[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 14663]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

  (Mr. ARMEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, it is my intention, my hope, that we can make 
progress on this legislation this evening such that would enable us to 
complete this work this week. It would turn out, I would think at this 
point, that it would be very difficult for us to anticipate completing 
our week's work in time to make planes to return to our districts 
tomorrow or tomorrow evening, but we could, I think, if we are prepared 
to work late tomorrow, complete all the work we need to do in order to 
make our early planes on Saturday morning to begin our district work 
period and have time with our families. But in order to do that, we 
must move forward tonight on this.
  What I would propose to the body is that we follow this procedure in 
the interest of giving Members at large the maximum opportunity to make 
progress on the bill and still indeed make rest for themselves for the 
long and arduous day we are certain to have tomorrow:
  That we proceed now with the general debate and that we begin to work 
on amendments. It is my recommendation that, as we work through 
amendments, we roll votes through the Shays/Watson amendment No. 23. 
That would enable us to come in in the morning, pick up those votes 
that have been rolled from tonight's work, and complete the work on 
this bill tomorrow.
  I should also mention to the body, we should expect to work late 
tomorrow night to complete consideration of this bill, but we will also 
have at least one other, perhaps two other important legislative 
opportunities that this body will want to consider because the 
opportunity is here to do indeed additional good things, for example, 
quite possibly, complete consideration of the bankruptcy conference 
report.
  So we will be here, we will work hard tomorrow, and we will get a lot 
done. But we will only be able to do that and make our early morning 
planes on Saturday if we are willing to find a way to work our way 
through tonight. If we can proceed through the Shays/Watson amendment, 
that would leave us a few votes to begin the morning with and the 
chance to get right into the completion of the work.
  That is my proposal, Mr. Speaker, and, without objection, I would 
move forward on that.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. ARMEY. I yield to the gentlewoman from California.
  Ms. PELOSI. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Chairman, now in your capacity as leader, I was seeking a 
clarification. Certainly we want to move this bill expeditiously, 
knowing its importance to the American people, even at the expense of 
starting the district break a few hours later, and I know you share 
that concern. But what I heard you say, I had a concern about, and I am 
seeking clarification.
  I was hoping that we could take up the Oberstar and Young amendments 
tonight, roll the votes for them to tomorrow, take up the Waxman 
amendment tomorrow and vote on it tomorrow, and then proceed tonight 
with 52 down to Shays/Watson, rolling the votes until tomorrow.
  Mr. ARMEY. The gentlewoman is exactly correct, in that if you took 
the beginning of the amendments in the rule, we would agree to move the 
Waxman amendment to tomorrow, but roll the votes on Oberstar, Young and 
all others up through Shays/Watson, which would be amendment No. 23. 
That would give us a great deal of progress tonight, and obviously we 
would also have the general debate out of the way.
  Ms. PELOSI. That is agreeable to the minority, Mr. Leader.
  So that would mean that there would be no more votes tonight and we 
would take up the Waxman amendment tomorrow and vote on it tomorrow?
  Mr. ARMEY. The gentlewoman is absolutely correct. The gentleman from 
California (Mr. Waxman), I might add, is going to want to thank the 
gentlewoman for working very hard to make sure that this is a clear 
understanding that we are proceeding in that way.
  Ms. PELOSI. I thank the distinguished leader.

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