[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 9 (Thursday, February 7, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H216-H217]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

  (Ms. PELOSI asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I take this time for the purpose of 
inquiring about the schedule for next week.
  I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Armey).
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce that the House has completed 
its legislative business for the week.
  The House will next meet for legislative business on Tuesday, 
February 12, at 12:30 p.m. for morning hour and 2 o'clock p.m. for 
legislative business. The House will consider a number of measures 
under suspension of the rules, a list of which will be distributed to 
Members' offices tomorrow.
  At 5:30 p.m. the House will take up the rule providing for 
consideration of campaign finance reform legislation. That vote, along 
with suspension votes, will be postponed until 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
  On Wednesday, the House will take up campaign finance reform 
legislation throughout the day. The rule under which the measure will 
be considered provides for 1 hour of general debate and for debate on 
amendments that could total 10 hours. Therefore, I would advise Members 
that a late night is possible on Wednesday, and votes are still 
possible on Thursday, if necessary, to complete consideration of the 
bill.
  Mr. Speaker, the following week will be the Presidents Day district 
work period. However, I do want to take this opportunity to notify our 
Members that I have scheduled H.R. 1542, the Internet Freedom and 
Broadband Deployment Act of 2001, for consideration in the House the 
following week on Wednesday, February 27.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished majority leader 
for his comments.
  Mr. Speaker, I just want to seek some clarification. We are pleased 
to see that campaign finance reform will be on the floor next week and 
look forward to a vigorous debate on cleaning up our failed system. 
Just to clarify, we will vote on the rule on Tuesday night. Will we be 
debating the rule before the votes on the suspensions?
  Mr. ARMEY. If the gentlewoman will continue to yield, yes. We would 
expect the debate on the rule to begin at 5:30 p.m.
  Ms. PELOSI. I thank the gentleman for his reiteration of that.
  Now, we are planning to complete final passage on campaign finance 
reform on Wednesday, or go over until Thursday, if necessary?
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, the gentlewoman again is correct. We hope we 
can complete that work on Wednesday night. I think the Members should 
be prepared to work on that bill on Thursday.
  Ms. PELOSI. If we complete action on campaign finance reform on 
Wednesday, will there be any votes on Thursday?
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentlewoman will continue to yield, if 
we complete our work on Wednesday night, we would probably want to 
start our district work period on Thursday and get Members home a day 
early.
  Ms. PELOSI. Therefore, one would infer from the gentleman's remarks 
that even if we complete campaign finance reform on Thursday, there 
would be no other business that day?
  Mr. ARMEY. That is correct.
  Ms. PELOSI. If we go into Thursday.
  Mr. ARMEY. If the gentlewoman would yield further, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Dreier) has just reminded me that Thursday is 
Valentine's Day, and, given his many romantic interests, he needs the 
entire day to deliver valentines.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I object.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, finally, as the distinguished majority 
leader knows, we are in an economic recession, and millions of workers 
have lost their jobs. The Senate has completed action on 13 weeks of 
extended benefits for these workers. When will the majority schedule 
that bill for House consideration?
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for the inquiry, and 
I understand her concern about all the difficulties people have being 
out of work. That, of course, is why we have sent two real economic 
stimulus bills that really would have created real jobs for thousands 
of American citizens, and we really are disappointed that the Senate, 
under Senator Daschle's leadership, could do nothing but send back the 
benefit extensions. We have that under consideration.
  It is still the continuing hope of many of us that perhaps we might 
send back something that would actually, in fact, do something to help 
people go back to work, and that perhaps with Senator Daschle's meager 
beginning in this area, he might be able to bring more substantive 
legislation to his body.
  So I cannot at this point give a definitive answer.

[[Page H217]]

  It is our hope that we could perhaps build on this little beginning 
from the other body and achieve some substantive legislative results in 
this very important area of public policy.


                         parliamentary inquiry

  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I wish to respond to the gentleman about the 
actions in the Senate, but it is my understanding that the House rules 
forbid us from addressing any individual in the Senate or in the manner 
it was brought up here. Is that not correct, Mr. Speaker?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaTourette). Is the gentlewoman making a 
parliamentary inquiry?
  Ms. PELOSI. Yes, I am.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The rules of the House prevent Members from 
characterizing either action or inaction by a Senator or by the other 
body.
  Ms. PELOSI. I thank the Speaker for that clarification.
  Mr. Speaker, I would say to the majority leader, I think that if the 
package he was talking about that was this job creation package is the 
one that gave $250 million back to Enron retroactively, then I think 
the public will understand why that is something that was unacceptable 
in a bipartisan way in this body.
  I hope that we will be able to find bipartisan relief for those who 
have been caught in this recession, and the very least that we can do 
before we go off on a 13-day break is to complete action on 13 weeks of 
extended benefits for the workers, as the other body has done. I urge 
the majority to consider doing that next week before we leave.
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman. My final response 
would be that if indeed it was the volition of this body to do only the 
very least we could do, we would, in fact, take up the very least that 
was done by the other body. But it is our hope we can improve on that 
and actually do something that would be of real value in the real lives 
of really unemployed American citizens. We do not believe that we 
should content ourselves with doing only the very least we can do.
  So we will try, in fact, to do something more, put together a bill 
that could be beneficial in people's lives, and hope that the other 
body could find some way to deal with it in a manner that would look 
something like legislative effectiveness.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, it may seem the least 
that we can do, but if you are out of work, these 13 weeks extended 
benefits make all the difference in the world. I agree, we should be 
doing much more.
  In a matter of hours, maybe 72, of the tragedy in New York, we bailed 
out the airlines. That was important, it was necessary, and we had to 
do that. We did it with a promise, though, that relief for the workers 
in those industries would be on the way soon. Now we are months later, 
indeed into a new year, a new session of Congress, and we still do not 
see action on behalf of the workers who lost their jobs, while we put 
billions in relief for the industry.
  I further urge what may seem like the least, I am not talking about 
this as the total package, but as an absolute emergency measure for 
these families caught in this recession, I continue to urge the 
majority to take up the Senate bill ASAP, certainly before we go out on 
a 13-day break.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished majority leader for his 
information on the schedule.

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