Legislative Program

LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM -- (House of Representatives - September 23, 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 to inquire of the majority leader the schedule for the coming week.

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 Tuesday 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. A final list of those bills will be sent to the Members' offices by the end of this week.

Any votes on these measures will be rolled until 6:30 p.m.

On Wednesday and the balance of the week, we expect to consider additional legislation under suspension of the rules. Next week we also expect to consider two bills under a rule: H.R. 3193, the District of Columbia Personal Protection Act; and H.J. Res. 106, the Marriage Protection Amendment.

I thank the gentleman for yielding to me. I would be glad to answer any questions he may have.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman for his response.

The gentleman has cited the marriage constitutional amendment. Mr. Speaker, this bill, as I understand it, has not been marked up in committee at this point in time. Is it the gentleman's expectation that this will come to the floor, the constitutional amendment, without being marked up in the committee?

I yield to the gentleman.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding to me.

The committee has held four hearings on this bill, and I do anticipate bringing it to the floor without being marked up by the committee, under a rule.

Mr. HOYER. I am sorry? He does expect it to be brought to the floor without being marked up, but under a rule?

Mr. DeLAY. That is correct, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I have not spoken to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) about that, but obviously, because it is a constitutional amendment, I understand there have been four hearings. Presumably those four hearings were an attempt to elicit some information about the merits of the constitutional amendment and any changes that may or may not be necessary, which could obviously be perfected by an amendment in the committee.

Does he expect any amendments to be considered in the Committee on Rules?

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

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

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding to me.

I do not want to prejudice the action of the Committee on Rules, and I have no idea and I am not advised as to what considerations the Committee on Rules may or may not do as far as amendments are concerned.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his answer.

Next Friday is the beginning of the new fiscal year, as the majority leader knows; and we only passed, as he knows, one fiscal year 2005 appropriation which has been signed by the President, and that, of course, is the Defense bill. Assuming we will have a CR, can the leader give us an idea for what time period that CR may be?

I further yield to the gentleman.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding to me.

There are ongoing discussions. There will be more discussions about that. Our tentative plan is to move a short-term continuing resolution that would fund government programs through October 8. This would give us an additional week to complete appropriations conference reports before we make decisions about how to best complete all the fiscal 2005 bills.

Appropriations, both in the House and the Senate, are having many discussions. Generally, both Democrats and Republicans are wishing to get the appropriations process done before we leave for the elections. How we do that is speculative; and, frankly, the date of the CR is speculative. It could be October 8. It could be October 15. It could be November 20. All of this is tied together with the understanding that we are trying to get the appropriations bills all finalized and done before we leave here for the elections.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for that range of possibilities.

Does the gentleman anticipate having another supplemental appropriation before we either adjourn or recess for the election?

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

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

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.

Within the last 2 weeks, the White House has submitted a request for emergency supplemental funds to deal with the damage caused by Hurricane Frances. The gentleman from Florida (Chairman Young) advises me that a revised request is on its way from the White House to account for Hurricane Ivan. Once we receive that request and complete assessing those needs, it is possible to move forward with a supplemental. Whether that be freestanding or included in some omnibus bill, I think, is too early to tell.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman for his answer.

Another piece of business that has not been completed but is in the works or at least pending is the transportation reauthorization. Can the leader tell me whether or not there is an expectation of passing that bill or a relatively short-term extension prior to our leaving on whatever date we may leave?

I yield to the gentleman.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding to me.

I will start by saying the House has not given up. We want to get this bill done. We have been working to get it done, and we hope to have a conference report for the Members before we adjourn. In the interim, we may have another short-term extension of the highway programs, and hopefully we will have a decision by the first of next week. In order to get the full 6-year highway bill done, I think a decision will have to be made by the first of next week as to how we would proceed.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. The gentleman had to leave early. I think he had a plane to catch. And the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Blunt) and I had a colloquy on this. I will inform the leader that I think I am safe in speaking for my side of the aisle with reference to the transportation reauthorization. We believe, and I am sure the gentleman shares the view, that this is a very important piece of legislation to pass. We would have hoped it would have passed by last September when the authorization expired. This is a bill, as the gentleman knows, that for every billion dollars we spend, we get 42,000 American jobs.

My observation, Mr. Speaker, is that I believe on our side of the aisle we would support the number that passed, as we overwhelmingly did. We would vote for a compromise between what the House passed and what the Senate passed, or we would support the Senate-passed number. So I tell my friend that for his planning's sake, I believe my side of the aisle will support anything at the level that we passed at a compromise between the two or at the Senate-passed level. We would hope this bill would move, and we want to be cooperative in accomplishing that objective.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would further yield, I totally agree with the gentleman. And as his side has been part of the negotiations and the other body has been in intense negotiations, I think the gentleman knows that a number has been agreed on by at least the principles, Democrat and Republican; and I do not want to cast aspersions on anyone, but the trouble with the bill is not in this House. The trouble with the bill is over in the other body, and they are going to have to come to some sort of understanding amongst themselves in order to get this bill.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I would partially agree with my friend, the leader, which is better than most times. I would partially agree that the problem is not in this House; but it is my observation that the problem is in another house, not the other side of the aisle.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, is there a particular color of that house?

Mr. HOYER. White would be the color of the house. And I say that somewhat facetiously; but, frankly, as I said to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Blunt), I think this independent branch of government pretty much has a consensus on what we ought to do. We ought to do it, and if the other branch of government disagrees with us, under our system, he can send it back, and we will deal with it as we will deal with it. But we have been holding it, frankly, from our observation, Mr. Speaker, for a long period of time, not based upon real subsequent disagreements between the two Houses, we could accommodate those, but between the disagreement between this branch and the other branch; and we think that is unfortunate.

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

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

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I just have to slightly disagree with the gentleman in that the house that is colored white, I cannot say they have agreed to the number of the bill, but I do know that they played a significant part in holding down the spending on the bill and particularly spending that would add to the deficit. And I must say, without getting into a lot of detail, that has been set aside. The other body is just having problems coming to some agreement amongst themselves. We are ready to move on our side. I serve on the conference committee. We are ready to move in the House. Unfortunately, the other body is not ready.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, and I appreciate the information, of course I do not have the specifics on what the house colored white agreed to in terms of a number; but I might inquire, is that number that they are keeping down the deficit more or less than the deficit we would add by the tax bill we passed just minutes ago?

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would further yield, actually it would be much less because, as we all know and history has proven, as we give tax relief and tax cuts, revenues go up as a result of those tax cuts. So our tax cuts are more than covered by revenues that are gained.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, that is what happened in 2001?

Mr. DeLAY. Yes, it certainly did. If the gentleman would further yield, it happened in 1981, it happened in 1986, it happened in 2001, it happened in 1997, it happened over the last 3 years.

Mr. HOYER. It even happened after 1993, as I recall. The gentleman did not mention that. It happened in 1994 or, that is to say, after 1993.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would yield, I do not remember too many tax cuts in 1993. I remember a lot of tax increases, without Republican votes.

Mr. HOYER. But, Mr. Speaker, revenue went up after they occurred, and we balanced the budget 4 years in a row.

Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, on the intelligence legislation, obviously there has been a lot of discussion about that. We have been very concerned about passing that legislation in a bipartisan fashion. The 9/11 Commission report has now been on our desks for many weeks now.

Can the leader inform us of where that legislation currently stands?

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

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

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding to me. The committees have been working, and many committees have been working in a bipartisan way. I think a bill will be introduced in the next day or two, possibly tomorrow; and the committees have been instructed to mark up that bill, and I think that bill covers 12 different committees. Next week, and we hope to have the final product ready to come to the floor either by the end of next week or the following.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for the information.

I have not talked to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Harman) or the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton), and I see the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) is on the floor, about the substance of the proposal; but I will certainly discuss it with them. I hope they have been included in these deliberations of a bill that may be introduced because if they have, I think it would make it easier for us to get it passed in a bipartisan fashion in a very efficient and speedy way.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further inquiries as to the schedule, and I appreciate the leader's engaging in somewhat the colloquy about the transportation bill, which we feel very keenly about. I hope that we can speed that bill as quickly as possible. I thank the leader for his comments.