[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20064]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP IGNORES LABOR-HHS-EDUCATION SPENDING BILL

  (Mr. McGOVERN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, the Republicans want to recess the House 
at the end of this week, but we should not leave town when there is 
serious business that the Republican leadership has failed to complete.
  Why won't the Republican leadership let this House vote on the Labor-
HHS-Education appropriations bill? This bill was reported out of 
committee on June 20. Here we are, 3 months later, still waiting for 
the Republicans to bring this critical bill to the House floor.
  Does the Republican leadership, the Republican majority in this 
House, believe that funding for our public schools, our students, 
financial aid, health care systems, senior citizens, workers, and our 
youngest children simply does not matter, isn't important, that it is 
somehow okay to let this bill just sit around?
  This Republican majority is out of touch and, come November 7, 
hopefully will be out of power. Mr. Speaker, I am more than happy to 
stay in town another day or two to finish this bill to help our kids, 
to help our senior citizens, to help our workers.
  And in light of the Republican leadership's failure to move an agenda 
to help the American people, I ask unanimous consent to bring H.R. 5647 
to the House floor for immediate consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the guidelines consistently issued by 
successive Speakers, as recorded on page 734 of the House Rules Manual, 
the Chair is constrained not to entertain the gentleman's request until 
it has been cleared by the bipartisan floor and committee leaderships.

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