David Dreier

Mr. DREIER

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

Mr. DREIER. And we ended up making eight Democrat amendments in order, five Repbulican amendments and two bipartisan amendments.

Mr. DREIER. I am glad to yield to the distinguished gentleman from Glens Falls, NY, the chairman of the Committee on Rules.

Mr. DREIER. I expect I sort of became the intermediary here. At this point, with the indulgence of my friend from south Boston I think Glens Falls ought to be represented.

Mr. DREIER. I am more than happy to yield to my friend, the gentleman from south Boston.

Mr. DREIER. I was simply repeating a discussion I had.

Mr. DREIER. I am just sorry I was not there for the conversation.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I simply wanted to inquire of my friend, the gentleman from Massachusetts; did he say that the 1 hour that the rule is being considered is out of the 8 hours that is considered for the amendment process?

Mr. DREIER. Eight hours is an amendment process----

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to clarify that we have 8 hours of time on amendments, an hour of general debate, and an hour on this rule, a total of 10 hours. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my friend and another classmate from Richmond, VA, the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Bliley], the chairman of the Committee on Commerce. (Mr. BLILEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to my friend, the gentleman from Newport Beach, CA [Mr. Cox], the foremost congressional authority on securities litigation.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 5 seconds to the gentleman from Massachusetts.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Moakley].

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules I call up House Resolution 1058 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, for purposes of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to my friend, the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Frost], pending which I yield myself such time as I might consume. All time yielded will be for debate purposes only. (Mr. DREIER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks, and include extraneous material.)

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

Mr. DREIER. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, not one person was frozen out in debate. What happened in the 103d Congress was that Members were frozen out from the third floor, frozen out because they were told their amendments could not even be offered because we had so many closed rules. Down here we are saying any amendment that is germane can be offered. We have an outside limit of sometimes 8 to 12 hours.

Mr. DREIER. If the gentleman would yield further, the point is very clear, and that is the Committee on Rules did not make the decision which amendments could and could not be offered, as has been the case in past Congresses. It is up to the leadership of each party to establish their priorities. We are not trying to say that an idea cannot be considered here on the House floor. What we are saying is that with this outside time constraint of 8 or 10 or 12 hours, which we have had, what we have said is you all establish your priorities and then bring them to the House floor and have an up-or-down vote on them.

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

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Markey].

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

Mr. DREIER. And the 1 hour of general debate is also----

Mr. DREIER. I want my friend to enjoy his entire additional 30 seconds.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from east Petersburg, PA [Mr. Walker], chairman of the Committee on Science.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield 2 minutes to my friend and classmate, the gentleman from Findlay, OH [Mr. Oxley], Chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce and Trade. (Mr. OXLEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)