C. Young

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) for his comments. We have had differences throughout the appropriations process, but we were able to come together. This is a good bipartisan bill. The gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) and I spent a lot of time in the wee hours of this morning trying to bring this bill to the floor today. Before I turn my time over to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Porter) who is the chairman of the subcommittee, I wanted to say, Mr. Speaker, that we are at that time of the year when holiday thoughts enter our mind; and I recall one of my predecessors who one time made a very, very aggressive wish to the Members for a Merry Christmas after a rather heated discussion. I also want to leave a message about the holiday season if the Members would indulge me for about another minute. It goes like this: Twas the week before Christmas and all through the House, appropriators were working but beginning to grouse. The big day was coming but no end in sight. If only we had a number, we could finish tonight. When back from the White House there came such a clatter, I sprang from my office to see what was the matter. When what to my pleasant surprise did I see? Speaker Hastert with a number and a look of sheer glee. Here is what you told me you needed, he said, And quickly he turned with a nod of his head: I think Obey and Clinton and Daschle and Lott Will all be pleased with the number we got. As I turned I was amazed at what did transpire, 13 Cardinals all ready to file . . . Now Packard! Now Porter! Now Hobson and Taylor! On Lewis! On Rogers! On Jim Walsh and Kolbe! From H-218 to the Committee on Rules It is time to wrap up and not a moment too soon . . . Our job here is done; now let us clear the hall Let us vote and then dash away, dash away all. And I wish everyone a very happy, safe holiday season. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman very much. I recall late one night we were here and the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) missed his wedding anniversary because of a late night session. And if we do not soon get out of here tonight, he is going to miss being awarded a very, very prestigious and impressive honorary degree at an institution of education that he founded back in Wisconsin. So I wish him the best of luck and congratulations. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I offer a privileged concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 446) and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.J. Res. 129 extends the continuing resolution that we have been passing on a regular basis until Friday of this week. I come to the floor today with more optimism than I have in quite a while, Mr. Speaker. There was another meeting with the President this afternoon with the bicameral leadership, Republicans and Democrats, and I have reason to believe that much progress was made. I really believe that by Thursday morning, if Members are able to be back by Thursday morning, we will have a package to vote on. So I hope that we will pass this CR to give us time to accomplish that. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 670, I call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 129) making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year 2001, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes. Mr. Speaker, I first want to confirm what the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) said, that he and I were here this weekend. In fact, we communicated with each other throughout the weekend just in the event that we had some agreement between the legislative leadership and the White House so that we could begin to complete the bill. I have been briefed by my leadership, and I believe that the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) has been briefed by his leadership. My understanding is that the agreement would be substantially higher than the House passed Labor HHS bill, and that it is higher than the President's actual request. I believe that if we come together in a bipartisan fashion here, that the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) and I and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Porter), who is the very distinguished chairman of the subcommittee, will be able to fashion a bill within that overall number. We will be able to guarantee that the promise that we made to medical research through NIH can be and will be kept; and that the promise we made in increasing the educational funding can and will be kept. So we have some work to do between now and hopefully the day that we are going to have the vote on this bill, which we hope will be on Thursday morning. The gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Porter) and I have a lot of work to do and with our counterparts in the other body, but I am satisfied that we can do it. Everybody, I believe, wants to get this job done and we are going to produce a bill here that probably everyone could look at and say, gee, I do not like this or I do not like that; but there will be a lot of good in this bill that I do like. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Mrs. Johnson).

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I would just suggest that, whether we like it or not, we need to vote for this continuing resolution today. As I said earlier, I hold out the hope and I am very optimistic that now that our leadership has arrived at an agreement with the President that the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Porter), and I are going to be able to work out a bipartisan solution that will take care of most of the concerns that we have heard expressed on this bill throughout the season. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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.J. Res. 129, and that I may include tabular and extraneous material.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, let me get back to my point that we would have been much better served if we could have had a continuing resolution that would take us at least until the middle of next week so that these negotiations that the gentleman from Wisconsin and I are both trying to negotiate here on the floor, which does not work. We need that little extra time, and we need those with that authority to establish that number, whatever it is going to be.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. That may be true. But anyway, the answer to the gentleman is, I will be here. I do not have the authority to settle on a top number. I think the gentleman understands that. That number is going to be decided by a higher authority than mine or his, and it is going to be decided along with the President of the United States. Now, if that number is agreed upon by that higher authority, then the gentleman from Wisconsin and I can work out the balance along with our counterparts in the Senate without any great difficulty.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. That is a far greater investment than is required for this legislation. I have made the case that we have already increased education considerably over the President's budget request. We have increased the medical research through NIH dramatically over the President's budget request. But we are not going to go to the $112 billion that this administration wants. We are just not going to do it. We have a responsibility to the people of America who sent us here to balance the budget, who sent us here to pay down the debt, who sent us here to give a little tax relief to our constituents, the taxpayers who have been overburdened; and, by God, we are going to do that. We have done it, and we are going to continue to do it. Mr. Speaker, I ask for a ``yes'' vote on this resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Traficant).

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 669, I call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 128) making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year 2001, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, today we bring to the House another continuing resolution, House Joint Resolution 128. This one is different than the ones we have been doing. This is a 3- day extension, so this would keep the government functioning until Monday night. The leadership of the House and Senate are negotiating with the President, and hopefully there will be some kind of breakthrough soon so we as appropriators can finalize the details of the agreement. We have not reached that agreement yet, but we will be working over the weekend. I spoke yesterday evening with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, as did my counterpart in the Senate. There is movement, but we are not there yet. Anyway, Mr. Speaker, we will be working over the weekend to see if we can have this concluded for the Members to vote on next week. As I mentioned yesterday, there are several issues that are still outstanding, most of which are not even appropriations items. Nevertheless, they are attached to this bill. So, by next week, we hope to have more progress to report. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of the time. Mr. Speaker, I would respond to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Traficant) who mentioned minimum wage increases, and I would say to him that I hope that he knows that our leadership is considering and is willing to consider minimum wage legislation, but they believe that, at the same time, tax relief should be considered; and that is what they are trying to work out. Now, I am not part of the negotiations there. I do not believe that the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) is. That is a different group of negotiators because those are not appropriations issues. On the appropriations bill negotiations, sometimes we do get sidetracked and get off on tangents that do not relate to appropriations, but that is just part of the appropriations process. But anyway I would say to the gentleman that he raises an important issue that is being considered by our leadership. We have a very large surplus. At a time of surplus, whether it is in our government life or whether it is in our family life or our business life, when one has a large surplus, one's economy is very good, there are several things one ought to do. One can indulge oneself in some of those things that one has not had but would like to have. Well, the government is doing that as well. But something else that one should do is pay down some of one's debts. If one's credit card bills are too high, one ought to pay them off. If one's car payments are too high, one ought to pay them off, if one's economy is that good, if one has that extra money available. So that is one of the things that we are trying to do here. We are indulging the government because the spending for this year is increased over last year. In the area of education, even at the number that the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) objects so strongly to, our investment in education is dramatically larger than it was last year and over the President's budget request. The same thing for medical research, which is over the President's budget request and over last year's amount. So we are indulging ourselves. Also, we are making a stronger investment in our national security, trying to compensate for the excessive deployments that American troops have been experiencing in the last 8 years; deployments all over the world that are very, very costly, not only in time and manpower and womanpower, but in personnel costs. We wear out equipment. Spare parts cost. All of these things cost. So we are indulging the government and providing a little extra money. At the same time, we should be doing something for the taxpayers, the people who make this money available. So paying off that debt becomes important to them, as it should be important to us, because I agree with what the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) said. This is the people's House. We represent the people of America. I do not know how many realize this, but in the entire huge Federal Government system, there is only one place that one must be elected to serve, and that is here in the House of Representatives. One can be a President by appointment. Remember, Gerald Ford was never elected President, but he served as President. One can be a Vice President by appointment. One can be a United States Senator by appointment. One can be a member of the Supreme Court or anywhere in the judicial system by appointment. And in all of the many, many jobs in the agencies all over this Federal system, one can be appointed to those jobs. The only place where one will never serve without being elected by the people is in this House of Representatives, and so this is the people's House. That is why we should be paying attention to recognizing that, if the people have contributed a lot more money to the government than the government needs, we ought to give some of it back. That is why we are so committed to providing tax relief for the American taxpayer, who is substantially overburdened with their tax obligations, and then paying down the debt. I mentioned that if one has a lot of money, a windfall, one's personal economy is good, one's business economy is good, one's government economy is good, pay down the debt or at least pay down part of it. That is what we have been doing. We have been paying down the debt. Billions and billions of dollars of national debt, of public debt is being paid down. That has a lot of beneficial effect. One of the beneficial effects is, the smaller that debt becomes, the less interest the American taxpayer has to pay on that debt. The interest payment on our national debt has been over a quarter of a trillion dollars a year. Now, can one imagine how much we can do for our veterans, how much we can do for our school students, how much we can do for medical research, how much we can do for the military, how much we can do for a renovation of our infrastructure in America if we had that extra quarter of a trillion dollars to use rather than pay interest on the national debt. So that is also an important part of what we do. But now let us go back to the part where we are going to indulge the government a little bit. One of the bills that is higher than last year, if we ever get it passed, is this bill on Labor, Health, Education and Human Services. Now, this bill, when it passed the House of Representatives the very first time early in the year, it was right at $100 billion. We have had two sets of negotiations. The gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) and I have worked with our counterparts in the Senate; and in July, we came up with a conference report that we thought that the House and the Senate would accept and that the President would sign. We really believed that. But higher authority decided on one side that it was too high and higher authority on the other side said it was too low. So we went back to the negotiating table. In October, we came up with another package. We thought we really had done it this time, and higher authorities again shut it down. But that is why we are here, to work out these negotiations. Now, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) objects to the agreement that he believes was reached at $107 billion, which is $7 billion more than the House had originally passed.

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, the gentleman just got a little ahead of me because I was getting to that point. There was no agreement on the $107 billion figure that the gentleman used. One area where I do agree with the gentleman is what he said about press reports. The newspapers this morning, which were overly optimistic, did not represent the meeting at the White House yesterday. I agree with him. The information that I have was that there was no reason to be optimistic based on that meeting at the White House yesterday, whether we are talking about $107 billion, which there was no agreement on; there was also no agreement on the $112 billion, which is the high number that is being considered by some; and definitely there is no agreement on the $100 billion, which is what the House passed. So I say, in as friendly a way as I can to my friend from Wisconsin, that is why we should not communicate through newspapers or media. We ought to communicate with each other directly. And the gentleman from Wisconsin and I do that. Regarding his concern about what might have appeared in the newspaper, he should understand that that is not always necessarily the way that it really is. Mr. Speaker, we have had a lot of conversation about this continuing resolution that we probably did not need to have, but we have done it; and now we are going to vote on this continuing resolution. It takes us until Monday. I would have preferred that we had a continuing resolution that would take us at least until Wednesday of next week, because I honestly believe that Members could go home this weekend and come back next Wednesday. By then there would be a package that I believe would be acceptable to at least a majority of the Members of the House and the Senate.

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, once again reclaiming my time, the gentleman from Wisconsin, through this entire process, has been here when it was necessary for him to be here. This gentleman from Florida, through this entire process, has been here when this gentleman was required to be here, and that means that neither one of us got home to our districts very much this year because we have been here a lot.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Well, then, I would ask the gentleman this question, and I will yield for his answer. What number is the gentleman prepared to start at?

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. That is my question. How much is the gentleman prepared and authorized to come down.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Well, I would suggest that the gentleman ask them to yield and ask them that question. I do not know what their plans are going to be. But I would say this, throughout this entire process my leadership has been available to me any day, weekend, weekday, night or day. I have no difficulty whatsoever communicating with my leadership because they are committed to completing this job, but they are committed to doing it in a responsible fashion. We are just not going to sit down and agree to $112 billion, and the gentleman might as well understand that. He can debate about it all he wants to, but we are not going to go to the figure of $112 billion.

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 House Joint Resolution 128, and that I may include tabular and extraneous material.