John Linder

Mr. LINDER

Mr. LINDER. At the risk of sounding remedial, Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out to the gentlewoman from Texas that there were more bankruptcies last year than any other year in history. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I hope the gentleman will be as enthusiastic in convincing the Democrats in the other body about the lockboxes as he is in this Chamber. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw), a member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Mr. LINDER

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young), the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I move the previous question on the resolution. The previous question was ordered.

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield the remaining 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), the majority whip of the House.

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to my colleague, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart), on the Committee on Rules. (Mr. DIAZ-BALART asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hayworth).

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kasich).

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley). (Mr. FOLEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

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

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Rogers), the chairman of the subcommittee whose bill we are about to take up.

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier).

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, for purposes of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Hall), 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, H.R. 273 is an open rule providing for consideration of H.R. 2670, the Commerce, Justice, State, Judiciary and related agencies appropriation bill for fiscal year 2000. The rule provides for 1 hour of general debate divided equally between the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations. The rule waives clause 3 of rule XIV which requires a 3-day layover of the committee report and the 3-day availability of printed hearings on a general appropriations bill. The rule also waives clause 2 of rule XXI which prohibits unauthorized or legislative provisions in the appropriations bill. Section 306 of the Congressional Budget Act which prohibits consideration of legislation within the Committee on the Budget's jurisdiction unless reported by the Committee on the Budget is also waived. The rule makes in order the amendments printed in Committee on Rules report which may be offered only by a Member designated in the report and only at the appropriate point in the reading of the bill, shall be debatable for the time specified in the report, equally divided and controlled between the proponent and an opponent and shall not be subject to an amendment. The rule waives all points of order against the amendment printed in Committee on Rules report. In addition the rule waives all points of order against all amendments to the bill for failure to comply with clause 2(e) of rule XXI which prohibits non-emergency designated amendments to be offered to an appropriations bill containing an emergency designation. This rule also accords priority and recognition to Members who have preprinted their amendments in the Congressional Record. This simply encourages Members to take advantage of the option to facilitate consideration of amendments and to inform Members of the details pending amendments. The rule also provides that the chairman of the Committee of the Whole may postpone recorded votes on any amendment and that the chairman may reduce the voting time on a postponed question to 5 minutes provided that the vote immediately follows another recorded vote and that voting time on the first in a series of votes is not less than 15 minutes. This will provide a more definite voting schedule for all Members and hopefully will help guarantee the time of the completion of appropriations bills. House Resolution 273 also provides for one motion to recommit with or without instructions as is the right of the minority Members of the House. Mr. Speaker, H. Res. 273 is a typical open rule to be considered for the general appropriations bills. This rule does not restrict the normal open amending process in any way, and any amendments that comply with the standing rules of the House may be offered for consideration. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned earlier, H. Res. 273 specifically makes in order three amendments printed in the Committee on Rules report. I am pleased that this open rule also grants necessary waivers to permit consideration of the following amendments on the House floor. Amendment No. 1 offered by the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Bass) directs the FCC to enact measures that relieve the area code and phone number shortage problem and gives the FCC until March 31, 2000, to develop and implement a plan to address this problem. Amendment No. 2 offered by the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Tiahrt) and the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder) prohibits the expenditure of funds for education materials and counseling programs if promoted by the Justice Department's Office of Juvenile Justice of Delinquency Prevention which undermine or denigrate the religious beliefs of minor children or adults participating in such programs. And finally, Amendment No. 3 offered by the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Deal) will prevent any funds appropriated under the bill from being used to process or provide visas to those countries that refuse to repatriate their citizens or nationalists. The Committee on Appropriations has for the fourth straight year had to balance a wide array of interests and make tough choices of scarce resources. I commend the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Rogers) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Serrano) for the work on this legislation. In particular, I want to briefly comment on the crime immigration and anti-drug provisions included in the underlying text of H.R. 2670. First, I am pleased that the bill provides 2.82 billion for State and local law enforcement assistance so that local officials can successfully continue their efforts to fight crimes against our citizens. This provision is 1.2 billion more than requested by the administration including 523 million for the local law enforcement block grant program, 552 million for Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local law Enforcement Assistance Grant program and 686 million for the Truth in Sentencing State Prison Grant program and 283 million for Violence Against Women programs. I am also pleased that the committee has provided 3 billion in direct funding, a $484 million increase to enforce our immigration laws. The committee recommendation includes an increase of 100 million to enforce border control including 1,000 new border control agents, 140 support personnel and increased detention of criminal and illegal aliens. Finally I want to point out the good work by the committee in providing 1.3 billion for the Drug Enforcement Administration to continue the fight against drugs in our neighborhoods. This $73 million increase over the last year indicates our commitment to win the war on drugs, and I commend the committee for this increase in funding enhancements to bolster the Caribbean enforcement strategy and drug intelligence capabilities. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2670 was favorably reported out of the Committee on Appropriations, as was this open rule by the Committee on Rules. I urge my colleagues to support the rule so we may proceed with the general debate and consideration of this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 273 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. LINDER

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

Mr. LINDER

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, this is getting curiouser and curiouser. In the Committee on Banking and Financial Services, when this bill was going through it was the Democrats, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Inslee) who demanded privacy language, very strict privacy language. It was the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Vento) who, with the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Leach) late at night worked out a compromise on the privacy language, the first consumer protection language in the banking bill . It got to the Committee on Commerce and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey) passed on a voice vote strong consumer privacy language, but even he was shocked it passed, and made it a huge point on the floor of the House that his language was not being adhered to. It had to be stronger. Now they come out today and say, we do not want anything; accede to the Senate's nothingness, no consumer protection at all. Or is it maybe that they would rather have the administration write the language? They are acceding to a bill that is absent the language. They cannot have it both ways. This banking legislation, as it left this House, had some of the best privacy language of any banking legislation, and now my colleagues want to walk away from it, and they ought to be ashamed.

Mr. LINDER

Mr. LINDER. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this rule and have an open and honest debate on the important issues that the Nation is watching us for. Madam 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. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as required to explain that the only notice that the Committee on Rules got was that the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) had an amendment to introduce was not submitted to the Committee on Rules; she mentioned it in her testimony. It is a striking amendment, and it is in order. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LINDER. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LINDER

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

Mr. LINDER. Madam Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Moakley), 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. Madam Speaker, House Resolution 261 is an open rule providing for consideration of H.R. 2605, the Energy and Water Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2000. The rule provides for 1 hour of general debate, divided equally between the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations. The rule waives clause 4(a) of rule 13, which requires a 3-day layover of the committee report. The rule also waives clause 2 of Rule XXI, which prohibits unauthorized or legislative provisions in an appropriations bill, and it waives clause 5(a) of Rule XXI, which prohibits a tax or tariff provision in a bill reported by a committee with jurisdiction over revenue measures. These are waived against provisions in the bill, except as otherwise specified in the rule. Madam Speaker, this rule accords priority in recognition to Members who have preprinted amendments in the Congressional Record. This will simply encourage Members to take advantage of the option in order to facilitate consideration of amendments on the House floor and to inform Members of the details of pending amendments. The rule also provides that the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole may postpone recorded votes on any amendment, and that the Chairman may reduce voting time on postponed questions to 5 minutes, provided that the vote immediately follow another recorded vote, and that the voting time on the first in a series of votes is not less than 15 minutes. This will provide a more definite voting schedule for all Members and hopefully will help guarantee the timely completion of the appropriations bills. House Resolution 261 also provides for one motion to recommit, with or without instructions, as is the right of the minority Members of the House. Madam Speaker, House Resolution 261 is a typical open rule to be considered for general appropriations bills. This rule does not restrict the normal open amending process in any way, and any amendments that comply with the standing Rules of the House may be offered for consideration. While a vast number of amendments is not expected, the rule permits those Members who have amendments every opportunity to offer them. Madam Speaker, H.R. 2605 appropriates a total of $20.2 billion in discretionary budget authority, which is $880 million below last year's level and $1.4 billion below the President's request. As we all know, the Committee on Appropriations has, once again, had to balance a wide array of interests and make tough choices with scarce resources. I commend the gentleman from California (Mr. Packard), the chairman of the subcommittee, and the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky), the ranking member for their work on this legislation. Specifically, the bill provides $4.19 billion for the Corps of Engineers for civil projects such as flood control, shoreline protection and navigation and environmental projects, which is an increase of $91 million over last year's level. The bill also provides $784.7 million for the Bureau of Reclamation to maintain, operate, and rehabilitate Bureau projects and western water infrastructure, which is $2.6 million over last year's level. As we keep our fiscal House in order, we must ensure that all funding is spent efficiently and where it is needed most. This bill achieves this goal. Notwithstanding the constraints we now face after decades of fiscal irresponsibility, H.R. 2605 effectively funds solar and renewable energy programs, nuclear energy programs, science programs, and atomic energy defense activities. Madam Speaker, clearly the Department of Energy is a department that is plagued by mismanagement and abuse, and I want to comment on two specific provisions in this appropriations bill that the Committee on Appropriations has taken to reform and improve management and security. First, the bill reduces contractor travel by 50 percent, a decrease of $125 million from last year's level. The General Accounting Office has reported widespread abuses of travel funds, excessive waste of taxpayers' money, and the overall use of contractors on Department of Energy programs. We cannot stand for this kind of mismanagement and waste, and I strongly support the significant reduction in funding for contractor travel in this bill. I also wanted to comment on the bill's provisions that delays $1 billion in obligations for the Department of Energy until after June 30, 2000, and until Congress has enacted legislation restructuring the national security program currently under the jurisdiction of the Department of Energy. The security of our nuclear secrets is vital to this Nation and the Department of Energy has shown itself to be inept in the safeguarding of these secrets. While reports have indicated problems with the Department of Energy for years, the Department's confusing structure and overlapping lines of responsibility have continued to undermine any effort to improve security from within the Department. By withholding these funds until Congress restructures the national security program, we send a strong message that this Congress demands improved management and accountability when it comes to protecting nuclear secrets. Madam Speaker, H.R. 2605 was favorably reported out of the Committee on Appropriations, as was this open rule by the Committee on Rules. I urge my colleagues to support the rule so that we may proceed with the general debate and consideration of this legislation. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LINDER. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Packard), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development.

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

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

Mr. LINDER. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this open rule. I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution. The previous question was ordered.