Marcy Kaptur

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) a very outspoken Member and a very able Member.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Hinchey) the sponsor of the key amendment that would have prevented drug companies from discriminating against U.S. importers and would have ensured that U.S. importers could purchase drugs on the same terms and conditions as foreign purchasers.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, it is a high privilege for me this evening to join in this resolution introduced by the dean of the Minnesota delegation and the Minnesota Members to participate in this remembrance of our beloved colleague, Bruce Vento. I can say that I have known Bruce for 18 years now. As a new Member of Congress, he sat right behind me, that meant he had more seniority, on the Committee on Banking and Financial Services. He welcomed me just as other Members have indicated he welcomed them as they came. What was great for me, and I say this to his family as they are enduring this great, great loss, he was so friendly. In the days when he first came, there were only about two dozen women in the House, and I was not an attorney in a body with about 75 percent of the Members who were attorneys, and to discover he was a biologist who had been an educator made me feel right at home. As we would go through amendments in the committee, I found a real friend who would talk to me and who would bring me along, that made me feel that I was an equal Member. As I came to know his other committee work outside of banking where he championed the needs of the homeless before it became a popular expression in the country, or homes for people who had difficulty with affordability. I learned about his tremendous interest in the environment. He was quite a bicyclist. And I watched his work in literally every congressional district across this country, as a real successor to Johnny Appleseed and the great American tradition of love of the outdoors. In my own district, for example, we have the Maumee Heritage Corridor now. The Maumee River is the largest river that empties into the Great Lakes. Without Bruce Vento, that designation would not be possible. And the discovery of the Fallen Timbers battle site which ranks with Yorktown and Gettysburg as one of the three most important battle sites in the founding of the republic would not be possible without the legislative efforts of Bruce Vento. And so I just wanted to come down here to say that I shall always remember Bruce Vento. And as a representative of the people of my district, I will say that I remember his great ability, his great humor, his great service as an educator as well as a lawmaker. I will remember him talking to me throughout my career about the importance of housing as well as the needs of the underserved and America's greatest, greatest lawmaker in my era in terms of the environment and our open spaces and our needs to continue to conserve our beautiful land and our resources. I just say again to his family and to his beloved Minnesota colleagues, we have lost a dear friend and a great lawmaker.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

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

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, first I would like to say to the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Baldacci), because he represents the Northeastern home heating reserve issue so well, he represents all States. So I want to say to the gentleman, his reach extends beyond his own State in many ways. I thank him for speaking on behalf of the motion to instruct. Mr. Speaker, I ask our colleagues to vote for the motion to instruct.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the very distinguished gentleman from Maine (Mr. Baldacci).

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would yield further, so the gentleman would agree that our full membership would participate, the full membership of the subcommittee, in those discussions?

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I have the greatest respect for the gentleman from Florida, and I wonder if he would be willing to answer a question. The Chairman has a tremendous weight on him, and I have some understanding of that. I do want to ask the gentleman, however, seeing as how he says that the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Skeen) has no objection to this motion, does that mean that if the motion passes, the members, the full set of members of the Subcommittee on Agriculture and Rural Development will be able to meet in full and open conference to deal with our disagreements with the members in the other body? Or does it mean, as last year, that our members would be appointed, but then the conference never called and the bill written in the back rooms here and brought to the floor? Could the gentleman describe the process forward?

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from the State of Vermont (Mr. Sanders), who has moved the issue of prescription drugs and fair pricing to all Americans to center stage.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), a member of the subcommittee who has worked diligently all year and whose voice should be allowed to be heard in full conference and open public hearings.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley) who has absolutely moved this prescription drug issue into center stage in our country. We thank him for his participation today and we thank the voters of New York for sending such an able Member to us.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to thank our very able subcommittee member the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Boyd) for speaking out on behalf of the entire rights of the House and the Members of the House as well as the needs of agriculture. We could not have a harder working member of our subcommittee. I also wanted to say, Mr. Speaker, that there are many issues that we want to resolve in open dialogue with our colleagues in the other body. What is at issue? Rules that expand opportunities to import prescription drugs from countries where prices are lower. This is of interest to every single family in America. What we do not know is if our bill gets rolled into the transportation bill, what provisions get selected, if any, unless we have an open dialogue in full conference with our colleagues in the Senate. The House provisions? The Senate provisions? No provisions? We are very concerned about that. In addition to that, the design of and funding levels for emergency assistance to deal with drought, with floods and with disastrously low prices around this country. We know we have a terrible situation where even under current law many farmers and ranchers who have been harmed do not get any help. How are we going to try to deal with that in the conference committee? Who do we trust but a broad array of Members to represent the various segments of agriculture in our country in open conference hearings? Several of the Members have talked about the trade sanction issue that would affect the shipment of food and medicine from our country and the circumstances under which future sanctions can be imposed, whether it is Cuba, whether it is nations in Africa, whether it is nations in the Middle East. These are all issues that are highly charged and ones that we really believe we should be able to dialogue with our colleagues in the other body. We have not even had a chance to do that. Also, funding levels for meat inspection and other food safety inspections that are so critical at the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture. Frankly, I just do not want some leader who may be from Mississippi in the other body picking a funding level. Our Members have a right to participate in those discussions. They have worked for over a year on this bill. They have a right to be heard. All of the issues dealing with concentration and anticompetitive practices in today's agricultural markets, all those issues are in this bill. These are vital to agriculture in America. What is going to happen to those provisions when there are disagreements between the House and the Senate? Who is going to decide, particularly if we are rolled into a transportation bill where our Members are muzzled and have no ability to participate in the dialogue? The funding for our programs for the elderly, our nutrition programs for the elderly, our nutrition programs for women, infants and children. All these are on the table. All of the funding levels for our conservation programs, our natural resource programs and certainly our rural development programs. All these programs require the involvement of our Members in full and open conference. Mr. Speaker, in carrying out the responsibilities of our subcommittee this afternoon, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Hinchey), an extremely able member of our subcommittee who singlehandedly was able to assure that the fruit and vegetable growers of our country got recognition in this bill.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Boyd), a distinguished member of our subcommittee.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, this is a very important motion to instruct for members of the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies, of which I am ranking member. But it goes beyond just the need of our particular subcommittee. We have 13 appropriations bills that we must pass in this Congress in order that the Government of the United States be allowed to operate. The Republican leadership of this institution, 3 days before the end of this fiscal year, has not completed work on but two of them, which means that we have 11 bills hanging out there that are not complete. Our bill is one of them. What we understand might be happening to us is that, in spite of the fact that we in the House operated under regular order and passed our bill over 60 days ago, now, 2 days before the end of the fiscal year, we are told that conferees are going to be appointed. Now, may I remind the membership that a year ago conferees were also appointed but then we never met. What I am very concerned about and the purpose of this motion to instruct is that we ask that full and open conference committee hearings be held at which managers have the opportunity to debate and vote on all matters in disagreement between the two Houses and that we be instructed to fully resolve those differences and that this not be done behind closed doors by a couple of the top leaders of this institution. We are very, very worried that the House provisions, for example on prescription drugs and the ability of the American people to obtain safe pharmaceuticals from nations like Canada, may be jerked from the bill and, unless we have an opportunity to fight in an open forum for our amendments and to resolve our differences with the other body, that that issue may all of a sudden just disappear. And so I want to explain to the Members that, if they vote for the motion to instruct, they are voting to give us the opportunity to deal with the prescription drug issue on the table in public with all members of our subcommittee participating. The issue of sanctions, and no one has fought harder to bring that issue before us to allow American firms to sell their products around the world than the gentleman from New York (Mr. Serrano). That is another issue that, unless we meet together in open, public conference committee hearings, could be jerked from our bill and we would not know who would do it but all of a sudden it would disappear. So this motion to instruct says we want to be able to hold the House position on sanctions, we want an open conference committee meeting, and we do not want a few people in this institution to take our rightful responsibilities away from us, as has happened before. Finally, in the important area of disaster assistance, we are hearing all kinds of rumors. Our committee is the one charged with the responsibility of meeting the emergency needs of America's farmers and ranchers. I do not think that people who necessarily come from just one or two districts who may happen to be the leaders of this institution should have the right to tinker around with those provisions without the full participation of the members of our committee who represent the farmers and ranchers across the wide spectrum of industries in this country, whether it is dairy, whether it is grains, whether it is livestock. It does not matter what it is. All those concerns need to be aired publicly in an open conference committee meeting. So the purpose of this motion to instruct is to say we do not want any hanky-panky; we want to be able to conduct our business under regular order. We are very concerned based on our inability to get clear answers over the last several weeks and now, even worse, over the last few days. We do not want our bill to be stuck on some other bill and then we not have the opportunity to deal with the issues that are there and that we have worked so hard on in this Congress. And again just three of them: prescription drugs and the ability of the American people to obtain those pharmaceuticals at competitive prices even if those drugs come from Canada or from Mexico and they are safe and marked so according to our Food and Drug Administration; the issue of sanctions, whether it is Cuba, whether it is Libya, whatever country we are talking about, we want the ability to debate that in our subcommittee; and finally, the level of disaster and emergency assistance to our farmers. We do not want to leave anybody out. If they are out there in the country, they have tried to earn a living and they have been hurt by the present economy, we do not want a few deal makers to write our bill for us behind closed doors. So the purpose of this motion to instruct is to ensure regular order in this institution and not to disenfranchise our Members. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), our very, very distinguished ranking member of the full committee, for further elaboration. And I want it thank him from the bottom of my heart for being a voice for our subcommittee and for the rights of our members, every single one of them, to participate in open conference committee deliberations.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I offer a motion to instruct conferees.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise during this unusual period of the day when we should be busy at work moving our appropriation bills on this floor in the full light of the public to talk and plead about an issue that should be resolved through the appropriations process and the defense authorization bill that is moving both through this body and the other body, and it concerns Americans who worked, who fought on behalf of this country's Cold War efforts, working in the nuclear industry, the beryllium industry, the gaseous diffusion industry, and who are now dying or have died because of illnesses contracted as a part of their working life. We have tried to bring that issue to bear in the current bills being worked on in the back rooms here somewhere. We have been told that those provisions have now been dropped from the bill. I am here this afternoon to say, pay attention to what I am saying, because these Americans are veterans, just like those who fought on foreign soil or defended us here at home. It is terrible to be a Member of Congress and to have someone walk into your office on a breathing machine and say to you, ``Congresswoman Kaptur, I worked in the beryllium industry, and I am dying, and I cannot get workman's compensation, I cannot get decent health benefits for myself, and what is going to happen to my family after my life is over?'' I stand here today in memory of Galen Lemke, just one of hundreds of people, patriotic Americans, who served, worked every day, and produced the weaponry that now has made America the premier military and economic power on the Earth. I would plead with the Defense conferees to listen to them, to care for their lives and their families, and to do what is right, what is just. The Department of Energy, under the leadership of Secretary Bill Richardson, has produced a piece of legislation that covers most, but not all, of the workers who worked in the nuclear industry, the gaseous diffusion industry, and the beryllium industry. We have a bipartisan effort here in the House comprised of people like the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Strickland) of Ohio, the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield), the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith), the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Udall), myself, and, in the other body, several Members, including two Senators from my home state of Ohio, who are very supportive of this legislation. There is absolutely no reason that this Congress cannot help these Americans, who are truly deserving of our respect, and, behind that respect, placing the kind of assistance they need in the most difficult moments of their lives. If the American people were sitting here, they would vote on this 100 percent. They would not leave out one of those families. Yet we are poised to move bills through here which cast them aside. That is truly wrong, when we know it is a discrete number of workers, we know who they are, we know how they have suffered, and we have this time, this year, in the beginning of the year 2000, to put the unfinished business of the 20th century behind us and to take care of these families, as we properly should. So I would say to the defense conferees, to the conferees on the appropriations bill, there is no better time than now. Do what is right, do what is in the interest of America, and treat these families like the true American patriots and veterans that they are. Include these beryllium workers, gaseous diffusion workers and nuclear workers in a compensation bill that is no different than any other Federal compensation program that exists. I would say to Secretary Richardson, thank you; and I would say to the Secretary of Defense, where are you? Where are you lobbying on behalf of people who helped this country win the Cold War? Please conferees, do not do this to Americans who truly deserve the support of the American people.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member of the Committee on Appropriations for yielding me this time. As the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations, I have to say that although we are, in a way, forced to vote for this continuing resolution for the sake of the American people, what has happened inside this institution really is not healthy. I can tell my colleagues that all day I have been in my office fielding calls from Members in this Chamber asking me where our bill is, where the different provisions are. Whether it is biomass provisions relating to switchgrass in Iowa or whether it is water- related projects in the West, it really does not matter. I, as a Member, cannot tell them because our conference committee has not met. We have been getting calls from the other body. We had reached agreement on certain amendments which we now understand are pulled. For example, on prescription drugs. We had passed different measures here to allow reimportation of prescription drugs so our people could get the same price as if they go over the border into Canada. We had reached agreement that we would put $23 million in this year's bill to ensure the public safety on those drugs. Now we are told this provision has been lifted from the agriculture appropriation bill, wherever it is in the institution, and the leadership is going to be handling that. The same is true with the provisions dealing with Cuba, which, granted, are very controversial, but we wanted to be able to move product into Cuba; allow our businesses to sell there; allow our farmers to move product. Now we are told that is lifted out of our bill. We are receiving phone calls in our office; and we have to tell Members, sorry, we are not being called as conferees. I have the greatest respect for the chairman of the full committee. I know if it were only up to him, our subcommittees would be allowed to meet. But this is really not the way to run the Congress of the United States nor the government of the United States. As a related issue, Mr. Speaker, and as a Member from Ohio who has workers dying from exposure to beryllium, we were told today that the Subcommittee on Defense has not allowed, because of the leadership, any provision in any bill that would take care of people dying of exposure to beryllium, nuclear-related radiation or gaseous diffusion. I think that is absolutely wrong when we have it within our power to meet the needs of the American people.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to recognize the 50th anniversary of the Jude Thaddeus Catholic War Veterans Post 1675 in Toledo, Ohio. The post celebrates its anniversary this month. On June 12, 1950, a charter was granted to the Jude Thaddeus Post by the National Department of the Catholic War Veterans. Those first meetings were conducted in the loft of the St. Francis de Sales Parish near downtown Toledo. After traveling from parish to parish for a time, the Post sought a permanent home. Those original members got to work in rehabilitating a small building on Stickney Avenue in North Toledo, which became the organization's first headquarters. As the membership expanded the Post moved again, establishing a hall and canteen on North Toledo's vibrant Lagrange Street. Tragedy struck, however, when a fire destroyed the building in 1965. Nonetheless with the help of the Ladies Auxiliary and every single other veterans organization in the neighborhood as well as many in the greater Toledo area, the Jude Thaddeus Post was able to regroup, raise funds, and rebuild at its present location. The Post strives to maintain its mission to serve veterans. Residents of the Ohio Veterans Home are regularly brought to the post home for meals and games. The Auxiliary helps out every month at the Toledo VA Outpatient Clinic. The Post makes all kinds of donations to veterans hospitals in Ohio, and it lends equipment such as wheelchairs, canes and walkers to area veterans in need. Saint Jude Thaddeus is the patron saint of impossible tasks. Through all the Post's trials and hardships, its namesake stood as a beacon and reminder that anything could be accomplished with prayer, cooperation, and effort. All members of the Jude Thaddeus Post of the Catholic War Veterans are proud to say, ``I belong'' and put that strength of belonging into practice to achieve their loftiest goals. As the members of the Post and Auxiliary take time to celebrate and reflect on fifty years of growth and change, remembering friends and families who may no longer be with them, reliving old glories and hardships, yet still looking forward to the future and its possibilities. I am pleased to represent our community as a part of the celebration. May I offer my own, our community's, and our nation's everlasting thanks to the members of the Jude Thaddeus Post and Auxiliary for their sacrifice in battle, and equally important, for their accomplishments in peace.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. If the gentleman will be kind enough to yield to me again, when he said that there might be a deception and maybe this bill might not come to us in a form that we could even vote on, I have really wondered whether our bill will ever get to this floor again which is under regular order, or whether these provisions and others are being worked on behind closed doors here with no public scrutiny and some of these lobby groups coming in and having an influence when we do not have the ability to bring the influence of our constituents to bear on this important question of prescription drugs, the cost of prescription drugs. I would hope that the leadership of this institution does not pull something like that and allows our Members a vote. The gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley), one of our outstanding new Members of this House, the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), who has been a champion on senior issues, certainly in the other body Senator Jim Jeffords, who tried to work with the administration on the safety provisions to make sure that we have like product being brought in here, all these fine Members need to be heard. And we need to bring the weight of their influence and intelligence to bear on a free vote on this floor, not have it buried or altered in some committee room here that none of us have access to. I would hope that the leadership of the institution hears us and gives us an opportunity to bring these prescription drugs to the American people at affordable prices. I will just tell the gentleman last week when I was doing food shopping at my local supermarket, the cashout clerk told me that every week she has people that come by there and they have to separate out their prescription drugs from their food, and they have to put food back on the counter because they cannot afford to buy both. This should not be happening in the United States of America.

Ms. KAPTUR. I would agree with the gentleman that we came here to Washington this week to do the people's work and already we are finished with the day's business, so to speak; and tomorrow I am told there may be one vote, maybe not more than one vote. Meanwhile, the very bill that this issue is in is stalled. We passed it weeks ago, months ago here in the House; and it went over to the Senate. The leadership of this institution could bring that bill up here so we could vote on this whole prescription drug issue and whether our people can bring these pharmaceuticals in from other countries like Canada if they are safe and of similar quality. Where is the bill? Even the conferees, the people here in the House who are supposed to sit down with the Members of the Senate to go over this provision, have not been appointed, even though the bill was passed here and it has been passed there. We have got plenty of time today. We have got all day tomorrow. We should have done it weeks ago. We wasted yesterday; we wasted the day before yesterday. I just wanted to affirm what the gentleman is saying and as ranking member on the subcommittee that has jurisdiction over the Food and Drug Administration, we are waiting. We are waiting for this Republican leadership to do its work.

Ms. KAPTUR. Will the gentleman yield on that point?

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I have no problem with that.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to reclaim my 5 minutes that was yielded to me earlier in the evening.