[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 164 (Sunday, December 18, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H12224]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        JUNIOR DUCK STAMP REAUTHORIZATION AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2005

  Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on 
Resources be discharged from further consideration of the bill (H.R. 
3179) to reauthorize and amend the Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and 
Design Program Act of 1994, and ask for its immediate consideration in 
the House.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  Mr. OBEY. Reserving the right to object, Mr. Speaker, for the last 8 
hours, we have been dealing with a majority leadership that has 
stripped out of the appropriations process and out of the conference 
virtually every major understanding we have had on those bills. We have 
had the United States Senate ram down our throats an ANWR provision. 
And then after we were assured in conference that there would be no 
language with respect to drug company indemnification, 3 hours after 
the conference report we get 45 pages of language which Senator Frist 
and the Speaker of the House demanded be included in the conference 
report after the conference was specifically told it would not be in 
there.
  Now, I want to know how do we have assurances on any bill brought to 
this floor under unanimous consent that that same kind of nonsense is 
not occurring in these instances? I have a responsibility as the 
ranking member of the Appropriations Committee to try to defend the 
integrity of this House, and I will use any opportunity I can to point 
out how the majority leadership in this House is destroying the 
principle that this is supposed to be the greatest deliberative body in 
the world.
  How long is the bill? Because, Mr. Speaker, I am tempted to demand 
that every single bill that comes up tonight be read in its entirety.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The bill is four pages.
  Mr. OBEY. I would like to have the bill read.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under this unanimous-consent procedure a 
bill is reported by title only.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I will withdraw that request because I did not 
inform the gentleman ahead of time, and he just happened to get in the 
line of fire on something he should not have been involved in.
  Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. OBEY. Absolutely.
  Mr. POMBO. The bills that we are doing by UC right now are bills that 
have been before the committee for a long time. The particular bill you 
are objecting to is a bill that the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Ortiz) 
has been working on for years. It is something that means a lot to him. 
He was sitting right behind you just a minute ago, and I am sure he 
would be happy to explain it to you. We are not adding anything new 
into the bill of the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Ortiz).
  Mr. OBEY. I am not objecting to any bill, and I am not suggesting you 
did. What I am doing is using the only avenue available to me since we 
are operating under some very strange rules in this House to point out 
that even if these matters had been cleared on both sides of the aisle, 
there is really no way for the individual Member to protect himself if 
the leadership of this House is going to depart from what ought to be 
the custom in this place of not dictating what goes into conference 
reports.
  Mr. POMBO. If the gentleman will yield, these bills have been worked 
out. They have been cleared by the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. 
Rahall) and myself. Most of these bills are from your side of the 
aisle, and they are bills that have been worked on for a number of 
years. There is nothing in here that has changed. I understand your 
frustration. It happens every year when we get to the end of the 
session that stupid stuff happens.
  Mr. OBEY. With all due respect, what does not happen is that the 
leadership does not abuse its power routinely to alter the contents of 
conference reports. So I know the gentleman didn't, and I have no 
objection to the gentleman proceeding. But I wanted to use this as an 
opportunity to point out that the leadership of this House, starting 
with the Speaker of the House, is abdicating his responsibility to 
protect the integrity of this institution.
  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the right to object.
  Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my unanimous consent request.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The request is withdrawn.
  Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on 
Resources be discharged from further consideration of the bill (H.R. 
3179) to reauthorize and amend the Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and 
Design Program Act of 1994, and ask for its immediate consideration in 
the House.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  Mr. MARKEY. Reserving the right to object, Mr. Speaker, this is one 
of the most preposterous situations that the House has ever been placed 
in. Poised to be placed before the House in just a matter of moments is 
a bill, the Defense appropriations bill, which is in violation of the 
germaneness rules of the House; it is in violation of any scope that 
the Defense appropriations bill has ever allowed to be considered in 
that bill because inside that bill is a provision which will in fact 
allow for the drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge.
  The gentleman from California is the chairman of the committee, the 
Natural Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Arctic 
National Wildlife Refuge.
  Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my unanimous consent request.
  Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman is out here propounding. I would like to 
continue to be recognized.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will suspend.
  The request is withdrawn.

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