[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 122 (Friday, July 27, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H8813-H8814]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

  (Mr. CANTOR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. CANTOR. Madam Speaker, I yield to my friend from Florida for the 
purpose of inquiring about next week's schedule.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Thank you very much.
  Madam Speaker, on Monday, the House will meet at 10:30 a.m. for 
morning-hour business and noon for legislative business, with votes 
rolled until 6:30 p.m. In addition to several bills under suspension of 
the rules, a list of which will be announced by the close of business 
today, we will consider H.R. 986, the Eightmile Wild and Scenic River 
Act; and H.R. 2831, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
  On Tuesday, the House will meet at 9 a.m. for morning-hour business 
and 10 a.m. for legislative business. On Wednesday and Thursday the 
House will meet at 10 a.m. On Friday the House will meet at 9 a.m. We 
will consider the FY08 Agriculture appropriations bill, the FY08 
Department of Defense appropriations bill, the Children's Health and 
Medicare Protection Act, and energy independence legislation.
  Mr. CANTOR. I thank the gentlelady from Florida.
  I notice the gentlelady indicates that the SCHIP bill will be on the 
calendar next week. As a member of the Ways and Means Committee, I and 
others worked until 2 a.m. on the package to increase the taxes to pay 
for the SCHIP bill supposedly coming out of the Energy and Commerce 
Committee that was supposed to have scheduled to mark up their bill 
today.
  How do you expect this bill to come to the floor next week, and under 
what kind of rule from the Energy and Commerce Committee?
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. We do not yet know what the rule will look 
like. We will be consulting with the Rules Committee and the Chair of 
the respective committees and we will be able to determine that at that 
point.
  Mr. CANTOR. I would ask the gentlelady, is it the intention to bring 
one package with the bill out of Ways and Means and the not yet marked 
up bill from the Energy and Commerce Committee?
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. There are various possibilities being 
considered, and those decisions have not yet been reached.
  Mr. CANTOR. I thank the gentlelady.
  I would also like to ask about the energy bill. Would you expect that 
the energy bill will come to the floor again in one package? Is there a 
multiple energy bill still floating out there in the committees?
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. That is also a decision that has not yet been 
made. The Rules Committee will be consulted as well as the Chair of the 
Energy and Commerce Committee.
  Mr. CANTOR. I would ask the gentlelady, does she expect the energy 
bill that comes to the floor to contain CAFE standards?
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. We are considering a number of different 
possibilities, and those decisions, in terms of substance, have not yet 
been reached.
  Mr. CANTOR. Further, Madam Speaker, what day do you expect to begin 
consideration of the energy bill?

                              {time}  1700

  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. That decision is still being considered.
  Mr. CANTOR. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman.
  Next, you mentioned that the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act will be on 
the floor next week, and I am aware that the Rules Committee met today 
on this bill. I would remind the gentlewoman that it is very rare for 
the Rules Committee to meet the week before a bill is on the floor, and 
in today's case that committee met on not just one bill but on three.
  I would ask the gentlewoman, Madam Speaker, will the rule granted be 
open given that Members were not afforded an amendment deadline and the 
Rules Committee meeting was not noticed until 9:04 p.m. last night?
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. The rule for the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act 
will be a closed rule.
  Mr. CANTOR. I thank the gentlewoman. Again, it is very rare for that 
to happen, especially when there was absolutely no amendment deadline 
given to the Members and the notice only coming since 9 o'clock last 
night.
  I would ask the gentlewoman further on the DoD approps bill, you have 
been talking about having an Iraq vote each week before we leave. Do 
you anticipate a freestanding bill next week, or do you expect 
legislation to be confined to a DoD approps bill having to do with 
Iraq?
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Those decisions have not yet been made, but it 
is possible that we will consider an Iraq vote sometime during next 
week.
  Mr. CANTOR. Again, I know the gentlewoman may not have the 
information in front of her. We are trying to get as much information 
as we can, Madam Speaker, for our Members in order to plan their 
schedules for next week. And along those lines, the schedule is rather 
heavy.
  Should we expect and should our Members be prepared for legislative 
business next Saturday?
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. In the event that we do not complete the 
agenda that is ambitious for next week, Members should make plans to 
possibly be here on Saturday.
  Mr. CANTOR. I thank the gentlewoman.
  Madam Speaker, I would like to ask about a few things that are out 
there expected to or at least having been reported to come up but are 
not yet on the schedule. I would ask, do you expect the patent reform 
legislation to be added to next week's schedule, as it

[[Page H8814]]

was marked up in committee last week?
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. While that is still under discussion, it is 
unlikely.
  Mr. CANTOR. I thank the gentlewoman.
  Madam Speaker, I would also like to indicate that the Republicans 
have repeatedly been trying to close the terrorist loophole in our FISA 
laws with our previous-question votes over the last several weeks. And 
I would ask the gentlewoman, first of all, why the fix to the terrorist 
loophole was not put into the conference report that we just voted on, 
the 9/11 conference report? And after that, what is preventing this 
important national security legislation from coming to the floor? And I 
would ask the gentlewoman if it could be added to next week's schedule.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. We are looking at various options to address 
that concern, and it is possible that will occur next week.
  Mr. CANTOR. Again, I would just like to reiterate the concern to the 
gentlewoman, Madam Speaker, that it was August of 2001 in which, 
unfortunately, we had experienced an increase in terrorist chatter, and 
that was in all the reports, and likely, hopefully, never again will 
that happen to the United States and its citizens, a terrorist attack 
at all or, God forbid, on that scale.
  Given the reports lately and the fact that there is increasing 
chatter among the various reports coming out of different sources, I 
would just like to reiterate the importance of that type of legislation 
to the gentlewoman and the desire on the part of the Republicans to see 
that legislation come to the floor.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. I thank my friend from Virginia for his 
comments, and we certainly couldn't agree more on the importance of 
that. We have been looking at various ways that we can address those 
concerns. The majority is absolutely concerned about addressing the 
whole issue of terrorism and making sure that we can close every 
possible loophole that might be slipped through by a terrorist.
  Mr. CANTOR. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman and ask one final 
question.
  The House approved legislation earlier this month to reform the 
activities at the FDA, including reauthorization of the Prescription 
Drug User Fee Act and the Medical Device User Fee Act. Without 
reauthorization, the FDA will be forced to send out notices to reduce 
staffing. In other words, we will have to lay off government employees. 
It is my understanding that the FDA will send these notices as early as 
August if Congress fails to reauthorize the user fee programs next 
week.
  I would ask the gentlewoman, how does the majority plan to complete 
these important bills before we adjourn next week?
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. We think the gentleman's characterization of 
the timing of that is a bit of a stretch. We do believe that that is an 
important issue to address. With the ambitious agenda that we have next 
week and the priorities that have been laid out, it is unlikely that we 
will get to the FDA issue next week, but we will be dealing with it as 
soon as possible.
  Mr. CANTOR. I would just respond, Madam Speaker, that there is a 
projected over 2,000-employee layoff if we in this Congress do not act 
to make sure that reauthorization occurs, and that is something that I 
am sure the gentlewoman will agree we do not want to see happen.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. We certainly do not, which is why we plan to 
make that a priority and deal with it as soon as we possibly can.
  Mr. CANTOR. I thank the gentlewoman.

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