Legislative Program

LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM -- (House of Representatives - March 04, 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 inquiring of 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, the House will convene on Tuesday at 12:30 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 the week. Any votes called on these measures will be rolled until 6:30 p.m.
On Wednesday, the House will convene at 10 a.m. We plan to consider H.R. 339, the Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act. In addition, we plan to consider H.R. 3717, the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act.

Finally, I would like to remind all Members that we do not plan to have votes next Friday, March 12. I will be happy to answer any questions that the gentleman from Maryland has.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for that information, and also for planning purposes that assurance for March 12.

We talked last week and we know that the highway reauthorization extension for 2 months was worked out. When can we expect the committees to mark up the reauthorization bill, and when do you expect to see it on the floor.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will continue to yield, I believe the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) is in the process of working with the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), the ranking member, and members of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure to develop a product that can move through this House before the Easter recess and be signed into law as quickly as possible. So if we back away from our Easter recess, I would hope that the committee would, within the next couple of weeks, be marking up a bill so we can get it to the floor before the Easter recess.

[Time: 13:00]

Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for that answer. Can the leader tell me whether or not there is an expectation that this will be, as we have had in the past, a 6-year reauthorization, or is it possible that there would be a shorter reauthorization, say, of 2 years, obviously focused on trying to build jobs and create jobs in the country?

Mr. DeLAY. It is a jobs bill, a very important jobs bill to all of us here in the House. We want to do what we can to create these jobs and get them going as fast as possible. To answer the gentleman's question about whether it is a 2-year bill, a 6-year bill, what is the amount here or there, I am not advised, quite frankly. There are discussions about all of that. I do not think any decision has been made along those lines. The gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) and the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) are still discussing that, but I am sure they soon will come to some sort of understanding as to how we will proceed.

Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman. As we, as well, also discussed last week, can the leader bring us up to date on the progress of the budget resolution and when he expects it to be marked up in committee and when we can expect to have that bill on the floor?

Mr. DeLAY. It is my understanding after a lot of discussion that Chairman Nussle and his Budget Committee members are working furiously to complete all their hearings and be prepared to mark it up possibly as early as next week. I would imagine moving the budget resolution to the floor the week after the committee reports its resolution out of the committee.

Mr. HOYER. I know this is preliminary and it is early, but my presumption would be that as we did in years past, that the minority would have its rights to submit such substitutes as it deemed appropriate?

Mr. DeLAY. I am encouraging the minority to present substitutes so that we can have a very healthy debate about the future of this country and how we would as a House decide that the importance of the budget is such that we can come to some sort of agreement as a House to move a budget along.

Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, if I may say, somewhat, I know, facetiously, but we are pleased that the leader is encouraging us to do so. As a matter of fact, we are as pleased about that as we were last year when the gentleman from Texas urged everybody to support our motion to instruct, that we follow the House Democratic substitute as opposed to the one that we actually passed. So we are encouraged by the gentleman's encouragement.

Last, if I can, the FSC bill. We talked about this last week. Obviously, the Europeans have started to impose some penalties. Can the gentleman tell us the status of legislation to deal with the FSC issue?

Mr. DeLAY. As the gentleman knows, the Committee on Ways and Means has reported a bill out, H.R. 2896, the American Jobs Creation Act. This was reported last year. But we continue to work with the committee and the other body and the administration to bring that bill to the floor in a form that not only meets our obligations to the WTO but also ensures the continued competitive position of all U.S. companies. I anticipate that we will bring such a bill to the floor in the very near future.

Mr. HOYER. I presume, as well, that when and if that is brought to the floor, because there has been some real disagreement on who that bill ought to advantage and focus on as the gentleman knows in terms of domestic manufacturers as opposed to manufacturers who do a lot of work overseas, and hopefully we will be able to offer alternatives to certainly the bill that was reported out last year, if it is the same bill. As the gentleman knows, we would have an alternative to that. Can the leader give us assurance that we will have that option?

Mr. DeLAY. The gentleman knows that it is the tradition of the House to keep Ways and Means tax bills very tight. We have always as a tradition discouraged amendments, but we have encouraged substitutes. I cannot speak for the Committee on Rules; but if there are alternatives in the form of substitutes, then they will be taken into consideration.

Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for that observation. One additional observation. That is obviously an important option. I think the gentleman states correctly the practice of the House under both Democrats and Republicans.

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

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

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. If I could ask the gentleman from Texas, I like to keep up with new trends in the House. I was struck when the gentleman from Texas, the majority leader, said he could not speak for the Rules Committee.
Is that a new development we had not previously known about?

Mr. DeLAY. That tradition remains the same, I would say to my friend from Massachusetts.

Mr. HOYER. I thought of that question, Mr. Leader, but I thought it was probably not worth asking because I knew the answer. But to the other question, with respect to offering substitutes, very frankly, what happens is you can offer a substitute, but if it is not germane and you do not receive a waiver when you are granted the right to offer the substitute, obviously on the one hand you have the ability to offer a substitute, but you do not really have the ability to offer an alternative. There is a very substantial difference.

I do not necessarily expect an answer today, but I really would hope, because we are talking about very significant, important issues, where there are differences in a bipartisan fashion on either alternative, that alternatives should be allowed that are consistent with the objective, although, as the leader well knows, from time to time because of what is or is not included in the committee product may or may not be germane even though it is pointed to the subject. I offer that as food for thought because I think it is fair and I think it would be good for the American public to have a broader spectrum of options than is sometimes allowed to us, notwithstanding the fact that theoretically a substitute is made available.

I think the gentleman understands my point, and I thank the gentleman for the information.

END