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“WAIVING REQUIREMENT OF CLAUSE 6(a) OF RULE XIII WITH RESPECT TO CONSIDERATION OF CERTAIN RESOLUTIONS” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H3803-H3805 on June 13, 2006.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
WAIVING REQUIREMENT OF CLAUSE 6(a) OF RULE XIII WITH RESPECT TO
CONSIDERATION OF CERTAIN RESOLUTIONS
Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 862, and ask for its immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:
H. Res. 862
Resolved, That the requirement of clause 6(a) of rule XIII for a two-thirds vote to consider a report from the Committee on Rules on the same day it is presented to the House is waived with respect to any resolution reported on the legislative day of June 13, 2006, providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 5576) making appropriations for the Departments of Transportation, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, District of Columbia, and independent agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2007, and for other purposes.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Dent). The gentleman from Florida is recognized for 1 hour.
Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. For the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to my good friend from Florida (Mr. Hastings), 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. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 862 waives clause 6(a) of rule XIII requiring a two-thirds vote to consider a rule on the same day it is reported from the Committee on Rules. House Resolution 862 will allow the House to consider the rule for consideration of the Transportation, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2007.
The Rules Committee received numerous requests from the authorizing committees to expose portions of the bill that they feel represent legislating on appropriations bills. We are working through those requests now. Later today the Rules Committee will meet to thoroughly consider these requests and report out a rule.
Although we have not passed a final rule on this bill yet, Mr. Speaker, historically appropriations bills have come to the House floor governed by an open rule. I expect that we will continue to do so in order to allow each and every Member of this House the opportunity to submit amendments for consideration, obviously, as long as they comply with the rules of the House.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this same-day rule so we can move forward to the rule on this important appropriation bill as soon as the rule is ready.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida, my good friend, Mr. Diaz-Balart, for yielding me the time; and I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a bit of trepidation about this rule and this process, which clearly circumvents the regular order of business of the House. I can find no reasonable explanation or sensible justification for going around the well-established rules of this body to bring the transportation appropriations bill to the floor today in this manner.
The majority has been so kind in explaining why it believes that this martial law is needed. Unfortunately, the majority's explanation has fallen a bit short on convincing this side of the aisle that we need to do this today and not tomorrow.
For the life of me, I can't figure out why this bill must come to the floor in this manner. It is, after all, only Tuesday. You would think that after controlling the House for 11 years that my friends in the majority would have figured out how to bring a nonemergency appropriations bill to the floor under regular order. Indeed, there is simply no good reason to handle these bills outside the normal parameters of the way the House should conduct its business.
Moreover, when the House does operate this way, it effectively curtails our rights and responsibilities as serious legislators. When the leadership of this body bypasses the rules of regular order, as it is attempting to again do today, it really does discredit this great institution in which all of us are privileged to serve.
Realize, Mr. Speaker, my concerns are not content but rather process. This martial law rule sends a false message to the American people that this is what the Framers intended when they envisioned the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives ought to be a body of thought and deliberation, where America's greatest needs are given proper consideration. Under the majority, however, thought and deliberation have been replaced by rubber stamps and obvious disorganization. This is not a good thing, and it is a disservice to the American people.
I really do urge my colleagues to reject continued attempts to circumvent regular order in the House of Representatives.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I would simply note that the Transportation, Treasury, HUD bill passed the full Appropriations Committee by a voice vote on June 6. In other words, without opposition, without noted opposition; and the bill was filed on June 9. It has been available for everyone to see and review for days now. It was also on the schedule since last week.
I have no further speakers on this side of the aisle. I would ask my good friend if he has any other speakers.
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. I was trying to allow that we go a bit longer only for the reason that the next agenda matter is not present for us. I won't make an accusation that that allows that my friends in the majority are having difficulty in organizing their efforts.
My good friend from Florida, for example, just commented that this has been a measure, or this is a measure, that was passed and that it has been known since June 9; and at the very same time, at the outset, you began by saying that we are in the process of determining what we are going to do before we report out the rule.
You know, we use a lot of beltway language here, and for a long time I didn't believe that there was a beltway mentality. The tragedy is now I, as well as others that I know, have become a part of it. Let me say what I am talking about.
When I say I am not talking about content, I am not talking about the substance of the transportation measure that is so critical to this Nation. What I really am talking about is the process where the Nation's representatives get an opportunity to speak on issues of vital concern. So, then, when we say that this rule circumvents regular order, as a general rule Jane and Joe Lunchbucket don't have a clue what we are talking about. So perhaps it would be helpful, since we have a little time, to explain to them what regular order would normally require for a nonemergency appropriations measure.
The rule that we are getting ready to present this transportation measure under also called for same-day consideration of legislation providing for the Department of Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, the District of Columbia and independent agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2007, and for other purposes. What it does is it circumvents one of the rules, which is 6(a) of rule XIII. That generally doesn't mean a thing to the American public, but let me tell them what it means.
That rule requires a two-thirds vote in order to consider a rule on the same day reported from the Rules Committee. Two-thirds of the Members of this House would have to do that. What we are doing with this rule is we are waiving that two-thirds requirement and we are saying it is all right, you can bring up any of these things under the same-day rule because it doesn't require two-thirds of the Members.
I can assure you if two-thirds of the membership were required in order for us to be able to proceed along regular order, it might not be difficult to achieve; but it would be fair for us to function that way. So we have ignored the process repeatedly here in the House of Representatives. And what that does is it creates a situation where Members in the House of Representatives who represent constituents don't get an opportunity to have their measures considered by the Rules Committee or by the House under regular order, thereby precluding them from having an opportunity to actually receive the best interests of their representative as it pertains to issues that are germane to their interests in their locales.
That is a long way to describe that when you waive the process, you waive the rights of the people that we represent to have their representatives present their views here on the floor of the House of Representatives and to have this great deliberative body work its will. Therein lies the rub with this particular kind of process.
It even has a distinct name: martial law. That sounds like something that is forcing something or requiring something to be done under the aegis of authoritarian rule. That is not right, and that is what we complain of, those of us that have the opportunity and privilege to do so in the Rules Committee.
Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. 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 SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the resolution.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that the ayes appeared to have it.
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further proceedings on this question will be postponed.
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