[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 95 (Thursday, July 14, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H5881-H5882]
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 address the House and for the 
purpose of inquiring of the Majority Leader the schedule for next week.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from Maryland.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, the House will convene on Monday at 12:30 
p.m. for morning hour debates and 2 p.m. for legislative business. We 
will consider several matters under suspension of the rules. A final 
list of those bills will be sent to the Members' offices by the end of 
the day. Any votes called on these measures will be rolled until 6:30 
p.m.
  On Tuesday and the balance of the week, the House may consider 
additional legislation under suspension of the rules, as well as 
several measures under a rule: H.R. 2601, the Foreign Relations 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2006 and 2007; H.R. 3070, the 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 
2005; and H.R. 3199, the USA PATRIOT and Terrorism Prevention 
Reauthorization Act of 2005.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Majority Leader. You announced 
next week you expect to have legislative business on Monday through 
Friday. For purposes of planning, how confident are you that we will be 
here on Friday? Do you think we might be able to get through our work 
by Thursday evening?
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, our current plan is to consider the State 
Department authorization during the early part of the week, followed by 
NASA authorization and concluding the week with the PATRIOT Act. I 
would expect debate on both the PATRIOT Act and the State Department 
authorization bill to take a considerable amount of time. I would 
imagine that both of those bills will have a number of amendments. 
Because of that, Members need to be prepared to be here voting next 
Friday.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the leader and presume that Members 
will act accordingly to let their staffs know that Friday is more 
likely than not, would that be pretty accurate?
  Mr. DeLAY. If the gentleman would continue to yield, that is correct, 
more likely than not.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Leader, you just indicated the sequence of bills. 
Would it be correct, therefore, to assume that the Foreign Relations 
Reauthorization Act would be on Tuesday? The leadership expects to take 
that up first?
  Mr. DeLAY. We would expect to take up that bill on Tuesday or at 
least start it on Tuesday.

[[Page H5882]]

  Mr. HOYER. And NASA next, either late Tuesday or Wednesday or even 
Thursday depending on how long the Foreign Relations Reauthorization 
Act takes?
  Mr. DeLAY. That is correct, Wednesday or Thursday.
  Mr. HOYER. And the PATRIOT Act would be on Thursday and/or Friday?
  Mr. DeLAY. That is correct.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Leader, the highway bill, we have discussed trying to 
reauthorize the highway bill, and both sides feel it is important to 
get it through. We have had the 8th extension, and that expires this 
coming Tuesday. Can the leader shed some light on the status of the 
conference?
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) is 
correct. The highway bill is, as we all know, an incredibly important 
bill. It is an important jobs bill. It is important for the 
infrastructure of this country. Maybe that is why it is taking so long 
to do this. But the conference on the highway bill is slowly rolling 
along. Compromises are being made in some key areas. I am optimistic 
that a conference report can be ready maybe even next week, but 
certainly be ready in the next 2 weeks.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the leader for that information. The 
information I have is the eighth extension ends Tuesday. It is not on 
the list, but would it be the gentleman's expectation that we would 
have another short-term extension?
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I would refer to the chairman on that. I do 
not want to preclude what position the chairman of the Committee on 
Transportation and Infrastructure would be in to make that decision. If 
we had to do an extension, certainly we would fit it in in between 
debates on the major bills we will be doing next week.
  Mr. HOYER. Obviously, the problem is, as the leader well knows, if 
there is a gap of authorization existing in law, it has adverse 
consequences obviously on existing projects or the possibility of 
pursuing existing projects. I would hope if we cannot get to 
conference, which would be probably impossible by next Tuesday, we 
would have an extension so that would not cause anybody any problem in 
the contracting field.
  Mr. Leader, it is my understanding that the CAFTA legislation, a very 
important piece of legislation, is not on the calendar for next week. 
Would it be the expectation of the leader that the CAFTA legislation 
would be on the last week we are in session?
  Mr. DeLAY. As the gentleman knows, the Senate has passed CAFTA. The 
Committee on Ways and Means has marked it up. I expect that the House 
will vote on it before we adjourn for the August recess. I just do not 
know when that will be.
  Mr. HOYER. But the gentleman is confident at least it will not be 
next week?
  Mr. DeLAY. I am pretty confident it will not be next week; that is 
correct.
  Mr. HOYER. The last two pieces of legislation, there has been a lot 
of talk and a lot of newspaper coverage about both campaign finance 
reform and possible Social Security and/or pension or Social Security 
pension legislation. Can the leader tell us whether there is 
anticipation on your side of the aisle that we will be considering 
either one of those or both? Campaign finance, I know there are two 
separate pieces of legislation, Pence-Wynn and Shays-Meehan, pending. 
Will either one of those subjects, do you think, be on the calendar 
prior to the July 28 recess date?
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman continuing to 
yield, and I assume the gentleman will ask another question about 
Social Security, so I will take campaign finance first.
  There is a lot of negotiations that need to be held on both the 
Shays-Meehan bill and the Pence-Wynn bill. In my opinion, they are not 
ripe yet. I do not see that they will get any riper between now and the 
August break.
  Mr. HOYER. That is a good way to put it. I will then ask about the 
Social Security and/or pension or combination thereof. There was some 
talk it might be before recess. Now we have read some comments it might 
not be until September. Can the leader shed some light on the 
majority's view when that will come forward?
  Mr. DeLAY. As the gentleman knows, the Committee on Ways and Means 
has had a number of hearings on Social Security and retirement security 
in general. In addition, the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
passed a bill relating to a number of issues related to defined benefit 
pension plans before the July 4th district work period. There are 
additional ideas related to retirement savings building support within 
this House. I expect that the House will focus on these issues in the 
fall.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Majority Leader for that 
information.

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