Waiving a requirement of clause 6(a) of rule XIII with respect to consideration of certain resolutions reported from the Committee on Rules.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

(Ms. SLAUGHTER asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, Christmas has come early for President Bush and his high-dollar friends, but for millions of American families, it looks like the Grinch will be stealing Christmas. The media has widely reported that the President won victory after victory in negotiations over the details of this omnibus appropriations bill. But any Presidential victory comes at a very high cost.

America's working families and those struggling to stay afloat in the swift currents of unemployment will be stuck with the tab. The unemployment rate was essentially unchanged from October to November and almost 9 million Americans still cannot find work, including 6.2 percent of the New Yorkers who were unemployed.

Across the Nation, the number of Americans filing for the first time for unemployment benefits is up. New claims for unemployment have risen in 47 States and territories. One economist described last Friday's unemployment report as ``getting just the Christmas present you want but two sizes too small.'' The President assured the country that his massive tax cuts would create 300,000 jobs a month. But unfortunately for the millions of men and women looking for work, only 57,000 new jobs were created in November. That is the ``two sizes too small.'' The real effects of the administration's tax giveaways were more money to the wealthiest and a staggering Federal deficit.

Only a few days before the Christmas holiday and the beginning of a new year, unemployment benefits for thousands and thousands of Americans will run out. After December 20, thousands more will no longer be eligible for an extension of benefits. Today is our last opportunity before that happens to extend the unemployment benefits, to throw a small life preserver to those still caught in the swift currents of steady unemployment flowing through our murky economy.

Just this morning in the Committee on Rules hearing, the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations agreed that unemployment benefits should be extended. We are spending $87 billion on Iraq, $150 billion this year, and we should be able to extend the unemployment benefits, especially considering that there is a surplus of unemployment funds.

We need to fight with all our might to protect American jobs, particularly the manufacturing jobs. Since January 2001, the United States has lost 2.4 million manufacturing jobs. We should be exporting American products, not our jobs. The Manufacturing Extension Partnership, MEP, is a nationwide network of centers devoted to providing small and medium size manufacturers with assistance, information, and access to business experts. We should be promoting this program, but instead this bill slashes the budget by 63 percent. It is absurd that we are considering cutting this valuable program while thousands of manufacturing jobs are lost every day. MEP has proven its value in boosting productivity in sales and employment. Slashing this program will cost small manufacturers almost $2 billion in sales and cost 28,000 workers their employment.

Despite the strong opposition of both elected bodies of Congress, President Bush was successful in killing legislative protections against limitations on overtime pay. Relaxing the overtime pay rules makes it easier for companies to force workers to put in more than 40 hours a week without additional pay. And under the broad rules proposed by this administration, many nurses will be ineligible for overtime pay, and even manual laborers would be classified as executives, which would end their eligibility for overtime pay.

These new regulations could make at least 8 million workers ineligible for the overtime, the money with which many pay their bills and take care of their families. Millions of them rely on that just to scrape by each month. And protecting the worker's right to overtime pay is such an important issue that people from across my district are asking me to oppose this entire bill because it does not include overtime pay protection.

I need to add that the overtime pay protection passed handsomely both Houses of Congress, and we instructed our conferees to keep it in the bill; but mysteriously it disappeared. A man from Tonawanda said last week to us no worker should lose his overtime pay since it is essential to their lives.

This massive bill is yet another example of the disturbing disregard for

women's health. The President's authority to enforce his global gag rule remains unchallenged. Under the Mexico City Policy, the United States Government uses family-planning dollars to impose itself between women and their doctors. The U.S. muzzles health care workers. Clinics are prohibited from mentioning or counseling women about abortion. Doctors and nurses are forced to forfeit the right to provide complete, accurate medical information and advice to their patients.

Mr. Speaker, for the first time in half a century, the Republican Party controls both Houses of Congress and the executive, despite an authoritarian leadership style, inefficiency, and squabbling have produced a job that is less than half complete. The current fiscal year began over 2 months ago, and only three of the 13 measures that pay for functioning of the Federal Government were law by October 1 of fiscal year 2004. And right now only 6 of the 13 bills are law.

With this special rule, we will end the first session of the 108th Congress in a single day of hurried legislative activity.

Rather than wisely investing the body's time in deliberating the details of each of the seven remaining bills, we will spend 1 hour debating the merits of this massive conglomerate report. When substantive debate among Members is silenced, the millions of Americans that we represent are silenced and disenfranchised. Particularly, that is what happens, when one party of the House is excluded from all deliberations. This is not an attribute of a deliberative democracy.

Mr. Speaker, I hope that during the coming second session that comity and genuine bipartisan collaboration will replace arm-twisting and exclusion. I hope that character, decency, virtue, and respect are more than words on a page. I hope that we all will embrace the right of all Members elected here to fully participate in a truly deliberative process and of all the people to be fully represented in their national legislature. A natural result of the decline of deliberative democracy is the decline in the quality of our laws and the decline of public support for them and the decline of the standard of living in the United States. I urge my colleagues to vote against the previous question.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Hooley).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin).

(Mr. LEVIN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel).

(Mr. RANGEL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey).

(Ms. WOOLSEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews).

(Mr. ANDREWS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Washington State (Mr. McDermott).

(Mr. McDermott asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

We are about to adjourn sine die and close the first session of the 108th Congress with no more legislative business until January 20th of next year. And just like last year at this time, we are again callously turning our backs on millions of unemployed Americans whose Federal unemployment benefits are set to expire shortly after Christmas.

It is very interesting how the Republican leadership can find billions of dollars to make their rich friends even richer, but cannot find it in their hearts to help jobless workers through this rough time with money that is already there for them. They can find $87 billion to fund the war in Iraq, but nothing for those here without jobs.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to call for a ``no'' vote to defeat the previous question on this rule so we can try to do something to help the unemployed American workers. If the previous question is defeated, I will offer an amendment so we can immediately take up legislation to extend the expiring Federal unemployment benefits. And I want to state again: the money is there. It does not have to be borrowed. It has been paid in. It simply requires Federal action to allow the States to expend it.

Mr. Speaker, this legislation will continue the extended unemployment benefits program for the first 6 months of next year. The bill would also increase to 26 weeks the amount of benefits provided under that program, which is up from 13 weeks. This would provide new help to the 1.4 million workers who have already exhausted

their extended benefits and have yet to find work.

This measure is identical to the text of H.R. 3244, the Rangel-Cardin unemployment extension, and also contains the text of H.R. 3554, authored by the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott), which would fix a flaw in the current law that prevents those States with exceptionally high long-term unemployment rates from continuing to receive extra benefits.

There is so much talk today about our economy and claims that things are looking good. However, new jobs are not forthcoming at this time and do not appear to be coming anytime soon. Americans continue to be unemployed at alarmingly high rates. The percentage of Americans exhausting their unemployment benefits without finding a job has reached the highest level on record. More than 2 million workers have been unemployed for more than 6 months. Jobs are disappearing every day with no relief in sight. These Americans need relief, and they need it immediately.

If we do not fix this today, over 400,000 jobless Americans will not be eligible for unemployment compensation after the first of the year. More than 2 million more will lose the benefits in the first 6 months of next year. And, Mr. Speaker, the House will probably adjourn sine die today or later this week, so this is the only opportunity we have to help unemployed Americans this year. Let us not abandon them today.

I want to emphasize that voting against the previous question will not stop the omnibus appropriations conference report from coming to the floor today.

Voting ``no'' on the previous question will still allow that bill to be considered. But a ``no'' vote will allow the House to vote on legislation that will help our Nation's unemployed workers.

However, a ``yes'' vote on the previous question you will stop any opportunity for this House to extend desperately needed unemployment assistance to hundreds of thousands of our constituents and their families. Do you really want to go home and tell these people that you failed to do your job and failed to help them in their time of need?

Make no mistake, this vote will give the House the opportunity to vote today to extend Federal unemployment benefits and to give relief to those hardest hit by our Nation's grim employment situation. I urge a ``no'' vote on the previous question.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the amendment be printed in the Record immediately before the vote on the previous question.

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.

Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this martial law rule. This rule will allow us to consider a seriously flawed omnibus appropriations bill and nothing else.

After today, the House will not come back to work for legislative business until January 20. The time between now and January 20 that Congress will be out of session might not seen seem that important to some, but for hundreds of thousands of Americans it will be a terrible time indeed; that is because their Federal unemployment assistance is due to expire.

Mr. Speaker, even with the modest job gains made over the past few months, the U.S. economy has 2.4 million fewer jobs today compared to 2\1/2\ years ago. There are more than 2 million workers who have been unemployed for more than 6 months; and to make a bad situation worse, over 400,000 jobless American will not be eligible for unemployment compensation after the first of the year.

Americans continue to be unemployed at alarmingly high rates. Just last week, we saw job numbers that fell well below expectations. And the percentage of Americans exhausting their unemployment benefits without finding a job has reached its highest level on record.

Mr. Speaker, jobless Americans need help and they need it now. But while unemployed Americans continue to struggle to find work, this Republican-controlled Congress is preparing to leave town for the year. Like last year, Members of Congress will be free to go home to their families and constituents. Like last year, Members will have a nice holiday. And just like last year, the Republican-controlled Congress is letting unemployment insurance expire during the Christmas season. For hundreds of thousands of Americans, this Republican Congress will be their Grinch who stole Christmas. And I have little hope that Congress's heart will grow any time soon; that is, unless we act today.

The facts are clear. It is clear we will not be back in session until late January; and it is clear that during that time, hundreds of thousands of jobless Americans will lose their unemployment insurance. We should not turn our backs on these people and their families in our rush to adjourn.

Now, I am sure that there is a bipartisan consensus to extend unemployment benefits. I am sure that if we brought up a bill to do that, a majority would support it; and if not, we could just hold the vote open for 3 hours or 4 hours until a majority appeared. That seems to be the new precedent around here. But the leadership does not want it. And in today's House of Representatives, what the leadership wants, the leadership gets. To heck with democracy.

Unemployed Americans deserve better than this.

Mr. Speaker, since this may be our last opportunity to speak this year, let me conclude with a few words about the process that has dominated during this session.

I have worked in this House for 20 years, both as a staffer and as a Member. Never have I seen so much disregard for the rules, the traditions, and the well-being of this House. We have seen huge pieces of legislation come to this floor for consideration without allowing Members the time to read what they are voting on. We have seen conference reports appear without a conference committee ever having met. We have seen conference committees that meet, but shut Democrats out. We have seen conference reports come to the floor, like the one that we are going to deal with today, that undo the work of the both the full House and Senate. These bills drop provisions that were supported by both bodies and add things that we never voted on. And we have seen rollcall votes held open for hours and hours until the leadership gets the result they want by any means necessary.

I am honored to hold the seat on the Committee on Rules that my old boss, Joe Moakley, had; and it saddens me that the Committee on Rules has become a place not to manage debate, but to stifle it. It has been used as a weapon against Members of both parties. I have been approached many times by Republican colleagues expressing their sympathy and their outrage with the action of their Republican leadership, and I appreciate their kind words. But I say to my friends on the other side, I do not need your sympathy. I need your vote.

Until Members on the other side stand up to their leadership, stand up for democracy in this House, stand up for the precedents and the traditions of this body, things will get worse, not better. This House is broken. And I urge my colleagues to think long and hard during this holiday season about how we can fix it.

Vote no on the previous question.

Mr. Speaker, I am here today to echo the sentiment of my Democratic colleagues about where our priorities are. As Congress comes to a close for 2003, I want to emphasize the needs of the middle class, of the unemployed and of the families struggling to make ends meet.

I am here to vote ``no'' on the Previous Question on both the Martial Law Rule and the Rule for the Omnibus Appropriations bill. I am doing this to allow the House to consider legislation that would continue to extend unemployment benefits through the first six months of next year.

By voting no, we can consider H.R. 3568, a bill that would also increase to 26 weeks the amount of benefits provided under that program--up from 13 weeks--and help the 1.4 million workers who have already exhausted their extended benefits.

Already this year, the Bush Administration has cut education spending, giving the rich more tax breaks, and taken away the child tax credit for the middle class. We need to be taking steps to change this selfish economic policy and focus on creating jobs and incentives to employ more people and assist those during the transition.

Right now we know that job creation will need to be far greater, more sustained and more robust to start to undo the damage of the recession created by the Bush Administration. Already, President Bush is on track to have the worst job creation record of any modern President. With a current unemployment rate of 5.9 percent, it is a 44 percent increase than the rate when President Bush took office in January 2001. This means 2.7 million more Americans are without a job because of our irresponsible economic practices.

Extending unemployment benefits is one of the first steps to correcting the administration's poor economic planning. Economists have estimated that each dollar of unemployment benefits leads to $1.75 in economic growth.

Last year, the Republicans went home for the holidays and left 800,000 jobless Americans fearing for their terminated benefits. This year, we have two million Americans out of work for over six months, and benefits will expire for 90,000 workers every week unless we do something about this now.

This is something we must do for our constituents who are struggling to make ends meet because of circumstances that are out of their control. From my own district in Houston, I have received over 150 pleading requests to not adjourn without passing the unemployment benefit extension. This Administration needs to come up with economic policies that will create jobs, and in the interim they must provide support to unemployed workers by immediately extending Federal unemployment benefits. We need to take better care of our working families and make this a priority.

The text of the material previously referred to by Ms. Slaughter is as follows:

Previous Question for H. Res. 465--Rule on waiving 2/3rds for Omnibus/

C/R and/or Appropriations Measures

At the end of the resolution add the following new section:

Sec. 2. Immediately after disposition of this resolution,

it shall be in order without intervention of any point of

order to consider in the House the bill (H.R. 3568) to

provide extended unemployment benefits to displaced workers,

and to make other improvements in the unemployment insurance

system. The bill shall be considered as read for amendment.

The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the

bill 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 Ways

and Means; and (2) one motion to recommit with or without

instructions.

Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 465 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Slaughter), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only.

Mr. Speaker, H. Res. 465 is a rule that waives clause 6(a) of rule XIII with respect to same-day consideration against certain resolutions reported from the Committee on Rules. Specifically, this rule waives the requirement for two-thirds majority vote by the House to consider a rule on the same-day that it has been reported by the Committee on Rules.

This rule's waiver applies to any special rule reported by the Committee on Rules on or before the legislative day of January 31, 2004, providing for the consideration of disposition of any of the following:

First, a bill or joint resolution making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year 2004, or any amendment thereto, or any conference report thereon; or, second, a bill or joint resolution making general appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2004, any amendment thereto, or any conference report thereon.

Mr. Speaker, the Committee on Rules reported this same-day rule on November 21 in order to provide some flexibility to the House leadership in terms of bringing the consolidated appropriations bill to the floor. On November 25, the text of the conference report on H.R. 2673, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2004, was printed in the Congressional Record for review by House Members. While the rule before the House today permits consideration of a number of appropriations options, the purpose of processing of this rule today is to expedite the consideration of the remaining fiscal year 2004 appropriations bills in the House. Once this rule is adopted, the House will be able to consider a consolidated appropriations rule and the underlying conference report without delay.

This consolidated bill includes the Foreign Operations bill, the Transportation-Treasury bill, the Agriculture bill, the VA-HUD bill, the Commerce-Justice bill, the District of Columbia bill, and the Labor-HHS bill. I commend the hard work of the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young) and the Committee on Appropriations for their efforts in crafting this important funding bill. As I stated, the provisions of the consolidated appropriations bill were printed in the Congressional Record almost 2 weeks ago, and the passage of the same-day rule will provide for prompt consideration of these important funding bills this afternoon.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the passage of this rule.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge Members to support the previous question and the rule, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

Well, Merry Christmas, Mr. Speaker. We are here, and we are going to have a party down at the White House tonight, and everybody is going to be full of happiness and gemitlichkeit, but the workers of this country are not going to get anything done by the Republican legislature.

The leadership of the Republican Congress is ignoring the need to extend benefits this year, just like they did last year. We will be back in January; and there will be all this clamor about, oh, we have to do something about unemployment. We know it now. We not only need to extend these benefits, but we need to fix a quirk in the law that keeps people in Washington State from even getting it if we would extend it.

Now, the administration likes to trumpet, oh, the stock market is up and there are a few jobs here and there, but this economic recovery is a mile wide and an inch deep. Two out of every three people will not find a job. That is the statistic out of the Department of Labor in the Bush administration. We know there are no jobs out there. We say, well, try harder. Go work harder. Walk around.

Mr. Speaker, no matter how dedicated you are, how willing you are to accept a job, if there is no chance, it sounds to me like, you know, it is like being on the Titanic and looking down to see how many life boats there are and saying, well, I guess I am not getting into one, but I guess maybe the ship will make it.

Washington State remains one of the hardest hit States in the Nation, despite being a diverse economy that is a model and a microcosm of America. Too many people are falling through the cracks, and the leadership of the Republican Party does not care. They want martial law in here in this Congress. They would be willing to put martial law out on the streets if the unemployed in this country rose up.

For every person we know who is unemployed, there are many more who have been given up, dropped out of sight and out of reach. Washington citizens from all walks of life look to us for leadership, look to us for a helping hand in time of hardship. They deserve it, and for the good of America we cannot turn our backs on our own people.

Now, we can go have that party down at the White House, and there will be bands playing and violins, and lots of drinks and good food; but it is sort of like Old England. It is Scrooge's business. Let us have a party, but we will not worry about the people out on the streets.

Vote against the previous question and make this leadership bring up unemployment.