[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 148 (Tuesday, October 21, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H9776-H9777]
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. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
DeLay) for the purpose of informing us of the schedule, and it seems to 
me we did this just yesterday.
  Mr. DeLAY. Madam Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. DeLAY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Madam Speaker, the House will convene on Tuesday at 12:30 for morning 
hour debates and 2 p.m. for legislative business. We will consider 
several measures under suspension of rules. A final list of these bills 
will be sent to Members' offices by the end of the week. Any votes 
called on these measures will be rolled until 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
  On Wednesday, the House will convene at 10 a.m. for legislative 
business. We may consider additional legislation under suspension of 
the rules, as well as H.R. 2443, the Coast Guard and Maritime 
Transportation Act of 2003. Next week we hope to have the conference 
report for H.R. 6, the Energy Policy Act for 2003 ready for 
consideration, as well as the Department of Defense authorization 
conference report. And in addition to that, there are four 
appropriations bills currently in conference that will be ready at any 
time.
  Members should also be aware that we will be in session next Friday, 
October 31, and expect to have votes that day. Finally, I would like to 
make all of the Members aware that we hope the following week, the week 
of November 3, will be our last week of the session. We expect our 
first votes of that week to occur after 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, and we 
anticipate having votes through Friday, November 7.
  I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I will be happy to answer any 
questions the gentleman may have.
  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for that information, 
and for his optimism. The gentleman indicated that Members should 
expect there will be votes in the House next Friday. That is Halloween. 
How certain is the gentleman that we are going to have votes on that 
day?
  Mr. DeLAY. I am pretty certain we are going to have votes on that 
day. If Members look at the conference reports and the fact that the 
present continuing resolution runs out on that day, if things do not go 
as we expect them, we could have some very important legislation on 
that day, although we understand that it is Halloween and Members want 
to be home with their families and want to trick or treat. And 
hopefully even if we work on that day, we can let Members out in time 
to go trick or treating.
  Mr. HOYER. Better trick or treating at home than here.
  Mr. DeLAY. I understand.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Leader, November 7 is indicated as the target date for 
adjournment. So that Members can plan, how confident is leadership that 
we can meet that date? How strong is leadership's intention to meet 
that date?
  Mr. DeLAY. As the gentleman knows, any date is tentative at the end 
of any session; but we are working very hard. The Senate is working 
very hard. If we get the conference reports that I outlined in my 
opening remarks next week, then we really only have the Medicare 
conference report, the finishing of the appropriations process, and we 
hope that we can do all of that in the next 2 weeks.
  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I ask the gentleman, would it be fair to 
conclude there will be no action on the child tax credit?
  Mr. DeLAY. I would hope there would be. I would hope that the Senate 
would realize that allowing the child tax credit to expire in just a 
couple of years is actually raising taxes, and would accept the House 
bill that makes them permanent.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Leader, I think I am correct that every tax bill that 
we have passed over the last 3 years has been sunsetted. Therefore, 
pursuant to your rationale on child tax credit, in effect those bills 
would be raising taxes, sometimes in 2010, sometimes a little before, 
and sometimes a little after, 2006, 2007 some sunset. How does that 
rationale differ from the rationale being applied to the child tax 
credit?
  Mr. DeLAY. Madam Speaker, it is pretty simple. The House has voted 
for a bill which covers more families than the Senate bill, and we 
think that they ought to receive that child tax credit, and they ought 
to receive it on a permanent basis. The House has spoken, and the 
Senate does not seem to want to come together with the House and work 
out our differences.
  Mr. HOYER. Unfortunately, it is our position that the children, those 
12 million children, the 6.5 million families, the 200,000 military 
families who would otherwise be eligible, are the ones who are paying 
the price for the inability of the two Houses to come together when 
apparently both Houses believe that they ought to get the tax relief of 
which we speak, and but for the difference on making it permanent, 
would be getting.
  I would again reiterate our hope in the next 2 weeks that we plan on 
being in session, that if we cannot resolve the differences between the 
two Houses, we would urge leadership to reconsider that and pass at 
least the 1- or 2-year extension while we try to reach agreement on the 
differences that exist between the two Houses.
  Mr. Leader, on the FSC bill, it is our understanding that the 
Committee on Ways and Means will mark up this legislation on Monday. 
Does leadership expect the bill to be on the floor next week or does 
leadership expect it to pass before we leave?
  Mr. DeLAY. Madam Speaker, the Committee on Ways and Means is 
considering a markup in the very near future, and once the committee 
has completed its work, because this bill has been a work in progress 
and has taken longer than we thought it would take to mark it up in 
committee, we have not scheduled time for it. But obviously, it is a 
very important piece of legislation; and once the committee has 
completed its work, we will look for floor time to move it. But at this 
point we cannot give an exact prediction of whether it is next week or 
the following week.
  Mr. HOYER. As the leader knows, this bill comes about by a WTO ruling 
which places in jeopardy the United States, and we believe that we have 
a solution which advantages U.S. manufacturers, and we are very hopeful 
this does move ahead so our country does not confront at the end of 
this year, as the European Union has suggested it might, take action if 
we have not corrected the deficiency which the WTO has found. I hope 
that we could move that bill before we leave here.
  The leader mentioned several conference reports which will come up 
next week. Which are the most likely? Energy was mentioned. Energy was 
a possibility for this week. How confident is leadership that energy 
will come next week? This is a complicated bill, a very important bill; 
and I would ask you to comment, and I would ask you to facilitate the 
availability of this bill as soon as possible, and more than 24 hours 
before because it is a complicated bill. We need time to review it; and 
as the leader knows, we have not been included, from our perspective, 
in the conference proceedings so we do not know what is in this bill at 
this point in time.
  First, how confident is the gentleman that the conference report will 
come next week; and, second, can we be assured that we will receive a 
copy of the report and the accompanying bill hopefully by Friday 
afternoon?
  Mr. DeLAY. Madam Speaker, as the gentleman knows, we do not have to 
be in session for us to get our work done in conference committees or 
other committees. People are going to be working the rest of this week 
to finalize what will be submitted to formal proceedings of the 
conference committee on the energy bill, the comprehensive energy bill. 
The gentleman is correct in that it is a very complicated bill. 
Obviously we want to make sure that Members have enough time to review 
it so they can vote with some sort of understanding of what is in the 
bill. Obviously, I cannot predict when the final proceedings on the 
energy bill will be, but we will get to the

[[Page H9777]]

Members as soon as we have the paperwork so they can look at the bill 
and be informed as to how to vote on it.

                              {time}  1415

  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, we would hope that would give Members 
no less than 48 hours to review the bill, have the staffs review it, so 
we know what is in it. Because, as I said, we have not had the 
opportunity to be included in the conference.
  On the Medicare prescription drug, the gentleman mentioned the 
Medicare bill in response to my question. Can he tell me the status of 
the Medicare conference, and can he tell me whether or not he expects 
that bill to be on the floor prior to the November 7 target date for 
adjournment?
  Mr. DeLAY. A lot of people are working very hard to try to get that 
very complicated piece of legislation put together. The chairman of the 
conference continues to work with the various parties interested in 
reaching a compromise by the end of this session.
  There have been several bipartisan, informal meetings since last 
week. I expect that there will be a few more before the end of this 
week. Hopefully, these meetings will produce a draft product that all 
the members of the conference can review at the next formal conference 
meeting. I would anticipate that that would start happening, probably 
next week or so.
  We really think it is important to improve and strengthen Medicare 
and provide the kind of health care that seniors need before we adjourn 
in this session. A lot of people are working very hard to accomplish 
that.
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Leader, I keep harping on this 
because I think it is important to make the point. Our folks are not 
included in whatever discussions are going on. As a result, we have no 
idea as to whether or not we think, in fact, Medicare is being 
strengthened or whether it is being weakened, whether prescription 
drugs are being made available to seniors, whether they are affordable, 
accessible, guaranteed, all of which we think is very important. We 
think this needs to be a voluntary program. I think we agree on that.
  But as a result of not being included, we do not know, and we think 
it is not good for the process that whatever meetings are going on are 
not what we believe to be conferences of conferees because conferees 
are not being included. The gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel) and 
the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell), specifically, have not been 
included, and they are chief conferees, as the gentleman knows. The 
gentleman from Texas is a conferee himself, as I understand. We would 
hope that if, in fact, they are going to bring this bill to the floor, 
and if, in fact, a real conference is to be scheduled that it be done 
soon and that all of the conferees be included to discuss the 
parameters of a bill which can pass both House and Senate and be sent 
to the President.
  Of the appropriation bills the gentleman mentioned, does he know 
which ones are most likely to be on the floor next week?
  Mr. DeLAY. A lot of people are working, conferees are working and 
have been working very hard. I anticipate all four that are eligible in 
conference, right now, could very well come to the floor sometime next 
week when they are finished, the Labor-HHS bill, the Interior bill, the 
Energy and Water bill and the Military Construction bill. These are 
very close to being settled. At least that is what I am being informed. 
I think those four bills could very well be voted on by next week.
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, again on the Labor-Health bill, I am a 
conferee and I have not been either invited to nor have I attended any 
conferences on that bill. So if it is reported next week, I am not sure 
when the conferees are going to meet and consider it. But it is, again, 
indicative of the fact that on our side, we do not get notice of, or we 
are not being included in, conferences. That is not, we believe, the 
way the process ought to work.
  Mr. DeLAY. If the gentleman will yield, I just want to correct the 
gentleman, in that the gentleman has been invited to any formal 
conferences that have been held and I am sure that to finish the work 
of the conference, formal conferences will be held on these bills so 
that Members can look at them and make determinations as to whether 
they will support them or not. If the gentleman is not being invited to 
formal conferences, let me know, and I will make sure that he gets the 
invitation.
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, and I will notify the gentleman that I 
am not being noticed. My conclusion is different than his, however. My 
conclusion is that I would be invited if they were having them. I do 
not think they are having them, but I may be in error, Mr. Leader. If 
the gentleman will check on that and let us know whether or not, in his 
terms, a formal conference has been held or is scheduled to be held on 
the Labor-Health bill, it will be news to me. But I would appreciate 
that information, and I appreciate the gentleman's offer.
  Madam Speaker, last week the gentleman and I had a discussion about 
these conferences. On the Labor-Health bill, we are very concerned 
about the Labor-Health bill's funding as the gentleman knows. In the No 
Child Left Behind, the President was very strong on the No Child Left 
Behind. We believe in that bill, that that is short about $8 billion. 
Does the gentleman have any information as to whether or not such sums 
may be added to the Labor-Health bill to fully fund the No Child Left 
Behind Act?

  Mr. DeLAY. The gentleman knows that we have a strong disagreement as 
to whether the No Child Left Behind has been fully funded or not. From 
my perspective, it has been fully funded. I know the gentleman, and I 
think every Democrat voted against the bill because they wanted more 
funding. We have that disagreement. As far as what the conference is 
ultimately going to have, I am not advised. I could not tell the 
gentleman today if there has been any agreement on whether we are going 
to give more money than fully funding the No Child Left Behind.
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, the last question, the gentleman will 
be happy to hear. The House voted by a pretty good number to instruct 
the conferees on the issue of overtime pay, a substantial number of 
votes from his side and most of the votes from our side, if not all, 
all but two. Can the leader tell me whether or not he believes that 
instruction is being implemented by the conference?
  Mr. DeLAY. As the gentleman knows, motions to instruct are not 
binding. Many times it is just an expression of how you feel that day. 
The House voted on that issue, put it in the bill, and it is in the 
House bill. It is a very controversial issue between the House and the 
Senate. It is one of the issues that the conference committee is 
struggling with. As far as I know, they have not come to any resolution 
on how to handle that issue as of yet.
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Leader, I look forward to hearing 
from the gentleman as to where these conferences are occurring because 
I assure the gentleman that I will be enthusiastic about participating 
and raising this issue and other issues when we find out where that 
elusive conference is occurring.
  I thank the leader for his information.

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