John Linder

Mr. LINDER

Mr. LINDER. I thank the gentleman.

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds to point out that nothing in this bill whatsoever deals with a Member of Congress' pay. No word whatsoever in this bill deals with congressional pay. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield, and I will be glad to yield him a minute of my time?

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the previous question. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

Mr. LINDER

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings), 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. Speaker, House Resolution 189 is a modified closed rule providing for the consideration of a constitutional amendment which would authorize Congress to ban the physical desecration of the American flag. H. Res. 189 provides for 2 hours of debate in the House of Representatives, equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Judiciary. Upon the adoption of this rule, H.J. Res. 36 is made in order and considered as read. The rule also makes in order a substitute amendment if offered by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) or his designee, which shall be separately debatable for 1 hour, equally divided between a proponent and an opponent. All points of order are waived against this amendment. Finally, the rule provides for one motion to recommit, with or without instructions, as is the right of the minority. Mr. Speaker, this rule would allow Congress to debate legislation that protects our American heritage by protecting one of our most important symbols, our flag. Most Americans look to the flag as a symbol of our unity, our sovereignty and our democracy. Throughout the years, millions of Americans have fought and died for this country, and they look to the flag as the embodiment of our country's values. Two reasons for supporting this measure come to mind as we consider this legislation: first, from a logical standpoint, if we prohibit the destruction of U.S. currency by law, then surely protecting our symbol of freedom and democracy is just as important. The second reason is a more powerful one. Many Members believe it is the duty of Congress to protect the integrity of our heritage from individuals who disrespect this country. It is in the best interests of the American people to pass this legislation, and I wholeheartedly support it. In fact, I am an original cosponsor of H.J. Res. 36. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot).

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution. The previous question was ordered.

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 189 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. LINDER

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution. The previous question was ordered.

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 192 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, for purposes of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to my friend, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings); pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purposes of debate only. Mr. Speaker, H. Res. 192 is an open rule providing for the consideration of H.R. 2500, the FY 2002 Commerce, Justice, State, the Judiciary, and related agencies appropriations bill. Overall, this bill provides roughly $38 billion in funding for a variety of Federal departments and agencies, about $600 million over the President's budget request. H. Res. 192 provides for 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations, and all points of order are waived against consideration of the bill. The rule also provides that the bill be considered for amendment by paragraph. H. Res. 192 waives clause 2 of rule XXI, prohibiting unauthorized or legislative provisions in an appropriations bill, against provisions in H.R. 2500, except as otherwise specified in the rule. The rule also authorizes the Chair to accord priority in recognition to Members who have preprinted their amendments in the Congressional Record. Finally, the rule provides for one motion to recommit with or without instructions, as is the right of the minority. Once H. Res. 192 is approved, the House can begin its consideration of the fiscal year 2002 Commerce, Justice, State, the Judiciary appropriations bill. A number of critically important Federal agencies receive their funding from this measure, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Communications Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Small Business Administration, among others. I want to commend my friend and colleague, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf), for the manner in which he and his ranking minority member, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Serrano) have crafted this bill. It is funded within the guidelines of FY 2002 Budget Resolution we passed earlier this year, and they have done so while still providing for some significant funding increases for certain departments and agencies within H.R. 2500. The Committee on Rules approved this rule by voice vote yesterday, and I urge my colleagues to support it so that we may proceed with the general debate and consideration of this bipartisan bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Keller).

Mr. LINDER

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, a Dear Colleague letter will be sent to all Members informing them that the Committee on Rules plans to meet tomorrow on Wednesday, July 18, 2001, to grant a rule for the consideration of H.R. 2506, the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2002. The Committee on Rules may grant a rule which would require that amendments be printed in the Congressional Record prior to their consideration on the floor. The Committee on Appropriations filed its report on the bill today. Members should draft their amendments to the bill as reported by the Committee on Appropriations. Members should use the Office of Legislative Counsel to ensure that their amendments are properly drafted and should check with the Office of the Parliamentarian to be certain that their amendments comply with the rules of the House.

Mr. LINDER

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order at any time on July 18, 2001, or any day thereafter, to consider in the House the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 50) disapproving the extension of the waiver authority contained in section 402(c) of the Trade Act of 1974 with respect to the People's Republic of China; That the joint resolution be considered as read for amendment; That all points of order against the joint resolution and against its consideration be waived; That the joint resolution be debatable for 2 hours equally divided and controlled by the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means (in opposition to the joint resolution) and a Member in support of the joint resolution; That pursuant to sections 152 and 153 of the Trade Act of 1974, the previous question be considered as ordered on the joint resolution to final passage without intervening motion; and That the provisions of section 152 and 153 of the Trade Act of 1974 shall not otherwise apply to any joint resolution disapproving the extension of the waiver authority contained in section 402(c) of the Trade Act of 1974 with respect to the People's Republic of China for the remainder of the first session of the 107th Congress.

Mr. LINDER

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding time to me. I think it is interesting, the debate over this system, as to whether the science is there or not, because I recall a time 30 years ago when President Kennedy, with great courage, said, ``We will put a man on the moon by the end of this decade,'' and we did not have any of that science, but we achieved it. When this Nation can put itself behind a project, it will succeed.

Mr. LINDER

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I first met Paul Coverdell in 1972. He was one of few Republicans in the Georgia State Senate, soon to become its Republican leader, a position he served in for 15 years. He had come to Georgia as a teenager from Iowa. He then attended the University of Missouri, graduated with a degree in journalism, and he went from there to the Army and was stationed at Okinawa and Taiwan. When he returned to Atlanta, he involved himself in a very, ultimately very, successful insurance business, the Coverdell Insurance Company, and continued his activities in politics. In 1989, as has been said, he received an appointment as the head of the Peace Corps from President George Bush. I was curious as to why that was the position he wanted, since he could have had many others. He and President Bush were very close friends for very many years. But he told me that things were changing all over the world; that socialism and communism were going to ultimately be extinct. He had watched the uprisings in Poland in 1980. And, of course, it was not long after he became the head of the Peace Corps that the walls came down. He sent, through the Peace Corps, its first volunteers to Bulgaria, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Hungary, Poland and Romania. And he also paved the way for the establishment of Peace Corps programs in China and Mongolia. When he stepped down from the Peace Corps, he ran for the United States Senate and won. So he won four elections that year. He came very close in a primary, a primary runoff, a general election, and a general election runoff. And one of the first assignments he sought when he came to the Senate was the Committee on Agriculture, an industry that is so important to our State. He got himself involved behind the scenes in the Senate as a hard worker. And those of us who have known him for all these years knew, he had always been a hard worker and he liked to work behind the scenes. It became part of the lore of the Senate that whenever a sticky issue came up, the Senate leader Trent Lott would say, ``Send it to Mikey.'' There was a commercial at the time saying ``Mikey will do anything; Mikey will eat anything.'' But the funny part of the story was that Paul had never heard of Mikey. He just thought it was a neat idea he was given all these challenges. He focused on education, and it was his savings accounts targeted at children and children through high school that passed, along with Senator Torricelli. They were the authors of the A-Plus Accounts, or Education Savings Accounts. They now allow for a $2,000 education savings account so parents can set aside for public or private K through 12 expenses tax free. He was also a leader in Latin American drug enforcement, authoring a Federal law requiring the annual listing of the world's top suspected drug dealers in 1999, the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. This bill is a tribute to a lifetime of hard work for the people of this country, the people of Georgia, and for his party, in that order. The $10 million authorization for the University of Georgia to construct the Paul D. Coverdell building at the Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences at the University of Georgia is one-fourth of the cost of that project. Our Governor has committed $10 million in State matching funds, and the University of Georgia has already arrived at the other $20 million privately to build this living memorial, as the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) said, to a lifetime of service. I recall waking up the morning that I heard that Paul had died and felt that there was a huge hole in my life because he had been a large part of it for 25 years. I am most sad that most of America will never know how much he is missed because his work was so quiet and so behind the scenes. I thought sometime ago that I cannot, over 25 years of working with this man, think of a single former friend of Paul's, not a single one, who ever left his side in anger, because Paul was such a decent and gentle man. This is a fitting tribute to that decent and gentle man.

Mr. LINDER

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

Mr. LINDER

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 161 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Oxley), the chairman of the Committee on Financial Services. (Mr. OXLEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this rule so we can move on to debate on this important bill. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, for purposes of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from 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. Speaker, House Resolution 161 is a modified closed rule providing for the consideration of H.R. 1088, the Investor and Capital Markets Fee Relief Act. This bill is designed to provide tax relief to investors and market participants by reducing or eliminating many of the user fees imposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission for buying and selling securities. H. Res. 161 provides for 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chairman and the ranking minority member of the Committee on Financial Services. Upon the adoption of this rule, an amendment in the nature of a substitute, printed in the Congressional Record and offered by the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Oxley), chairman of the Committee on Financial Services, will be considered as adopted in lieu of the amendment originally recommended by the Committee on Financial Services. The rule also makes in order a substitute amendment for the minority, offered by the gentleman from New York (Mr. LaFalce) or his designee, which can be debated for up to 1 hour, evenly divided. The rule also waives all points of order against consideration of both amendments. Finally, the rule provides for one motion to recommit with or without instructions as is the right of the minority. Mr. Speaker, the purpose of H.R. 1088 is to provide significant tax relief to millions and millions of investors and market participants. When it was originally established, the SEC was supposed to be a user fee-funded entity. The SEC currently taxes investors and companies trading in securities with user fees, using the monies generated by these fees to fund its enforcement of Federal securities' laws and regulations. As investments in mutual funds, 401(k) plans, and retirement funds have dramatically increased over the last 20 years, the SEC's current fee schedule has unfortunately not been changed to reflect these new circumstances. This has, in turn, created a situation in which billions of dollars in SEC fees, above and beyond the level needed to fund its enforcement activities, are being used for other purposes. H.Res. 161 modernizes the fee schedule, saving investors and companies $14 billion over the next 10 years by significantly reducing five SEC taxes on securities transactions. The bill provides much needed relief for investors and companies by also terminating the mandatory application fees and reducing registration fees. Also, the new fee schedule gives the SEC the necessary funding to continue enforcing our laws while retaining top quality employees. Mr. Speaker, I hope my friends on both sides of the aisle will join me in supporting this legislation to return a greater portion of the Federal Government's excess funds to our investors so they can use these moneys as they see fit. The Committee on Rules approved this rule by voice vote yesterday, and I urge my colleagues to support it so we may proceed with debate and consideration of this bipartisan bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. (Ms. SLAUGHTER asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. LINDER

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman, the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker, I served with Joe on the Committee on Rules for a little over 6 years now, and in those 6 years-plus I do not think I ever heard him say a harsh word. He was a kind and decent man. It will not be said very often, but he was a fierce partisan and a fighter for his party, for his ideas, for his causes, and he carried out those fights with great dignity and skill and great good humor. I do not know how many times I have heard him use his wit or his humor to lighten the tension or to get his way, but he did it with great skill. He impressed me, I suppose, as any member in politics for 27 years has ever impressed me. He loved his job. He loved his community and he loved this House. We will be sorely missing him for a long time to come.

Mr. LINDER

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