Providing for consideration of motions to suspend the rules.

Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 859 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings), 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.

This rule provides that suspensions will be in order at any time on the legislative day of Friday, November 19, 2004. It also provides that the Speaker or his designee will consult with the Minority Leader or her designee on any suspension considered under the rule.

Mr. Speaker, the Republican leadership of this House has sent out a positive legislative plan for this week and the balance of the 108th Congress on behalf of the American people. The goal of this plan is to clean up this Congress's legislative calendar by passing a number of bills before we adjourn that will improve America's economic and national security.

Over the past year, Congress has passed a number of important new education, trade, tax, and national security bills that will keep Americans safer, create new jobs, and improve our economy. Later today, and for the rest of the week, we will consider legislation to improve the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and provide for consideration of outstanding spending measures to ensure that Congress can complete its work before we adjourn.

I understand that Members on either side of our aisle may have different views about how to address these issues, and we have had and will continue to have the opportunity to hear a great deal of debate from both sides not only on these issues but also on other issues that are important to this Nation.

However, some of this legislation that the Republican House leadership has also scheduled for consideration on behalf of America has broad support from Members of both the majority and the minority. And, in an attempt to make sure that this important work is finished by the end of the 108th Congress, we are here today to pass this rule to provide for consideration of these bills under rules that will require them to pass by a two-thirds majority.

This balanced rule provides the minority with the ability to consult with the Speaker on any suspension that is offered, ensuring that their input and views are duly considered before any legislation is considered under this rule brought to the floor today.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this uncontroversial and balanced rule.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, the American people understood exactly what the parties stood for, the accomplishments of those parties, and that is what the election was about. I am pleased today to be back in the United States Congress on the floor of the House of Representatives touting not the things that the gentleman from Florida talked about that did not get done but rather the things that did get done, accomplishments that occurred during this year.

I am very proud of the leadership of the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert) our Speaker, and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), and the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Pryce), and the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Blunt) who have provided this body with the leadership to ensure that the things that were done in the 108th Congress got done.

Mr. Speaker, I hold up 15 pages worth of bills, of accomplishments that this body was a part of. Mr. Speaker, this body was a part of making sure that we would answer the question about how Medicare would address the needs of senior citizens and low-income seniors, and we understood and we understand today that 95 percent of all of the money that is spent in Medicare is spent on major, critical, life-threatening issues that people have. We have changed that now to, instead of dealing with a person once they are sick, we are going to change that to preventative type of spending. That is what we believe Medicare should be doing. That is not something that we should be ashamed of. That is something we should be proud of.

We are proud that we will have in place this next year again, once again, for low-income seniors, the ability for this government to help them not have to make a decision in buying and receiving their prescription drugs. That is something I am proud of.

I am proud to know that we, once again, had a tax bill, a tax bill that would make sure that we become competitive with this marketplace. Mr. Speaker, when we cut taxes, business gets that money, and they do a bunch of things that are great for this country. They buy more equipment, they

employ more people, and we become competitive with the world.

I would say that Republicans have a different philosophy than Democrats. We believe that we should do a few things and do them well, and that is what this Republican Congress has done this year. We have not just rushed out and tried to tackle every single issue. We have done the things that will make a huge difference for the American public.

I believe that that is what this election was about, and I believe that this President stood before the American people and talked about what his policies had been and will be. I think they are accomplishments that I am proud of, I think that this body is proud of them, and I darn sure know that the American people turned out in record numbers to say thank you so much for the service to this great Nation.

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

Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Florida engaging in this wonderful discussion. I have been here for 8 years. During those 8 years as a Member of Congress, I believe 5 of those years I have been here at Christmas time, the week of Christmas, doing the job that needed to be done.

I do understand that we do have these 13 spending bills that need to be done. I also recognize we have a process. The gentleman and I sit up late at night in the Committee on Rules attempting to work through those processes to make sure the President does get the needed legislation before him. But we have the underpinnings of the Constitution where we have two bodies, the Senate and the House. If we do our work, it does not mean they have to do their work. Likewise, if they do their work, it does not mean we have to. So we have to come to an agreement and those agreements sometimes take a little longer, but what we have avoided is shutting down the government.

The government has done its business. We have been very successful to make sure that we address those issues. So I would say that, well, yes, the President is supposed to sign those bills, but at least we have not gone home before he will get a chance to do that.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I thank the gentleman for his observations about our not being able to do the things that need to be done because of tax cuts. Mr. Speaker, there is a difference between our parties. One of the differences is taxing and spending. We, as Republicans, believe that if we give the American people back more of their own money that they earned that we will create a circumstance, an environment, an economy in this country that grows to where people become employed, we become competitive with the world, and we do the things ultimately to give people, the American public, more of their own money so they can live their own dreams and make their own dreams happen.

I do recognize we have a difference in our opinions. I do recognize that one party wants to tax and spend. I do understand that one party wants to give tax cuts and grow the economy. But at some point we also have to get our work done, and that is what we are trying to do today by saying that this rule is about allowing that necessary business when the minority leader, when the majority leader, and Speaker agree on legislation that can come to this floor.

We are waiting here for other business to be finished and done, but it does not mean we should shut off debate or for other very important legislation if there is complete bipartisan agreement about moving forward. So I am proud today once again to stand here before the American public and to say we are ready to do business here in the House of Representatives, and in a few minutes we will have more work that needs to be done.

We will handle legislation dealing with what is called IDEA, the Individuals With Disabilities Act, that deals with important education changes that have also been worked on and have bipartisan agreement that the gentleman and I heard about last night in the Committee on Rules.

So for us to say we are not doing our work, that we are a failure is simply not, I do not believe, a correct enunciation of what this House of Representatives has stood for these last few years or stands for today. We are ready, capable, and able to work and reach out across the aisle to bring legislation that is important to the American people and for it to be sound legislation, for it to make a difference to the American people, but more importantly that it be done in a proper, cautious fashion that creates health and opportunity for the American economy and for the American family.

That is what this United States Congress should be all about, producing a product that are accomplishments that we can be proud of.

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions) for yielding me this time, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, as has already been explained, under Rule 15 of the House rules, bills may be considered under suspension of the rules only on Mondays and Tuesdays. The 108th Congress has approved the consideration of legislation under suspension of the rules on Wednesdays. Therefore, this resolution is required in order for the House to consider any bill under suspension of the rules today.

Let me be clear from the onset, Mr. Speaker. The first day of the session or last day of the session, it does not really matter. I and so many others in this body on both sides of the aisle have grave concerns about handling bills outside the normal parameters of the way the House should conduct its business. When the House does operate this way, it effectively curtails our rights and responsibilities as serious legislators. Frankly, Members should be very wary of allowing the leadership to usurp our rights.

I understand the circumstances and the end-of-the-session deadline of which the majority speaks, but their plan is for us to leave today or tomorrow without passing 11 of the 13 bare essential appropriations bills that each Congress is constitutionally mandated to pass into law. Shame on us.

We are planning on leaving today or tomorrow without passing a highway reauthorization bill, the only legislation this Congress would have considered that actually had the potential to create jobs. Shame on us.

We are planning on leaving today or tomorrow without passing comprehensive energy legislation. We are planning on leaving tomorrow or today without extending the child care tax credit to all working families. Shame on us.

We are planning on leaving today or tomorrow without increasing the minimum wage. Shame on us.

We are planning on leaving today while 44 million or more Americans remain uninsured. Shame on us.

We are planning on leaving today or tomorrow without extending unemployment benefits for 1.9 million Americans who lost their jobs during President Bush's first term in office. Shame on us.

We are planning on leaving tomorrow or today without doing anything to extend the solvency of Social Security. Shame on us.

Just yesterday, my friends in the majority voted to again raise the debt limit. They added billions and possibly trillions more to our national debt, leaving our children and grandchildren to pick up the tab for generations to come, and they call themselves the party of fiscal responsibility. Shame on them.

Footnote right there: Something that is not discussed in this body very much, nor was it discussed in the national debate that just concluded with President Bush and Senator Kerry, is the fact that the dollar around the world is troubled, to say the least, and that can have implications for the globe. Somewhere in all of this deficit- building, some of us are going to have to begin to do more than green- eye-shade talk in explaining to the American public the implications of the deficits that we are running on the currency that is the currency of the realm of the world.

For the last 2 years, the majority has been so busy trying to keep its job that it has not done its job. Shame on them.

The Republican leadership has also assured us that the Minority Leader will receive no less than 2 hours notice of any bill before it comes to the House floor. We expect that this assurance will be honored by the majority as well as previous agreements that have been reached between both sides of the aisle on the practices of considering legislation as a suspension. This includes the unwritten rule of not bringing controversial legislation to the floor under suspension of the rules.

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

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

I rise only to engage my colleague in a colloquy. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions) says the words ``American people.'' Well, there are 55 million American people that probably have some differences with some of the things that the gentleman has discussed. Let me join my good friend in saying to him unequivocally that all of the things that he says that passed this body doubtless are good things from his point of view. But there are some that are not good things from other people's points of view.

Now, I would ask the gentleman a question: Did the President of the United States sign all 13 appropriations bills as is mandated in the United States Constitution to be done by this body by October 1 of each fiscal year? Did the President sign 13 appropriations measures? And answer the next question: How many did he sign?

I yield to the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I might comment that I thought perhaps my friend was on a talk show where one of the hosts asked him a question, and as is typical of us, we give nice long answers without specifically answering the question.

I just put out again for my friend that the President has signed two of the appropriation measures. We have been here, you and I, late into the year doing our work, and there have been other times when this has not been done pursuant to the Constitution. That does not make it right. Basically, what we have done, we have borrowed money from foreign investors in order that we might go about giving tax cuts, which ultimately will allow that we will pay greater interest on the deficit over a period of time, and your children and mine, and their children, are going to pay this debt.

Now, my colleague can name it anything he wants to, but we have a responsibility here in this body to pass those 13 appropriation measures. And the real reason we cannot pass them is because we have decided that we want to give tax cuts, and we cannot do the things that are necessary for highway transportation and child tax care; and I could go on and on.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am unable to be in Washington, DC today. Two weeks ago, I injured my leg and my physician prefers that I not put it through the stress of an airplane flight from my home in Seattle, WA to Washington, DC. Were I able to attend today's session in the House of Representatives, I would have voted in support of H. Res. 847, H.R. 5370, S. Con. Res. 8, S. 2618, H.R. 5365, S. 2781, H.R. 4324, S. 150, S. Con. Res. 146, H.R. 5360, H.R. 1350, H. Res. 858, and H. Res. 859.