[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 20568-20569]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



  PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 110, FURTHER 
             CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2001

  Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I 
call up House Resolution 604 and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                              H. Res. 604

       Resolved, That upon adoption of this resolution it shall be 
     in order without intervention of any point of order to 
     consider in the House the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 110) 
     making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year 
     2001, and for other purposes. The joint resolution shall be 
     considered as read for amendment. The previous question shall 
     be considered as ordered on the joint resolution to final 
     passage without intervening motion except: (1) one hour of 
     debate equally divided and controlled by the chairman and 
     ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations; 
     and (2) one motion to recommit.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Linder) is 
recognized for 1 hour.
  Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the 
customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Moakley), 
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.
  Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 604 is a closed rule providing for 
consideration of H.J. Res. 110, a resolution making further continuing 
appropriations for fiscal year 2001.
  H. Res. 604 provides for one hour of debate, equally divided and 
controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee 
on Appropriations. The rule waives all points of order against 
consideration of the joint resolution. Finally, the rule provides one 
motion to recommit, as is the right of the minority.

                              {time}  1445

  Mr. Speaker, as my colleagues know, the current continuing resolution 
expires at the end of the day on Friday, and a further continuing 
resolution is necessary to keep the government operating while Congress 
completes consideration of the remaining appropriations bills. H.J. 
Res. 110 is a clean continuing resolution that simply extends the 
provisions included in the H.J. Res. 109 through October 14.
  Mr. Speaker, it takes a lot of hard work and tough decision-making to 
fund the Federal Government. We have been working hard to overcome the 
hurdles in our path and complete the appropriations process as soon as 
possible. However, honest disagreement exists between the majority and 
the minority on many of the appropriations bills. This fair, clean, 
continuing resolution will give us the time we need to resolve these 
differences and complete the remaining fiscal year 2001 appropriations 
bills.
  This rule was unanimously approved by the Committee on Rules 
yesterday, and I urge my colleagues to support it so we may proceed 
with the general debate and consideration of this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. 
Linder) for yielding me the customary half hour.

[[Page 20569]]

  Mr. Speaker, this is the second continuing resolution and it should 
come as no surprise to anyone. The 1974 Budget Act requires us to 
finish 13 appropriation bills before October 1, so this is really 
nothing new.
  But at the beginning of the session, my Republican colleagues said 
they planned to have all this work finished on time, but a few months 
ago, my Republican colleagues passed a budget containing $1 trillion in 
tax cuts, mostly for the rich. Their budget left no money for middle-
class tax cuts, Social Security preservation, school construction, 
Medicare prescription drug benefits.
  Now, it is October 3, Mr. Speaker, and my Republican colleagues' 
unrealistic budget has left them very much behind on the appropriation 
process.
  So to make matters worse, Mr. Speaker, most of last week we spent our 
time voting on noncontroversial suspension bills. Today, 2 days into 
the new fiscal year, 11 out of 13 appropriation bills have yet to be 
signed into law. The Senate has yet to pass VA-HUD, the Commerce-
Justice, and they have not even reported Treasury-Postal.
  The House has just to pass Agriculture, Transportation, and our 
Labor, Health and Human Services conference reports. The Senate has not 
passed either the legislative branch of the Interior conference 
reports. President Clinton has vowed to veto the Energy and Water 
conference report.
  Mr. Speaker, Foreign Operations, and the District of Columbia have 
not even been sent to conference. Mr. Speaker, in order to keep the 
Federal Government open for business, Congress must either pass 11 more 
appropriation bills that the President can sign by Friday or pass this 
continuing resolution. So this continuing resolution will keep the 
Federal Government open until October 14, despite the unfinished bills.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my Republican colleagues to finish the work to 
pass the bills that President Clinton will sign and to fulfill their 
responsibility to the American people.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I 
move the previous question on the resolution.
  The previous question was ordered.
  The resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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