C. Young

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings) has made a very valid point. We all remember the exercise in Florida last year as we tried to declare the winner of a Presidential election. But after the focus on Florida faded away, we also learned that many other States had similar problems, and in some cases they were more serious than the problems in Florida. Shortly after we came back to convene the new Congress, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the ranking minority member on the subcommittee, and I began conversations, along with the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings), the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney) on our side of the aisle, and a number of other Members; and we understand that the Federal Government does have a responsibility here. Conducting elections has always been the province and the responsibility of the States and the local governments, but I think we have reached a point where there is going to be a tremendous need for financial assistance. As chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, I believe that we should be prepared to meet the Federal responsibility in providing the relief necessary so that our elections in the future are not clouded by missed votes or votes that are not counted, or whatever the problem might be. I am not sure what the exact dollar amount should be today. My colleague from Florida and I have discussed this. I am not sure we are prepared to set a dollar amount today. But I just want to make the commitment again to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings) and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) as we have discussed many, many times before in private, that I am here to be supportive of this, and I believe most of our colleagues will as well, once we determine what the real number is as far as the Federal responsibility in partnership with our States and in partnership with our communities. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I claim the 15 minutes in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, since my colleague from Florida has indicated that he intends to withdraw this amendment, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 30 seconds. Mr. Chairman, I do so to thank everybody for the very important debate that we have just had here.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Actually, Mr. Speaker, during the discussion on the rule we had a pretty good description of what this bill does. But let me say first that we started out with a ceiling of $6.5 billion. We stayed within that number in the House, our counterparts in the Senate did as well, and this conference report stays within the $6.5 billion. Most of the money is actually for national defense. The bill includes $5.6 billion to address urgent defense needs that include rising fuel costs, military health care programs, readiness and operation requirements, substandard housing for our troops, and disaster assistance for damage sustained at military installations. I would like to echo what my friend from Texas said during the discussion on the rule; that this is more or less a band-aid on our real needs. And I want to emphasize housing and quality of life. There are so many needs in military housing that we should be ashamed of the way we make some of our military personnel live. Some of the facilities that they live in are just totally unacceptable. This bill takes a little step towards correcting that problem, but we have a lot more to do and a long way to go. We were, however, constrained to stay within the $6.5 billion and so we did that. I would also add that while this is a supplemental, there are no emergency designations. We did not declare anything an emergency as a way to get over and above the $6.5 billion, so there are no emergency declarations in this bill. In addition to the funds for the military that I mentioned briefly we included an additional $92 million for the Coast Guard operational requirements. The Coast Guard has been falling behind in their infrastructure, and they do such a tremendous job. When the Coast Guard goes out for a search and rescue, or when they go out for port security, or drug interdiction, or the many, many risky missions they take on, they sometimes are going with equipment that is not up to date. They also have a spare parts problem and they have an operational expense problem that we tried to address in this bill too. But like the other military uniformed services, the Coast Guard needs more money than this bill provides. It does provide, however, $92 million. There is $300 million funded for natural disaster assistance, including relief to communities that were impacted by recent floods and ice storms in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and the Seattle earthquake, and for other natural disasters. The President, in his supplemental request, asked for $150 million for the Low Income Home and Energy Assistance Program, LIHEAP, a program that is strongly supported by the Congress. This bill includes $300 million, double the amount requested by the President, and bringing the program to the highest level in history. An additional $100 million is provided for international bilateral assistance for HIV-AIDS through the child survival and disease program, and $161 million is provided to implement last year's conference agreement on title I, education for the disadvantaged. Mr. Speaker, I urge all of our colleagues to support this conference report. It is very timely. Our military services have already spent well into their fourth quarter funding because of the rising fuel costs and the additional medical care expenses, and so we really need to expedite consideration of this bill here and in the other body to get it to the President. There is available a one-page table that lists most of the items that are included in this bill, and that is available for any Member who would like it. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for listening attentively, and I submit for the Record a chart reflecting the amounts allocated in the supplemental. [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH20JY01.001 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH20JY01.002 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH20JY01.003 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH20JY01.004 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH20JY01.005 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH20JY01.006 Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on the conference report to accompany H.R. 2216, and that I may include tabular and extraneous material.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 204, I call up the conference report on the bill (H.R. 2216) making supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2001, and for other purposes.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I would like to take just a few minutes to thank all of those who were players in reaching the point that we are at today. While it appears this ended up as a fairly noncontroversial bill, it was not easy to get here. There were a lot of differences between the House and the Senate when we initiated the conference. We had a tremendous spirit of cooperation. I want to thank the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) personally, for working so closely with us as we reached agreement on the many issues that were outstanding and all of the representatives of the chairmen and ranking members of the subcommittees that were involved in the issues. Mr. Speaker, when we have regular appropriations bills on the floor, often times we hear comments about the tremendous work of the staff and the mention of the subcommittee staffers, but I want to take just a few seconds this morning to say we have a tremendous front office staff, too, managed by Jim Dyer, the clerk of the committee; Dale Oak, who is here at the table; John Blazey, Therese McAuliffe and John Scofield who are also here in the Chamber; and Mr. Obey's staff, Scott Lilly. We all worked together with our counterparts in the Senate and ended up with a very good, noncontroversial product. As other Members have said, this does not solve all the problems. It is not intended to do that. This is a supplemental. The regular bills are already moving through the House and additional bills will be up next week. We will have concluded nine bills plus the supplemental in the House before we adjourn for the August recess. Again, it shows what we can do when we work together in a bipartisan way. We do have differences, but we work them out. I am very proud of the way that the House has functioned on this supplemental.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis), who is chairman of the Subcommittee on Defense of the Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I continue to reserve the point of order.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, reserving the right to object, and I am not going to object, but I make this reservation in order to have just a minute to say that we will agree to this, but Members have an obligation to be here as the bill is being presented if they have an amendment. We will agree to it on this particular unanimous consent request. We will not agree to it for any further UCs to go back to anyplace in the bill. Mr. Chairman, I withdraw my reservation of objection.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I want to announce to Members that as we begin consideration of this very important appropriations bill that because of the heavy schedule for the floor this week, we would like to accomplish an agreement on limiting time on amendments, as we have done on other bills. In order to be fair to the membership, in order to do this, I would like to urge Members who have an amendment that they would like to have considered to this bill, that they present that as soon as they possibly can so that as we begin to create the universe of amendments that we will be considering, so that we will not leave anybody out. The schedule for the balance of the evening will be announced at a later time by the majority leader, but at this point we are prepared to go into the general debate on the bill. I want to say a word of congratulations to the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman Wolf) for the tremendous leadership that he has shown in this, his first year as chairman of this particular subcommittee, and also to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Serrano), who is the ranking member. There has been a very cooperative effort between the gentleman and the chairman. They both have done a good job. Their staffs have worked diligently to present a good, fair bill. Will it satisfy everybody? I know there are a lot of folks that would like to see more money appropriated by this bill; others think it appropriates too much. So it is probably just at about the right place. So, again, I want to compliment the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman Wolf), who has done an outstanding job in providing the leadership for the subcommittee, and his partner in this effort, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Serrano), who also has been a very constructive member of the subcommittee in getting us to this point. I am hopeful that we can expedite this bill. We have four other appropriations bills, plus the conference report on the supplemental, awaiting consideration by the House, so the sooner we can expedite this business, the sooner we can get on to the rest of the appropriations business.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House Joint Resolution 36, legislation I have cosponsored to amend the Constitution of the United States to authorize Congress to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States. Ol' Glory has served to remind American citizens of our soldiers who fought for freedom, liberty, and democracy here on our own shores and throughout the world since the Continental Congress adopted the Flag Resolution of 1777. The very sight of the American flag flying high has the ability to rouse unparalleled pride and patriotism not only in the people of the United States of America but in freedom loving people throughout the world. Countless men and women have put the good of our country ahead of their own lives to protect the sanctity of liberty and democracy, which our flag represents. We must never allow ourselves to forget that the flag that flies here in this chamber, above this great building, and throughout our nation is a reminder of the enduring values for which these American service men and women fought and may have died. Not only does our great flag symbolize the tireless struggle of our armed services for democracy both here and abroad, but it also serves as a bright beacon of hope to oppressed people throughout the world who dream of living under a democratic government as great and as resilient as out own. The American flag flies for all Americans, regardless of race, creed, or religion. It is a symbol of the American dream, of honor, justice, and equality. The flag is a commitment to our children and grandchildren that they will have the same freedoms, liberties, and opportunities that we have. The Stars and Stripes inspires pride in the accomplishments of our noble country, and it should be regarded with respect and admiration for the important role it plays in the lives of Americans. When the desecration of Ol' Glory is used as a protest, far more than a single flag is being violated. The devotion of American citizens to our great nation is being battered. Many Americans have died defending our flag and what it represents. Mr. Speaker, may the American flag forever soar proudly above our glorious nation. May it always be a source of courage and inspiration for those who carry it into battle, a symbol of hope for the downtrodden of foreign lands, and a reminder that we are the land of the free only because we are the home of the brave.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I would remind Members that the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) and I have both made an announcement that was followed up by a unanimous-consent agreement that the only amendments to be considered further in this bill tomorrow are ones that will have been printed up to and including today. By the time we get to the consideration of this bill again tomorrow, hopefully soon rather than late, we expect to have a unanimous-consent proposal to offer that would place realistic time limits on those amendments and hopefully expedite our business so that we can leave at a reasonable hour tomorrow evening. That pretty much sums up where we are on the schedule. A lot of it will depend on that unanimous-consent agreement that we will propound tomorrow.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, I just want to say that I am happy to hear the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) say that he will vote for this motion. I hope that everybody will vote for this motion so we can get to the business of the conference. I would point out that the gentleman from Wisconsin will be an important member of that conference committee and will have every opportunity to make whatever suggestions that he has; and I am satisfied that he would be very influential in that conference committee, as he always is. But we need to vote. I do not know if the gentleman is going to ask for a rollcall vote or not, but we need to get on with the conference. I would like to get the conference work done before the House adjourns for the weekend. General Leave

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.R. 2216, as well as on any motion to go to conference on H.R. 2216, and that I may include tabular and extraneous material.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I have no further requests for time, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would like to start by saying I appreciate the gentleman's comments about the bipartisan way we have been dealing with appropriation bills. He is exactly right, we have worked together very well. We have had some differences, but that is not unexpected nor unusual for the bill we are talking about now, the supplemental appropriations bill. He mentioned the agriculture bill passing with about 90 percent aye votes. The truth of the matter is that the bill we are now discussing passed the House with 80 percent of the vote. So there was a very large vote in the House for the bill as the committee wrote it as modified by three amendments that were agreed to in the House during the debate on that bill. So I appreciate the fact that we can work together. I think, before this is over, we will end up having worked together and produced a good conference report. The difficulty with accepting a motion to instruct on a bill that does not have that many differences to start with is that it really ties the hands of the House negotiators. The gentleman from Wisconsin will be one of the chief negotiators when we go to conference with the Senate. We should not do that negotiation here on the floor. That is why we have conference committees in the first place. I was asking the gentleman to yield, but he was very busy with his statement and he did not yield. I was going to ask the gentleman, a question. He talked about the FEMA rescission in the House bill, and we did talk about that at length when we debated the bill on the floor on June 20. The fact is that this Congress, under the Republican majority or the Democratic majority, never ignored the needs of our communities when it came to disasters. Whatever funds were needed, we made them available. I do not think that is a concern. I was going to ask the gentleman if he would be willing to amend his motion to recommit just to include the issue of FEMA. We would be happy to accept it if he would amend it. But we do not want to have our hands tied going into conference. We need the ability to negotiate with the other body, which is the same ability that the other body has to negotiate with us. Then we will produce a conference report that I think at least 80 percent of the House would agree with.

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, I would suggest to the gentleman that we do not do conferences here on the floor of the House or on the floor of the Senate, we do the conferences in conference committees. We do that because there has to be give and take. There has to be negotiation. If we adopt this motion to recommit, we tie the hands of the conferees. The other body will not tie the hands of their negotiators. So I think it is a mistake to adopt this motion to recommit. As far as the FEMA issue is concerned, we have had numerous meetings already with the potential conferees in the other body. We are pretty much agreed that we have found other ways to provide that money without getting into the FEMA fund. So we do not really need that part of it. When the gentleman from Wisconsin chaired the committee, he did not look favorably upon motions to instruct when he took the committee to conference because it tied his hands. That is the same thing here. We do not have that many differences. We will be able to produce a good conference report that at least 80 percent of the House will agree to, but we need the flexibility. Do not tie our hands as we go to conference with the Senate, because their hands will not be tied in any way. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Bonilla), the distinguished chairman of the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time until the gentleman is ready to close, as he has the right to do in this particular case, as I have no further requests at this time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. No, I just thought I would save a little time. I might have a few closing remarks for our side prior to the gentleman closing.

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