Tony Hall: “This is a modified open rule which will allow consideration of H.R. 4569, which is the foreign operations appropriation…”

“This is a modified open rule which will allow consideration of H.R. 4569, which is the foreign operations appropriation bill for fiscal year 1999. Though this is technically a modified open rule, I want to make sure my colleagues understand that it severely limits the opportunities for floor debate. The rule requires amendments to be preprinted in the Congressional Record. This is a significant limitation considering that the bill was reported two days ago and has been available for only a short period of time. The amendment process is limited to five hours. Again, this is a significant limitation. Under the rule, time spent on voting is counted toward the time cap. This is a controversial bill and many Members will want to offer amendments and participate in floor debate. Under the time cap, some Members may not have the chance to offer their amendments because time will run out. The rule permits five specific amendments that would otherwise be out of order. Only one of these is a Democratic amendment, even though many Democrats asked the Committee on Rules for waivers.”