David Dreier

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, this rule provides for consideration in the House, without intervening point of order, of a motion if offered by the majority leader or his designee to dispose of Senate amendments to House Joint Resolution 115, a continuing resolution making appropriations for fiscal year 1996 through December 1, 1995. This rule provides for 1 hour of debate equally divided between the majority leader and the minority leader or their designees, and further provides that the previous question is ordered to adoption of the motion without intervening motion or demand for a division of the question unless the demand is made by the majority leader or his designee. Mr. Speaker, a short-term continuing resolution is necessary to continue Government operations while we complete the appropriations bills that will put the Federal Government on the 7-year path to a balanced budget. As the Chairman of the Federal Reserve recently said, this effort to come to grips with our chronic and unsustainable Federal deficits is truly extraordinary. It will result in tangible benefits for every American family in the coming years. While the protectors of big government continue to hold hope deep in their hearts that we will fail, they will be disappointed. It is simply not acceptable for this Congress to fail as our predecessors have. We will not mortgage the future of our children with trillions of dollars of debt. We will also not apologize for taking time to balance the budget. Past Congresses relied on continuing resolutions on many occasions. There is no question of competence. Instead, ask what Congress is doing with the time a continuing resolution provides. When those on the other side of the aisle controlled this House, they needed time to find enough ways to spend this country $5 trillion into the hole. Be assured, if we didn't care about the future of this country, and we agreed with the President's proposition that we just spend enough to avoid tough decisions, we wouldn't need extra time. Mr. Speaker, the single most important aspect of this continuing resolution is that it is fiscally sound. Funding is lower than the current continuing resolution and below fiscal year 1995. It creates the proper environment to negotiate the outstanding appropriations bills. While disposing of the amendments with the Senate is important, the overriding issue to get this continuing resolution in place by next Monday so that the stage is set to complete our historic budget work. Mr. Speaker, we must keep our eyes set on our ultimate goals. We will balance the Federal budget, save the Medicare system for a generation of retirees, end welfare as we know it, and implement a tax cut for families that increases the take-home-pay of American workers. This rule will permit the House to resolve the remaining differences on this continuing resolution so that next week we can get back to accomplishing those critical goals. I urge my colleagues to support this rule. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, for purposes of debate only I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Woodland Hills, California [Mr. Beilenson], pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. (Mr. DREIER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks and to include extraneous matter.)

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 261 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. DREIER. We will look forward to the gentleman's inquiry at that time.

Mr. DREIER. If the gentleman will yield further, I have just been informed here that we are going to be doing the rules back to back, and then we will take up the continuing resolution on the debt ceiling, following consideration of both.

Mr. DREIER. I do not know if he is on the floor. That was the schedule we have right now. I know there are Members anxious to get home for this very important local day. If we could proceed with consideration of this rule, we will get started.

Mr. DREIER. To whom would he like to yield?

Mr. DREIER. To whom would my friend like to yield?

Mr. DREIER. I am not in a position to answer that, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. DREIER. If the gentleman will yield, I am happy to inform my friend that we are about to embark on debate on the rule for the continuing resolution, and we hope that we can move quickly through that, have a vote, and then proceed with the continuing resolution. Then we will proceed with the rule on the debt-ceiling increase, move through that quickly, and then have a vote.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I would like to inquire of my friend, the gentleman from New York [Mr. Rangel], if he was a Republican in the past as the gentleman from New York [Mr. Solomon] was a Democrat in the past. I say to the gentleman, ``We're happy to have you, Charlie.''

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I would like to simply inquire of my friend who has served in this place for 17 years how many balanced budgets our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have fought for the way we are fighting for a balanced budget today, and I would be----

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I would simply say that, if this balanced budget CR is dead, dead, dead at the White House, it is for the reason that the White House opposes, opposes, opposes a balanced budget. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time so that Members can get home to their veterans.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, it is my hope that I would be using 15 seconds or so each time to respond to the rhetoric that we have been listening to from the other side of the aisle. But I have come to the conclusion that we are going to have to bring out our big guns. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to my friend, the gentleman from Glens Falls, NY [Mr. Solomon], distinguished chairman of the Committee on Rules.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to my friend, the gentleman from Winter Park, FL [Mr. Mica].

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Garden Grove, CA [Mr. Dornan].

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

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, although I do not plan to use much of it. Mr. Speaker, the American people are obviously unhappy with the 537 Federal elected officials, the 435 of us in this House, 100 Members in the U.S. Senate, and the two people elected in the executive branch. They are unhappy as they watch this bickering that is going on over this battle that we have. Today is a Federal holiday. Tomorrow is actually Veterans Day, but we are marking it today. The gentleman from New York [Mr. Solomon] and many of our colleagues hope very much to be able to participate in events. That is one of the reasons we have tried to limit this debate, which is simply on the rule, so we can allow Members to have a chance to vote for or against this continuing resolution. But as we proceed with this, it seems to me that it is very important to recognize what it is that got us to this point. Between 1977 and 1987, there were 63 continuing resolutions. We hear this criticism of this process but we are, right now, struggling to move toward a balanced budget. While people are unhappy with the bickering that is going on today, I am convinced that they are much more unhappy with the prospect of perpetuating that business as usual. That business as usual has been a pattern which has led to doing nothing more than passing onto the shoulders of future generations the responsibility of continuing profligate spending. So what is is that we are saying? We are saying that as we move ahead with this continuing resolution, we should put into place the kinds of things that the American people want, that will reduce the size and scope of government, recognize that we must save the Medicare system, rather than allowing it to go bankrupt, as the President's Commission on Medicare said in their April 3 study that came out. So it seems to me we have a responsibility to do the right thing. Everyone is unhappy with the fact that we are bickering. I am unhappy with the fact that we are here today. The fact of the matter is that we are doing the people's business. We want to do that right now by passing out this rule, so we can proceed with the debate on the continuing resolution. Then let us get the two people who were elected by all the American people at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue to sit down and come to an agreement, so that we can ensure that by the year 2002 we are able to pass on to the children of the gentleman from California [Mr. Bilbray], who will at that point be graduating from high school, a balanced budget. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution. The previous question was ordered.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, out of deference to those who want to get home to their districts to attend veterans' ceremonies, I reserve the balance of my time and hope that we can move ahead as expeditiously as possible, simply pass this rule, and Members can vote against the continuing resolution if they so choose when we begin debate on that.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I would say, in light of the fact that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have no experience whatsoever in dealing with appropriations bills that will move us in the direction of a balanced budget, it seems to me that it is quite apparent that they are blocking our attempts to move toward a balanced budget. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Winter Park, FL [Mr. Mica], who has worked long and hard in his very short 4-year period of time to get us to this point of a balanced budget, unlike our colleagues on the other side of the aisle who have served for years and years and years and controlled this place and have not done anything whatsoever to help us balance the Federal budget.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, in honor of America's veterans and those Members who hope to participate in ceremonies in their districts, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I would again say that I know my colleagues would like to get back to their districts so that they can deal with the pressing needs of Veterans Day ceremonies. For that reason, I reserve the balance of my time, and hope that we can expeditiously move ahead here.

David Dreier

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