[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 128 (Thursday, October 3, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H7004-H7005]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

  (Ms. PELOSI asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 
Portman) for the purpose of inquiring about the schedule for next week.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentlewoman's indulgence, 
and I appreciate her yielding on the schedule.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce the House has completed its 
legislative business for the week. No votes are expected in the House 
tomorrow in order to allow Members to attend the funeral service for 
the Honorable Patsy Mink, our former colleague from the State of 
Hawaii.
  The House will meet for legislative business on Monday, October 7, at 
9:30 a.m. for morning hour and 11 a.m. for legislative business. The 
majority leader will schedule a number of measures under suspension of 
the rules, a list of which will be distributed to the Members' offices 
tomorrow. Recorded votes on Monday will be postponed until 6:30 p.m.

[[Page H7005]]

  For Tuesday and the balance of the week, the majority leader has 
scheduled the following measures for consideration in the House: first, 
H.J. Res. 114, providing authorization for the use of military force 
against Iraq; second, a continuing resolution; and, third, H.R. 2037, 
the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. Additionally, I am 
advised that conference reports may be brought up at any time during 
the week.
  I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman 
for that information. I thank and hope he will convey the gratitude of 
the Members of the House who wish to attend the funeral of our dear 
friend and colleague, Congresswoman Patsy Mink, in Hawaii. I thank the 
Speaker and our distinguished minority leader for accommodating the 
request and making that possible.
  I had some questions about the schedule. On the question of the Iraq 
debate, issues of war and peace are the most important decisions we 
make. In 1991, every Member was given the opportunity to speak for 5 
minutes. What is the thinking of about how much debate we will have on 
this important resolution?
  I yield to the gentleman from Ohio.
  Mr. PORTMAN. I appreciate the gentlewoman yielding, and I thank her 
for her inquiry. As the gentlewoman knows, we are working closely with 
the minority leader both on substance and process. The Committee on 
International Relations is currently marking up the resolution. It is 
my understanding that the majority leader and the Speaker and the 
minority leader would intend to have ample time for a full and fair 
debate on that critical issue, as the gentlewoman says, of war and 
peace. But I know that there has been no decision made yet on time, nor 
has the Committee on Rules met to consider the rule.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. Is the gentleman 
prepared to inform us whether alternatives will be allowed to the 
President's proposal?
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, if the gentlewoman will continue to yield, 
again, no decision has been made. We do not yet have the resolution out 
of the Committee on International Relations. It is my understanding 
that by 5 p.m. tomorrow Members are asked to submit possible amendments 
or substitutes to the Committee on Rules; and again, we then would be 
in a position to know better what the possibility is of the substitute 
or amendments. But we have nothing to announce definitively at this 
point.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, does the gentleman have any knowledge of the 
plans for next Friday? Will the House be in session?
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, again, if the gentlewoman will yield, there 
is no decision yet made as to whether we will be in session on Friday. 
I think from talking to the majority leader that it really depends on 
conference reports. We have the possibility of a conference report, for 
instance, on energy; and I know the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) 
is here, and there is the possibility of conference reports on DOD and 
military construction appropriations, and other conference reports, 
including election reform, that may be before the House.
  So Members should be advised that it is possible that we would be in 
next Friday considering conference reports.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for that information.
  What is the gentleman's latest prediction from the leadership on his 
side on when the House will adjourn before the election, and do you 
believe we will return for a lame duck session?
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, again, I have nothing to announce 
definitively. I wish for my own personal purposes that I did, as I am 
sure all Members are eager to know that. But it will depend obviously 
on the work we can get done here in the next week and, more 
importantly, in the Senate. There are a number of matters that the 
House would like to take up. The Speaker has made it clear, for 
instance, that we should complete work on the homeland security bill 
that would provide for the new creation of the Department of Homeland 
Security, but that bill is currently in the Senate. So I suppose the 
answer would be nothing definitive at this point, but we are waiting to 
hear from the Senate.

                              {time}  1445

  Ms. PELOSI. On a final note, I would say, Mr. Speaker, that we have 
eight appropriations bills still to consider, including the very 
important one dealing with education, our number one national priority; 
also, the appropriation bills that deal with veterans, medical care, 
transportation, and agriculture.
  In addition, this House urgently needs to address our worsening 
economy. One and one-half million workers have exhausted unemployment 
benefits, jobless claims are the highest since May, pension plans are 
eroding on a daily basis, and health care is not being addressed. We 
need to bring these substantive issues to the floor. We must not leave 
for this election without addressing these urgent needs.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentlewoman yield?
  Ms. PELOSI. I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 
Portman) this question.
  I note that another continuing resolution is being scheduled, sort of 
like Groundhog Day. We just finished one today. The purpose of 
continuing resolutions is to give us time to do our other business.
  Given that fact, can the gentleman tell me, are there any plans for 
the majority to bring the agriculture appropriations bill before us any 
time soon?
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, if the gentlewoman will continue to yield, 
I know of no plans to bring the agriculture appropriations bill to the 
floor.
  As the gentleman knows better than I, the committee is working not 
only on that appropriation bill, but others. We still find ourselves 
with an interesting situation, with the Senate not having passed a 
budget and not having some of the fiscal discipline and parameters we 
need to move forward.
  But we have no information on the agriculture appropriations bill at 
this point.
  Mr. OBEY. If the gentlewoman will yield further, with all due 
respect, Mr. Speaker, nothing is required of the Senate for us to do 
our work.
  I assume that there are no plans to bring the District of Columbia 
appropriations bill out; the labor, health, education bill out; the 
foreign operations bill out, which has some crucial funding for 
Afghanistan and other areas; the transportation and the energy and 
water bills.
  So am I to conclude, therefore, that despite the fact that we are 
passing a continuing resolution, we are not going to use that time to 
do any of our other regular appropriations work?
  Mr. PORTMAN. If the gentlewoman will continue to yield, just again to 
make the point that we do have a busy week next week, and with the 
possibility of the Department of Defense appropriations bill and the 
military construction appropriations bills out of conference coming 
before the House, but that is the schedule for the week as we know it.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentlewoman will continue to yield, let 
me indicate that I am reaching the point where I am becoming highly 
reluctant to support any other continuing resolutions of a week or 
longer in nature because they do not seem to be affording us or they do 
not seem to be providing any pressure for us to pass our regular 
appropriation bills.
  I think it is probably about time that we start thinking about having 
1-day continuing resolutions in order to put maximum pressure on this 
House to perform. I thank the gentlewoman for her time.
  Ms. PELOSI. I thank the gentleman for his valuable contribution, and 
I thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Portman) for the information on 
the schedule.
  Mr. Speaker, I think that every day that goes by, this body appears 
to be more irrelevant to the concerns of the American people. The 
jobless rate is increasing, employment insurance is exhausted, we have 
not funded the education bill, and there are so many issues that we 
must deal with that are immediate concerns to the lives of America's 
working families.
  This House has to provide leadership and stop making up excuses for 
not doing the people's business.




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