[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 106 (Thursday, September 9, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H6981-H6983]
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 understand the leader had to leave early to 
catch a plane. So for the purpose of inquiring of the chairman of the 
Committee on Rules the schedule for the coming week, I yield to the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier).
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.
  Mr. Speaker, let me say the House has completed its work for today 
and the week and 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 Members' offices by the end of this week. Any votes called on those 
measures will be rolled until 6:30 p.m.
  On Tuesday and Wednesday, we expect to consider additional 
legislation under suspension of the rules. We also plan to consider two 
bills under a rule: H.R. 5025, the fiscal year 2005 Transportation, 
Treasury, and independent agencies appropriations bill; and H.R. 4571, 
the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act.
  In addition, Mr. Speaker, we will consider several other litigation 
reform bills: H.R. 3369, the Nonprofit Athletic

[[Page H6982]]

Organization Protection Act; H.R. 1787, the Good Samaritan Volunteer 
Firefighter Assistance Act; and H.R. 1084, the Volunteer Pilot 
Organization Protection Act.

                              {time}  1845

  Finally, I would like to remind Members that the Jewish High Holiday 
of Rosh Hashanah occurs at the end of next week. We will not have votes 
on either Thursday or Friday. We expect to finish voting on Wednesday 
in the early afternoon.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding. I am happy to respond to 
any questions he might have.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for that information.
  I might ask, and I know it will be the leader and the leader's 
office, but part of the leader's distinguished staff is on the floor, 
so he will hear us. I know my friend from California will be 
appreciative of this.
  As I understand it, one of the planes to California is at 2:55, or 
late, just before 3. This says ``early afternoon.'' The request on our 
side has been that if we could try to conclude by 1:30 so they could 
get from here to Dulles in time to catch that plane, so, of course, 
they could get home by sunset, if we could try to do that?
  Mr. DREIER. If the gentleman will yield further, obviously there is a 
great desire to ensure that Members who will be marking the holiday 
have the opportunity to do that, so we will do everything that we can 
to see that Members are able to get the earliest flights possible.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman.
  With today's vote, the House and the Senate have now both gone on 
record in a bipartisan fashion in overruling the overtime regulations 
which were perceived obviously by a majority of the House and a 
majority of the other body as putting at risk millions of Americans 
losing their overtime.
  In light of the fact that the House has passed that and the Senate 
has also passed it, not in the same bill, can we expect, does the 
gentleman think, that the conference report will reflect the views of 
both Houses? We are very hopeful, of course, that that will be honored 
by the conference committee.
  I would be glad to yield further.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding. Let me say 
it is obviously impossible to determine exactly what a joint House-
Senate conference will do on any issue, but it is clear that the votes 
cast in both Houses will be taken into the mix as the conference would 
proceed with its work.
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, I appreciate the gentleman's 
observation. Our concerns, of course, as the gentleman can well 
imagine, are based upon the fact that, for instance, in the air traffic 
controller situation, both Houses of the Congress overwhelmingly, 
almost unanimously, directed that they not be outsourced or privatized. 
Notwithstanding that, that was dropped from the conference report.
  So we would just, on behalf of the minority, strongly request that 
the majority vote, bipartisan vote, in the House, be supported by our 
conferees. That is not a motion to instruct. It was a very strong vote, 
almost 40 of the majority, of the Republicans, and an overwhelming 
majority of Democrats. I hope that would be honored.
  I yield further to the gentleman from California.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding further. 
Let me say obviously that vote did not go unnoticed, and the 
gentleman's request clearly will be taken into the mix. But, again, it 
is impossible to determine exactly what a conference would do. This 
House will have an opportunity to vote on that conference report, if 
that is in fact what we do end up with.
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, I appreciate the gentleman's remarks.
  Next week, the gentleman indicated, and we knew this was going to be 
on the schedule, the Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill will 
be on the floor. That is the 12th of 13 appropriations bills to be 
considered by the House, leaving only the VA-HUD bill to be the last to 
be brought to the floor.
  The first question, and this may be unfair because this does not fall 
within your expertise, but perhaps you can be advised. When do you 
expect the VA-HUD bill, if there is an indication of when that might be 
on the floor?
  Mr. DREIER. We right now are in the process of outlining the plan for 
next week, and, as I know my friend just observed, the chairman of the 
subcommittee, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Walsh) just filed the 
VA-HUD bill; and we will obviously be considering it just as quickly as 
we possibly can.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for that observation. I 
will tell the gentleman that the joint leadership, the Speaker, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. 
Blunt), the leader, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), and 
myself were at the White House earlier this week, as the gentleman 
probably knows, and met with the President. But the chairman of the 
Committee on Appropriations in the other body observed that we may hold 
over 11 of the appropriation bills until next year. Now, that is a 
process that we have followed in the last 2 years because we have 
obviously passed the majority of appropriations bills in the year after 
the fiscal year began, in January and February, as the gentleman 
recalls.
  I am wondering, can the gentleman tell me, if we have some 3 weeks 
left, are we contemplating the passage of the 13 appropriations bills 
prior to adjournment, or are we planning on a continuing resolution or 
an omnibus appropriation bill of some type?
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield further, and I 
thank the gentleman for yielding, let me say obviously we are going to 
do everything that we possibly can to work in a bipartisan way to 
ensure that we complete this very important appropriations work just as 
quickly as possible. It is too early to make a determination as to 
whether or not we would possibly have an omnibus bill or a continuing 
resolution, but we feel very strongly about the need to get the work 
done this calendar year, within the operations of the 108th Congress, 
and not proceed into next year with this work. So we are going to 
strive to meet that, and I think that the gentleman will want to work 
closely with us as we pursue that goal.

  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, the gentleman is correct, we will want 
to work closely with you to accomplish that goal.
  Let me ask you an additional question raised by your response. Would 
there be in the realm of contemplation on the majority side a lame duck 
session? When you refer to this calendar year, as I said, we have 3 
weeks, maybe 4, I am not sure how long the majority intends to go prior 
to recessing or adjourning for the election, but does the majority, if 
the gentleman knows, contemplate the possibility of a lame duck 
session?
  Mr. DREIER. Let me say that we obviously have heard a great deal of 
speculation about that from a wide range of sources; and while it is a 
possibility, I think that everyone would like to have the work of the 
108th Congress completed before we adjourn for the election. But at 
this juncture, we have to see what will take place in the next few 
weeks to make that final decision as to whether or not we would come 
back in a lame duck session.
  I thank my friend for yielding.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. Reclaiming my time, I 
would simply request that, realizing the vagaries of the legislative 
process make it difficult to determine, but just as obviously Members 
will be making up schedules for the post-election period, either to 
take time off after the election or for other family-related matters or 
district matters that they might have. The sooner we might give them 
notice of that, obviously the more helpful on both sides of the aisle 
that would be.
  Mr. DREIER. If the gentleman would yield on that, I would simply say 
that it is the intention for the organization for the 109th Congress to 
take place beginning the week of November 15th. That would be a time 
when Members would be here in Washington as we begin our preparation 
for the next Congress.
  I am not going to say anything further on that, other than to throw 
out that is the date for the organization for the Democratic Caucus and 
the Republican Conference.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for that response.

[[Page H6983]]

  This week, after a long August recess, bipartisan bills were 
introduced to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission with 
regard to reorganizing the intelligence operations of our country in 
order to better protect our people and our country. Earlier this week 
we met, as I said to the gentleman, with the President, who asked us to 
send him legislation quickly.
  The reason for my question is, the Democratic leader, after 
requesting participation by your side of the aisle and a determination 
was made not to participate, introduced legislation drafted to 
incorporate the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. In addition to 
that, Mr. McCain and Mr. Lieberman have introduced legislation in the 
Senate. Mirror legislation has been introduced by a Member on your side 
and a Member on our side as well.
  The President, as you know, changed his position on the budget 
authority for the National Intelligence Director and apparently now 
supports that, so there may well be good bipartisan White House-
congressional agreement.
  Clearly the American public are very concerned about this, we are 
very concerned about it, and I know the gentleman is very concerned 
about it. We want to put our intelligence community in the best 
possible posture, as the 9/11 Commission recommended, to respond to the 
terrorist threat to this country.
  My question is, therefore, sir, can we expect, do you think, to 
perhaps take the bipartisan bills that have been introduced in both the 
Senate and the House, mirror images of one another, and work on those 
bills and pass them prior to the time that we either recess or adjourn 
prior to the election?
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, and I thank the 
gentleman for yielding, let me say we were all very impressed in a 
bipartisan way when the report of the 9/11 Commission came forward. We 
know that President Bush has already, through executive order, 
implemented many aspects of the 9/11 Commission report.
  The gentleman also is aware of the fact that immediately upon release 
of that report, the Speaker of the House called on the chairmen and 
ranking minority members of numerous committees here in the House, over 
a half dozen committees, called on them to hold hearings. There were 25 
hearings held in the House of Representatives during the August 
district work period, and I believe that some very important 
information came forward.
  One of the goals that the Speaker has set forth is to ensure that we 
do proceed with legislation. He very much wants to, before we adjourn 
in October, see the passage of legislation. Exactly what shape that 
will take is, of course, up to the legislative process that we have 
here. We are very well aware of the fact that we have seen the 
introduction of the 9/11 Commission report, and we know that a lot of 
people are thinking about that.
  I will say that I am particularly honored, as I know the gentleman 
is, that a Member of this body, the former chairman of the Permanent 
Select Committee on Intelligence and vice chairman of the House 
Committee on Rules, has been nominated to be the director of Central 
Intelligence. He has obviously spent a great deal of time on this, and 
many of our colleagues have expertise on this.
  So we will in the coming weeks I hope be able to fashion legislation 
so that the goal that the Speaker has set forth of passage of 
legislation before we adjourn in October will come to fruition.
  I thank my friend for yielding.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for those comments. We 
are hopeful that we can in fact work together in a bipartisan fashion, 
as seems to be started by the Senate and in this House as well, to 
accomplish the objective of the early passage of a reorganization to 
make us better to respond to the terrorist threat to this country. We 
hope that that will happen.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments.

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