Rules of the House

Congressional Record: January 3, 2001 (House)
Page H6-H18

RULES OF THE HOUSE

Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the House Republican
Conference, I call up a privileged resolution (H. Res. 5) and ask for
its immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

H. Res. 5

Resolved, That the Rules of the House of Representatives of
the One Hundred Sixth

[[Page H7]]

Congress, including applicable provisions of law or
concurrent resolution that constituted rules of the House at
the end of the One Hundred Sixth Congress, are adopted as the
Rules of the House of Representatives of the One Hundred
Seventh Congress, with amendments to the standing rules as
provided in section 2, and with other orders as provided in
section 3.

SEC. 2. CHANGES IN STANDING RULES.

(a) Publication of Documents.--
(1) In clause 2(b) of rule II, strike ``printed and''.
(2) In clause 2(c)(3) of rule II, strike ``printing and''.
(3) In clause 2(c)(4) of rule II, strike ``printed''.
(4) In clause 2(e) of rule II, strike ``printed and''.
(5) In clause 2(f)(2) of rule II strike ``or mail''.
(6) In clause 2(f)(2) of rule II strike ``, in binding of
good quality,''.
(b) Preparation of Enrolled Bills.--
(1) In clause 2(d) of rule II, designate the existing text
as subparagraph (1) and insert thereafter the following new
subparagraph:
``(2) The Clerk shall examine all bills, amendments, and
joint resolutions after passage by the House and, in
cooperation with the Senate, examine all bills and joint
resolutions that have passed both Houses to see that they are
correctly enrolled and forthwith present those bills and
joint resolutions that originated in the House to the
President in person after their signature by the Speaker and
the President of the Senate, and report to the House the fact
and date of their presentment.''.
(2) In clause 4(d)(1) of rule X, strike subdivision (A),
redesignate the succeeding subdivisions accordingly (and
conform the subdivision-reference in subdivision (C), as
redesignated).
(c) Responding to Subpoenas.--In rule VIII, strike
``subpoena or other judicial order'' in each of the nine
places it appears and insert in lieu thereof (in each
instance) ``judicial or administrative subpoena or judicial
order''.
(d) Renaming of Committee on Commerce; Establishment of
Committee on Financial Services.--In clause 1 of rule X--
(1) strike paragraph (d);
(2) redesignate paragraph (e) as paragraph (d);
(3) redesignate paragraph (g) as paragraph (e) and transfer
that paragraph before paragraph (f);
(4) in paragraph (f)--
(A) strike ``Commerce'' and insert in lieu thereof ``Energy
and Commerce'' (and conform the reference in clause 3(c) of
rule X); and
(B) strike subparagraph (15) and redesignate the succeeding
subparagraph accordingly; and
(5) insert the following new paragraph after paragraph (f):
``(g) Committee on Financial Services.
``(1) Banks and banking, including deposit insurance and
Federal monetary policy.
``(2) Economic stabilization, defense production,
renegotiation, and control of the price of commodities,
rents, and services.
``(3) Financial aid to commerce and industry (other than
transportation).
``(4) Insurance generally.
``(5) International finance.
``(6) International financial and monetary organizations.
``(7) Money and credit, including currency and the issuance
of notes and redemption thereof; gold and silver, including
the coinage thereof; valuation and revaluation of the dollar.
``(8) Public and private housing.
``(9) Securities and exchanges.
``(10) Urban development.''.
(e) Enhanced Oversight Planning.--In clause 2(d)(1) of rule
X, insert after subdivision (A) the following new subdivision
(and redesignate the succeeding subdivisions accordingly):
``(B) review specific problems with federal rules,
regulations, statutes, and court decisions that are
ambiguous, arbitrary, or nonsensical, or that impose severe
financial burdens on individuals;''.
(f) Intelligence Oversight.--In clause 3 of rule X, add the
following new paragraph at the end:
``(l) The Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence shall
review and study on a continuing basis laws, programs, and
activities of the intelligence community and shall review and
study on an exclusive basis the sources and methods of
entities described in clause 11(b)(1)(A).''.
(g) Oversight of Officers.--
(1) In clause 4(d)(1) of rule X, amend subdivision (A) (as
redesignated) to read as follows:
``(A) provide policy direction for the Inspector General
and oversight of the Clerk, Sergeant-at-Arms, Chief
Administrative Officer, and Inspector General;''.
(2) In clause 4(a) of rule II strike ``policy direction
and''.
(h) Size of Intelligence Committee.--In the second sentence
of clause 11(a)(1) of rule X--
(1) strike ``not more than 16'' and insert in lieu thereof
``not more than 18''; and
(2) strike ``not more than nine'' and insert in lieu
thereof ``not more than 10''.
(i) Preserving Majority Quorum Requirements.--In clause
2(h)(3) of rule XI, strike ``the reporting of a measure or
recommendation'' and insert in lieu thereof ``one for which
the presence of a majority of the committee is otherwise
required''.
(j) Clarification of Hearing Procedures.--In clause 2(k) of
rule XI--
(1) in the caption, strike ``investigative'';
(2) in subparagraph (1)--
(A) strike ``an investigative hearing'' and insert in lieu
thereof ``a hearing''; and
(B) strike ``investigation'' and insert in lieu thereof
``hearing'';
(3) in subparagraph (2), strike ``to each witness'' and
insert in lieu thereof ``to each witness on request'';
(4) in subparagraph (3) strike ``investigative''; and
(5) in subparagraph (5)--
(A) strike ``an investigative hearing'' and insert in lieu
thereof ``a hearing'';
(B) strike ``asserted'' and insert in lieu thereof
``asserted by a member of the committee''; and
(C) strike ``any person'' and insert in lieu thereof ``any
person, or it is asserted by a witness that the evidence or
testimony that the witness would give at a hearing may tend
to defame, degrade, or incriminate the witness''.
(k) Certain Supplemental Reports Without Additional
Layover.--In clause 3(a)(2) of rule XIII, add the following
new sentence at the end: ``A supplemental report only
correcting errors in the depiction of record votes under
paragraph (b) may be filed under this subparagraph and shall
not be subject to the requirement in clause 4 concerning the
availability of reports.''.
(l) Performance Goals and Objectives.--
(1) In clause 3(c) of rule XIII, amend subparagraph (4) to
read as follows:
``(4) A statement of general performance goals and
objectives, including outcome-related goals and objectives,
for which the measure authorizes funding.''.
(2) In clause 4(c)(2) of rule X, strike ``matter involved''
and all that follows and insert in lieu thereof ``matter
involved.''.
(m) Report Detail on Unauthorized Appropriations.--In
clause 3(f)(1) of rule XIII, amend subdivision (B) to read as
follows:
``(B) a list of all appropriations contained in the bill
for expenditures not currently authorized by law for the
period concerned (excepting classified intelligence or
national security programs, projects, or activities), along
with a statement of the last year for which such expenditures
were authorized, the level of expenditures authorized for
that year, the actual level of expenditures for that year,
and the level of appropriations in the bill for such
expenditures.''.
(n) Corrections Calendar.--
(1) In clause 4(a)(2) of rule XIII, insert after
subdivision (B) the following new subdivision (and
redesignate the succeeding subdivisions accordingly):
``(C) a bill called from the Corrections Calendar under
clause 6 of rule XV;''.
(2) In clause 6(a) of rule XV, strike ``that has been on
the Corrections Calendar for three legislative days'' and
insert in lieu thereof ``that is printed on the Corrections
Calendar''.
(o) Objections to Exhibits.--In clause 6 of rule XVII,
strike ``its use shall be decided without debate by a vote of
the House'' and insert in lieu thereof ``the Chair, in his
discretion, may submit the question of its use to the House
without debate''.
(p) Postponing Requests for Recorded Votes on Amendments in
Committee of Whole.--In clause 6 of rule XVIII, add the
following new paragraph at the end:
``(g) The Chairman may postpone a request for a recorded
vote on any amendment. The Chairman may resume proceedings on
a postponed request at any time. The Chairman may reduce to
five minutes the minimum time for electronic voting on any
postponed question that follows another electronic vote
without intervening business, provided that the minimum time
for electronic voting on the first in any series of questions
shall be 15 minutes.''.
(q) Naming of Public Works.--In rule XXI, add the following
new clause at the end:
``Designations of public works''
``6. It shall not be in order to consider a bill, joint
resolution, amendment, or conference report that provides for
the designation or redesignation of a public work in honor of
an individual then serving as a Member, Delegate, Resident
Commissioner, or Senator.''.
(r) Motions Instructing Conferees.--
(1) In clause 7 of rule XXII, in subparagraph (c)(1),
strike ``first legislative''.
(2) In clause 7 of rule XXII, in subparagraph (c)(1)--
(A) strike the dash after ``privileged'';
(B) strike the designations of subdivisions (A) and (B);
and
(C) strike ``; and'' and insert in lieu thereof ``, but
only''.
(3) In clause 7 of rule XXII, redesignate paragraph (d) as
paragraph (e) and insert the following new paragraph after
paragraph (c):
``(d) Instructions to conferees in a motion to instruct or
in a motion to recommit to conference may not include
argument.''.
(s) Repeal of Automatic Public-Debt Measure.--
(1) Strike rule XXIII and redesignate the succeeding rules
accordingly.
(2) In clause 4(f)(2) of rule X, strike ``budget'' and all
that follows and insert in lieu thereof ``budget.''.
(3) In clause 9(b)(2) of rule X, strike ``rule XXIV'' and
insert in lieu thereof ``rule XXIII''.
(4) In clause 3(a)(5) of rule XI, strike ``rule XXIV'' and
insert in lieu thereof ``rule XXIII''.
(5) In clause 4 of rule XXIII (as redesignated), strike
``rule XXVI'' and insert in lieu thereof ``rule XXV''.

[[Page H8]]

(6) In clause 5 of rule XXIII (as redesignated), strike
``rule XXVI'' and insert in lieu thereof ``rule XXV''.
(7) In clause 12(a) of rule XXIII (as redesignated), strike
``rule XXVII'' and insert in lieu thereof ``rule XXVI''.
(t) Prohibition on Paid Employment of Spouse.--In clause 8
of rule XXIII (as redesignated), add the following new
paragraph at the end:
``(c)(1) Except as specified in subparagraph (2)--
``(A) a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not
retain his spouse in a paid position; and
``(B) an employee of the House may not accept compensation
for work for a committee on which his spouse serves as a
member.
``(2) Subparagraph (1) shall not apply in the case of a
spouse whose pertinent employment predates the One Hundred
Seventh Congress.''.
(u) Oaths Concerning Classified Information.--In clause 13
of rule XXIII (as redesignated), add the following new
sentence at the end: ``The Clerk shall make signatures a
matter of public record, causing the names of each Member,
Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who has signed the oath
during a week (if any) to be published in a portion of the
Congressional Record designated for that purpose on the last
legislative day of the week and making cumulative lists of
such names available each day for public inspection in an
appropriate office of the House.''.
(v) Activities of Consultants.--In clause 14(b) of rule
XXIII (as redesignated), add the following new sentences at
the end: ``An individual whose services are compensated by
the House pursuant to a consultant contract may not lobby the
contracting committee or the members or staff of the
contracting committee on any matter. Such an individual may
lobby other Members, Delegates, or the Resident Commissioner
or staff of the House on matters outside the jurisdiction of
the contracting committee.''.
(w) Clarification of Terms in Gift Rule.--
(1) In clause 4(a)(1) of rule XXV (as redesignated), strike
``; and'' and insert in lieu thereof a period.
(2) In clause 4(a)(2) if rule XXV (as redesignated), strike
``(2) when'' and insert in lieu thereof ``(2)(A) When''.
(3) After clause 4(a)(2)(A) of rule XXV (as redesignated),
insert the following new subdivision:
``(B) When used in clause 5 of this rule, the terms
`officer' and `employee' have the same meanings as in rule
XXIII.''.
(4) In clause 5(e)(1) of rule XXV (as redesignated), strike
``and'' after subparagraph (1).
(5) At the end of clause 5(e)(2) of rule XXV (as
redesignated), strike the period and insert in lieu thereof
``; and''.
(6) After clause 5(e)(2) of rule XXV (as redesignated),
insert the following new subparagraph:
``(3) the terms `officer' and `employee' have the same
meanings as in rule XXIII.''.
(x) Technical Corrections in Recodification.--
(1) In clause 3(a) of rule VII, strike ``paragraph (b),
clause 4,'' and insert in lieu thereof ``clause 4(b)''.
(2) In clause 5(a) of rule VII, strike ``clause 9'' and
insert in lieu thereof ``clause 11''.
(3) In clause 7(b) of rule X, strike ``under this
paragraph''.
(4) In clause 7(d) of rule X, strike ``this paragraph'' and
insert in lieu thereof ``this clause''.
(5) In clause 7(e) of rule X, strike ``this paragraph'' and
insert in lieu thereof ``this clause''.
(6) In clause 7(f)(1) of rule X, strike ``this paragraph''
and insert in lieu thereof ``this clause''.
(7) In clause 7(f)(2) of rule X, strike ``this paragraph''
and insert in lieu thereof ``this clause''.
(8) In clause 9(g) of rule X, strike ``paragraph (a) of
clause 6'' and insert in lieu thereof ``clause 6(a)''.
(9) In clause 11(d)(1) of rule X, strike ``clauses 6(a),
(b), and (c) and 8(a), (b), and (c) of this rule'' and insert
in lieu thereof ``clauses 8(a), (b), and (c) and 9(a), (b),
and (c) of this rule''.
(10) In clause 2(m)(1) of rule XI, strike ``subparagraph
(2)(A)'' and insert in lieu thereof ``subparagraph (3)(A)''.
(11) In clause 7(a) of rule XII, strike ``All other bills''
and insert in lieu thereof ``Bills''.
(12) In clause 1 of rule XIV, strike ``clause 9(a)'' and
insert in lieu thereof ``clause 8''.
(13) In clause 3 of rule XIV, strike ``clause 9'' and
insert in lieu thereof ``clause 8''.
(14) In clause 2(c) of rule XV, strike ``printed with the
signatures'' and insert in lieu thereof ``published with the
signatures''.
(15) In clause 8(c) of rule XVIII, strike ``this rule'' and
insert in lieu thereof ``this clause''.
(16) In clause 8(b) of rule XXIII (as redesignated), strike
``clause 7'' and insert in lieu thereof ``clause 9'' in both
places where it appears.

SEC. 3. SEPARATE ORDERS.

(a) Standards Committee Rules.--For the One Hundred Seventh
Congress, each provision of House Resolution 168 of the One
Hundred Fifth Congress that was not executed as a change in
the standing rules is hereby reaffirmed (except that,
notwithstanding section 13 of that resolution, the chairman
and ranking minority member of the Committee on Standards of
Official Conduct may consult with an investigative
subcommittee either on their own initiative or on the
initiative of the subcommittee, shall have access to
information before a subcommittee with which they so consult,
and shall not thereby be precluded from serving as full,
voting members of any adjudicatory subcommittee).
(b) Budget Enforcement.--
(1) During the One Hundred Seventh Congress, references in
section 306 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to a
resolution shall be construed in the House of Representatives
as references to a joint resolution.
(2) During the One Hundred Seventh Congress, in the case of
a reported bill or joint resolution considered pursuant to a
special order of business, a point of order under section 303
of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 shall be determined
on the basis of the text made in order as an original bill or
joint resolution for the purpose of amendment or to the text
on which the previous question is ordered directly to
passage, as the case may be.
(3) During the One Hundred Seventh Congress, a provision in
a bill or joint resolution, or in an amendment thereto or a
conference report thereon, that establishes prospectively for
a Federal office or position a specified or minimum level of
compensation to be funded by annual discretionary
appropriations shall not be considered as providing new
entitlement authority within the meaning of the Congressional
Budget Act of 1974.
(c) Certain Subcommittees.--Notwithstanding clause 5(d) of
rule X, during the One Hundred Seventh Congress--
(1) the Committee on Government Reform may have not more
than eight subcommittees;
(2) the Committee on International Relations may have not
more than six subcommittees; and
(3) the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure may
have not more than six subcommittees.
(d) Numbering of Bills.--In the One Hundred Seventh
Congress, the first 10 numbers for bills (H.R. 1 through H.R.
10) shall be reserved for assignment by the Speaker to such
bills as he may designate when introduced during the first
session.

Mr. ARMEY (during the reading). Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent
that the resolution be considered as read and printed in the Record.
The SPEAKER. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from
Texas?
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Armey) is recognized for 1
hour.
Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, for purposes of debate only, I yield the
customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt), or
his designee, pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume.
During consideration of the resolution, all time yielded is for debate
purposes only.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the time allocated to me be
controlled by the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier).
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). Is there objection to the
request of the gentleman from Texas?
There was no objection.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
(Mr. DREIER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks, and include extraneous material.)
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, first of all I would like to extend
congratulations, a happy new year, and my appreciation to the majority
leader for his fine leadership.
Mr. Speaker, the comprehensive changes we are proposing in H. Res. 5
seek to build on the successful institutional reform accomplishments of
the past 6 years, which have helped to make the House more accountable
and have strengthened our ability to govern effectively and
responsibly.
As you will recall, Mr. Speaker, we streamlined the committee system,
made Congress compliant with anti-discrimination and workplace safety
laws, established term limits for committee chairmen, completely
abolished proxy voting, opened committee meetings to the public and
press, modernized the rules of the House to make them more
understandable, and consolidated the number of standing rules from 51
to 28, soon to be 27 if H. Res. 5 is adopted.
Also, thanks to the leadership of our colleagues, the gentleman from
California (Mr. Thomas) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Ehlers),
our investments in technology are transforming the culture, operations,
and responsibilities of Congress in a very positive way.
With that having been said, I want to describe some of the more
significant positive rules changes we are proposing to the standing
rules of the House, and

[[Page H9]]

those are contained in section 1 of the resolution.
In an effort to reduce printing costs and provide for the more timely
distribution of them, section 2(a) of the resolution amends clause 2 of
rule II to encourage the electronic publication and distribution of
executive branch reports and House Journals and Calendars, while still
allowing Members to receive printed copies of these documents.
In what is obviously one of our most significant changes, Mr.
Speaker, section 2(d) of the resolution establishes a new Committee on
Financial Services, which will have jurisdiction over the following
matters:
(1) banks and banking, including deposit insurance and Federal
monetary policy;
(2) economic stabilization, defense production, renegotiation, and
control of the price of commodities, rents, and services;
(3) financial aid to commerce and industry (other than
transportation);
(4) insurance generally;
(5) international finance;
(6) international financial and monetary organizations;
(7) money and credit, including currency and the issuance of notes
and redemption thereof; gold and silver, including the coinage thereof;
valuation and revaluation of the dollar;
(8) public and private housing;
(9) securities and exchanges; and
(10) urban development.
Mr. Speaker, jurisdiction over matters relating to securities and
exchanges is transferred in its entirety from the Committee on
Commerce, which will be redesignated under this rules change to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce, and it will be transferred from the
new Committee on Energy and Commerce to this new Committee on Financial
Services. This transfer is not intended to convey to the Committee on
Financial Services jurisdiction currently in the Committee on
Agriculture regarding commodity exchanges.
Furthermore, this change is not intended to convey to the Committee
on Financial Services jurisdiction over matters relating to regulation
and SEC oversight of multi-state public utility holding companies and
their subsidiaries, which remain essentially matters of energy policy.
Mr. Speaker, as a result of the transfer of jurisdiction over matters
relating to securities and exchanges, redundant jurisdiction over
matters relating to bank capital markets activities generally and
depository institutions securities activities, which were formerly
matters in the jurisdiction of the Committee on Banking and Financial
Services, have been removed from clause 1 of rule X.
Matters relating to insurance generally, formerly within the
jurisdiction of the redesignated Committee on Energy and Commerce, are
transferred to the jurisdiction of the Committee on Financial Services.
The transfer of any jurisdiction to the Committee on Financial
Services is not intended to limit the Committee on Energy and
Commerce's jurisdiction over consumer affairs and consumer protection
matters.
Likewise, existing health insurance jurisdiction is not transferred
as a result of this change.
Furthermore, the existing jurisdictions of other committees with
respect to matters relating to crop insurance, Workers' Compensation,
insurance anti-trust matters, disaster insurance, veterans' life and
health insurance, and national social security are not affected by this
change.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, the changes and legislative history involving
the Committee on Financial Services and the Committee on Energy and
Commerce do not preclude a future memorandum of understanding between
the chairmen of these respective committees.
The reasons for establishing a new Committee on Financial Services
are compelling. It reflects the coordinated and comprehensive approach
to financial services that is emerging in the wake of the Gramm-Leach-
Bliley Act. It demonstrates and communicates a level of understanding
that will increase market confidence in our ability to comprehend the
increasingly integrated nature of the financial services market.
It will strengthen congressional oversight of financial regulators
and enterprises and will put the House of Representatives in a better
position to address the marketplace inequities caused by the Federal
Government's slow response to change.
Now, Mr. Speaker, there are a number of other significant positive
changes included in H.Res. 5. To enhance oversight planning, section
2(e) of the resolution amends clause 2(d)(1) of rule X to require
committees to consider bills that will make candidates for the
Corrections Calendar procedure in their initial legislative and
oversight planning process.

Section 2(g) amends clause 4(d)(1) of rule X and clause 4(a) of rule
II to clarify that the Committee on House Administration provides
policy direction only for the Inspector General and not other officers
of the House. We have professional officers, and we want to give them
more authority over their operations.
In a further attempt to improve policy and programmatic oversight,
section 2(1) amends clause 3(c) of rule XIII clause 4(c) of rule X to
repeal the requirement that committee reports include a summary of
oversight findings and recommendations by the Committee on Government
Reform, if timely submitted.
That requirement is replaced with a new requirement that committee
reports include a statement of general performance goals and
objectives, including outcome-related goals and objectives, for which
the measure authorizes funding.
The purpose of this change is to strengthen the existing procedures
and rules governing committee reports to ensure the development of more
clearly defined performance goals and objectives, including outcome-
related goals and objectives for the programs, and to the extent
possible, projects or activities authorized under the act.
Consistent with this intent, the statements should be similar to the
performance goals model established in the Government Performance and
Results Act. More specifically, when applicable, all performance goal
statements should: (1) describe goals in an objective, quantifiable,
and measurable form; (2) describe the resources required to meet the
goals; (3) establish performance indicators to measure outputs or
outcomes; and (4) provide a basis for comparing actual program results
with performance goals.
As a result of the expanded reporting requirements in section 2(m) of
the resolution, the amount and usefulness of information available to
Members regarding unauthorized appropriations will be expanded. The
amendment to clause 3(f)(1) of rule XIII would apply to all
unauthorized appropriations with the exception of programs, projects,
or activities that are classified for the purpose of protecting
national security.
Section 2(r) amends clause 7 of rule XXII to prohibit the use of
argument in the form of a motion to instruct conferees or a motion to
recommit a conference report. These motions are instructive motions,
not debating motions. Motions to instruct are debatable once they are
pending before the House, but not while they are being offered. Motions
to recommit with instructions are debatable during the hour allotted on
the conference report.
House Rule XXIII regarding the statutory limit on the public debt
will be replaced by section 2(s) of the resolution, and the total
number of House rules will drop from 28 to 27. This will restore
accountability to the budget process by having an up or down vote on
any statutory increase in the public debt.
Section 2(u) of the resolution requires the Clerk of the House to
release information concerning Members' executions of the oath
regarding classified information. Right now there is no way to find out
who has or has not signed the secrecy oath.
For the most part, the remaining provisions of the section are
technical, conforming, or clarifying in nature.
Section 3 of the resolution consists of ``Separate Orders'' which do
not change any of the standing rules of the House. These are more or
less housekeeping provisions which deem certain actions or waive the
application of certain rules of the House.
For example, on September 18, 1997, the House adopted the
recommendations of a 12-member bipartisan task force on ethics reform
with certain amendments, which included not only

[[Page H10]]

changes to the standing rules of the House but also freestanding
directives to the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.
Those freestanding directives address committee agenda, committee
staff, meetings and hearings, public disclosure, requirements to
constitute a complaint, duties of the chairman and ranking member,
investigative and adjudicatory subcommittees, standard of proof for
adoption of statement of alleged violation, subcommittee powers, due
process rights of respondents, and committee reporting requirements.
In order to have force and effect in the 107th Congress, the
freestanding provisions of H. Res. 168 are being carried forward by
section 3(a) of the resolution.
However, notwithstanding section 13 of H. Res. 168, the chairman and
ranking minority member of the Committee on Standards of Official
Conduct may consult with an investigative subcommittee either on their
own initiative or on the initiative of the subcommittee, shall have
access to information before a subcommittee with which they so consult,
and shall not thereby be precluded from serving as full voting members
of any adjudicatory subcommittee.
Section 3(c) of the resolution provides a limited number of
exemptions to clause 5(d) of rule X regarding the limitation on the
number of subcommittees a committee may establish.
On November 13, 1997, the House approved H. Res. 326, which provided
an exception for the Committee on Government Reform to temporarily
establish an eighth subcommittee for the remainder of the 105th
Congress.
H. Res. 5 in the 106th Congress allowed the Committee to again
establish an eighth subcommittee to accommodate the need for extensive
oversight over the census.

{time} 1445

Section 2(c) of this resolution grants the Committee on Government
Reform another waiver of clause 5(d) of rule X to permit an eighth
subcommittee for the duration of the 107th Congress.
In addition, section 2(c) allows the Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure and the Committee on International Relations to
establish six subcommittees notwithstanding the requirement of clause
5(d)(2) of rule X that a committee may have a sixth subcommittee if it
maintains a subcommittee on oversight.
At this point, Mr. Speaker, I would like to include for the Record a
more detailed section-by-section summary, although I doubt that that is
possible, of H. Res. 5 as well as other relevant material.

Section-by-Section Summary of H. Res. 5--Adopting House Rules for the
107th Congress

section 1. resolved clause

The rules of the House of Representatives for the 106th
Congress are adopted as the rules of the House of the 107th
Congress with amendments as provided in section 2, and with
other orders provided in section 3.

section 2. changes in standing rules

(a) Publication of Documents. The rules regarding the
responsibilities of the Clerk of the House with respect to
the printing or methods of distributing executive branch
reports, the House Journal and calendars of the House are
modified generically to encompass alternative forms of
publication and distribution. [Rule II, clause 2]
(b) Preparation of Enrolled Bills. The responsibility for
examining all bills, amendments and joint resolutions after
passage by the House, and for examining all bills and joint
resolutions that have passed both Houses of Congress to see
that they are correctly enrolled and presented to the
President will be transferred from the Committee on House
Administration to the Clerk of the House. [Rule II, clause
2(d); Rule X, clause 4(d)(1)]
(c) Responding to Subpoenas. The rules addressing responses
to the legal process are clarified to reflect the current
interpretation that such rules apply to both judicial orders
and administrative subpoenas. [Rule VIII]
(d-1) Establishment of Committee on Financial Services. The
Committee on Banking and Financial Services is abolished and
a new Committee on Financial Services is established
consisting of the jurisdiction of the old Committee on
Banking and Financial Services, and jurisdiction over
securities and exchanges and insurance generally (which is
transferred from the Committee on Commerce). [Rule X, clause
1]
(d-2) Renaming of Committee on Commerce. The Committee on
Commerce is redesignated as the Committee on Energy and
Commerce. [Rule X, clause 1]
(e) Enhanced Oversight Planning. Committees are required to
include in the oversight plans they adopt at the beginning of
each Congress a review of specific problems with federal
rules, regulations, statutes, and court decisions that are
ambiguous, arbitrary, or nonsensical, or impose a severe
financial burden on individuals. This review would be the
basis for the consideration of bills that may be candidates
for the Corrections Calendar procedure. [Rule X, clause
2(d)(1)]
(f) Intelligence Oversight. The Permanent Select Committee
on Intelligence is to have exclusive oversight responsibility
over the sources and methods of the core intelligence
agencies. [Rule X, clause 3]
(g) Oversight of Officers. The Committee on House
Administration will provide policy direction only for the
Inspector General and not for other officers of the House.
The Committee will retain all oversight responsibilities over
the Clerk, Sergeant-at-Arms, and Chief Administrative
Officer. [Rule X, clause 4(d)(1)(b); rule II, clause 4(a)]
(h) Size of Intelligence Committee. The size of the
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence will be increased
from not more than 16 Members to not more than 18 Members, of
which no more than 10 may be from the same party. [Rule X,
clause 11]
(i) Preserving Majority Quorum Requirements. The
requirement for a majority quorum for ordering a measure
reported, the release of executive session material, the
issuance of subpoenas, and determining if evidence or
testimony may tend to defame, degrade, or incriminate any
person is clarified with conforming language. [Rule XI,
clause 2(h)(3)]
(j) Clarification of Hearing Procedures. The procedures for
committee hearings are modified to: resolve an unintended
implication about hearings labeled as something other than
investigative; clarify that a copy of the committee rules and
hearing procedures shall be made available to each witness
``upon request;'' and clarify that an assertion that evidence
or testimony at a hearing may tend to defame, degrade, or
incriminate any person must be made either by a Member of the
committee or by a witness at a hearing. [Rule XI, clause
2(k)]
(k) Certain Supplemental Reports Without Additional
Layover. A committee may file a supplemental report without
additional layover to correct errors in the depiction of
record votes in committee. [Rule XIII, clause 3(a)(2)]
(l) Performance Goals and Objectives. The requirement that
committee reports include a summary of oversight findings and
recommendations by the Committee on Government Reform, if
timely submitted, is repealed and replaced with a new
requirement that committee reports include a statement of
general performance goals and objectives, including outcome-
related goals and objectives, for which the measure
authorizes funding. [Rule XIII, clause 3(c); rule X, clause
4(c)(2)]
(m) Report Detail on Unauthorized Appropriations. The
reporting requirements for unauthorized appropriations are
expanded to include a statement of the last year for which
the expenditures were authorized, the level of expenditures
authorized for that year, the actual level of expenditures
for that year, and the level of appropriations in the bill
for such expenditures. [Rule XIII, clause 3(f)(1)]
(n) Corrections Calendar. On the second and fourth Tuesdays
of a month, a bill that is printed in the Corrections
Calendar section of the daily calendar may be considered
without further layover. [Rule XIII, clause 4(a)(2); rule XV,
clause 6(a)]
(o) Objections to Exhibits. When the use of an exhibit in
debate is objected to, the requirement that the question of
its use be decided without debate by a vote of the House is
modified to provide discretion to the Chair to submit the
question of its use to the House without debate. [Rule XVII,
clause 6]
(p) Postponing Requests for Recorded Votes on Amendments in
Committee of the Whole. The current practice of providing
authority, through special rules, to the Chair to postpone
votes on amendments in the Committee of the Whole, and to
reduce voting time to five minutes on a postponed question if
the vote follows a fifteen minute vote, is made permanent.
[Rule XVIII, clause 6]
(q) Naming of Public Works. It shall not be in order to
consider a bill, joint resolution, amendment, or conference
report that provides for the designation or redesignation of
a public work in honor of an individual then serving as a
Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, or Senator. [Rule
XXI]
(r) Motions Instructing Conferees. The intended operation
of the rule to avoid noticing a 20-day motion to instruct on
the first legislative day of a week is restored, and the
elements of privilege are restated to clarify that they
operate in tandem and not independently. Further,
instructions to conferees in any motion may not include
argument. [Rule XXII, clause 7]
(s) Repeal of Automatic Public-Debt Measure. The rule
regarding the statutory limit on the public debt is repealed,
and the succeeding rules are redesignated accordingly. [Rule
XXIII]
(t) Prohibition on Paid Employment Spouse. The application
of the provisions of section 3110 of Title V of the U.S. Code
as it relates to Members of the House is prospectively
strengthened. [Rule XXIV, clause 8 (redesignated as rule
XXIII, clause 8)]
(u) Oaths Concerning Classified Information. The
requirement that a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner
sign a secrecy oath before having access to classified

[[Page H11]]

information is modified to require the Clerk of the House to
make such signatures a matter of public record, publish new
signatures, if any, in the Congressional Record on the last
legislative day of the week, and make cumulative lists of
such names available each day for public inspection in an
appropriate office of the House. [Rule XXIV, clause 13
(redesignated as rule XXIII)]
(v) Activities of Consultants. The prohibition against
representing a third party or interest by individuals whose
services are compensated by the House pursuant to a
consultant contract is limited to the contracting office or
committee, including its staff. Such individuals will
continue to be considered employees of the House for purposes
of other applicable provisions of the Code of Conduct. [Rule
XXIV, clause 14 (redesignated as rule XXIII)]
(w) Clarification of Terms in Gift Rule. In the gift rule,
the definition of ``employee'' is clarified to cover all
employees of the House, not the narrower meaning assigned for
purposes of the limitations on outside earned income. [Rule
XXVI, clause 4(a) and 5(e) (redesignated as rule XXV)]
(x) Technical Corrections in Recodification. Technical and
grammatical changes are made throughout the rules of the
House to correct changes that were made as a result of the
recodification of the House rules at the beginning of the
106th Congress.

Section 3. Separate Orders.

(a) Standards Committee Rules. The free-standing directives
of H. Res. 168 of the 105th Congress (sections 3, 4, 5, 7,
10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, and 21) regarding ethics
reform shall be carried forward in the 106th Congress.
However, notwithstanding section 13 of that resolution, the
chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on
Standards of Official Conduct may consult with an
investigative subcommittee either on their own initiative or
on the initiative of the subcommittee, shall have access to
information before a subcommittee with whom they so consult,
and shall not thereby be precluded from serving as full,
voting members of any adjudicatory subcommittee.
(b) Budget Enforcement. During the 107th Congress,
references in section 306 of the Congressional Budget Act of
1974 to a resolution shall be construed in the House of
Representatives as references to a joint resolution. In the
case of reported bill or joint resolution considered pursuant
to a special order of business, a point of order under
section 303 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 shall be
determined on the basis of the text made in order as an
original bill or joint resolution for the purpose of
amendment or to the text on which the previous question is
ordered directly to passage, as the case may be. During the
107th Congress, a provision in a bill or joint resolution, or
in an amendment thereto or a conference report thereon, that
establishes prospectively for a Federal office or position a
specified or minimum level of compensation to be funded by
annual discretionary appropriations shall not be considered
as providing new entitlement authority within the meaning of
the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
(c) Certain Subcommittees. Notwithstanding clause 5(d) of
rule X, during the 107th Congress the Committee on Government
Reform may have not more than eight subcommittees; the
Committee on International Relations may have not more than
six subcommittees; and the Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure may have not more than six subcommittees.
(d) Numbering of Bills. In the 107th Congress, the first 10
numbers for bills (H.R. 1 through H.R. 10) shall be reserved
for assignment by the Speaker to such bills as he may
designate when introduced during the first session.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Happy new year, and happy new year to my chairman.
Mr. Speaker, last fall's election was a record breaker. Votes for
everything from President down to State legislators were closer than
ever before. If the voters told us anything on November 7, it was we
have to work together. The only mandate this Congress and the White
House have is to put aside our differences and get things done. But,
Mr. Speaker, that mandate of cooperation is not reflected in this
Republican rules package.
This rules package skews committee ratios so much in favor of the
Republicans that you would think they had won by a landslide while in
fact, Mr. Speaker, their majority in the House is less than 2 percent.
Many Americans believe that if the Republicans in Congress have barely
more than 50 percent of the vote, then the Republicans should get no
more than 51 percent of the committee slots and resources. But one look
at this rules package shows that that is not the case.
Mr. Speaker, I include for the Congressional Record the following two
charts detailing the skewed committee ratios.
If Republicans, with a 51.3 percent majority in the House,
maintain the same committees at the same size they were in
the 106th Congress but use a committee ratio reflecting the
ratio in the House (and keep all Republicans currently on
each committee), the following numbers of additional
Democrats would have committee seats:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Added
Committee New Democratic
ratio seats
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Agriculture........................................ 27-26 +2
Appropriations..................................... 34-33 +6
Armed Services..................................... 32-31 +3
Banking............................................ 32-31 +3
Budget............................................. 24-23 +4
Commerce........................................... 29-28 +4
Education.......................................... 27-26 +4
Government Reform.................................. 24-23 +4
House Administration............................... 6-5 +2
International Relations............................ 26-25 +2
Judiciary.......................................... 21-20 +4
Resources.......................................... 28-27 +3
Science............................................ 25-24 +2
Small Business..................................... 19-18 +1
Transportation..................................... 41-40 +6
Veterans........................................... 17-16 +2
Ways and Means..................................... 23-22 +6
------------------------------------------------------------------------

House Committee Party Ratios
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Distribution of seats Difference
---------------------------------------- in %
Members Percentage Committee
106th Congress Total Seat ---------------------------------------- Independent majority
Edge compared to
Majority Minority Majority Minority % House
(R) (D) (R) (D) majority
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total House Members............................................... 435 12 223 211 51.26 48.51 1 ...........
Total Committee Seats............................................. 835 83 458 375 54.85 44.91 2 3.59

COMMITTEE

Agriculture....................................................... 51 3 27 24 52.94 47.06 ........... 1.68
Appropriations.................................................... 61 7 34 27 55.74 44.26 ........... 4.47
Armed Services.................................................... 60 4 32 28 53.33 46.67 ........... 2.07
Banking and Financial Services.................................... 60 5 32 27 53.33 45.00 1 2.07
Budget............................................................ 43 5 24 19 55.81 44.19 ........... 4.55
Commerce.......................................................... 53 5 29 24 54.72 45.28 ........... 3.45
Education and the Workforce....................................... 49 5 27 22 55.10 44.90 ........... 3.84
Government Reform................................................. 44 5 24 19 54.55 43.18 1 3.28
House Administration.............................................. 9 3 6 3 66.87 33.33 ........... 15.40
International Relations........................................... 49 3 26 23 53.06 46.94 ........... 1.80
Judiciary......................................................... 37 5 21 16 56.76 43.24 ........... 5.49
Resources......................................................... 52 4 28 24 53.85 46.15 ........... 2.58
Rules............................................................. 13 5 9 4 69.23 30.77 ........... 17.97
Science........................................................... 47 3 25 22 53.19 46.81 ........... 1.93
Small Business.................................................... 36 2 19 17 52.78 47.22 ........... 1.51
Standards of Official Conduct..................................... 10 0 5 5 50.00 50.00 ........... -1.26
Transportation and Infrastructure................................. 75 7 41 34 54.67 45.33 ........... 3.40
Veterans' Affairs................................................. 31 3 17 14 54.84 45.16 ........... 3.57
Ways and Means.................................................... 39 7 23 16 58.97 41.03 ........... 7.71
Permanent Select on Intelligence.................................. 16 2 9 7 56.25 43.75 ........... 4.99
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source for data are Congressional Yellow Book, and Vital Statistics on Congress, 1999-2000.
Delegates and Resident Commissioner are included in the committee ratios.
For consistency, vacancies are counted in overall total and party totals.
Percentages were calculated by computer, and reflect rounding.
In some instances, published source may indicate unfilled vacancy.
Ratios do not reflect post-election resignations.

Last Congress when the majority party was entitled to 51 percent of
the seats, my Republican colleagues took 59 percent of the seats on
Ways and Means, they took 57 percent of the

[[Page H12]]

seats on Judiciary, and they took almost 56 percent of the seats on the
Committee on the Budget.
Mr. Speaker, in addition to being unfair, those committee ratios
denied millions of Americans their right to representation on specific
congressional committees. And my Republican colleagues are about to do
that again in this Congress when the majority is even slimmer than it
was last year. But I think it is better to put it this way, Mr.
Speaker: If the ratios on the committees were to reflect the ratio in
the House this Congress, 58 more Democratic districts would have their
representatives seated at the committee tables. Even my dear friend, my
chairman, the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) signed a joint
committee report saying, and I quote, committee seats should be
allocated to reflect the overall ratio of the House. Of course, that
was a different time and a different place.
Up until 6 years ago, my Republican colleagues regularly included
requirements for fair committee ratios in their rules packages. That
is, Mr. Speaker, until they became the majority. Mr. Speaker, while
millions of Americans will lose their voice first in congressional
committees, millions more lost their voices during this past
presidential election. Perhaps more important than anything else we do
in Washington would be to restore America's confidence in the election
process. But, Mr. Speaker, that too is missing from this Republican
rules package.
Nowhere is there a mention of what happened during this Presidential
election. Nowhere is there a call on Congress to fix our flawed
election process. Nowhere is there a recognition of the urgent need to
restore people's confidence in American elections. Mr. Speaker, in just
3 days, a joint session of Congress will count the votes of the
Presidential electors and declare the winner of the Presidential
election. Millions of Americans are questioning that election and
demanding action. Mr. Speaker, this rules package fails to take any
action on their behalf.
That is why, Mr. Speaker, I am urging my colleagues to support the
Democratic rules package. Our rules package includes the Republican
proposals for committee ratios from the 102nd and the 103rd Congresses.
Our rules package also takes steps to reform our election process. It
gives the Committee on the Judiciary until March 1 to recommend ways to
ensure that all eligible Americans who vote shall have their votes
counted, especially our military personnel who vote by absentee
ballots.
Mr. Speaker, even though the next set of Federal elections is 2 years
off, we really need to get started right away making sure that
everyone's vote is counted and counted fairly. Fair elections are the
foundation on which our democracy is built and there is nothing more
important than ensuring that this process be as fair as possible.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the motion to commit. If
the motion to commit passes, we will have adopted the Democratic
amendments to the rules of the 107th Congress. Our amendments will
improve the way we conduct elections and ensure more fair committee
ratios.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
very distinguished chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, the
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde).
Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, the pending rules package proposes to amend
clause 3 of rule X to give the House Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence the ``exclusive'' authority to ``review the sources and
methods of entities described in clause 11(b)(1)(A).'' Included in that
list is the National Foreign Intelligence Program as defined in section
3(6) of the National Security Act of 1947. The term National Foreign
Intelligence Program, as defined by the 1947 Act, ``refers to all
programs, projects, and activities of the intelligence community, which
includes the Treasury Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
and other governmental agencies that impact matters within the
jurisdiction of the Committee on the Judiciary.'' See 50 U.S.C.
401a(4). As you know, pursuant to House rule X, the House Committee on
the Judiciary has jurisdiction over all provisions of criminal law,
espionage, and subversive activities affecting the internal security of
the United States.
Will the adoption of these proposed changes alter in any way the
oversight jurisdiction of the Committee on the Judiciary?
I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier).
Mr. DREIER. I thank the gentleman for his inquiry. The House should
know that this change is not meant to circumscribe in any way, shape,
or form the oversight or legislative jurisdiction of the House
Committee on the Judiciary. As an ardent supporter of programmatic
oversight, it is my intention that the Committee on the Judiciary
continue to vigorously and fully pursue those matters within its
oversight jurisdiction. The proposed rules change will not hamper your
oversight efforts in this regard.
Mr. HYDE. I thank the gentleman for his explanation.
Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from
Michigan (Mr. Dingell), the dean of the House, and the ranking member
of the Committee on Commerce.
(Mr. DINGELL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I have heard a great deal of talk about how
this is going to be a new and a different and a better Congress. I have
heard a lot of people tell me about how we are going to proceed to have
bipartisanship and cooperation and conciliation. I would observe to the
Members of this body that the system will work if we have cooperation,
conciliation, and compromise. I would add to that one thing more:
Consultation. It would be nice if the majority would talk to the
minority about their plans and about what they are doing. It would be
even nicer if they would let us talk to them about what we are doing
here and to be consulted and to have an actual discussion about what
rules are going to obtain.
These rules are interesting. I have been writing rules in this place
for a long time. I would note to my colleagues that in these rules are
a number of interesting things, massive changes in the jurisdiction of
the Committee on Commerce. No discussion with the minority on that
matter whatsoever. No justification for what has been done here. We are
simply informed, ``This is what we are going to do to you.''
I would observe that the jurisdiction that is being transferred from
the Committee on Commerce is jurisdiction which was created by Sam
Rayburn 60 or 70 years ago and that has been exercised vigorously and
well by the Committee on Commerce all during those times. And that
never has there been a scandal in that particular line of jurisdiction
because the Committee on Commerce has always seen to it that the
interests of the American investors were protected.
I would note that the committee across the hall, the Banking
Committee, has presided over some splendid scandals in the area of
banking and savings and loans and has never understood what was going
on. Taxpayers have ponied up at least $500 billion because of the
incompetence and indifference of that committee. And now we are
transferring the jurisdiction over securities to the Banking Committee
so that they may conduct the business of the securities industry in
precisely the same way they have supervised the business of the banking
and the savings and loan industries.
I would simply tell my colleagues, you have created the opportunity
for splendid scandals and you have created something else: You have
made your choice of fools, and I should say that you should now look
forward to a splendid disaster. It is coming.
The other things which have been done which I think are noteworthy
here are that you have changed the rules on motions to recommit. I do
not know whether you have done this for the same reason that you have
made the changes in the jurisdiction of the Committee on Commerce. You
did that to take care of one Member. One Member. Not the interests of
the House, not the interests of the banking industry or the securities
industry or indeed the interests of the investors of the United States.
I hope there is a good reason you have done this other than to make it
more difficult for the minority to express its will or to have this
House

[[Page H13]]

have votes on matters of important questions.
You have also done some other things. You have continued to constrain
the minority in its ability to write reports critical of what they
conceive to be wrongdoing or failures in legislation by saying to it
that only 2 days will exist for the minority to come forward with
complaints with the content of legislation. Is this the kind of good
will? Is this the kind of cooperation, conciliation, and is it the kind
of action that we are hearing when we are talking about having
compromise and cooperation and bipartisanship? I think not. If we are
to work together, and I would remind my colleagues on the majority
side, there are only a few seats' difference between the Members on
this side and on the other side. If you want to have a President who
was elected by the narrowest margin in history and whose tenure as a
legitimate President is, in fact, open to question because of the
curious manipulations of the Supreme Court and because of the way in
which the election in Florida was conducted and counted and handled to
succeed and to be able to talk about bipartisanship and cooperation,
this is not the way that you begin the affairs of this Congress.
I did not intend to make an angry speech, and I would like my
colleagues to know this is not an angry speech. This is a speech of
sorrow and sadness because the majority is throwing away the good will
that they are going to need to have a bipartisan Congress run with
cooperation, conciliation, and compromise which the American people
both need and want.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from
Delaware (Mr. Castle).
Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask some questions, perhaps
in the form of a colloquy, of the chairman of the Committee on Rules
about the changes which we are facing between committees. I am a member
of the Banking Committee and the details elude me. First about the
insurance question. In establishing the question on financial services,
this resolution adds a term, and I quote, ``insurance generally'' to
the jurisdiction of that committee. However, no such jurisdiction
existed in rule X in the 106th Congress.
Can you describe for me what the term ``insurance generally'' is
intended to convey?

{time} 1500

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. CASTLE. I yield to the gentleman from California.
Mr. DREIER. Let me say, and I thank the gentleman for his question,
matters relating to insurance generally are intended to include
matters, for example, that have an impact on the policy holder, the
solvency of insurers or financial institutions that are underwriting or
selling insurance, activities that are financial in nature or
incidental to a financial activity; the national treatment of insurance
companies, auto insurance, life insurance and property and casualty
insurance.
However, as I mentioned previously in my statement, existing health
insurance jurisdiction is not transferred as a result of this change.
Furthermore, the existing jurisdiction of other committees with respect
to matters relating to crop insurance, worker's compensation, insurance
antitrust matters, veterans' life and health insurance and national
social security are not affected by this change.
Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, let me ask next about some securities
issues. Regarding securities and exchanges, does the transfer of this
jurisdiction to the Committee on Financial Services include
underwriting, dealing, and market making?
Mr. DREIER. Yes, that is correct.
Mr. CASTLE. Another question. Does it include accounting standards
applicable to capital raising under applicable securities laws and the
Securities Act of 1933?
Mr. DREIER. Once again, the gentleman is correct.
Mr. CASTLE. Does it include exchanges, investment companies, and
investment advisors?
Mr. DREIER. Yes, that is correct.
Mr. CASTLE. Does it include jurisdiction over the Public Utilities
Holding Company Act?
Mr. DREIER. As I mentioned previously in my statement, this change is
not intended to convey to the Committee on Financial Services
jurisdiction over matters relating to regulation and SEC oversight of
multistate public utility holding companies and their subsidiaries
which remain essentially matters of energy policy.
Mr. CASTLE. I thank the gentleman very much for clarification on
these issues.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the co-chair of the Democratic Steering Committee
and the ranking member on the Committee on House Administration.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, as all of us know, this House is now divided
by its narrowest margin since the 83rd Congress when Republicans held
221 seats and Democrats 213. Today, our Republican friends hold a bare
five-seat majority, 221 to 212. Thus, if we are to accomplish anything,
bipartisanship, as President-elect Bush talked ad nauseam about in the
campaign, is a sine qua non. It cannot be mere rhetorical window
dressing.
Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, I regret to say the first day of the
107th Congress we have missed an opportunity to demonstrate our
commitment to bipartisanship. Since the Republicans regained the
majority in 1995, there has been a growing disparity between the
minority's representation in this House and the committee slots
available to its Members elected by the American public, Republicans
and Democrats, to represent them. Simply put, there are not enough
committee slots available to the minority party, which now controls 49
percent of this body. Nevertheless, the allocation of committee slots
has remained unchanged, 55 percent for the majority, 45 percent for the
minority.
Now let me call attention to this chart. It is probably a little
difficult to understand, but what it tracks is minority representation,
not majority; whether Democrats were in the majority or Republicans
were in the majority. One will note, up to the 104th Congress, when
Democrats were in control, the percentage of committee slots allocated
and the percentages in the House tracked one another. One will note
that when the minority got more slots in the House, they went up. When
they got less, they went down.
The point is, it was fair. It was representative and it gave to
minority members the opportunity to do what they said they wanted to
do, represent Americans.
Now I would call the attention of my colleagues, and I would hope the
former governor of Delaware, who is one of the fairest members in this
House, would look at this stark contrast; and I would say here is the
104th Congress, the 105th, the 106th, the 107th. One will note that the
minority line has been flat lined, notwithstanding the fact that we
have picked up in each of the last four elections additional seats and
made the difference between the majority and minority parties smaller;
but the line has not changed.
The majority line has gone up in terms of their percentage, and the
variance. That is not fair. It is also, I would say to the chairman of
the Committee on Rules, the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier),
contrary to his representations when he was in the minority. In my
calculations, we would need an additional 64 seats in order for us to
be allocated the number of seats that we are entitled to as a result of
our percentage in the minority.
What is being done is contrary to the rhetoric. It will not further
bipartisanship, and I would ask that that be corrected as we move ahead
in the next few days.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Thibodaux, Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin).
Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, let me first acknowledge, as did the ranking
minority member of the Committee on Commerce, our extraordinary
disappointment in the jurisdictional transfer from the Committee on
Commerce to this new Committee on Financial Services. It is important,
as the chairman has said, to know, however, that memorandums of
understanding regarding that transfer are now being negotiated so that
there is clarity in the transfer.

[[Page H14]]

Like the gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle), we too had similar
questions about the meaning of the jurisdictional changes; and I would
first ask my friend, the chairman of the Committee on Rules, the
gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier), a simple question. The rules
changes being considered today will clearly transfer jurisdiction over
securities and exchanges from the Committee on Commerce to the new
Committee on Financial Services, and the Committee on Financial
Services will also be accorded insurance, generally. But there is not
any intent on the part of the Committee on Rules to transfer or
otherwise affect the jurisdiction of the Committee on Commerce; is that
correct?
Mr. DREIER. That is correct.
Mr. TAUZIN. Indeed, the gentleman pointed out very clearly that
health care insurance and Public Utility Holding Company Act
jurisdiction still resides with the Committee on Commerce; is that
correct?
Mr. DREIER. Correct.
Mr. TAUZIN. Is the chairman also in agreement that further
memorandums of understanding are being worked out regarding issues?
Mr. DREIER. Yes, I know discussions are underway right now in dealing
with some of these questions.
Mr. TAUZIN. Some of the questions like FASB and ECNs?
Mr. DREIER. That is correct.
Mr. TAUZIN. Let me say on behalf of many members of the Committee on
Commerce we, of course, are extremely disappointed in this transfer.
While we would, of course, like to retain that jurisdiction, we would
like to retain it for a simple reason and that is because the Committee
on Commerce has done, as the ranking minority member has stated, an
extraordinary job in representing good policy for the stock market and
the security industries in general, as well as for the insurance
industry of this country, and the record will demonstrate, I think,
that the extraordinary care and concern the Committee on Commerce has
given to these issues has created an extraordinarily stable environment
for financial trading and for insurance.
While we regret this transfer, we appreciate the cooperation of the
chairman of the Committee on Rules in the memorandum and in further
clarifications of jurisdictional shifts.
Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from
the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton).
(Ms. NORTON asked and was given permission to revise and extend her
remarks.)
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Moakley) yielding me this time.
Mr. Speaker, I welcome the Members back as the Member who represents
the jurisdiction where the House sits. Members may know that I sought
return of my vote in the Committee of the Whole this Congress. I
appreciate that the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Davis) and the
gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella) offered an amendment in the
majority rules that was rejected that would have granted the tax-paying
residents I represent a vote in the Committee of the Whole. I
appreciate that there were other Members of the majority that supported
this amendment.
I had hoped, after 10 years in the Congress, to get the return of the
vote I won in 1993. The Members know me very well. They know the city I
represent very well. So much of its business comes before this body.
They have seen the city through tough times, a city that is doing very
well. They know me to be a cheerleader for its rights and no apologist
for my city when it is not doing its best.
When a vote is won for the first time in 200 years and then it is
lost, it hurts. May I say that I feel no personal injury. I am always
treated with respect in this body. I have almost all of the rights of
this body. I feel I belong to this club, but the people I represent do
not. They have paid the price of admission, however. They are third per
capita in Federal income taxes. I have the full vote in committee which
I cast in their name. I had thought that the limited vote would be
forthcoming, particularly since there is a revote if my vote decides an
issue. Yet even this limited vote meant everything to D.C. residents
because it is the first time they have ever had a vote on the House
floor since the city was established.
The limited vote, the revote provision, meant that the majority had
nothing to lose by granting these taxpayers a vote in the Committee of
the Whole. The people I represent, however, lost everything when they
lost the vote because they lost the only vote they had ever had.
What entitles each Member to cast their vote more than anything else
are the taxes their constituents pay. The limited vote I sought, with a
remote provision, would have meant some modicum of that respect to the
taxpaying Americans I represent.
I hope in the years to come, while I am still a Member of this House,
that it will be found within the hearts of the Members and within their
understanding of our country's principles first to grant District
residents the limited vote I sought in the 107th Congress and then to
see to it that no Americans who pay taxes to their government are left
without full representation in the Congress of the United States.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Missouri (Mr. Gephardt), the Democratic leader in the House.
(Mr. GEPHARDT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the rules changes
proposed by the majority, which I believe contradict the promise of
working together in a truly bipartisan spirit because they undermine
the rights of Democratic Members. They also fail to address what I
think is the most pressing issue that comes out of this troubled
national election, and I urge all Members to support the Democratic
alternative to give Democrats fair representation on committees, to
accurately reflect the closeness of the margin in the House and to give
this House the impetus to move forward quickly on electoral reforms to
ensure that every citizen's vote in this country counts in every
election from now.
In the last few weeks, we have heard a lot of talk about
bipartisanship and about compromise, about finding consensus and common
ground. We applaud the verbal commitment to bipartisanship, but we also
believe that bipartisanship must be more than just words. It must be
backed up with deeds and actions. The Republican proposal that changed
the rules, we think, does not meet this test. It does not change the
ratios on committees to reflect the true makeup of the House and the
will of the voters, and it does not begin to address the issue of
electoral reform, which I think is one of the top priorities of the
American people.
We hope for a bipartisan atmosphere in this new Congress, and I hope
the closeness of the margin between our parties will be viewed as an
opportunity, not a hindrance. This is the people's House. It is not a
Republican House; it is not a Democratic House. To advance progress, we
must recognize and practice that principle, and the first step is to
allow the committees who do the work of the Congress to reflect the way
people voted in this election.

{time} 1515

We must have electoral reform. Our alternative makes electoral reform
a top national priority for our country to reflect the will of the
American people. Our proposal calls for swift action to make sure that
every vote cast gets counted, including military votes.
Voices were stifled on election day. This is completely unacceptable.
We should not have unequal voting procedures in any part of the country
or ever hear again about voter intimidation. It is wrong, and we should
do everything in our power to right those wrongs by working together to
expand the franchise and to make sure that every vote cast gets
counted.
This is a great democracy, and in our democracy voting is the most
important right, so let us pledge today to make every effort to protect
the rights of every American.
In closing, let me urge all of our colleagues to support the truly
bipartisan, truly fair, truly just package that the Democratic Party
puts before the House. I appeal to have a discussion of all the rules
changes that affect this House, including the unilateral decision to
reconstitute the Committee on

[[Page H15]]

Banking and Financial Services and to diminish the jurisdiction of the
Committee on Commerce and the decision to narrowly draw the minority's
ability to offer motions to recommit.
So, vote yes on the Democratic motion. Let us begin the process of
electoral reform and achieve true parity on all of the committees of
the House. Let us reflect in the House the decision of the American
people.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Oxley).
(Mr. OXLEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. OXLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Resolution and the
creation of a new Committee on Financial Services, which incorporates
the jurisdiction over the nations securities laws and the regulation of
the business of insurance with the jurisdiction of the former Committee
on Banking and Financial Services.
With the enactment of the landmark Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in the
106th Congress, consumers enjoy the promise of greater competition in
the financial services industry, leading to the development of
innovative new products, services, and giving the institutions offering
those services the ability to provide them at lower costs and with
greater convenience for the consumer.
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act created a new regulatory framework for
companies providing these services. It only makes sense that the House
modernize its committees to provide the kind of oversight needed in the
modern marketplace.
Under the Resolution before us, jurisdiction relating to securities
and exchanges is transferred in its entirety from the former Committee
on Commerce to the new Committee on Financial Services, including
securities dealing, underwriting, and market making. Matters relating
to the Securities and Exchange Commission, including accounting
standards, investor protection, equities exchanges, broker-dealers,
investment companies, and investment advisors also are included under
the jurisdiction of the Committee on Financial Services.
Similarly, jurisdiction over the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has
its root in the Securities Act of 1934 and would also fall under the
new Committee's jurisdiction over securities and exchanges. Regulation
of stock market quote data also would fall under the jurisdiction of
the Committee on Financial Services, as would legislation to regulate
its publication and sale as part of computerized databases.
Jurisdiction over matters relating to insurance generally also is
transferred to the new Committee on Financial Services, including
matters relating to the business of insurance, the solvency of insurers
and institutions underwriting or selling insurance, the protection of
insurance policyholders, the national treatment of insurance companies,
auto insurance, life insurance, and property and casualty insurance.
These are matters that are directly related to the regulation of the
nation's markets for securities and insurance, and it is my belief and
understanding that they will be referred to the Committee on Financial
Services in the future.
Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Towns).
Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong objection to the
transfer of jurisdiction over finance issues from the Committee on
Commerce to the Committee on Banking and Financial Services. I must say
that the policy arguments behind this watershed change are very
suspect.
The Committee on Banking and Financial Services has no expertise in
terms of oversight of legislation in the area of securities or
insurance. I mean none, zip, none. And, if it is not broken, why fix
it? There is no problem, so why are we fixing it? I will tell you, it
is strictly politics and nothing else.
Serious legislative issues which were unresolved in the Committee on
Commerce during the last Congress will now be turned over to a
committee with no background or understanding of these important
matters at all. I am speaking specifically here of the question of pay
equity for the Securities and Exchange Commission, Section 31 fee
reduction. Whether these issues will ever be addressed in the 107th
Congress remains an open question.
As a Member from New York where these issues are of paramount
importance, I must stress the fact that these issues will not be
addressed by a committee with the appropriate background, and,
therefore, I tell you now, this is pure bare knuckle politics. It is
nothing else. It is bad policy.
Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New
Jersey (Mr. Pallone).
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to the changes
in the House rules proposed by the Republican leadership.
For months now, the American people have been hearing an abundance of
talk from the Republican side about the new era of bipartisanship.
Well, in their first act, the Republicans have brought forth a set of
changes in the House rules, with no consultation from the Democratic
side, and will attempt to ram these changes through on a partisan vote.
Democrats only heard about the changes after the decision was made.
Mr. Speaker, in a move to appease and reward just one of the
conservative Members, the House leadership has abolished one full
committee, the Committee on Banking and Financial Services, and has
stripped another, the Committee on Commerce, of its long-standing
jurisdiction over securities issues.
Mr. Speaker, you claim that this move is rooted in substantive
changes and not politics, but this does not pass the straight-face
test. For what substantive reasons have you placed the jurisdiction of
our financial markets in the hands of the committee that wrote the laws
which brought us the savings and loan debacle? For what substantive
reason are you hurting the career of the gentlewoman from New Jersey
(Mrs. Roukema), the rightful heir to the chairmanship of the Committee
on Banking and Financial Services? Is it because she is a woman? Is it
because she is a moderate? Or is the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs.
Roukema) being passed over because she has not raised enough money for
your campaign coffers?
I would say to my colleagues, it is politics as usual for the
Republican leadership and the 107th Congress. By their own hand they
have written a document to govern this institution which rewards
conservative politics and political fund raising at the expense of
diversity and bipartisanship. I would urge my colleagues to oppose
these rule changes. Vote no on the resolution.
Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Maryland (Mr. Cardin).
(Mr. CARDIN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, the 107th Congress is barely 3 hours old,
and I must tell you, I am very disappointed by the first action we are
being asked to vote on. The rules package does not reflect the ground
rules to bringing about a bipartisan Congress.
I listened very carefully to the Speaker's comments just an hour ago
where he called upon all of us to listen to each other and to work
together in a bipartisan way. I am prepared to continue to work with my
Republican colleagues in an effort to deal with the important issues of
this Congress. But I must tell you, Mr. Speaker, it starts with
fairness. It starts with fairness in the process, fairness in the
rules.
The rules package being presented by the Republicans does not
represent fairness. First, there was no consultation with the
Democrats. That is wrong. One cannot justify that. Secondly, the
committee ratios are unfair. We have one of the smallest majority
margins in the history of this Congress, less than 51 percent of the
membership are Republicans, and yet when you look at the number of
Republicans on the committees, the Democrats should have almost 60 more
seats in order to equal their number. That is wrong.
Mr. Speaker, I remember the first day that I was on the Committee on
Ways and Means and how proud I was to be appointed to that committee.
The chairman welcomed both the Democratic and Republican members and
said that we now have a seat at the table. Well, the Committee on Ways
and Means in the 107th Congress will be 60 percent membership on the
Republican side of the aisle. Three Democrats should be more on that
committee. Three of my colleagues on the Democratic side of the aisle
are being denied their fair opportunity to represent the views of their
constituents. That is wrong. That needs to be corrected.
It starts with fairness in the committees. The Committee on Ways and
Means will be considering tax legislation, Social Security reform,
Medicare reform. I listened very carefully as the

[[Page H16]]

President-elect called upon bipartisan cooperation on each of these
issues, yet the committee that will consider it in this body will not
be fairly represented by the views of this House. That is wrong, and
needs to be corrected.
Mr. Speaker, there is still time to correct this injustice. The
Speaker said to us just an hour ago we should be judged by our actions,
and I agree. Now is the time to be judged by our actions. The
Republicans control the vote on the rules of the House. We on the
Democratic side understand that. But we call upon the Republicans to
understand what they have done on committee ratios is just wrong and
cannot be defended. There is still time to correct this injustice.
The American people are watching our actions. Let us start off on the
right path, not the wrong one. I urge my colleagues to support the
Democratic substitute, the Democratic motion to instruct, for it
provides for the basic fairness, so we all can work together in a truly
bipartisan way.
Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Pelosi).
Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Democratic substitute to the
rules package before us. Earlier today, over 430 Members of this House
swore an oath of office to uphold the Constitution of the United
States. That Constitution calls for a democratic form of government,
ensuring the right to vote to all eligible people in our country.
However, the Republican package does nothing to address the election
that we have just gone through, and I commend our Democratic leader,
the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt), for making the Democratic
substitute have swift action by the Committee on the Judiciary to
report by March 1 on urgent election reform measures to correct the
problems that occurred in the last election. Implicit in the right to
vote is the fact that your vote will be counted. We must remove
obstacles to participation in voting and counting before the next
election.
Also implicit is representation in Congress. That means
representation on committees as well. Nothing is more American than a
sense of fairness. That sense of fairness is absent in this Committee
on Rules package put forth.
Mr. Speaker, I urge our colleagues to support the Democratic
substitute.
Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New
Jersey (Mr. Menendez), the Vice Chairman of the Democratic Caucus.
(Mr. MENENDEZ asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me
time.
Mr. Speaker, this is the first test of bipartisanship, the first test
of leadership, and the Republican leadership has failed it. They seem
to look at the rules package as a way to settle political debts, to
gain strategic advantage and work out intra-party struggles, and they
are wrong. A rules package should have one central and overriding
concern, how the American people are represented in the people's House.
So when the representation on committees does not fairly reflect the
makeup of the House as decided by the people, the rules package fails
this test; and when we fail to take advantage of an historic
opportunity to address the problems in our election system, the rules
package fails this test.
We all know that tens of thousands of voters were disenfranchised in
this past election. We have a responsibility to make sure that never
happens again. Democrats are fighting for these voters; Republicans are
ignoring them.
I urge our colleagues to give us on this first day bipartisanship, by
fairness in the committee assignments, fairness in the opportunity for
the Nation's voters, and voting for the Democratic alternative.
Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I will inform the gentleman from California (Chairman
Dreier) that I will, at the end of the speeches, put in a motion to
recommit, which will deal with committee ratios and election reform.
Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back
the balance of my time.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I obviously believe that we have been able to
successfully craft a very good package of rules changes for the 107th
Congress. As I have listened over the last few minutes to the
statements from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, it really
is a misunderstanding of what it is that we are doing here and of what
the process is.
You have to go back over 120 years before Speaker Reed was Speaker of
the House to find a time when we did not enjoy majority rule where the
party in the majority actually set forth the rules under which the
House was governed.
That is exactly what has happened this year. We have just over the
last few minutes seen a vote for Speaker of the House. The Democrats
voted for the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt), the Republicans
voted for the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert). There were more
votes for the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert) than there were for
the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt). Was that a partisan vote?
Well, yes, it was a partisan vote.
Did we, in fact, see a crafting of the rules done in a bipartisan
way? Well, we certainly took into consideration minority proposals. I
am always willing to listen to the thoughts of our colleagues from the
other side of the aisle. But I served for 14 years in the minority
here, and sometimes we did not even get that much from those who were
in the majority.
I am not saying we should do it exactly the same way, because we
learned some things from you that I have to admit were good, and there
are other things that we learned that we have not proceeded with. That
is why if one looks at the proposals that we have had come forth
beginning with the Republicans becoming the majority, the Republican
takeover in 1994, to today, I believe we have done an awful lot to
recognize minority rights.

{time} 1530

It has been my experience, having served 14 years in the minority,
that led me to say that we wanted to do things, like ensure that the
minority has a right to offer that motion to recommit, and we have done
that. We have continued it. I know that there was consideration to this
issue of reinstating proxy voting, and it is no secret that there was a
discussion on our side about it, and we decided to keep the ban on
proxy voting, and that, of course, ensures that committee chairmen do
not simply use the proxy vote without other members of the majority
being there, often at the expense of the minority.
The other thing that I think is very important for us to note is the
question of committee funding. I am very proud, and I have worked
closely with the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Moakley) on the
issue of committee funding on the Committee on Rules, and I know that
other committees have been able to put together a package, and under
the leadership of our Committee on House Administration and the
gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas), we have increased the funding
level for the minority for their committee staffs.
The other question that was raised during this debate had to do with
committee ratios. By tradition, Mr. Speaker, the way this works is, the
Speaker of the House and the minority leader work out an agreement on
committee ratios, and that is exactly what is taking place now, and
that is what has taken place here.
Then, on this issue of the jurisdictional change, I will say that I
am very proud of the fact that going back 7 years to what was called
the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress, one that I
cochaired, along with Senator Domenici and former Senator Boren and
former Congressman Lee Hamilton, a committee which spent a great deal
of time looking at reforms of this institution. At that time, 7 years
ago, 1993, I offered a proposal which dealt with this exact
jurisdictional shift, which we are finally including today, 7 years
later. I did not quite make it then. My proposal then died on a 6-6 tie
vote. We are doing it today, and obviously, it is controversial in the
eyes of many, but it is being done for the same policy reasons that I
proposed back in 1993.

[[Page H17]]

Now, it is even more important than it was then because of the
passage of the very important Financial Services Modernization Act that
we were able to pass in the 106th Congress. That is the reason we are
doing this, and I believe that it will enhance our ability to deal with
a wide range of very important public policy questions that are on the
horizon.
So let me just say that this is a fair package; it is a balanced
package. I think it deserves bipartisan support. While I doubt that we
will have too many Members on the other side of the aisle who will join
in support of the rules package, I do not believe that it, in any way,
undermines the commitment that the Speaker of the House, the gentleman
from Illinois (Mr. Hastert), made just a few minutes ago here in this
Chamber to our goal of working to bring about solutions to the
challenges that we will face in this very important new year.
So with that, I will say that I look forward to working with my
colleagues as we move ahead on a number of important issues, and I urge
strong support of this package.
Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I have mixed feelings about our new
rules package.
We have a new president, new House, and new Senate, but we are
beginning the new millennium with some of the same partisan divisions.
My friends in the Majority want to pass a new rules package for the
107th Congress that does little to address the views and concerns of
the Minority.
Specifically, Mr. Speaker, despite all the talk about bipartisanship,
little has been done in the House to modify committee ratios to reflect
the Minority's gains in the last election, or even the gains made by
Democrats in 1998.
I believe all committees in the House should reflect the 51-49
percent split between Democrats and Republicans.
While I was pleased to see that the Republicans are considering
adding a seat for each party to Appropriations, Commerce, and Ways and
Means, this will do nothing to achieve parity on these committees.
In fact, if one member is added to both sides of the Commerce
Committee, on which I serve, the ratio will still be 55-45. While I
welcome new colleagues to these committees, the addition does nothing
to achieve the parity the minority is seeking.
The reality is that the House now has one of the smallest majorities
in the history of our country. Committee ratios should reflect that
small majority.
Mr. Speaker, I do not want to stand up here today and throw cold
water on the 107th Congress.
In fact, I was pleased to see that the Republicans rejected efforts
to bring back proxy voting. I approved of this reform when it was
instituted in the 104th Congress, and I am pleased to see that the
majority has chosen to keep it.
Nevertheless, I have concerns about this rules package, and hope that
the majority recognizes the gains made by Democrats during the
electoral process.
We are all going to remember the unfulfilled potential of the 106th
Congress, I do not want the same fate to befall the 107th Congress.
I do not want to feel like Tom Hanks, stranded on an island talking
to a volley ball.
This body must learn to communicate and allow input in the decision
making process.
I have great hopes for the 107th Congress, but the success or failure
of the legislative agenda rests solely with the majority.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I
move the previous question on the resolution.
The previous question was ordered.

Motion to Commit Offered by Mr. Moakley

Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I offer a motion to commit.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). The Clerk will report the
motion.
The Clerk read as follows:

Mr. Moakley moves to commit the resolution H. Res. 5 to a
select committee comprised of the Majority Leader and the
Minority Leader with instructions to report back the same to
the House forthwith with the following amendments.
Strike section 2 of the resolution and in lieu thereof, add
the following:
``Sec. 2. Change in Standing Rules.--
Committee Ratios.--Clause 5(a)(1) of Rule X of the Rules of
the House of Representatives is amended by adding the
following new sentence: ``The membership of each committee
(and each subcommittee or other subunit thereof) shall
reflect the ratio of majority to minority party members of
the House at the beginning of the Congress. This requirement
shall not apply to the Committee on Rules and the Committee
on Standards of Official Conduct.''
At the end of the resolution, add the following:
(e) ``Election Reform.--The Committee on the Judiciary is
directed to report to the House no later than March 1, 2001
legislation comprising its recommendations to ensure that all
eligible Americans who vote (including military personnel who
vote by absentee ballot) shall have their votes counted.''

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the previous question is
ordered on the motion to commit.
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to commit.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 199,
nays 213, not voting 18, as follows:

[Roll No. 3]

YEAS--199

Abercrombie
Ackerman
Allen
Andrews
Baca
Baird
Baldacci
Baldwin
Barcia
Barrett
Becerra
Bentsen
Berkley
Berman
Berry
Bishop
Blagojevich
Blumenauer
Bonior
Borski
Boswell
Boucher
Boyd
Brady (PA)
Brown (OH)
Capps
Capuano
Cardin
Carson (OK)
Clay
Clayton
Clement
Clyburn
Condit
Costello
Cramer
Crowley
Davis (CA)
Davis (FL)
Davis (IL)
DeFazio
DeGette
Delahunt
DeLauro
Deutsch
Dicks
Dingell
Doggett
Dooley
Doyle
Edwards
Engel
Eshoo
Etheridge
Evans
Farr
Fattah
Filner
Ford
Frank
Frost
Gephardt
Gonzalez
Gordon
Green (TX)
Hall (OH)
Hall (TX)
Harman
Hastings (FL)
Hill
Hilliard
Hinchey
Hinojosa
Hoeffel
Holden
Holt
Honda
Hooley
Hoyer
Inslee
Israel
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jefferson
John
Johnson, E. B.
Jones (OH)
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Kennedy (RI)
Kildee
Kilpatrick
Kind (WI)
Kleczka
Kucinich
LaFalce
Lampson
Langevin
Lantos
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lee
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Lofgren
Lowey
Lucas (KY)
Luther
Maloney (CT)
Maloney (NY)
Markey
Mascara
Matheson
Matsui
McCarthy (MO)
McCarthy (NY)
McCollum
McDermott
McGovern
McIntyre
McKinney
McNulty
Meehan
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Menendez
Millender-McDonald
Miller, George
Mink
Moakley
Mollohan
Moore
Moran (VA)
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Owens
Pallone
Pascrell
Pastor
Payne
Pelosi
Peterson (MN)
Phelps
Pomeroy
Price (NC)
Rahall
Rangel
Reyes
Rivers
Rodriguez
Roemer
Ross
Rothman
Roybal-Allard
Sabo
Sanchez
Sanders
Sandlin
Sawyer
Schakowsky
Schiff
Scott
Serrano
Sherman
Shows
Sisisky
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (WA)
Solis
Spratt
Stenholm
Stupak
Tanner
Tauscher
Taylor (MS)
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Thurman
Tierney
Towns
Turner
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Velazquez
Visclosky
Waters
Watt (NC)
Waxman
Weiner
Wexler
Woolsey
Wu
Wynn

NAYS--213

Aderholt
Akin
Armey
Bachus
Baker
Ballenger
Bartlett
Barton
Bass
Bereuter
Biggert
Bilirakis
Blunt
Boehlert
Boehner
Bonilla
Bono
Brady (TX)
Brown (SC)
Bryant
Burr
Burton
Buyer
Callahan
Calvert
Camp
Cannon
Cantor
Capito
Castle
Chabot
Chambliss
Coble
Collins
Combest
Cooksey
Cox
Crane
Crenshaw
Cubin
Cunningham
Davis, Jo Ann
Davis, Thomas M.
Deal
DeLay
DeMint
Diaz-Balart
Doolittle
Dreier
Duncan
Dunn
Ehlers
Ehrlich
Emerson
English
Everett
Ferguson
Flake
Fletcher
Foley
Fossella
Frelinghuysen
Gallegly
Ganske
Gekas
Gibbons
Gilchrest
Gillmor
Gilman
Goode
Goodlatte
Goss
Graham
Granger
Graves
Green (WI)
Greenwood
Grucci
Gutknecht
Hansen
Hart
Hastings (WA)
Hayes
Hayworth
Herger
Hilleary
Hobson
Hoekstra
Horn
Hostettler
Houghton
Hulshof
Hutchinson
Hyde
Isakson
Issa
Istook
Jenkins
Johnson (CT)
Johnson (IL)
Johnson, Sam
Jones (NC)
Kelly
Kennedy (MN)
Kerns
King (NY)
Kingston
Knollenberg
Kolbe
LaHood
Largent
Latham
LaTourette
Leach
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (KY)
Linder
LoBiondo
Lucas (OK)
Manzullo
McCrery
McHugh
McInnis
McKeon
Mica
Miller (FL)
Miller, Gary
Moran (KS)
Morella
Myrick
Nethercutt
Ney
Northup
Norwood
Nussle
Osborne
Ose
Otter
Oxley
Paul
Pence
Peterson (PA)
Petri

[[Page H18]]

Pickering
Pitts
Platts
Pombo
Portman
Pryce (OH)
Putnam
Quinn
Radanovich
Ramstad
Regula
Rehberg
Reynolds
Rogers (KY)
Rogers (MI)
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Roukema
Royce
Ryan (WI)
Ryun (KS)
Saxton
Scarborough
Schaffer
Schrock
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Shadegg
Shaw
Shays
Sherwood
Shimkus
Shuster
Simmons
Simpson
Skeen
Smith (MI)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Snyder
Souder
Spence
Stearns
Stump
Sununu
Sweeney
Tancredo
Tauzin
Taylor (NC)
Terry
Thornberry
Thune
Tiahrt
Tiberi
Toomey
Traficant
Upton
Vitter
Walden
Walsh
Wamp
Watkins
Weldon (FL)
Weldon (PA)
Weller
Whitfield
Wicker
Wolf
Young (AK)
Young (FL)

NOT VOTING--18

Barr
Brown (FL)
Carson (IN)
Conyers
Coyne
Culberson
Cummings
Hefley
Hunter
Keller
Kirk
Murtha
Riley
Rush
Strickland
Thomas
Watts (OK)
Wilson

{time} 1555

Messrs. SIMMONS, RYAN of Wisconsin, GUTKNECHT, and TERRY, Mrs.
GRANGER, Ms. DUNN, and Messrs. POMBO, JONES of North Carolina,
GILCHREST, DOOLITTLE, TANCREDO, SCARBOROUGH, WELLER, BURTON of Indiana,
SHADEGG and GRAHAM changed their vote from ``yea'' to ``nay.''
Messrs. LARSON of Connecticut, SAWYER, and TIERNEY, Ms. DeGETTE, Ms.
JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. NADLER, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr.
WEINER, and Ms. McCARTHY of Missouri changed their vote from ``nay'' to
``yea.''
So the motion to commit was rejected.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). The question is on the
resolution.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 215,
nays 206, not voting 9, as follows:

[Roll No. 4]

YEAS--215

Aderholt
Akin
Armey
Bachus
Baker
Ballenger
Barr
Bartlett
Barton
Bass
Bereuter
Biggert
Bilirakis
Blunt
Boehlert
Boehner
Bonilla
Bono
Brady (TX)
Brown (SC)
Bryant
Burr
Burton
Buyer
Callahan
Calvert
Camp
Cannon
Cantor
Capito
Castle
Chabot
Chambliss
Coble
Collins
Combest
Cooksey
Cox
Crane
Crenshaw
Cubin
Culberson
Cunningham
Davis, Jo Ann
Davis, Thomas M.
Deal
DeLay
DeMint
Diaz-Balart
Doolittle
Dreier
Duncan
Dunn
Ehlers
Ehrlich
Emerson
English
Everett
Flake
Fletcher
Foley
Fossella
Frelinghuysen
Gallegly
Ganske
Gekas
Gibbons
Gilchrest
Gillmor
Gilman
Goode
Goodlatte
Goss
Graham
Granger
Graves
Green (WI)
Greenwood
Grucci
Gutknecht
Hansen
Hart
Hastings (WA)
Hayes
Hayworth
Herger
Hilleary
Hobson
Hoekstra
Horn
Hostettler
Houghton
Hulshof
Hunter
Hutchinson
Hyde
Isakson
Issa
Istook
Jenkins
Johnson (CT)
Johnson, Sam
Jones (NC)
Kelly
Kennedy (MN)
Kerns
King (NY)
Kingston
Kirk
Knollenberg
Kolbe
LaHood
Largent
Latham
LaTourette
Leach
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (KY)
Linder
LoBiondo
Lucas (OK)
Manzullo
McCrery
McHugh
McInnis
McKeon
Mica
Miller (FL)
Miller, Gary
Moran (KS)
Morella
Myrick
Nethercutt
Ney
Northup
Norwood
Nussle
Osborne
Ose
Otter
Oxley
Paul
Pence
Peterson (PA)
Petri
Pickering
Pitts
Platts
Pombo
Portman
Pryce (OH)
Putnam
Quinn
Radanovich
Ramstad
Regula
Rehberg
Reynolds
Rogers (KY)
Rogers (MI)
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Roukema
Royce
Ryan (WI)
Ryun (KS)
Saxton
Scarborough
Schaffer
Schrock
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Shadegg
Shaw
Shays
Sherwood
Shimkus
Shuster
Simmons
Simpson
Skeen
Smith (MI)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Souder
Spence
Stearns
Stump
Sununu
Sweeney
Tancredo
Tauzin
Taylor (NC)
Terry
Thornberry
Thune
Tiahrt
Tiberi
Toomey
Traficant
Upton
Vitter
Walden
Walsh
Wamp
Watkins
Weldon (FL)
Weldon (PA)
Weller
Whitfield
Wicker
Wilson
Wolf
Young (AK)
Young (FL)

NAYS--206

Abercrombie
Ackerman
Allen
Andrews
Baca
Baird
Baldacci
Baldwin
Barcia
Barrett
Becerra
Bentsen
Berkley
Berman
Berry
Bishop
Blagojevich
Blumenauer
Bonior
Borski
Boswell
Boucher
Boyd
Brady (PA)
Brown (FL)
Brown (OH)
Capps
Capuano
Cardin
Carson (OK)
Clay
Clayton
Clement
Clyburn
Condit
Conyers
Costello
Coyne
Cramer
Crowley
Cummings
Davis (CA)
Davis (FL)
Davis (IL)
DeFazio
DeGette
Delahunt
DeLauro
Deutsch
Dicks
Dingell
Doggett
Dooley
Doyle
Edwards
Engel
Eshoo
Etheridge
Evans
Farr
Fattah
Filner
Ford
Frank
Frost
Gephardt
Gonzalez
Gordon
Green (TX)
Hall (OH)
Hall (TX)
Harman
Hastings (FL)
Hill
Hilliard
Hinchey
Hinojosa
Hoeffel
Holden
Holt
Honda
Hooley
Hoyer
Inslee
Israel
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jefferson
John
Johnson, E.B.
Jones (OH)
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Kennedy (RI)
Kildee
Kilpatrick
Kind (WI)
Kleczka
Kucinich
LaFalce
Lampson
Langevin
Lantos
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lee
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Lofgren
Lowey
Lucas (KY)
Luther
Maloney (CT)
Maloney (NY)
Markey
Mascara
Matheson
Matsui
McCarthy (MO)
McCarthy (NY)
McCollum
McDermott
McGovern
McIntyre
McKinney
McNulty
Meehan
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Menendez
Millender-McDonald
Miller, George
Mink
Moakley
Mollohan
Moore
Moran (VA)
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Owens
Pallone
Pascrell
Pastor
Payne
Pelosi
Peterson (MN)
Phelps
Pomeroy
Price (NC)
Rahall
Rangel
Reyes
Rivers
Rodriguez
Roemer
Ross
Rothman
Roybal-Allard
Rush
Sabo
Sanchez
Sanders
Sandlin
Sawyer
Schakowsky
Schiff
Scott
Serrano
Sherman
Shows
Sisisky
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (WA)
Snyder
Solis
Spratt
Stenholm
Strickland
Stupak
Tanner
Tauscher
Taylor (MS)
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Thurman
Tierney
Towns
Turner
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Velazquez
Visclosky
Waters
Watt (NC)
Waxman
Weiner
Wexler
Woolsey
Wu
Wynn

NOT VOTING--9

Carson (IN)
Ferguson
Hefley
Johnson (IL)
Keller
Murtha
Riley
Thomas
Watts (OK)

{time} 1615

So the resolution was agreed to.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

____________________