Congressional Record, Volume 153 Issue 41 (Friday, March 9, 2007)

[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 41 (Friday, March 9, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H2377-H2379]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

(Mr. BLUNT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1
minute.)
Mr. BLUNT. Madam Speaker, I yield to my friend, the majority leader,
for the purpose of inquiring about next week's schedule.
Mr. HOYER. I thank the minority whip for yielding. On Monday, the
House will meet at 12:30 p.m. for morning hour business and 2 p.m. for
legislative business. We will consider several bills under suspension
of the rules. There will be no votes, Madam Speaker, on Monday before
6:30 p.m.
On Tuesday, the House will meet at 10:30 a.m. for morning hour
business, and noon for legislative business. We will consider
additional bills under suspension of the rules, and a complete list of
those bills for the week will be announced by the close of business
today.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the House will meet at 10 a.m. We will
consider several important pieces of open government and accountability
legislation from the Oversight and Government Reform Committee: H.R.
1309, the Freedom of Information Act and amendments; H.R. 1255,
Presidential Records Act Amendments; H.R. 1254, Presidential Library
Donation Reform Act; H.R. 985, Whistleblower Protection Enhancement
Act; and H.R. 1362, Accountability in Contracting Act.
Notwithstanding everybody is requesting to meet next Friday, we are
not going to do that.
Mr. BLUNT. I thank the gentleman for sticking with his earlier
decision on next Friday, in spite of what I am sure must have been the
incredible pressure for us to be here next Friday; and we will try to
get our work done.
Mr. HOYER. Will the gentleman yield?
Mr. BLUNT. I would yield.
Mr. HOYER. Nobody in the House, other than yourself and Mr. Boehner,
know that pressure more than I.
Mr. BLUNT. I appreciate the gentleman's view of that, and he is
right. I do share it. I would ask the gentleman, on the supplemental
that has been described in concept this week, when

[[Page H2378]]

would we expect to see language on the supplemental?
Mr. HOYER. The supplemental I expect to be marked up in committee. We
have moved it one week, as the gentleman knows, as we have worked on
trying to get language that is appropriate language from the
perspective of the committee. And Mr. Obey has been working very hard
on that, as have others. I expect that to be marked up next week, and I
expect the language to be available early next week.
Mr. BLUNT. And the gentleman then would expect it to be on the floor
the following week?
Mr. HOYER. Yes.
Mr. BLUNT. You expect it to be on the floor the following week?
Mr. HOYER. I believe that is the week of the 19th.
Mr. BLUNT. That would be the week of the 19th.
Mr. HOYER. Yes, sir. I expect the supplemental to be on the floor the
week of the 19th, and then we are very hopeful that the budget will be
on the floor the week of the 26th.
Mr. BLUNT. And as an appropriations bill, does the gentleman
anticipate that we will have opportunities to amend that bill on the
floor?
Mr. HOYER. We don't know that yet. We are discussing that. I don't
know yet
Mr. BLUNT. Well, I would just say before I move to my next question,
of course, this is, as we all know, an important and at the same time
controversial piece of legislation, and we would hope for a full debate
and an opportunity to have a chance to amend the bill on the floor.
The leader also announced, I believe, this week, maybe it was late
last week, that we should anticipate seeing legislation on the floor
within the month on allowing the Delegate from D.C. to vote on the
floor. I wonder if the leader could tell us a little more about his
idea on what this proposal would include.
Mr. HOYER. Will the gentleman yield?
Mr. BLUNT. I yield.
Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for the question. As you know, I
feel very strongly that the representative of the District of Columbia
should have full voting membership in the House of Representatives, as
does the representative in parliament of, I believe, every other
capital of every other democracy in the world, except for the District
of Columbia.
I expect that legislation, and hope that legislation, will be on the
floor before we adjourn for the Easter work period, which would
probably mean the week of the 26th. The legislation is the legislation,
as you know, that is sponsored by Mr. Davis, Tom Davis, the Republican
former chairman of your campaign committee, but more importantly, the
former chairman of the Government Reform Committee, and cosponsored by
Mrs. Norton, the representative of the District of Columbia.
I would expect that legislation to include, as the original
legislation included, an additional Member from Utah and full voting
rights being extended, and full membership as a full Member, both of
the new Utah Representative, but also of the Representative of the
District of Columbia.
Mr. BLUNT. Does the gentleman know when that legislation was designed
to take effect? After the next election? I am not familiar with the
specifics of that legislation. Certainly I do know that Mr. Davis was
the sponsor.
Mr. HOYER. The hearings I expect to be held next week, I believe.
Hearings and markup, I think, will be next week, so I can't tell you
exactly, obviously, because it hasn't been marked up yet. But it is my
contemplation that there would be a special election in the case of the
District of Columbia Representative, and in the case of the Utah
Representative.
As we all know, the only way you can get to be a Member of this House
is to be elected. There are no appointments to this, so that we would
contemplate providing for a special election for both.
Mr. BLUNT. In our Constitution, as the gentleman knows, the District
was established differently than most capitals and, I am sure, has
developed in a different way than was anticipated at the time.
But when Presidential voting rights were extended to the District,
the Constitution had to be amended to do that.
Would the gentleman anticipate that this would also require a
constitutional amendment since the District is not part of any State?
Mr. HOYER. Will the gentleman yield?
Mr. BLUNT. I would.
Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
As you know, Mr. Davis is the author of this bill. He had extensive
hearings on this bill, as you know, in the last Congress; reported this
bill out in the last Congress. It was never brought to the floor, but
it was reported out.
And as you know, it was Mr. Davis' and the committee's conclusion
that this could be effected by legislation, as has been the admission
of States to the Union, and the admission, therefore, of new voting
Representatives in the Congress of the United States.
Now, I don't represent that there is not another view as to whether
or not you can do this statutorily or whether you need to do it
constitutionally. But I can tell you, as you well know, that it was Mr.
Davis' conclusion, the committee's conclusion, under his leadership
when your party was in control of the House, and it was the conclusion
of the committee that it could be done statutorily, and we are
proceeding on that theory.
Mr. BLUNT. Well, I would caution the gentleman on that theory. As
high a regard as I have for Mr. Davis, and it is high, I have certainly
never considered him to be the ultimate authority on the Constitution.
And, of course, when you allow States to enter the Union, as the
Constitution provides for, you have the requisite number of Members of
the House and two Members of the Senate.
And the major question I am sure I will have during that debate and
later will be exactly what State is Washington, D.C. part of, since the
Constitution specifically says that Members of the House are selected
by the various States.
I think there is a constitutional question here, and that is one of
the reasons that, when we were in the majority, that Mr. Davis' bill
didn't come to the floor. And I think there will be, should be, a
constitutional remedy, if there is a remedy.
Mr. HOYER. Will the gentleman yield before we go on to a different
subject?
Mr. BLUNT. I would.
Mr. HOYER. I would ask my friend, would the gentleman be for a
constitutional amendment if such an amendment were brought to the
floor?
Mr. BLUNT. I might be for whatever it took to return the voting
rights for the Member of Congress to a State that is represented by two
Senators which, of course, would be, I would assume, your State.
I don't know that I would be for an amendment that would allow
somebody to be represented uniquely that doesn't have Senatorial
representation, and, of course, you are assuming that it would be
inside the Constitution. I do think that would be the way to do it.
And while the population of the District may allow it to have a
population similar to the districts that are represented by the average
Member in terms of population, the Constitution, to me, appears to be
very explicit on the question of Representatives of a State.
Half of the original District of Columbia, as the gentleman knows,
was returned to the State of Virginia in, I believe, the 1840s. They
are represented by a Member of Congress, and maybe more than one, and
they are represented by two Senators, the Senators from Virginia. That
appears to me to be a remedy that would be well within the
Constitution. But this proposal that Mr. Davis and others have made, I
think, will have a significant constitutional hurdle to overcome.
The other question I would direct to the gentleman is on the budget
itself. When does the majority expect that we will see a markup in
committee of the budget resolution, and when would that resolution be
on the floor?
Mr. HOYER. I would expect a markup, certainly this is the target for
markup, the week of the 19th and on the floor the week of the 26th.
Mr. BLUNT. So you are anticipating, if I could refresh my mind here
to the gentleman's comments, that both the supplemental appropriations
bill and the budget will be marked up during the week of the 19th.

[[Page H2379]]

Mr. HOYER. No, I expect the supplemental to be marked up in committee
next week.
Mr. BLUNT. Next week. And on the floor the week of the 19th.
Mr. HOYER. And on the floor the week of the 19th.
Mr. BLUNT. Well, it is a good thing I clarified that in my mind.
Mr. HOYER. So you would have on the week of the 19th the supplemental
and on the week of the 26th the budget on the floor.

{time} 1430

Mr. BLUNT. As I recall, that is exactly what the leader suggested,
and now I have that straight in my mind, and those will be weeks that
we would hope to have a full debate and important debate for the
country.
I thank my friend for the information he has provided.

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