Scott McInnis

Mr. McINNIS

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

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I reclaim my time. parliamentary inquiry

Mr. McINNIS. Regular order, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I think it is important at this stage of the rule debate that we focus on what this debate is about, and that is the rule. I would like to just repeat that House Resolution 275 is a straightforward resolution. The proposed rule merely provides that it shall be in order at any time today for the Speaker to entertain motions that the House suspend the rules. The Committee on Rules agreed to the amendment to the rule by the gentleman from California [Mr. Beilenson] which provides that the matters being considered under suspension will be announced from the House floor at least 1 hour prior to consideration and that the Speaker or his designee will consult with the majority leader or his designee prior to consideration under this resolution. This resolution, this rule, was taken out of the Committee on Rules by unanimous vote. I think it is especially important that the remaining speakers focus on the issue of the rule. By passing this resolution, we are attempting to speed up the process so we can reopen the Government as soon as possible while keeping the commitment to the American people to balance this budget within a 7- year period of time. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from California [Mr. Cunningham].

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I think it is very important, first of all, to remember that this rule came out of the Committee on Rules unanimously on a voice vote. There is no reason that we should not pass this rule here today. Second of all, I think it is important we put it in its proper perspective. We think that it is especially important at this point in time in our history for the President of this country to go along with the U.S. Congress and commit to balancing the budget of this country in a seven-year period of time, using the CBO numbers. We do not think that is too much to ask of the President, and the President should not think it is too much to ask of the Congress, and, frankly, the people of America are demanding we balance our budget. The next thing I think is important to point out is at the beginning of this session when we are trying to change things, it has been 40 years, we were criticized for going too fast. Now, ironically, today we are being criticized for going too slow. Finally, I would ask all the members to keep in mind the President's budget that he submitted went down 99 to 0 in February. Not even one Democrat in the U.S. Senate supported that budget. Mr. Speaker, I move the previous question.

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, the second thing I would ask the preceding speaker is to amend his bill so that it includes the President of the United States; and the third thing that I would mention to the previous speaker is he talks about 700,000 Federal employees, and my bet is that these people will, while they are furloughed, they will be paid for that period of time. parliamentary inquiry

Mr. McINNIS. Regular order of the House, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. McINNIS. No; I will not.

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to say to the gentleman there is nothing that prevents him from going ahead and doing the pilot project and not taking his check.

Mr. McINNIS. Again, Mr. Speaker, to the previous speaker, the gentleman talks about 700,000 so-called hostages, Federal employees who will be paid while they are on this furlough, but he continually, every day that there is a speech by the gentleman, he continually fails to mention that 230 or 260 million people in this country are held hostage by the deficit, which is accumulating at $30 million an hour. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my friend, the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Mica].

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

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I ask for a report on time.

Mr. McINNIS

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, as we all know, this discussion today on the House floor at this point in time is on the rule. The gentleman from Maine decided to utilize this time to go through a 5-minute problem of what we face in this country, but the biggest problem that the gentleman from Maine failed to refer to is the deficit that this country faces. We have a lot of people, and, frankly, we have people on both sides of the aisle who are committed, committed, not as a goal but committed to balancing this budget in a 7-year period of time. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Hayworth].

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Kingston].

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I think the gentleman's inquiries deserve some type of response. First of all, the question is why does the continuing resolution have such an onerous requirement that the President of the United States ought to commit to balancing the budget of the country within a 7-year period of time? I would suggest that the gentleman look at the TV commercial right now going on on at least five or eight different times. The President of this [[Page H 13311]] country has on each of those different occasions given a commitment, commitment, to the American people to balance the budget. The first time was when he was running for office, 5 years, then it went to 10 years, then back to 7 years, then to 8 years, and who knows what. All we are asking for is a commitment in writing. Talk is cheap. The American people want a commitment in writing from us, which we just gave on the continuing resolution, and I say proudly it was bipartisan; 48 Democrats joined us in that. We gave our word in writing to this country we will balance the budget in 7 years. I think it is fair, and I think it is appropriate, that we ask the President of the United States to give his commitment in writing that this country will have a budget balanced, not as a goal but as a commitment, within a 7-year period of time. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my friend, the gentleman from Kansas [Mr. Tiahrt].

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I think it is especially important because it seems to me that during this discussion that we should be holding on the rule, that instead we are having some speakers up here who are trying to scare the senior citizens, who are trying to scare students out there about their student loans, who are trying to scare the general population. I think the scariest thing we have got out there is this Federal deficit which is accumulating at a rate of $30 million an hour. I think the people in America are prepared to assist us in balancing this budget. I think the people in America understand that we are not cutting programs but that we are reducing the rate of growth there in programs. I think the people of America want to preserve the economics of this country for the next generation and the next generation. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Davis].

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and before I yield time to my colleague down here, I would like to just say, after hearing the preceding speaker, it is kind of, and I will give an example, it is like going to your employer. Let us say you make $5 an hour and you go to your employer and you say, ``I would like a pay raise to $10.'' Your employer says, ``Well, I am going to raise you $2. I am going to give a pay raise from $5 to $7 an hour.'' You say, ``No. I want $10.'' He says, ``No. I am going to get you to 7.'' You go out to your other employee and you say, ``Hey, hey, I got a pay cut of $3 an hour.'' We are not cutting Medicare. We are increasing Medicare. We are not cutting student loans. We are increasing student loans. In regard to that, I will give you specific numbers. I will give you every reason in the book why this President should agree to balance the budget in this country within a 7-year period of time, why this President should agree to this budget. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Connecticut [Mr. Shays].

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I ask for order in the House.

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I ask for order in the House.

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I would certainly like the preceding speaker, he spoke for 5 minutes to go back to the mircophone. I would be happy to yield him 5 seconds to say to the American people that he has a balanced budget plan that will balance the budget in 7 years without raising taxes on the American people. I would also like the gentleman, on his own time, to come back up to the American people while he talks about the 30,000 young people in his State, what about the Federal debt on those young people, what about the deficit this country is facing, what about the $30 million an hour that this Government spends more than it brings in, spends $30 million more? Let me ask the gentleman, what about the child born today who faces $180,000 on their lifetime earnings just paying interest on the Federal debt? When is the gentleman going to help this country get out of this fiscal insanity? One-seventh of the Federal Government's budget goes to pay interest on the debt. So it is easy, very easy.

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Arkansas [Mr. Hutchinson].

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

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. 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 the consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 275 is a straightforward resolution. The proposed rule merely provides that it shall be in order, any time today, for the Speaker to entertain motions that the House suspend the rules. The Committee on Rules agreed to an amendment offered by Mr. Beilenson, which provides that the matters to be considered under suspension will be announced from the House floor at least 1 hour prior to consideration, and that the Speaker or his designee will consult with the minority leader or his designee on any suspension considered under this resolution. House Resolution 275 was reported out of the Committee on Rules by unanimous voice vote. Simply put, this resolution, will allow for a special suspension of the rules day for consideration of possible selective continuing resolutions to keep vital offices open. By passing this resolution, we are attempting to speed up the legislative process so that we can reopen the Government as soon as possible while keeping our commitment to the American people to balance the Federal budget within 7 years. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up H. Res. 275 and ask for its immediate consideration. H. Res. 2175 Resolved, That it shall be in order at any time on the legislative day of Saturday, November 18, 1995, for the Speaker to entertain motions that the House suspend the rules: Provided, That the object of any motion to suspend the rules is announced from the House floor at least one hour prior to its consideration. The Speaker, or his designee shall consult with the minority leader or his designee on any matter designated for consideration under this resolution.

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, all the comments the preceding speaker made over 5 minutes, I can summarize it in less than a sentence. That is, we could have avoided it all if the President of the United States would agree to balance the budget of this country in 7 years. With that, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arkansas [Mr. Hutchinson].