[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 157 (Thursday, December 8, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H11266-H11268]
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 yield to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. 
Blunt), the acting majority leader, for the purpose of inquiring about 
the schedule for the week to come.
  Mr. BLUNT. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, the House will convene on Tuesday 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 the week. Any 
votes called on these measures will be rolled until 6:30 p.m.
  For Wednesday and the balance of the week, the House will consider 
additional legislation under suspension of the rules, as well as H.R. 
4437, the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration 
Control Act of 2005, under a rule. We also anticipate the House will 
consider additional conference reports, including the USA PATRIOT Act; 
the Labor, Health and Human Services and Department of Defense 
appropriations bills; and possibly the deficit reduction and tax relief 
packages.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for that information.
  As you know, a lot of work remains to be done which is supposed to 
be, as I understand it, may be, I suppose, our last week. Many hope it 
will be our last week, at least for the month, including the completion 
of the conference report, as you have said, on Labor-Health and DOD 
appropriation, the DOD authorization, TRIA, PATRIOT Act.
  So for Members' planning purposes, can you tell me when you expect to 
finish work for the year?
  Mr. BLUNT. Once we return on Tuesday, the Members should expect the 
House to be in session and voting every day until we adjourn. That 
could happen as early as next Thursday, but certainly by next Saturday 
or possibly Sunday, and we would not anticipate returning until we 
return after the first of the year.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for that information.
  If we do not pass, for whatever reasons, the DOD appropriation bill 
and the Labor-Health appropriation bill, presumably we will need a CR. 
Could the leader tell me how long you would anticipate that CR being?
  Mr. BLUNT. We have not contemplated that because we do expect to pass 
both of those bills next week before we leave. I think we are 
absolutely committed to do that and expect to see both of those on the 
floor individually, and we will then have brought all of our 
appropriations work to the floor individually, though certainly one of 
those bills, probably the Department of Defense bill, will include 
whatever additional appropriations have to be handled before we leave 
this year. But we would expect to handle those under regular order and 
would only contemplate a CR if that became the absolute only resort 
left to us. I would not anticipate that.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for that information.
  Focusing on the DOD bills, the authorization and the appropriation 
bill, technically, as I understand it, we have not gone to conference 
on either one of those at this point in time. One of the reasons is, I 
presume, that there will be a motion to instruct on the McCain 
amendment on one of those bills. Can the gentleman tell me when we 
might have a motion to go to conference? I know you have talked about 
them coming on the floor as conference reports, but in light of the 
fact we have not gone to conference yet, could the gentleman inform me 
as to when we might have a motion to go to conference?
  I yield to my friend.
  Mr. BLUNT. I thank my friend for yielding and would say that we 
expect those motions early in the week. I thought even today we might 
get one of those motions today as the work is done to try to work 
through some of the things that appear to be problems in the conference 
that need to be worked out, and I would expect to see that happen early 
in the week in both instances.
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, this is not a question, but let me 
tell you the difficult position this puts us in, which I hope we ought 
to really preclude in the future in fairness.
  The purpose of a motion to instruct conferees is obviously to convey 
to them the opinion of the House as it relates to the product of the 
conference. Clearly, if that motion is not made until essentially after 
the conference work is done, the motion essentially is of little, if 
any, value. I understand the

[[Page H11267]]

problem that the majority has been dealing with and the differences 
between the administration and at least the Senate. But it does place 
us in a position where essentially whatever the House might want to do 
on a motion to instruct would be essentially a meaningless act.
  That is certainly not, I think, the intent of the rule for a motion 
to instruct, nor is it the spirit, I think, of the rule. The gentleman 
does not have to comment on it. If he wanted to make a comment on it, I 
would be glad to hear it; but I think you understand our consternation 
for those of us who particularly feel very strongly on the importance 
and the appropriateness of the McCain amendment as passed by the Senate 
being in the final bill. Again, the gentleman does not have to comment 
on that. If he would like to, I will certainly yield.
  Mr. BLUNT. I would only say that I understand the point. I also 
understand, as the gentleman does, in this particular case, the White 
House was highly involved in the discussion in the Senate; and it does 
seem to me that this is an issue of unusual sensitivity and important 
to try to work through as much as we could before we put our conferees 
in place, but I clearly understand the position that the whip has on 
that and appreciate it.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman.
  On the budget reconciliation conference, when do you expect that to 
hit the floor?
  Mr. BLUNT. We are hopeful that both of these reconciliation 
conferences can proceed. Both the tax conference and the deficit 
reduction conference are very complicated. It is our hope we can work 
through these, get these in place and work through them next week; but 
there is a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done because of 
the differences in the bills. We are hopeful that we go to conference 
next week on one or both of those issues, and then could even get one 
or both of them back to the floor to vote on the conference product 
next week, if that is at all possible.
  Mr. HOYER. I understand that knowing a specific day on which that 
could be done would be practically impossible. I appreciate the 
gentleman's observation.
  On the border security and immigration bill, which you note will be 
on the calendar next week, can you tell us whether or not we can 
anticipate that being on, presumably, either Wednesday or Thursday? We 
are coming back Tuesday night. You indicated it is possible we could 
get out Thursday. So I presume that bill, which is ready for the floor, 
will be on either Wednesday or Thursday. Can you tell us specifically 
when you might anticipate that bill being on the floor?
  Mr. BLUNT. As I said, we intend to have that bill on the floor next 
week. I think it is probably more likely to be on Thursday, but that 
decision will be a lot easier to make once we get a greater sense of 
how all of the work next week will present itself. Certainly we hope to 
have these two appropriations measures on the floor; and as we have 
discussed before in the last few minutes, the importance of getting 
them done next week. The PATRIOT Act also will be on the floor next 
week, we anticipate.

                              {time}  1600

  And depending on how that work becomes available to us will determine 
the scheduling of the border security provisions. I do not think it is 
likely that that will be on the floor on Wednesday, but it is not 
impossible. I think it is more likely that that bill will be on the 
floor on Thursday, or maybe even later if other measures present 
themselves quicker than we think.
  Mr. HOYER. Thank you. Reclaiming my time, as I understand it, the 
border security and immigration, one comes out of Homeland Security and 
one comes out of Judiciary. Mr. Leader, do you anticipate that they 
will be joined for purposes of consideration on the floor, or is it 
your anticipation that we will consider each one of them individually? 
I yield to my friend.
  Mr. BLUNT. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Those bills were 
combined into one bill in the Judiciary Committee markup today, so I 
would expect to see that as one bill. And amendments could be submitted 
to the Rules Committee on that bill and the Rules Committee, I am sure, 
will allow some amendments on the floor as well.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman.
  Something that is not on the notice, but there has been significant 
discussion of and great interest in on our side as well as your side, 
is the pension bill. I notice it is not on the announcement, but do you 
anticipate that that might be on the calendar; or has that been decided 
to go over? I yield to my friend.
  Mr. BLUNT. I thank my friend for yielding. This is an important topic 
for us to deal with. Pension security is incredibly important to 
Americans and their future.
  We believe we have a good bill from the Ways and Means Committee and 
the Education and Workforce Committee that has been put together. But I 
also understand that because both bodies have to be involved, it is 
highly unlikely that whatever we do would find its way to the 
President's desk this year.
  At the same time, circumstances might allow us to move that bill next 
week. But I would not put that on the list of things that we are almost 
certain to do, but certainly it is on the list of things we are looking 
at to see if there is a way we can go ahead and advance a House 
position so that our friends on the other side of the Capitol can move 
on this issue as well, and early next year, we could come to conclusion 
on an issue that is so critically important to so many Americans and 
their families.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman. As he observes and I have observed, 
there is great interest. We know this is an important piece of 
legislation. Both sides and I think all interest groups want to address 
his issue as soon as we can. Hopefully, we can work together to effect 
a piece of legislation that can enjoy bipartisan support, can pass, and 
go into effect to assist so many millions of Americans who are 
concerned about the security that they have in their pensions. I know 
that is your desire, our desire, and hopefully we can proceed on that.
  Mr. Leader, Mr. Taylor from Mississippi is on the floor and Mr. 
Melancon from Louisiana was also on the floor. Both of them had 
inquired of me, appropriately, the status of the Katrina relief 
legislation. We are very interested in that being brought to the floor 
next week. It is my understanding that it probably will be, but it 
might be brought to the floor attached to another bill.
  That is a critical piece of legislation. I think all of us want to 
make sure that we have the resources necessary and some of the 
legislative authorizations and law necessary to facilitate 
rehabilitation of the gulf area. Can you tell me when that might come 
to the floor and on what vehicle it might come to the floor, either as 
a freestanding bill or attached to another?
  I yield to my friend.
  Mr. BLUNT. I thank my friend for yielding, and I would like to remind 
my friend, as I am sure I do not need to, but the tax portion of this, 
also significant in terms of redeveloping the gulf coast, we did pass 
that bill this week as a stand-alone measure, so that no matter what 
happens this year in reconciliation we have an opportunity to move 
forward with Katrina tax relief.
  We also need to move forward with other kinds of relief. As you 
mentioned, Mr. Taylor and Mr. Melancon and other Members, our Members 
from Mississippi, Louisiana, east Texas, and Alabama have all been very 
interested in moving forward on relief for the families that are 
affected. I believe there is a broad understanding that we need to do 
this before the end of the year.
  I do think, Mr. Whip, it is likely that that relief package will be 
part of one of these last two appropriation measures to move across the 
floor. I believe that works best for ensuring that this happens on both 
sides of the Capitol, both this body and the other body. And I would 
expect to see that Katrina relief package, with significant elements of 
items that the gentleman mentioned and others are interested in, will 
be in either the Department of Defense appropriations bill, as part of 
that debate, discussion, and vote, or in the Labor-HHS vote at another 
time in the week.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for those remarks. Clearly, that is 
critical not only, as I said, to the people

[[Page H11268]]

that you mentioned from the areas affected, but to all of us who want 
to ensure assistance gets to the people there. And while the tax 
provisions may well be important, they are longer-term impacts, and in 
some respects shorter-term impacts, that we would otherwise provide.
  Lastly, Mr. Leader, if I can, can you perhaps give us a preview of 
the schedule for next year? It is our understanding on this side that 
the probability is we will not be returning until the 31st of January. 
Has that been decided? Can you confirm that and maybe give us a brief 
preview of what our schedule next month and the months thereafter in 
the year to come might be?
  I yield to my friend.
  Mr. BLUNT. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and before I go to 
that, I would like to say, and I would hope he would share my view of 
this, that while the Katrina supplemental is important and needs to be 
done before the end of the year, that also anything in the tax 
structure that encourages rebuilding, making a decision to get your 
business back in the affected area rather than stay somewhere else you 
may have moved to is also important.
  I would not want our colleagues on the other side of the building to 
think that somehow the tax portion of this can wait until next year. 
They both need to be done this year, and we are going to work hard to 
see that both of those things get done this year.
  We have worked this year well beyond our schedule to work in 
Washington. Members had every reason to believe before the August work 
period that they would be home now and would have been home for several 
weeks talking about what we have done and what we hope to do. But when 
we do go home at the end of the next working series of days we will be 
working, we would anticipate that the Members would not come back until 
the 31st of January, and the first votes for the second session would 
occur on and after that date.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for that information.

                          ____________________