Congressional Record, Volume 150 Issue 106 (Thursday, September 9, 2004)

[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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