Martin Frost

Mr. FROST

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor).

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews).

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moore).

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, we are prepared to yield additional time at this point. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt). (Mr. SPRATT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Moran).

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm). (Mr. STENHOLM asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Bentsen). (Mr. BENTSEN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, how much time is remaining on each side?

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm).

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin). (Mr. LEVIN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Tanner).

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 15 seconds. Under the rule pending, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm) and the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moore) would not have the opportunity to offer their amendment that has previously been described on the debt ceiling. That is fact. This is not an open rule. They would be prevented from offering their amendment. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi).

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), the ranking member of the Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds. I listened to the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier). If we really wanted to help the war effort, strip all this extraneous nonsense out of the bill, strip all of these baubles that they are trying to use to buy votes on the other side on Medicare and trade and all this other stuff and just do a supplemental that provides the money to fight the war. That is all you need to do. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel).

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt), the Democratic leader. (Mr. GEPHARDT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. FROST. 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. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Tanner).

Mr. FROST

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Speaker, the strength of a democracy is to be able to have full public debate on important national issues such as national defense. We stand for a strong national defense. Many of us in this caucus have a long history in that regard; but we also stand for the proposition that the American people can be trusted with the facts, and that there should be a full discussion on important issues of national defense. The majority has ignored that and ignored the past practices of this House of having a full airing of national defense issues, and having a bill that would be on the floor for several days, perhaps even a week. That is in the best tradition of this country. We stand for a strong America, and we stand for a strong and complete discussion of the issues that make America strong, not the kind of rule which has been presented today. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton), the ranking member on the Committee on Armed Services.

Mr. FROST

Mr. FROST. 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. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield the remaining time to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt), the Democratic leader. (Mr. GEPHARDT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Allen).

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Rahall). (Mr. RAHALL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks and include extraneous material.)

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio).

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, how much time is remaining?

Mr. FROST

Mr. FROST. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On behalf of the Democratic Caucus, I would like to welcome all of you. It is good to see many of you I served with, and some of you I did not. You will be welcomed, I believe, in a few minutes also by the current majority leader, Mr. Armey, who will be a former Member next year. Mr. Armey is not running for reelection. The work that you do on college campuses I think is particularly important. I know a number of you have devoted a great deal of time to that. I was just with former Speaker Jim Wright this last weekend, who teaches a course at TCU in Fort Worth; and each year he keeps saying he is not going to do it again. But I asked him is he going to go back next fall, and he said, yes, he is. I can tell you, I am one of his guest lecturers. He lets me come in and speak to one of his classes once a year. I have gotten some very good former students of his working on my staff both in Washington and in my Texas office. So I want to encourage all of you to continue to do this. I know our former colleague, Dan Glickman, is taking this to the extreme. He will be at Harvard 4 days a week starting in August, and maybe some of us will come up and visit Dan in that capacity. Again, I want to thank you for the work you do when called upon to help us in the House of Representatives. Former Speaker Foley, as well as some other former Members, is currently working on a task force that Chris Cox and I will chair dealing with the question of what happens if the unthinkable should occur and that there would be a disaster in which a large number of Members of Congress would be killed all at one time and how would the government continue. We hope that never happens, of course. But having the guidance of former Members, particularly former Speakers, is very helpful as we contemplate how the country would continue in the event that occurred. Again, I want to greet all of you and welcome you here. It is good to see so many of you. I know you will have a great day here. All of the current Members value your help, value your knowledge and your experience and guidance for us. Thank you very much.