David Dreier

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Let me just respond to a couple of points. First of all, under consideration of the establishment of this select committee, we will be operating under the standard rules of the House. The standard rules of the House allow not individuals, but allow a committee to come together and determine who is subpoenaed. And I will tell my colleagues that I know with absolute certainty that the people who are providing the leadership of this committee will clearly want to be in consultation with the Democrats, with members of the minority to ensure that any witness who could help get to the bottom of this problem, to the root of this problem is called before the committee. And I will tell my colleagues why. I do not represent Hollywood, California, by the way, I should say for the record; I represent areas around Hollywood in suburban Los Angeles, an area that has been impacted by a wide range of disasters. I think it is absolutely reprehensible to believe that any Member of this House, Democrat or Republican, would want to do anything that would jeopardize the ability to find out exactly what happened leading up to Hurricane Katrina and exactly what happened in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. So I can assure my colleagues that I am convinced that everyone is determined to do that. I should say that, as I sat down, one of my staff members reminded me that I mentioned this poll from The Washington Post and ABC that is the model, I guess, that we are following for the establishment of this committee; and even though it said that 60 percent of the American people believe that the Democrats would use this issue for political advantage rather than trying to get to the root of this problem, I do not believe it for one minute. I hesitate to say that the American people are wrong, but I will tell my colleagues this: I do not believe that the American people are right when they claim, to a number of 60 percent, that Democrats do not want to get to the root of this problem, which is what they have said in this much-hailed ABC News-Washington Post poll.

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, I have listened to these terms: ``sticking our head in the sand''; ``ignoring the problem.'' I have no idea what anyone is talking about when they say things like that. It is absolutely absurd to believe that any Member of this institution does not want to do everything possible to ensure that we find out what happened leading up to Hurricane Katrina and what has happened since Hurricane Katrina has hit. Because we, at this moment, live with the threat of Hurricane Ophelia off the Carolinas, so we are moving as expeditiously as possible to get this bipartisan committee put together, where the committee itself will determine how someone is subpoenaed, just as is the case with every committee. I hope very much that the gentleman from Mississippi is appointed to serve as a member of this select committee. He obviously has strong feelings. He has made it very clear that, as someone who was victimized by Hurricane Katrina, he should in fact be able to subpoena; and I can assure him, under the standing rules of the House, as a member of the committee, if the minority leader chooses to appoint him to that committee, he will be able to participate in determining who testifies before that committee. So we are in this together, Madam Speaker, whether Members like it or not. Again, I do not believe that Washington Post poll that the Democrats want to use this for political gain. I believe the Democrats, along with Republicans, want to find out exactly what has created this challenge at all levels of government and even in the private sector, with which we are contending at this point. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentlemen from Florida (Mr. Shaw).

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, before I yield time to my friend from Pasco, I would just like to say over the last 24 hours I have been hearing about this ABC/Washington Post poll to which my friend from Rochester has regularly referred, and I have actually taken the opportunity to look closely at the poll itself. We all know that when one looks at a public opinion poll, it depends on how the question is asked. We continue to hear that 76 percent of the American people support an independent commission and they do not want Congress to take this action. Actually, I looked at the poll itself, and I would like to enlighten my friend from Rochester, if I might. Question No. 19 says: ``The Republican leaders of Congress have called for a full-scale congressional investigation of the government's hurricane preparedness and response effort. Apart from this investigation, would you support or oppose an investigation by an independent commission like the one that investigated the 9/11 attacks?'' Seventy-six percent support that. Well, of course. Who would not support that? Who would not be supportive of that notion? But we continue that somehow the American people oppose having Congress do its job and they only want this independent commission of unelected people to do their job. Then one has to look at Question No. 18 just before that. And I hesitate to raise this, but the fact that this public opinion poll has been continually utilized as the bible when it comes to consideration of our legislative proposal here, Question No. 18 says: ``Do you think Democrats who criticize the way the Bush administration has handled the hurricane response mainly want to find out what went wrong or mainly want to use the issue for political advantage?'' And, Madam Speaker, 60 percent said that Democrats want to use this issue for political advantage rather than trying to get at what went wrong. I would have never brought this up, Madam Speaker, had I not heard that 76 percent of the American people are opposed to having Congress do its job and instead want an independent commission. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the very distinguished gentleman from Pasco, Washington (Mr. Hastings), subcommittee chairman from the Committee on Rules and the chairman of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, the United States of America has gone through the worst natural disaster in our Nation's history. Time and time again, we have been hearing people say that. It is unimaginable what people have gone through. I have to admit I cannot imagine the suffering. I have seen it on television, I have heard it reported by my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have been victimized themselves, but it is impossible, it is impossible to imagine how horrible this has been. We do know one thing, both President Bush, Republican, and the Democratic governor of Louisiana, Governor Blanco, said that mistakes were made leading up to Hurricane Katrina and mistakes were made in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Everyone has acknowledged that. We have an opportunity, we have an opportunity to come together, as we have in previous disasters, and deal with it, meet our constitutionally mandated responsibility for oversight of the executive branch to investigate and look at what happened at all levels of government, local government, State government, the Federal Government, even the private sector. We have a chance, Mr. Speaker, now to do that. That is exactly what the gentleman from Illinois (Speaker Hastert) has proposed, working with our colleagues in the other body, to come together with a committee that will allow Members of both political parties to raise any question that they want, to allow this committee to have the authority to subpoena witnesses, bring them forward. I have to say that it is very obvious to me that this is our chance to do it. We are dealing with a hurricane right now in the Carolinas. We are dealing with other potential disasters on the horizon. I believe I have a responsibility to the people whom I represent, I have a responsibility to all the American people, just as we all do, to make sure that the problems that we faced leading up to and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina never happen again. Mark my words, everyone, Democrat and Republican alike, wants to ensure that we are able to address those concerns. That is exactly what the establishment of this commission will do. I am perplexed, Mr. Speaker, with the arguments that I have heard from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. They want to increase their level of participation, they want to be able to get to the bottom of this, and yet they are saying let us give up our responsibility under article 1, section 8 of the Constitution that charges us with this duty. This is our responsibility. This is a very important part of the reason the American people elected us as representatives, to come here and do their bidding, to do their job, to make sure that we find the answers to these very important questions. I hope that we will be able to have that sense of solidarity, and so I am saying on behalf of the gentleman from Illinois (Speaker Hastert), I know that he looks forward to having our colleagues on the other side of the aisle appointed, along with those who he will appoint to serve on this very important committee, and with that, with our quest of trying to ensure that we never go through what we have gone through in the past several weeks, I urge support of this very important resolution.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 439, I call up the resolution (H. Res. 437) to establish the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, coming together is what this is all about. This is a bipartisan committee that has been proposed by the Speaker, and we look forward to seeing those minority Members who are going to be part of this process. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Miami, Florida (Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart), the very distinguished chairman of our Subcommittee on Budget and Process Reform.

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, this debate that we are beginning here is about a very clear choice that is before us. Will we take the responsibility delegated to us as Members of the People's House by the framers of our Constitution to ask the hard questions, admit our mistakes and improve our Nation's government for the benefit of all? Or will we rely on proxies to do our work for us because we have judged ourselves incapable of carrying out our constitutional duty to ensure that we are providing for the general welfare, which is what the preamble of the Constitution clearly states we have a responsibility to do. I, for one, believe as James Madison, the father of our Constitution, did, that the Constitution vests this responsibility with us. I am ready to accept the challenge as a Member of the House of Representatives. I believe that we have already started this work. Last night, in the Committee on Rules, many of my Democratic colleagues asked excellent questions. The gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Slaughter), my friend from Rochester, asked very thoughtful and important questions that need to be raised. I noted that the gentlewoman from Sacramento, California (Ms. Matsui) similarly asked some very, very good questions that should be posed to those dealing with the preparation for and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Just yesterday the governor of my State, Pete Wilson, and I should say the former governor of my State, Pete Wilson, testified. I do know very well that we have a new governor. His name is Arnold Schwarzenegger, I should say for the Record. But Pete Wilson testified before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. It was a hearing that they held on recovering from Hurricane Katrina, and he did this to share his experience and very valuable lessons that he learned from dealing with many, many very, very difficult challenges, disasters that we faced in California, earthquakes, fire, mudslides, the devastation that we faced. I will tell Members that Pete Wilson handled every single one of those challenges in his 8 years as governor extraordinarily well, and we learned tremendously from the tragedies that we faced in those instances. As he said, obviously while nowhere near the scale of Hurricane Katrina, and we all know that Hurricane Katrina has been described as the worst natural disaster to ever hit our country, some of the things that were faced in California, there were terrible California floods in January of 1997 that resulted in eight deaths, the evacuation of 120,000 people, relocation of 55,000 people to 107 shelters, damage or destruction of 30,000 residences and 2,000 businesses, and total damage estimates at about $2 billion. That in 1997. I talked earlier today, during the rule considering the establishment of this committee, about the Northridge earthquake in 1994, and it resulted in 51 deaths and injured over 9,000 people, left 22,000 people homeless. The interesting thing, as we look at these figures, is we all know that they pale in comparison to the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. But, Madam Speaker, I will tell the Members that these were learning experiences for us. One of the things that was most impressive to me and one of the things that we have already found here to be very beneficial was the fact that the private sector has stepped forward and is in many ways doing things the government cannot do. And I think it is often joked about the fact that the private sector is there, ready to meet a need, a need that the government in no way could meet. We know that for an emergency response like that we faced, clearly the government had to step in. When I say government, I am talking about the local government, the State government, and the Federal Government as well. The Federal Government, obviously, is not the first. It is really the last step. We know that State and local governments have the responsibility to make those recommendations to the Federal Government and then bring them in. We also know that at virtually all these levels of government, we have heard the leadership, from President Bush when it comes to the Federal Government, to Governor Blanco in Louisiana, state that things were not handled as well as they could have been; and both President Bush and Governor Blanco, Republican and Democrat, have taken responsibility for dealing with this situation. I mentioned the fact that we learned things, and I mentioned the private sector. And one example that I like to point to, and I have got this right here, is in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, we had the Santa Monica Freeway collapse over La Cienega Boulevard. The Santa Monica Freeway is the most traversed interstate in the country. A quarter of a million vehicles a day go on the Santa Monica Freeway right over the La Cienega off-ramp. And the earthquake took place in January of 1994, and I happened to be by there, and one of the police officers let me go up, and I actually took a chunk of the Santa Monica Freeway. This has been sitting in my living room out in California for a long period of time. Most people think it is a piece of the Berlin Wall, but it is actually from the Santa Monica Freeway. We can see the rebars here, and this is obviously the freeway itself. And when it collapsed, we saw Southern California, clearly the most populous spot in the Nation, come to a standstill because of the importance of Interstate 10, the Santa Monica Freeway there. Some projected that it would take as much as a year or 2 years to repair this freeway that had collapsed over La Cienega Boulevard. And Governor Wilson stepped up to the plate and did everything that he could to provide incentives to ensure that it got completed. He wrote a piece on this the day before yesterday in The Wall Street Journal in which he referred to the fact that people said it would take a long period of time. They looked and established this contract with the Myers Company and they were told that they would have a $200,000 fine for every day beyond what they had contracted for if they did not complete it, but they got a $200,000 bonus, Madam Speaker, for every day that they got this completed earlier than had been projected. As I said, some predicted it would take a year or 2 years to complete this. Madam Speaker, in 66 days the Santa Monica Freeway reopened, working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is the kind of incentive that we need to put in place to ensure that they deal with this circumstance. And, ironically, Interstate 10 is the exact same route that is going into New Orleans that collapsed following Hurricane Katrina and the breaking of the levees. So I think that we have the ability to respond, to deal with this, and the United States Congress is in a position to make sure that we look at encouraging the most creative ways to address this challenge, look in a bipartisan way at these problems. And we have set guidelines. We have got deadlines. But, obviously, if it is necessary, those can be moved if it is essential. But we have a desire to ensure that, as an institution, we come together as the elected representatives of the American people to do our job. And I am convinced that we are going to have the ability to do that, and we look forward to seeing Members of both political parties join this very important effort, and I am convinced that they will be able to look at all levels of government and the private sector and get to the bottom of that. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H. Res. 437.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Marietta, Georgia (Mr. Gingrey), a hard-working member of the Committee on Rules.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, as we deal with this great challenge, one cannot help but think back to the days following one of the most tragic events in our Nation's history, that being, of course, the attacks on the World Trade Center, flight 93 going down in Pennsylvania and, of course, the plane hitting the Pentagon. We all know that, following that tragedy, Democrats and Republicans came together. They came together committed to ensuring that we would never see the kind of terrorist threat that happened on September 11 hit the United States or our allies or anyone in the world again. And that really embarked us upon this massive global War on Terror, and that has been the focus of the Federal Government. We know that the top priority on September 11, 2001, became this bipartisan goal of trying to deal with the global War on Terror. Mr. Speaker, I am very proud of the Democrats in this House who have come together in a bipartisan way to work with Republicans in our shared goal of winning the global War on Terror. It is an important struggle, and it is one which many say will last beyond our lifetimes, but I am convinced that Democrats and Republicans will continue to work together to ensure that we win that global War on Terror. We know that 2\1/2\ weeks ago we faced another kind of disaster. It was a natural disaster that hit our fellow Americans, our fellow citizens, on the gulf coast. And we know that, as we sit here today, another hurricane, Hurricane Ophelia, continues to pose a threat in the Carolinas. And I will tell the Members, as I stand here at this moment, Mr. Speaker, I live constantly with the prospect of a massive earthquake hitting the largest, most important State in the Union, which I am proud to represent here. We in California deal with the threat of fires on a regular basis. I represent the Angeles National Forest, and that threat is a very serious one. And in the wake of those fires following that, we, of course, have terrible mudslides which impact tremendous numbers of people. We have gone through disasters in the past. Obviously, as President Bush has said, this is the worst natural disaster in our Nation's history, Hurricane Katrina. But we have faced many, many struggles. In California, one of the most prominent was the Northridge earthquake on January 16 of 1994. I know my friend from San Francisco, the distinguished minority leader, suffered the Loma Prieta quake. And I will say that, having gone through all of this, Mr. Speaker, it is absolutely absurd, it is absurd, to believe that any Member of this House, that any Member of this House would not want to get to the truth of exactly what happened in the case of Hurricane Katrina. Now, earlier this week, President Bush came forward and said that he takes full responsibility for the Federal Government's problems when it came to the preparation for and the response to Hurricane Katrina. Just yesterday, Governor Blanco, the Democratic Governor of Louisiana, said that she takes responsibility for what took place in her State. Now, Mr. Speaker, we have a Republican President and a Democratic Governor coming forward and saying they take responsibility for their roles in the governments that they serve, the Federal Government and the State government. The gentleman from Illinois (Speaker Hastert) has come forward saying that it is very important for us to work in a bipartisan way. He has tried to work with the minority leader to make sure that, in appointing this select committee, we will have a chance to work in a bipartisan way. Speaker Hastert has just called for members of the Committee on Appropriations to go to the gulf coast to look at this situation and to report back to us, because the very important responsibility of oversight right now that the Committee on Appropriations has over the $60 billion-plus that we, in a bipartisan way, have appropriated to deal with this, needs to be addressed. So this notion that there is not a bipartisan commitment to get to the bottom of this is absolutely ludicrous. I want to make sure that if my State faces an earthquake, a fire, a mudslide that we are able to have the best response possible. I will tell my colleagues that this bipartisan committee is something that I think can play a very important role in ensuring that for all of us who face the prospect of a disaster in our States that we will be able to address it in a better way. Mr. Speaker, I am a proud institutionalist. I know that is not a popular thing to say; but I serve on the Committee on Rules, and by virtue of that, I think it makes me an institutionalist. This is my 25th year serving here, and I am proud of the role that I have been able to play in trying to address very important institutional concerns, and we have been able to address many issues in a bipartisan way. Now, I will acknowledge that, on occasion, the Committee on Rules can be a very partisan place; but on occasion we also can be very bipartisan. We just reported out a rule that enjoyed strong bipartisan support dealing with Coast Guard reauthorization, and passage of rules like that are noncontroversial, they do not get attention, and those are things that we have worked on. In fact, I would argue that we do more things coming out of even the Committee on Rules in a bipartisan way than we do the things that we do that are very, very strident and partisan. But if you look at other committees around this place, Mr. Speaker, such as the Committee on Transportation, the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the Committee on Financial Services, you can go right down the line, Democrats and Republicans come together to address major public policy concerns that are out there. Now, Mr. Speaker, everyone wants to make sure that no one suffers again as the people have along the gulf coast. I do feel for our colleague Mary Landrieu in the other body, and the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor); but I also think it is important for us to note that in the other body, our colleague Trent Lott lost his home. We have seen tremendous loss from people like the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Jindal) on our side. So the point is that this is a disaster which has impacted Democrats and Republicans, and that is why I believe that it is incumbent upon us. Because article I, section 8 of the U.S. Constitution makes it very clear that we have the responsibility for congressional oversight, oversight of the executive branch; and this bipartisan select committee, Mr. Speaker, will focus not just on the Federal Government. It will focus on State government, on local governments, on even private entities that have been involved in this process. Accountability is something that an independent commission will not have anything to do with. The 9/11 Commission was not accountable at all. We are accountable as the elected representatives of the American people to the American people. And I think that it is very clear that moving quickly is the right thing to do. The reason that I believe that it is important for us to move quickly is that, as I said, Hurricane Ophelia is at this moment posing a threat to the Carolinas, and there are other disasters on the horizon. I believe that Democrats and Republicans should come together. The Speaker, again, has reached out to the Democratic leader and very much wants to have appointments made, and Democrats will be able to ask any question that they want; they will be able to participate in the process of bringing witnesses before the committee. Again, everyone wants to make sure that we take the steps to ensure that this never happens again. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this rule. I urge my colleagues to support the underlying legislation which will establish this very important committee so that we can address this question and ensure that the American people will not go through what we have seen happen in the last several weeks.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and as I prepare to yield to my friend from Moore, Oklahoma (Mr. Cole), I want to say to my good friend from Massachusetts that it is very clear that Members of the United States House of Representatives do have the ability to deal with a disaster and at the same time engage in a very, very important investigatory process. It is also very important to note that this is not going to simply be Republicans asking questions of other Republicans. As I said earlier, and I know my friend from Rochester raised this when she said it was nice of me to say that Democrats would have the opportunity to ask questions, but we know that Democrats, by virtue of this being a bipartisan committee, will be able to be deeply involved and engaged in this process as well. Once again, I think it is important to note, as my colleague and friend from West Virginia said, that we are the elected representatives of the American people and this is our constitutionally mandated responsibility which we should not pass on to someone else. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole), a hard-working member of the Committee on Rules.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 439 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from Rochester, New York (Ms. Slaughter), 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. DREIER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. As I prepare to yield to my friend from Charleston, let me just say that the short answer to the question posed by my friend from Rochester about why it is we would not establish a commission, it is very clear. Article 1, section 8 of the Constitution states it, that we have to do our job. We have the responsibility to deal with this issue. There are very important questions that have been raised by Democrats and Republicans and people from the outside community; and we, as the representatives of the people, have the responsibility to get to the bottom of this. That is what the establishment of this bipartisan committee is, in fact, going to do. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Charleston, West Virginia (Mrs. Capito), my very good friend and hardworking member of the Committee on Rules.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 439 is a closed rule providing for 1 hour of debate for consideration of H. Res. 437, a resolution establishing a select bipartisan committee to investigate the preparation for and response to Hurricane Katrina. The rule waives all points of order against consideration of the bill and provides one motion to recommit which may not contain instructions. Mr. Speaker, the human suffering and physical damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina is heart-wrenching and overwhelming. We all know that very well. Lives have been lost and uprooted. Families are separated without homes and without jobs. Our initial focus has been on restoring hope and rebuilding community on the gulf coast. With great urgency Congress came together and with virtual unanimity passed legislation to fund the very important relief efforts. Over $60 billion has been appropriated so far. Also critical has been the outpouring of support and generosity from fellow Americans and very importantly from 94 countries around the world. From small businesses to large corporations, people are pitching in. That said, as President Bush has stated, there were aspects of the immediate response to Hurricane Katrina that were not acceptable. He said that this week, and I am sure that it will be made clear in the remarks that he gives to the Nation this evening. Already we have seen the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency resign. Clearly, many lessons are to be learned from what has happened. As debris is removed, water recedes and homes are rebuilt, we in Congress must now assume our very serious and consequential constitutional oversight role of the executive branch and Federal agencies so that we can find out exactly what went wrong and what went right in the early response to Hurricane Katrina. We need to get to the bottom of what happened, when it happened and why it happened. Mr. Speaker, to fulfill our oversight responsibility, we are following precedent and honoring tradition by creating a bipartisan select committee to look at the response of the government to Hurricane Katrina. This select committee will allow us to take a sober, serious, nonpartisan look at the development, coordination and execution of relief by State, local and Federal authorities. At the same time, we must take great care not to interfere with the ongoing Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts. Critical personnel are still on the ground and actively involved in a time-sensitive, decision-making process. Congress can help uncover a better way forward, but it should not disrupt the progress that is being made at this moment. Mr. Speaker, this rule serves as the most practical vehicle by which to consider this critically important legislation. I urge my colleagues to support the rule and the underlying legislation. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, the Committee on Rules may meet next week to grant a rule for the consideration of H.R. 3132, the Children's Safety Act of 2005, which may require that amendments be printed in the Congressional Record prior to their consideration on the floor. The Committee on the Judiciary ordered the bill reported on July 27, 2005, and is expected to file its report with the House on Friday, September 9, 2005. Members should draft their amendments to the text of the bill as reported on July 27, 2005. Members should use the Office of Legislative Counsel to ensure that their amendments are drafted in the most appropriate format. Members are also advised to check with the Office of the Parliamentarian to be certain that their amendments comply with the rules of the House.