Dave Obey

Mr. OBEY

Mr. OBEY. I think that is a terribly destructive waste of time, and that is why, Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. OBEY. Yes, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. OBEY

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I object.

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. OBEY

Mr. OBEY. I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana.

Mr. OBEY. But the question, Mr. Speaker, is will the minority party have 8 minutes on each amendment? On each proposition, I mean.

Mr. OBEY. Reserving the right to object, Mr. Speaker, I just want to make certain that I understand what the last two words mean. It is my understanding that if the time is equally divided, that means that each party will have 8 minutes of time on each amendment.

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I just need to have the assurance, and I want to cooperate on this, but I need to have the assurance that our side will be yielded 50 percent of the time on each of the two propositions.

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, further reserving my right to object, that means that we would only have 4 minutes out of all of the debate time.

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, further reserving my right to object, as the gentleman knows, I am trying to get to a meeting to help facilitate the moving of the budget forward, so what I would like to do is have the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Stokes) on this side manage the time for the entire bill, including the two amendments.

Mr. OBEY. We would also have 8 minutes on the Greenwood proposition.

Mr. OBEY. I yield to the gentleman from Oklahoma.

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I do not want to do that.

Mr. OBEY. I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana.

Mr. OBEY. Well, continuing under my reservation, Mr. Speaker, I am still trying to figure out what that means. We are not trying to hold anybody up. There are people on this side who want to speak as well. We just want to make certain that we will have an equal amount of time that will be yielded on both propositions. That is all.

Mr. OBEY. I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana.

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, continuing under my reservation, let me explain to the gentleman, I am sure that, on our side of the aisle, the preponderance of the speakers will be against the Istook amendment. I do not want us to have all the time against the Istook amendment. I think that, if there are 8 minutes against the Istook amendment, 4 ought to be reserved for the majority party if they want them. If they do not want them, I do not think we ought to have them anyway. But we would like at least 4 minutes on the Istook amendment and 4 minutes on the Greenwood amendment. If the gentleman do that, I do not care how he works out the time.

Mr. OBEY. Absolutely. I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana.

Mr. OBEY. That is fine so far.

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, so what the gentleman is saying, the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Coburn) will have 8 minutes and the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Greenwood) will have 8 minutes, and he has agreed to yield 4 of it to us.

Mr. OBEY. On Greenwood.

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, further reserving my right to object, we would agree that the time of gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Stokes) would be split evenly between the parties if there are persons on the gentleman's side who want to argue against that amendment.

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, with that understanding, I withdraw my reservation of objection.