[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 66 (Thursday, April 24, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H2736-H2737]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
{time} 1515
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM
(Mr. BLUNT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1
minute.)
Mr. BLUNT. I yield to my friend, the gentleman from Maryland, the
majority leader, for information about the schedule.
Mr. HOYER. I thank the Republican whip.
On Monday, the House is not in session. On Tuesday, the House will
meet at 12:30 p.m. for morning hour and 2 p.m. for legislative
business. On Wednesday and Thursday, the House will meet at 10 a.m. for
legislative business. On Friday, no votes are expected.
We will consider several bills under suspension of the rules. The
final list of suspension bills, as usual, will be announced by the
close of business tomorrow. We will consider H.R. 493, the Genetic
Information Nondiscrimination Act, and H.R. 5522, the Combustible Dust
Explosion and Fire Prevention Act.
Finally, Members should note that on Wednesday, the Prime Minister of
Ireland, The Honorable Bertie Ahern, will address a joint meeting of
the House and Senate.
Mr. BLUNT. I thank the gentleman for that information.
Will the Combustible Dust Explosion and Fire Prevention Act, will
that act be under a rule?
Mr. HOYER. Yes.
Mr. BLUNT. And the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act will be
as well?
Mr. HOYER. Yes.
Mr. BLUNT. I thank the gentleman for that. I notice the schedule
doesn't include anything yet on the supplemental. I continue to see
reports suggesting that the supplemental may come directly to the floor
and not through committee. I wonder if the gentleman has any indication
of what might be the schedule at this time on the supplemental.
I would yield.
Mr. HOYER. I thank my friend for yielding.
As you have read, we are discussing how to process the supplemental.
As I indicated to you, it is my intention that we will pass the
supplemental prior to Memorial Day. By that, I mean in sufficient time
so the Senate can do so as well so we can pass it finally.
That is my hope and my intention. We are still working on the
components of the supplemental, and very frankly, it has not yet been
finally decided as to how that might be processed. Obviously, at times
in the past it has been added to other legislation. In other times, it
has been passed as a free-standing bill. Committee consideration,
obviously, is part of the regular order, if we go that way, but there
are other ways to go. We want to facilitate the passage of it as
quickly as possible.
Mr. BLUNT. I appreciate the need to get this war supplemental done.
Of course we have been talking about it during this entire work period
for the last 4 weeks now. Since 1989, the Congress has passed 36
supplementals. All but seven of them went through the committee
process. On those seven occasions--it was the supplemental right after
9/11, the supplemental right after Katrina. I would just say to the
gentleman that I know our members of the Appropriations Committee today
have expressed great concern if the committee doesn't have the
opportunity to mark this up in regular order, and I don't know that
that has anything other than informational value to you, it may very
well go through the committee. If it doesn't, I have heard a lot of
concern expressed about why, with the amount of time we have had here,
we would do what is a relatively extraordinary thing.
I would be glad to yield.
Mr. HOYER. I appreciate the gentleman yielding.
Our intent obviously, as I said, is to pass this bill. Obviously we
are considering the best way to do so, giving every Member an
opportunity to vote as they see fit on various component parts of the
supplemental, and we are considering how best to do that.
I understand, certainly, the committee's concern, having served on
that committee for about 24 years, and having considered a number of
supplementals. As a member of that committee, I understand that
concern. But I will tell the gentleman that we are trying to proceed in
a way that will facilitate the passage of this bill to the Senate and
hopefully transmittal to the President prior to the Memorial Day break.
Mr. BLUNT. Well, I thank the gentleman for that. I do think the time
does matter here because of the potential for furlough notices and
other things for troops if we let this bill go much beyond the work
period we are in right now between now and Memorial Day.
One of the items that I keep seeing reports that could be in this
bill would be enhanced GI benefits. The cost estimates I have seen from
a Senate cost
[[Page H2737]]
estimate on a bill over there, to a bill here, have been anywhere from
a low of $20 billion to a high of $60 billion over 10 years. I know a
number of Republicans have been working on that as well. Some of them
have reached out to Democrats this week, saying, We hope we can find a
way to pay for this.
Does the gentleman have any knowledge of whether or not that GI bill,
expanded GI benefits, is being actively discussed as part of the bill?
I would yield.
Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
I will tell the gentleman that very definitely it's being discussed.
We believe this is a cost of war. We have over 4,000 families who have
lost husbands, wives, brothers and sisters. We have over 30,000
severely injured. Obviously, the GI bill for those who came home from
World War II and Korea had very good benefits that were helpful to
them. Unfortunately, particularly with respect to our Guard and
Reserve, that is not the case.
Jim Webb, the former Secretary of the Navy, now the Senator from
Virginia, as you know, has introduced a bill. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin
on this side has also introduced a bill. Others have introduced
legislation trying to make sure that the veterans who are coming home
from Iraq that have been deployed for long periods of time, have had
their lives very substantially disrupted, their families' lives
disrupted, fighting for their country, that this is a cost of war.
We are trying to address this, and the gentleman is correct, there is
discussion about, as a cost of war, having this proceed to the
President perhaps on the supplemental. That is under discussion. That
decision has not been made. But it's certainly very high on our
priority list to take care of these veterans that have come home and
give them the kind of benefits that we think they are due as great
patriots who have sacrificed for our country.
Mr. BLUNT. I thank the gentleman for that information. I know Senator
McCain on the other side of the building also has come up with a
proposal in this area. He introduced legislation in this area. So it's
widely discussed. I think something can be done. Whether or not the
supplemental is the place or not, I don't know. I do believe that
whatever we do should become permanently part of the benefits that
veterans should anticipate being able to have in the future and not
have any kind of a temporary aspect to it.
The other question I had of my friend are just about the conferences
that I haven't asked about in a couple of weeks. There are really three
of them I am wondering about, and that would be the conference on the
farm bill, the conference on the higher education bill, or the budget
itself.
I would yield.
Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
I think the good news is that certainly on the farm bill, Mr.
Peterson indicates that progress is being made. As you know, we
extended it to May 2 to give the conference committee a little more
time.
They have been working at it very diligently. It's difficult. There
were substantial differences, not so much partisan differences, but
substantial differences between the two Houses. The Democrats and
Republicans, frankly, on both sides of the issues.
We believe that progress is being made. I am hopeful that we can, in
the next week, have a conference report on the farm bill on the floor.
I am hopeful. I am not predicting that, but I am hopeful.
As to the budget, I think progress is being made there as well. There
are some thorny issues. We are very committed to PAYGO. You mentioned
PAYGO as it relates to the GI bill. We are committed to PAYGO. I was
very pleased to hear that some of your members want to make sure that
the veterans bill is paid for. The war costs, which we believe the
veterans benefit are a part of, are not paid for, as you know, in the
President's proposal.
But with respect to the third conference, the higher education bill,
let me see if I have a note here. We are also making progress, it says,
on the higher education conference. But it is likely, according to the
chairman, that we will need a short-term extension next week because
apparently they are not sure that they will get it finished by next
week. So we may need an extension. If so, we will bring one to the
floor. I presume that will be in agreement with both the ranking member
and the chairman.
Mr. BLUNT. I thank the gentleman for that. Of course we did a 1-week
extension on the farm bill again today. We have done several extensions
now. I hope we get to a point where we have a bill on the floor or have
some ongoing policy that farmers can rely on, even if that is an
extension of the bill we have, but some ongoing policy really does
matter, and I hope we get there.
I thank the gentleman.
Mr. HOYER. I would just say we are in agreement.
____________________