[Pages H7930-H7937]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS, FY 1999

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I
call up House Resolution 541 and ask for immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

H. Res. 541

Resolved, That upon the adoption of this resolution it
shall be in order without intervention of any point of order
to consider in the House the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 128)
making continuing appropriations for the fiscal year 1999,
and for other purposes. The joint resolution shall be
considered as read for amendment. The previous question shall
be considered as ordered on the joint resolution to final
passage without intervening motion except: (1) one hour of
debate equally divided and controlled by the chairman and
ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations;
and (2) one motion to recommit.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, for purposes of debate only, I yield the
customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from South Boston, Massachusetts
(Mr. Moakley) pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume.
All time yielded will be for the purposes of debate only.
(Mr. DREIER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks and include extraneous material.)
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, this rule provides for consideration of H.J.
Res. 128, making continuing appropriations for fiscal year 1999. It is
a closed rule providing for 1 hour of debate in the House, equally
divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of
the Committee on Appropriations. The rule provides that the joint
resolution be considered as read for amendment and one motion to
recommit.
Mr. Speaker, the reality of divided government is that it takes a lot
of hard work, tough decisions and sometimes uncomfortable
confrontations to enact major legislation. Certainly, funding the
trillion dollar Federal Government falls into that category. Honest
disagreements exist between the congressional majority and the
President, the House and the Senate, the Democrats and the Republicans,
and even within the two party caucuses in both the House and the
Senate.
Every family that is forced to live on a budget, and that is most of
the working people I know, understand that it is a lot harder to make
spending decisions when they cannot just buy everything they want. That
is the reality for working moms and dads who sit around the kitchen
table and try to find the money for new school clothes, a short family
vacation or finally replacing that beat-up old television set.
Last year's historic balanced budget agreement was a great victory
for American families because it finally forced the President and
Congress to make their own hard spending decisions. Imposing a real
budget on the voracious Federal bureaucracy makes the appropriations
job a lot tougher. While I am sure most compassionate Americans would
feel badly for the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Livingston) and his
counterpart, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) who is not here on
the floor, and the subcommittee chairman and ranking Democrats who have
been asked to craft the 13 spending bills, I am also confident that
they prefer those headaches to the rampant spending and deficits of not
too many years ago.
I am equally confident, Mr. Speaker, that we will overcome the
hurdles in the way of the appropriation process and will keep the
Federal Government open and functioning into and through the new fiscal
year. I certainly know of the commitment of the gentleman from
Louisiana (Mr. Livingston) and our entire Republican leadership team to
do just that.
This continuing resolution funds ongoing projects and activities of
the Federal Government at current rates except in instances that the
Congress and administration agree on lower levels. This spending
authority expires on October 9 of this year or when the regular
appropriations bills are enacted.
Mr. Speaker, this is a clean continuing resolution without extraneous
provisions, new projects or new spending initiatives. Recognizing the
very real importance of focusing greater attention on making sure our
government's mission-critical computer systems are able to handle the
transition to the year 2000, this CR permits a funding increase for
necessary computer conversions.
Mr. Speaker, there is no question that nearly unprecedented political
and budgetary challenges face this Congress at this time. However, I
know we will rise above them and get the people's work done. This fair,
clean, continuing resolution will give us the time we need to finish
the fiscal year 1999 appropriations bills within the

[[Page H7931]]

spending levels set out by the balanced budget agreement.
It is incumbent upon every Member, Democrat and Republican, to join
together to support this rule and the joint resolution so that we can
get that hard work done without any interference in government
operations.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
(Mr. MOAKLEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank my dear friend for many years, the
gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) my fellow traveler to El
Salvador, the next in line to be chairman of the Committee on Rules,
God willing according to him, for yielding me the customary 30 minutes.
House Resolution 541 is a closed rule providing for the consideration
of a continuing resolution that will take us through October 9. I am
very pleased to report that this continuing resolution is clean and it
does not include any extra material, and I am sure that, if it remains
in this form, the President will sign the legislation ending any
speculation about a government shutdown come October 1.

{time} 1045

That having been said, Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate that we find
ourselves in this position. With only 13 days left in the fiscal year,
only 1 of the general appropriation bills has been presented to the
President, while only a handful of bills are in conference. There are
still 2 bills left that have to be considered by the House, while the
Senate has passed 9 of the 13 appropriation bills. To say that we are
behind schedule, Mr. Speaker, is an understatement.
But it is very encouraging that the chairman and ranking member of
the Committee on Appropriations have presented us with a continuing
resolution that they believe will afford enough time to make
significant progress on the bills that are remaining. I certainly hope
that they are able to resolve the many difficult issues that exist on
these bills and are successful in getting all of the 13 bills to the
President in a form he can sign.
Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back
the balance of my time.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the magnanimity of my friend
from South Boston, and I would like to follow suit and urge support of
this rule.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the
previous question on the resolution.
The previous question was ordered.
The resolution was agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
Mr. LIVINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to the rule just adopted, I
call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 128) making continuing
appropriations for the fiscal year 1999, and for other purposes, and
ask for its immediate consideration in the House.
The Clerk read the title of the joint resolution.
The text of House Joint Resolution 128 is as follows:

H. J. Res. 128

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the
following sums are hereby appropriated, out of any money in
the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, and out of
applicable corporate or other revenues, receipts, and funds,
for the several departments, agencies, corporations, and
other organizational units of Government for the fiscal year
1999, and for other purposes, namely:
Sec. 101. (a) Such amounts as may be necessary under the
authority and conditions provided in the applicable
appropriations Act for the fiscal year 1998 for continuing
projects or activities including the costs of direct loans
and loan guarantees (not otherwise specifically provided for
in this joint resolution) which were conducted in the fiscal
year 1998 and for which appropriations, funds, or other
authority would be available in the following appropriations
Acts:
(1) the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug
Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act,
1999;
(2) the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the
Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999,
notwithstanding section 15 of the State Department Basic
Authorities Act of 1956, section 701 of the United States
Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948, section 313
of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1994
and 1995 (Public Law 103-236), and section 53 of the Arms
Control and Disarmament Act;
(3) the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 1999,
notwithstanding section 504(a)(1) of the National Security
Act of 1947;
(4) the District of Columbia Appropriations Act, 1999;
(5) the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act,
1999;
(6) the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related
Programs Appropriations Act, 1999, notwithstanding section 10
of Public Law 91-672 and section 15 of the State Department
Basic Authorities Act of 1956;
(7) the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act, 1999;
(8) the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services,
and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999,
the House and Senate reported versions of which shall be
deemed to have passed the House and Senate respectively as of
October 1, 1998, for the purposes of this joint resolution,
unless a reported version is passed as of October 1, 1998, in
which case the passed version shall be used in place of the
reported version for purposes of this joint resolution;
(9) the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 1999;
(10) the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act, 1999;
(11) the Treasury and General Government Appropriations
Act, 1999; and
(12) the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and
Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations
Act, 1999:

Provided, That whenever the amount which would be made
available or the authority which would be granted in these
Acts as passed by the House and Senate as of October 1, 1998,
is different than that which would be available or granted
under current operations, the pertinent project or activity
shall be continued at a rate for operations not exceeding the
current rate: Provided further, That whenever the amount of
the budget request is less than the amount for current
operations and the amount which would be made available or
the authority which would be granted in these appropriations
Acts as passed by the House and Senate as of October 1, 1998,
is less than the amount for current operations, then the
pertinent project or activity shall be continued at a rate
for operations not exceeding the greater of the rates that
would be provided by the amount of the budget request or the
amount which would be made available or the authority which
would be granted in these appropriations Acts: Provided
further, That whenever there is no amount made available
under any of these appropriations Acts as passed by the House
and Senate as of October 1, 1998, for a continuing project or
activity which was conducted in fiscal year 1998 and for
which there is fiscal year 1999 funding included in the
budget request, the pertinent project or activity shall be
continued at a rate for operations not exceeding the lesser
of the rates that would be provided by the amount of the
budget request or the rate for current operations under the
authority and conditions provided in the applicable
appropriations Act for the fiscal year 1998.
(b) Whenever the amount which would be made available or
the authority which would be granted under an Act listed in
this section as passed by the House as of October 1, 1998, is
different from that which would be available or granted under
such Act as passed by the Senate as of October 1, 1998, the
pertinent project or activity shall be continued at a rate
for operations not exceeding the current rate under the
appropriation, fund, or authority granted by the applicable
appropriations Act for the fiscal year 1999 and under the
authority and conditions provided in the applicable
appropriations Act for the fiscal year 1998: Provided, That
whenever the amount of the budget request is less than the
amount for current operations and the amounts which would be
made available or the authority which would be granted in
these appropriations Acts as passed by the House and the
Senate as of October 1, 1998, are both less than the amount
for current operations, then the pertinent project or
activity shall be continued at a rate for operations not
exceeding the greater of the rates that would be provided by
the amount of the budget request or the amount which would be
made available or the authority which would be granted in the
applicable appropriations Act as passed by the House or as
passed by the Senate under the appropriation, fund, or
authority provided in the applicable appropriations Act for
the fiscal year 1999 and under the authority and conditions
provided in the applicable appropriations Act for the fiscal
year 1998.
(c) Whenever an Act listed in this section has been passed
by only the House or only the Senate as of October 1, 1998,
the pertinent project or activity shall be continued under
the appropriation, fund, or authority granted by the one
House at a rate for operations not exceeding the current rate
and under the authority and conditions provided in the
applicable appropriations Act for the fiscal year 1998:
Provided, That whenever the amount of the budget request is
less than the amount for current operations and the amounts
which would be made available or the authority which would be
granted in the appropriations Act as passed by the one House
as of October 1, 1998, is less than the amount for current
operations, then the pertinent project or activity shall be
continued at a rate for operations not exceeding the

[[Page H7932]]

greater of the rates that would be provided by the amount of
the budget request or the amount which would be made
available or the authority which would be granted in the
applicable appropriations Act as passed by the one House
under the appropriation, fund, or authority provided in the
applicable appropriations Act for the fiscal year 1999 and
under the authority and conditions provided in the applicable
appropriations Act for the fiscal year 1998: Provided
further, That whenever there is no amount made available
under any of these appropriations Acts as passed by the House
or the Senate as of October 1, 1998, for a continuing project
or activity which was conducted in fiscal year 1998 and for
which there is fiscal year 1999 funding included in the
budget request, the pertinent project or activity shall be
continued at a rate for operations not exceeding the lesser
of the rates that would be provided by the amount of the
budget request or the rate for current operations under the
authority and conditions provided in the applicable
appropriations Act for the fiscal year 1998.
Sec. 102. No appropriation or funds made available or
authority granted pursuant to section 101 for the Department
of Defense shall be used for new production of items not
funded for production in fiscal year 1998 or prior years, for
the increase in production rates above those sustained with
fiscal year 1998 funds, or to initiate, resume, or continue
any project, activity, operation, or organization which are
defined as any project, subproject, activity, budget
activity, program element, and subprogram within a program
element and for investment items are further defined as a P-1
line item in a budget activity within an appropriation
account and an R-1 line item which includes a program element
and subprogram element within an appropriation account, for
which appropriations, funds, or other authority were not
available during the fiscal year 1998: Provided, That no
appropriation or funds made available or authority granted
pursuant to section 101 for the Department of Defense shall
be used to initiate multi-year procurements utilizing advance
procurement funding for economic order quantity procurement
unless specifically appropriated later.
Sec. 103. Appropriations made by section 101 shall be
available to the extent and in the manner which would be
provided by the pertinent appropriations Act.
Sec. 104. No appropriation or funds made available or
authority granted pursuant to section 101 shall be used to
initiate or resume any project or activity for which
appropriations, funds, or other authority were not available
during the fiscal year 1998.
Sec. 105. No provision which is included in an
appropriations Act enumerated in section 101 but which was
not included in the applicable appropriations Act for fiscal
year 1998 and which by its terms is applicable to more than
one appropriation, fund, or authority shall be applicable to
any appropriation, fund, or authority provided in this joint
resolution.
Sec. 106. Unless otherwise provided for in this joint
resolution or in the applicable appropriations Act,
appropriations and funds made available and authority granted
pursuant to this joint resolution shall be available until
(a) enactment into law of an appropriation for any project or
activity provided for in this joint resolution, or (b) the
enactment into law of the applicable appropriations Act by
both Houses without any provision for such project or
activity, or (c) October 9, 1998, whichever first occurs.
Sec. 107. Appropriations made and authority granted
pursuant to this joint resolution shall cover all obligations
or expenditures incurred for any program, project, or
activity during the period for which funds or authority for
such project or activity are available under this joint
resolution.
Sec. 108. Expenditures made pursuant to this joint
resolution shall be charged to the applicable appropriation,
fund, or authorization whenever a bill in which such
applicable appropriation, fund, or authorization is contained
is enacted into law.
Sec. 109. No provision in the appropriations Act for the
fiscal year 1999 referred to in section 101 of this Act that
makes the availability of any appropriation provided therein
dependent upon the enactment of additional authorizing or
other legislation shall be effective before the date set
forth in section 106(c) of this joint resolution.
Sec. 110. Appropriations and funds made available by or
authority granted pursuant to this joint resolution may be
used without regard to the time limitations for submission
and approval of apportionments set forth in section 1513 of
title 31, United States Code, but nothing herein shall be
construed to waive any other provision of law governing the
apportionment of funds.
Sec. 111. This joint resolution shall be implemented so
that only the most limited funding action of that permitted
in the joint resolution shall be taken in order to provide
for continuation of projects and activities.
Sec. 112. Notwithstanding any other provision of this joint
resolution, except section 106, for those programs that had
high initial rates of operation or complete distribution of
fiscal year 1998 appropriations at the beginning of that
fiscal year because of distributions of funding to States,
foreign countries, grantees or others, similar distributions
of funds for fiscal year 1999 shall not be made and no grants
shall be awarded for such programs funded by this resolution
that would impinge on final funding prerogatives.
Sec. 113. Notwithstanding any other provision of this joint
resolution, except section 106, the rate for operations for
projects and activities that would be funded under the
heading ``International Organizations and Conferences,
Contributions to International Organizations'' in the
Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary,
and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999, shall be the
amount provided by the provisions of section 101 multiplied
by the ratio of the number of days covered by this resolution
to 365.
Sec. 114. Notwithstanding any other provision of this joint
resolution, except section 106, the rate for operations for
the following activities funded with Federal Funds for the
District of Columbia, shall be at a rate for operations not
exceeding the current rate, multiplied by the ratio of the
number of days covered by this joint resolution to 365:
Corrections Trustee Operations, Offender Supervision, Public
Defender Services, Parole Revocation, Adult Probation, and
Court Operations.
Sec. 115. Activities authorized by sections 1309(a)(2),
1319, 1336(a), and 1376(c) of the National Flood Insurance
Act of 1968, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4001 et seq.), may
continue through the date specified in section 106 of this
joint resolution.
Sec. 116. Section 28f(a) of title 30, U.S.C., is amended by
striking the words ``The holder'' through ``$100 per claim.''
And inserting ``The holder of each unpatented mining claim,
mill, or tunnel site located pursuant to the mining laws of
the United States before October 1, 1998 shall pay the
Secretary of the Interior, on or before September 1, 1999 a
claim maintenance fee of $100 per claim site.''.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the time for
locating any unpatented mining claim, mill, or tunnel site
pursuant to 30 U.S.C. 28g may continue through the date
specified in section 106 of this joint resolution.
Sec. 117. The amounts charged for patent fees through the
date provided in section 106 shall be the amounts charged by
the Patent and Trademark Office on September 30, 1998,
including any applicable surcharges collected pursuant to
section 8001 of P.L. 103-66: Provided, That such fees shall
be credited as offsetting collections to the Patent and
Trademark Office Salaries and Expenses account: Provided
further, That during the period covered by this joint
resolution, the commissioner may recognize fees that reflect
partial payment of the fees authorized by this section and
may require unpaid amounts to be paid within a time period
set by the Commissioner.
Sec. 118. Notwithstanding sections 101, 104, and 106 of
this joint resolution, until 30 days after the date specified
in section 106, funds may be used to initiate or resume
projects or activities at a rate in excess of the current
rate to the extent necessary, consistent with existing agency
plans, to achieve Year 2000 (Y2K) computer conversion.
Sec. 119. Notwithstanding any other provision of this joint
resolution, except section 106, the amount made available for
projects and activities for decennial census programs shall
be the higher of the amount that would be provided under the
heading ``Bureau of the Census, Periodic Censuses and
Programs'' in the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and
State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations
Act, 1999, as passed by the House, or the amount that would
be provided by such Act as passed by the Senate, or the
amount of the budget request, multiplied by the ratio of the
number of days covered by this resolution to 365.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 541, the
gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Livingston), and the gentleman from
Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) each will control 30 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Livingston).

General Leave

Mr. LIVINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their
remarks on H.J. Res. 128, and that I may include tabular and extraneous
material.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Louisiana?
There was no objection.
(Mr. LIVINGSTON asked and was given permission to revise and extend
his remarks.)
Mr. LIVINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, we are bringing H. J. Res. 128, a continuing resolution
for fiscal year 1999, to the House today because it is likely that all
13 of the regular appropriations bills will, unfortunately, not be
enacted by the beginning of the fiscal year on October 1st. This
resolution is needed to keep the government operating while we complete
our work on our appropriations bills. Its duration is until October
9th, or until the bills are enacted, whichever comes first.
The fact that we are bringing this resolution to the floor today
should surprise no one. For some time now, it has been apparent that
this type of

[[Page H7933]]

short-term funding authorization would be needed. It has also been
widely known that this resolution would be straightforward and not
include any extraneous controversial matters that might result in a
government shutdown. Mr. Speaker, while I wish that this resolution
were not needed, I am pleased that it is a noncontroversial proposal
and should move quickly through the process, be signed into law, and
give the time that we need to complete our work.
Mr. Speaker, this resolution uses the same funding formula as was
used last year. This formula generally allows programs to continue at
current rates. If the budget request is lower than current rates for a
particular program and both the House and the Senate agree that it
should be lower, this CR, or continuing resolution, takes advantage of
this and reduces the rate accordingly. This CR also includes the same
restrictions on initiating new starts, maintaining last year's terms
and conditions, and restricting the early release of monies to States,
foreign countries, and grantees that have been previously included.
Again, Mr. Speaker, it does not include any extraneous controversial
matters.
There is another significant aspect to this CR, and CRs in general,
that I would like to point out to my colleagues, especially those who
think that an automatic, permanent CR should be enacted so that we
could avoid having to take the action that we are now taking. This
continuing resolution includes several special funding provisions for
programs for which the funding formula does not work. We call these
funding anomalies. They happen every year. One cannot predict what they
are or the solution to take care of them. But, they must be addressed
or else significant undesirable impacts result if they are not
addressed. So my point in bringing this to the attention of Members is
that even if there were an automatic continuing resolution that we had
adopted weeks or months ago, we would still be out here with an
absolutely necessary technical adjustment to the permanent funding
authority. This would give rise to an opportunity for extraneous
mischief, the very thing that is supposed to be avoided in the
automatic CR scenario. So, in my view, there is no way around the need
for ad hoc legislation even with the automatic continuing resolution.
The solution to this exposure is to have the member discipline not to
add extraneous matters, as we have exercised today.
Mr. Speaker, this is not the main reason to not enact an automatic
CR. The main reason is it removes the pressure to get our regular work
completed, in addition to biasing the negotiating process on annual
funding bills. Now I want to talk about getting our work done.
The Military Construction bill is on the President's desk. There are
7 more bills in conference, and one more has been acted on by both the
House and the Senate and is ready to go to conference, for a total of 9
bills. Today the House should complete action on the Foreign Operations
bill, giving us another bill, a tenth bill, ready for conference. Now,
that leaves only 3 left. The House has passed 2 of the 3; the Senate
has to pass all 3.
There is still a lot of work in front of us, but we are getting
there. Just because this continuing resolution gives us until October
9th to finish our work, no one should think that we can relax now. It
will take a sustained drive and the cooperation of all Members, both in
this body and the other, to get our work done by this deadline.
We face a situation on 7 or 8 of our bills where a veto has been
threatened because of a lack of spending. Our bills are at the cap
levels. This means that to increase spending on these bills, some form
of offset would be required, or else we would exceed the caps that were
agreed to between the Congress and the President last year when we
reached an agreement on the balanced budget, which has reaped great
rewards, Mr. Speaker. We are actually, even though that balanced budget
agreement called for balancing of the budget by the year 2002,
balancing the budget this year and have an expected surplus of at least
$63 billion.
But, returning to my previous point, this means that to increase
spending on these bills, some form of offset would be required. Offsets
can be in the form of reduced spending on other programs, including
mandatory programs or entitlements or raising revenues in the form of
user fees for taxes. This causes several problems. Mandatory offsets
are easier said than done. Raising taxes or enacting user fees are
definitely not in this committee's jurisdiction. And even if they were,
I am not aware of any popular tax increases or user fee increases that
we could easily put in our bills in order to satisfy the President's
additional spending requests, or desires.
This has been an historic problem for the committee. For years
budgets have included these types of offsets to enable more spending.
It is just that the amount of the needed offset is so much bigger this
year than it has ever been. The spending in this year's budget request
was $9 billion over the caps which would require that same amount in
offsets. This is a very difficult problem to overcome, and still stay
within the caps. Administration officials claim to have some ideas on
offsets that could help us get the job done, and we asked to see those
offsets that they had said they had as far back as July, some 2 months
ago, but we still have not seen them. They promised, maybe the check is
in the mail, but we have not seen it.
Another complicating factor this year is that we are facing some
large emergency funding needs that have to be addressed before we can
complete our work this year. We will need to address funding for
agriculture disasters and other agriculture problems. We will soon be
in receipt of a request to increase security at our diplomatic posts
around the world in the face of what happened in Tanzania and Kenya. We
have urgent additional defense needs to maintain readiness while we are
experiencing the additional costs of maintaining peacekeeping efforts
all over the world. Then there is the unforeseen costs of making
governmentwide computer conversions to account for the year 2000
problem. These problems are very expensive and there may be more of
them, and we need to address these in a bipartisan fashion at the same
time we are developing the regular funding packages.
Our plate is full. It might be fun to debate these issues this
morning; it might be fun to blame everyone for the slow pace of our
activities, but such debate really in the long run has little or no
merit. We ought to pass this continuing resolution quickly so that we
can concentrate on our work needed to finish up this fiscal year and
this legislative season.
This continuing resolution will keep the government open for a little
bit longer than the next 3 weeks. We do not have much time. We need to
get on with it.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
There is no objection to this continuing resolution on this side of
the aisle. The resolution is perfectly reasonable. It is a straight,
neutral continuation of funding, and it is essential in order to keep
the government open. The President will sign it. He has made that quite
clear in the statement he sent this morning, and I think every Member
of the House, if there is a vote on this, ought to vote for it.
Having said that, I think it is regrettable that we have been brought
here by an unhappy set of circumstances. Last year we had a
considerable degree of bipartisan cooperation between both parties, and
as a result, we achieved I think some real substantive victories for
the American people, something which this House on both sides of the
aisle can take pride in, and we had an extremely civil year of doing
the people's business.
Everyone understands that the gentleman from Louisiana and I have a
very good personal relationship. I consider him to be one of the best
friends I have in the House and one of the best legislators in the
House. I am proud of that relationship.
However, there have been many external factors which have operated to
make our job much more difficult this year. We have, in my view,
instead of seeing a mindset of cooperation from the majority caucus,
this year we have had much more of a mindset of confrontation on at
least half of the appropriation bills that have moved through this
House.

[[Page H7934]]

Under the law, we are supposed to have the budget resolution passed
by the time we have our summer break, and we are supposed to have all
13 appropriation bills passed by October 1.

{time} 1100

We are in the situation, and this has not happened, I do not believe,
since I have been here, where we still do not have a budget resolution
passed. So we are operating on an ad hoc basis because of that. That
makes it more difficult for this committee to do its work.
It is not unprecedented for the House not to finish all of its
appropriation bills before October 1. We were fortunate enough that we
were able to do that the year that I was chairman. That was not because
of any special action taken by me or by my committee. We did have a
very good bipartisan working relationship that year. But we also had
the leadership of both parties working together along with the White
House to make it happen.
We have not seen that this year, unfortunately. So as a consequence,
not a single appropriation bill has yet been signed into law. I think I
need to cite some of the reasons for that.
First of all, the majority has chosen to produce a Labor, Health,
Education, and Social Services bill which was so extreme in its nature
that they have not been able to pass it in this House.
The Senate, their Senate Republican counterparts have produced a
significantly more moderate bill; still not what we need to have a
signed product. But the very act of restoring some of the funding that
the Senate has restored for programs like low income heating assistance
and summer jobs, that very act demonstrates that the majority in the
other body recognizes that the Labor, Health, Education appropriation
bill produced by the majority in this House is so extreme that they do
not want anything to do with it.
On the Veterans Administration, HUD, EPA bill, that bill should have
been on the President's desk. It has a number of problems associated
with it which are solvable; but, yet, that bill has been thrown into
turmoil because of the insistence of the majority that they attach a
totally irrelevant housing authorization bill, a huge bill which the
authorizing committee has not been able to get through the Congress.
So they lay it onto the appropriation bill, asking the Committee on
Appropriations to carry that extra freight, and that is more freight
than the system will bear. So that has broken down.
On interior, the bill that funds most of our natural treasurers and
the preservation and stewardship of those treasures on an annual basis,
that bill has been loaded down with extreme environmental riders in the
other body, unnecessary roads through wilderness areas, additional
logging of the Tongass.
I was in Alaska last year. I was horrified when I overflew the
Tongass and some of the other areas and saw some of the extreme clear-
cutting that have been going on by the native corporations up there.
That had not fit my impression of what had been happening up there.
We had a bill on the interior appropriation bill that would make that
matter worse on the transportation appropriation bill. Again, we have
seen an antienvironmental rider added, which takes a bill which ought
to have been relatively noncontroversial. I was very surprised that
that bill had not been sent to the President a long time ago. But
riders like that have held that bill up as well.
Agriculture. This Congress or rather the previous Congress voted for
the horrendous so-called Freedom to Farm Bill which has turned into a
Freedom-to-Fail-at-Farming bill because of the lack of a safety net
that is provided for American farmers in that legislation. It is
obvious the majority party does not know how to deal with that, so that
appropriation bill is hung up also.
That matter is then made worse by the refusal of the majority party
to support funding for the IMF so that we can provide some additional
stability in our export markets so that we have a greater ability to
export our agricultural products to those areas. Yet, we are being
denied an opportunity in this House even to vote on that crucial issue.
The District of Columbia appropriation bill has been held up by a
gratuitous decision on the part of this body to insist that the
District of Columbia engage in an experiment on educational vouchers
which many of us would not support if that were mandated on our own
local districts.
Then we come to the foreign operations bill. That bill in the past
has been handled on a bipartisan basis, and the bill has largely been
worked out before it has come to the floor. This time, for a variety of
reasons, that has not happened, despite the agreement that was voiced
in the Committee on Appropriations that the majority would have its
language in the bill on the Mexico City family planning issue.
We were told that, as part of that agreement, if we did not try to
take the language out of the bill, we would have, on this side of the
aisle an opportunity for an alternative to be offered so that we could
have an up or down vote on the two viewpoints on that issue.
The gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi) has been blocked from
having a clean shot at an alternative. In addition to that, the
Committee on Rules is preventing us from even having a vote on the IMF.
That vote is central to helping to stabilize international exchange
rates, to stabilize the international trading arrangements so that we
have an opportunity to try to do something about the deep recession
which is plaguing at least one-third of the world and threatens to
cripple our own economic recovery. So we have had all kinds of these
gratuitous roadblocks put in the way of our getting our business done.
I would say it appears to me that this Congress has done an extensive
job of investigating but a pitiful job of legislating when it comes to
meeting the primary responsibility this Congress has each year, which
is to keep the government open by funding the basic activities of
government through the appropriations process.
This committee has once again been thrown into the briar patch on
many issue that we do not have the expertise to deal with and do not
have the jurisdiction to deal with it.
I would point out also that, well I will not comment on the Korean
situation until we get the foreign ops bill up, but I just have to say
this, I am disturbed by the fact that virtually none of these bills are
really moving.
It seems to me that there is a conscious decision on the part of a
number of the players to want to push their bills into a giant omnibus
appropriation bill at the end so that they can send a huge vehicle to
the President and on a take-it-or-leave-it basis.
I hope that is not true because that is the way that we get into an
awful lot of trouble around here. We need to be trying to work out
these individual bills. We do not need a situation to be developed
where the Congress tries to take advantage of what the majority party
may see as the perceived weakening of the President's position and use
that to try to ram at him and stick in his ear a whole range of
outrageous propositions that they know he is certainly not willing to
accept, as we are not willing to accept.
So I would simply say that I think the committee is doing the
responsible thing in bringing this continuing resolution to the floor
in the shape it is in. I do not think that the process by which we have
gotten here has been particularly responsible. That is not the
chairman's fault, but I do want to say that I expect we are going to
have to have a number of additional short-term continuing resolutions
because it certainly seems to me that it is not likely that we will
have our work done for the next fiscal year by the time this pending
continuing resolution expires in early October.
I hope that there is a willingness to stay in session this year until
our job is done on these bills.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LIVINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I would only point out in response to the gentleman's
comments that I sympathize with his frustration. We are at the end of
the year. We have gone through a great deal of tug and pull on lots of
legislation but we are down to the last two bills. In the next few
weeks, we are going to get

[[Page H7935]]

through those bills. Whether there is an omnibus bill or not is still
too early to tell. I would love to make sure that we get each
individual bill signed, but that takes cooperation from not only this
body and the other body but the White House as well.
They have indicated that they have no objection, the White House has
no objection, to this particular resolution, and I would urge the House
to adopt it in its current form, and I think that is just what we
should do and let the rest of it take place in its natural order.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time I have remaining?
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). The gentleman from Wisconsin
has 16 minutes remaining.
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Virginia (Mr. Moran).
Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the very distinguished
ranking Member of the Committee on Appropriations for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I also thank the chairman of the Committee on
Appropriations for those last words that the chairman uttered. They are
music to our ears. The chairman committed himself to assure that these
appropriations bills, all of them except military construction, which
is now on the President's desk and we assume would be signed, those
other bills will, in fact, get passed; no government shutdown, no
delaying the government, getting the Congress' business done when it
needs to be done.
I understand that the principal reason why our appropriation bills
have been delayed, at least from a procedural standpoint, is that this
is the first time, since the budget act was passed, that we have no
budget resolution. It was due April 15. So it has been very difficult
for the Committee on Appropriations to fulfill its responsibility when
we have no budget resolution.
This CR is the right thing. I hope this is a precedent to have an
appropriations bill, a continuing resolution which does not have any of
the divisive issues, which is not designed to cause the President to
veto it, which is simply designed to enable the government to function
in the proper way. It shows it can be done.
My fear is that we will get to October 9 and despite the best efforts
of the Committee on Appropriations, Members will add things in
appropriations bills that were not designed to enable the government to
carry out its proper role but instead were designed for purely partisan
political purposes, knowing they would force the President to veto any
of those individual appropriations bills. At least if we have a
continuing resolution, it should be similar to this bill today, one
that will enable the government to continue functioning.
The worst thing we could do is to shut down the government, to have a
repeat of 1995. None of us want that to happen, particularly in the
context that we are currently operating. So it is incumbent upon the
leadership of the Committee on Appropriations, but most importantly the
Members of Congress who may have ideas that they think are meritorious
but in reality would only cause the government to stop functioning to
keep our appropriations bills clean. Another government shutdown is the
one thing that must be avoided.
So let me just thank the leadership on both sides of the aisle for
this continuing resolution. I trust it will be passed unanimously, and
I trust that it is a precedent for the kind of bipartisan cooperation
that serves this Congress well but most importantly serves this nation
well.
Mr. LIVINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I would only say that I appreciate the comments of the
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Moran) and share his sentiment about the
shutdown. I do not think anybody wants that on this side.

{time} 1115

We certainly look forward to working with the Members of the minority
to make sure that there is no shutdown. We hope that the administration
and the President are equally committed to maintaining the continuity
of government so that Federal employees will not be impacted
unnecessarily.
On his other point on the budget resolution, I would like to
challenge the gentleman's recollection, because in the 21 years that I
have been here, all of which have transpired since the passage of the
budget resolution, I believe we have come through this process without
a budget resolution on at least two occasions, and possibly more
frequently than that back in the 1980s when the Democrats were in
control.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Texas
(Mr. Doggett).
Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, it is encouraging to hear the gentleman
from Louisiana (Mr. Livingston) indicate that the Republicans are not
interested in shutting down the government again as they did in 1995.
Certainly, if by voting for this resolution we can discourage them from
doing that again, that would be important to the country.
It seems these days that the ``all news'' channels and the semi-
pseudo-news channels are preoccupied with a new format of ``All Monica,
All the Time,'' and I do not suppose that there is any way to get them
to refocus on anything else like this mess. But I think it is worth
noting the mess that we are in and how we got here.
I serve on the Committee on the Budget and the way this process is
supposed to work is that the Committee on the Budget is supposed to
produce a timely budget resolution which this House is to adopt and the
Senate is to adopt. That budget provides the format around which our
Committee on Appropriations can approve the 13 appropriation bills and
avoid a government shutdown.
Mr. Speaker, there is only one problem. For the first time I guess in
the history of the Budget Act, certainly in recent memory, there is no
budget. Now, that is the Republican leadership. It is not a matter, as
the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations indicated, of trying to
cast blame everywhere. Blame does not belong everywhere. It just
belongs one place. Right up here with the Republican leadership. They
are leading. They have the majority and they claim and profess to be
very concerned with fiscal responsibility, and yet we have come through
this year and they cannot even produce a budget.
It is, indeed, rather amusing to hear some of these commentators ask
whether or not the government will slow down because of all the
revelations and scandals that they are focusing on. If this House slows
down any more, it will be going backwards. This is the House that could
not produce a budget, that has produced exactly 1 of the 13
appropriation bills over there on the President's desk.
The people that are asking, well, can the President do his job? Well,
the President cannot sign appropriation bills that are not on his desk.
And right now, 2 weeks before the government is to conclude this fiscal
year, it has no budget and one of 13 appropriation bills.
Credit is due here. These folks had a preconceived notion that the
best thing, given the fragile nature of their coalition, was to do as
little as possible this year except perhaps occasionally painting
Democrats as pagans. They have done a pretty good job of both. They
have done a pretty good job of doing nothing. And whenever they tried
to do something, such as the appropriations for all of the Health and
Human Services in the United States, they could not agree between
themselves.
So, here we are 2 weeks before the conclusion of this fiscal year and
we have yet to have a chance to vote on the floor of this House
concerning the appropriations for all of the Health and Human Services
operations throughout this whole country.
Folks want to focus only on what has happened down at 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue. This is a true crisis for the country, that if our
Republican friends continue to pursue a policy of doing just next to
nothing, as little as they possibly can, and if they continue to tuck
into these appropriation bills anti-environmental provisions, as they
did with some of the appropriation bills earlier that they could not
pass on their own merit, but more dirty water and less clean air is
something they can tuck into the fine print of the appropriation bills
on the few that they

[[Page H7936]]

do pass, if they continue to pursue that approach, then simply passing
the resolution for which we are going to join in bipartisan support
this morning will not get the job done and will not avoid a government
shutdown.
So, let us get to work, have clean appropriation bills that finance
the government, that make up for about 9 months of doing next to
nothing, get a budget out here and let us move the country along on the
problems that really matter in the lives of families that are
struggling to make a go out there across America.
Mr. LIVINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I do not believe I have any more requests for time, but
let me simply say that as much as I appreciate the comments of the
preceding speaker, I find it intriguing to hear a Member of the
Committee on the Budget complain about the fact that there is no
budget.
As an appropriator, I regret that. But I would have to say that it
really does not make any difference, because the leadership of this
Congress in both the House and Senate agreed with this President last
year, about a year ago, almost maybe 13 months ago, to balance the
budget. When? By the year 2002. And they gave us a platform on how to
do it.
Mr. Speaker, I believe the gentleman must have been a party to that
because he is on the Committee on the Budget. They gave us a program to
balance the budget by the year 2002. Lo and behold, because of their
good works, we have a balanced budget not in the year 2002, but this
year. We have a surplus for the first time in my adult life, $63-
billion-plus surplus.
We should be proud of that. Last year, the President of the United
States, and I believe he is a Democrat, agreed with the leadership of
both Houses of the Congress to set caps on the amount of spending
within the discretionary part of the budget. We are proposing funding
up to those caps. We are spending exactly the amount of money that the
President agreed to. In fact, I dare say it is possible, with some
emergency funding, we may exceed the spending of the cap levels. But we
are basically adhering to rules on those caps.
The gentleman that preceded me should be proud of that instead of
haranguing us on the floor for no budget resolution, which means
nothing anyway. We are spending what the President agreed to, and he
should applaud that, and he should rejoice for all Americans are better
off for our actions.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 3 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Livingston), my good
friend, has given an interesting speech. It really does not have a
whole lot to do with what the previous speaker just said.
The gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Livingston) has indicated that this
is not an unprecedented situation. The fact is, I believe, if he will
check the record he will find out, that we have never gotten to the end
of the session without the passage of a budget resolution.
I would point out also that the responsibility for that is very
clear. It lies with the people who run the Congress, because the
President does not sign the budget resolution. He has no role in
determining what the budget resolution is. The budget resolution is a
Congressional Budget Resolution. There is none, and that is why this
institution has been forced to operate on an ad hoc basis.
Mr. Speaker, I would point out also that just because there was a
budget agreement to live within certain caps, does not mean that this
Congress is free to load up all of these appropriation bills with anti-
environmental riders, with anti-consumer riders, with all kinds of
unrelated and nongermane amendments, which turn relatively benign
appropriation bills into highly controversial matters that the majority
party itself is split over.
So it just seems to me, and I do not want to continue this, I raise
this simply because I believe that if we are going to get out of here
before November 3, we must have a different mind-set than we have seen
this year. This Congress must return and the majority party must return
to the mind-set that they exhibited the year before when there was
strong bipartisan cooperation, strong cooperation with the President,
and as a result we had a year that I thought all of us could be proud
of. This year has not been that kind of year because of the decision to
revert to a confrontation mode on the part of the House Republican
Caucus, at least some elements of it. I think it is that mind-set which
must be changed if we are not going to be here two and three more times
before the end of the calendar year, providing for yet another short-
term continuing resolution.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. LIVINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). All time for debate has
expired.
The joint resolution is considered as having been read for amendment.
Pursuant to House Resolution 541, the previous question is ordered.
The question is on the engrossment and third reading of the joint
resolution.
The joint resolution was ordered to be engrossed and read a third
time, and was read the third time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on passage of the joint
resolution.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Mr. LIVINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that
a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is
not present.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Evidently a quorum is not present.
The Sergeant at Arms will notify absent Members.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 421,
nays 0, not voting 13, as follows:

[Roll No. 445]

YEAS--421

Abercrombie
Ackerman
Aderholt
Allen
Andrews
Archer
Armey
Bachus
Baesler
Baker
Baldacci
Ballenger
Barcia
Barr
Barrett (NE)
Barrett (WI)
Bartlett
Barton
Bass
Bateman
Becerra
Bentsen
Bereuter
Berman
Berry
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bishop
Blagojevich
Bliley
Blumenauer
Blunt
Boehlert
Boehner
Bonilla
Bonior
Bono
Borski
Boswell
Boucher
Boyd
Brady (PA)
Brady (TX)
Brown (CA)
Brown (FL)
Brown (OH)
Bryant
Bunning
Burr
Burton
Buyer
Callahan
Calvert
Camp
Campbell
Canady
Cannon
Capps
Cardin
Carson
Castle
Chabot
Chambliss
Chenoweth
Christensen
Clay
Clayton
Clement
Clyburn
Coble
Coburn
Collins
Combest
Condit
Conyers
Cook
Cooksey
Costello
Cox
Coyne
Cramer
Crane
Crapo
Cubin
Cummings
Cunningham
Danner
Davis (FL)
Davis (IL)
Davis (VA)
Deal
DeFazio
DeGette
Delahunt
DeLauro
DeLay
Deutsch
Diaz-Balart
Dickey
Dicks
Dingell
Dixon
Doggett
Dooley
Doolittle
Doyle
Dreier
Duncan
Dunn
Edwards
Ehlers
Ehrlich
Emerson
Engel
English
Ensign
Eshoo
Etheridge
Evans
Everett
Ewing
Farr
Fattah
Fawell
Filner
Foley
Ford
Fossella
Fowler
Fox
Frank (MA)
Franks (NJ)
Frelinghuysen
Frost
Furse
Gallegly
Ganske
Gejdenson
Gekas
Gephardt
Gibbons
Gilchrest
Gillmor
Gilman
Goode
Goodlatte
Goodling
Gordon
Graham
Granger
Green
Greenwood
Gutierrez
Gutknecht
Hall (OH)
Hall (TX)
Hamilton
Hansen
Harman
Hastert
Hastings (FL)
Hastings (WA)
Hayworth
Hefley
Herger
Hill
Hilleary
Hilliard
Hinchey
Hinojosa
Hobson
Hoekstra
Holden
Hooley
Horn
Hostettler
Houghton
Hoyer
Hulshof
Hunter
Hutchinson
Hyde
Inglis
Istook
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jefferson
Jenkins
Johnson (CT)
Johnson (WI)
Johnson, E. B.
Johnson, Sam
Jones
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Kasich
Kelly
Kennedy (MA)
Kennedy (RI)
Kennelly
Kildee
Kilpatrick
Kim
Kind (WI)
King (NY)
Kingston
Kleczka
Klink
Klug
Knollenberg
Kolbe
Kucinich
LaFalce
LaHood
Lampson
Lantos
Largent
Latham
LaTourette
Lazio
Leach
Lee
Levin
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (GA)
Lewis (KY)
Linder
Lipinski
Livingston
LoBiondo
Lofgren
Lowey
Lucas
Luther
Maloney (CT)
Maloney (NY)
Manton
Manzullo
Markey
Martinez
Mascara
Matsui

[[Page H7937]]

McCarthy (MO)
McCarthy (NY)
McCollum
McCrery
McDade
McDermott
McGovern
McHale
McHugh
McInnis
McIntosh
McIntyre
McKeon
McKinney
McNulty
Meehan
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Menendez
Mica
Millender-McDonald
Miller (CA)
Miller (FL)
Minge
Mink
Moakley
Mollohan
Moran (KS)
Moran (VA)
Morella
Murtha
Myrick
Nadler
Neal
Nethercutt
Neumann
Ney
Northup
Norwood
Nussle
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Owens
Oxley
Packard
Pallone
Pappas
Parker
Pascrell
Pastor
Paul
Paxon
Payne
Pease
Pelosi
Peterson (MN)
Peterson (PA)
Petri
Pickering
Pickett
Pitts
Pombo
Pomeroy
Porter
Portman
Price (NC)
Quinn
Radanovich
Rahall
Ramstad
Rangel
Redmond
Regula
Reyes
Riley
Rivers
Rodriguez
Roemer
Rogan
Rogers
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Rothman
Roukema
Roybal-Allard
Rush
Ryun
Sabo
Salmon
Sanchez
Sanders
Sandlin
Sanford
Sawyer
Saxton
Scarborough
Schaefer, Dan
Schaffer, Bob
Scott
Sensenbrenner
Serrano
Sessions
Shadegg
Shaw
Shays
Sherman
Shimkus
Shuster
Sisisky
Skaggs
Skeen
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (MI)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (OR)
Smith (TX)
Smith, Adam
Smith, Linda
Snowbarger
Snyder
Solomon
Souder
Spence
Spratt
Stabenow
Stark
Stearns
Stenholm
Strickland
Stump
Stupak
Sununu
Talent
Tanner
Tauscher
Tauzin
Taylor (MS)
Taylor (NC)
Thomas
Thompson
Thornberry
Thune
Thurman
Tiahrt
Tierney
Torres
Towns
Traficant
Turner
Upton
Velazquez
Vento
Visclosky
Walsh
Wamp
Waters
Watkins
Watt (NC)
Watts (OK)
Waxman
Weldon (FL)
Weldon (PA)
Weller
Wexler
Weygand
White
Whitfield
Wicker
Wilson
Wise
Wolf
Woolsey
Wynn
Yates
Young (AK)
Young (FL)

NOT VOTING--13

Fazio
Forbes
Gonzalez
Goss
Hefner
John
Metcalf
Poshard
Pryce (OH)
Riggs
Royce
Schumer
Stokes

{time} 1146

Mr. DOOLEY of California and Mr. CALLAHAN changed their vote from
``nay'' to ``yea.''
So the joint resolution was passed.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

____________________