[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 154 (Wednesday, October 29, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H9989-H9991]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.J. RES. 75, FURTHER CONTINUING 
                    APPROPRIATIONS, FISCAL YEAR 2004

  Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I 
call up House Resolution 417 and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                              H. Res. 417

       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. 75) 
     making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year 
     2004, 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 on the joint resolution 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 Florida (Mr. Hastings), 
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, H. Res. 417 is a closed rule that provides for the 
consideration of H.J. Res. 75, a continuing resolution that will ensure 
further appropriations for the fiscal year 2004. The rule provides for 
1 hour of debate in the House 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 the joint resolution and provides for one motion to 
recommit.
  Mr. Speaker, we passed the first continuing resolution, H.J. Res. 69, 
during the final days of September and it became Public Law 108-84. The 
provisions of H.J. Res. 69 are scheduled to expire this Friday, October 
31. Therefore, under the joint resolution that this rule makes in 
order, the provisions of that first continuing resolution will be 
extended until November 7, 2003. In brief, for the fiscal year 2004 
appropriations bills that have been enacted into law, the continuing 
resolution provides an additional week of funding for government 
agencies.
  Mr. Speaker, we did pass a continuing resolution last week that 
conjoined the six fiscal year 2004 appropriations bills that have been 
passed by

[[Page H9990]]

the House, but the other body clearly needs additional time to complete 
the funding work for the coming year. The House has passed each of the 
13 regular appropriations bills. However, to ensure that essential 
government services continue to operate, this rule makes in order 
another continuing resolution to give us the additional time to 
complete the appropriations process in an orderly manner.
  This rule was approved by the Committee on Rules yesterday. I urge my 
colleagues to support it. I know all of us in the House wait with great 
anticipation the completion of the appropriations work by the Members 
of the other body. Until that time, this resolution will provide a 
continuation of funding for government agencies until these important 
issues are resolved.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume. I thank my good friend, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. 
Linder), for yielding me the time. I oppose this closed rule and the 
underlying legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I wondered to myself last night as the Committee on 
Rules majority Republicans passed yet another closed rule which stifles 
debate and shuts off meaningful contributions from all of the Members 
of this Chamber, what is the problem? Congress has only had since 
January 3 of this year to complete work on the 13 annual appropriations 
bills, the so-called ``must pass'' bills that Congress works on every 
year. In case anyone is unclear, so far Congress has passed three of 
the 13 appropriations bills that must pass before September 30. Defense 
appropriations, done. Homeland security, done. And, of course, the bill 
which funds this very institution, Congress, done. Everything else, 
military construction; veterans affairs; labor, health and human 
services; commerce, judiciary; education, all just kind of out there 
somewhere in this vacuous air inside the Beltway.
  And the sad part? No one to blame but the party in control. Despite 
the fact that just yesterday I heard a Member of the other body blame 
former President Clinton, I do not think the American people are buying 
that. The fact is the last time there was single-party control of 
Congress at the beginning of President Clinton's administration, 
control of Congress and the White House, all 13 appropriations bills 
were passed by September 30.

                              {time}  1045

  We had a balanced budget, and, oh, yes, we had budget surpluses as 
far as the eye could see.
  My, how times have changed. Well, thank you, Mr. President. Thank 
you, my good friends, the Republican Congress. Now, we have debt in our 
Nation as far as the eye can see, and, in many respects, disdain from a 
large portion of the rest of the world.
  In my view, the majority is the modern day reincarnation of Nero. The 
majority fiddles while the Nation burns, or, to put it another way, we 
are drowning in a sea of red ink.
  It will surprise no one, then, that I think we should not pass this 
rule. We should not pass the underlying legislation. We should stop 
working 2-day workweeks like we did last week, and we should stay here 
and finish our work; yes, work maybe even 7 days a week, until we do 
what the people have elected us to do. What a crazy suggestion.
  Enough already. Let us get to work.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I am privileged at this time to 
yield 3 minutes to my good friend, the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. 
Jackson-Lee).
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished 
gentleman for yielding me time and for his leadership on many of these 
issues.
  Mr. Speaker, I rose just a few minutes ago to support the movement of 
the conference of the Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on 
Transportation, Treasury, and Independent Agencies and hope that this 
body would support the idea of going with the Senate numbers on certain 
aspects of that appropriations process.
  The distinguished gentleman from Florida is absolutely right: This 
Congress is in the hands of the other party, and any delay that is now 
going on that requires us, again, to implement another CR, as we have 
done in sessions past when this body, both this House and the other 
body, have been dominated and controlled by the Republicans, is because 
we have this aggravation and tension about who should be provided for 
first, the domestic needs of this Nation, or whether or not we should 
be continuing to throw good money after bad in areas where we cannot 
point to the success of that investment.
  It is clear that the struggle in HHS is about funding our children's 
educational needs, and, because the Republicans are not interested in 
doing that, then we have gridlock. It is clear that in instances where 
we are trying to provide extra resources for investment in the Nation's 
troubled transportation systems we have gridlock, because the other 
body, the other party, is not interested in compromise. So I believe it 
is crucial that we have a CR that has the opportunity for an open rule 
to provide insight and amendments on these very issues.
  I would hope that my colleagues would see the folly of a continuing 
CR that does not in fact have the teeth to address the concerns that we 
have, address the concerns of the $20 million billion that we have now 
begun to move forward on the rebuild of Iraq.
  The President said yesterday we had about $13 billion from our 
friends and allies. I believe that with a little more time we could get 
more money, have more stakeholders in the rebuild, and that we should 
insist that the President collaborate with our NATO allies before we 
give one cent. I believe if we do give the $20 billion, it should be in 
the context of a $10 billion loan, as opposed to a total $20 billion 
giveaway.
  None of us are against the rebuilding of Iraq or investing in 
democracy. We are against the continued loss of life of our young men 
and women on the front lines. We are against a haphazard policy as 
relates to Iraq. We were against a preemptive attack. And we certainly 
were against the lack of finding of weapons of mass destruction.
  All of this ties into, ultimately, how this Congress spends its money 
and how it invests in spending its money. I believe the CR is 
misdirected, it should be an open rule, and I believe the American 
people expect more from this Congress and we should be held 
accountable.
  Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), my good friend and 
colleague on the Committee on Rules.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding me the 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, I have a list here from the NFL of the top punters in 
the NFL. The top 3 punters are Shane Lechler from Oakland, Brian 
Moorman from Buffalo, and Scott Player from Arizona. And as talented 
and experienced and skilled as these punters are, they have nowhere 
near the ability that the Republican leadership in this House has when 
it comes to punting, because that is what we are doing today. We are 
punting once again, because the Republicans in this House cannot get 
along with the Republicans in the other body, and they cannot get their 
work done.
  The main job that the leadership of this House has is to pass 13 
appropriations bills, work with the other body to get them passed and 
get them on the President's desk by September 30. This leadership has 
failed in doing that. They cannot do their job.
  The Republicans cannot get along with Republicans. They cannot blame 
a Democratic Senate because they have a Republican Senate. They cannot 
blame a Democrat in the White House because they have a Republican in 
the White House. They control the House, they control the Senate, they 
control the White House, they even control the courts, and they still 
cannot get their job done.
  So it is important for all of my colleagues to understand at this 
critical moment that we are here because the leadership in this House 
cannot get their work done. They cannot coordinate with Members of 
their own party. They cannot do the work that they are supposed to do.

[[Page H9991]]

  I would just hope, and I say this especially to those who are 
watching this, that they understand, that these are the people who said 
give us the power and we will impress you with our ability and our 
skill and our efficiency.
  Well, they have the power. Again, they have the power because they 
control the House, they control the Senate, they control the White 
House, and they cannot get their work done.
  So we are going to punt until November 7, but I want to make a 
prediction right now, we are going to punt again. And it is kind of 
sad, because they are not doing the work they are supposed to do. They 
are not getting the job done.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, the points that have been made are echoed all throughout 
this Chamber.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, I yield 
back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question.
  The previous question was ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Shaw). The question is the resolution.
  The question was taken, and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the ayes appeared to have it.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and 
nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on the question will be 
postponed.

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