for education and a 14.2 percent increase over last year for 
title I. So we continue to work with a sense of priority for that.
  Obviously, we always understand that the very definition of 
``underfunded'' in this town is the difference between what a bill's 
original sponsor seeks to authorize and what in fact is indeed 
appropriated. But we are continuing, as we have done, to increase 
appropriations in this bill and its jurisdiction more than other 
appropriations bills.
  Ms. PELOSI. Reclaiming my time, I am glad the gentleman ended on that 
note, because further to remind our colleagues, the President's Leave 
No Child Behind bill, H.R. 1, the flagship bill on education that was 
passed by this body, had $7 billion in the President's bill for 
education, but in this bill cutting the investment in education leaves 
millions of children behind. So it is a high priority for us, and we 
look forward to that bill coming to the floor.

[[Page H6241]]

  Would the distinguished majority leader tell us when the bankruptcy 
conference report would be scheduled?
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her inquiry.
  It is particularly timely to talk about bankruptcy within the context 
where 3.7 percent increase and a 14.2 percent increase is considered a 
cut. That is exactly the kind of thinking that leads to bankruptcy 
dilemmas across the country. The bankruptcy bill, too, is an extremely 
important bill. We intend to do so.
  Unfortunately, the bill is inflicted by a totally extraneous 
provision having to do with abortion put in by the other body. That has 
made it very difficult for Members who have a commitment on both of 
these two very important moral issues to reconcile their conflicts 
between that.
  Unfortunately, we risk this bill's passage by virtue of the kind of 
extraneous riders that are all too commonplace in the other body. This 
body, being the more disciplined and responsible body, will, as it many 
times must do, find a way to come to terms with that irresponsibility 
in the legislative process, and as soon as we have found that way, I 
promise we will bring that bill to the floor.
  Ms. PELOSI. Is the gentleman referencing the provision in the bill 
that was put in by the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Hyde), from 
the gentleman's own party?
  Mr. ARMEY. I appreciate the gentlewoman's inquiry.
  The gentlewoman also understands it is contrary to the rules of the 
House for me to mention Senator Schumer by name, and I would never do 
that.
  Ms. PELOSI. And the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Hyde).
  Mr. Leader, can we assume that since here we are, it is 20 after 12 
on Thursday, we are in the middle of a great economic uncertainty in 
our country, America's seniors are clamoring for prescription drug 
benefits, we need to invest more in education, we have a list of 
priorities that the American people are concerned about, including 
their pension security, we came in just the other night, we are going 
out at 20 after 12 on Thursday and there will be no votes tomorrow, is 
that our understanding? We finished our business for the week?
  Mr. ARMEY. Again, if the gentlewoman will yield, I appreciate so much 
the gentlewoman's frustration. We passed investment security over to 
the other body in August. We passed the education bill. We passed the 
prescription drug bill. We passed the homeland security bill.
  We in this body are stuck with watching these bills languish in the 
other body as we await any kind of competent action from the other 
body. As soon as they can manage to pass any of these bills and get to 
conference on these bills, we would be willing to sit down and work on 
these bills, and I promise you we will bring them back for completion.
  The gentlewoman is absolutely correct. All of this is too important 
to the people of this Nation for the other body to continue to 
dillydally.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I think that if there is 
a person out there who has lost their pension or a senior making a 
decision about how much of a dosage you are able to afford to take or 
whether you can even afford to take any prescription drug over 
purchasing food, or if your child is going to a substandard school and 
you want a better investment, and the list goes on and on, you would 
think that what we were doing here is irrelevant, especially when we 
are not even here. We are missing-in-action on some of the struggles of 
the American people.
  Will the gentleman inform us whether we will have votes next Friday?
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate the gentlewoman's inquiry.
  Of course, all of these concerns are exactly why our pension bill was 
passed out of this body, as I said, last April.
  Whether or not we are able to have votes on Friday will depend upon 
the appropriators, particularly those appropriators that must reconcile 
themselves against the excesses of the other body. But we will try to 
get these bills to the floor, and I will announce as early as I can 
whether or not there will be votes on Friday.
  Ms. PELOSI. So it is our understanding we are leaving at 20 after 12 
on Thursday, coming back at 6:30 on Tuesday, and we may be out next 
Friday?
  Mr. ARMEY. If the gentlewoman will yield, the incredible thing, Mr. 
Speaker, is that even keeping these hours, we get three times as much 
work done as is done in the other body.
  Ms. PELOSI. Our standard must be the standard we set for the American 
people, and we cannot hide behind anyone else's schedule. We have 
leadership that we can take ourselves to meet the needs of the American 
people.
  I thank the distinguished majority leader for the information, and, 
as always, his gracious presentation.

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