C. Young

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I intend to use just a few minutes prior to the gentleman closing on his motion. Other than that, I have no further speakers.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield whatever time he might use to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Bonilla), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies.

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, did the gentleman say there is already a multibillion-dollar fund available for this purpose?

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. If the gentleman would continue to yield, that money is available today?

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for that very revealing information.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, is the gentleman ready to close?

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I repeat something that I said at the beginning of the debate in opposition to the motion to instruct. On the issue of FEMA, this Congress never ignored the issues of our communities when it came to natural disasters, and I hope that we never will. Mr. Speaker, as I offered to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) early in the debate, if he would amend his motion just to deal with FEMA, we would be prepared to accept it, but we are not prepared to accept a motion to instruct that really ties our hands when we go to negotiate with the other body. One of my colleagues on the other side mentioned Social Security and Medicare. The only way we would use any money set aside for Social Security and Medicare is if those who cannot control their appetite for spending have their way. We are doing the best we can to hold the line on spending so we do not use any monies from Social Security and Medicare funds. I understand that there are demands for more spending on not only this issue, but every issue that comes before us. But we have to constrain our appetites for spending by the Federal Government. An example of what I am talking about, several of my colleagues talked about 438 outstanding payments, worth $31 million, on point number 3 on the motion to instruct. Well, if that is the case, why would we have to go to $84 million if all we need is the $31 million? I use that as an example. We need to work out these figures, work out these disagreements, and come together on them. All in all, before I yield back my time, and before the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) closes on his motion, this motion is asking us on the conference committee to cave in to our brothers and sisters in the Senate before we ever go to conference. That is not why we go to conference. We go to conference to work out the differences. If our ability to negotiate is taken away, then the product we bring back may or may not be an acceptable product. Mr. Speaker, let us dispose of this motion to instruct now. Let us go to conference, do the best we can to represent the interests of the House of Representatives, and bring back a conference report that is really needed. It is late. This supplemental appropriations needs to get passed and sent to the President. Let us get to our job. Let us do the negotiating. Let us bring back a conference report on the supplemental that 80 percent or more of the House can agree to. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. I was just going by what the speakers on the gentleman's side said, that it was $31 million that they needed.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I continue to 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 thank the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) for that response. Mr. Speaker, I am not sure what this argument is about today, because everybody knows we have to go to conference on this bill. Now when we bring the conference report back or during the conference itself, there will be some negotiations and there will be some discussions. There may be some things added and some things taken away, but the truth of the matter is, we sent this bill to the Senate at $6.5 billion, which was the amount that was agreed upon by the House and the Senate. The Senate leadership said that they would not go above $6.5 billion. Their bill is a little different than ours, but that is also not unusual. That is why we go to conference, to work out those differences. So I am not sure what this argument is all about. In the beginning, it sounded like it was about campaign finance reform, but I do not think that is the case. We need to get this bill into conference, Mr. Speaker, so I am going to ask for a very strong yea vote so that we can continue the process. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I would yield to the gentleman if he would answer this question: Will the gentleman agree then that the House actually did expedite the bill once we got the request?

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. I just wanted to make sure that the gentleman was not saying that the House delayed this bill, because the House did not delay this bill.

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I am curious where the figure of 4 months comes from, where they held this bill up for 4 months. We passed this bill on the June 20, which was about 2 weeks after we got the request from the White House. The House expedited consideration of this measure, brought it to the floor; and we passed this bill. The problem has been that the other body did not take it up right away, and they just passed it a few days ago. So I do not know where the gentleman got the idea that we delayed it for 4 months, because we did not delay it at all.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Hobson), who is a member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and chairman of the Subcommittee on Military Construction.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I listened with interest to the gentleman's discussion. I checked my schedule, the card that I carry to tell me where I am supposed to be all day long. I thought we were here talking about a supplemental appropriations bill for national defense and for other health issues and other emergency disaster issues. I did not realize that this motion had anything at all to do with campaign finance reform. That is because it does not. Absolutely nothing. And then I thought, are we on a tax bill? No, we are not on a tax bill. This has nothing to do with a tax bill. So I am not sure where we are going with this debate. I mentioned in my opening comments about the needs of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marine Corps and the Coast Guard. Let me tell Members what else is in this supplemental bill, that has nothing to do with campaign finance reform or with the tax refund except for the money to mail out the refund checks. This legislation will address emergency needs related to natural disasters, a number of which have occurred; including recent floods, ice storms, in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas; the Seattle earthquake; and approximately 300 wildland fires that we have had to deal with. These needs are also covered in this supplemental appropriations bill. Assistance is important to all of the communities that suffered these terrible disasters. Additional energy needs are met for the poorest of the poor, those who need help with their energy assistance. LIHEAP, a program that everybody in this Chamber knows about, is provided $300 million in this bill. I think that is a program that the gentleman from Wisconsin supports enthusiastically. We did increase it over the President's request to the $300 million mark. Also in this bill is $160 million to implement last year's conference agreement on Title I, Education for the Disadvantaged. There is $115 million to enable the Department of Treasury to mail out the tax rebate checks. If people have tax rebate checks coming to them, we ought to mail them out. Mr. Speaker, the discussion today is about sending this bill to conference. We need to get this bill to conference so we can work out the differences between the House bill and the Senate bill. They are not that great, actually. We will be able to bring this conference back to the House, I believe, early next week if we can get to conference today. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Cunningham).

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I would yield 20 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), and I would advise him that I do not intend to use much more time on this. The issue is so important that we need to get to it.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, actually I am ready to vote, but I would yield to the gentleman 10 minutes.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I was not going to until the gentleman asked. I would be more than happy to yield to the gentleman. Would he like to name a specific amount of time?

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Appropriations have until midnight, July 13, 2001, to file a privileged report on a bill making appropriations for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2002, and for other purposes.