lishing standards or from establishing any relevant use. "(iv) CONSTRUCTED WATER CONVEYANCES DEFINED. In this subparagraph, the term 'constructed water conveyance' means a manmade water transport system constructed for the purpose of transporting water for agricultural purposes or municipal and industrial water supply purposes in a waterway that is not and never was a natural waterway.". After debate, Pursuant to clause 4 of rule XIII, the previous question on the amendment and the bill was considered as ordered. The question being put, viva voce, Will the House agree to said amendment? The SPEAKER pro tempore, Mr. WHITE, announced that the yeas had it. So the amendment was agreed to. The bill, as amended, was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, was read a third time by title. The question being put, viva voce, The SPEAKER pro tempore, Mr. WHITE, announced that three-fifths of the Members present had voted in the affirmative. of So, three-fifths the Members present having voted in favor thereof. the bill was passed. A motion to reconsider the vote whereby the bill was passed was, by unanimous consent. laid on the table. Ordered, That the Clerk request the concurrence of the Senate in said bill. 15.9 REPORT OF COMMITTEE TO NOTIFY THE PRESIDENT "Mr. ARMEY addressed the Chair and said: Mr. Speaker, your committee on the part of the House to join a like committee on the part of the Senate to notify the President of the United States that a quorum of each House has been assembled and is ready to receive any communication that he may be pleased to make has performed that duty. The President asked us to report that he will be pleased to deliver his message at 9 p.m. tonight to a joint session of the two Houses.". 15.10 RUTH AND BILLY GRAHAM GOLD MEDAL Mr. CASTLE moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2657) to award a congressional gold medal to Ruth and Billy Graham. The SPEAKER pro tempore, Mr. WHITE, recognized Mr. CASTLE and Mr. FLAKE, each for 20 minutes. After debate, The question being put, viva voce, Will the House suspend the rules and pass said bill? The SPEAKER pro tempore, Mr. WHITE, announced that two-thirds of the Members present had voted in the affirmative. Mr. CASTLE objected to the vote on the ground that a quorum was not present and not voting. The SPEAKER pro tempore, Mr. WHITE, pursuant to clause 5, rule I, announced that further proceedings on the motion were postponed. The point of no quorum was considered as withdrawn. 15.11 NOTICE REQUIREMENT CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTION— Mr. DOGGETT, pursuant to clause 2(a)(1) of rule IX, announced his intention to call up the following resolution, as a question of the privileges of the House: Whereas, the inability of the House to pass an adjustment in the public debt limit unburdened by the unrelated political agenda of either party, an adjustment to maintain the creditworthiness of the United States and to avoid disruption of interest rates and the financial markets, brings discredit upon the House; Whereas, the inability of the House to pass a clean resolution to continue normal governmental operations so as to end the abuse of American citizens and their hard-earned dollars, Federal employees, private businesses who perform work for the Federal government, and those who rely upon Federal services as a bargaining tactic to gain political advantage in the budget negotiations, brings discredit upon the House; Whereas, previous inaction of the House has already cost the American taxpayer about $1.5 billion in wasteful governmental shutdown costs, reduced the productivity and responsiveness of federal agencies and caused untold human suffering; Whereas, the failure of the House of Representatives to adjust the federal debt limit and keep the nation from default or to act on legislation to avert another government shutdown impairs the dignity of the House, the integrity of its proceedings and the esteem the public holds for the House; Resolved, That upon the adoption of this resolution the enrolling clerk of the House of Representatives shall prepare an engrossment of the bill, H.R. 2862, and the joint resolution, H.J. Res. 157. The vote by which this resolution is adopted by the House shall be deemed to have been a vote in favor of such bill and a vote in favor of such joint resolution upon final passage in the House of Representatives. Upon engrossment of the bill and the joint resolution, each shall be deemed to have passed the House of Representatives and been duly certified and examined; the engrossed copies shall be signed by the Clerk and transmitted to the Senate for further legislative action; and (upon final passage by both Houses) the bill and the joint resolution shall be signed by the presiding officers of both Houses and presented to the President for his signature (and otherwise treated for all purposes) in the manner provided for bills and joint resolution generally. The SPEAKER pro tempore, Mr. WHITE, responded to the foregoing notice, and said: "Under rule IX, a resolution offered from the floor by a member other than the majority leader or the minority leader as a question of the privileges of the House has immediate precedence only at a time or place designated by the Speaker in the legislative schedule within two legislative days of its being properly noticed. The Chair will announce the Chair's designation at a later time. "The Chair is not at this point making a determination as to whether the resolution constitutes a question of privilege. That determination will be made at the time designated by the Speaker for consideration of the resolution.". 15.12 SADDLEBACK MOUNTAIN-ARIZONA SETTLEMENT Mr. GALLEGLY moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill of the Senate (S. 1341) to provide for the transfer of certain lands to the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and the city of Scottsdale, Arizona, and for other purposes. The SPEAKER pro tempore, Mr. WHITE, recognized Mr. GALLEGLY and Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA, each for 20 minutes. After debate, The question being put, viva voce, Will the House suspend the rules and pass said bill? The SPEAKER pro tempore, Mr. WHITE, announced that two-thirds of the Members present had voted in the affirmative. Mr. GALLEGLY objected to the vote on the ground that a quorum was not present and not voting. The SPEAKER pro tempore, Mr. WHITE, pursuant to clause 5, rule I, announced that further proceedings on the motion were postponed. The point of no quorum was considered as withdrawn. 15.13 TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS TO NATIVE AMERICAN LAWS Mr. GALLEGLY moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2726) to make certain technical corrections in laws relating to Native Americans, and for other purposes; as amended. The SPEAKER pro tempore, Mr. WHITE, recognized Mr. GALLEGLY and Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA, each for 20 minutes. After debate, The question being put, viva voce, Will the House suspend the rules and pass said bill, as amended? The SPEAKER pro Mr. pro tempore, WHITE, announced that two-thirds of the Members present had voted in the affirmative. Mr. GALLEGLY objected to the vote on the ground that a quorum was not present and not voting. The SPEAKER pro tempore, Mr. WHITE, pursuant to clause 5, rule I, announced that further proceedings on the motion were postponed. The point of no quorum was considered as withdrawn. 15.14 H.R. 2657-UNFINISHED BUSINESS The SPEAKER pro tempore, Mr. WHITE, pursuant to clause 5, rule I, announced the unfinished business to be the motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2657) to award a congressional gold medal to Ruth and Billy Graham. The question being put, viva voce, Will the House suspend the rules and pass said bill? The SPEAKER pro tempore, Mr. WHITE, announced that two-thirds of those present had voted in the affirmative. Mr. GALLEGLY objected to the vote on the ground that a quorum was not present and not voting. Buyer Calvert Gallegly Lewis (KY) Brown (FL) Brown (OH) Brownback Bryant (TN) Bunn Bunning Burr Fox LaHood Frank (MA) Lantos Franks (CT) Franks (NJ) Largent Latham Frelinghuysen Frisa LaTourette Laughlin Frost Lazio Torkildsen Gekas So, Linder Lipinski LoBiondo Martinez McIntosh McNulty Meek Menendez Hefley Crane Hefner Metcalf Crapo Heineman Meyers Cremeans Herger Mfume Cubin Hilleary Mica Cunningham Hilliard Danner Davis de la Garza Miller (CA) Miller (FL) Minge Mink Hinchey Hobson Hoekstra Hoke Holden two-thirds of the Members present having voted in favor thereof. the rules were suspended and said bill passed. A motion to reconsider the vote whereby the rules were suspended and said bill was passed was, by unanimous consent, laid on the table. Ordered, That the Clerk request the concurrence of the Senate in said bill. 15.16 S. 1341-UNFINISHED BUSINESS The SPEAKER pro tempore, Mr. WHITE, pursuant to clause 5, rule I, announced the further unfinished business to be the motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill of the Senate (S. 1341) to provide for the transfer of certain lands to the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and the city of Scottsdale, Arizona, and for other purposes. The question being put, viva voce, Will the House suspend the rules and pass said bill? Durbin Fattah Ford Payne (NJ) Schaefer Tate Wyden Buyer Young (AK) Callahan Funderburk Furse So, two-thirds of the Members present having voted in favor thereof, the rules were suspended and said bill was passed. A motion to reconsider the vote whereby the rules were suspended and said bill was passed was, by unanimous consent, laid on the table. Ordered, That the Clerk notify the Senate thereof. 15.18 H.R. 2726-UNFINISHED BUSINESS The SPEAKER pro tempore, Mr. WHITE, pursuant to clause 5, rule I, announced the further unfinished business to be the motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2726) to make certain technical corrections in laws relating to Native Americans, and for other purposes; as amended. The question being put, viva voce, Will the House suspend the rules and pass said bill, as amended? The SPEAKER pro tempore, Mr. WHITE, announced that two-thirds of those present had voted in the affirmative. Mr. GALLEGLY demanded demanded a recorded vote on agreeing to said motion, Campbell Canady Cardin Castle Chabot Chrysler Clay Coburn Coleman Collins (GA) Collins (IL) Collins (MI) Combest Condit Conyers Cooley Costello Gutknecht Hall (OH) Hall (TX) Hamilton Hancock Hansen Hayes Harman McHugh Hastert McInnis Cox Coyne Cramer Hastings (FL) Hastings (WA) Menendez Metcalf Meyers Mfume Mica So, two-thirds of the Members present having voted in favor thereof, the rules were suspended and said bill, as amended, was passed. A motion to reconsider the vote whereby the rules were suspended and said bill, as amended, was passed was, by unanimous consent, laid on the table. Ordered, That the Clerk request the concurrence of the Senate in said bill. 15.20 RECESS 4:43 P.M. The SPEAKER pro tempore, Mr. WHITE, pursuant to clause 12 of rule I, declared the House in recess at 4 o'clock and 43 minutes p.m. until approximately 8:40 p.m. for the purpose of receiving in joint session the President of the United States. 15.21 AFTER RECESS-8:48 P.M. The SPEAKER called the House to order. 15.22 JOINT SESSION TO RECEIVE A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT The Sergeant at Arms announced the Vice President and Members of the Senate, who entered the Hall of the House and took seats assigned them, Leach Levin Lewis (CA) Lewis (GA) Lewis (KY) Lofgren Longley Lowey Lucas Luther the Vice President taking the Chair to the right of the Speaker. Whereupon, pursuant to Senate Concurrent Resolution 39, the SPEAKER called the joint session of the two Houses to order. The SPEAKER announced the appointment of Messrs. ARMEY, DELAY, BOEHNER, Cox, DICKEY, HUTCHINSON, GEPHARDT, BONIOR, FAZIO, Mrs. KENNELLY, Mr. THORNTON, and MRS. LINCOLN as members of the Committee on the part of the House to escort the President into the Hall of the House. The Vice President announced the appointment of Messrs. DOLE, LOTT, COCHRAN, NICKLES, THURMOND, DASCHLE, FORD, MS. MIKULSKI, Messrs. KERRY, KERREY, REID, ROCKEFELLER, DORGAN, BREAUX, DODD, and EXON as members of the committee on the part of the Senate to escort the President into the Hall of the House. The Sergeant at Arms announced the dean of the ambassadors, ministers, and charges d'affaires of foreign governments, who entered the Hall of the House and took the seat assigned to him. The Sergeant at Arms announced the Chief Justice of the United States and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, who entered the Hall of the House and took seats assigned to them. The Sergeant at Arms announced the Members of the President's Cabinet, who entered the Hall of the House and took seats assigned to them. The President of the United States at 9 o'clock and 8 minutes p.m., escorted by the committees of the two Houses, entered the Hall of the House and, at the Clerk's desk, delivered the following message: Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of the 104th Congress, distinguished guests, my fellow Americans all across our land: Let me begin tonight by saying to our men and women in uniform around the world and especially those helping peace take root in Bosnia and to their families, I thank you. America is very, very proud of you. My duty tonight is to report on the State of the Union, not the state of our government but of our American community, and to set forth our responsibilities, in the words of our Founders, to "form a more perfect union." The State of the Union is strong. Our economy is the healthiest it has been in three decades. We have the lowest combined rates of unemployment and inflation in 27 years. We have created nearly 8 million new jobs, over a million of them in basic industries like construction and automobiles. American is selling more cars than Japan for the first time since the 1970s, and for three years in a row we have had a record number of new businesses started in our country. Our leadership in the world is also strong, bringing hope for new peace. And perhaps most important, we are gaining ground and restoring our fundamental values. The crime rate, the welfare and food stamp rolls, the pov erty rate and the teen pregnancy rate are all down. And as they go down, prospects for America's future go up. We live in an Age of Possibility. A hundred years ago we moved from farm to factory. Now we move to an age of technology, information and global competition. These changes have opened vast new opportunities for our people, but they have also presented them with stiff challenges. While more Americans are living better, too many of our fellow citizens are working harder just to keep up, and they are rightly concerned about the security of their families. We must answer here three fundamental questions: First, how do we make the American dream of opportunity for all a reality for all Americans who are willing to work for it? Second, how do we preserve our old and enduring values as we move into the future? And third, how do we meet these challenges together as one America? We know big government does not have all the answers. We know there's not a program for every problem. We know and we have worked to give the American people a smaller, less bureaucratic government in Washington. And we have to give the American people one that lives within its means. The era of big government is over. But we cannot go back to the time when our citizens were left to fend for themselves. Instead, we must go forward as one America, one nation, working together to meet the challenges we face together. Self-reliance and teamwork are not opposing virtues. We must have both. I believe our new, smaller government must work in an old-fashioned American way, together with all of our citizens through State and local governments, in the workplace, in religious, charitable and civic associations. Our goal must be to enable all our people to make the most of their own lives, with stronger families, more educational opportunities, economic security, safer streets, a cleaner environment and a safer world. To improve the state of our union, we must ask more of ourselves. We must expect more of each other and we must face our challenges together. Here in this place our responsibility begins with balancing the budget in a way that is fair to all Americans. There is now broad bipartisan agreement that permanent deficit spending must come to an end. I compliment the Republican leadership and their membership for the energy and determination you have brought to this task of balancing the budget. And I thank the Democrats for passing the largest deficit reduction plan in history in 1993, which has already cut the deficit nearly in half in three years. Since 1993, we have all begun to see the benefits of deficit reduction. Lower interest rates have made it easier for businesses to borrow and to invest and to create new jobs. Lower interest rates have brought down the cost of home mortgages, car payments and credit card rates to ordinary citizens. Now it is time to finish the job and balance the budget. Though differences remain among us which are significant, the combined total of the proposed savings that are common to both plans is more than enough, using the numbers from your Congressional Budget Office, to balance the budget in 7 years and to provide a modest tax cut. These cuts are real. They will require sacrifice from everyone. But these cuts do not undermine our fundamental obligations to our parents, our children and our future by endangering Medicare or Medicaid or education or the environment or by raising taxes on working families. I have said before, and let me say again, many good ideas have come out of our negotiations. I have learned a lot about the way both Republicans and Democrats view the debate before us. I have learned a lot about the good ideas that each side has that we could all embrace. We ought to resolve our remaining differences. I am willing to work to resolve them. I am ready to meet tomorrow. But I ask you to consider that we should at least enact the savings that both plans have in common and give the American people their balanced budget, a tax cut, lower interest rates, and a brighter future. We should do that now and make permanent deficits yesterday's legacy. Now it is time for us to look also to the challenges of today and tomorrow, beyond the burdens of yesterday. The challenges are significant. But our Nation was built on challenges. America was built on challenges, not promises. And when we work together to meet them we never fail. That is the key to a more perfect union. Our individual dreams must be realized by our common efforts. Tonight I want to speak to you about the challenges we all face as a people. Our first challenge is to cherish our children and strengthen America's families. Families are the foundation of American life. If we have stronger families, we will have a stronger America. Before I go on, I would like to take just a moment to thank my own family and to thank the person who has taught me more than anyone else, over 25 years, about the importance of families and children, a wonderful wife, a magnificent mother, and a great First Lady. Thank you, Hillary. All strong families begin with taking more responsibility for our children. I have heard Mrs. Gore say that it is hard to be a parent today, but it is even harder to be a child. So all of us, not just as parents, but all of us in our other roles, our media, our schools, our teachers, our communities, our churches and synagogues, our businesses, our governments, all of us have a responsibility to help our children to make it and to make the most of their lives and their God-given capacities. To the media, I say you should create movies and CD's and television shows you'd want your own children and grandchildren to enjoy. I call on Congress to pass the requirement for a "V chip" in TV sets so that parents can screen out programs they believe are inappropriate for their children. When parents control what their young children see, that is not censorship; that is enabling parents to assume more personal responsibility for their children's upbringing, and I urge them to do it. The "V chip" requirement is part of the important telecommunications bill now pending in this Congress. It has bipartisan support, and I urge you to pass it now. To make the "V chip" work, I challenge the broadcast industry to do what movies have done: to identify your program in ways that help parents to protect their children. And I invite the leaders of major media corporations in the entertainment industry to come to the White House next month to work with us in a positive way on concrete ways to improve what our children see on television. I am ready to work with you. I say to those who make and market cigarettes, every year a million children take up smoking, even though it's against the law. Three hundred thousand of them will have their lives shortened as a result. Our administration has taken steps to stop the massive marketing campaigns that appeal to our children. We are simply saying, "Market your products to adults if you wish, but draw the line on children." I say to those who are on welfare and especially to those who have been trapped on welfare for a long time, for too long our welfare system has undermined the values of family and work instead of supporting them. The Congress and I are near agreement on sweeping welfare reform. We agree on time limits, tough work requirements, and the toughest possible child support enforcement. But I believe we must also provide child care so that mothers who are required to go to work can do so without worrying about what is happening to their children. I challenge this Congress to send me a bipartisan welfare reform bill that will really move people from welfare to work and do the right thing by our children. I will sign it immediately. Let us be candid about this difficult problem. Passing a law, even the best possible law, is only a first step. The next stop is to make it work. I challenge people on welfare to make the most of this opportunity for independence. I challenge American businesses to give people on welfare the chance to move into the work force. I applaud the work of religious groups and others who care for the poor. More than anyone else in our society, they know the true difficulty of the task before us, and they are in a position to help. Every one of us should join them. That is the only way we can make real wel fare reform a reality in the lives of the American people. To strengthen the family, we must do everything we can to keep the teen pregnancy rate going down. I am gratified, as I am sure all Americans are, that it has dropped for 2 years in a row, but we all know it is still far too high. Tonight I am pleased to announce that a group of prominent Americans is responding to that challenge by forming an organization that will support grassroots community efforts all across our country in a national campaign against teen pregnancy. And I challenge all of us and every American to join their efforts. I call on American men and women in families to give greater respect to one another. We must end the deadly scourge of domestic violence in our country. And I challenge America's families to work harder to stay together, for families that stay together not only do better economically, their children do better as well. In particular, I challenge the fathers of this country to love and care for their children. If your family has separated, you must pay your child support. We are doing more than ever to make sure you do, and we are going to do more, but let's all admit something about that, too. A check will never substitute for a parent's love and guidance, and only you, only you, can make the decision to help raise your children. No matter who you are, how low or high your station in life, it is the most basic human duty of every American to do that job to the best of his or her ability. Our second challenge is to provide Americans with the educational opportunities we'll all need for this new century. In our schools every classroom in America must be connected to the information superhighway with computers, and good software, and welltrained teachers. We are working with the telecommunications industry, educators and parents, to connect 20 percent of California's classrooms by this spring, and every classroom and every library in the entire United States by the year 2000. I ask Congress to support this education technology initiative so that we can make sure this national partnership succeeds. Every diploma ought to mean something. I challenge every community, every school, and every State to adopt national standards of excellence, to measure whether schools are meeting those standards, to cut bureaucratic red tape so that schools and teachers have more flexibility for grassroots reform, and to hold them accountable for results. That's what our Goals 2000 initiative is all about. I challenge every State to give all parents the right to choose which public school their children will attend and to let teachers form new schools with a charter they can keep only if they do a good job. I challenge all our schools to teach character education, to teach good val ues and good citizenship, and if it means that teenagers will stop killing each other over designers jackets, then our public schools should be able to require their students to wear school uniforms. I challenge our parents to become their children's first teachers, turn off the TV, see that the homework is done, and visit your children's classroom. No program, no teacher, no one else can do that for you. My fellow Americans, higher education is more important today than ever before. We've created a new student loan program that has made it easier to borrow and repay those loans, and we have dramatically cut the student loan default rate. That is something we should all be proud of because it was unconscionably high just a few years ago. Through AmeriCorps, our national service program, this year 25,000 young people will earn college money by serving their local communities to improve the lives of their friends and neighbors. These initiatives are right for America, and we should keep them going, and we should also work hard to open the doors of college even wider. I challenge Congress to expand work study and help 1 million young Americans work their way through college by the year 2000, to provide a $1,000 merit scholarship for the top 5 percent of graduates in every high school in the United States, to expand Pell grant scholarships for deserving and needy students, and to make up to $10,000 a year of college tuition tax deductible. It is a good idea for America. Our third challenge is to help every American who is willing to work for it achieve economic security in this new age. People who work hard still need support to get ahead in the new economy, they need education and training for a lifetime, they need more support for families raising children, they need retirement security, they need access to health care. More and more Americans are finding that the education of their childhood simply doesn't last a lifetime. So I challenge Congress to consolidate 70 overlapping, antiquated job training programs into a simple voucher worth $2,600 for unemployed or underemployed workers to use as they please for community college tuition or other training. This is a GI bill for America's workers we should all be able to agree on. More and more Americans are working hard without a raise. Congress sets the minimum wage. Within a year the minimum wage will fall to a 40-year low in purchasing power. Four dollars and twenty-five cents an hour is no longer a minimum wage, but millions of Americans and their children are trying to live on it. I challenge you to raise their minimum wage. In 1993 Congress cut the taxes of 15 million hard-pressed working families to make sure that no parents who work full time would have to raise their children in poverty and to encourage people to move from welfare to work. This |