This bill is a real victory for hard working American families, and after 20 months of gridlock and shutdowns I am pleased that the Republican leadership has finally relented to getting something done for the American people. It is about…

Mr. Speaker, we strongly oppose this modified closed rule for the bill designating English as the official language of the Government of the United States and requiring that most official business be conducted only in English. We believe…

Mr. Speaker, the dolphin protection bill has created a great deal of controversy within the environmental community which was, after all, responsible for calling our attention to the serious problem of the slaughter of dolphins by the tuna…

Mr. Speaker, we are particularly troubled by the provision in the bill limiting the President's ability to negotiate issues related to the ABM Treaty that are so important to the national security of the United States. We believe that that…

Mr. Speaker, we support this modified open rule for H.R. 3259, the Intelligence Authorization Act for fiscal year 1997. Our only concern about the rule, and it's only a modest concern, is the preprinting requirement, which we are not…

Mr. Speaker, we support this open rule for H.R. 3322, the omnibus civilian science authorization bill. However, we believe this bill is seriously encumbered by the Science Committee's indifference to and disregard of the deliberative…

But we urge a no vote on the previous question. If the previous question is defeated, I shall offer an amendment to the rule which would make in order a new section in the rule. The provision would direct the Committee on Rules, as the…

Mr. Speaker, a major part of the American dream is to own your own home. Unfortunately, for millions of people in public housing, this dream has little chance of becoming reality, because they don't earn enough to get out of public…

Although we have no objections to the rule itself, many of us believe that the legislation that it makes in order, H.R. 1675, would cause serious harm to our Nation's wildlife refuges, which provide vital habitat for hundreds of species of…

Mr. Speaker, although many of us believe that the so-called Truth in Budgeting Act that would be made in order by this rule is an irresponsible piece of legislation, we have no objections to the rule itself. It is the first open rule the…

Mr. Speaker, we oppose the closed process that would make in order consideration of the Senate amendments to H.R. 1833, the so-called and misnamed partial-birth abortion ban. This is a bill that on the pretense of seeking to ban certain…

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2202, the Immigration in the National Interest Act, which this modified closed rule makes in order, is one of the most important pieces of legislation we shall consider this year. There is no question that U.S…

Mr. Speaker, we oppose this rule, and we oppose the measure that it makes in order, the conference report on Interior appropriations for fiscal year 1996. The rule waives all points of order against the conference report and against its…

We support this open rule for H.R. 1170, the bill mandating that three-judge panels review constitutional challenges of State referenda. With respect to the bill itself, we are somewhat mystified at the manner in which it has moved through…

Mr. Speaker, we support this rule, and the bill it makes in order, the Federal Acquisition Reform Act of 1995. As the gentleman has said, this is an open rule, so Members may offer any amendment that is otherwise in order under the…

I do not think that this deserves our support. I know from the previous vote we had on this measure last month, when it was offered as an amendment to an appropriations bill, that I am among a small minority of Members here who feel that…

I think it is different from the understanding we had last night and the arrangement you folks on that side of the aisle worked out. In other words, if the authorizing bill provides for any amount less than the $99 million, even if it is…

The principal point here is that if the $99 million is provided for in the bill, in the authorizing bill passed by this House, then that money, whatever eventual amount of money is decided upon can in fact be appropriated so long as it is…

If I may further pursue this, why are we treating this in a different manner than we usually treat appropriations? Ordinarily at least, a lower authorization would appropriate a certain amount of money if the Committee on Appropriations…

Mr. Speaker, we support the rule which, as my colleague and friend on the Committee on Rules has pointed out, waives all points of order against the conference report and is necessary because the conferees added new material not included…

Mr. Speaker, over the past few years this country has called on the men and women of our armed services to perform duties ranging from humanitarian assistance in Somalia to all out war in Iraq. These duties were performed superbly and with…

I will conclude my inquiries, if I may, sir, by asking whether this is a unique or even unusual parliamentary situation? Because it seems to me, Mr. Speaker, that so far in the 104th Congress, we are in this situation on almost every rule…

that quotation simply was from the gentleman's own chairperson, the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Hyde], who said in his view this was the most controversial of the bills. It was not we who said it; it was your own chairman who said so.

Continuing my inquiry, if I may, the report on a block grant bill from the Committee on the Judiciary, House Report 104-24, does not discuss whether the block grant bill will have an inflationary impact on the Nation's economy. There is a…