[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 15]
[House]
[Pages 21292-21293]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




APPOINTMENT OF CONFEREES ON H.R. 1906, AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, 
FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 
                                  2000

  Mr. SKEEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the 
Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 1906) making appropriations for 
Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and 
Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2000, and for 
other purposes, with a Senate amendment thereto, disagree to the Senate 
amendment, and agree to the conference asked by the Senate.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New Mexico?
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, I will not 
object, but I do want to take this time simply to point out that the 
minority was not told until a very few minutes ago that these motions 
were going to be made at this time today. We are in the situation where 
several of our ranking subcommittee members are not on the floor 
because they did not know this motion was going to be made. I do not 
think it is quite fair to them to proceed under this kind of a 
situation.
  I recognize it is not the fault of the gentleman from New Mexico, so 
I will not object; and we have no interest in delaying the action of 
the House, but I would simply ask that in the future, action be taken 
to make certain that the minority is made aware in a timely fashion of 
the intent to make these motions at a time so that we can be prepared 
as quickly as possible in making the correct motions.
  Mr. SKEEN. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. OBEY. I yield to the gentleman from New Mexico.

                              {time}  1600

  Mr. SKEEN. Mr. Speaker, I share the same approach that the gentleman 
has because we were given the word at exactly about the same time that 
he had it. Thank God the word finally got here, but it certainly puts a 
lot of folks in a position of not knowing that it was coming on the 
floor.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments. I 
would simply say to the leadership of the House, we are trying to be 
cooperative on this committee on both sides. It is pretty hard to 
cooperate if we don't have prior notice.
  The gentleman has indicated he hasn't had that notice either, and I 
think that's equally unfortunate.
  Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Foley). Is there objection to the 
request of the gentleman from New Mexico?
  There was no objection.


                 Motion to Instruct Offered by Mr. Obey

  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I offer a motion to instruct conferees.
  The Clerk read as follows:

       Mr. Obey moves that the managers on the part of the House 
     at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the House and 
     Senate on H.R. 1906, Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and 
     Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations for 
     FY 2000, be instructed to provide maximum funding, within the 
     scope of conference, for food safety programs at the 
     Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug 
     Administration.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the rule, the gentleman from Wisconsin 
(Mr. Obey), and the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Skeen) each will be 
recognized for 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey).
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I will not take very long. The situation is very simple. 
The House bill is $15 million above the Senate bill for the Department 
of Agriculture's food and safety inspection service programs, and it is 
$5 million above the Senate bill for FDA food safety initiatives. We 
believe the public has a right to have total confidence in the safety 
of its food supply. It certainly, in some instances unfortunately, does 
not have that to date. We think that the numbers in the bill will be at 
least minimally affected in increasing our ability to assure a safe 
food supply for the American public and would urge, therefore, that the 
conferees be instructed to provide the higher of the two numbers in 
each account in order to do the maximum that is allowable under rules, 
given the difference in scope between the two bills, to assure that 
food safety is the highest priority in the bill as it comes back from 
conference.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

[[Page 21293]]

  Mr. SKEEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to tell the gentleman that I support his effort 
and have no quarrel whatever with the work. I think this is the time 
that we should work toward the goal of taking care of the matters 
attendant to the field of agriculture, and to get it done as quickly as 
possible because it has been sitting there fermenting for quite some 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, I yield 
back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question.
  The previous question was ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to instruct 
offered by the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey).
  The motion was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair will name the conferees at a later 
time.

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