[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 197 (Tuesday, December 20, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H9997-H9998]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to speak out of order 
for 1 minute for the purposes of inquiring of what the schedule will be 
as we go forward.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Maryland?
  Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, I want to 
get a chance to react. The gentleman can proceed.
  I withdraw my reservation.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The reservation is withdrawn.
  Without objection, the gentleman from Maryland is recognized for 1 
minute.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentlelady for withdrawing her objection.
  I have just been handed a--it may have been sent out earlier--a 
Members' advisory which says:

       The House will be in session as necessary to consider a 
     conference report on H.R. 3630, the Middle Class Tax Relief 
     and Job Creation Act of 2011.
       The House's request for a conference will be transmitted to 
     the United States Senate this afternoon where it will await 
     the appointment of their conferees. To be clear, H.R. 3630 
     will physically reside in the Senate by the close of business 
     today.

                              {time}  1600

  It goes on to say, ``Members will be provided with at least 24 hours' 
notice prior to the House's next recorded vote.''
  What I wanted to ask the majority leader is, does he expect his 
Members to go home this afternoon?
  I yield to my friend.
  Mr. CANTOR. Mr. Speaker, I would respond to the gentleman. As he has 
just read, we have sent out a notice electronically to all Members. Our 
intention is for the conferees to do their work. We have requested the 
Senate to do the same, appoint their conferees so we can iron out the 
differences so we can afford yearlong tax relief for the working people 
of this country.
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, I understand the majority leader's 
position, but he didn't answer my question as to whether his Members 
intend to go home this afternoon.
  Mr. CANTOR. Mr. Speaker, I will say to the gentleman, it is very 
clear--I know he is holding the same piece of paper that I am--and it 
reflects the electronic message that went out to all Members. Our 
intention is for the conferees to go to work to iron out the 
differences, which are narrow, to ensure what all of us wants to 
happen--that we afford yearlong tax relief to all working people in 
this country.
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the majority 
leader's observations. I don't think I got an answer to the question. 
But having said that, if in fact an agreement is not reached prior to, 
say, the middle of next week, is the House prepared to preclude the 
eventuality of 160 million people losing their tax cut? Are you 
prepared to preclude the possibility of 48 million people losing their 
Medicare benefits? Are you prepared to preclude 2.3 million people 
losing their unemployment insurance by acting on an overwhelmingly 
bipartisan agreement that was reached in the United States Senate?
  I yield to my friend.
  Mr. CANTOR. I thank the gentleman.
  Mr. Speaker, what I would say is the House has acted. We have again 
taken the position that all people, I think, in this building have 
taken, which is that it is so much better and more desirable for us to 
provide certainty to the working families of this country who deserve 
the yearlong certainty of tax relief.
  No one thinks that a 60-day extension is even workable, and I think 
most experts would say could cause unnecessary uncertainty, could cause 
additional costs to be incurred by businesses, and it could hurt 
workers.
  So I would say to the gentleman, the House has acted. It is up to the 
Senate to act to stave off this tax hike.
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, while there is clearly a 
difference in this House on a number of things, one of the things that 
I don't think we differ on is a lack of confidence that the Senate will 
do its job. I don't think we differ on that greatly because our 
experiences show us differently. So that what I'm asking the gentleman 
is that we do not put at risk the 160 million people who are expecting 
their tax cut to continue, the 48 million seniors who want access to 
their doctors, and the 2.3 million people who are going to go off 
unemployment, contingent upon whether the Senate acts as the gentleman 
wants it to. I will tell you my experience has not been great 
confidence that that will happen.
  I will tell the gentleman further, we have tried to prepare for that 
contingency. We have introduced a bill with 170 cosponsors which adopts 
the compromise agreement so that we will give that certainty of which 
the gentleman speaks, allay the anxiety which we know exists, and give 
to those 160 million people the certainty that they will get the tax 
cut, the 48 million the certainty they will have access to their 
doctors, and the 2.3 million the certainty that they will not be kicked 
off the unemployment rolls so they won't be able to support themselves 
and their families.
  I ask my friend if he will be prepared to bring that bill to the 
floor if in fact the Senate doesn't act.
  Mr. CANTOR. I would say to the gentleman, if the gentleman wants to 
do his part in trying to make sure that the process moves forward, 
certainly the Democratic side of the aisle and the minority leader has 
the obligation to appoint conferees.
  And if we are all to continue to work together--which I believe we 
can because I think the people of this country are tired of hearing 
what Washington can't do and want to see what we can do. And frankly, 
Mr. Speaker, the people in this country are beginning to wonder about 
the body on the other side of this Capitol and are wondering what the 
leader over there has against the middle class of this country.
  So we would say, Mr. Speaker, it's time for us to come together. All 
of us, including the President, believe it's inexcusable to not allow 
for a yearlong extension of the payroll tax relief.
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, 6 months ago the Speaker 
said that he thought the 1-year extension of the middle class tax cut 
was a short-term gimmick. He said that 6 months ago of the year 
extension. So we're somewhat concerned about the commitment to a 1-year 
extension. But that aside, let me say to my friend that one of the 
problems I'm worried about is, A, whether we can get this work done in 
the next 14 days because we know that even if we had a conference, they 
take a long time. There are very significant differences between us. In 
fact, we have compromised on something that you indicated in our 
colloquies about a week ago was very important, and that was the 
Keystone bill, which your side believes will create a significant 
number of jobs. That of course is in the bill that the Senate

[[Page H9998]]

sent us, because even though the Democratic majority was not for it, 
they cared enough about the middle class tax cut to compromise.
  Unfortunately, I will tell my friend, too often we have seen on this 
floor unwillingness to compromise, even on your bills. We had a CR on 
the floor on March 15; unfortunately, 54 of your Members walked away 
from that. On April 15, we had a continuing resolution to keep the 
government open; 59 Republicans walked away from that. On June 23, you 
left the Biden talks. On July 22, Speaker Boehner walked away from the 
debt limit negotiations with he and the President. On August 1, 66 
Republicans walked away on the debt limit extension, which was your 
bill--not ours, your bill. On November 17, some 101 Republicans walked 
away from passing an appropriations bill which would keep three 
agencies funded. On December 16, 86 Republicans walked away from the 
bill to fund the balance of government. So I might say to my friend, it 
seems to me what we're doing today is walking away today from those 160 
million people, walking away from those 48 million seniors, and walking 
away from those 2.3 million unemployed.
  I yield back the balance of my time.

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