C. Young

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs. (Mr. KOLBE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to the order of the House just adopted, I call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 79) making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year 2004, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask for a ``yes'' vote, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the House passed H.J. Res. 78, the fifth continuing resolution for fiscal year 2004, which extends the date of the current CR through Sunday, November 23. The Senate has chosen to amend this CR so that it would remain in effect until Monday, November 24. We have, in turn, decided with the Senate leadership just to introduce a clean CR, H.J. Res. 79, that we are now considering. That would extend the date of the CR to January 31, 2004. I think I should be very clear of what this means. It is not our intention with this CR to allow it to run through January 31, but it will allow us great flexibility in scheduling the completion of our work on the final appropriations bills and at the same time ensure that there will not be any disruption in government operations. And I would like to point out, Mr. Speaker, that the Committee on Appropriations has done its job and did so quite a long time ago, but some of the issues that are keeping us from completing work on the actual bills have nothing to do with appropriations. But, nevertheless, they are there, and we do have to deal with them, and we are dealing with them as best we can. We are proceeding with our work on the remaining appropriations bills. And as my colleagues know, there are two conference reports that have been ready for some time to file, the conference report on Transportation and Treasury and the conference report on Foreign Operations. However, as we proceed, we will finish the remaining bills as quickly as we can, and it will be leadership's decision on when the bills will be filed and when we will vote on it. We are proceeding with our work as diligently as we can. Mr. Speaker, I believe this CR is noncontroversial, and I urge the House to move the legislation to the Senate since the current CR does expire today. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes. I just would like to point out, and I have done this so many times that it does not hurt to be repeated. The House completed its work during the summer, ahead of the end of the fiscal year. And I appreciate the cooperation we had from both parties as we proceeded with our appropriations bills. I am not here to blame anybody, and I certainly would not blame anybody but circumstances. The Committee on Appropriations, as the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) pointed out, we had to do all of last year's work this year in January and February. Then we had three supplementals plus we did the 13 regular bills. This Committee on Appropriations has done its work. It has done its work well, and it has done its work on time, as the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) has conceded. There are other problems. One of the problems, and I do not know that anybody is going to like to hear this especially on my side of the aisle, one of the problems is this tremendous desire to solve legislative problems that the authorizing committees either cannot or will not solve. They are put onto appropriations bills, and they ask us to solve them because appropriations bills have to pass, Mr. Speaker. They are the only bills here really that have to pass. So we become a magnet for all of those issues that authorizers cannot solve, and we try to do the best we can. I think we are on the verge of having completed this job for this year. I do not think it does any good to blame anybody. In fact, I would like to say that the chairman of the Appropriations Committee in the Senate is an outstanding leader, a strong, dynamic leader, who is very knowledgeable and understands the process totally. He understands the issues as well as anybody that I know. But he has a very difficult situation in the Senate, and he has done the best job that he could. Anyway, Mr. Speaker, we are closing in on this. We are really prepared. We have been prepared for 3 weeks to file the Transportation and Treasury appropriations bill. We have been prepared for a week to file the conference report on the Foreign Operations appropriations bill. And they can be completed in a very short period of time. The other remaining issue would be the omnibus bill that includes five appropriations bills that have not been completed in conference. And we are very close to having that completed. We are very close to being able to file that bill and vote on it. As a matter of fact, we had hoped that we would file it tonight. A lot of changes happened during the day. And every time we make a change, it takes a little extra time. So we probably will not file that bill tonight unless the House remains in session very late. Anyway, I would agree that the process has not worked the best, but I would also say that I compliment the Members of House and especially the members of the Committee on Appropriations in the House and the staff that worked so diligently with us. We did our job. We have done our job, and we are attempting to pursue the completion of the whole process. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, as one who represents the largest groups of senior citizens, older Americans who are on Medicare and Social Security, I rise in support of this bill. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1, The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003. This is the most important and comprehensive improvement to the Medicare program since it was established 38 years ago. For the first time, Medicare will provide prescription drug coverage for 40 million older Americans. It will provide lifesaving help for the millions of seniors who today forgo taking prescription drugs because they have no coverage and cannot afford them. It will allow seniors to take their full dose of medicine as prescribed rather than cut them in half or skip days to make the supply last longer. And it will eliminate the heart wrenching decisions many seniors must make over whether to buy food or prescription medicine, because they cannot afford both. One of the reasons Americans are healthier and living longer is that prescription medication is available to control many chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes. Unfortunately, these medicines are oftentimes not available to those living on fixed incomes. This legislation changes that by creating a tiered benefit program that provides prescription drug coverage for everyone eligible for Medicare. Yet it still allows those who receive prescription drug coverage through their employers or other health benefit plans to elect to retain that coverage. Because of the complexity of bringing the new Part D prescription benefits on line, those benefits will not take effect until 2006. In the interim, however, Medicare beneficiaries will be eligible beginning next April to receive a Medicare-approved drug discount card. Seniors will take this card to their local pharmacy to receive discounts of 10 to 25 percent off their prescription medicine. This will provide immediate savings to seniors while preparations are underway to launch the full Medicare prescription drug program in 2006. Once implemented, seniors electing prescription drug coverage will pay a monthly premium of $35. Following a $250 deductible, they will receive federal coverage for 75 percent of the costs of their prescription drugs up to $2,250. For each prescription filled, there will be a $2 co-payment for generic drugs and a $5 co-payment for brand name drugs. If a senior incurs catastrophic drug costs, exceeding $3,600 in out-of-pocket costs, Medicare will cover 95 percent of drug costs over that amount. For those on small fixed, limited incomes (below $12,123 for individuals and $16,362 for couples), they will pay no deductible and no premium and there will be no gap in coverage between the initial coverage limit of $2,200 and the catastrophic coverage threshold of $3,600. For those with incomes between those levels and 150 percent of the federal poverty level ($13,470 for individuals and $18,180 for couples), the premiums and deductibles will increase on a sliding scale. In addition, it is estimated that this legislation will drive down the price of prescription medication by as much as 20 percent, to yield further savings for seniors. It also sets in place new federal laws that will allow drug manufacturers to bring to market quicker, more affordable generic drugs. In addition to the new prescription drug coverage, this legislation will improve the quality of care for seniors in a variety of other ways. Most notably, it provides coverage for the first time for important new preventative benefits. Beginning in 2005, all newly enrolled Medicare beneficiaries will be covered for an initial physical examination. All beneficiaries will be covered for cardiovascular and screening blood tests and those at risk will be covered for a diabetes screen. These new benefits will allow for the screening of patients to catch many illnesses and conditions early, allowing them to be treated and managed in a way that improves their health and quality of life while at the same time lowering medical costs to individuals and the program by preventing later serious health consequences. Finally, this legislation will ensure that Medicare payments for physician and hospital services keep pace with inflation so that we do not lose health care providers who are available to care for the growing population older Americans. It also seeks to stabilize the reimbursement rates and drug coverage for cancer patients, who have faced increasing problems with the reduction in Medicare payments for these services over the past few years. Mr. Speaker, as the representative of one of the largest populations of Medicare recipients in this Congress, I know first hand the life- line that this program provides for seniors. My highest priority in the development of this legislation was to ensure that we do nothing to diminish or endanger the health care coverage it provides. We have done a good job in seeing that just the opposite is true. With its enactment, H.R. 1 will provide expanded benefits and will ensure that these benefits are more affordable and more available to all. H.R. 1 also responds to the three major concerns I have heard from my constituents throughout the development of this legislation. First, it guarantees access to the traditional Medicare program, services, and benefits that they currently receive. It will, however, allow those who are interested to consider new Medicare-approved plans where drug coverage is integrated into broader medical coverage or lower cost managed care plans offering expanded benefits. Second, H.R. 1 maintains the full Federal commitment and backing of the Medicare program. Some were concerned that the final legislation would in some way privatize the delivery of these health care benefits. That is not the case in this bill. Third, H.R. 1 does not in any way encourage employers or private health care plans to drop current employees or beneficiaries from their health care or prescription drug plans. Instead, it provides a number of important incentives for employers and private health care plans to retain employees and beneficiaries in their health care plans and allows the new Medicare benefits to supplement the benefits they already receive privately. Addressing these concerns is one of the many reasons the American Association of Retired Persons has endorsed H.R. 1. In a statement earlier this week, AARP said, ``AARP believe that millions of older Americans and their families will be helped by this legislation . . . The bill represents an historic breakthrough and important milestone in the nation's commitment to strengthen and expand health security for its citizens at a time when it is sorely needed. The bill will provide prescription drug coverage at little cost to those who need it most: People with low incomes, including those who depend on Social Security for all or most of their income. It will provide substantial relief for those with very high drug costs, and will provide modest relief for millions more. It also provides a substantial increase in protections for retiree benefits and maintains fairness by upholding the health benefit protections of the Age Discrimination and Employment Act.'' Mr. Speaker, the historic legislation before us today provides long overdue reforms to the Medicare program. It provides for the first time prescription drug coverage for older Americans. For those seniors currently unable to afford their medicines, it provides important new access to many preventive drugs. It also provides access for them to treat serious conditions before they worsen and require emergency room or hospital care. This legislation also improves Medicare coverage for preventative health care including physicals and cardiovascular health and diabetes screening tests. This too will improve the quality of medical care our seniors receive and will forestall many serious and costly medical problems. Finally, this legislation modernizes the Medicare program to provide 21st Century solutions to give seniors more health care choices. It also will bring market forces to bear to ensure that they receive better medical care at more affordable and competitive prices. This is the culmination of a six year legislative effort that included the consideration of three separate prescription drug bills in the House. Our colleagues in the House and Senate have taken a hard look at the problems facing older Americans who receive their care through Medicare and have agreed upon a thoughtful and comprehensive approach. Certainly we will identify problems that will need correcting as the next step in implementing this complex program begins. For our seniors, however, this legislation fulfills a promise to give them access to prescription drug coverage for the first time through the Medicare program. It is a good response to a long overdue problem and I urge support for its final passage.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that it shall be in order at any time without intervention of any point of order to consider House Joint Resolution 79 in the House; the joint resolution shall be considered as read for amendment; the previous question shall be as ordered on the joint resolution to final passage without intervening motion except: one, 20 minutes of debate on the joint resolution, equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking member of the Committee on Appropriations; and, two, one motion to recommit.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Con. Res. 206, legislation expressing Congressional support for the National Marrow Donor Program during this National Marrow Awareness Month. At the outset, let me thank my colleague from Texas, Mr. Burgess, for sponsoring this legislation, and Chairman Tauzin of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, my colleague and neighbor from Florida Mr. Bilirakis, for helping expedite consideration of this legislation. Mr. Speaker, the National Marrow Donor Program is a true modern medical miracle that saves lives here and throughout the world every single day of the year. Since its establishment more than 16 years ago, the registry has grown to more than 5,000,000 volunteers. These are true volunteers in every sense of the word. They have given of their time to take a simple blood test to be listed in the national registry. For the more than 17,000 volunteers who have been called upon to donate marrow, they have undergone a relatively simple surgical procedure to donate their bone marrow to save the life of a man, woman or child with leukemia or one of 60 otherwise fatal blood disorders. Earlier this year in a sign of strong Congressional support, the House unanimously approved my legislation, H.R. 3034, the National Bone Marrow Donor Registry Reauthorization Act, to continue the work of registry's work for another five years. We look forward to its passage in the other body. The National Marrow Donor Program is a precious national resource, and I want to pay tribute to the men and women there who work tirelessly to ensure that Americans in need of life-saving transplants receive the bone marrow, peripheral blood steam cells, or umbilical cord blood they need. Recognizing the need for a single source of information, Congress endorsed by request in 1986 for a small appropriation to the United States Navy to establish the National Bone Marrow Donor Registry. Our goal was to improve the facilitation of bone marrow transplants by coordinating adult, volunteer marrow donors as well as a full range of supporting services to donors, patients and physicians. With the funded I have provided every year since through appropriations bills for the Navy and the Department of Health and Human Services, The National Marrow Donor Program has operated the Registry first under contract with the Navy and now under a competitively awarded contract with the Department of Health and Human Services. During that time, I have watched proudly as the Registry has developed into the international leader in marrow, blood stem cell, and umbilical cord blood transplantation. Having had the great pleasure to meet with hundreds of donors and patients, I can tell you that donating bone marrow is a true life- changing experience. The experience of giving life to another human being is beyond mere words. Today, the National Marrow Donor Program remains the single source for physicians and patients searching for marrow to treat a variety of diseases. Through a network of 91 Donor Centers, 11 Cord Blood Banks, 150 Transplant Centers, and 19 International Cooperative Registries, it allows physicians to select for the best matched source of adult stem cells whether it be from volunteer marrow or blood donors or umbilical cord blood units. This large network has made marrow donation a world-changing experience. On any given day, bone marrow from our registry is being flown around the world at the same time bone marrow is being flown to a U.S. hospital through our formal relationship with the international registries. A diverse Registry of volunteer bone marrow donors has been recruited. And now the Registry also lists more than 28,000 units of umbilical cord blood for potential transfer. Additionally, the National Marrow Donor Program has helped more than 250 patients receive cord blood transplants since the inclusion of umbilical cord blood units in the Registry began in 1999. Working with the National Marrow Donor Program and individually, the NMDP network of 11 cord blood banks have provided more than 881 cord blood units for transplantation since 1997. This network represents the single largest number of cord blood donations in the U.S.--232--in the past year. The National Marrow Donor Program also recognizes the importance of maintaining an infrastructure that supports the Registry. To help physicians maximize the time they spend with their patients and minimize the time it takes to search the Registry, the Program has developed a real-time, electronic searching database that links more than 400 partnering organizations. The resulting transplants are made possible through the efforts of millions of volunteers and professionals, connected through an award-winning integrated information system that quickly records, analyzes, and electronically transmits millions of pieces of critical medical data every day to and from hundreds of medical organizations. There is more to providing marrow and other sources of blood stem cells than simply helping physicians search the Registry. Patients also need assistance. Therefore, the Program provides support services for individual patients to help them through the transplant process. The Patient Advocacy program provides patients with services such as information about transplants, assistance in intervening with insurers to determine coverage, and financial assistance. These efforts include patients assistance funds, case management services, referring physician education, consultation on the best match sources, and accelerated searching to facilitate transplants with an urgent need. The Program also provides support to patients after the transplant occurs to ensure that they can return to a normal, healthy life. Without this support, many patients would not be able to obtain life- saving transplants. Even with these wonderful successes, we all recognize that the number of donors is not sufficient to meet the needs of every American. Each year more than 30,000 children and adults are diagnosed with life- threatening blood diseases, such as leukemia and plastic anemia, as well as certain immune system and genetic disorders for which a marrow or blood stem cell transplant can be a cure. These transplants require matching certain tissue traits of the donor and patient. Because these traits are inherited, a patient's most likely match is someone of the same heritage. Thus, men and women of the National Marrow Donor Program work continuously to recruit more donors, especially minorities who historically have difficulty finding matches. Since 1995, the Program has more than tripled the number of minority donors. Mr. Speaker, at a time when our nation seeks to bring the nations and the people of the world closer together, to live in peace, and better understand each other, we can look to the National Marrow Donor Program as one important way to achieve these goals. There is no greater cause than to save a life, and with the ongoing support of every member of this House we can adopt this Resolution today to support the many heroes who have contributed to the work and vision of this program. From the early days when we sought a home for the program, and had a few doors slammed in our faces, there was Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, Jr. and Dr. Bob Graves. There was Captain Bob Hartzman of the United States Navy who connected us with the Navy Medical Command where we appropriated the first small amount of funding to give birth to the program. There were the early medical pioneers such as Dr. Robert Good, Dr. John Hansen, Dr. Donnell Thomas, and Dr. Jerry Barbosa, all of whom helped perfect the science of marrow transplantation and who assisted us in our legislative quest to establish a federal registry. There were the members of Congress, past and present, who stood by me as I sought funding to start up the program, to recruit marrow donors, and to perfect the marrow transplant procedures. There were my colleagues on the Appropriations and Energy and Commerce Committees who helped expedite these funding requests and the consideration of several authorization bills. There were the members of the board of the National Marrow Donor Program and the Marrow Foundation, who have volunteered their time to establish a finely tuned international registry that quickly and efficiently matches marrow donors and patients to give them the best chance of a successful transplant. There is the staff of the NMDP, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota but with operations throughout our nation, who manage the flow of information, marrow and cord blood around the world. And there is the staff and medical teams at the transplant and donor centers who use their medical expertise to complete the transplantation procedures. Finally, there are the true heroes of the program, the patients and donors. Every patient that has sought a transplant has helped the doctors and researchers perfect the marrow or cord blood transplant procedure to improve the outcome for every future patient. And every donor who has signed up for the national registry has given the ultimate gift of life. They are the heroes without whom we would not have this tremendously successful national and international life- saving program. Mr. Speaker, in closing, let me again thank the sponsors of this Resolution. Let me thank every member of this House for their partnership in helping us continue the work of the National Marrow Donor Program. With your support, we are giving hope to thousands of patients here and throughout the world today and into the future. I call on my colleagues to continue their support for the National Marrow Donor Program and its important mission. Whether it is working with physicians and patients to find the best source for a transplant, helping a patient navigate the complexities of the health care system and insurance, or encouraging more Americans to become part of the life-saving Registry, the Program has proven itself a critical part of our Nation's health care infrastructure. Today, we proudly support the work of the National Marrow Donor Program during National Marrow Awareness Month and share in the celebration of the program's successes. However, our work is not finished. We must continue to help all Americans in need of umbilical cord blood, bone marrow, or peripheral blood stem cells to have access to the life saving services and the patient advocacy programs of the National Marrow Donor Program.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

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. 79, and that I may include tabular and extraneous material.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. And I will not consume very much time because this continuing resolution simply extends the existing CR until midnight Sunday, this weekend. All conditions, by the way, of the original CR would still exist on this CR. We are reaching the point where we can conclude the appropriations process. Most of the appropriations issues have already been solved and are prepared to be written into a final bill. There are some outstanding issues at a level higher than the Committee on Appropriations that we are trying to apply a little pressure to get settled. Other than that, Mr. Speaker, I would give the House the word that I think we can get this done by Sunday evening, but maybe not. We will do the very best that we can. As one can imagine, there are an awful lot of issues that we have resolved and are continuing to resolve. We are working steadily. We had a good conference last night. We cleared up a lot of the issues. So, Mr. Speaker, not much more can be said about this. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask for a ``yes'' vote, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 450, I call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 78) making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year 2004, and for other purposes, and ask for its consideration.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

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 and that I may include tabular and extraneous material on H.J. Res. 78.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker, I rise, number one, to congratulate the Committee on Armed Services, led by Chairman Hunter, Chairman Hefley and Ranking Member Skelton. It is a good bill. I rise in support of the bill and against the motion to recommit. Primarily, though, I want to compliment my friend and colleague from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis) for the work that he has done over the years on the issue of concurrent receipt. Veterans all over America will appreciate the determination and the tenacity that he has brought to this issue of concurrent receipt. Today is a recognition of total dedication and hard work and not willing to give up, while it has been very frustrating on occasion. The gentleman from Florida has done an outstanding job. I just want to rise today to say that. It is a heartfelt thanks to the gentleman from Florida and on behalf of all the veterans all over our great country for him having been able to make this happen today.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

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. 76, and that I may include tabular and extraneous material.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, this continuing resolution, H.J. Res. 76, just extends the date of the previous CR until November 21. There are no additional changes. It just continues the anomalies that were included in the previous continuing resolutions. So there is really not much to debate here except the date. I would take just a minute and say that the House passed all of our bills in the summer, but the other body has not concluded all of its bills yet. But we are making some progress. This morning we concluded the conference meeting and the conference report on the energy and water appropriations bill. In addition, we appointed conferees this morning in the House on the foreign operations appropriations bill. So there are three other bills presently in conference, labor-HHS, transportation-treasury; and as I said, foreign operations for which we appointed conferees this morning. There are still four bills that the Senate has not passed; but, Mr. Speaker, we are hoping that we can conclude those and get to the conferences and get the appropriations business for this year completed. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, so I will reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 430, I call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 76) making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year 2004, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of the time. I rise in support of this continuing resolution. I wish we did not have to have a CR on the floor today. I wish it would have been possible for the Congress to have concluded all of its appropriations bills. The House did, but the entire Congress did not. Mr. Speaker, we have a two-House, bicameral legislature. And I think that is a great idea, to have a bicameral legislature, where we have the checks and the balances, not only within the three branches of government, but checks and balances within the Congress itself. I will have to admit that there are times when I am tempted to believe that a different approach would be better, such as a one-House legislature. A one-House Congress would be easier to work with, because some of our conferences that we have had this year and in previous years have been very, very difficult and very trying. But nevertheless, that is our system. We make the system work. We do a pretty good job at it. I would say, Mr. Speaker, to my colleagues that in most of the conferences for this year, the House has prevailed, I think, far more than the other body. So I do not feel too bad about this. But I know it is very time consuming. It gets very frustrating. But on the issue that the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) raised, and the gentleman from Maryland is one of my very best friends and has been for years. He and I work very closely together. We serve on one of the same subcommittees, and the two subcommittees that the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) serves on have not been called to conference yet. So obviously, he has not been called to a conference. But I think, generally, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) would agree, that he and I work very closely in keeping each other informed. He will tell me when he has a proposition or a proposal; and if I can agree with him, I agree with him, and I do not have any problem with that just because he is the minority leadership. But if I disagree with him, then I also tell him that; and he understands that. When I go to him with a proposition and tell him what my plan is, sometimes he will agree and sometimes he will not, and the committee settles that. There are no hard feelings; it is just the idea that the two parties have different general philosophies. But it works okay. It works well. As my colleagues know, we concluded all of our House bills in the summer when we were supposed to conclude them, and that was partially because of the strong relationship that the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) and I have and that our subcommittee chairmen and their ranking members have. Now, on the issue of excluding any member from conference committee or their staff, we do not do that. The Committee on Appropriations does not do that. A lot of staff work goes into preparing the bills and a lot of staff work goes into preparing for the conferences. When that staff work is being done, we keep the minority staff just as involved as the majority staff, and I think that they would admit to that and agree to that. I would not stand for any member of my committee being excluded from the considerations of the committee. The majority is going to prevail, but the minority has every right in the world to be part of that process. In fact, I remember a couple of years ago that the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) came to me with a problem that some of the minority staff were not being involved in one of the subcommittee considerations, and I solved that almost more than overnight. I solved that problem in a matter of hours, and I think to the satisfaction of the minority. While the majority is going to prevail, the minority has every right to be a part of the process. Except for those single-Member States, all of us are elected by about the same number of people. All of us have the same rights as Members of the House of Representatives. I will tell my colleagues as one who believes in this institution, I am going to do whatever I have to do to guarantee that those rights are protected and preserved for all of the Members; again, pointing out that the majority is going to prevail. I recall being in the minority here for a long time, and I did not like it a lot of times when the majority prevailed, but that is the way it is. But I think on the Committee on Appropriations, there are not very many complaints about the issue of the minority being excluded. Now, I do know that there was an issue last week when, as the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) pointed out, that the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell) was uninvited to attend a fairly important conference meeting. I did not know about that until I heard the comments on the floor. But I would say this: my leadership believes very strongly in the rights of each individual Member. I will tell my colleagues that all of the committee chairmen were called to a meeting last night actually, and were told, do not ever let that happen again, that every member of that committee or that subcommittee has the right to be involved, and our leadership made it very clear that any committee chairman who allowed that to happen would not be standing in good favor with the leadership. So we try. Now, nobody is perfect, and I am sure that there are times when there will be complaints, even from majority members, that maybe they were not told in advance or were not told enough. But sometimes, members have an obligation to either do the proper staff work or prepare themselves when things are happening. This is not a babysitting institution. But for the most part, our members are very good about things that they are interested in, inquiring of the committee, inquiring of the staff, making their contribution to what they think should be the outcome. We do the best we can with 435 Members to reach a consensus. But I would just say again, on that issue of excluding minority members or staff from what is happening on the Committee on Appropriations, as long as I am chairman, that will not happen. And if any of my subcommittee chairmen were to permit that to happen, we would have a serious conversation. But I know that all of my subcommittee chairmen believe the same as I do, that the majority and the minority members all have equal rights as Members of this House; but the majority will make the final decision. Mr. Speaker, having said that, it did not have too much to do with the CR, but I thought I would just make that response. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. I will be very brief. It is a good bill. There is more we could have done if we would have had more funds available, but we did not. But I wanted to say to the House that this was probably one of the most difficult conferences that we have had in a long, long time. I really rise to say congratulations and compliments to the strong leadership that the gentleman from Michigan provided during this very difficult period of time, and also the gentleman from Texas, the ranking member. They were strong supporters of the effort to preserve the position taken by the House which we thought was a much better position than that of the other body. These two gentlemen and the staff did an outstanding job. I just wanted to take a couple of minutes to compliment them because their leadership was extremely important to get us where we are today, to have this bill on the floor as a conference report.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. If the gentleman will continue to yield, I would say that the resolution before us today is the resolution that the chairman of the committee has presented, and that was a decision that was made at my level and at other levels.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, the answer is that I agree with the gentleman, that we will not conclude our work prior to the 7th and we will need another CR. But that will not be due to any problems in the House. That will be because we are having some very difficult negotiations in the conference on the remaining bills, and also the fact that the other body has not even passed four of the bills in their own House. So I would suspect that the gentleman is correct, that we will need another CR; and maybe I can have a better explanation at that point.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 6 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe), the chairman of our Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs of the Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the very distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis), the chairman of our Subcommittee on Defense of the Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire of the Chair how much time I have remaining.