[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 62 (Thursday, May 12, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H3237-H3238]
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 take this time for the purpose of inquiring 
of the Majority Leader the schedule for the week to come. At this time, 
I yield to the distinguished Majority Leader, the gentleman from Texas 
(Mr. DeLay).
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding to me.
  Mr. Speaker, the House will convene on Monday at 12:30 p.m. for 
morning hour and 2 p.m. for legislative business.

[[Page H3238]]

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 the week. Any votes called on these measures will be rolled 
until 6:30 p.m.
  On Tuesday and the balance of the week, the House will convene at 10 
a.m. for legislative business. We may consider additional legislation 
under suspension of the rules, as well as several bills under a rule: 
The Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 
2006; the Department of the Interior Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 
2006; and H.R. 1817, the Homeland Security Authorization Act for Fiscal 
Year 2006.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back to the distinguished Minority Whip.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Majority Leader for that 
information. With respect, Mr. Leader, to the Homeland Security 
Authorization bill, can you presently tell us which day of the week 
will that be considered?
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
DeLay).
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding. While 
things could certainly change as we work through what will be a very 
busy week, we will likely have the two appropriations bills sort of 
bookending the week, with the Homeland Security authorization bill 
coming in the middle of those two bookends. So I would expect that the 
Homeland Security Appropriations bill would start as early as Tuesday 
morning. Then we would go to the Homeland Security authorization bill, 
and when it is finished, we would go to the Department of the Interior 
appropriations bill.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Majority Leader. Does the 
gentleman know at this point in time what type of rule, I notice that 
the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions) is on the floor, what type of 
rule the Homeland Security authorization bill might be considered 
under?
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
DeLay).
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. 
Hoyer) yielding. I have not been advised as to what kind of rule. I 
think the gentleman that is sitting here is about to make an 
announcement in that regard. I would assume that it would be handled 
like most major bills.
  As the gentleman knows, the Homeland Security authorization bill is 
the first Homeland Security authorization bill that this House has 
considered, and so there is a lot of room for negotiation.
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Leader, I appreciate that 
observation. I agree with the gentleman from Texas. In light of the 
fact it is the first time that we will have considered an authorization 
bill from this committee and for this department since its formation as 
a separate piece of legislation, it would, hopefully, be one that would 
be open to perfection and amendment, if possible. So we will hear from 
the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions) shortly on that.
  Prior to Memorial Day, can you tell us, Mr. Leader, what 
appropriation bills you anticipate coming to the floor prior to that 
Memorial Day break?
  We are going to have, obviously, Homeland Security and Interior next 
week. Do you know which bills you might be considering?
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay).
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding.
  As the gentleman knows, serving on committee, the committee has a 
very ambitious schedule, and it hopes to complete all 11 bills coming 
out of its committee by the Fourth of July recess, meaning all 11 bills 
out of the House by the Fourth of July recess. So, in addition to 
managing the two bills on the floor next week, the committee intends to 
mark up both the Military Quality of Life and the Energy and Water 
bills. So we would anticipate, if things go well, those two bills being 
on the floor the following week.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Leader.
  Reclaiming my time. Lastly, Mr. Leader, there has been some 
discussion about having bipartisan support for the legislation, some of 
the legislation that is going through this body. We have had bipartisan 
support for some of those pieces of legislation.
  There is a bipartisan bill, the Castle-DeGette bill, on stem cell 
research. I know it is a controversial piece of legislation, but it 
does have bipartisan support and broad support I might say.
  Can the Leader tell us when the gentleman might contemplate that bill 
coming to the floor?
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
DeLAY).
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  There is a good chance that the House will consider changes in the 
President's research policies between now and the August recess. The 
form and timing of this debate has yet to be determined. There is still 
a lot of discussion going on.
  I could inform the gentleman that probably the timing for the floor, 
the best I could tell you is that timing for the floor would be sooner 
than later.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate not necessarily the specifics, 
but at least the assertion that it will be sooner. We believe this is a 
very important piece of legislation. It is. Obviously, strong views are 
held on this issue on both sides of the issue. But it is important to 
an overwhelming majority of Americans, one way or the other, and I 
would certainly hope, I know both the gentleman from Delaware (Mr. 
Castle) on your side of the aisle, the gentlewoman from Colorado (Ms. 
DeGette) on our side of the aisle, have both been working very hard on 
this piece of legislation. We would look forward to it coming to the 
floor as soon as practical, given the discussions that are ongoing. And 
I appreciate the Leader's observations. I thank the leader for his 
information.

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