Legislative Program

LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM -- (House of Representatives - March 25, 2004)

(Mr. HOYER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise for the purpose of asking the majority leader the schedule for the week to come.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, next week the House will convene on Monday at 12:30 p.m. for morning hour debates and 2 p.m. for legislative business. We will consider several measures under suspension of the rules, and a final list of those bills will be sent to Members' offices by the end of this week. Any votes called on these measures will be rolled until 6:30 p.m.

On Tuesday, the House will convene at 12 p.m. We plan to consider additional measures under suspension of the rules, as well as H.R. 3966, the ROTC and Military Recruiter Equal Access to Campus Act. Next week we also expect to consider H.R. 3550, the TEA-LU highway bill.

Finally, I would like to remind all Members that next week is a full 5-day work week. We may work some late nights as we work to complete these important pieces of legislation. I am happy to answer any questions.

[Time: 18:30]

Mr. HOYER. I thank the majority leader for the information.

First of all, Mr. Speaker, on the highway reauthorization bill, can the majority leader give us some view? I see the chairman of the Committee on Rules is on the floor. Can the gentleman from Texas give us some view of the rule under which the majority contemplates consideration of the highway bill?

Mr. DeLAY. While I would defer to the Committee on Rules who should have an announcement regarding amendments very shortly, I anticipate that they would make in order a variety of amendments and call for a very lengthy debate.

Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman. Obviously this is a very important bill. I think most of us believe it is very important to pass this bill.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from California.

Mr. DREIER. The distinguished majority leader is correct that we do hope to have a wide-ranging debate. I would just like to say that the announcement that I will make in just a few moments when the colloquy is completed will be calling for a structured rule, and what I wanted to say is that we have had a tradition in the past for consideration of these transportation authorization bills of a structured rule which has made in order a certain number of amendments. I just wanted to say, under both Democratic and Republican majorities, that has been the pattern. I thank my friend for yielding.

Mr. HOYER. I thank the chairman for his comments. I understand the background. As long, obviously, as we do have, within the structured rule, an opportunity to debate different points of view, that will be, I think, helpful to all the Members.

The gentleman from Texas did not mention in his initial discussion of the schedule whether or not there was any plan, at least on Monday, to do anything with respect to going to conference on the budget or instructions. Can we assume from that that there will be no action on the budget going to conference, at least on Monday night?

Mr. DeLAY. I appreciate the gentleman reminding me. The gentleman knows, of course, that the other body has already passed their version of the budget resolution; and in working with the other body, I really anticipate moving to go to conference on the budget as early as Monday afternoon of next week.

Mr. HOYER. I am going to go back. There will be no votes until 6:30 on Monday.

Mr. DeLAY. That is correct.

Mr. HOYER. I had asked the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt) whether or not he contemplated any action on Monday. He indicated that he had not. Subsequently, the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Nussle) and the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt) have talked, but I do not know whether the gentleman from South Carolina knows that at this point in time. Do we know whether they have really made a decision on that? I know the gentleman hopes to do that, but would it be fair to believe that this matter is still under consideration, or is the gentleman positive that there will be action on Monday afternoon?

Mr. DeLAY. All I can tell the gentleman is what I know and what I have been advised of. I have been advised that the Budget Committee, at least the House, and the conference committee wanted to start meeting as early as Tuesday morning. In order for that to happen, we would have to go to conference Monday evening.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Leader, let me correct for the record because I was in error, it is my understanding that Mr. Kahn has been told, who is our chief clerk on the Budget Committee. I am sure that the gentleman from South Carolina now knows. I thank the leader for his comment. I wanted to clarify that, that we have received, apparently, notice.
Is it the majority leader's thought in light of the fact that we will be leaving next Friday for a 2-week break, district work period, that the conference report will be returned to the House next week? Would it be the gentleman's expectation that we might take up the conference report next week?

Mr. DeLAY. Certainly we would like to reach an agreement with the Senate prior to our district work period. For that reason, Members really should anticipate a very long workweek next week, because we would want to give the House and Senate negotiators all the time that they need in order to hopefully get this done and passed by both Houses before we leave next week. I know that is asking a lot of Members, but it would be nice if we could get the budget done before we break for the district work period.

Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for his comments. One additional, and I think final, item, the continuity of Congress challenge that we have has been discussed. There are obviously a number of different proposals, including constitutional amendments, as well as legislative action, as well as rules considerations. We have heard on this side there may be something happening next week. The gentleman did not mention it in his announcement. Can he tell us whether or not there is any possibility of having that matter on the floor next week.

Mr. DeLAY. I appreciate the gentleman asking about the continuity in Congress bill. We had it sort of waiting in the wings, but it looks like next week is going to be a pretty full week, and we may have to look for another time to bring that bill to the floor.

Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for that information.

Reclaiming my time, I think we still have some work to do on that, hopefully in a bipartisan fashion. This is obviously a critical problem confronting the Congress and the American people. Hopefully, perhaps, we can reach some agreement on that. If we had some extra time, that might be possible.

Mr. DeLAY. I want to congratulate the gentleman, because I know he has worked on it and others have. I have been very pleased with the bipartisanship that has been exhibited in working on this continuity of government bill. I am very pleased that it is coming along. I think we can continue to work together and come to some sort of solution to protect this House in case of some calamity.

Mr. HOYER. I thank the leader for his comment.

END