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“WAIVING POINTS OF ORDER AGAINST CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 2539, THE ICC TERMINATION ACT OF 1995” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H15243-H15244 on Dec. 20, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
WAIVING POINTS OF ORDER AGAINST CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 2539, THE ICC
TERMINATION ACT OF 1995
Mr. QUILLEN. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 312 and ask for the immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:
H. Res. 312
Resolved, That upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider the conference report to accompany the bill (H.R. 2539) to abolish the Interstate Commerce Commission, to amend subtitle IV of title 49, United States Code, to reform economic regulation of transportation, and for other purposes. All points of order against the conference report and against its consideration are waived. The conference report shall be considered as read.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Quillen] is recognized for 1 hour.
Mr. QUILLEN. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to my good friend, the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Moakley], 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.
Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 312 allows for the consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 2539, the Interstate, Commerce Commission Termination Act of 1995. Under the rule, all points of order against the conference report and against its consideration are waived, and the conference report shall be considered as read.
Mr. Speaker, although I do not generally favor granting blanket waivers, the Rules Committee was provided with a list of specific waivers required for consideration of this bill, and this rule was adopted by voice vote in the Rules Committee.
Also, there was discussion yesterday that the Senate might consider a concurrent resolution which would effectively amend this conference report to include the Whitfield amendment as passed by the House. I supported the Whitfield amendment when it was adopted by the House because it provided important protections for small and medium size railroad employees who lose their jobs because of a merger or acquisition. I think this language should have been retained without change in this conference report.
Unfortunately, the language of this concurrent resolution was unavailable to the Rules Committee, and the committee was unable to accommodate consideration of the concurrent resolution in this rule.
Mr. Speaker, funding for the ICC expires at the beginning of next year, and if we do not pass this conference report, the important functions of this agency that are being transferred to the Department of Transportation will fall by the wayside. This bill provides for an orderly termination and transfer of the vital functions of the ICC.
This is an important part of our efforts to downsize the Federal Government, and I urge adoption of the rule and the conference report.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume and I thank my colleague from Tennessee for yielding me the customary half hour.
Mr. Speaker, although this is a standard conference report rule, I am very much opposed to this bill.
Despite promises to the contrary, despite the House-passed compromise on November 14--this bill contains some serious antiworker provisions.
This bill takes away class 2 and class 3 railroad workers' right to collective bargaining. It will hurt thousands of hard working Americans and it is unfair.
Mr. Speaker, nearly every other American worker has the right to collective bargaining, including class 1 railroad workers, class 2 and class 3 railroad workers should have the same worker protection as everyone else.
But, Mr. Speaker, once again, my Republican colleagues are choosing employers over employees.
They are saying that hard-working railroad workers do not deserve the most basic worker protections. They are saying that rail carrier mergers are more important than people.
Thankfully, President Clinton has said he will veto this bill, and I think he should. My colleagues should have kept their word and rail workers should be able to keep their jobs.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this rule. American workers deserve every protection we can give them.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Oberstar], ranking member of the committee.
Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time.
Mr. Speaker, when the Committee on Rules met last night and our side testified at the meeting of the Committee on Rules, we asked for very few things. We asked that if points of order are going to be waived in this rule, that they be specified, that there be a specific reference to which points of order are to be waived in the interests of fairness and openness, and we asked that issues such as scope, germaneness, Budget Act problems, 3-day layover of conference reports issue be specified if there are going to be waivers of points of order.
The rule comes out with no specificity whatever. It just waives all points of order.
We also made a very modest request that if the Senate acted on a Senate concurrent resolution to restore the Whitfield amendment as a substitute for the language in the conference report dealing with labor protective provisions, that it be made in order for us to take up that Senate concurrent resolution. The Senate has not yet acted. It may not act on that concurrent resolution. But there is no provision in this rule as we requested. It was a modest request. I thought it was favorably received by the chairman of the Committee on Rules. But it is not included here as a mere courtesy to the Democrats.
This conference report is not a simple matter. This is 164 pages of very technical language dealing with a complex subject in the sunsetting of the oldest regulatory body in the Federal Government structure dealing with a mode of transportation that, in the 19th century, was the life line of America and all the way up through until the end of World War II was the cornerstone of our national economy, the railroad industry.
We are going to wipe it away. We have a bill with 164 pages of technical language. Points of order are simply waived. They do not say which ones. They do not give us the opportunity to bring up, should it be enacted, should it be passed by the Senate, the Senate concurrent resolution.
I find this very, very curious. I find it unpalatable. I find it inappropriate.
Nonetheless, I recognize that the other side has the votes. We will save our fight for the conference report.
Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. QUILLEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the rule and the conference report when it is brought before the House.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.
The previous question was ordered.
The resolution was agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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