H 4900 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—HOUSE May 12, 1995

after the votes occur on suspensions,

but there will be no votes on the wetlands debate Monday evening and we

will move to the continuation of this

bill Tuesday morning, with an objective of finishing this legislation by

Tuesday night.

Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise.

The motion was agreed to.

Accordingly the Committee rose; and

the Speaker pro tempore (Mr. FOX of

Pennsylvania) having assumed the

chair, Mr. MCINNIS, Chairman of the

Committee of the Whole House on the

State of the Union, reported that that

Committee, having had under consideration the bill (H.R. 961) to amend the

Federal Water Pollution Control Act,

had come to no resolution thereon.

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

A message in writing from the Presifdent of the United States was communicated to the House by Mr. Edwin

Thomas, one of his secretaries.

(Mr. GEPHARDT asked and was

LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

fgiven permission to address the House

for 1 minute.)

Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, I yield

to the distinguished gentleman from

Texas [Mr. ARMEY] for the purpose of

discussing the schedule for next week.

Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank

the gentleman from Missouri for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, on Monday, May 15, the

House will meet at 12 p.m. for legislative business. We will consider three

bills under suspension of the rules: a

resolution expressing the sense of the

House that Japan should immediately

eliminate barriers to United States exports on autos and auto parts.

Mr. Speaker, let me just mention

with respect to this bill, out of consideration for the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. LEVIN], it is possible that this

may not be considered until Tuesday.

We will see if we can work that out.

We will continue then on Monday

with H.R. 1045, legislation eliminating

the National Education Standards and

Improvement Council, and H.R. 1266,

the Greens Creek Land Exchange Act

of 1995.

b 1300

We then plan to take up the rules for

three hatchery bills: H.R. 614, the New

London National Fish Hatchery Conveyance; H.R. 584, the Fairport National Fish Hatchery Conveyance; and

H.R. 535, the Corning National Fish

Hatchery conveyance.

Mr. Speaker, if any recorded votes

are ordered, they will not take place

before 5 p.m. on Monday evening.

We then plan to return to debate on

amendments to H.R. 961, the Clean

Water Amendments Act of 1995.

On Tuesday the House will meet at 10

a.m. to consider one bill under suspension of the rules.

Mr. Speaker, that bill is H.R. 1590,

legislation requiring the trustees of the

Medicare trust fund to report recommendations on resolving the projected financial insolvency of the trust

funds.

We then plan to continue consideration of amendments for the clean

water legislation.

Mr. Speaker, it is our hope and our

intention that we will be able to complete the clean water legislation on

Tuesday, and we will continue working

between the majority and minority

floor managers with those people who

have amendments to see what arrangements we can make to assure completion within that timeframe and still

give it as much consideration as possible to the Members. But it is our

hope and I think with some confidence

I can say our intention to complete the

bill in that time.

That will make it possible, Mr.

Speaker, on Wednesday for the House

to meet at 10 a.m. and consider the

three hatchery bills made in order

under the rules adopted on Monday. We

will then begin general debate on the

fiscal year 1996 budget resolution.

Members should be advised that the

House may work late on Wednesday

evening.

On Thursday the House will meet at

9 a.m. We plan to recess immediately

to honor former Members of Congress,

and then reconvene at 10 a.m. to return

to debate and consideration of substitutes to the committee-passed fiscal

year 1996 budget resolution.

It is our hope to have Members on

their way home to their families and

their districts by approximately 6:30

p.m. on Thursday night.

There will be no votes on Friday,

May 19.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. GEPHARDT. I would like to ask

the distinguished majority leader a

couple of questions. First, do you expect votes on Monday night on clean

water amendments?

Mr. ARMEY. No. We can have some

of the debate, but we expect no votes

on the Clean Water Act on Monday

night.

Mr. GEPHARDT. Second, I would

like to ask if we could reserve the time

between say 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Monday for special orders, instead of

recessing.

Mr. ARMEY. I do not believe we can

make this agreement at this point because we have suspensions we must

look at.

Mr. GEPHARDT. Finally, in looking

at the schedule, it appears that we are

talking about a 4-hour period for debate on the budget. And I must say to

the distinguished majority leader that

there is a lot of desire I am sure on

both sides of the aisle to adequately debate this very important budget, and

the changes that are being proposed by

many Members in the budget, and I

would like to ask if we could perhaps

see more time for debate in this period

that you have set out.

Mr. ARMEY. I do appreciate the gentleman’s point. The Committee on

Rules has not issued a rule on debate

for the budget, and I am sorry I cannot

report on how much time will be made

available, and I know there are discussions taking place on that.

Mr. GEPHARDT. I would just say to

the gentleman that we had been hoping

for more like 14 hours of general debate. This is a very important document for the future of the country, and

people deserve to know exactly what

the alternatives are and how they

would work and allow for adequate debate, so I urge the Committee on Rules

to take that under consideration. I

know these hatchery bills are probably

important somewhere, but probably

more important and especially to a

bass fisherman of such renown as the

majority leader, but maybe we could

get to the budget a little faster and

have more time to use.

Mr. ARMEY. Again let me say I do

appreciate that. It is a point perhaps

you want to communicate to the Committee on Rules, and I would certainly

be willing to do the same. This is a

very important piece of legislation. I

know those members of the Joint Economic Committee that generally conduct what is know as the HumphreyHawkins debate have expressed their

concern, and we will continue to encourage the Committee on Rules.

Mr. GEPHARDT. I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana.

Mr. TAUZIN. I thank the minority

leader for yielding. I suppose the question I want to ask is in terms of Monday night’s treatment of the current

bill we are on, the Clean Water Act, I

understand there will be no votes Monday night, but will there be debate on

amendments, and how long will we go

Monday night, do you expect?

Mr. ARMEY. Again I thank the gentleman. The debate that we have Monday night will be on the Boehlert

amendments. We would probably, possibly debate for as much as an hour or

an hour and one-half. One of the things

we are going to be very sensitive to is

there be some time retained so that

there will be closing comments made

before the vote is taken on the next

day.

Any Members that wish to participate in that debate on the Boehlert

amendment should be advised, though,

that their best opportunity to do so

would be Monday evening, because we

do have a real resolve to complete the

bill on Tuesday, and, therefore, between the floor managers there may be

a need to do some time arrangements

for Tuesday. So if you are anxious to

be a part of that debate relative to wetlands that is known as the Boehlert

amendment, I would encourage you to

be here Monday night.

Mr. GEPHARDT. I yield to the gentleman from California.

Mr. MINETA. I thank the leader for

yielding. I was just going to ask relative to the debate, then we would still
May 12, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—HOUSE H 4901

have all of Monday without any limitation, is that what I hear? How long do

you anticipate that we would then be

going on Monday?

Mr. ARMEY. Monday evening.

Mr. MINETA. No set time?

Mr. ARMEY. No, there would be no

set time. Of course, participation is determined by the number of Members

here. We would obviously like to get as

much of that debate out of the way

while still retaining some opportunity

for the principals to have some statements before the end of debate.

Mr. MINETA. I would also like to

ask, the Pennsylvania primary or I

guess Philadelphia city elections are

on Tuesday, and there have been some

comments from our colleagues in the

Philadelphia area about that. So if

they are not able to be back for Monday night’s general debate, would they

still be able to do general debate or at

least make some statements on Tuesday?

Mr. ARMEY. We would try to accommodate that. Of course as you know

the reason we have determined not to

have votes Monday night is out of consideration for those folks. Certainly we

will talk to them. And of course the

sponsor of the amendment would want

to have some comments prior to the

vote on Tuesday and perhaps one or

two others, so we will try to be as accommodating as possible.

Mr. GEPHARDT. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. DOGGETT. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I would ask

the distinguished majority leader, I am

troubled to hear of even the possibility

that this budget might get as little as

4 hours of time. It has been described

as a revolutionary budget, and I know

as one of I guess what would be the

chief revolutionaries you would have

some concern about explaining it fully,

and that is barely 1 hour for $100 billion of Medicare cuts, and I would hope

you would work with the Committee

on Rules so that we could have a full

and complete debate extending over at

least a couple of days to explore what

this budget means for ordinary American families.

Mr. ARMEY. Let me just say I thank

the gentleman from Texas for that observation, and as I said to the gentleman from Missouri, we will work

with the Committee on Rules to get as

full a debate as we can.

Mr. DOGGETT. I thank the gentleman.

Mr. GEPHARDT. I thank the gentleman.

DEBATES AND SPECIAL ORDERS

FORMAT FOR MORNING HOUR

fMr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I ask

unanimous consent that the order of

the House of January 4, 1995, relating

to morning hour debates be continued

through the adjournment of the 2d session of the 104th Congress sine die, except that on Tuesdays the House shall

convene for such debates 1 hour earlier

than the time otherwise established by

order of the House rather than 90 minutes earlier; and the time for such debates shall be limited to 25 minutes allocated to each party rather than 30

minutes to each; but in no event shall

such debates continue beyond the time

that falls 10 minutes before the appointed hour for the resumption of legislative business, and with the understanding that the format for recognition for special order speeches first instituted on February 23, 1994, be continued for the same period.

Mr. DOGGETT. Reserving the right

to object, Mr. Speaker, these morning

hour debates are very important to

both sides and I understand there has

been consultation on this. We applaud

the gentleman’s effort.

Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of objection.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there

objection to the request of the gentleman from Texas?

ADJOURNMENT TO MONDAY, MAY

There was no objection.

f15, 1995

Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I ask

unanimous consent that when the

House adjourns today it adjourn to

meet at 10:30 a.m. on Monday next for

morning hour debates.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there

objection to the request of the gentleman from Texas?

DISPENSING WITH CALENDAR

There was no objection.

WEDNESDAY BUSINESS ON

fWEDNESDAY NEXT

Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I ask

unanimous consent that the business

in order under the Calendar Wednesday

rule be dispensed with on Wednesday

next.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there

objection to the request of the gentleman from Texas?

HOUR OF MEETING ON THURSDAY,

There was no objection.

MAY 18, 1995

fMr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I ask

unanimous consent that when the

House adjourns on Wednesday, May 17,

1995, it adjourn to meet at 9 a.m. on

Thursday, May 18, 1995, for the purpose

of receiving in this Chamber former

Members of Congress.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there

objection to the request of the gentleman from Texas?

AUTHORIZING THE SPEAKER TO

There was no objection.

DECLARE A RECESS ON THURSfDAY, MAY 18, 1995, FOR THE PURPOSE OF RECEIVING FORMER

MEMBERS OF CONGRESS

Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I ask

unanimous consent that it may be in

order for the Speaker to declare a recess, subject to the call of the Chair, on

Thursday, May 18, 1995, for the purpose

of receiving in this Chamber former

Members of Congress.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there

objection to the request of the gentleman from Texas?

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER

There was no objection.

PRO TEMPORE

fThe SPEAKER pro tempore. The

Chair will entertain 1-minute speeches.

REPUBLICAN BUDGET DOES NOT

CUT MEDICARE

f(Mr. HASTERT asked and was given

permission to address the House for 1

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HASTERT. Mr. Speaker, for the

last few days, liberal Democrats have

taken to the floor to denounce socalled Medicare cuts.

What cuts?

Where are they?

This chart clearly shows that under

the House Republican budget, Medicare

funding will increase.

This year, we will spend over $150 billion on Medicare.

This will not decrease.

Let me be absolutely clear about

this—Medicare funding will not decrease.

Under the House Republican plan,

Medicare spending will have increased

to about $230 billion by the year 2002.

Let me say that again—Medicare

spending will be $230 billion in the year

2002. Now, if Medicare spending is $150

billion this year and $230 billion seven

years from now, that is an increase in

Medicare spending. Where’s the cut?

Only in Washington could an increase

be a cut.

Well, the American people are tired

of the old Washington accounting

methods. Those methods are the very

reason we have a $5 trillion debt.

Republicans are committed to scrapping the old Washington accounting

methods and replacing them with the

truth, something not often seen around

here.

MEDICARE INCREASES

f(Mrs. SCHROEDER asked and was

given permission to address the House

for 1 minute and to revise and extend

her remarks.)

Mrs. SCHROEDER. Mr. Speaker, as

we go home for Mother’s Day, I think

all of us know that mothers have that

extrasensory perception about when

people are fudging. Well, let me tell

you, there is going to be a lot of fudging going on here about this budget.

You are going to hear it’s traditional

family values.

But let me ask a question? Do you

know any family in America that when

they pull up to the table to put their