H 5632 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE June 7, 1995

the activities of United States Government departments and agencies relating to the prevention of nuclear proliferation. It covers activities between

January 1, 1994, and December 31, 1994.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON.

THE WHITE H

fOUSE, June 6, 1995.

COMMUNICATION FROM HON. BOB

FRANKS, MEMBER OF CONGRESS

The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following communication from Hon. BOB FRANKS, Member of Congress:

SEVENTH DISTRICT, NJ,

May 24, 1995.

Hon. NEWT GINGRICH,

Speaker, House of Representatives, Washington,

DC.

DEAR MR. SPEAKER: This is to formally notify you pursuant to Rule L (50) of the Rules

of the House that my office has received a

subpoena issued by the Municipal Court of

Manville, New Jersey.

After consultation with the General Counsel, I have determined that compliance with

the subpoena is consistent with the privileges and precedents of the House.

Sincerely,

BOB FRANKS,

fMember of Congress.

PERMISSION FOR CERTAIN COMMITTEES AND SUBCOMMITTEES

TO SIT DURING 5-MINUTE RULE

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the following committees and their subcommittees be

permitted to sit today while the House

is meeting in the Committee of the

Whole House under the 5-minute rule:

Committee on Banking and Financial

Services; Committee on Commerce;

Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities; Committee on

Government Reform and Oversight;

Committee on the Judiciary; Committee on National Security; and Committee on Science.

It is my understanding that the minority has been consulted and that

there is no objection to these requests.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there

objection to the request of the gentleman from Florida?

Mr. WISE. Mr. Speaker, reserving the

right to object, the gentleman is correct. The Democrat leadership has been

consulted and agrees with all of these

requests.

Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of objection.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there

objection to the request of the gentleman from Florida?

PROVIDING FOR FURTHER CONSIDThere was no objection.

ERATION OF H.R. 1561, AMERICAN

fOVERSEAS INTERESTS ACT OF

1995

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, by direction

of the Committee on Rules, I call up

House Resolution 156 and ask for its

immediate consideration.

The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

H. RES. 156

Resolved, That when the Committee of the

Whole House on the state of the Union resumes consideration of H.R. 1561 pursuant to

House Resolution 155, consideration for

amendment under the five-minute rule may

continue beyond the initial period of ten

hours prescribed in House Resolution 155 for

an additional period of six further hours.

Consideration for amendment may not continue beyond such additional period. During

further consideration for amendment only

the following further amendments to the

committee amendment in the nature of a

substitute, as modified and amended, shall

be in order—

(1) pro forma amendments for the purpose

of debate;

(2) amendments printed before May 25,

1995, in the portion of the Congressional

Record designated for that purpose in clause

6 of rule XXIII;

(3) amendments en bloc described in section 2 of House Resolution 155, but only if

consisting solely of amendments so printed

before May 25, 1995, in the portion of the

Congressional Record designated for that

purpose in clause 6 of rule XXIII or germane

modifications of any such amendment; and

(4) one amendment offered by the chairman

of the Committee on International Relations

after consultation with the ranking minority

member of that Committee.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Florida [Mr. GOSS] is recognized for 1 hour.

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman

from Ohio [Mr. HALL], pending which

time I yield myself such time as I may

consume. During consideration of this

resolution all time yielded is for the

purpose of debate only.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there

objection to the request of the gentleman from Florida?

There was no objection.

(Mr. GOSS asked and was given permission to include extraneous material.)

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, as most

Members know, this rule is the product

of an emergency rules committee

meeting held the day before the House

adjourned for the Memorial Day recess.

At that time, H.R. 1561 had been under

consideration for almost 12 hours and a

host of amendments were still pending— amendments offered by Republicans and Democrats. Using past

precedents on similar bills as our

guide, we had hoped that the original

allotment of 2 hours of general debate

and 10 hours of open amendment process would be sufficient, if properly

managed, to allow a full and free debate on all the major issues at play in

this important foreign policy bill.

Looking back at the rules granted for

foreign aid authorizations during past

Congresses, where 1 hour of general debate and amendment time caps of 8 to

10 hours were standard, we felt that our

formula would be sufficient.

Clearly we underestimated Members’

interest in extending debate on several

standard issues along the way. That’s

somewhat understandable, partially because we have so many new Members

and these programs have not been

properly reauthorized since 1985. So,

when it became clear that more time

would be needed on this bill, our leadership attempted to work out a compromise with the minority to allow the

extension of debate by unanimous consent. Unfortunately, some Members of

the minority were not interested in

that type of bipartisan cooperation.

Hence the emergency rules meeting

that produced this rule, a rule which

responds to Members requests to add

debate time, hopefully for some important points.

I commend Chairman SOLOMON for

his flexibility and his efforts to work

this out in a congenial manner—and I

do believe this rule leans over backwards to provide a fair solution. Under

this rule we will have an additional 6

hours of open debate, with Members

having the opportunity to offer any

amendment that was properly prefiled

by May 24. In addition, this rule allows

the chairman of the international relations committee, in consultation with

the minority, to offer one amendment

that was not prefiled but is otherwise

in order under the rules of the House.

Mr. Speaker, as we gear up for the

appropriations cycle in the immediate

months ahead it is crucial that we

complete our work on H.R. 1561, and I

am pleased that our rules committee

was able to develop a plan to ensure

that the major issues properly managed can be dealt with in a reasonable

period of time without jeopardizing

that legislative schedule. I say ‘‘properly managed,’’ because under this type

of fair open rule, there is always a possibility for some abuse of allotted time

by some Members who for whatever

motive choose to indulge in dilatory

tactics. Nevertheless, I urge support

for this good workable, fair rule.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, will the

gentleman yield?

Mr. GOSS. I yield to the gentleman

from Maryland.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank

my friend from Florida for yielding.

Under the rule, can the gentleman

tell me, at the end of the 6 hours, if

there are still pending printed amendments, will they be allowed to be offered without debate?

Mr. GOSS. Reclaiming my time, my

understanding is that we have used

that provision up in the first rule, so

we will have to complete all of the

business in the time left for debate;

that is, the 6 hours plus, I understand,

with some 25 or 35 minutes of carryover. I am not sure what the exact

number was. It is at that time we will

be finished with the debate.

Mr. HOYER. If the gentleman would

yield further for a question, does that

mean there are 35 minutes remaining

under the old rule? Is that correct?

Mr. GOSS. I cannot confirm that. I

believe approximately.

Mr. HOYER. Approximately a half an

hour?

Mr. GOSS. I believe it is in that

order.