Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 12:30 p.m. on Monday next for morning hour debate; and further, when the House adjourns on that day, it adjourn to meet at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, June 20, 2006, for morning hour debate.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that, during consideration of H.R. 5576 pursuant to House Resolution 865, the Chair may reduce to 2 minutes the minimum time for electronic voting under clause 6 of rule XVIII and clause 9 of rule XX.

Mr. Speaker, let me thank my colleague from Oklahoma for yielding.

I rise today in strong support of the conference report on the supplemental spending bill. I want to applaud the work of Chairman Lewis, his cardinals, Mr. Obey and others, who worked hard to bring this bill together.

They spent countless hours trying to hammer this out, and they did this at the same time when they were also passing seven appropriation bills here on the floor of the House. On behalf of myself and my colleagues, let me just say to Mr. Lewis, Mr. Obey, and others, thank you, a job well done.

Mr. Speaker, our support of this conference report boils down to three groups of people: the first and foremost, our troops. It ensures that our fighting men and women have all the equipment and resources necessary to successfully win the global war on terror. Overall, it provides $65.8 billion for Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, and it also provides some $4.85 billion to train and equip security forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as almost $2 billion to prevent IED attacks.

Second, the conference report helps those most impacted by last year's devastating hurricane season by providing $19.8 billion to rebuild the gulf coast. This is important, and those folks in the gulf coast region that have been

devastated by these hurricanes last summer are doing well, they are improving; but they have got a long, long way to go.

Finally, it does all of this by keeping an eye out for the American taxpayer and his or her wallet. At the start of this conference, House Republicans made clear that we would not consider an emergency supplemental package that spends $1 more than what the President requested. We made good on this promise by rejecting some $14 billion in unnecessary, nonemergency spending added by the other body.

So, Mr. Speaker, on behalf of our troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, our fellow citizens working to rebuild the gulf coast, and the American taxpayer, I urge all my colleagues to support this bill.

I thank my colleague for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, next week the House will convene on Monday at 12:30 for morning hour, and 2 p.m. for legislative business. We will have a number of measures considered under suspension of the rules. A final list of those bills will be sent to Members' offices this afternoon.

Any votes called on those measures will be rolled until 6:30 on Monday evening. Also on Monday, we will consider the rule to H.R. 4939, the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Hurricane Recovery.

We will likely debate the bill Monday night with final passage on Tuesday. For the balance of the week, we will do the Transportation, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill on Tuesday and Wednesday. And the resolution on the Global War on Terror and Iraq we expect to be considered on Thursday and probably spilling into Friday morning.

And so I would expect that there will be votes next Friday.

It is likely at this point that we will, in fact, have votes on Friday.

I do not expect that the Treasury, Transportation and HUD appropriation bill will be finished on Tuesday. It could be finished on Wednesday, but that will even be a push, especially considering the commitments that Members have on Tuesday evening.

The resolution is coming together. The Committees on International Relations, Armed Services, and Intelligence, all three of those committees were consulted and worked to put the resolution together. That debate will begin on Thursday morning. And I expect that there will be blocks of time available assigned to all three committees. What the length of that debate is is still uncertain. I would expect it will be at least all day Thursday, and, as I said earlier, could likely consume Friday morning as well.

We consult with the committees. How the chairmen and ranking members relate to each other is above my pay grade.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 12:30 p.m. on Monday next for morning hour debate; and further, when the House adjourns on that day, it adjourn to meet at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, June 13, 2006, for morning hour debate.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the business in order under the Calendar Wednesday rule be dispensed with on Wednesday next.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that during further consideration of H.R. 5522 pursuant to House Resolution 851, the Chair may reduce to 2 minutes the minimum time for electronic voting under clause 6 of rule XVIII and clause 9 of rule XX.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that, during consideration of H.R. 5441 pursuant to House Resolution 836, the Chair may reduce to 2 minutes the minimum time for electronic voting under clause 6 of rule XVIII and clause 9 of rule XX.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleagues' indulgence. It has become clear that we will probably, in all likelihood, finish our business by Thursday night. I wanted to give Members a heads-up that we do not expect to be in on Friday. I can't give you a firm time for what time we will be out tomorrow evening, but it is not expected that we will be in on Friday.

Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that during further consideration of H.R. 5384, pursuant to House Resolution 830, the Chair may reduce to 2 minutes the minimum time for electronic voting under clause 6 of rule XVIII and clause 9 of rule XX.

Mr. Speaker, I further ask unanimous consent that the intervention of these proceedings in the House not affect the continuation of 5-minute voting on the pending series of votes in the Committee of the Whole.

Mr. Speaker, just for the Members who may not have heard, a seventh vote in this series was added, the Gutknecht amendment, that must be completed before we can proceed with the bill. So there are seven votes in the ongoing series.

It is the expectation that the 2-minute voting will not begin until a subsequent series of votes.

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

I want to thank my colleagues for their indulgence for just a moment.

On Wednesday we passed a budget. We did it, I think, in the right way. Members had ample time for debate. We had a 15-minute vote and the budget was passed. And I am proud of my colleagues on our side for coming together to make that happen.

Once that decision was made, we have got to allocate those funds, and we have got to make decisions. And we are beginning that process, yesterday with the Interior approps bill, today with the military quality of life.

I come here today because there is a process fight under way. Not a fight over policy. Not a fight over the quality of the spending that was in here. It was over how it was done. And the leadership could have intervened and could have protected this and irritated one group of Members in favor of another. We did not do that. But I rise to say that all of us in this House want to do everything we can for our troops. As my friend from Wisconsin, Mr. Obey, would say, we can all pose for the holy pictures. But the points of order that have been raised on this go to a question of how this $50 billion that was set aside for the use of fighting the war on terror and Iraq is set aside to do that. Last year when we had the military quality of life bill, none of those funds were included in this. We worked with the appropriators today, and I have a better understanding of why it is in there. But we obviously have some Members that disagree about the fact that that money was used in this fashion.

But the reason I rise is to ask all of my colleagues to be patient. It is easy around here to get into a fight over issues of process that sound like some big policy fight when, in fact, it is not about the policy. It is not about the fact that we are not supporting our troops. There is a disagreement over about how this was done today. And I am going to pledge to work with the appropriators and all of my colleagues to make sure that we all have a clearer understanding of how this money is to be spent and the process by which it is spent.

Mr. Speaker, the House will convene on Monday at 12:30 for morning hour and at 2 p.m. for legislative business. We have items that will be considered under suspension of the rules. A final list of those bills will be in Members' offices by the end of the day. Any votes called on these will be taken after 6:30 on Monday evening.

On Tuesday and the balance of the week, the House will consider the Ag approps bill, which I anticipate will be scheduled on Tuesday; the Energy and Water appropriations bill, which I would anticipate to be Wednesday or Thursday; and the Homeland Security appropriations bill, which will be Wednesday or Thursday as well.

On Wednesday morning at 11 a.m. there will be a joint meeting of the Congress to receive the Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert.

We also anticipate action next week on H.R. 4939, the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror and Hurricane Recovery, if it is finished.

Finally, I anticipate that we will likely consider energy legislation next week. Specifically, the issue of ANWR is likely to come to the floor.

That is correct. As we all know, next Friday is the beginning of the holiday weekend. We do have an awful lot of work to do, and Members should anticipate that we will be here until 2 p.m. next Friday.

I think the issue would center around the availability of the supplemental, if it is finished.

It really depends on how quickly we get through the appropriations process. The House was in late on Wednesday night. The House was rather late last night. As the gentleman knows, I like to go to bed at 10 o'clock, and to the extent that we can finish our work during normal business hours would be my approach.

And considering Friday is a getaway day for the holiday weekend, we are going to work together to try to see how quickly these bills move.

Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield.

There was anticipation that we would have the refinery bill up next week, the bill that did not receive the required two- thirds when it was brought up under suspension, but there have been some conversations under way, bipartisan conversations under way on that bill, and we have decided to let those conversations continue to see if there is some way for both sides to resolve their differences, which would mean that the bill would be brought up under some kind of structured rule as opposed to bringing up the same bill under a closed rule.

Just that we are very likely to have one next week.

I wish I could be clearer in terms of what it would look like and how it would be considered; but as soon as those decisions are made, we will pass them on.

If the gentleman will yield.

I will do the easy one first.

With the pension conference, there are conversations going on. There has been a lot of shuttle diplomacy, if you will, between offices, both Democrat and Republican, trying to bring this bill together. I do believe that we are making progress. We are relatively close. But considering the complexity of this issue and the necessity that it be correct, I am hopeful we will have an agreement next week, but I have got my doubts whether it can be put together in time to be brought to the floor. But my overall point is that I think we are getting close.

On the supplemental, I have made it very clear that the House will not consider a conference report on the supplemental spending bill that spends any more money than what the President called for for Katrina and the war in Iraq. And, secondly, I have made it clear that we ought to remember that the word ``emergency'' ought to be put back into the emergency spending bill.

And so I think that the appropriators on both sides of the Capitol have their marching orders. I know they have had conversations. It is hard for me to gauge at this point the chances of whether this bill will be up next week. I hope that it is, but I think they have a big job ahead of them.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that it may be in order at any time on Wednesday, May 24, 2006, for the Speaker to declare a recess, subject to the call of the Chair, for the purpose of receiving in joint meeting his Excellency Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister of Israel.