C. Young

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that in the engrossment of H.R. 2266, the Clerk be authorized to correct section numbers, punctuation, cross references, and to make other conforming changes as may be necessary to reflect the actions of the House today. The SPEAKER pro tempore [Mr. McHugh]. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Florida?

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. I would say that we agree completely with what this amendment is trying to accomplish. We do have a little concern about how this language might fit in with the President's signing of the bill. But we do appreciate the gentleman making some changes in the language that were recommended. With that, we prepared to accept the amendment with the understanding that if we hear from the administration, we may have to come back and see if there would be additional changes that the gentleman might be agreeable to.

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Washington [Mr. Dicks]. (Mr. DICKS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from California [Mr. Cunningham], who is from the Vietnam era, an aviation ace who has flown against these aircraft, who has had them fly against him. He has been shot at and he shot them down. I think he is an expert on this subject.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that all debate on this amendment and all amendments thereto close in 30 minutes and that the time be equally divided and controlled by the gentleman from New York [Mr. Nadler] and myself.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I would say to the gentleman that I agree that the DRAGONFLY technology appears promising and that the committee will consider the gentleman's request during the conference and address this issue during that time.

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California [Mr. Hunter].

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, let me ask the author of the amendment if he would be interested in discussing a possible time limitation with the time managed?

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, my suggestion is, and it is something that I suggested earlier, that we set a specific amount of time, have it managed and controlled by the proponents and the opponents, so we can get to the end of this debate sometime today.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Further reserving the right to object, I yield to the gentleman from Washington.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, reserving the right to object, under our reservation, I would like to point out to my very distinguished friend that we have made these arguments time after time after time after time, and the business of the House is being delayed now. There are other Members who want to speak. And I am not going to object, but I think we all ought to pay attention to the fact that the gentleman has already used 10 minutes now. He controlled considerable time when we had this debate on the authorization bill, where he is the ranking member. And I just think that we really ought to be considering a time limitation, because nothing new is being said. We are rehashing the same arguments over and over again. And while I will not object to this additional request for time, I would put the Members on notice that I will object to other Members who would ask for additional time over and above their 5 minutes.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I would like to point out to the gentleman that we have funded this program in the past, and one reason we did not include it in the bill for this year was the fact that the other body did include it, and we expect that it will be a conference item. But we do support the program, and we are prepared to accept the amendment.

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, again if the gentleman will yield, I would say that he is correct on the likely source of funding for this pilot program.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I would say the gentleman is correct in his description of this program.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I would respond to his question by saying that is my understanding.

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, offering the same explanation that I did on the previous amendment, we are happy to accept this amendment.

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, we had expected that this was amendment No. 3.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. I have a parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Chairman, I want to compliment, in addition to the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Murtha], the members of our subcommittee, the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Obey] and the gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. Livingston], who is chairman of the full committee, because while there have been some differences, we have been able to deal with these in a very, very responsible and mature way, and I appreciate the leadership of the chairman of the full committee and ranking member, who have cooperated with us. With that, Mr. Chairman, I would just like to say this is a good bill. There will be several amendments that we will agree to, others that we will have to oppose, but all and all it is a good bill. It provides, within the budget limits, it provides the best that we can for the members of the military, and we are getting a lot for the dollar.