C. Young

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. If the gentleman will continue to yield, I am happy to join him in that announcement and also to say we have about 10 more amendments that we need to consider here this evening, about half of which a point of order will lie against. So I agree with the gentleman, and I think it is proper we put the Members on notice.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for raising the issue, and we do have a time problem. I had set the goal of being completed by 4:30 today. Obviously, we did not make that. I wanted to assure all the Members that they would have an opportunity to have full and open debate, as we had promised an open rule, which we did. But I think the gentleman makes a very good point, and I would hope that those where a point of order does lie would be willing to limit the time they would use in describing that amendment to the 2 minutes the gentleman has suggested. Otherwise, we could go straight to the point of order and eliminate any conversation.

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Knollenberg), a member of the Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Would the gentleman ask the question then, because we have to get an idea of how much longer this is going to take. We had planned to have this conferenced by Tuesday. We may not have this bill finished by Tuesday.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I would like to get an idea of how many more speakers there are on this subject.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), the distinguished chairman of the Committee on International Relations. (Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. I appreciate the gentleman yielding. I would just like to make this case to the gentleman from Indiana. There is nothing in this bill that would authorize any money to be used to deploy ground troops into Kosovo, to invade Kosovo or anything else. There is nothing in this bill for that purpose.

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that all debate on this amendment and all amendments thereto close in 20 minutes and that the time be equally divided.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. If the gentlewoman will continue to yield, yes, we would be more than happy to raise the subject in the conference, and we will be pleased to work with her and Mr. Hall in the coming days. As the gentlewoman knows, we can never predict what a conference might or might not do. We will certainly make sure the issue is considered.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the gentlewoman for bringing this to our attention. She has done a tremendous amount of work on this issue for the many, many years she has been here in the Congress. I want to assure the gentlewoman that we will give her proposal every consideration as we proceed to conference with the Senate. However, Mr. Chairman, I must insist on my point of order.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, will the gentlewoman yield?

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I reserve a point of order on the amendment.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I reserve a point of order on the gentlewoman's amendment.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis), the distinguished chairman of the Subcommittee on Defense of the Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, could we inquire as to how much time is remaining for each side?

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. And may I inquire as to who has the right to close the argument on this debate?

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Myrick) for yielding the time. Mr. Speaker, I merely want to rise in support of this rule. The rule does provide for us an exciting day today in the House because there are a lot of different issues that are going to be addressed. In many meetings, group sessions and one-on-one meetings that I have had leading up to today, I promised all of my colleagues that I would ask the Committee on Rules for an open rule so that Members could offer their amendments that would be germane and otherwise in order to the bill and let the majority work its will. That is exactly what I did. I did ask for an open rule. The Committee on Rules complied with that request. The rule today is an open rule and Members will have an opportunity to offer their amendments, and I just ask that we support this rule and get on with the bill.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

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.R. 1664, making emergency supplemental appropriations for military operations, refugee relief, and humanitarian assistance relating to the conflict in Kosovo, and for military operations in Southwest Asia for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1999, and for other purposes, and that I may include tabular and extraneous material.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I reserve a point of order against the gentleman's amendment. (Mr. FARR asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I rise to make a point of order against the amendment. It proposes to change existing law and constitutes legislation in an appropriation bill. Therefore it violates clause 2 of rule XXI.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I reserve a point of order on the gentleman's amendment.