[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 5, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H314-H315]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

  (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 purposes of inquiring of the 
distinguished 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, I appreciate the gentleman from Maryland 
yielding to me.
  Mr. Speaker, the House will convene on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. for 
morning hour and 2 p.m. for legislative business. We will consider 
several measures under suspension of the rules at that time. There will 
be no votes in the House before 6:30 p.m. next Tuesday.
  On Wednesday, the House will meet at 10 a.m.; and we expect to 
consider H.R. 395, the Do-Not-Call Implementation Act, to restrain 
rampant telemarketers. Additionally, we hope to consider the conference 
report on House Joint Resolution 2, which will finish up the 2003 
appropriations process. However, if the conference report is not ready 
for floor consideration, the House will need to consider another 
continuing resolution.
  On Thursday, the House will meet at 10 a.m. We expect to consider the 
Welfare Reform Reauthorization Act.
  I am happy to answer any questions the gentleman may have.
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
the information. I would ask the distinguished majority leader, when 
does he expect the conferees will complete their work on the omnibus? 
Does the gentleman have any idea?
  I notice the gentleman says, ``if it is available.'' Does the 
gentleman have any information on when it may be available and 
completed?
  Mr. DeLAY. If the gentleman will continue to yield, Mr. Speaker, I 
have talked to the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations. He is 
working all through the weekend.
  As the gentleman may know, the Republican Caucus is going to spend 
this weekend in retreat. The chairman and some of the conference 
members are not going on that retreat so they can work through the 
weekend. They hope to be able to have a formal conference meeting 
Monday, Monday evening, and start the formal process at that time, 
hopefully getting the conference report to the floor by Wednesday.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for that answer.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, I would like to know, and as I said last week, 
because of the process we are pursuing Members are not as 
knowledgeable, perhaps, as they otherwise would be on exactly what is 
going on. Can the majority leader inform me as to how much time he 
would expect to give Members, A, to review the conference report, and 
then to have consideration of it on the floor, and what procedures 
might be available to them on the floor?
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I cannot advise the gentleman on what 
procedures may be available to them on the floor.
  As the gentleman knows, the conference report is a privileged motion 
not subject to amendment. The Members, I do not know about the 
gentleman's side of the aisle, but my side of the aisle are very aware 
that the appropriations process is ongoing. I have been overwhelmed 
with requests and issues that are in that bill, as the chairman has, 
and Members are working as hard as they can to make sure their concerns 
are taken care of in the appropriations bill and in that process.
  We are hoping that the Members will have sufficient time. This is, 
again, an unusual process, and the bill itself is huge, but we are 
hoping that we can give the Members sufficient time to review the bill. 
But if Members are interested, they ought to be consulting with the 
staff of the Committee on Appropriations right now as to what is in the 
bill and what might come to the bill so they might be prepared for 
voting on it on Wednesday.
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, the staff of the 
Committee on Appropriations is now very upset with the gentleman for 
that recommendation.
  Mr. DeLAY. I retract that remark.
  Mr. HOYER. The staff clearly is overwhelmed because they are trying 
to move ahead, covering 11 appropriation bills, in a short period of 
time.
  I appreciate the gentleman's observation that there is going to be an 
attempt made to give the Members sufficient time when the report is 
issued, when the conference report is issued from the committee, to at 
least have 24 hours to review it and come to grips with what is in it. 
Because, again, the process has been one in which we have not had many 
of the bills, as the gentleman knows, on the floor for consideration in 
the House in the first instance, much less the conference reports, 
while the Senate, obviously, had a fuller debate on most of the pieces 
of legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I would ask the gentleman again, I would like to ask him 
about the Welfare Reform Reauthorization Act which he indicates may be 
on the floor next Thursday. If it comes on the floor next Thursday, can 
the gentleman tell me how whether it is going to go to committee, to 
the Committee on Ways and Means for consideration, or whether it will 
go directly to the Committee on Rules and be reported out by the 
Committee on Rules?
  Mr. DeLAY. If the gentleman will continue to yield, Mr. Speaker, we 
intend to use an unusual procedure to bring the bill straight to the 
floor because of many reasons, not the least of which is that reforming 
welfare, as the gentleman knows, has been an incredible success. The 
reauthorization was vitally important; and many of these programs, 
these successful programs, are working under short-term extensions. We 
think it is vitally important to get this program reauthorized and, 
most importantly, get to the Senate.

[[Page H315]]

  I might remind the gentleman that we passed the welfare reform I 
think 2 years ago and never got through the Senate and sat on the desk, 
and it never was considered by the Senate. That bill, by the way, has 
had more than 20 hearings and multiple markups, and we feel that 
Members have had plenty of opportunity to consider the bill. We want to 
expedite the process and not jeopardize the great success that we have 
seen over the time of the welfare reform.
  As far as the Committee on Rules is concerned, if the gentleman will 
continue to yield, it will go straight to the Committee on Rules 
discharging from the committees. The chairman is standing right beside 
me. I would anticipate very soon that he will announce a filing 
deadline for amendments this evening and will meet sometime next week 
to consider those amendments.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the leader for 
that information with reference to how it is going to be considered.
  As the gentleman, as the leader will recall, and I am sure the 
chairman of the Committee on Rules will recall, when last considered, 
the Democrats, the minority, was given a substitute, and a waiver was 
given with respect to that substitute as well. We would hope that that 
would be repeated again this year.
  Again, notwithstanding the accelerated consideration, clearly we 
would hope that we would be able to offer, with an appropriate waiver, 
an alternative to the proposal that emanates from the Committee on 
Rules.
  Could the leader tell me whether that is the intention?
  Mr. DeLAY. If the gentleman will yield further, Mr. Speaker, I have 
watched the chairman of the Committee on Rules work for many years now, 
going on 9 years as chairman of the Committee on Rules, I believe. The 
whole time that he has been chairman he has, I think, treated the 
minority with utmost and extreme fairness.
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time just briefly, Mr. Leader, we do not 
have time to debate that issue; but I will yield back to the gentleman.
  Mr. DeLAY. I think that he is ultimately fair and will treat the 
minority fairly as it comes to the welfare reform bill.
  To be serious about it, I think the minority deserves to be heard on 
welfare reform, especially welfare reform, and the chairman will treat 
them fairly.
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, the last time this bill 
was considered the chairman will recall a waiver was given because of 
the budget objections that might lie.
  Would the chairman contemplate a similar waiver being offered?
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from California.
  Mr. DREIER. I thank the gentleman for yielding, Mr. Speaker, and 
appreciate the kind remarks from the distinguished majority leader.
  I just want to say that I am prepared, when this colloquy comes to an 
end, to make an announcement that we are going to be considering this. 
What I will tell the gentleman is that, while we cannot at this 
juncture anticipate exactly what the structure of the rule will be, we 
clearly do plan to offer the opportunity for Members to submit their 
amendments. I will say right now, as I will in the announcement, the 
formal announcement that I will make in a couple of minutes, that we 
will really have a preference for amendments in the nature of a 
substitute, which is what we have traditionally done on the issue of 
welfare reform.
  Until our committee works its will on this issue it would be early to 
say, but as the majority leader has said, we clearly want to ensure 
that the minority has an opportunity to be heard on this question.
  I am hoping very much that we will have strong bipartisan support at 
the end of the day for what will be truly an historic welfare reform 
measure that will do exactly what the leader has said; that is, to take 
advantage and encourage people to get into the work force and create a 
modicum of responsibility, which is what this is all about.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for his comments.
  Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, as some know, I was one of those who 
voted for the welfare reform bill.
  Mr. DREIER. I know the gentleman did.
  Mr. HOYER. I believe that we have made great strides. I believe that 
there are, obviously, different times that confront us at this point in 
time; but I think, given where we are, that both sides may still be 
pretty much in the same position they were in last time.
  I would, without asking further questions, urge my friends on the 
majority side to provide for that full and open debate and not allow a 
technicality which would result from a lack of waiver to preclude a 
substantive alternative to be debated on this floor and the different 
perspectives that Members might have being aired.
  I think that is good for the American public, I think it is good for 
the House of Representatives, and I think it is good for the final 
product. I would hope that would be done. We certainly anticipated the 
gentleman's announcement, and we will be offering a substitute in a 
timely fashion on Tuesday next, as I understand the chairman will 
announce.
  Mr. DREIER. By 5 p.m., Mr. Speaker.
  Mr. HOYER. I do not want to announce it for the gentleman, but I 
appreciate it. I appreciate the comments of the leader and the chairman 
of the Committee on Rules.

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