[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 116 (Thursday, September 23, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H7540-H7542]
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. Mr. Speaker, I rise to inquire of the majority leader the 
schedule for the coming week.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, next week the House will convene on Tuesday 
at 12:30 p.m. for morning hour debates 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' offices 
by the end of this week.

                              {time}  1930

  Any votes on these measures will be rolled until 6:30 p.m.
  On Wednesday and the balance of the week, we expect to consider 
additional legislation under suspension of the rules. Next week we also 
expect to consider two bills under a rule: H.R. 3193, the District of 
Columbia Personal Protection Act; and H.J. Res. 106, the Marriage 
Protection Amendment.
  I thank the gentleman for yielding to me. I would be glad to answer 
any questions he may have.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman for 
his response.
  The gentleman has cited the marriage constitutional amendment. Mr. 
Speaker, this bill, as I understand it, has not been marked up in 
committee at this point in time. Is it the gentleman's expectation that 
this will come to the floor, the constitutional amendment, without 
being marked up in the committee?
  I yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding to me.
  The committee has held four hearings on this bill, and I do 
anticipate bringing it to the floor without being marked up by the 
committee, under a rule.
  Mr. HOYER. I am sorry? He does expect it to be brought to the floor 
without being marked up, but under a rule?
  Mr. DeLAY. That is correct, Mr. Speaker.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I have not spoken to the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Conyers) about that, but obviously, because it is a 
constitutional amendment, I understand there have been four hearings. 
Presumably those four hearings were an attempt to elicit some 
information about the merits of the constitutional amendment and any 
changes that may or may not be necessary, which could obviously be 
perfected by an amendment in the committee.
  Does he expect any amendments to be considered in the Committee on 
Rules?
  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 yielding to me.
  I do not want to prejudice the action of the Committee on Rules, and 
I have no idea and I am not advised as to what considerations the 
Committee on Rules may or may not do as far as amendments are 
concerned.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his answer.

[[Page H7541]]

  Next Friday is the beginning of the new fiscal year, as the majority 
leader knows; and we only passed, as he knows, one fiscal year 2005 
appropriation which has been signed by the President, and that, of 
course, is the Defense bill. Assuming we will have a CR, can the leader 
give us an idea for what time period that CR may be?
  I further yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding to me.
  There are ongoing discussions. There will be more discussions about 
that. Our tentative plan is to move a short-term continuing resolution 
that would fund government programs through October 8. This would give 
us an additional week to complete appropriations conference reports 
before we make decisions about how to best complete all the fiscal 2005 
bills.
  Appropriations, both in the House and the Senate, are having many 
discussions. Generally, both Democrats and Republicans are wishing to 
get the appropriations process done before we leave for the elections. 
How we do that is speculative; and, frankly, the date of the CR is 
speculative. It could be October 8. It could be October 15. It could be 
November 20. All of this is tied together with the understanding that 
we are trying to get the appropriations bills all finalized and done 
before we leave here for the elections.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for that range of 
possibilities.
  Does the gentleman anticipate having another supplemental 
appropriation before we either adjourn or recess for the election?
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.
  Within the last 2 weeks, the White House has submitted a request for 
emergency supplemental funds to deal with the damage caused by 
Hurricane Frances. The gentleman from Florida (Chairman Young) advises 
me that a revised request is on its way from the White House to account 
for Hurricane Ivan. Once we receive that request and complete assessing 
those needs, it is possible to move forward with a supplemental. 
Whether that be freestanding or included in some omnibus bill, I think, 
is too early to tell.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman for 
his answer.
  Another piece of business that has not been completed but is in the 
works or at least pending is the transportation reauthorization. Can 
the leader tell me whether or not there is an expectation of passing 
that bill or a relatively short-term extension prior to our leaving on 
whatever date we may leave?
  I yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding to me.
  I will start by saying the House has not given up. We want to get 
this bill done. We have been working to get it done, and we hope to 
have a conference report for the Members before we adjourn. In the 
interim, we may have another short-term extension of the highway 
programs, and hopefully we will have a decision by the first of next 
week. In order to get the full 6-year highway bill done, I think a 
decision will have to be made by the first of next week as to how we 
would proceed.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. The gentleman had to 
leave early. I think he had a plane to catch. And the gentleman from 
Missouri (Mr. Blunt) and I had a colloquy on this. I will inform the 
leader that I think I am safe in speaking for my side of the aisle with 
reference to the transportation reauthorization. We believe, and I am 
sure the gentleman shares the view, that this is a very important piece 
of legislation to pass. We would have hoped it would have passed by 
last September when the authorization expired. This is a bill, as the 
gentleman knows, that for every billion dollars we spend, we get 42,000 
American jobs.
  My observation, Mr. Speaker, is that I believe on our side of the 
aisle we would support the number that passed, as we overwhelmingly 
did. We would vote for a compromise between what the House passed and 
what the Senate passed, or we would support the Senate-passed number. 
So I tell my friend that for his planning's sake, I believe my side of 
the aisle will support anything at the level that we passed at a 
compromise between the two or at the Senate-passed level. We would hope 
this bill would move, and we want to be cooperative in accomplishing 
that objective.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would further yield, I 
totally agree with the gentleman. And as his side has been part of the 
negotiations and the other body has been in intense negotiations, I 
think the gentleman knows that a number has been agreed on by at least 
the principles, Democrat and Republican; and I do not want to cast 
aspersions on anyone, but the trouble with the bill is not in this 
House. The trouble with the bill is over in the other body, and they 
are going to have to come to some sort of understanding amongst 
themselves in order to get this bill.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I would partially agree 
with my friend, the leader, which is better than most times. I would 
partially agree that the problem is not in this House; but it is my 
observation that the problem is in another house, not the other side of 
the aisle.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, is there a particular color of that house?
  Mr. HOYER. White would be the color of the house. And I say that 
somewhat facetiously; but, frankly, as I said to the gentleman from 
Missouri (Mr. Blunt), I think this independent branch of government 
pretty much has a consensus on what we ought to do. We ought to do it, 
and if the other branch of government disagrees with us, under our 
system, he can send it back, and we will deal with it as we will deal 
with it. But we have been holding it, frankly, from our observation, 
Mr. Speaker, for a long period of time, not based upon real subsequent 
disagreements between the two Houses, we could accommodate those, but 
between the disagreement between this branch and the other branch; and 
we think that is unfortunate.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I just have to slightly disagree with the 
gentleman in that the house that is colored white, I cannot say they 
have agreed to the number of the bill, but I do know that they played a 
significant part in holding down the spending on the bill and 
particularly spending that would add to the deficit. And I must say, 
without getting into a lot of detail, that has been set aside. The 
other body is just having problems coming to some agreement amongst 
themselves. We are ready to move on our side. I serve on the conference 
committee. We are ready to move in the House. Unfortunately, the other 
body is not ready.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, and I appreciate the 
information, of course I do not have the specifics on what the house 
colored white agreed to in terms of a number; but I might inquire, is 
that number that they are keeping down the deficit more or less than 
the deficit we would add by the tax bill we passed just minutes ago?
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would further yield, 
actually it would be much less because, as we all know and history has 
proven, as we give tax relief and tax cuts, revenues go up as a result 
of those tax cuts. So our tax cuts are more than covered by revenues 
that are gained.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, that is what happened in 
2001?
  Mr. DeLAY. Yes, it certainly did. If the gentleman would further 
yield, it happened in 1981, it happened in 1986, it happened in 2001, 
it happened in 1997, it happened over the last 3 years.
  Mr. HOYER. It even happened after 1993, as I recall. The gentleman 
did not mention that. It happened in 1994 or, that is to say, after 
1993.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would yield, I do not 
remember too many tax cuts in 1993. I remember a lot of tax increases, 
without Republican votes.
  Mr. HOYER. But, Mr. Speaker, revenue went up after they occurred, and 
we balanced the budget 4 years in a row.
  Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, on the intelligence legislation, 
obviously there has been a lot of discussion about that. We have been 
very concerned

[[Page H7542]]

about passing that legislation in a bipartisan fashion. The 9/11 
Commission report has now been on our desks for many weeks now.
  Can the leader inform us of where that legislation currently stands?
  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 yielding to me. 
The committees have been working, and many committees have been working 
in a bipartisan way. I think a bill will be introduced in the next day 
or two, possibly tomorrow; and the committees have been instructed to 
mark up that bill, and I think that bill covers 12 different 
committees. Next week, and we hope to have the final product ready to 
come to the floor either by the end of next week or the following.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for the information.
  I have not talked to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Harman) or 
the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton), and I see the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Hunter) is on the floor, about the substance of the 
proposal; but I will certainly discuss it with them. I hope they have 
been included in these deliberations of a bill that may be introduced 
because if they have, I think it would make it easier for us to get it 
passed in a bipartisan fashion in a very efficient and speedy way.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no further inquiries as to the schedule, and I 
appreciate the leader's engaging in somewhat the colloquy about the 
transportation bill, which we feel very keenly about. I hope that we 
can speed that bill as quickly as possible. I thank the leader for his 
comments.

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