[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 80 (Wednesday, June 9, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H3870-H3871]
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 rise to inquire of the majority leader the 
schedule for the week to come.
  I will say at the beginning when the majority leader got up to ask 
unanimous consent, I thought maybe something had happened and he was 
going to ask unanimous consent to have me give him the schedule. But 
hope springs eternal.
  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 for yielding to me 
and dreaming.
  Mr. Speaker, the House will convene on Monday 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 the Members' office by the end of this week. Any 
votes called on these measures will be postponed until 6:30 p.m.
  On Tuesday and the balance of the week, we plan to consider several 
bills under a rule: H.R. 4513, the Renewable Energy Project Siting 
Improvement Act; H.R. 4503, the Energy Policy Act; H.R. 4517, the U.S. 
Refinery Revitalization Act; and H.R. 4529, the Arctic Coastal Plain 
Domestic Energy Security and Abandoned Mine Lands Reclamation Reform 
Act.
  In addition, we expect to consider H.R. 4520, the American Jobs 
Creation Act, the fiscal year 2005 Department of Interior 
appropriations bill, and the fiscal year 2005 Department of Homeland 
Security appropriations bill as well.
  And, finally, I would like to make all Members aware that we will 
have votes next Friday perhaps well into the afternoon.
  I thank the gentleman for yielding to me and would be happy to answer 
any questions he may have.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman and tell him that we 
simply refer to it as the ANWR bill. It is so much easier.
  Mr. Speaker, the majority leader has listed several pieces of energy 
legislation for consideration next week. Can he tell us the procedures 
that he anticipates these bills will be considered; specifically will 
amendments and/or substitutes be allowed, and will the rule bundle the 
bills to send them over to the other body, or will we pass them 
seriatim one at a time to the other body?
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.

                              {time}  1500

  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding. I can 
say that substitutes would certainly be allowed, I would assume. I do 
not want to preempt what the Committee on Rules might do. As far as 
amendments to these bills, I would have to refer to the Committee on 
Rules, as we do not know what they might rule.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman. I 
would hope that perhaps we could, particularly in light of the fact 
that these bills, although they are component parts, as I understand, 
of the larger energy bill that passed the House, but because they are 
not going to be considered in committee, that there would be some more 
flexibility as to the possibility of amendments in that regard.
  The gentleman did not answer, because perhaps he does not know at 
this point in time. Is it our expectation that the energy bills the 
gentleman referenced would be sent to the Senate separately as 
individual bills, or would the rule bundle them at the end? I yield to 
the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding. No 
decision has been made, but I think the gentleman can assume that these 
bills will be sent separately to the Senate.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, with respect to the appropriation bills, two 
are listed for next week, Interior and Homeland Security. Does the 
gentleman think it is possible that we will get to the Defense bill 
next week, or not?
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, I cannot foresee 
that we could get to the Department of Defense appropriations bill next 
week with all of the bills that we are trying to get to the floor, but 
I do anticipate the Department of Defense appropriations bill being one 
of the first bills we would do the following week.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for that information.
  With respect to the two appropriation bills that the gentleman has 
listed, the Homeland Security and the Interior, does the gentleman 
expect them to come on an open rule to the floor?
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, I would assume, 
without preempting what the Committee on Rules might do, that both 
appropriation bills would come under the normal, traditional rules that 
we have had in the past on appropriations bills, which is pretty open 
rules.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. The FSC bill is also 
listed for the floor next week. Again, I think that bill will clearly 
not go to committee; but let me ask the gentleman first, is it the 
gentleman's expectation that the FSC bill will be marked up in 
committee?
  Mr. DeLAY. If the gentleman will yield, yes, the Committee on Ways 
and Means will mark up the Americans Jobs Creation Act on Monday, which 
would give us time, if the markup went well, we could see that bill on 
the floor either Thursday or Friday.
  Mr. HOYER. And again, reclaiming my time, would it be the gentleman's 
expectation either that the substitute would be made in order, 
amendments may not be as a Committee on Ways and Means tax bill, but 
what we are reading, of course, is that there will be many extraneous 
or some extraneous provisions in the bill unrelated to direct tax 
consequences of FSC; can the gentleman tell us whether he is expecting 
at this point in time to provide for either amendments and/or a 
substitute?
  I yield to my friend.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, as the gentleman knows, the bill was 
introduced last Friday. Members should be aware of that for those who 
are interested to see what is in the bill.
  It is very difficult to answer the gentleman's question, not having 
the bill marked up and looking at what the ultimate outcome of the bill 
might be. And again, I do not want to preempt what the Committee on 
Rules does. As the gentleman knows, a bill coming from the Committee on 
Ways and Means, particularly a bill like this which has so many issues 
in it, amendments are traditionally not allowed, but substitutes are 
considered. And we

[[Page H3871]]

will just have to work through that as we work through next week to 
decide one way or another whether a substitute or a number of 
substitutes would be offered, or allowed to be offered.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman.
  Mr. Speaker, it is not our intention to go into further discussions 
at this time with reference to the schedule. The substance of the 
legislation, that will be left for weeks to come. But this week is set 
aside to honor our former President, Ronald Reagan, and certainly we 
intend to participate with the majority in doing just that.

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