[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 175 (Monday, December 8, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H12760-H12766]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    WAIVING POINTS OF ORDER AGAINST CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 2673, 
                 CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2004

  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the 
Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 473 and ask for its 
immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                              H. Res. 473

       Resolved, That upon adoption of this resolution it shall be 
     in order to consider the conference report to accompany the 
     bill (H.R. 2673) making appropriations for Agriculture, Rural 
     Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related 
     Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2004, and 
     for other purposes. All points of order against the 
     conference report and against its consideration are waived. 
     The conference report shall be considered as read.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Washington (Mr. Hastings) 
is recognized for 1 hour.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate 
only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Frost), pending which I yield myself

[[Page H12761]]

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 473 is a rule waiving all points of 
order against the conference report to accompany H.R. 2673, the 
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2004, and against its consideration. 
The rule provides that the conference report shall be considered as 
read.
  The Consolidated Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2004 fully 
complies with the fiscal parameters of the budget resolution and 
contains $328.1 billion in discretionary spending and $820 billion in 
total spending including mandatory funds.
  Mr. Speaker, the bill also includes an across-the-board reduction of 
.59 percent in all programs, projects and activities, except for 
Defense and Military Construction funds.
  The Committee on Appropriations is to be commended for moving with 
dispatch to make this conference report available so that the House can 
complete its work on funding measures before the conclusion of the 
First Session. Accordingly, Mr. Speaker I urge my colleagues to support 
both the rule and the underlying conference report.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  (Mr. FROST asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, for months the Republicans who control the 
Federal Government have held hostage some of the foremost priorities of 
the American people. Key national needs like education, veterans' 
health care, law enforcement have all been relegated to the back burner 
while Republican leaders fought amongst themselves over how best to 
privatize Medicare and reward big drug companies.
  But today, my Republican friends undoubtedly will come down to the 
floor and proclaim that this giant $820 billion spending bill finishes 
their work for the year. In response, millions of Americans still 
struggling through the aftermath of the last Republican recession will 
respond ``What about us?''
  It is a fair question, Mr. Speaker. What about the 2.4 million 
American jobs that have been lost since the Republican Party first took 
over the government 3 years ago? What about the 90,000 Americans who 
will lose their unemployment insurance eligibility just 3 days after 
Christmas or the 2.1 million unemployed workers who will lose access to 
extended insurance over the first 6 months of next year?
  In my home State of Texas, over 130,000 people will lose unemployment 
insurance if this Republican Congress does not act to help them, 
according to the Joint Economic Committee's analysis of the data from 
the Labor Department. Republican leaders often try to spin away 
statistics like this, but the truth is the Bush Presidency has seen 
this Nation suffer through the longest job slump since the Great 
Depression, and the picture is still grim for millions of Americans 
trying to find good jobs to support their families.
  While the number of jobs in America has shrunk by 2.4 million, the 
working-age population in America has grown by 4.5 million. As a 
result, America's ``jobs deficit'' has shot up to 6.9 million on the 
Republican watch. That has put American workers in a huge hole and left 
three unemployed workers for every one job that becomes available.
  Despite these facts, Mr. Speaker, Republican leaders are, once again, 
planning to adjourn for the holidays without extending unemployment 
insurance, just like they did last year. Mr. Speaker, there is no 
reason to treat the American people with such callousness. It would be 
only fair to provide them with the help that they need before Congress 
goes home for the holidays. Even the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Young), chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, supports doing it, 
as he said this morning in the Committee on Rules. After all, the 
Republican Congress has already done huge favors for their biggest 
supporters. Over the last 3 years, they have squandered trillions of 
dollars on tax breaks for the wealthiest few, driving the national 
deficit above $500 billion on an annual basis and raising the debt tax 
on all Americans. And today, President Bush will sign the Republican 
``wither-on-the-vine'' Medicare bill. This monstrosity spends billions 
to subsidize HMOs and drug companies, but it actually reduces seniors' 
choices and it makes it illegal for them to reduce the huge out-of-
pocket cost that the Republican bill does not cover. It will not let 
retirees cover these drug costs with the employer-provided drug 
coverage that they already have, even though the Republican bill may 
only cover selected medicines, regardless of what their doctor says 
they need. And it will not let seniors buy Medigap policies to cover 
their $3,600 in out-of-pocket expenses either.
  Mr. Speaker, that is an outrage, and it comes on top of a $12 billion 
slush fund for HMOs and $139 billion in windfall profits for big drug 
companies. So why, Mr. Speaker, will Republicans not spend just a tiny 
fraction of that to help Americans still suffering from the latest 
Republican recession? Why will they not use their legislation on the 
floor today, an $820 billion collection of several different spending 
bills, to provide desperately-needed relief over the holidays to 
Americans who still cannot find a job?

                              {time}  1245

  After all, the omnibus spending bill provides plenty of assistance to 
others. For the big drug companies, Republican leaders have dropped 
drug reimportation language passed by the House and Senate, meaning 
that drug prices will still be astronomically higher for America's 
seniors than for people in other countries.
  For some of the Bush administration's biggest corporate backers, 
Republicans have dropped overtime protection for workers, meaning that 
millions of Americans will get paid less, even as they are forced to 
work more. And they are spending $13 million on vouchers to subsidize 
private schools for a few, taking desperately needed resources from the 
public schools that serve all American children.
  Despite all this, Mr. Speaker, there are still many worthwhile parts 
to this massive spending bill. For instance, Democrats and veterans 
groups have finally forced Republicans to increase funding for veterans 
medical care that would still fall short of what they need. And to help 
communities protect children against abduction, this bill includes $24 
million for the national Amber Alert Program that I first introduced 
earlier this year. It also includes vital resources to address 
important transportation issues in north Texas.
  So why can this Republican Congress not do just one more good deed 
before the holidays? Mr. Speaker, why not help the 1.4 million workers 
who cannot find work, who have already exhausted their extended 
benefits and have yet to find work?
  Republican leaders may not care about helping them, but that does not 
have to stop this Congress from doing the right thing. If Republican 
Members will join Democrats in opposing the important parliamentary 
vote known as the previous question, then we can amend the rule and 
pass commonsense assistance for Americans still unable to find work in 
this jobless recovery. Otherwise, while Republicans are enjoying their 
vacations, hundreds of thousands of jobless Americans will spend the 
holidays preparing to lose the unemployment insurance they need to 
support their families.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I reserve my time.
  Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from the 
District of Columbia (Ms. Norton).
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.
  Mr. Speaker, this morning's news talks about the elections in Russia. 
At the same time it speaks about elections, it talks about the steady 
erosion of democratic freedoms embodied in these elections, and it says 
there is mounting national and international criticism of those 
elections because of the denial of democracy as defined by free 
societies, which is because of the heavy hand of the Putin majority.
  We are blind if we do not see analogous denials of democracy 
American-style wrapped up in this omnibus bill. Is it democracy when, 
for the first time, we hold open votes unconscionably long, pressure 
Members, it has been alleged illegally, with threats or

[[Page H12762]]

bribes until you win what the vote shows you had already lost? We have 
done that at least a half a dozen times, ranging from 25 minutes to 3 
hours.
  Is it democracy when you reverse the votes of the House, as we have 
done on the overtime provision?
  Is it democracy when we have one-party conferences, locking out the 
other party?
  Is it democracy when there are in this bill, a major bill, provisions 
for which there have been no votes at all? Like the D.C. voucher 
provision, there was no vote in the Senate because they had no votes. 
The ultimate abuse is they removed the few routine accountability 
provisions that by voice vote did get in the bill for D.C. vouchers. 
One was that teachers have to have a college degree.
  Is it democracy when you lard the bill with Republican pork, 
defunding the No Child Left Behind bill while your own school districts 
are screaming because they have had to cut their own school funding?
  I must say, if we pass this bill, it will be an appropriate way to 
end this session, because this entire session has been a monument, as 
this bill is, to the denial of democracy.
  In this session, Mr. Speaker, we have crossed the line. We have 
crossed the line between the kind of contentiousness that has gone on 
for 200 years in this House to one-party rule in the people's House. 
The way to begin to remedy this, and we must remedy this now, we must 
not carry this procedure, this way of conducting business, into the 
next year; the way to remedy this outrage is to vote against this bill.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I reserve my time.
  Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Hoyer).
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.
  Mr. Speaker, today the leadership of this House breathes life back 
into the spirit of Ebeneezer Scrooge and for the second year in a row 
ignores the plight of America's unemployed during the holiday season. 
The majority's failure to extend emergency unemployment benefits for 
the long-term unemployed is not only unconscionable; it is cold-
hearted.
  In May, President Bush said, ``My economic plan is summed up in one 
word: jobs.'' But the truth is, even after 4 straight months of anemic 
job growth, President Bush is on course to become the first President 
since Herbert Hoover to preside over a net jobs loss during his 4-year 
term.
  Yes, the economy added 57,000 jobs in November, but here is what they 
do not say: the economy has to create 150,000 jobs a month just to keep 
pace with the new folks coming into the employment arena. Overall, 
there are 8.7 million unemployed Americans today; and nearly one-fourth 
of them, Mr. Speaker, some 2 million people, have been jobless for more 
than 26 weeks.
  Mr. Speaker, that is the highest percentage of long-term unemployment 
since July of 1983, 20 years ago; and there are about 4.2 million other 
workers who want a job, but are not even counted among the unemployed.
  The reality is this: if the President and Congressional Republicans 
refuse to extend Federal temporary unemployment benefits, which are 
scheduled to be phased out beginning December 21, an estimated 80,000 
to 90,000 jobless workers who exhaust their State benefits every week 
will be completely cut off. That is 80,000 to 90,000 people per week.
  That is not only callous; it is unnecessary. We have the funding to 
extend these benefits. That is right, there is $20 billion in the 
Federal fund dedicated to unemployment benefits, which is financed by 
unemployment taxes deducted from workers' paychecks.
  Mr. Speaker, I know the President and our Republican colleagues would 
like nothing more than to pronounce our economy healed and to unfurl 
the banner reading ``Mission Accomplished,'' but it is plain that 
millions of Americans continue to be hurt. The least we can do is reach 
out a helping hand.
  Mr. Speaker, we did this last year, and we left 800,000 people on 
December 31, 2002, falling off the unemployment roles. With the money 
in the pot to help them, why do we leave this day without addressing 
this problem? There is no explanation, Mr. Speaker. I predict to you 
that the President will, 2 weeks from now, say, oh, my goodness, we 
should have done that.
  Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished 
ranking member for yielding me time.
  I wish that we would donate our time and dedicate ourselves to the 
wishes of the American people.
  Hubert Humphrey said that this Constitution was organized to create a 
more perfect Union, and the challenge of creating a more perfect Union 
is a continued agitation and criticism, not because we are disloyal to 
this country and to the American people, but because we care about a 
more perfect Union.
  In the backdrop of a 4-hour vote before we left for the Thanksgiving 
work recess, I come to the floor of the House now. We have an omnibus 
appropriations bill that has barely been before the Members of Congress 
for any kind of review. For 4 hours a vote was left open, in complete 
disregard for the rules of this House and what the Madison Papers and 
our Founding Fathers wanted to establish, a Republic and also a 
democracy.
  Today we come with a martial law that allows us on one day to just 
put on the floor of the House a huge and large and massive 
interpretation of the appropriations for 2004. And then we have a 
situation where issues that clearly the American people are against, 
such as eliminating overtime opportunities for working men and women 
are sneaked into the appropriations bill, and then where thousands of 
petitions from around the country were brought to this government about 
not allowing large media conglomerates to buy up stations to the 
disregard of the first amendment. And lo and behold, there is a sneak 
provision in here that allows that to happen.
  Then, of course, there is a provision that affects many seniors who 
were implementing lower-cost drugs by drug reimportation. Clearly those 
drugs were safe, because seniors have been doing it for a very long 
time. That has been sneaked into the bill, meaning that we have 
eliminated that opportunity so that seniors can again suffer. They 
suffer first with a Medicare bill that is going to implode and not be 
in business until 2006 and cost thousands of Texans to lose their 
benefits, and they will suffer.
  Then if we talk about international efforts, I was in Ethiopia this 
past summer, and one of the things they were begging for is, they 
appreciated the famine relief, but they wanted to be able to be taught 
to fish. If you teach someone to fish they may not be hungry tomorrow, 
but if you give them a fish today, they may be hungry tomorrow. It 
takes very low dollars for what we call food security, teaching them 
agricultural skills and new technology.
  Then, of course, I have been concerned with the Columbia 7 tragedy, 
that NASA focus its concepts on safety. In all of the NASA budget, I do 
not know if there is a line item that boosts the resources for making 
sure that NASA pays attention to safety issues.
  We could have done this, Mr. Speaker, if we had deliberated on this 
appropriations bill. If we did not have the martial law, if we paid 
attention to the rules of the House, we might be able to do this. But, 
unfortunately, it seems we cannot.
  So I ask my colleagues to vote against this rule so we can get back 
to work on behalf of the American people.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the rule on H.R. 2673, the 
Omnibus appropriations Conference report. While the Omnibus includes a 
significant amount for agriculture appropriations, the omnibus fails to 
include the House provisions to prohibit the FDA from spending funds to 
prevent individuals and pharmacists from importing FDA-approved 
prescription drugs. In addition, this portion of the bill delays for 
two years the mandatory country-of-origin labeling for all produce, 
meat or meat products except for farm-raised fish and wild fish.
  In addition, the omnibus permanently limits the ability of the FCC to 
grant licenses for a commercial TV broadcast station if the granting of 
that license would result in such party having an aggregate national 
audience reach exceeding 39 percent (the House and Senate bills barred 
the FCC from increasing the share of the national market one 
broadcasting company can own, which currently is 35 percent.

[[Page H12763]]

The omnibus also includes provisions that prohibit the implementation 
of a background check system that does not include a requirement to 
destroy gun purchase records within 24 hours.
  I am rather disturbed Mr. Speaker, by the portion appropriating 
$139.8 billion for the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services, 
Education, and related agencies. While I am pleased that there is money 
for Texas Southern University, a predominantly black university in my 
district for their minority engineering program within the college of 
Science and Technology, I was rather disturbed that the Democratic 
members were shut out from receiving individual earmarks for their 
districts because they voted against the bill when it came to the House 
floor. This not only goes against fundamental fairness Mr. Speaker, but 
when you penalize individual members by not giving them much needed 
money for their districts, you hurt their constituents. This is bad for 
this institution, and bad for the country. The omnibus also falls $7.8 
billion short of the No Child Left Behind Authorization levels and 
provides $55.7 billion for the Education Department ($12.4 billion for 
the Title I program.
  The omnibus fails to include the House and Senate adopted provisions 
to block the Department of Labor from issuing rules that would take 
away the rights of some white-collar workers to overtime pay.
  The omnibus also fails to include House provisions that would have 
limited the Administration's ability to outsource some federal jobs and 
includes only some limitations to programs funded by the 
Transportation-Treasury bill.
  I urge members to vote against this rule.
  Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. Inslee).
  (Mr. INSLEE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. INSLEE. Mr. Speaker, last night while I was enjoying sumptuous 
airline fare on the red-eye to come out here to vote on this, the lady 
sitting next to me was reading a book called ``Nickel and Dimed.'' It 
is a book about people who are struggling; who are employed, but who 
are struggling to keep their souls and their families together in 
today's economically challenged times. And nobody, nobody who has read 
this book would vote for this rule.
  The reason is that we can quote all the rosy statistics that we can, 
but the fact of the matter is if we leave this floor and go out to the 
food banks in our districts, in every district in America, the food 
banks are jammed, the lines are long, people are still having problems 
feeding their children.
  As I was talking to a business owner the other day in Seattle, he 
says, I hear these statistics, but I do not see the customers. The fact 
of the matter is, we still have people in pain, and this rule keeps 
them in that economically devastated condition.
  There are two reasons it does this: one, it guts the effort we had on 
a bipartisan basis in the Senate and at least a little bit here on this 
floor when, in a democratic process, we voted with the majority to stop 
the President of the United States from stealing people's time with 
their families by gutting overtime protection.
  Over 8 million Americans are going to lose the right to overtime, 
and, more importantly, lose the right to control their own time with 
their families if this rule passes. That is wrong. It is a violation of 
the democratic spirit for us to vote to stop the President from taking 
family time away from their families, with people going into a dark 
room and stripping that protection out. It is wrong, and we should fix 
it right here.

                              {time}  1300

  But second is the unemployment. We have heard that we have had some 
modestly encouraging news, that there has been some jobs created in the 
recent past, and that is great. But the fact of the matter is, there 
have been 2.4 million jobs lost during this administration's tenure. 
And the way I figure it, if we look at the jobs that have been created, 
we have only got about 2.3 million jobs to go to get our nose above 
dead even.
  Now, the majority's approach to this is we sort of have the U.S. 
economy with 2.4 million jobs lost kind of down in a deep well. The 
majority is starting to look at that American worker down in that deep 
well, and we have winched them up about 6 inches off the floor and 
said, you are on your own now. We have a long ways to go before we can 
say that we are out of the woods economically.
  This bill does not cut the mustard. This bill gives Scrooge a bad 
name. At least he had an epiphany.
  Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Moran).
  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I would like to bring the body's 
attention to another provision in this omnibus appropriations bill. I 
know there are several that are objectionable, and this one may not get 
any further discussion, but I think it merits it.
  There is a provision in this bill that says that all of the records 
of firearm purchases have to be destroyed within 24 hours.
  Now, we know that there have been more than 3,500 firearms purchased 
by people who should not have purchased them, and that the FBI has been 
able to retrieve those guns because the records are currently kept for 
90 days. They retrieve them if the person that purchased it is a 
fugitive, is a felon, has a history of serious mental illness, is an 
illegal alien, any number of reasons that they should not be purchasing 
guns, lawfully, in the United States. So 3,500 guns have been retrieved 
because we have kept the records available for 90 days. Now, they have 
to be destroyed within 24 hours.
  Now, the National Rifle Association thinks this is a good thing, but 
our law enforcement organizations do not. FBI agents will tell us this 
is very serious, what this bill would do. In fact, the al Qaeda 
training manual cites the fact that you can go in and buy a gun in the 
United States, and as long as you have not been a convicted felon in 
the past, you can buy that and the records will be destroyed. And, in 
fact, as the Washington Post said in an article last week, that is 
true, that if a person gets hold of a gun, their records have to be 
destroyed as a result of this bill. If they are denied, then the 
records can be pursued. But if they lawfully purchased it, the records 
are destroyed, which means that we are deliberately tying the hands of 
law enforcement agencies.
  Now, is it not appropriate that we be able to consult the list of 
violent gang members and terrorists when they try to buy a gun? 
Absolutely, is the answer. Yet, this bill says, within 24 hours, even 
if it is a holiday, a weekend, even if it is in some rural area where 
they do not have the resources to check what they need to be able to 
check, it has to be destroyed within 24 hours.
  Mr. Speaker, we are going to look back and find this provision as one 
of the most dangerous that this House has passed, and the most 
irresponsible and irrational. We should not be doing this. It was 
another one of these things snuck into the conference report. I 
strongly urge Members, unless we can take this out, this bill should 
not be supported in its present form.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 
minute to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Flake).
  Mr. FLAKE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this 
time. I rise in reluctant opposition to this rule and to this bill.
  We, in the House, have specific rules against approving spending that 
is not approved in either a House or Senate version and then comes to 
the floor in a bill like this, yet we routinely waive the rules and 
waive all points of order against this kind of spending. This is to our 
shame. I am ashamed that we are doing this today. This bill has about, 
at last count I believe about 7,000 earmarks within it for particular 
spending items. Under Republican control, we have gone, I believe, in 
1994 from about 2,000 earmarks per year to over 10,000, and that is not 
the way that we ought to conduct business. I think that it is going to 
come back to bite us. It well ought to.
  With that, I think that we ought to oppose this rule because it goes 
against procedures that we have established in the House, and we ought 
to vote against the bill as well.
  Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Cardin).
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for 
yielding me this time. I would hope that we will defeat the previous 
question so that we can bring up the unemployment compensation 
extension.

[[Page H12764]]

  Last year, Congress left town without extending unemployment 
benefits, but at least we came back and did it retroactively.
  Now, some are saying that our unemployment is not as bad or not bad 
enough for us to extend the Federal unemployment benefits. They are 
saying it is time for the extended benefit program to end.
  But let us look at the facts. Never before has Congress allowed the 
termination of this program when the unemployment rate is higher than 
when the program started; at least up until now. Congress has never 
terminated the program with the unemployment benefits when the economy 
still has 2.4 million fewer jobs today than when the recession began. 
Congress has never stopped the extension of the program where the long-
term unemployment rates have tripled. Yet, there has been no offer to 
give any help. Congress has never allowed the extended benefit program 
to expire when the exhaustion rate for regular unemployment benefits is 
the highest since we have been keeping these records. Yet, we are 
talking about leaving town without extending unemployment benefits. 
Congress has never refused to extend unemployment benefits when there 
is $20 billion in the Federal Unemployment Trust Account, enough money 
to pay for extended benefits without going into debt, yet we are 
talking about leaving town today without extending the Federal 
unemployment benefits.
  The Washington Post got it right when it compared this to the last 
recession. It said, ``But in 1993, employment had grown for 22 of the 
23 previous months, and the overall number of jobs was above the 
prerecession level. This time around, employment has grown for only 4 
months in a row, following 6 straight months of job losses. Overall, 
the number of jobs is down 2.4 million since the current downturn 
started in early 2001.''
  Mr. Speaker, it would be wrong for us to leave town without helping 
those people who do not have jobs through no fault of their own. 
Unemployment compensation is not a luxury. We need to do it now.
  Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, this is probably the House's final work day this year, 
but Republican leaders are, once again, callously turning their backs 
on the millions of unemployed Americans whose Federal unemployment 
insurance will expire just days after Christmas. The Republican 
leadership has found billions of dollars to extend tax breaks for 
corporations, but they keep refusing to help the jobless Americans who 
are still suffering from the last Republican recession.
  To give Republicans one last chance to do the right thing, I will 
oppose the previous question on this rule so that we can immediately 
take up legislation to extend the expiring Federal unemployment 
benefits.
  This commonsense legislation would continue the extended unemployment 
benefits program through the first 6 months of next year. It would 
increase to 26 weeks the amounts of benefits provided under the 
program, up from 13 weeks. It would provide new help to the 1.4 million 
workers who have already exhausted their extended benefits and have yet 
to find work.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation is identical to the text of H.R. 3244, 
the Rangel-Cardin unemployment extension, and it also contains the text 
of H.R. 3554 by the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) which 
would fix a flaw in the current law that prevents those States with 
exceptionally high, long-term unemployment rates from continuing to 
receive the help their citizens need.
  Mr. Speaker, Americans still face a difficult jobs market. Since 
President Bush took office, the economy has lost 2.4 million jobs. That 
is the worst jobs record for a President since Herbert Hoover and the 
Great Depression. The percentage of Americans exhausting their 
unemployment benefits without finding a job has reached its highest 
level on record. These Americans need relief and they need it 
immediately. If we do not extend unemployment benefits, then more than 
2 million workers will lose benefits in the first 6 months of next 
year, including over 130,000 in my State of Texas alone.
  I want to stress that this vote is not intended to stop the omnibus 
conference report from consideration in the House. Voting ``no'' on the 
previous question will still allow that bill to move forward today. But 
a ``no'' vote will allow the House to vote on legislation to help 
provide some much-needed relief to our Nation's unemployed workers, 
particularly during this holiday season. However, if Members vote 
``yes'' on the previous question, they will kill any chance for 
extending unemployment assistance that is so desperately needed by 
millions of our constituents and their families.
  Let us be clear. This vote will give the House the opportunity to 
vote today on extended Federal unemployment benefits and on giving 
relief to those hardest hit to the President's dismal economic record. 
I urge a ``no'' vote on the previous question.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the amendment 
be printed in the Record immediately before the vote on the previous 
question.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Texas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as 
I may consume.
  This is a rule that provides for the consideration of the 
consolidated spending bill. It is something that we must do in this 
Congress to fund the government. That is what this rule is all about. I 
urge support of that.
  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to vote 
``no'' on the previous question so that this Congress can extend 
unemployment benefits to the millions of Americans who cannot find work 
in an economy with almost three unemployed workers for every job 
opening.
  Because of previous inaction, it is now ``zero hour'' for American 
families who are set to exhaust their State unemployment benefits. If 
we do not extend the Federal unemployment insurance program today, 
roughly half a million people who would have been eligible for the 
Federal extension program will not be receiving a paycheck or an 
unemployment check in January.
  These workers form the ranks of America's 2 million long-term 
unemployed workers. They have been out of work for at least half a year 
and they comprise almost a quarter of the unemployed, a larger share of 
those out of work than at any time since July 1983. A recent survey by 
the National Employment Law Project noted that over half of the long-
term unemployed had cut back on food purchases for their families, 
borrowed money to pay basic bills, and postponed necessary medical 
treatment.
  We can held these families today. The economic situation in this 
country has simply not improved enough to justify the end to the 
Federal unemployment extension program. Already, three of every four 
Federal unemployment recipients exhaust their benefits without finding 
a job.
  We must not punish millions of American families simply for losing 
their jobs at the wrong time of year, in the wrong month of the 
Congressional calendar. Vote ``no'' on the previous question.
  Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak today to object 
to consideration of the Omnibus Appropriations bill. I am specifically 
concerned with provisions in this legislation that would result in the 
removal of overtime pay protection for many American workers.
  A few months ago, this House voted to instruct conferees to remove 
unfair provisions on overtime pay. Despite the will of a majority of 
Members, those provisions still remain in this bill. This does not 
reflect the true position of the House of Representatives.
  Mr. Speaker, I am speaking on what has been called ``the Harkin 
amendment.'' This amendment to the FY2004 Labor-HHS appropriations bill 
would have prohibited the Department of Labor from issuing regulations 
that would disqualify overtime protection to workers protected under 
current law.
  The opponents of overtime pay protection would require employees to 
work more than 40 hours weekly without being paid time and a half for 
their work. The Department of Labor claims that only 644,000 current 
workers will lose overtime pay benefits under the provisions of this 
legislation.
  In sharp contrast, the Economic Policy Institute reports that over 
eight million eligible workers are earning overtime, and will be 
adversely affected by these regulations. This figure includes 5.5 
million workers paid hourly and 2.5 million salaried employees. We all 
know that we live in a time of scarce resources and few job 
opportunities. Therefore, this drastic pay cut, especially during the 
holiday season, is fundamentally unfair and wrong for American workers.

[[Page H12765]]

  Over 1.4 million Americans are also faced with the expiration of 
their unemployment benefits at the end of this month. We cannot in good 
conscience go home to celebrate the holidays with our families while 
unemployed Americans face a grim future and a bleak holiday season.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge the Members of this body to take action today 
that will give hope to American workers, and protect the wages they 
earn and extend the benefits they deserve.
  The amendment previously referred to by Mr. Frost is as follows:

 Previous Question for H. Res. 473, Rule for Conference Report on H.R. 
             2673, Agriculture/Omnibus Appropriations FY04

       At the end of the resolution add the following new section:
       Sec. 2. ``Immediately after disposition of the conference 
     report on H.R. 2673, it shall be in order without 
     intervention of any point of order to consider in the House 
     the bill (H.R. 3568) to provide extended unemployment 
     benefits to displaced workers, and to make other improvements 
     in the unemployment insurance system. The bill shall be 
     considered as read for amendment. The previous question shall 
     be considered as ordered on the bills 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 the Ways and Means; and 
     2) one motion to recommit with or without instructions.

  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of 
my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on ordering the previous 
question.
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the ayes appeared to have it.
  Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a 
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not 
present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Evidently a quorum is not present.
  The Sergeant at Arms will notify absent Members.
  Pursuant to clause 9 of rule XX, the Chair will reduce to 5 minutes 
the minimum time for electronic voting, if ordered, on the question of 
adoption of the resolution.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 214, 
nays 189, not voting 31, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 674]

                               YEAS--214

     Aderholt
     Akin
     Bachus
     Baker
     Ballenger
     Barrett (SC)
     Bartlett (MD)
     Barton (TX)
     Bass
     Beauprez
     Bereuter
     Biggert
     Bilirakis
     Bishop (UT)
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boehlert
     Boehner
     Bonilla
     Bonner
     Bono
     Boozman
     Bradley (NH)
     Brady (TX)
     Brown (SC)
     Brown-Waite, Ginny
     Burgess
     Burns
     Buyer
     Calvert
     Camp
     Cannon
     Cantor
     Capito
     Carter
     Castle
     Chabot
     Chocola
     Coble
     Cole
     Collins
     Cox
     Crane
     Crenshaw
     Culberson
     Cunningham
     Davis, Jo Ann
     Davis, Tom
     Deal (GA)
     DeLay
     DeMint
     Diaz-Balart, L.
     Diaz-Balart, M.
     Doolittle
     Dreier
     Duncan
     Dunn
     Ehlers
     Emerson
     English
     Everett
     Feeney
     Ferguson
     Flake
     Foley
     Forbes
     Fossella
     Franks (AZ)
     Frelinghuysen
     Garrett (NJ)
     Gerlach
     Gibbons
     Gilchrest
     Gillmor
     Gingrey
     Goode
     Goodlatte
     Goss
     Granger
     Graves
     Green (WI)
     Greenwood
     Gutknecht
     Harris
     Hart
     Hastings (WA)
     Hayworth
     Hefley
     Hensarling
     Herger
     Hobson
     Hoekstra
     Hostettler
     Hulshof
     Hunter
     Hyde
     Isakson
     Issa
     Istook
     Jenkins
     Johnson (CT)
     Johnson (IL)
     Johnson, Sam
     Jones (NC)
     Keller
     Kelly
     Kennedy (MN)
     King (IA)
     King (NY)
     Kingston
     Kirk
     Kline
     Knollenberg
     Kolbe
     LaHood
     Latham
     LaTourette
     Leach
     Lewis (CA)
     Lewis (KY)
     Linder
     LoBiondo
     Lucas (OK)
     Manzullo
     McCotter
     McCrery
     McHugh
     McInnis
     McKeon
     Mica
     Miller (FL)
     Miller (MI)
     Miller, Gary
     Moran (KS)
     Murphy
     Musgrave
     Myrick
     Nethercutt
     Neugebauer
     Ney
     Northup
     Norwood
     Nunes
     Nussle
     Osborne
     Ose
     Otter
     Oxley
     Paul
     Pearce
     Pence
     Peterson (PA)
     Petri
     Pickering
     Pitts
     Platts
     Pombo
     Porter
     Pryce (OH)
     Putnam
     Quinn
     Radanovich
     Ramstad
     Rehberg
     Renzi
     Reynolds
     Rogers (AL)
     Rogers (KY)
     Rogers (MI)
     Rohrabacher
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Royce
     Ryan (WI)
     Ryun (KS)
     Saxton
     Schrock
     Sensenbrenner
     Sessions
     Shadegg
     Shaw
     Shays
     Sherwood
     Shimkus
     Shuster
     Simmons
     Simpson
     Smith (MI)
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Souder
     Stearns
     Tancredo
     Tauzin
     Terry
     Thomas
     Thornberry
     Tiahrt
     Tiberi
     Toomey
     Turner (OH)
     Upton
     Vitter
     Walden (OR)
     Walsh
     Wamp
     Weldon (FL)
     Weldon (PA)
     Weller
     Whitfield
     Wicker
     Wilson (NM)
     Wilson (SC)
     Wolf
     Young (FL)

                               NAYS--189

     Abercrombie
     Ackerman
     Alexander
     Allen
     Andrews
     Baca
     Baird
     Baldwin
     Ballance
     Becerra
     Bell
     Berkley
     Berman
     Berry
     Bishop (GA)
     Bishop (NY)
     Blumenauer
     Boswell
     Boucher
     Boyd
     Brady (PA)
     Brown (OH)
     Brown, Corrine
     Capps
     Capuano
     Cardin
     Cardoza
     Carson (IN)
     Case
     Clay
     Clyburn
     Cooper
     Costello
     Cramer
     Crowley
     Cummings
     Davis (AL)
     Davis (CA)
     Davis (FL)
     Davis (IL)
     Davis (TN)
     DeFazio
     DeGette
     Delahunt
     DeLauro
     Deutsch
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Dooley (CA)
     Doyle
     Edwards
     Emanuel
     Engel
     Eshoo
     Etheridge
     Evans
     Farr
     Fattah
     Ford
     Frank (MA)
     Frost
     Gonzalez
     Gordon
     Green (TX)
     Grijalva
     Gutierrez
     Hall
     Harman
     Hastings (FL)
     Hill
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Hoeffel
     Holden
     Holt
     Honda
     Hooley (OR)
     Hoyer
     Inslee
     Israel
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Jefferson
     Johnson, E. B.
     Jones (OH)
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Kennedy (RI)
     Kildee
     Kilpatrick
     Kind
     Kleczka
     Lampson
     Langevin
     Larsen (WA)
     Larson (CT)
     Lee
     Levin
     Lewis (GA)
     Lipinski
     Lofgren
     Lowey
     Lucas (KY)
     Majette
     Maloney
     Markey
     Marshall
     Matheson
     Matsui
     McCarthy (MO)
     McCarthy (NY)
     McCollum
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McIntyre
     McNulty
     Meek (FL)
     Meeks (NY)
     Menendez
     Michaud
     Millender-McDonald
     Miller (NC)
     Mollohan
     Moore
     Moran (VA)
     Murtha
     Napolitano
     Neal (MA)
     Oberstar
     Obey
     Olver
     Ortiz
     Owens
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Pastor
     Payne
     Peterson (MN)
     Pomeroy
     Price (NC)
     Rahall
     Rangel
     Reyes
     Rodriguez
     Ross
     Rothman
     Roybal-Allard
     Ruppersberger
     Ryan (OH)
     Sabo
     Sanchez, Linda T.
     Sanchez, Loretta
     Sandlin
     Schakowsky
     Schiff
     Scott (GA)
     Scott (VA)
     Serrano
     Sherman
     Skelton
     Slaughter
     Smith (WA)
     Snyder
     Solis
     Spratt
     Stark
     Stenholm
     Strickland
     Stupak
     Tanner
     Tauscher
     Taylor (MS)
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Tierney
     Towns
     Turner (TX)
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Van Hollen
     Velazquez
     Visclosky
     Waters
     Watson
     Watt
     Weiner
     Woolsey
     Wu
     Wynn

                             NOT VOTING--31

     Burr
     Burton (IN)
     Carson (OK)
     Conyers
     Cubin
     Doggett
     Filner
     Fletcher
     Gallegly
     Gephardt
     Hayes
     Houghton
     Janklow
     John
     Kucinich
     Lantos
     Lynch
     Meehan
     Miller, George
     Nadler
     Pelosi
     Portman
     Regula
     Rush
     Sanders
     Sullivan
     Sweeney
     Taylor (NC)
     Waxman
     Wexler
     Young (AK)


                Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaTourette) (during the vote). Members 
are advised there are 2 minutes remaining in this vote.

                              {time}  1334

  Mr. WYNN changed his vote from ``yea'' to ``nay.''
  Mr. SAXTON changed his vote from ``nay'' to ``yea.''
  So the previous question was ordered.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  Stated for:
  Mr. HAYES. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 674, I was unavoidably 
detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''
  Mr. SWEENEY. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 674, I was unavoidably 
detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, on December 8, 2003, I was unavoidably 
detained at a meeting and missed the vote on rollcall No. 674, Ordering 
Previous Question on H. Res. 473, the Rule to accompany H.R. 2673, the 
Fiscal Year 2004 Agriculture Appropriations Act.
  Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''
  Stated against:
  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 674, due to urgent 
constituent support commitments in my Congressional District, I missed 
the vote. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaTourette). The question is on the 
resolution.
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the noes appeared to have it.


                             Recorded Vote

  Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.
  A recorded vote was ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. This will be a 5-minute vote.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 216, 
noes 189, not voting 29, as follows:

[[Page H12766]]

                             [Roll No. 675]

                               AYES--216

     Aderholt
     Bachus
     Baker
     Ballenger
     Barrett (SC)
     Bartlett (MD)
     Barton (TX)
     Bass
     Beauprez
     Bereuter
     Biggert
     Bilirakis
     Bishop (UT)
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boehlert
     Boehner
     Bonilla
     Bonner
     Bono
     Boozman
     Bradley (NH)
     Brady (TX)
     Brown (SC)
     Brown-Waite, Ginny
     Burgess
     Burns
     Buyer
     Calvert
     Camp
     Cannon
     Cantor
     Capito
     Carter
     Castle
     Chabot
     Chocola
     Coble
     Cole
     Collins
     Cox
     Crane
     Crenshaw
     Culberson
     Cunningham
     Davis, Jo Ann
     Davis, Tom
     Deal (GA)
     DeLay
     DeMint
     Diaz-Balart, L.
     Diaz-Balart, M.
     Doolittle
     Dreier
     Duncan
     Dunn
     Ehlers
     Emerson
     English
     Everett
     Ferguson
     Foley
     Forbes
     Fossella
     Franks (AZ)
     Frelinghuysen
     Garrett (NJ)
     Gerlach
     Gibbons
     Gilchrest
     Gillmor
     Gingrey
     Goode
     Goodlatte
     Goss
     Granger
     Graves
     Green (WI)
     Greenwood
     Gutknecht
     Hall
     Harris
     Hart
     Hastings (WA)
     Hayes
     Hayworth
     Hefley
     Hensarling
     Herger
     Hobson
     Hoekstra
     Hostettler
     Hulshof
     Hunter
     Hyde
     Isakson
     Issa
     Istook
     Jenkins
     Johnson (CT)
     Johnson (IL)
     Johnson, Sam
     Jones (NC)
     Keller
     Kelly
     Kennedy (MN)
     King (IA)
     King (NY)
     Kingston
     Kirk
     Kline
     Knollenberg
     Kolbe
     LaHood
     Latham
     LaTourette
     Leach
     Lewis (CA)
     Lewis (KY)
     Linder
     LoBiondo
     Lucas (OK)
     Manzullo
     McCotter
     McCrery
     McHugh
     McInnis
     McKeon
     Mica
     Miller (FL)
     Miller (MI)
     Miller, Gary
     Moran (KS)
     Murphy
     Musgrave
     Myrick
     Nethercutt
     Neugebauer
     Ney
     Norwood
     Nunes
     Nussle
     Osborne
     Ose
     Otter
     Oxley
     Paul
     Pearce
     Pence
     Peterson (PA)
     Petri
     Pickering
     Pitts
     Platts
     Pombo
     Porter
     Portman
     Pryce (OH)
     Putnam
     Quinn
     Radanovich
     Ramstad
     Regula
     Rehberg
     Renzi
     Reynolds
     Rogers (AL)
     Rogers (KY)
     Rogers (MI)
     Rohrabacher
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Royce
     Ryan (WI)
     Ryun (KS)
     Saxton
     Schrock
     Sensenbrenner
     Sessions
     Shadegg
     Shaw
     Shays
     Sherwood
     Shimkus
     Shuster
     Simmons
     Simpson
     Smith (MI)
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Souder
     Stearns
     Sullivan
     Sweeney
     Tancredo
     Tauzin
     Terry
     Thomas
     Thornberry
     Tiahrt
     Tiberi
     Toomey
     Turner (OH)
     Upton
     Vitter
     Walden (OR)
     Walsh
     Wamp
     Weldon (FL)
     Weldon (PA)
     Weller
     Whitfield
     Wicker
     Wilson (NM)
     Wilson (SC)
     Wolf
     Young (FL)

                               NOES--189

     Abercrombie
     Ackerman
     Alexander
     Allen
     Andrews
     Baca
     Baird
     Baldwin
     Ballance
     Becerra
     Bell
     Berkley
     Berman
     Berry
     Bishop (GA)
     Bishop (NY)
     Blumenauer
     Boswell
     Boucher
     Boyd
     Brady (PA)
     Brown (OH)
     Brown, Corrine
     Capps
     Capuano
     Cardin
     Cardoza
     Carson (IN)
     Case
     Clay
     Clyburn
     Conyers
     Cooper
     Costello
     Cramer
     Crowley
     Cummings
     Davis (AL)
     Davis (CA)
     Davis (FL)
     Davis (IL)
     Davis (TN)
     DeFazio
     DeGette
     Delahunt
     DeLauro
     Deutsch
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Dooley (CA)
     Doyle
     Edwards
     Emanuel
     Engel
     Eshoo
     Etheridge
     Evans
     Farr
     Fattah
     Flake
     Ford
     Frank (MA)
     Frost
     Gonzalez
     Gordon
     Green (TX)
     Grijalva
     Gutierrez
     Harman
     Hastings (FL)
     Hill
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Hoeffel
     Holden
     Holt
     Honda
     Hooley (OR)
     Hoyer
     Inslee
     Israel
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Jefferson
     Johnson, E. B.
     Jones (OH)
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Kennedy (RI)
     Kildee
     Kilpatrick
     Kind
     Kleczka
     Kucinich
     Lampson
     Langevin
     Larsen (WA)
     Larson (CT)
     Lee
     Levin
     Lewis (GA)
     Lipinski
     Lofgren
     Lowey
     Lucas (KY)
     Majette
     Maloney
     Markey
     Marshall
     Matheson
     Matsui
     McCarthy (MO)
     McCarthy (NY)
     McCollum
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McIntyre
     McNulty
     Meek (FL)
     Menendez
     Michaud
     Millender-McDonald
     Miller (NC)
     Mollohan
     Moran (VA)
     Murtha
     Napolitano
     Neal (MA)
     Oberstar
     Obey
     Olver
     Ortiz
     Owens
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Pastor
     Payne
     Peterson (MN)
     Pomeroy
     Price (NC)
     Rahall
     Rangel
     Reyes
     Rodriguez
     Ross
     Rothman
     Roybal-Allard
     Ruppersberger
     Ryan (OH)
     Sabo
     Sanchez, Linda T.
     Sanchez, Loretta
     Sandlin
     Schakowsky
     Schiff
     Scott (GA)
     Scott (VA)
     Serrano
     Sherman
     Skelton
     Slaughter
     Smith (WA)
     Snyder
     Solis
     Spratt
     Stark
     Stenholm
     Strickland
     Stupak
     Tanner
     Tauscher
     Taylor (MS)
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Tierney
     Towns
     Turner (TX)
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Van Hollen
     Velazquez
     Visclosky
     Waters
     Watson
     Watt
     Weiner
     Woolsey
     Wu
     Wynn

                             NOT VOTING--29

     Akin
     Burr
     Burton (IN)
     Carson (OK)
     Cubin
     Doggett
     Feeney
     Filner
     Fletcher
     Gallegly
     Gephardt
     Houghton
     Janklow
     John
     Lantos
     Lynch
     Meehan
     Meeks (NY)
     Miller, George
     Moore
     Nadler
     Northup
     Pelosi
     Rush
     Sanders
     Taylor (NC)
     Waxman
     Wexler
     Young (AK)


                Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (during the vote). Members are advised there 
are 2 minutes remaining in this vote.

                              {time}  1343

  So the resolution was agreed to.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
  Stated against:
  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 675, due to urgent 
constituent support commitments in my congressional district, I missed 
the vote. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

                          ____________________