C. Young

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. (Mr. YOUNG of Florida asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, one of our speakers spoke in favor of an automatic CR. One of the reasons that I have opposed the automatic CR is because it would deny my friends on the minority side the opportunity to take 2 hours today for their political platform. I was really happy last week when I heard the minority leader, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt), stand in the well and say, we really ought to cut out all of this partisanship, and we ought to work together. Mr. Speaker, it is amazing what we can do when we work together. I will have to admit that it is tempting to rejoin the political argument here. But this is not the place for campaign politics. The place for campaign politics is back home in our districts, not on the floor of the people's House, where we are supposed to put the people's business above politics. We have talked about appropriators being here or not being here. When the House leaves, I think everybody ought to know the appropriators do not necessarily leave. The appropriators in the House on both parties work really hard. Whether the House is in session or not, the appropriators that have business before them are here, whether it is a weekend, whether it is late at night. I know sometimes our colleagues will say, this was done or that was done in the dark of night. That is a fact. We do a lot of work in the dark of night, because if we start here in the morning at 9 o'clock, and we are still going at midnight or 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning to get our business done, we are working in the dark of night. If we did not do that, we would be here until next spring. We would need a 2-year budget cycle, which I think is probably a good idea anyway. As the gentleman from Maryland knows, I have supported that strongly. But appropriators do not leave Washington just because everyone else does. There will be appropriators here this weekend working on finalizing decisions, making decisions, writing the bills, reading the bills, getting them ready to file. As I pointed out earlier in my comments on the rule, we only are one- third of the process here. If we were the entire process, we would have been done back in July, but we are only one-third of the process. Our colleagues and friends at the other end of the Capitol are one-third, and the President of the United States is one-third. Mr. Speaker, we have a great prosperity in this country today. There are a lot of people who want to take credit for it. I think that the confidence that we have created in the industrial community by balancing the budget is one reason we have a strong prosperity. Investors are willing to invest because they think that government might not be on their back as much as it has been in the past, so they are willing to invest. It creates prosperity. It creates movement in the economy. There is another reason. One of my colleagues on the minority side mentioned it and one of my colleagues on the majority side mentioned it: welfare reform. I do not think Congress has gotten nearly as much credit for what welfare reform has contributed to our economy as it should. For years, there were families who had been on welfare for generations. We changed that. We changed it, and we reformed welfare to the point that we encouraged people to go to work. Mr. Speaker, many Americans who had been on welfare for all of their lives went to work. They started to earn money. They were able to buy homes, buy automobiles. They actually felt good about the fact that they were working. They were making an income. They were doing something for their wives and children. Besides that good feeling, those people for years had been taking money out of the system. Once they went back to work, they were putting money back into the system. They paid taxes, like everyone else. They paid payroll taxes, social security taxes, income taxes. They paid into the system, so we are getting two for one benefits. They are no longer taking out, they are putting in, so there is a tremendous economic advantage to that. Now, if I might allow myself something that might sound a little political, I listened to the speeches of both candidates for president. I was impressed. I watched the Vice President when he made his acceptance speech at his convention, and on two occasions he mentioned how he fought for this welfare reform that I think is a major contributor to our strong economy. I sat there and scratched my head, because I remember being here in the House when we passed the welfare reform bill the first time. We sent it to their administration. They vetoed it. Then I remember we came back and fought again to pass welfare reform legislation. We sent it to the administration, the President and the Vice President. They vetoed it again. So we went back to work and wrote it the third time. We sent it to the administration, the President and the Vice President, and this time they finally said, we will sign it. We do not like it. They told their friends who opposed it, we do not really like it, but we are going to sign it. They did. They signed it. Then I heard the Vice President in that speech say how he had fought for welfare reform after his administration had effectively killed it twice after Congress fought to make it happen, and the third time it happened. There are other things that have been mentioned in this debate that have nothing to do with the CR, that are political issues that are out there in the presidential debates. I would say to those who make those arguments, why do they not make them where they belong? They do not belong on this CR. This CR has nothing to do with what they were talking about. Then I would repeat words that I have said and many of my colleagues have said: Where were they for the last 8 years? They have owned the administration for 8 years. Where were they? Why did they not do it? Why did they not get it done during that 8-year period? That comment has nothing to do with the CR, just like most of the comments from the minority side have nothing to do with the CR. Mr. Speaker, let us pass this CR and then get about finishing the few appropriations matters that still lay out there to be completed.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Speaker, I responded to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) about the need to have the authority for the entitlement checks, and I did double-check and it was the President's Office of Management and Budget who advised us that this had to be done, and that is why it is here Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I would respond to the gentleman that that is the reason we put that language in this continuing resolution. It is there so that there would be no question they had the authority to do just that. If the gentleman would like to discuss the 24-hour period CR, we are not going to be here tomorrow. Many Members of this House are going to show their respect to the former Governor of Missouri and go to his funeral tomorrow. So we are not going to be here tomorrow. Last week we paid tribute to and honored one of our own Members who had passed way, and we were not here that day either. So we lost those legislative days, but it was proper and appropriate that we honor the memory of Congressman Vento. It is certainly proper that we honor the memory and the service of the Governor of Missouri. The 24 hour CR just does not work. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher).

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe) for making that point on the entitlement checks, because in my opening comments, I did refer to the entitlement checks that are prepared in advance. I did not specify that they were Social Security checks. And I did not specify that they were veterans' checks, but that is, in fact, what they are. If my colleagues watched television last night, there was a big program about that. These checks are printed in advance of the time that they are mailed out, and if we do not give the administration, the Social Security Administration, ample time to prepare and print those checks, they will not get delivered on time. I thank the gentleman for making that point. I think it is essential that we include, and we did include, in this CR the provision that the affected agencies could go ahead and prepare those checks and mail them out so they get in the hands of the Social Security recipients and the veterans and anyone else entitled to an entitlement check at the appropriate time, at the beginning of the month.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe), chairman of one of our important appropriation subcommittees. (Mr. KOLBE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Cunningham), a real fighter. He was a fighter pilot in Vietnam, and the first ace, having shot down a lot of the enemy's aircraft. I would like to yield to him to respond, because he is a fighter; and I think I see a fight developing here.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Cunningham).

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, if we did one CR every day that is all we would get done. We would not have time to do anything else except the CR one day after another. We would be here until Christmas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas). (Mr. THOMAS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 637, I call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 114) 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. YOUNG of Florida. The gentleman is not available. That is the answer. The gentleman is not available.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. They are leaders. They have the right, and they have the power to make certain decisions, of course, the same as your leadership does. It is a two-sided coin.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Well, as the gentleman knows, the names that he mentioned are not members of the Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. We are in a position now that we are dealing with the White House. And we finally, just a few minutes ago, got an offer from the White House. The gentleman can stand there and raise his voice all he wants. We just got the offer from the White House. Now, we would like to have an hour or two to look at it. We would like to meet tomorrow to try to give a response. Hopefully, we can agree to it.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would further yield, after sifting through everything that I have heard from my dear friend from Wisconsin, I think the answer to my question is, no. He would not be available tomorrow or Saturday or Sunday, but he would be available Monday. And if that is the best we can do, that is the best we can do.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would yield further, I want to respond to my friend from Wisconsin that he knows who the principals are. He also knows who the one big principal is at the White House. And I think he also knows that we finally, just this evening, got the offer from the White House that we have been waiting for for quite some time. It is essential, if we are going to negotiate, we need an offer and a response.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. The gentleman knows who the principals are that need to be here.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. If the gentleman would yield further, the principals that are necessary to conclude this agreement on the Labor, Health and Human Services bill will be available tomorrow or Saturday.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. I did not have a chance to listen to all of the discussion on the schedule, but I just have a question either for you or Mr. Obey. We are trying our darnedest to have the Labor-HHS bill filed by Monday night. That would require the presence of the principals here tomorrow and possibly Saturday. I wonder if that would be possible for the minority principals to be here?

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

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 the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 114) making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2001, and for other purposes, and that I may include tabular and extraneous material.

Mr. YOUNG of Florida

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, I do admit that the gentleman's chart did go down to the hour. I was tempted to make mine go down to the minute to compete with his, but I thought just days would be good enough. But the point is that despite this problem of time, the House did its job. We got our bills out of here, and the 13th bill, which was for the District of Columbia, was on this floor in July before we went to the August recess. Now, that bill was not completed at that time. It was pulled off the floor, and we did not get back to it until August. The gentleman is correct that there is a problem of time here, but other things needed to be done. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston), I thought, made a good point. Once we did our job, that was only part of the process, and the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) has told us so many times there is no use getting to first base if you cannot get home. The truth of the matter is you cannot get home if you do not get to first base. And so getting through our committee work was first base; going through the House floor that was second base; then you have to go through the other body. We have a bicameral legislature. The other body, the United States Senate, has to do the same thing that we do, they have to pass all the bills too. Well, this year they did not pass all their bills. This year they still have not passed all of their bills, and so we have to come up with creative ways to pass a bill through the system that has not passed in the other body. And so far we have done that. We did a bill today that, more or less, went through that creative process. The VA, HUD bill went through that process. But now then where does that leave us? Even after the other body passes the bills, their priorities may be different than ours, and most of the time they are. So we have to sit down together and reason together to figure out what is a responsible way to present this package to both the House and the Senate, so that we can get it passed in both the House and Senate. That takes a little bit of time. We have been spending a lot of time, as the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) said. Appropriators have been here day after day after day, whether they were colored red, blue or green on my calendar. Appropriators have been here dealing with these differences. But then there is another factor before you get to home base, that is the President of the United States. When a bill gets to his desk, he has a power that is the same as two-thirds of the House and the Senate, because if that one person, the President of the United States, does not approve of the bill and he vetoes it, it takes a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate to override the veto. Well, we have a small majority in this Congress. We do not have a two-thirds vote; although, we did override the President's veto on the Energy and Water bill in the House just a few days ago, but, nevertheless, because we have a small majority, we have to work with the President and with his staff to try to send bills out of here that he will sign, so that we do not have to be here week after week waiting for those vetoes. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman mentioned the education bill. We have been meeting with the White House on the education bill now for weeks, and we still have not come to a conclusion with the President on what is going to be in that bill. What will he sign? Earlier there was a strategy to send him a bill and let him veto it and send it back. We rejected that strategy. We thought we should work with the President, work with the minority party, and that is what we have been trying to do. The minority staff has been involved in every meeting with the majority staff, but those things take time. And I am as frustrated as my colleague from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), the ranking member on the Committee on Appropriations. I wish this work would have been done in July when the House finished passing the bills but we only control one-third of the process. And that is one reason that it is taking more time. I want to say to my friend, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), in as friendly a way as I can say it that we have spent many days on appropriations bills in this House that were unnecessary. The majority party allowed the minority party hour upon hour of debate on amendments that we all knew were not in order; that were not protected by the rule; that were subject to a point of order, but yet we allowed the minority party all of that extra time because they wanted to make their arguments. We believe in freedom of speech. This is a debating society in this House. So we allowed many, many days of debate on appropriations bills that really were not necessary, except for the political debate that was going on. Had we not done that, had we just decided to jam the minority party, we would not have allowed those amendments to even be discussed. We would have raised a point of order against them immediately, but we allowed them to go on for hour upon hour upon hour before finally raising the point of order or before they were withdrawn by the sponsor. Mr. Speaker, when we get right down to it, time is a problem. But I would suggest that the majority party is not any more guilty of absorbing and using the time than the minority party or the President of the United States. You see it seems in this process everybody has to have it their way or no way, but when we are dealing with a bicameral legislature and a President of the United States, we have to come together. It is amazing. On the bill that we just passed, we passed it with a large vote. It was a good bill, because we finally came together, and we made it happen. We had the Agriculture appropriations bills a few days ago. We came together. We worked together. And we produced a good product. We do not need to have political rhetoric. We do not need that. The political points ought to be made back home on the campaign trail. In here, we should do the people's business. In here, people should come before politics. Back home is where we do our politics. Here we do the people's business. We should expedite this business the best we can, and we should be thorough, and we should be responsible. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me as much time as he did.

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

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I really had not intended to speak on the rule, but my friend from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) has excited my imagination here. When I saw his chart, I decided to bring out a larger chart that, more or less, reinforces what the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) has said, but I am going to take a little different spin on it. My spin is the Committee on Appropriations has done its job in the House. The House appropriators have done their job. I hope that we can focus on this fiscal year calendar, which is a little easier to understand than the one that the gentleman had. If you look at all of the red colored days in October, November, December, January, February, March and part of April, that is how much time all of the fiscal year that is gone before the Committee on Appropriations ever gets a budget resolution, which is when we can begin our work appropriating, which is what the Constitution tells us to do. The blue colored days are the days that the House has not been in session. And in order to get 13 bills through 13 sets of hearings, meaning 200 to 300 hearings and 13 subcommittee markups and 13 full committee markups and 13 bills on the Floor, we have only the green colored days available to do that. That is part of the problem. The budget resolution does not get adopted until after these red days are all gone leaving only the green days, that is a problem with the budget process.