[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 112 (Thursday, July 17, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H6378-H6380]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
{time} 1245
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 California (Mr.
McCarthy) for the purposes of inquiring of the majority leader-elect
the schedule for the week to come.
Mr. McCARTHY of California. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, on Monday, no votes are expected in the House. On
Tuesday, the House will meet at noon for morning hour and 2 p.m. for
legislative business. Votes will be postponed until 6:30 p.m. On
Wednesday and Thursday, the House will meet at 10 a.m. for morning hour
and noon for legislative business. On Friday, the House will meet at 9
a.m. for legislative business. Last votes of the week are expected no
later than 3 p.m.
[[Page H6379]]
Mr. Speaker, the House will consider a few suspensions next week, a
complete list of which will be announced by close of business tomorrow
and which, I am proud to say, will include additional bills to combat
human trafficking.
In addition, the House will consider two bills to support innovation
and enhance financial counseling in higher education: H.R. 3136, the
Advancing Competency-Based Education Demonstration Project Act,
authored by Representative Matt Salmon; and H.R. 4984, the Empowering
Students through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act, authored by
Representative Brett Guthrie.
The House will consider H.R. 3393, the Student and Family Tax
Simplification Act. It is a bipartisan bill, authored by
Representatives Diane Black and Danny Davis, to ensure a simple and
fair Tax Code so that students and families can afford a college
education.
The House will consider H.R. 4935, the Child Tax Credit Improvement
Act of 2014, authored by Representative Lynn Jenkins, to help low- and
middle-income families save for child expenses.
Finally, the House will also consider legislation to address the
growing crisis on the border and the reauthorization of the Terrorism
Risk Insurance Act.
Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for his information.
He mentioned, in closing, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act. As the
gentleman knows, that bill did not come to the floor this week as we
may have thought it would. We think this bill is a very, very
critically important bill that needs to be addressed before it expires
at the end of this year.
As the gentleman probably knows, the Senate is expected to vote on
the passage of their bill, as I understand it, today. I expect it to be
a bipartisan vote, as TRIA has been a bipartisan vote in the past. I
hope that we can follow suit with that quickly, so I am pleased to see
that the gentleman says that that may well be on the agenda for next
week. I don't know whether the gentleman wants to make any further
comment, but we believe that is a very, very important piece of
legislation for us to move.
I yield to my friend.
Mr. McCARTHY of California. I thank the gentleman.
I did say ``may'' come up. We would always like to work together on
any capabilities that we can on legislation that we move forward, and
once the timing is finalized, the Rules Committee will announce a
hearing on the measure to determine the process by which the bill will
be brought before the floor.
Mr. HOYER. Again, I hope that we can do that as soon as possible. To
the extent that we pass it before the August break, I think that will
give confidence to the construction industry and confidence
to municipalities in areas around the country. Hopefully, we can do
that, as I said, sooner rather than later.
There is another matter that is critically time sensitive, in my
view, Mr. Leader. As we all know, we have a humanitarian crisis on the
border, and addressing this crisis is very necessary for us to do in a
timely fashion. I think almost everybody agrees on that. The
supplemental is not on the schedule for next week, but I am wondering
whether or not you contemplate that supplemental. The Speaker had said
we ought to do something before the August break. We have 3 weeks left
to go, and I am wondering whether you could give us some insight into
the progress of that supplemental that the President has requested.
I yield to my friend.
Mr. McCARTHY of California. Again, I thank the gentleman for
yielding.
As I mentioned, in the schedule announcement for next week, Members
should be prepared for the possible consideration of legislation to
address the ongoing border crisis. Once again, once the timing is
finalized, the Rules Committee will announce a hearing on the measure
to determine the process by which the bill will be brought before the
floor.
Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for that news. That is good news.
Hopefully, we will be able to move on this next week because it is very
important that we get this done as soon as possible because the crisis
is posing immediate demands on our resources.
I would say to the gentleman, can he illuminate at all whether or not
that supplemental will be limited to the resources necessary to
confront the crisis?
I have heard some comments that there may be changes in the
underlying law with respect to how individuals at the border are
treated depending upon where they come from. While I think that both
the administration and others have indicated that that matter ought to
be considered, there is no doubt that it will be more controversial
than, I think, the supplemental will be.
Can the gentleman tell me whether or not he expects the supplemental
to include attempts to amend existing immigration law, or whether or
not we can consider changes to immigration law in a more either
comprehensive form or in an individual bill form and, perhaps, in
conjunction with the border security bill that has passed out of the
Homeland Security Committee in this House, as I understand it, on voice
vote? I don't know whether it was unanimous, but I don't think there
was opposition to it.
I yield to my friend.
Mr. McCARTHY of California. Again, I thank the gentleman for
yielding.
As the gentleman knows, there has been ongoing consideration of this.
As the gentleman knows, from this side of the aisle, many of our
Members, including on your side of the aisle, have been to the border
to see this crisis, and it is the intent that we solve this problem and
solve it for the long term. So, as I did mention in the schedule
announcement for next week, Members should still be prepared for the
possible consideration of the legislation to address the ongoing border
crisis, and we will keep you posted.
Mr. HOYER. Again, I would just reiterate that I think we both feel
that we need to act on this, but I would urge the gentleman to urge his
committees and his side of the aisle to bring the supplemental--and I
talked to Mr. Rogers about bringing the supplemental--whatever that
supplemental may entail, on the resources necessary to deal with the
crisis and not to try to also deal with the legislative issue, which, I
think, is a substantive issue. As you point out, on both sides of the
aisle, people have raised this issue, but there is no doubt that that
will slow down considerably the passing of a supplemental for the
emergency money that is necessary today.
So I would hope that he would keep that in mind and that he would,
hopefully, urge his party and his committee--the Appropriations
Committee--to report out a clean bill at whatever levels they believe
are appropriate for whatever objectives they believe are appropriate
and let us deal with the resources now and the policy in a more
considered way after hearings. I will be glad to yield if you want to
respond.
Lastly, Mr. Leader and Mr. Speaker, we have talked about a Make It In
America agenda. As the gentleman knows, there are some 70 bills that we
have suggested as part of that agenda. We believe this House needs to
focus on jobs, and it is still the main concern of the American people.
I know the gentleman, in telling us the schedule, indicated there are
some bills on there that are trying to deal with jobs. It is my
understanding that Representative Swalwell's bill will be on the
calendar next week as a suspension bill. I want to thank the gentleman
for putting that on the suspension calendar, and I hope that I can work
with him.
Mr. Cantor and I had discussed some of the Make It In America bills,
and I hope that I can work with him on these bills, which I think are
bipartisan. Every Member of this Congress wants to see more jobs
created and more stimulus to create jobs provided.
There is a particular bill that was going to be on the suspension
calendar some months ago, and it has not yet made it. The gentleman and
I have discussed it. Mr. Lipinski has a bill which deals with a plan
for making America as competitive as it can be. That bill passed out of
the last Congress unanimously out of committee, and it passed this
House with over 350 votes. It has again passed out of committee
overwhelmingly. I don't know whether there was a recorded vote or not,
but it
[[Page H6380]]
overwhelmingly came out of committee, and I would hope that the
gentleman would, with his staff, review and consider adding that bill
as well to the suspension calendar at some time in the future.
I yield to the gentleman.
Mr. McCARTHY of California. Again, I thank the gentleman for
yielding.
Yes, we have had those conversations, and I appreciate the continual
conversations.
As the gentleman knows, the Science Committee has several
manufacturing and jobs bills before it, and I am confident they are
reviewing and giving all due consideration. The bill that you speak of
that passed out of the last Congress was changed within this Congress,
and I know the process in which it is going. I do not anticipate any
coming up next week, but we will certainly notify the Member of any
consideration in the House in the future.
Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman, and I appreciate his comments.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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