C. Young

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to the order of the House of December 6, 2000, I call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 127) 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 ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on House Joint Resolution 127, and that I may include tabular and extraneous material.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, House Joint Resolution 127 is one more continuing resolution that is required, inasmuch as several of the appropriations bills have not been concluded. I might say that these bills basically are awaiting conclusion not because of appropriations issues but because of extraneous issues that in my opinion do not even belong in an appropriations bill. But nevertheless, these issues are there, and they are causing some controversy. So I would point out to our colleagues, Mr. Speaker, that we have set a record. This is the largest number of continuing resolutions that any Congress to my knowledge has ever considered. It is not the longest number of days covered by CRs, but this one is No. 18. The reason that we have had to present so many continuing resolutions is because we cannot get agreement to go beyond 1 day at a time, in most of the cases, so we are here with a one-day CR. Tomorrow, we will have to do another CR. Saturday, we may have to do another one-day CR, unless the negotiations that are taking place at the White House as we speak with the President produce some concrete decisions. If that is the case, then we will be able to present to the Members a final package of appropriations measures by the middle of next week. But at this point, Mr. Speaker, it remains to be seen what comes from the White House meeting between our leaders, the bicameral and bipartisan leadership, and the President of the United States. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes. Mr. Speaker, I want to advise the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) that I will have two speakers for brief periods of time. After that, then the gentleman may wish to respond; and then I will have a closing statement and that will be the extent of our debate for today. Mr. Speaker, I would suggest to the gentleman that if, in fact, the President of the United States would be agreeable to a compromise package that will be presented to him today, the gentleman from Wisconsin is correct, we can finish this in a day and a half. But that has not been too easy to get that agreement. As a matter of fact, on July 27 of this year, we concluded the conference on the Labor, HHS appropriations bill, and then October 29, we finally came to an agreement on a bipartisan fashion in a sort of a conference agreement, but the next morning, that agreement fell apart not because of something that had to do with appropriations, but something that was not related to appropriations. And that is one of the problems that we are facing. Mr. Speaker, that is one of the problems that we have been faced with on appropriations bills through this whole season. The appropriations part of the process was the easy part of the job. Where we found great difficulty was on those riders that were attached to appropriations bills. Why is that the case? Because appropriations bills, Mr. Speaker, have to pass. Congress has to pass appropriations bills. Members, whether they are rank and file Members or whether they are leadership Members, see a vehicle out here that has to pass. And since a regular authorizing vehicle might not be available, they say hey, here is a good chance to do what I want to do on the appropriations bill that has to pass. Those are the kind of controversies that have caused us time problems. And I say again, the appropriations part of these bills have not created most of the controversies that we have experienced. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the very distinguished gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle).

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I would say that the gentleman is exactly correct. I agree with the statement that he made. I believe that the 106th Congress should complete the business of the 106th Congress. I think it will be a tragic mistake to try to run this continuing resolution until the end of the fiscal year. I would strongly object to that, and I certainly cannot speak for the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert), the Speaker of the House. That gentleman will speak for himself. And as far as the majority whip, I might tell you that he enjoys the same frustrations that we all experience, but the gentleman is trying to find a way to get things moving, just like all of us are. Why he said what he said certainly is in his own mind, but I can tell the gentleman that his motives are to get this work concluded. And if he uses the tactic to get our attention, that may be what he is doing. I am not sure, but I know that he wants this job concluded. Mr. Speaker, I have to say that regardless of all of that, I agree. It is our responsibility to conclude the business of the 106th Congress, and we must do it as expeditiously as possible. But I must remind everyone that we are not only dealing with ourselves here in the House, Republicans and Democrats. We are also dealing with the United States Senate, Republicans and Democrats. We are also dealing with someone with a very big stick, a veto pen, who resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It is not easy to bring these very divergent groups together, but that is what we are trying to do. And I agree with the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), one day CRs, in my opinion, are ridiculous. We ought not be wasting the time of the Congress doing that. We should be using the time to conclude our business, but I am definitely opposed to a year-long continuing resolution.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Houghton).

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. 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 myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, I, again, agree with what the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) said about the appropriations items. I want to assure the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) and all of the Members that, in the final package, the latest package that we have provided to the leadership, education is still a high priority for the dollars that would be appropriated. Medical research through NIH, again, is a very high priority. The dollars are larger than last year and larger than the President's request. But we understand the importance of these, and we want to get these items concluded. We do not want to continue on a continuing resolution because that does not provide the additional investment that we need in medical research, that we need in education, and that we need in the other people's programs. But we do have to come to an agreement with people who are very far apart as we speak today. Of all of the many issues that are out there, most of them are related one to another. There are one or two keys. If those two keys can come together, everything else falls into place. So I am optimistic, and I try to be optimistic all the time. I am optimistic today. The gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), my friend, said that this is like Groundhog Day over again. Most people think that Groundhog Day is that day in February where Punxsutawney Phil comes out of his little cave, and if he sees his shadow, winter is going to last for a certain period of time. If he does not see his shadow, it will last for another period of time. But what the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) was referring to when he said this is like Groundhog Day all over again is a movie named ``Groundhog Day.'' It had to do with a weather forecaster from a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, television station who was in Punxsutawney to cover the emerging Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog. Through some fluke, he got into a situation where he repeated every day. Day after day after day, he repeated the same day. I agree with the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) that it sort of seems like Groundhog Day here when we are doing continuing resolutions day after day after day. I do not know how long this went on, but for this newscaster, it went on a long time. But he learned so much about so many things in that period of time. The way the ``Groundhog Day'' was concluded and the day and the way that he got back into a cycle was he fell in love with the producer of his program who he was very hostile with in the beginning. So if he and that producer could fall in love and end this cycle of continuous Groundhog Days day after day after day, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) and I can love each other. We can all love each other. The Congress can love the President. We can have our differences. But if we could just show a little love and compassion here and some understanding, we can conclude this business and finish the work of the 106th Congress.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Well, Mr. Speaker, I would say that I hope that happens. It could happen. A lot of it is going to depend on what comes out of the meeting that is taking place at the White House as we speak. Mr. Speaker, today, some time after the election on November 7, the Nation is pretty much divided right down the middle. In the House, the political differences are almost 50/50. In the Senate, they are 50/50. In the country on popular vote for President, 50/50. The Nation is politically pretty much divided. But I want to remind my colleagues that this is America. This is the United States of America. There is something special about that. Remember, 59 years ago today, Pearl Harbor was attacked. The Nation did not have any real direction. We were an emerging industrial Nation. But, then Pearl Harbor was attacked. Americans came together with such a powerful statement, such a profound statement, and put together one of the most fantastic military capabilities in the world eventually. It took a while, but we came together. We overcame all kinds of differences, different opinions, different challenges, different industrial challenges, different political challenges. We came together as a strong and powerful Nation. Ever since that day, we have been an outstanding example for the rest of the world of freedom, of justice, of the ability to work together in the best interest of the people of the United States and for those in the world that we are called upon to help. If that could happen in America, it can happen here in this Congress. If we all settle down and recognize we have got to come together, we do not necessarily have the opportunity to go our own individual ways, but we have got to come together, if we do that, we will come together, and we will conclude the business of the 106th Congress and get ready for the 107th Congress, which is going to begin in just a few short days. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to the previous order of the House, I call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 126) making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2001, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

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. 126.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the continuing resolution that we bring to the floor this morning is a 2-day extension to the current continuing resolution that will keep the remaining elements of the Government operating that have not yet had their regular appropriations bills enacted. As our colleagues know, we really have only one appropriations bill that has not been concluded and most of the issues relative to not concluding that bill have been non-appropriations issues. They have been policy issues, legislative issues. Nevertheless, that bill is not completed. There was a meeting at the White House yesterday between the bicameral leadership of the House and Senate, Republican and Democrat. We hope that that will produce some beneficial results. I believe that I speak for at least most of the Members of the House when I say that it is time to conclude the business of the 106th Congress, and it is time to begin preparation for the 107th Congress, which will convene in January. And the way to accomplish that is to conclude the business on this final appropriations bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I do so to point out that the other bills that were passed, sent to the White House and were vetoed have basically been repaired and fixed. They are ready to move at a moment's notice and can be moved either separately or can be moved as part of an agreement on the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Bill. I wanted to just make a brief point about that bill. That is the bill where we provide funding for medical research. We have made a commitment to double the investment in medical research over a 5-year period, and a substantial part of the increase in that bill goes to fulfill that commitment. Another very large part of the increase in that bill is money that we have approved for education, and the education amounts are actually greater than those requested by the budget that we received at the beginning of the year. So this is an important bill. Our former colleague, Bill Natcher, use to come on the floor and make the comment that this is the people's bill, because the programs included in this bill deal with people. It is important that we do this job responsibly and not just pick a number out of the air and decide, well, that is a good number. That number should be based on what the real needs of the United States of America are today and will be in this coming fiscal year. It is essential that we approach that final deliberation with tremendous responsibility, but it is also essential that we get it done. To carry this over into the next year, into the next administration, into the next Congress, I think would be inexcusable. I would ask those Members who are interested to help us keep the momentum going, to get this bill completed and let us conclude the business of the 106th Congress. Mr. Speaker, I would like to say a word of welcome back to all of those Members who are here for this lame duck session and my friend the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey). I look forward to our working together again during the next fiscal year. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I would like to say I agree with what the gentleman from Wisconsin has said, and I hope that we can resolve these issues that have held us apart for these past few weeks. Again, I think the gentleman would acknowledge what I am about to say that the issues that are holding us up from completing these bills are not appropriations issues, they are riders on appropriations bills. I agree with the gentleman, I hope we can resolve them quickly and expeditiously and prepare for next year's appropriations process.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members this extends the date of the original CR until December 5, 2000. It provides authority to make mandatory payments due on December 1, 2000, which are Social Security, Veterans benefits and other entitlement programs that have to be approved. It amends the original CR, this is new, to provide $1 million for the legislative branch inaugural expenses that were contained in the vetoed legislative branch appropriations act. Secondly, it provides $5.961 million for the District of Columbia inaugural expenses that are contained in the held-up District of Columbia appropriations act. It provides approximately $200,000 for executive residence transition and moving expenses that were contained in the vetoed Treasury, Postal Service, General Government appropriations act. That is what the CR does, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Appropriations be discharged from further consideration of the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 125) making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year 2001, and for other purposes, to the end that the joint resolution be hereby passed; and that a motion to reconsider be hereby laid on the table.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the House discharge the Committee on Appropriations from further consideration of, and hereby pass, House Joint Resolution 124; take from the Speaker's table House Joint Resolution 84, with Senate amendments thereto, and concur in each of the Senate amendments; take from the Speaker's table Senate Concurrent Resolution 160 and agree to the same; and hereby adopt a resolution providing that any organizational caucus or conference in the House of Representatives for the 107th Congress may begin on or after November 13, 2000; that the texts of each measure be considered as read and printed in the Record, and that motions to reconsider each of these actions be laid on the table.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, the gentleman is a student of Oliver Cromwell, and I enjoy reading Cromwell's very famous statements as well. I would like to respond to the gentleman's Cromwell quote by reading another one. These were Oliver's dying words. He said, ``It is not my design to drink or to sleep, but my design is to make what haste I can to be gone.'' So goodbye, God bless you, see you in two weeks.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 6 p.m. on Saturday, November 4, 2000, unless it sooner has been informed by the President of the enactment into law of House Joint Resolution 84, in which case the House shall stand adjourned pursuant to Senate concurrent resolution 160 until 2 p.m. Monday, November 13, 2000.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise in extremely strong support of this rule and this legislation to finally address the critical needs of the Florida Everglades, the most unique ecosystem anywhere on the face of this planet that is in danger of being lost for eternity. We are at a critical mass in the issue of the Everglades, but today I think is going to be one of the better days in the House. On a very strong bipartisan basis, we are going to make an overt effort to begin to recover and protect the Florida Everglades. The Everglades is home to some 68 endangered species of wildlife and plant life. Not only that, the issue of water in our part of Florida is extremely critical, water for people, water for agriculture, water for industry, water that today is running off at a billion gallons a day into the Gulf of Mexico, water that we are losing that is essential to the preservation of the Everglades and to the use of the people in Florida. We have been appropriating money for the Everglades ever since 1993. We have appropriated over $1.3 billion for the Everglades, but there has not been a real plan. There has not been real management. Today we create legislation that will bring about a real plan that will bring about real management. We have already appropriated for this fiscal year $218.2 million. The Congress has already expressed its determination to save the Everglades, but we needed this plan along with the funding. And so, today we have the plan. I am satisfied that it will pass with a large vote. I want to compliment my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in this House and our colleagues in the other body and, as the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Goss) said, the administration. Because it has been a total cooperative work effort. Mr. Speaker, I want to say just in a few closing comments thanks to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Goss) for the strong leadership that he has provided on this historic legislation to preserve and protect the Everglades and to echo his comment about the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw), who is the chairman of the Florida Delegation. He has been just outstanding in his leadership in keeping the delegation together and keeping this issue alive as we worked through the trials and tribulations of this Congress. He has been a dynamic leader. And I will say that, if anybody gets a lot of credit today, it should be the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw). But so should all the members of our delegation, Republicans and Democrats, who have worked together as a solid team to make this happen. The Governor of Florida, Governor Jeb Bush, has walked the halls of the Congress trying to create and to sustain support for this Everglades project. The Governor of Florida and the legislature in Florida all deserve tremendous credit for where we are arriving today. And, of course, the State of Florida will pay 50 percent of all of the costs involved in this project. It is a 50-50 deal despite the fact that the Florida Everglades is unique to the entire world. And so, Mr. Speaker, I am extremely happy to be where we are, that we are going to pass this rule, and that we are going to pass this legislation and we are going to take a major important step toward the preservation of the Florida Everglades, the most unique ecosystem anywhere on the face of this planet. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to strongly support this historic legislation to restore one of our nation's greatest environmental and ecological treasures, the Florida Everglades. The Florida Everglades is unlike any other ecosystem in the world. It is comprised of more than 18,000 square miles of fresh water marshes spanning from Lake Okeechobee in the north to the Florida Keys in the south. Larger in land mass than Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware combined, it is home to more than 60 individual endangered or threatened species of plants and animals, most or all of which will be come extinct without action. Unfortunately, the Florida Everglades are dying. In response to flood concerns threatening the southern half of the state, a flood control plan was developed in the 1940s. The plan would soon establish hundreds of miles of canals and levees to ensure proper drainage. It worked too well. Fifty years later, almost half of the Everglades have been lost. Life-giving fresh water has been diverted out to sea, and the delicate balance of fresh and salt water that is unique to the Everglades has been upset. Without immediate action, the ecosystem as we know it will be unrecoverable. Furthermore, the Florida Aquifer faces the threat of saltwater intrusion, compromising the already scarce supply of potable water to the residents of South Florida. However, with the action of the Congress today, we can begin to reverse the damage and restore this pristine ecosystem. The restoration plan developed to address this crisis is the culmination of years of research by state and federal scientists, private environmental and agricultural experts and the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The restoration plan is comprised of 68 individual projects to be completed by the Corps of Engineers over the next 30 years at a total cost of over $7 billion, to be divided equally with the state of Florida. The bill we approve today is the first step toward implementation of the restoration plan. It authorizes $1.2 billion for 10 initial projects and four pilot projects to test new technology critical to the restoration. Once completed, the plan will restore more than 1.7 billion gallons of fresh water per day, replicating the original sheet flow of water through the natural system. This massive undertaking is the largest environmental restoration plan in history and comes at a cost not to be dismissed. However, the fact remains that without this plan, the Everglades will die. As Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, I have worked hard to protect the Florida Everglades. My committee has included, to date, $730,000,000 in Department of Interior funding for the Everglades and $142,360,000 in the Energy and Water Appropriation for Everglades related projects. These funds have gone toward land acquisition and critical projects that began the journey toward recovery of this ecosystem. The State of Florida has matched every dollar with water reuse and recovery projects and the most ambitious land acquisition agenda of any State in history. Mr. Speaker, the Everglades restoration plan enjoys the support of the entire Florida Congressional delegation, the Governor of Florida, the Administration, and nearly every major environmental and agricultural organization in Florida, as well as the Seminole Tribe and the Miccosukee Tribe of Florida. Without this plan and without action by this Congress, we threaten the existence of one of our greatest national treasures. Let's do the right thing and restore the Everglades so that future generations of Americans can know and enjoy this natural wonder.