Mr. Speaker, fiscal year 1998 begins tomorrow. The Congress has not presented all 13 regular appropriations bills to the President. Because these bills will not be enacted by tomorrow night, it is necessary now to proceed with a short term…

I simply would add that the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Obey] is absolutely correct. This is a bill which extends the opportunity for Government to keep from shutting down because those appropriations bills which have not yet been signed…

I would be happy to advise the gentleman there are several extensions of existing authorized law that are expiring, among them an extension of section 245(i) of the Immigration and Naturalization Act.

This authorization was included in the supplemental appropriations bill in the spring with the full knowledge of the Members of the House in order to avoid precipitous action and avoid immediate deportation of, as the gentleman has said…

It means nothing happens. We have another 3 weeks. Existing law is extended for the purposes of this continuing resolution so that we can resolve the business of the Congress and adjourn at a reasonable time this year. If in fact the…

how wonderful it is to hear the same old speeches about how rotten a job the Members of Congress have done for the American people. In the last 20 years, I have seen a moderate economy expand exponentially and then collapse. We have gone…

the amendment does not specifically relate to that. However, it is our expectation, and the understanding of all of the task force members, that in accordance with precedent the Committee will determine by majority vote which, if any…

Mr. Chairman, actually this amendment is offered by the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Cardin] and myself in bipartisan fashion. Basically it serves to overcome an anomaly that might have been created were it not adopted, in that the…

I want to compliment all the Members that have come to the well to debate what I think is an incredibly important subject and which ultimately governs the way this Congress polices its own. It is not a pleasant process, but it is a…

I am pleased to rise to recommend to the House the work product of a very hardworking task force on ethics rules reform. Mr. Chairman, in the aftermath of Watergate, the House felt compelled to engage and apply certain rules of conduct to…

once again I want to commend the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Cardin], all the members of the task force, and all the staff who have contributed so mightily to this work product. It is a fine work product, something we can be proud of. I…

I congratulate him and the gentleman from Wisconsin for the outstanding job that they have done on bringing this most extraordinarily difficult bill thus far. The fact is, as has been just said by the gentleman from Wisconsin, we currently…

I hear this call for campaign finance reform. We can pass all the laws in the world, but if some people are not going to live by the laws on the books, what point is it to change the law? Now, it was not the Republicans that invited people…

Mr. Speaker, the people of China are light years better off today than they were 15 or 20 years ago. There is a whole world of difference between the way the Chinese people were treated by their own Government back then and the way they…

The language of section 4001 is intended, indeed, to give the President the authority to waive all the minimum funding requirements in subsection (k) of the 1997 act, including the overall earmark. The phrase 'for activities for the…

I can say now that this doggone bill is over, I feel that the stars are out, the Moon is shining, and that maybe we can leave here and be a little bit more jolly than we have been around here in the last couple of weeks. We are all happy…

it is my pleasure to once again come to the House with the conference report on the fiscal year 1997 emergency supplemental appropriations bill, H.R. 1469. As Members of the House may recall, on April 24 of this year, the Committee on…

I yield myself 1 minute to point out that the gentleman from South Dakota has from the very inception of the floods in his State, in Minnesota, and North Dakota been there along with the gentleman from North Dakota. They have been working…

This bill provides $8.9 billion for people who are afflicted by disasters in 35 States, as well as to repay the Defense Department for the money that has been spent in Bosnia and Southwest Asia and elsewhere. This money is needed. Yes…

Mr. Speaker, it was my own position that this money was not needed, that there was ample money in the pipeline for all of the deserving recipients of WIC funds. However, my personal position was different from the vote of the House…

I just want to say that I agree with everything that the gentleman from Wisconsin has just said but would add that this amendment became necessary because of a shortfall created in the welfare reform program. I want to say that I totally…

I would just take a minute to say that this is an important bill. The President initially requested about $2 billion for disaster relief for people devastated in California and various other States, and then the incredible flooding of the…

I want to congratulate him. He really is one of our more creative budgeteers, and he truly means it when he says he wants to get this country on a paying basis. And I am reluctant to disagree with him on this one amendment, but I applaud…

Mr. Chairman, the Thune amendment is an attempt to provide maximum flexibility to the people who have suffered such devastation in the Dakotas and in Minnesota as a result of the flood. There was some concern that because the flooding was…

Fairness dictates that if we are going to do this for the people in Florida after the devastating crash of ValuJet in Florida and if we are going to do it in New York after the devastating crash of TWA there, we ought to treat the…