[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 35 (Sunday, March 20, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H1700]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




MAKING IN ORDER MOTION TO SUSPEND THE RULES ON SUNDAY, MARCH 20, 2005, 
 ON S. 686 REGARDING TERRI SCHIAVO, WITHOUT INTERVENTION OF ANY MOTION 
                               TO ADJOURN

  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that upon entry of 
this order, the Speaker may decline to entertain a motion to adjourn 
until after disposition of the motion to suspend the rules described in 
this order; that it be in order at any time on Sunday, March 20, 2005, 
for the Speaker to entertain a motion that the House suspend the rules 
with respect to S. 686; and that such motion be debatable for 3 hours, 
equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority 
member of the Committee on the Judiciary or their designees.
  The SPEAKER. Is there objection to the gentleman from Texas?
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, and if the 
majority leader will answer a question, it is my understanding that we 
have an agreement that there will be, pursuant to this unanimous 
consent request, debate on the pending piece of business, the House 
bill or the Senate Bill containing the House language, between 9 p.m. 
and 12 midnight this day; is that accurate?
  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, and 
before answering the question, I want to thank the gentleman for all 
the good work that he has been doing over the last 2 or 3 days under 
very difficult circumstances. The distinguished whip has worked very 
long hours, and we greatly appreciate his cooperation and his 
consultation.
  I really do thank you for that, Mr. Whip.
  To answer your question, our intentions are to come in at 9 o'clock. 
We hope to vote at midnight, and, therefore, we will have a 3-hour 
debate.
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, the majority leader 
anticipated my next question.
  And I appreciate your comments. This is, obviously, a very serious 
issue and we are prepared to deal with it seriously. We appreciate the 
fact that this provides for sufficient time in debate for the issues to 
be raised and addressed by the House of Representatives.
  My second question, which you have anticipated, is that in fact 
Members can expect at 12 midnight, at the conclusion of the 3 hours of 
debate between 9 p.m. and 12 midnight, for the vote to occur on the 
pending legislation; is that accurate?
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will continue to yield, the 
gentleman is absolutely correct. And hopefully, as the gentleman knows, 
every hour is incredibly important to Terry Schiavo. The Senate has 
passed the bill, so we will be taking up a Senate bill and, hopefully, 
we will expedite this process as fast as the House rules will allow us.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for that answer. It is also my 
understanding, Mr. Leader, that although we will recess to the call of 
the Chair, it would be, as I understand it, the intention of the Chair 
not to recall the House until 9 p.m. tonight.
  Mr. DeLAY. I appreciate the gentleman's question, and that is the 
intention. But, hopefully, level heads will prevail, and maybe 
something will happen; lightning might strike and another agreement may 
be made.
  Certainly we would not do anything without the distinguished whip's 
concurrence and okay, in consultation with him, and we will keep the 
whip advised if there is any unlikely reason for us to come back 
earlier than 9 o'clock.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for those comments and would make it 
clear to the House, Mr. Speaker, that of course one of the 
considerations is Members are trying to get back. They have had 17 
hours notice of reconvening and with the vote to occur at 12, 
obviously, 9 o'clock will have been 14 hours, and the reason we did not 
want to go sooner is because there are Members on either side of this 
question who would want to make their positions known. So that is the 
reason for our concern.
  So I appreciate the gentleman's comment, and my expectation then is 
that we will go back in at 9.
  Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of objection under those 
representations.
  The SPEAKER? Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from 
Texas?
  There was no objection.

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