[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 136 (Wednesday, October 16, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H7963-H7964]
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 rise to inquire of the distinguished 
majority leader regarding the schedule.
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentlewoman yield?
  Ms. PELOSI. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, we have completed our legislative work for 
this week. There will be no more recorded votes this week. The House 
will, however, be in session pro forma tomorrow and the next day, and 
then back pro forma on Tuesday and Thursday of next week.
  I should also like to advise Members that the House still waits upon 
many very important pieces of legislation. In conference, for example, 
we have the terrorism risk insurance bill, the energy security bill, 
the defense authorization bill, intelligence authorization, and port 
security.
  We also wait upon the Senate to move bills: the Department of 
Homeland Security, pension reform, prescription drugs, and welfare 
reform.
  I should like to advise the Members of this body that should any of 
those conference reports become available or should the Senate complete 
work on any of the other bills under consideration, and therefore 
afford us the opportunity to go to conference on those bills, that we 
will be constrained to call the Members back for a session next week or 
even the week thereafter.
  However, Members should be advised that they will receive a 48-hour 
notice prior to any requirement to come back and complete any of that 
work.
  As it turns out, each of these conference reports and bills is 
problematic, but the other body will stay in session working, the 
conferees will continue to meet, and we should all be apprised of the 
real possibility of being asked to come back after a 48-hour notice.
  Ms. PELOSI. I thank the gentleman for that information, Mr. Speaker.
  I would ask the leader, what day will we be back after the election?
  Mr. ARMEY. If the gentlewoman will continue to yield, the CR, Mr. 
Speaker, is through November 22. However, we would expect to be back on 
the week of November 11. Since November 11 is itself a holiday, I 
should think Members should plan on being back on November 12, but we 
will get official notice to Members' offices as soon as possible. But I 
would think the prudent Member would plan to come back November 12 and 
expect to be here throughout most of that week.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, would the gentleman know what time votes 
would occur that day?
  Mr. ARMEY. Again, I want to thank the gentlewoman for her inquiry.
  If she would continue to yield, it is a travel day. Especially in 
consideration of our West Coast Members, we would try to arrange a date 
that votes would not actually be taken before the customary 6:30 in the 
evening.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, continuing to yield to the leader, will we 
be in through Friday of that week?
  Mr. ARMEY. Again, I want to thank the gentlewoman for her inquiry. 
That would depend on what work is available to us. Obviously, we would 
want to deal with another continuing resolution, and we should have 
reason to expect that some of these conference reports might be 
available.
  As something I think, again, for us to be prudent in terms of taking 
the opportunities that could be here, the Members should expect to be 
here through that week and even work on Friday. As we see the workload 
for the week develop and can begin to put the daily calendar together, 
we ought to be able to give Members more complete and accurate 
information so they can make, hopefully, their travel plans for the 
beginning and the end of the week before they depart for their home 
districts.
  Ms. PELOSI. Could the gentleman please shed some light on what 
legislative business might come up that week? Would there be any 
appropriations bills?
  Mr. ARMEY. Again, I appreciate the gentlewoman's inquiry.
  Mr. Speaker, obviously, there are additional opportunities for 
appropriations bills. Depending upon the

[[Page H7964]]

progress that can be made with the other body, we would not want to 
discount the possibility of dealing with such bills as those, as well.
  Ms. PELOSI. Will we have votes the week of November 18, the week 
before Thanksgiving?
  Mr. ARMEY. Again, let me thank the gentlewoman for her inquiry. If 
she would continue to yield, Mr. Speaker, it is anticipated that we 
would complete work from November 12 through that week, and we could 
not anticipate being in the week before Thanksgiving.
  Ms. PELOSI. So we would only be in the week of November 12 and not 
the following week, the week before Thanksgiving, just to confirm?
  Mr. ARMEY. Again, I appreciate that. The gentlewoman may herself be 
one who is planning to go to such meetings, the NATO summit and such, 
and schedules that will carry many Members abroad on important 
business. We will do everything possible to avoid meeting during that 
week in deference to those travel plans.
  I would say at this time only the most dire emergency would cause us 
to interrupt these trips. They have been planned for a long time, and 
they are important trips having to do with our relationship with our 
allied nations.
  If the gentlewoman would permit me, I would attach the lowest 
probabilities to any meeting of this body during the week of November 
22.
  Ms. PELOSI. I appreciate the gentleman's information about that week. 
I have no intention to be on any of those trips. I intend to be here 
planning for a Democratic majority for the 108th Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman tell us, will we be here in December 
planning for that Democratic majority?
  Mr. ARMEY. Again, if the gentlewoman will continue to yield, I think 
for now and for whatever our purposes as we discuss with the other 
body, it would be imprudent for me to make any projections of time 
beyond that week of November 12.
  Ms. PELOSI. I know Members will be eager to know, not because of 
trips but because of the work that is unfinished. I thank the gentleman 
and I wish him well and thank him for the information.
  It is my firm hope and desire that the next time we meet to discuss 
the schedule, we will have a Democratic majority in the House, and we 
will be preparing for that. Unless the gentleman had any other 
information on the schedule?
  Mr. ARMEY. If the gentlewoman will yield, I would just say again, the 
gentlewoman has brought wit and charm to the minority whip's position, 
and this gentleman is committed to the gentlewoman retaining that 
position for as long as she desires.
  Ms. PELOSI. I wish the gentleman well in all of the endeavors that he 
pursues outside of this body and outside the political arena. I know we 
will probably have another colloquy; but just until we meet again, I 
want to thank the gentleman for his service to the Congress, but I am 
sure we will have some more opportunities to do that.
  Mr. Speaker, I reclaim my time only to say that it is with a level of 
sadness, not only because of the gentleman's departure from the 
Congress, but because of the unfinished business of this Congress. The 
American people expect and deserve for us to have a stimulus package. 
That remains unfinished business for this Congress, along with 
unfinished business relating to our children's education with the 
education bill, the prescription benefit for all seniors, the Patients' 
Bill of Rights, the threat of privatization of Social Security, and the 
list goes on and on. Unemployment insurance is expiring for America's 
unemployed workers, and we have not attended to that business.
  So I have said on a number of occasions at the end of these 
colloquies that our work seems irrelevant to the American people 
because of the challenges that they face economically, healthwise, and 
otherwise. But now we are less than irrelevant; we are missing in 
action. I am very sorry. I think that when the Democrats are in the 
majority that we will be able to account for our responsibilities in a 
better way.

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