[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 57 (Thursday, May 11, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H2508-H2509]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  PROVIDING FOR FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 5122, NATIONAL DEFENSE 
                 AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2007

  Mr. COLE of Oklahoma. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on 
Rules, I call up House Resolution 811 and ask for its immediate 
consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                              H. Res. 811

       Resolved,  That at any time after the adoption of this 
     resolution the Speaker may, pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule 
     XVIII, declare the House resolved into the Committee of the 
     Whole House on the state of the Union for further 
     consideration of the bill (H.R. 5122) to authorize 
     appropriations for fiscal year 2007 for military activities 
     of the Department of Defense, to prescribe military personnel 
     strengths for fiscal year 2007, and for other purposes.
       Sec. 2. (a) Notwithstanding clause 11 of rule XVIII, no 
     further amendment to the committee amendment in the nature of 
     a substitute shall be in order except those printed in the 
     report of the Committee on Rules accompanying this resolution 
     and amendments en bloc described in section 3 of this 
     resolution.
       (b) Each amendment printed in the report of the Committee 
     on Rules shall be considered only in the order printed in the 
     report (except as specified in section 4 of this resolution), 
     may be offered only be a Member designated in the report, 
     shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for the time 
     specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the 
     proponent and an opponent, shall not be subject to amendment 
     (except that the chairman and ranking minority member of the 
     Committee on Armed Services each may offer one pro forma 
     amendment for the purpose of further debate on any pending 
     amendment), and shall not be subject to a demand for division 
     of the question in the House or in the Committee of the 
     Whole.
       (c) All points of order against amendments printed in the 
     report of the Committee on Rules or amendments en bloc 
     described in section 3 of this resolution are waived.
       Sec. 3. It shall be in order at any time for the chairman 
     of the Committee on Armed Services or his designee to offer 
     amendments en bloc consisting of amendments printed in the 
     report of the Committee on Rules accompanying this resolution 
     not earlier disposed of. Amendments en bloc offered pursuant 
     to this section shall be considered as read, shall be 
     debatable for 20 minutes equally divided and controlled by 
     the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on 
     Armed Services or their designees, shall not be subject to 
     amendment, and shall not be subject to a demand for division 
     of the question in the House or in the Committee of the 
     Whole. The original proponent of an amendment included in 
     such amendments en bloc may insert a statement in the 
     Congressional Record immediately before the disposition of 
     the amendments en bloc.
       Sec. 4. The Chairman of the Committee of the Whole may 
     recognize for consideration of any amendment printed in the 
     report of the Committee on Rules accompanying this resolution 
     out of the order printed, but not sooner than 30 minutes 
     after the chairman of the Committee on Armed Services or a 
     designee announces from the floor a request to that effect.
       Sec. 5. At the conclusion of consideration of the bill for 
     amendment the Committee shall rise and report the bill to the 
     House with such amendments as may have been adopted. Any 
     Member may demand a separate vote in the House on any 
     amendment adopted in the Committee of the Whole to the bill 
     or to the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute. 
     The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the 
     bill and amendments thereto to final passage without 
     intervening motion except one motion to recommit with or 
     without instructions.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole) is 
recognized for 1 hour.
  Mr. COLE of Oklahoma. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I 
yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. 
Slaughter), 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.


                             General Leave

  Mr. COLE of Oklahoma. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their 
remarks, and to insert tabular and extraneous material.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Oklahoma?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. COLE of Oklahoma. Mr. Speaker, on Wednesday, the Rules Committee 
met and reported a second rule for consideration of the House Report 
for H.R. 5122, the Fiscal Year 2007 National Defense Authorization Act.
  Mr. Speaker, this rule is a structured rule and provides for further 
consideration of the bill, H.R. 5122. It makes in order only those 
amendments printed in the Rules Committee report accompanying the 
resolution and amendments en bloc described in section 3 of the 
resolution.
  The rule provides that amendments printed in the report shall be 
considered only in the order printed in the report, except as specified 
in section 4 of the resolution, may be offered only by a Member 
designated in the report, and shall be considered as read.
  It provides that each amendment printed in the report shall be 
debatable for the time specified in the report, equally divided and 
controlled by a proponent and an opponent, shall not be subject to 
amendment, except that the chairman and ranking minority member of the 
Committee on Armed Services each may offer one pro forma amendment for 
the purpose of further debate on any pending amendment, and shall not 
be subject to a demand for division of the question in the House or in 
the Committee of the Whole.
  Mr. Speaker, the rule waives all points of order against amendments 
printed in the report and those amendments en bloc as described in 
section 3 of the resolution. Additionally, it authorizes the chairman 
of the Committee on Armed Services, or his designee, to offer 
amendments en bloc consisting of amendments printed in the Rules 
Committee report not earlier disposed of, which shall be considered as 
read, shall be debatable for 20 minutes, equally divided and controlled 
by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Armed 
Services or their designees, and shall not be subject to amendment or 
demand for division of the question in the House or the Committee of 
the Whole.

[[Page H2509]]

                              {time}  1100

  The rule provides that the original proponent of an amendment 
included in such amendments en bloc may insert a statement in the 
Congressional Record immediately before the disposition of the 
amendments en bloc.
  The rule also allows the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole to 
recognize for consideration any amendment printed in the report out of 
the order printed, but not sooner than 30 minutes after the Chairman of 
the Armed Services Committee or his designee announces from the floor a 
request to that effect. Lastly, the rule provides one motion to 
recommit with or without instructions.
  Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of this rule and the underlying 
legislation. Yesterday, I believe we had a good discussion about the 
importance of the underlying legislation, and the rule passed 
overwhelmingly. The same facts that were true yesterday remain so 
today.
  Mr. Speaker, I am particularly proud about the way the rules for the 
fiscal year 2007 National Defense Authorization Act have been 
structured. Let's have a minute to review the facts here. The 
underlying legislation had broad bipartisan agreement, passing the 
committee by a vote of 60-1.
  Between the subcommittee and the full committee, the Armed Services 
Committee passed 75 amendments, 36 of those by Republican authors, 38 
by Democrats, and one bipartisan amendment. Out of the 100 amendments 
submitted to the Rules Committee, we made 31 in order, 15 Republican, 
13 Democrats and two bipartisan.
  In addition, six amendments were incorporated into the manager's 
amendment.
  Today, we may well hear that the amendment process was arbitrary and 
unfair, but the facts do not support the claims. This legislation 
proceeded through regular order. We will have a vigorous discussion 
today, and the amendments in order will allow either side to improve 
and perfect the defense authorization further.
  As usual, minority rights are protected by allowing a motion to 
recommit with or without instructions. This process has been open, 
thorough and fair. While not every amendment was made in order, all 
were considered. Only nine of the 60-odd amendments that were not 
included were actually raised by the minority for consideration in the 
Rules Committee.
  Mr. Speaker, yesterday I spoke about the importance of four long-term 
challenges relating to national security and how this bill addresses 
them. Additionally, I drew attention to the fact that our deployed 
servicemen and women rely on this legislation to directly support their 
efforts in our Global War on Terror.
  Nothing said today will change these facts. Today is really the day 
we should be focused on uniting as Americans and supporting our troops 
in the field. No one piece of legislation is ever perfect. Today is no 
exception. But today we have a very good piece of legislation that was 
crafted in a bipartisan way through regular order.
  At the end of this debate, the House will have considered over 30 
percent of all submitted amendments on the floor. The others were 
previously considered at the committee level. There are no 
irregularities here.
  While we will no doubt have some spirited disagreements on some 
amendments, including some not brought to the floor, this bill is, at 
its core, an example of bipartisan cooperation and consensus.
  The Members of the minority who serve on the House Armed Services 
Committee have praised the committee chairman, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Hunter) for its inclusiveness and have said that the 
legislation we are considering today deserves to pass. When all is said 
and done, it will pass by an overwhelming bipartisan majority. That is 
something in which this House, the American people and, more 
importantly, our men and women in uniform can take pride.
  Mr. Speaker, realizing the facts surrounding the fiscal year 2007 
National Defense Authorization Act, I urge the support of the rule and 
the underlying bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, listening to my colleague's remarks, he certainly made 
it clear how proud he was of the bipartisanship in that committee. And 
so should we all be.
  But all bipartisanship ended when this came to the Rules Committee. 
Of course it was an overwhelming vote. They have nine members, we have 
four. The tragedy here is that major amendments that Democrats wanted 
were not allowed to be heard today, very important things that we want 
to do.
  For example, the ranking member, Mr. Skelton, was denied an 
amendment. The minority whip, Mr. Hoyer, was denied an amendment. And 
so, Mr. Speaker, through you, I want to ask Mr. Cole if he will grant 
me a unanimous consent request so that I can amend H. Res. 811 and add 
several important Democratic amendments not allowed under this 
restrictive rule.
  Mr. Speaker, as you know, when Speaker Hastert was in the chair, he 
said by unanimous consent that we can easily do this. The amendments we 
want to add back are: A Skelton amendment that helps military families 
with prescription drug costs; an Israel amendment that calls for 
religious sensitivity by our military chaplains; an important Hoyer 
amendment on alternative energy; a Capps amendment to be able to defend 
her district against a nongermane provision in the bill; and a McGovern 
amendment to close down the School of the Americas.
  I ask if he will yield me that time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Does the gentleman from Oklahoma yield to 
the gentlewoman from New York for the purpose of a unanimous consent 
request?
  Mr. COLE of Oklahoma. No, Mr. Speaker, I do not. Those matters can be 
dealt with on a motion to recommit.

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