[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 188 (Tuesday, November 14, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H5735-H5738]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 5894, DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH 
AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS 
                               ACT, 2024

  Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I 
call up House Resolution 864 and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                              H. Res. 864

       Resolved, That at any time after 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 consideration of 
     the bill (H.R. 5894) making appropriations for the 
     Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and 
     Education, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending 
     September 30, 2024, and for other purposes. The first reading 
     of the bill shall be dispensed with. All points of order 
     against consideration of the bill are waived. General debate 
     shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour 
     equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking 
     minority member of the Committee on Appropriations or their 
     respective designees. After general debate the bill shall be 
     considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. An 
     amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the 
     text of Rules Committee Print 118-13, modified by the 
     amendment printed in part A of the report of the Committee on 
     Rules accompanying this resolution, shall be considered as 
     adopted in the House and in the Committee of the Whole. The 
     bill, as amended, shall be considered as the original bill 
     for the purpose of further amendment under the five-minute 
     rule and shall be considered as read. All points of order 
     against provisions in the bill, as amended, are waived.
       Sec. 2. (a) No further amendment to H.R. 5894, as amended, 
     shall be in order except those printed in part B of the 
     report of the Committee on Rules accompanying this 
     resolution, amendments en bloc described in section 3 of this 
     resolution, and pro forma amendments described in section 4 
     of this resolution.
       (b) Each further amendment printed in part B of the report 
     of the Committee on Rules shall be considered only in the 
     order printed in the report, may be offered only by 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 as provided by 
     section 4 of this resolution, 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 further amendments printed 
     in part B of the report of the Committee on Rules or against 
     amendments en bloc described in section 3 of this resolution 
     are waived.
       Sec. 3.  It shall be in order at any time for the chair of 
     the Committee on Appropriations or her designee to offer 
     amendments en bloc consisting of further amendments printed 
     in part B of 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 chair and ranking minority 
     member of the Committee on Appropriations or their respective 
     designees, shall not be subject to amendment except as 
     provided by section 4 of this resolution, and shall not be 
     subject to a demand for division of the question in the House 
     or in the Committee of the Whole.
       Sec. 4.  During consideration of H.R. 5894 for amendment, 
     the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on 
     Appropriations or their respective designees may offer up to 
     10 pro forma amendments each at any point for the purpose of 
     debate.
       Sec. 5.  At the conclusion of consideration of H.R. 5894 
     for amendment the Committee shall rise and report the bill, 
     as amended, to the House with such further amendments as may 
     have been adopted. The previous question shall be considered 
     as ordered on the bill, as amended, and on any further 
     amendment thereto to final passage without intervening motion 
     except one motion to recommit.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Texas is recognized for 1 
hour.

                              {time}  0915

  Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the 
customary 30 minutes to the Congresswoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. 
Scanlon), 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. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Texas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, last night the Rules Committee met and 
reported a rule, House Resolution 864, providing for consideration of 
H.R. 5894. The rule provides for consideration of H.R. 5894 under a 
structured rule with 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by 
the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on 
Appropriations or their designee.
  The rule further makes in order 146 amendments. The rule also 
provides that the chair and the ranking member of the Appropriations 
Committee, or their respective designees, may offer up to 10 pro forma 
amendments each at any point for the purpose of debate. Finally, the 
rule additionally provides for one motion to recommit.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the rule and the underlying bill, 
H.R. 5894, the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related 
Agencies Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2024.
  Mr. Speaker, the Republican majority is committed to fulfilling their 
promises to the American people by ensuring that we pass H.R. 5894 to 
fund our government and its crucial public health, education, and labor 
programs.
  This bill is a significant accomplishment and the most recent step 
House Republicans are taking to restore fiscal responsibility to the 
Federal budget after years of overspending. It is a fact that our 
Federal spending is out of control, and H.R. 5894 is a step in the 
right direction, encouraging responsibility and restoring 
accountability.
  H.R. 5894 provides $147 billion for vital programs at the Departments 
of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education while still reducing 
total Federal spending by over $60 billion.
  The bill eliminates 61 programs, 50 of which are currently not 
authorized. It reduces funding for an additional 54 other programs and 
prohibits funds from unnecessary regulations and partisan executive 
orders.
  This Congress should aim to prioritize funding programs that can have 
positive outcomes and deliver results for the American people. Inflated 
spending for duplicative programs is a sure way to fuel the economic 
situation in which we now find ourselves.
  H.R. 5894 funds key priorities, including maintaining funding for 
essential education, public health, substance abuse and mental health, 
and veterans job training programs.
  Republicans have fought to ensure that funding is prioritized to help 
all school districts safely educate children, including children with 
special needs. H.R. 5894 also contains provisions to support funding 
for charter schools, Pell grants, and local career and technical 
training programs for those students who are not seeking a college 
degree to ensure that our next generation is given opportunity and 
access to essential education programs.
  Especially important to many districts around the country, including 
mine, this bill maintains vital funding for the Impact Aid Program, 
which supports school districts affected by a Federal presence such as 
a military base.
  H.R. 5894 promotes American values of freedom, faith, and family by 
prohibiting the executive order requiring biological boys to be allowed 
to compete in girls' and women's sports, protecting religious freedom 
for students on college campuses, and strengthening parental rights for 
children in school.
  Republicans understand that our country is facing a mental health 
crisis, along with record-breaking rates of substance abuse in the 
United States; therefore, this bill has designated funding for programs 
that combat opioid abuse in urban and rural communities. These crucial 
programs allow Americans to access the proper care that they need, 
including vital telehealth and response resources.

[[Page H5736]]

  Democrats seem to disregard the value of the taxpayer dollar. They 
have continuously proven that they prioritize additional spending, 
progressive initiatives, and push through woke policies that will have 
negative consequences on the health and well-being of the American 
people.
  When they were in the majority, congressional Democrats took drastic 
steps to push through legislation, such as the Inflation Reduction Act, 
saying that it would lower healthcare costs for America's seniors. In 
fact, we have already seen that this legislation has resulted in a halt 
to innovation and disincentivized investment into high-stakes research, 
such as rare diseases.
  This bill, H.R. 5894, contains provisions that fund and support 
biomedical research programs that work to examine the cures for cancer, 
Alzheimer's disease, chronic conditions, and rare diseases. Under 
Republican leadership, the United States will continue to remain a 
leader in healthcare innovation, while peeling back the partisan 
politics that would limit access to lifesaving medicines.
  The bill also maintains longstanding provisions of the Hyde 
amendment, bipartisan protections which have been in place since 1976. 
These pro-life policy protections prohibit Federal funds from being 
used for abortion while also including essential protections for 
healthcare providers who refuse to provide abortions.
  Under the leadership of Democrats, the right for America's medical 
professionals to operate under their own autonomy and authority was 
under constant attack. Future medical professionals are being forced to 
practice medicine outside their own standards or to not practice at 
all. Protections placed in this bill ensure that any medical 
professional who does not wish to perform procedures that are against 
their religious or moral standards simply do not have to. The 
Republican Party continues to fight to maintain the balance between the 
professional practice of medicine and individual values.

  Additionally, H.R. 5894 prohibits funding from being used to promote 
gain-of-function research or from any funding going to EcoHealth 
Alliance, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, or any other lab located in 
the People's Republic of China, Cuba, Iran, or Russia.
  Americans deserve transparency for the years lost due to the COVID-19 
pandemic. The ability to perform biomedical research is a privilege and 
should not be abused. It is our responsibility to ensure that American 
dollars do not go toward dangerous research in adversarial countries.
  Mr. Speaker, the United States is facing a significant healthcare 
workforce shortage. The government continues to have a role in deciding 
what is best for American doctors and their patients. This is, in fact, 
unacceptable. The combination of low reimbursement rates in the 
physician fee schedule, the burdensome compliance requirements through 
the No Surprises Act, and the enforcement of unnecessary vaccine 
mandates on healthcare workers has only fueled this ongoing shortage.
  This bill prohibits the enforcement of regulations by the Centers for 
Medicare and Medicaid Services to force a vaccine mandate on healthcare 
workers. Healthcare providers should not be forced to comply with these 
mandates that infringe upon their individual freedom of choice.
  We must come together and pass this bill and continue our commitment 
to the health and well-being of our people. The United States is facing 
record-breaking inflation, government spending is at an all-time high, 
and our communities continue to face barriers to education, healthcare, 
and recent partisan policies that stifle healthcare innovation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for 
yielding the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  For the past 6 months, the Republican majority, embroiled in chaos 
and dysfunction, has wasted valuable time. Because they are unable to 
perform the most basic job of Congress, working with Representatives 
from both parties and across the country to fund the government, they 
have brought us to the brink of a shutdown twice in the last 2 months.
  Before that, they threatened to tank the global economy, and if their 
proposals pass this week, we will likely face new shutdown threats 
again in the new year.
  This isn't serious governance. It is not serious or governance at 
all. They are playing politics with Americans' lives and our country's 
future.
  It is outrageous that my constituents are yet again subjected to the 
uncertainty and fear that their paychecks won't come next week and that 
services they rely upon, like LIHEAP and WIC, will be interrupted. 
House Republicans still refuse to come to the table where the majority 
of the American people are and work with us in a bipartisan way to pass 
the spending bills that Americans expect and deserve.
  The Senate is doing it. Why can't the House?
  Instead, House Republicans continue to try to force the entire 
country to go along with their farcical and extremist approach to 
government funding. Unsurprisingly, they continue to fail, over and 
over again, on the House floor. Their proposals are so extreme that 
Members of their own party won't even vote for them. The MAGA majority 
may have new leadership, but it is the same old story.
  They plan to kick the government funding can down the road, once 
again, so they can try to pass all 12 spending bills, which are now 2 
months overdue, that cater to the most extreme and noisy fringe of the 
MAGA party.
  These are bills that reject any bipartisan input, bills that contain 
harmful spending cuts that violate the Fiscal Responsibility Act's 
spending levels that were approved on a bipartisan basis and signed 
into law last spring, and these bills include poison pill policy riders 
to enshrine MAGA culture wars into law and force these extremist views 
upon every American.
  There is no clearer example of that than the unacceptable spending 
bill they have brought to the House floor today.
  The Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations 
bill is supposed to help Americans access education, jobs, and 
healthcare. These are the foundations of our constituents' lives and 
livelihoods.
  Mr. Speaker, I don't know about you, but they are three of the issues 
that I hear about the most when I have the opportunity to be back home 
rather than debating meaningless bills and amendments here on the House 
floor. Yet the majority has proposed legislation that slashes funding 
for existing programs supporting these parts of Americans' lives by a 
shocking 28 percent across the board, back to 2008 spending levels with 
even deeper cuts in certain critical areas.
  Let me outline what these cuts will mean for Americans.

                              {time}  0930

  Mr. Speaker, our public schools are responsible for educating the 
next generation of Americans: our civic leaders, our innovators, and 
our taxpayers. They are the key to our country's present and its 
future. However, this bill seeks to further efforts of MAGA extremists 
to undermine our public school systems by ripping critical funding away 
from the K-12 schools that need it the most.
  This bill slashes billions--that is billions with a b; 80 percent--
from title I, the foundational Federal program that for over five 
decades has helped schools ensure that low-income students have access 
to a high-quality, well-rounded education to equip them for what lies 
ahead.
  These cuts will be devastating for the children who live in my 
district, which houses one of the largest public school districts in 
the country. Hundreds of millions of dollars in funding will be slashed 
from Philadelphia public schools.
  Thousands of teachers will lose their jobs, but it is not just my 
district that will suffer. It is everyone's. Mr. Speaker, Virginia's 
Sixth District will lose $23 million in title I funding. Mr. Burgess' 
district, Texas 26, will lose $22 million. That is over 300 teachers 
that will lose their jobs in each of those districts.
  I challenge any of my colleagues to explain to the teachers and 
families in their districts how they can support a bill that cuts 
millions of dollars and hundreds of teachers from their local public 
schools, particularly at a time when our children need extra help.

[[Page H5737]]

  Members of Congress who vote for this proposal will be telling kids 
and families clearly and cruelly that where they live or how much money 
their parents make is the measure of whether they are worthy of a good 
education and future success. That is un-American.
  In addition to title I cuts, this bill also eliminates--not cuts, 
eliminates--funding for programs that support English language 
learning, academic achievement, professional development for educators, 
and the emotional and mental health of our students.
  In this bill, MAGA Republicans are going after preschool by slashing 
hundreds of millions of dollars from Head Start, which has been proven 
to provide young children with a critical early learning foundation 
that sets them up for lifelong success and saves taxpayers dollars down 
the road.
  I want so much better than what is in this bill for our children, and 
I find it deeply disturbing that my Republican colleagues don't feel 
the same.
  Early childhood and K-12 education aren't the only things on the 
House Republicans' chopping block. With this bill, they are also 
abandoning college students and hardworking people trying to improve 
their lives and their futures through higher education and job 
training.
  This bill would eliminate the Federal Work-Study Program for hundreds 
of thousands of hardworking students who use it to pay for a higher 
education.
  It would block regulations to implement income-based student loan 
repayment programs, and this bill would rip need-based financial aid 
away from over a million students. Consequently, it will be harder for 
people from working families to get a degree, and it will stifle their 
potential earnings and opportunities in the job market.
  This bill also leaves behind Americans who want to work, who want to 
access job training, or want to find a higher paying job to better 
support themselves and their families. When employers across this 
country are scrambling to find qualified job candidates, House 
Republicans are defunding the programs that prepare Americans for the 
21st century workforce.
  The bill they have proposed eliminates job training for over half a 
million Americans, the WIOA programs, youth job training, adult job 
training, and employment programs for seniors.
  The bill also cuts over a billion dollars from critical worker 
protection agencies at the Department of Labor, including programs that 
ensure worker safety and promote equality and economic security for 
working women.
  Every day, I see how my district's dozens of higher education 
institutions, including community colleges, bring innovation and 
prosperous futures to our region, but House Republicans' shortsighted 
vision for our country undermines these accomplishments and jeopardizes 
the strength of our workforce for generations to come.
  Finally, the majority is using this bill to come after programs that 
support Americans' health, safety, and well-being. My district and the 
whole Philadelphia region is a hub for biomedical innovation, but the 
bill before us would undercut this lifesaving work by slashing funding 
for cancer and neurological research. Programs that help us fight 
public health crises, like opioid misuse and HIV/AIDS, will be 
eliminated.
  As grieving Americans everywhere call out for action to bring an end 
to senseless gun violence, MAGA Republicans in the House, rather than 
answer these calls, want to eliminate funding for research on how to 
keep communities safe from firearms, now the leading cause of death for 
American children.
  This bill also puts women's and children's health at risk. At a time 
when the U.S. lags far behind all other developed countries in 
addressing maternal mortality--not for lack of will and resources--and 
outcomes for mothers, but particularly women of color, are getting 
worse, this bill cuts hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for 
programs that support safe pregnancies, healthy babies, and affordable 
access to contraception and a full range of reproductive healthcare.
  Of course, this bill also includes a toxic stew of unpopular, 
extremist policy riders, yet another example of rightwing lawmakers 
pushing their extreme agenda to ban abortion care nationwide.
  This is a terrible bill, and the House majority knows it. It has been 
dictated by its most extreme Members. It couldn't even survive a 
committee markup. Therefore, the party that preaches regular order has 
sent it straight to the floor. On the way, with no committee input, 
this bill acquired additional policy riders, and no one in the Rules 
Committee could explain last night how they got in there since they 
didn't happen in committee.

  This bill is so extreme it may have to be pulled from the floor, like 
the two bills that preceded it last week, because it cannot win enough 
votes even from the House Republican Conference. If it does pass the 
House, it will not pass the Senate or be able to overcome a White House 
veto.
  The appropriations legislation that House Republicans have put in 
front of us today does nothing to invest in Americans or America's 
future. Instead, it slashes programs and support for children, 
families, workers, and women. It is a cruel vision for our country as 
House Republicans continue to worship at the shrine of trickle-down 
economics, despite its failure for half a century. Instead of making 
wealthy corporations and billionaires pay their fair share, they would 
rather balance the budget on the backs of kids and hardworking 
families, and undermine the U.S.' global reputation, credit rating, and 
national security.
  Americans, my constituents, are fed up. The people who send all of us 
to Washington do so with a belief that we will work and fight to make 
their and their families' lives better, but it seems too many of the 
MAGA Republicans in the House aren't interested in keeping up their end 
of that bargain. This bill doesn't live up to the promises I have made 
to my constituents, and I absolutely can't support it.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Speaker, I am 
sorry, last year when the Democrats were in charge of the United States 
House of Representatives, I do not recall the Labor-HHS bill being on 
the floor as an individual bill. In fact, it was not. Everything was 
grouped together in a large omnibus bill literally a year ago, last 
December.
  Here is the problem: We all recognize, both Republicans and 
Democrats, additional spending was necessary during the pandemic to 
protect Americans and get us through this unprecedented crisis. 
However, last year, when everyone acknowledged that the effects of the 
coronavirus were on the wane, discretionary spending increased by 15 
percent.
  Mr. Speaker, my constituents do not understand that. They do not 
understand why that was necessary. The people struggling to buy gas and 
groceries for sure don't understand why that was done to light the 
fires of inflation.
  I encourage Members on my side of the aisle to remember, if you do 
not want a December omnibus, then vote for this bill today.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  The fact remains that under Democratic leadership, the House did pass 
budget bills. It passed the actual bills. What we are seeing here is a 
string of MAGA bills being brought to the floor and not passing and not 
leading to an eventual budget, so we keep ending up in this Mobius loop 
of potential shutdowns. The bills that we have seen so far will not 
result in a budget.
  Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an 
amendment to the rule to make in order amendment No. 81, offered by 
Ranking Member DeLauro from the Appropriations Committee, which strikes 
section 239 of the bill, which prohibits funding to Planned Parenthood 
and other similar women's health organizations.
  Mr. Speaker, when will Republicans in the House learn? The American 
people want them to stop trying to tell women what they can do with 
their bodies. At the ballot box, in Congress, in State legislatures, 
women want them to stop. Republican politicians have no place dictating 
decisions about women's reproductive health. These decisions should be 
made between a woman and her doctor.
  This MAGA messaging bill callously prohibits funding to an 
organization

[[Page H5738]]

that provides many different health resources to women across the 
country. I, myself, used Planned Parenthood when planning my family. 
Planned Parenthood also offers vulnerable communities services they 
wouldn't otherwise have access to, including critical preventive 
services like breast and cervical cancer screenings, contraception, and 
sex education. Simply put, blocking this grant funding endangers 
women's health across the country. There is no reason we should 
restrict access to Federal grant money simply to score political points 
for the MAGA base while limiting reproductive healthcare options.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my 
amendment into the Record, along with any extraneous material, 
immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Pennsylvania?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute. If anyone is just 
tuning in, the bill we have before us today is a bill to fund the 
Federal agencies of Department of Health and Human Services, Department 
of Labor, and Department of Education. It is not to provide public 
funding to Planned Parenthood. That funding should come from someplace 
else, but not the pockets of the American taxpayers.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, as I said before, this is a terrible bill. I remind all 
my colleagues that this is kids' futures that we are talking about. It 
is the jobs that support American families. It is the health and safety 
of our loved ones.
  If the House's MAGA Republicans had their way, our workers, students, 
children, women, and families would all suffer if the cuts in this bill 
were implemented. Our public schools, the centerpieces of our 
communities and our democracy, would be decimated. Hardworking people 
would be underwater, unable to find good-paying jobs to keep themselves 
and their families afloat. Devastating diseases would go uncured and 
unchecked, and women would be denied the right to make their own free 
choices about their own healthcare.

  America and the people who live here are worth investing in so much 
more than this, and I won't accept the bleak and nihilistic picture 
that House Republicans are trying to paint. Our country's future can 
and should be brighter. It is what our constituents and our children 
deserve.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose the previous question and 
the rule, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to 
close.
  Again, I remind colleagues on my side of the aisle that if they do 
not want a December omnibus, a giant Christmas tree with all sorts of 
things hung upon it like they saw last year, then they should 
understand that we need to pass individual appropriations bills.
  Colleagues on my side of the aisle should carefully look at this bill 
and vote in favor of passing the rule and the underlying bill.
  There are over 60 programs that are currently being funded that are 
not authorized. Well, that is on us as authorizers in the authorizing 
committees, to be sure. However, at the same time, we cannot continue 
to write checks, to send money to programs that no one has bothered to 
authorize. If these are important programs that need to continue, then 
we on the authorizing committees should do the work, dig into the 
details of the program, bring in the witnesses, take the testimony, and 
do the appropriate authorization. The fact that that has not happened 
in so many programs for so long indicates how broken the process is.

                              {time}  0945

  We need to reverse that, reverse that curse, reverse that inexorable 
spending that results if you just simply fund the government at a 15 
percent greater level than you did last year before going back to 
basics and seeing if the program was even necessary.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation has many conservative policies that 
deliver results to the American people. H.R. 5894, the underlying 
appropriations bill, works to reverse the harmful effects of 
controversial executive orders and the woke politics that have really 
damaged our country.
  Republicans seek to protect life, promote American values in the 
classroom, prioritize safe medical research, and combat the opioid 
epidemic, all while reining in unnecessary spending and promoting 
oversight and accountability. That is why I support the rule.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the rule. I support the 
underlying bill and urge my colleagues to support the underlying bill.
  The material previously referred to by Ms. Scanlon is as follows:

   An Amendment to H. Res. 864 Offered By Ms. Scanlon of Pennsylvania

       At the end of the resolution, add the following:
       Sec. 6. Notwithstanding any other provision of this 
     resolution, the amendment specified in section 7 shall be in 
     order as though printed as the last amendment in part B of 
     the report of the Committee on Rules accompanying this 
     resolution if offered by Representatives DeLauro of 
     Connecticut or a designee. That amendment shall be debatable 
     for 10 minutes equally divided and controlled by the 
     proponent and an opponent.
       Sec. 7. The amendment referred to in section 6 is as 
     follows:
       ``Strike section 239.''.
  Mr. BURGESS. 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.
  Ms. SCANLON. 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, further 
proceedings on this question are postponed.

                          ____________________