C. Young

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I move to lay on the table the motion to reconsider.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of the time. Mr. Speaker, I want to say to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Murtha) that, if he and I had been able to resolve this issue as we have been able to deal with the defense issues for many years, we would have concluded our business a long time ago. I would like to say this, that the Committee on Appropriations in the House has done a good job. We basically completed our part of the business in July. Then we had the negotiations with our counterparts in the Senate. I would like to compliment our counterparts in the Senate. Senator Stevens is a dynamic leader, a tough negotiator, and very knowledgeable. He does a really good job. And of course his partner there, Senator Byrd, is also very determined in what it is that he seeks to do. But the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Murtha) and I have always been able to get things resolved early on. We have not been able to do that on the wrap up appropriations work. But we are close to that conclusion now. I will say again the appropriators have done a good job. The appropriations part of this package is complete. The agreement will have some extraneous material, some riders, and the offsets that are holding us up. But, we do plan to file that bill today. I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Murtha) for his comments. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 381, I call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 80) making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year 2000, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H.J. Res. 80, and that I may include tabular and extraneous material.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I might consume. Mr. Speaker, this a 1-day continuing resolution, which I do not think is going to be adequate because the negotiations on wrapping up our appropriations work are still somewhat delayed, although the Speaker of the House and the President did speak with each other late last night, and we are hopeful that we can come to a conclusion. The appropriations part of this negotiation has been completed for some time. The offsets, the pay-fors, are what are holding up the negotiations. We expect to have that completed today. We expect to file the bill in the House today, and we expect to consider the bill in the House today; and, hopefully, the other body will be able to expedite it as well. So maybe the 1-day extension may be enough, but probably not. But nevertheless, this is what we have before us today. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, the Appropriations Committee on November 19th will lose one of its most competent and efficient staff members, Jenny Mummert. Jenny will leave us that day to further her career in the private sector, and the Committee and particularly the Defense subcommittee will not be the same without her. Jenny joined the Committee in January 1991 as a member of the Treasury Postal Subcommittee staff, where she worked for four different Subcommittee Chairmen. When I became Chairman of the Defense Subcommittee in 1995, I persuaded Jenny to come to work for us. She took on every task we gave her cheerfully and professionally from helping with the arrangements at hearings, to preparing the voluminous notes and tables at markups and conferences, and a myriad of other tasks associated with writing and passing the largest of our appropriations bills. Jenny has not only been great in the work place, but she has done so while raising a family of four. She and her husband, Joe are the loving parents of Joey, Kandyce, Kevin, and Karley. Like most Members of the Appropriations Committee and its staff, Jenny has put in her share of long nights, weekends, and holidays helping to prepare our annual legislative products. She has been a trooper, and on behalf of the entire Committee and the Congress, I want to thank her for her numerous contributions to her country and to our nation's security. Mr. Speaker, it is my hope that my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee and in the House will join me in wishing Jenny all the best with her new career.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I want to confirm what the majority leader has said. We have battled all year long to get these bills on an individual basis through the House, through the Senate, and to the White House. We have been fairly successful. In the House we have basically finished our part of that job before the August recess. Then we had a lot of time spent in negotiations with the other body, and we have resolved those, but still, every step of the way we have tried to keep that commitment, that we send each bill individually. Now we are at the point, as the majority leader said, that all of the hard problems have now begun to focus. The easy ones are gone. The easy ones are out of the way. Now the hard ones are here. But we are at the point where I think we can quickly come together and not necessarily package everything on a vehicle, but have a package of agreements whereby if we do this on this bill, we do something else on that bill, and we have to have a little give and take, both here in the Congress and at the White House. I will be honest with my colleagues in the House, the White House has not been all that negotiating. The White House has been pretty tough in saying, here is our line, we are not going to cross it. That is all well and good, and I would like to thank the minority party for applauding the majority party's efforts here, and I knew that was a facetious applause. However, it is our intention to bring these issues together now. The Speaker has spoken to the President personally this morning, and I agree with the majority leader, we are about at that point where things are going to fall into place. Now, can they be done by Friday? I do not know. I know our staff on the Committee on Appropriations have been telling me for the last couple of days, boy, I will tell you, I do not think we can do it. My instructions this morning were, do not come back to me and tell me we cannot do it. You come back to me and tell me we can do it, and here is how we are going to do it, and then we will get out of here.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, that is what I was going to say when the gentleman asked me to yield. Mr. Speaker, I would hope that we would pass this continuing resolution expeditiously and let us get back to the bargaining table with the administration.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the current continuing resolution expires tomorrow night. While we had planned to have all appropriations action completed by tomorrow, that will not be possible because of some ongoing negotiations with the administration. We will need an extension into next week because of the Veterans Day holiday. H. J. Res. 78 would continue operations for the agencies in the five remaining bills until November 17, and I would urge our Members to support it. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on H.J. Res. 78, and that I may include tabular and extraneous material.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to the previous order of the House, I call up the joint resolution (H. J. Res 78) making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year 2000, and for other purposes, for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order immediately to consider in the House the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 78) making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year 2000, and for other purposes; that the joint resolution be considered as read for amendment; that the joint resolution be debatable for 1 hour, equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations; and that the previous question be considered as ordered on the joint resolution to final passage without intervening motion except one motion to recommit.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume just briefly to close and suggest that we are hoping that, as the negotiators continue their work during tomorrow and Thursday and Friday and Saturday and Sunday, that by Monday we will have workable packages that are agreed upon. But we are at the final stage of the negotiations. Everyone who has ever negotiated knows that the most difficult decisions to agree on are put off to the end. Well, now we are at the end and we are dealing with the most difficult decisions. As the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) has pointed out, we have had very spirited negotiations most of the day today. We were here late last night. We were here over the weekend and we are moving as rapidly as we can. But we have some very strong differences of opinions between the Congress and even between the House and the Senate, as well as the administration.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I urge an expeditious aye vote on the resolution.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. I yield to the gentleman from California.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order immediately to consider in the House the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 78) making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year 2000, and for other purposes; that the joint resolution be considered as read for amendment; that the joint resolution be debatable for 1 hour, equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations; and that the previous question be considered as ordered on the joint resolution to final passage without intervening motion except one motion to recommit.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes. Mr. Speaker, this amendment has been discussed at great length during the discussion of the rule and further during general debate. The amendment offers the $1.825 billion associated with the President's request for implementation of the Wye River Agreement. I think all the Members understand the specifics of that. It also adds $799 million to other items that the President had asked for. The difference is he asked for $1.4 billion, and we negotiated down to $799 million. We can go into the details of what these items are during this debate period, but generally that is the outline of the amendment. I think it has general support. The amendment also includes additional funding for the International Development Association of the World Bank, the Inter-American Investment Corporation, and the African Development Fund. A total of $1.2 billion is provided for military assistance for Israel. These funds will be used to help relocate military bases from areas that will fall under the control of the Palestinian Authority under the terms of the Wye Accord. They will also enable Israel to strengthen its strategic defense capability. As Israel gives up territory, the ability of potential enemies to threaten that country increases; therefore it is essential that its national security assets are strengthened. The amendment also provides $200 million in further assistance for Jordan. As members may recall, earlier this year we provided a supplemental appropriation of $100 million for Jordan at the request of President Clinton. Providing these additional supplemental funds meets the commitment that I and other members gave to King Abdullah that we would ensure that Jordan's needs would be met at the earliest possible time. Also included in the amendment is $400 million for assistance for the West Bank and Gaza. The State Department has told us that no funds appropriated for the West Bank and Gaza will be provided directly to the Palestinian Authority. These funds are for infrastructure improvements, such as roads and water systems, and for economic development activities. Frankly, I am not entirely comfortable about this portion of the amendment. It is very difficult for me to support funding that will indirectly assist Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority. The only good thing about this portion of the amendment is that it helps implement a peace agreement that should lead to long-term peace and stability in the region. Finally, the Wye River package in this amendment includes $25 million in military assistance for Egypt. The Administration had requested the creation of an interest-bearing account for Egyptian military assistance, but the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the Administration's proposal would have cost $470 million in outlays. Clearly, we could not do that. Therefore we have included a direct appropriation for Egypt which is roughly equal to the interest they would have gained from such an account. I believe this relatively small amount of funding is necessary to support the essential role that Egypt is playing in the Middle East peace process. Mr. Speaker, it was not until October 15 of this year that the Committee on Appropriations received any detailed information on the proposed uses of the funds requested for the Wye River Accord. This was after the Congress had passed the conference report on Foreign Operations. The total lack of information was one reason the Committee was reluctant to act on the President's request. Now that we have finally received this information, I ask unanimous consent that it be included in the Record. I also want to state that the Committee will consider the information provided in this justification document as the baseline for any proposed reprogramming of funds. Mr. Speaker, this amendment also includes $799.1 million in additional funding for a variety of programs. The funding recommendations contained in the amendment are the result of negotiations between the Congress and the White House. Everyone gave up something in these negotiations; the President gets about $900 million less in funding than he requested, if you exclude funding for the Wye River Accord. We have agreed to provide an additional $799.1 million in spending. Mr. Speaker, I believe my amendment has broad, bipartisan support. It fulfills the commitment made by the President at Wye River, and address concerns expressed by the President in his veto message. I strongly urge that members vote in favor of this amendment. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of the time. Mr. Speaker, in closing the debate on the issue of the Young amendment, again I want to thank the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Callahan), chairman of the subcommittee, for his very diligent efforts to get us to the point that we are today. Because with passage of this amendment and passage of this bill, we have overcome one of the final obstacles to having the Congress complete its work, at least its appropriations work, for the year. I think the good news is that once we have done this, the other outstanding issues should come together fairly quickly. This was a major obstacle, and all the players have done a great job in getting us to where we are. Mr. Speaker, I ask for a yes vote on the amendment, and then I ask for a yes vote on the bill.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur), who is a member of the Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Callahan), the distinguished chairman of the subcommittee.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley). Many, many Members, Mr. Speaker, have been supportive of this amendment to include the Wye River agreement, and none has been more forthcoming and outspoken than my colleague from Florida.