[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 4892-4893]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to inquire about next week's 
schedule, and I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio).
  Mr. LAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce that we have 
concluded legislative business for the week. There will be no votes 
tomorrow, Friday, March 19.
  On Monday, March 22, the House will meet at 2 p.m. for a pro forma 
session. Of course there will be no legislative business and no votes 
that day.
  On Tuesday, March 23, the House will meet at 9:30 a.m. for the 
morning hour and 11 a.m. for legislative business. Votes are expected 
after noon on Tuesday, March 23.
  On Tuesday, we will consider a number of bills under suspension of 
the rules, a list of which will be distributed to Members' offices.
  Also on Tuesday, March 23, the House will take up H. Res. 101. It is 
a privileged resolution on committee funding.
  On Wednesday, March 24, and the balance of the week, the House will 
meet at 10 a.m. to consider the following legislative business: H.R. 
1141, a bill making emergency supplemental appropriations; H.R. 472, 
the Local Census Quality Check Act; and the budget resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, we expect to conclude legislative business by 2 p.m. 
next week on Friday, March 26.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Pallone), my friend, for yielding to me.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from New 
York. If I could just ask in terms of a little more specifics, will we 
definitely be in next Friday, or is it possible we would conclude the 
business earlier than that?
  Mr. LAZIO. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, I would say 
that, right now, it appears that we will be in on Friday, particularly 
because we are taking up the budget resolution this week, and it looks 
like that will be taken up on Thursday. Right now it looks like the 
votes very probably are going to be on Friday, but we should be out by 
2 p.m. on Friday.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. Let me ask in terms 
of the legislative business, the supplemental, the census, the budget 
bill. Does the gentleman have any more specifics in terms of when he 
would expect each of those to be considered on Wednesday, Thursday, or 
Friday, or the order?
  Mr. LAZIO. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, we will have the 
committee funding resolution up on Tuesday. We expect on Wednesday we 
will have H.R. 1141, the supplemental will be up on the floor, and we 
expect that to be voted on Wednesday.
  On Thursday, we expect the budget resolution to be up and possibly 
the census legislation, the Local Census Quality Check Act. We expect 
right now, again, to conclude business by 2 p.m. on Friday with votes 
probably on the budget on Friday.
  Mr. PALLONE. On Friday. Mr. Speaker, one more thing. In terms of any 
late nights, is the gentleman from New York expecting any late nights?
  Mr. LAZIO. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, right now it is 
very difficult to tell. I think, if there are any late nights, it 
probably will be Thursday evening because of the budget resolution and 
the possibility of the census.
  So Thursday, right now, it looks like it is the only late evening. 
But of course it depends on the pace that we keep and our ability to 
move our legislative work during this week.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. PALLONE. I yield to the gentleman from Oregon.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I would like to direct a question to the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio). Last week, I observed the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bonior) rise and ask the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Armey) if it would be possible to delay votes on Tuesday to 
accommodate West Coast members.
  If I leave my district at 6:00 in the morning, I can barely make it 
here by 5:00 in the evening. That is common to many people who live on 
the West Coast. I realize the gentleman can walk to his district in 
that time period. This is a problem. It is a real problem.
  So I scheduled to come in on Monday afternoon. My plane was canceled. 
So I

[[Page 4893]]

took the first plane out on Tuesday morning. I find, when I get here at 
4:30 that the House concluded business at 2:30 in the afternoon, and I 
missed the votes, as did some other people from the West Coast. I saw 
the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Mrs. Cubin) from not even quite the west 
coast on the plane on Tuesday also.
  I would hope that the majority will consider this schedule in the 
future. I would further note, and no one should take offense at this, 
because even though my name is DeFazio, my mother is an O'Shea, and I 
come from the O'Sheas and Crowleys, I note that, on Wednesday, the 
House of Representatives delayed all votes until after 3 o'clock this 
afternoon because there was a Saint Patrick's Day parade in New York.
  Now for some reason, we can delay all the proceedings of the House of 
Representatives until after 3 o'clock in the afternoon for a joyous 
occasion, a parade, but for regular business and accommodating the 
schedules of West Coast Members, who constitute a significant minority 
of this body, they apparently can do nothing.
  Mr. Speaker, I would just ask the gentleman if there is any 
consideration going to be given on that side to putting those votes, 
the two or three votes that were done by 2:30 in the afternoon later in 
the day on Tuesday?
  Mr. LAZIO. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Pallone) yield?
  Mr. PALLONE. I yield to the gentleman from New York.
  Mr. LAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I would say, first of all, I am very 
sympathetic to the gentleman's plight. I am lucky enough to live in New 
York and be able to shuttle down here. There is difficulty. The 
majority and the minority have been working with Members to try to 
increase the predictability of the schedule. There has been more 
sensitivity.
  This week in particular, there will be no votes on Monday. We will 
not come in until 12 o'clock, or we expect no votes until 12 o'clock on 
Tuesday. We will be out by 2 p.m. on Friday. Of course, 2 weeks 
thereafter we will be in recess. So we have a difficult week in terms 
of trying to ensure that a budget resolution and some other legislation 
is done in a 4-day period.
  I can only tell the gentleman that we are trying to be sensitive to 
those colleagues who are on the West Coast. There has been some 
significant modification of the schedule to reflect that sensitivity 
over the last several weeks. I think that we are going to continue to 
try and work on it.
  But, again, this week in particular, we have a 4-day week. We are not 
in at all on Monday, and we have the 2 weeks of recess thereafter. It 
is important that we get our work done. We will do the best that we 
can.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman from New Jersey yield 
further?
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Oregon.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I am pretty sure of next week before a 
recess. But, again, just pointing to this week, votes were done by 2:30 
on Tuesday. Clearly, the House could have gone in at 4 o'clock in the 
afternoon and been done by 6:30 on Tuesday and accommodated Members 
from the West Coast.
  Then on Wednesday, we reversed the entire schedule and did not vote 
until after 3:00 because of a parade for people on the East Coast. I 
mean, some of us might have liked to go to Saint Patrick's Day parades 
on the West Coast, but the gentleman would have had to give us 2 days 
to do it. In any case, I do not see great sensitivity in last week's 
schedule. I hope, after we come back from the recess, they can do a 
little better by West Coast Members.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from New York 
(Mr. Lazio). Hopefully we can look into that after that recess.
  Mr. LAZIO. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, I will be happy 
to, and we will continue to try and show sensitivity for this issue.
  The other point, of course, in all of this is to make sure that the 
committees have Members here on both sides of the aisle. There has been 
concern expressed by the committee chairmen, so that Members are here, 
they attend to their business, we get our work done, it is on the 
legislative floor here. We will try to work to ensure that there is 
better predictability and good communication on both sides of the 
aisle.

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