[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 41 (Thursday, March 13, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H1872-H1874]
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 wish to inquire 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 thank the distinguished whip for 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, and a final list of the 
bills will be sent to the Members' offices early next week.
  I might alert the Members, Mr. Speaker, that in a change from our 
traditional schedule, I would like to put the Members on notice that we 
plan to vote one-half hour earlier than usual on Tuesday, at 6 p.m. 
Members from both sides of the aisle have asked for flexibility this 
Tuesday because a number of them and their spouses are involved in the 
annual March of Dimes Dinner Gala, which begins at 6:30. So Members 
should be aware that we are still trying to work it out with the 
minority, but be aware that they could be notified that votes will 
start at 6 p.m. Tuesday rather than the normal 6:30.
  Next week we expect to consider H.R. 975, the Bankruptcy Abuse 
Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2003, as well as the 2004 
Budget Resolution.
  Earlier this week, the Subcommittee on Crime of the Committee on the 
Judiciary marked up H.R. 1104, the Child Abduction Prevention Act. 
Nearly identical legislation passed the House last Congress with close 
to 400 ``yea'' votes. Chairman Sensenbrenner has announced that the 
Committee on the Judiciary will report the bill out from a markup on 
Tuesday.
  This important legislation would codify a current judicial program to 
implement a nationwide Amber Alert System. In addition, this bill 
eliminates the statute of limitations for child abduction and sex 
crimes, prohibits pretrial release in cases of rape or child 
kidnapping, provides for mandatory minimum sentencing for child 
kidnapping, and establishes a ``two strikes and you're out'' for child 
sex offenders.
  We hope to work with the minority to find a way to bring this 
important legislation to the floor next Wednesday, realizing that the 
House rules require a 2-day layover, after committee markup, to allow 
the minority to express their dissenting and minority views on 
legislation. But I hope we can work together in expediting this very 
important legislation to the floor.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me, and I am happy 
to answer any questions.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman for 
the information he has provided us, and I will have a number of 
questions.
  Mr. MATHESON. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from Utah who would like to 
address the Amber Alert System and events that have occurred in his 
district.
  Mr. MATHESON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the minority whip.
  Mr. Speaker, I would suggest that we saw the benefits of an Amber 
Alert-like program yesterday in the State of Utah. We had a wonderful 
event occur, and it occurred because information got out to the public.
  What concerns me, Mr. Speaker, is that the Senate has already passed 
national Amber Alert legislation unanimously. It has been in the House 
for 2 months now, about; and I would submit that the legislation 
referred to that is going to be in the Committee on the Judiciary 
contains a number of other provisions which are worthy of 
consideration, but I would suggest it might be worthwhile for us to 
take a look at the Frost-Dunn bill, the straight Amber Alert bill 
passed through the United States Senate. We could take it up on a 
unanimous consent request right now and get it on the President's desk 
right away.
  Every day we delay is a day when another abducted child may have less 
access to an Amber Alert System that gets the information out to 
people. We learned a lesson in Salt Lake City. We are very proud of the 
miracle that occurred yesterday. Mr. Smart, in his time of triumph, 
still is emphasizing the need for Congress to move forward on this, and 
I would suggest that that is something this body ought to consider.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman for 
his comments.
  Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from Texas, the ranking member of 
the Committee on Rules.
  Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. As the 
gentleman knows, the Amber bill, the Amber Alert plan, was named after 
a little girl, Amber Hagerman, who was abducted and murdered in my 
district in Texas, in Arlington, Texas; and the Senate, as previously 
mentioned, has passed this as a stand-alone bill, unanimously, and has 
sent it to the House.
  I would ask my friend, the distinguished majority leader, what is the 
objection to bringing the Amber bill as a stand-alone matter, that has 
already been passed by the Senate, to the House either under unanimous 
consent or under suspension of the rules?
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I will be glad to yield to the majority leader.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's question, and I 
might point out that the gentleman, as well as many other Members 
around here, are always calling for regular order and we are expediting 
regular order.
  The bill that the gentleman refers to is a bill that has just been 
marked up this week, even before, thank goodness, Mr. Smart's daughter 
was returned to him, and was on its way to full committee to be marked 
up later on next week. Because of the situation, the chairman of the 
Committee on the Judiciary feels very strongly that they can expedite 
the matter, actually hold an unusual markup before Members return, and 
hopefully have this bill on the floor on Wednesday.
  There are a lot of provisions in this bill that help. And I might 
also point out to the gentleman that the Justice Department is running 
an Amber Alert System in 38 States. They are up and going. There are 
over 80 systems, Amber Alerts, operating as we speak. So it is not a 
situation where there will not be coverage of Amber Alerts out there. 
But I think this legislation is important to get at these criminals 
that are kidnapping these children, to help the police departments find 
them quicker and easier and be able to put them away, away from our 
children, along with codifying what the Justice Department is already 
doing.
  Mr. FROST. If the gentleman from Maryland will continue to yield, my 
friend, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), understands that by 
putting the Amber Alert legislation into a larger omnibus bill, this 
delays for a very substantial period of time the passage of the Amber 
Alert bill. There are a number of controversial provisions that have 
been added to it by the Committee on the Judiciary, provisions that 
were passed last year and were found unacceptable by the Senate.
  I would repeat my question: What is the objection simply to bringing 
the Amber Alert bill itself as a stand-alone matter that has already 
been passed by the Senate? What is the objection to bringing that to 
the floor of the House?
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, and before the majority 
leader answers that question, I would

[[Page H1873]]

say to him that I have had consultation with the Democratic minority 
leader; and the Democratic leader and myself, I would say on behalf of 
our side of the aisle, we would agree to a unanimous consent request 
today to bring the Senate bill, which as I understand is Senate Bill 
121, which essentially is the base bill.
  I, frankly, do not interpose objections to that which the gentleman 
has outlined in his statement will be added to the bill. I do not 
necessarily find any one of those individual items objectionable; and 
as I understand, in the committee they were not particularly 
controversial. But we obviously could accelerate that.
  The gentleman is correct. We do want to go by regular order. Regular 
order is obviously seeking from both sides a unanimous consent to take 
some action, and I say to the gentleman that consistent with what the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Frost) has said, this side of the aisle would 
be prepared to give a unanimous consent agreement to passing that bill 
before we go home today.
  Mr. DeLAY. Well, if the gentleman will continue to yield, I am not 
sure I remember the question of the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I would repeat my question, if I may.
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman for that purpose.
  Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, my question is, What is the objection on the 
majority side to bringing the stand- alone Amber bill to the floor 
which has already been passed by the Senate, to bring it to the floor 
as a separate item and not part of a larger bill?
  Mr. DeLAY. I appreciate the gentleman's continuing to yield; and, Mr. 
Speaker, let me just say that I do not agree with the assessment of the 
gentleman from Texas as to how slow this process can be. And if we 
honor what this House has already expressed itself on, I remind the 
gentleman that this bill that he is talking about that got so bogged 
down, passed this House with over 400 votes and went to the other body 
where the other body killed it in the last Congress.
  So this House has expressed itself that it thinks it is important not 
only to codify the Amber Alert System that is being run by the 
Judiciary Department but also to eliminate the statute of limitations 
for child abduction and sex crimes, to prevent pretrial release in 
cases of rape or child kidnapping, to provide for a mandatory minimum 
sentence for child kidnapping, and we also would like to see a ``two 
strikes and you're out'' requirement for child sex offenders. I think 
all of these issues are vitally important when it comes to dealing with 
children that are being kidnapped in this country.

                              {time}  1530

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time.
  Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) did 
not see the press conference earlier today carried on CNN, I would 
advise the gentleman that the senior Republican Senator from Texas, 
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who was a cosponsor of the Amber bill in 
the Senate, urged that the House take up the Senate passed Amber bill 
as a clean bill with a separate vote.
  Mr. Speaker, I would inquire, did the gentleman see Senator 
Hutchison's statement?
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. DeLAY. I did not see the press conference, but I just ask the 
question, what did she do to pass the bill out of the Senate in the 
last Congress?
  Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, she introduced the Amber Plan in this 
Congress and had it passed unanimously 92-0, she and Senator Dianne 
Feinstein. That is all we are asking, that there be a separate stand-
alone vote on the Amber bill in the House, just as there was in the 
Senate, so it can be sent to the President and signed into law.
  If the gentleman would indulge me further, I would like to very 
briefly read part of a letter that I received today from a city 
Councilman in my district, Councilman Joe Bruner from the City of 
Arlington, Texas.

       Dear Congressman Frost: I understand you have sponsored a 
     bill which will take Arlington's own Amber Plan nationwide. 
     In this day of turmoil and terror, I cannot think of any 
     other means which would better cause the minds of moms and 
     dads to return to normalcy. Doreen and I have always had a 
     special place in our heart for little Amber and defy anyone 
     to ever hinder the implementation of the Amber Plan. As 
     councilman for the district here in Arlington where her body 
     was found, I take exception to Congressman Sensenbrenner's 
     refusal to let your bill go through.

  Then the letter continues.
  This really speaks to the fact that the gentleman from Wisconsin 
(Chairman Sensenbrenner) and the majority leader insists that the Amber 
Plan be combined with a larger piece of legislation that has had 
difficulty in the Senate.
  I strongly urge my friend on the other side of the aisle, who has 
demonstrated an interest in children's issues, to persuade the chairman 
of the Committee on the Judiciary to permit this bill to go forward.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. DeLAY. I appreciate the gentleman's concern. I have the same 
concern the gentleman has. I have convinced the chairman to accelerate 
the process. We are going to have this bill on the floor. With the 
cooperation of the minority, we will have this bill on the floor next 
week.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments.
  At some point in time perhaps we can discuss further the regular 
order. I observe only that it is my understanding there is a bill 
coming over from the Senate that will not be referred to committee, 
will not be subject to amendment, will be taken up and passed as the 
Senate passed it, and it is my understanding that will be done because 
of the view of the majority how important it is to pass that bill 
immediately. That is the partial birth abortion bill.
  Am I correct that is the procedure which the majority intends to 
follow?
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I doubt that. I have not had an opportunity 
to see that the Senate has even passed the partial birth abortion bill 
yet. If they have, we will take a look at it. The last I checked, there 
was an amendment put on the bill that would cause it to go to 
conference under regular order.
  Mr. HOYER. It has not passed the House yet. It is coming from the 
Senate, and obviously there may be amendments on it. It is our 
understanding that will be taken in effect from the desk as the Senate 
bill, voted on, and sent to the President.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will continue to yield, 
actually the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) intended to 
mark up a partial birth abortion bill next week, but under the 
circumstances he wanted to accelerate the Amber alert bill and take it 
up earlier, and so he is putting off the markup on the partial birth 
abortion bill that we would bring to the floor, and then hopefully go 
to conference with the Senate under regular order.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman for 
that comment.
  The gentleman indicated that next week we will be taking up the 
budget. Can the gentleman tell me whether or not all substitutes that 
are requested from the Congressional Black Caucus, from the Progressive 
Caucus, from the Blue Dogs and from the Democrats on the Committee on 
the Budget will be made in order? I see the distinguished chairman of 
the Committee on Rules is standing.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I know the chairman of the Committee on Rules 
is a very fair man and the Committee on

[[Page H1874]]

Rules tries to be as fair as they can. I would presume that the 
committee will be inclined to follow historic practice for the 
consideration of the budget next week.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I respectfully inform the majority leader, we 
were very concerned about the fact that we were shut down today in 
terms of offering amendments or substitutes. I will respectfully advise 
the majority that if that continues to occur, there will be actions on 
our side of the aisle to try to express our deep concern about that.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from California.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I simply will say as the distinguished 
majority leader has said, I actually made the announcement just a few 
minutes ago about the request that we have proposals submitted to the 
Committee on Rules by early next week so we will be able to consider 
this measure on Wednesday. It is our intention, as has been our 
intention in the past, to do everything we possibly can to make 
substitutes in order and as many substitutes as we possibly can.
  I want to assure the gentleman that is the goal of the Committee on 
Rules, and we will look forward to testimony from our many colleagues 
who would like to offer proposals.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman and 
express the fervent hope that the committee will be able to reach its 
goals. They are commendable goals to achieve, and I hope they are 
achieved.
  Mr. Speaker, we have been talking about the Amber bill and adding 
things to it. We had a bill a week and a half ago on the floor. That 
was to aid our men and women in the armed forces whom we are sending in 
harm's way. We were not able to pass it the week before. We have not 
passed it this week. Can the gentleman advise us as to the status of 
that bill.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, the Committee on Ways and Means held a markup 
of the Social Security bill yesterday, and I expect to consider that 
legislation under a rule in the next week or so.
  On the Armed Services Tax Fairness Act, the committee is still 
reviewing options for potential changes to that bill, but we also 
expect to consider that legislation in the very near future.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I advise the 
distinguished majority leader that I am authorized on behalf of the 
minority to tell the gentleman that if that bill were reported out 
without any additional items attached to it, we would be prepared to 
give unanimous consent so it could be passed either next Tuesday night 
or Wednesday.
  Mr. Speaker, lastly, it is my understanding that we obviously want to 
accommodate those who want to go to that dinner, but am I correct in 
observing that the normal practice on Tuesdays will continue to be 
6:30?
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman is correct. This is a special 
and rare occurrence where we would not be starting votes on legislation 
at 6:30 on a day that we come back into session. There are extenuating 
circumstances, and we are trying to accommodate our Members. Yes, we 
hope to stick to 6:30 as much as possible.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman for 
his comments.

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