Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2005
AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005 -- (House of Representatives - July 13, 2004)
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 710 and rule XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the further consideration of the bill, H.R. 4766.
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Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. BONILLA. I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin.
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I was simply trying to facilitate the committee's work in trying to reach agreement on language that the gentleman from Virginia on your side of the aisle indicated he wanted to see in this bill, but if the gentleman does not want to wait for us to do that then I would be happy to pass it by and move on.
Mr. LaHOOD. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. BONILLA. I yield to the gentleman from Illinois.
Mr. LaHOOD. Mr. Chairman, I think, out of courtesy to the gentleman from Virginia earlier today, it would have been nice if the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies would have had the courtesy to recognize him when he was on the floor and could not get to the microphone. There was no consideration given to his ability when he had an important matter that he wanted considered, and out of courtesy that would have been nice to have been done.
If it had been done on the other side, if a Member on your side had been treated the way that the Member was treated on our side, I am sure there would have been many, many procedural votes today. But, apparently, the ranking member on the Committee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies did not have the courtesy or the common decency to allow the Member to have his say or the right just to have his say.
I guess that is the way it is, and we see from time to time when that courtesy is not extended to your Members, all you-know-what breaks loose around here.
Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for his remarks.
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. BONILLA. I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin.
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, let me simply say that I was informed that the gentleman from Virginia on your side of the aisle, that he was prevented from getting to the microphone by a Member of his own party. So I was not on the floor, I did not see what happened, but if the gentleman would prefer to resurrect old antagonisms rather than to solve problems, I am perfectly happy to leave this mess exactly where it is.
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Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.
The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
The text of the amendment is as follows:
Amendment offered by Mr. Obey:
Add at the end (before the short title), the following new section:
Sec. . None of the funds made available to the Department of Agriculture by this Act may be used to acquire new information
technology systems or significant upgrades, as determined by the Office of the Chief Information Officer, without the approval of the Chief Information Officer and the concurrence of the Executive Information Technology Investment Review Board: Provided, That notwithstanding any other provision of law, none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be transferred to the Office of the Chief Information Officer: Provided further, That the report described in the second proviso under the heading "OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER" shall also be submitted to the Committee on Government Reform of the House of Representatives.
The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to the order of the House of today, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) and a Member opposed each will control 5 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey).
Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, we have not seen the amendment, so at this time I reserve a point of order.
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Earlier in the day we had a dispute erupt between the authorizing committee and the Committee on Appropriations with respect to one language provision in this bill from last year's bill. Subsequent to that, we had another dispute manifest itself with respect to new language in this bill. As a result of that altercation, we had two sections of the bill which were stricken on points of order.
After that occurred, I discussed the episode with the gentleman from Virginia, the chairman of the subcommittee from the authorizing committee, which had objected to our committee's initial actions. The gentleman told me that what he was trying to get at was simply to make certain that in the provision that was carried in last year's bill that the authorizing committee would also receive notice before the agency could proceed to outsource or to contract for certain jobs outside of the agency itself.
This amendment is simply an effort to reinstate the language as I understand the gentleman from Virginia wanted it, and to also insert the language originally inserted in this bill by the Committee on Appropriations which would prevent the agency from transferring certain funds that the committee had indicated should not be transferred.
This is a simple effort on the part of one Member of the minority party to defend the institutional prerogatives of the Congress. And if the majority wants to accept it, that is fine with me. If they do not want to accept it, I could not care less.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.