[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 155 (Thursday, October 30, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H10231-H10233]
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.)
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas for the 
purpose of inquiring about the schedule for the coming week.
  Mr. DeLAY. I thank the gentleman from Maryland 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. A final list of those 
bills will be sent to Members' offices by the end of this week. Any 
votes called on these measures will be rolled until 6:30 p.m.
  On Wednesday and Thursday, the House will convene at 10 a.m. for 
legislative business. We plan to consider H.R. 1829, the Federal Prison 
Industries Competition in Contracting Act of 2003, as well as H.R. 
2443, the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2003.

                              {time}  0015

  We also expect to appoint conferees on several measures and to have 
additional conference reports ready for the House's consideration.
  Finally, I would like to note for all members that we do not plan to 
have votes next Friday, November 7.
  I thank the gentleman for yielding, and will be happy to answer any 
questions that he may have.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for the information. I would note 
that earlier today, of course, we passed a continuing resolution that 
will fund the government through November 7, next Friday. We are not 
going to meet next Friday. It is my presumption, therefore, that the 
gentleman or the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young), or both of you, 
contemplate an additional CR.
  You have not mentioned anything about the week of November 10 either, 
Mr. Leader. As you know, November 11 is Veterans' Day.
  Assuming, as I assume, that we will not finish our business by the 
close of business on November 6, and in light of the fact the gentleman 
announced we will not be here on the seventh, can the gentleman for 
scheduling purposes give Members an idea of what might be the schedule 
for the week of November 10, again in light of the fact that November 
11 is a day that most Members will want to be home with their veterans 
and citizens.
  I yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. DeLAY. I appreciate the gentleman yielding. As the gentleman 
knows, the CR we passed earlier today does go through next Friday, and, 
as we get closer to next Friday, we will sometime next week have to 
reassess the progress of the various appropriations conferences and 
determine what length of time a likely additional CR would have to run.
  We are going to spend a lot of time this weekend and the first of 
next week trying to figure out what the future holds. I do not expect 
us to have votes on Monday, November 10, or on Tuesday, November 11, 
which is Veterans' Day, as the gentleman has said. But on Wednesday, if 
we come back Wednesday, we would not have votes before 6:30 p.m.
  We do anticipate having votes that week, but I just cannot say how 
late into the week we would be considering legislation.
  I can say that we had hoped to finish the first session of this 
Congress by the first week of October, but, since that time, with the 
exception of the supplemental that we just passed, we basically have 
been waiting for the other body to catch up with us.
  I have repeatedly predicted that we will soon reach the end, but, 
since we have not, and I am very disappointed that it does not look 
like we will reach the end by November 7, maybe it is best I just stop 
guessing as to when we are going to end. But we will give Members as 
much advance notice as we can. For right now, I must say that Members 
should not make any pre-Thanksgiving plans.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the leader for that observation. I think it is 
helpful that Members can be confident they can schedule events for the 
eleventh, Veterans' Day. I think that will be very helpful for Members.
  The gentleman did not mention the FSC bill, the Foreign Sales 
Corporation bill. Can the gentleman tell us when you might expect that 
bill to be on the floor?
  I yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. DeLAY. It is very difficult to say. Unfortunately, as these 
things happen, a lot of work is coming out of our Committee on Ways and 
Means. As the gentleman knows, the Committee on Ways and Means is very 
wrapped up in negotiations on the Medicare bill. They are also heavily 
involved in the energy conference, and they are just having a tough 
time getting all of this done. So we would hope we could do that bill 
some time next week, but we cannot predict that at this particular 
time, because next week is going to be heavily involved in the energy 
bill and the Medicare bill.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank you, Mr. Leader. That was going to be my question. 
Does the gentleman expect both the energy conference report and the 
Medicare conference report, the prescription drug report, to be on the 
floor next week?
  Mr. DeLAY. Well, if the gentleman will yield further, we still hope 
to finish both of these bills before we complete the first session. 
There have been various discussions between both bodies, even though 
these discussions have not been formal in nature. At this point, I just 
cannot give a specific time frame for when these discussions will 
produce a recommendation for the conferees to consider and when the 
House would consider these final conference reports.
  There are very difficult discussions going on. We had hoped that we 
could vote on these two bills next week, but just the physical writing 
of the bill on Medicare would take 8 to 10 days. So that is why I say 
Members should not make pre-Thanksgiving plans.
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, I thank the leader for his 
observations.
  The leader and I, as the leader knows, have been having a lot of 
discussions about these conferences that are being held, somewhere, 
sometime, with some people.
  I do not know whether the leader was informed, but the gentleman from 
New York (Mr. Rangel) took the gentleman literally and found where a 
meeting at least was going on with the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Thomas) and Secretary Thompson, and the gentleman from New York (Mr. 
Rangel) and the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Berry), both conferees 
appointed by the Speaker, went, opened the door, and went through the 
door with a number of Committee on Ways and Means Members.
  I must tell the gentleman with great sadness, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Thomas) was not overwhelmingly happy to see them, which 
surprised me to no end, after our discussions and my conversation with 
the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel), telling him how these 
conferences were going on

[[Page H10232]]

and you wanted to see a bill go through.
  The gentleman might want to talk to the gentleman from California 
(Mr. Thomas), because essentially he asked the gentleman from New York 
(Mr. Rangel) to leave. We were shocked and chagrined and surprised, of 
course, that he would do such a thing.
  I say this somewhat jocularly, obviously, but the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Rangel) and the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Berry) were not 
invited to this meeting, and, if these bills come to the floor next 
week, they are going to do so without having any Democrat participate 
in any substantive discussions on the prescription drug bill.
  The leader is correct, it is a complicated bill, an incredibly 
important bill, and both sides have expressed strong support for 
adopting a prescription drug plan for our seniors. There are obviously 
differences on what ought to be in that plan.
  But I would again say to the leader, notwithstanding your belief, I 
think the gentleman may be not informed as fully as he might be, 
because we continue to have great difficulty finding out where these 
conferences that the gentleman has been talking about and that the 
gentleman and I have been talking about, where they are going on, when 
they are being scheduled and who is supposed to participate. We have 
been talking about this, and, at some point in time, we really do 
expect that we will be invited to the conferences.
  We had a serious bill and we had some disruption on the floor today, 
Mr. Leader, with reference to the FAA reauthorization bill. We 
recommitted the bill from this floor to conference. No conference 
occurred. No Democrats were invited to attend. As far as we know, no 
conference ever occurred. The bill reappeared, however, with a change.
  Mr. Leader, we do not think that is in the best interests of this 
institution, we do not think it is in the best interests of the 
country, and we do not think it is in the best interests of passing 
legislation, conference reports, which have broad-based support.
  I know, as the leader says, these are difficult, and I do not doubt 
that the leader is absolutely correct, that when an agreement is 
reached, it is going to take 7 or 8 days for the staff to put it 
together and in shape. I think the leader is probably correct on that.
  I am hopeful that even if we are never invited, which seems to be the 
practice to date, that, at the very least, when somebody, somewhere, in 
some room, somehow makes a decision as to the bill that is going to be 
reported to the floor, that, at the very least, we get a copy of that 
bill in a timely fashion so, as complex a bill as you correctly observe 
it is, we have the time to analyze it, digest it and determine what we 
want to do on that bill.
  I would hope that these comments would be taken in a constructive 
way, Mr. Leader, because I am very serious about the fact that I have 
participated, the gentleman has participated, we talked about this in 
conference committees where we sat down, we talked about it. I can 
remember the gentleman and I agreeing on some and disagreeing on some 
in conference, in HC-5 in particular, where we had large numbers of 
people participating in conferences. I thought those were positive, 
productive, and reflective of what our democratic legislative process 
ought to be.
  We are very distressed on this side of the aisle that that does not 
appear to be happening. I would hope that you, Mr. Leader, as the 
majority leader, frankly, as the person most responsible for the 
schedule, but also one of the most significant leaders in this House, 
that you would try to work in a very positive way in bringing about 
conferences, which, again, include the conferees appointed by the 
Speaker of the House.
  I yield to the gentleman if he would like to make any comments.
  Mr. DeLAY. I appreciate the gentleman yielding. The gentleman brings 
up many different issues, and I appreciate his concern.
  Let me just try to answer in this way. On the FAA reauthorization 
conference report, as the gentleman knows, there were formal 
conferences held during the whole process of that bill. Many issues 
were discussed with all the conferees.
  To be honest with the gentleman, I think it was unfortunate that a 
formal conference was not called on that bill this week, and I will 
work to make sure that we follow the rules of the House and formal 
conferences are held before those conference reports come back to the 
floor.
  But I must say that the gentleman knows that it is not unusual to 
have discussion groups, meetings with all kinds of different people as 
conference recommendations are being put together for a formal 
conference meeting. I can assure the gentleman that on the Medicare 
bill and on the energy bill, formal conferences will be held before 
those bills come to the floor in the form of a conference report. But 
just to make this place work, there has to be a lot of meetings, and 
there is a lot of time spent together with a lot of people to get these 
big bills put together.
  The gentleman said that no Democrats have been included in the 
discussions on the Medicare bill. There are Democrats being consulted 
in many different forums, including regular discussion groups, so there 
is Democrat input in the Medicare conference discussions.
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, I thank the leader for his 
observation. I must, however, say the information he has is different 
from the information I have on the conference.
  On the FAA, for instance, there was a meeting on July 24 in which 
there was no paper, no markup notes, no chairman's mark, no suggested 
bill, and that was the last meeting, to which the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), the ranking Democrat, who, as you well know, 
worked hand in glove with Mr. Shuster and with the gentleman from 
Alaska (Mr. Young) over the years on those committees, simply did not 
participate. I agree with you, Mr. Leader, on that.
  Mr. DeLAY. If the gentleman will yield, that is consistent with what 
I said, in that formal conferences were held on that bill.

                              {time}  0030

  In fact, the major contentious issue that we debated this week on 
that bill was dealt with in the conference, as I am informed, as an 
amendment. So there was discussion and debate on the conference report.
  What I was referring to was the process which was kind of an unusual 
process in its own right, of recommitting to a conference, making 
adjustments to the bill, and bringing it right back. Even with that and 
all of the discussion that has been going on about this bill, both in 
formal meetings and informal meetings, frankly, a formal conference 
should have been held before we brought that conference report to the 
floor.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I understand that, and I 
appreciate that. I appreciate the gentleman's observation. We agree: a 
formal conference should have been held. Because it was not, the 
majority had to waive the rule in the rule that was presented on the 
floor of the House.
  With respect to the energy bill and Medicare, I would tell the 
gentleman in neither case, in the energy bill nor in the prescription 
drug bill, did the Democratic conferees believe there has been a 
conference in either instance, in either one of these very important 
issues on which there have been any kind of discussions regarding the 
substance of those bills. I simply observe that that is shutting out 
the representatives of 130 million Americans on our side of the aisle 
to give their perspective, in conference, with conferees appointed by 
the Speaker.
  Now, we all understand that we have discussions with Democrats on our 
side and there are discussions with Republicans on your side, talking 
about strategy, talking about compromise, talking about how to work 
things out. That is understandable. That is necessary. It always and 
must occur. However, at some point in time, the conferees, we suggest 
to the gentleman respectfully, need to be included in discussions, not 
in a pro forma conference at the end of the process, being informed 
what the bill is. That, frankly, is all that has been happening.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, I just have to 
correct the gentleman. There have been, I do not recall how many formal 
conferences have been called on the energy bill, but I know more than 
one has

[[Page H10233]]

been called on the energy bill. I am on the conference on the Medicare 
bill. I have attended two formal conferences on the Medicare bill, and 
the House Democrats that are conferees have attended both of those 
formal conferences on the Medicare bill.
  As I have said many times on this floor when approached by the 
gentleman with his concerns, we are holding conferences with Democrats 
of this House, not conferences; we are holding discussions. I know the 
chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means and the chairman of the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce have informed me that there have been 
many discussions with the Democrats, including the ranking member. Not 
many, but there have been many discussions that include different 
groups of Democrats about what they would like to see in this bill, 
including the ranking member. I think, I could be corrected, but I 
think there was a meeting with the chairman of the Committee on Ways 
and Means and the ranking member and other Democrats on the Committee 
on Ways and Means about the Medicare bill just this week.
  So whenever there is a formal conference, the conferees that have 
been appointed by the Speaker are invited to that conference, and there 
will be a formal conference before that Medicare bill comes to this 
floor, as in the form of a conference report.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the leader for 
his observation. We, I think, are getting different information from 
our principals. The gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell) and the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel), I think, do not share that same 
view as to whether or not they have been included, two of our most 
senior Members of this House, two Members deeply concerned about both 
issues.
  In any event, Mr. Leader, I appreciate the gentleman clarifying the 
schedule for next week and the week thereafter. That will be helpful to 
our Members.

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