Frank Lucas

Mr. LUCAS

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Stutzman).

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, might I inquire as to how much time is remaining for both myself and the ranking member?

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform the ranking member that I potentially have some additional speakers, but they've not made an appearance yet. Therefore, I reserve the balance of my time to close if they do not appear.

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

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

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

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I reserve a point of order against the motion to recommit.

Mr. LUCAS. I withdraw my point of order, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. LUCAS

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I move to lay the appeal on the table.

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to one of my prime subcommittee chairmen, the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. King).

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I wish to yield 1 minute to the other Mr. Scott from Georgia, one of the chairmen of the primary subcommittee on the House Agriculture Committee, Mr. Austin Scott.

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, once again I turn to one of the outstanding subcommittee chairmen who has jurisdiction over Conservation, Energy, and Forestry, and yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson).

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Benishek).

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time I and the ranking member have remaining in the debate?

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Ribble).

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rodney Davis).

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to note to my colleague that I have no additional speakers and that I reserve the rest of my time to close.

Mr. LUCAS. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time I have remaining?

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on the bill H.R. 2642.

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I'd note to my colleague, I have one additional 1-minute speaker, and then I'll reserve the rest of my time for myself. With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Crawford), one of my subcommittee chairmen.

Mr. LUCAS. I move to lay the appeal on the table.

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I rise for an inquiry of my colleague, the ranking member. Does the gentleman need sufficient time to close?

Mr. LUCAS. In the spirit of comity, I yield to my ranking member 2 minutes for his use.

Mr. LUCAS

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I would have preferred to focus my time in the general debate, and that's still my intention. The rule debate historically, as we all know in this body, is more of a partisan discussion, generally less focused on the details of the bill than the intensity of the process or the perspective by which the next action takes place. I understand that. But I would say to my friends, and I will go into greater detail on this in just a little bit, remember what you are about to vote on, a rule to enable us to proceed to a vote entails, is consideration of a bill that took two markups over 2 years in committee, where 100 amendments were considered in both markups, a process by which a bill to the floor a couple of weeks ago subject to another 100 amendments, tremendous debate, tremendous discussion, yet a bill that could not quite get the muster of both the left and the right. So we wound up a little short in the middle. What you're voting on today is the farm bill farm bill. It's what a lot of the folks back home have said for years they want: consider every issue on its own merit. Well, now, we're about to vote for a rule that will make that possible. But in the farm bill farm bill, we achieve savings in the commodity title, do away with the direct payments, that thing that's caused such great angst--people getting money for not doing anything. That's gone, a substantial number of billions of dollars in savings. Now, the committee had the spirit to believe that every part of the existing farm bill policy should save resources, so we save money in the conservation title, $6 billion. We consolidate programs. We refocus. I would say to all my friends on the floor, vote for the rule. Give us a chance to proceed to the bill so that we can consider a farm bill farm bill. I can assure all of you that I have given my word to the members of the Rules Committee, to Members on each side of this Chamber that the committee will work hard to achieve a consensus on a nutrition bill. I don't know what kind of a consensus that will be yet. It probably won't satisfy both of my friends on each side of the room to the extreme. But we, in good faith, did our work. Give us a chance to consider the merits of our reform-minded bill. Give us a chance, then, to address the nutrition title. Let the place work. Let the place work. I thank the chairman of the Rules Committee for yielding some time to me. I ask my colleagues to vote for this. I would tell you, if anything, part of the biggest problem with the bill 2 weeks ago was we saved money everywhere; and for some reason, no one ever wants to give anything up in this place.