Legislative Program
Floor Speech
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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to discuss where we are now and where I expect to be in the coming hours and days.
First of all, I would caution all of us. We had a procedure in place where we would come on the floor in relatively small numbers and exit the floor.
Our President and the First Lady have been found to be afflicted with COVID-19. We pray for their health and their safety.
But we ought to also admonish ourselves to practice that distancing and that wearing a mask. We don't wear them when we are speaking so people can hear us, but I would urge all of us to understand that, obviously, COVID-19 is still very much among us. And for all of our sakes, and for the people's sake who we represent who want us to be healthy and articulate their position when we come to the floor, that we would be cautious.
Secondly, let me say, Mr. Speaker, that we have not, sadly, come to either a legislative agreement or an agreement between the administration and ourselves on a resolution of the next steps to take dealing with the COVID health crisis and the economic consequences of that crisis.
I want to tell Members that it is my expectation that this will be after this coming vote, which will be the last vote of today. There may well be, in discussions with our both sides, unanimous consent requests, but obviously they will have to be unanimous consent requests, and they will be agreements between both sides.
In addition to that, we will not be leaving for the break that usually occurs in October for the election that is about to come because, obviously, all of us want the opportunity to be talking to our constituents, but we also have a responsibility to ensure that our constituents are safe and get the help that they need.
So we are negotiating, and negotiations are going on as we speak between the administration and between our side of the aisle both here and across the Capitol. Hopefully, those negotiations will bear fruit sooner rather than later. When I say ``sooner rather than later,'' I hope that this weekend perhaps an agreement can be reached.
Now, if an agreement is reached, it will take some time to memorialize that agreement on paper. So I do not necessarily expect that a Monday or Tuesday vote is likely, but I want everybody to know, and it will be 24 hours' notice. It will not be 36 and it will not be 48 hours. I know that is difficult, but I think all of us feel, on both sides of the aisle, an urgency.
Clearly, for tactical reasons, we go back and forth and try to get an advantage on one another. That is what both sides do. I will tell you as sincerely as I can tell you, I know that the Speaker, who is negotiating with Secretary Mnuchin, I believe both of them are negotiating in goodwill, and both of them very much want to get to an agreement.
I know how hard our Speaker has been working and I know how hard Secretary Mnuchin has been working because I know, when they meet with one another and when they talk with one another on the phone, I almost invariably get a call from the Speaker, saying: This is what happens. This is where we are.
So I want to advise all of you that, while this vote that is to come is going to be our last vote of the day--and I don't expect even if an agreement were reached in the next hour that we would be able to bring something to the floor.
So after this next vote, Members are free to go where they want to go. Just be aware that there will be very short--no shorter than 24 hours'--notice so that we can come back and try to do what the American people want us to do, notwithstanding the fact we have different perspectives exactly what that is.
I hope that all of us will be focused and will be thinking about what we think is a reasonable agreement that we will reach, and hopefully whatever agreement is reached will be perceived by both sides as something that we can vote for.
Obviously, it won't have everything in it that each person wants or maybe has something that each person or some people may not want, but we have come together four times, Mr. Speaker. One was by unanimous consent. There was no vote. It passed by voice vote. I don't know if everybody was for, it but at least nobody said ``no.'' The other three were overwhelmingly passed and, in the Senate, I think at least twice, by voice vote.
So that, Mr. Speaker, is where we are at this point in time. I may make another announcement 45 minutes from now just to let other Members know.
I hope Members are watching, and certainly we will send it out, but Members need to check flights, obviously. My staff member tells me. I presume all of you understand that you have to check which flights are available. Obviously, that is a challenge. One of the things that we need to deal with is, obviously, the airlines. We need to deal with a lot of other things as well, and we will try to do that.
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