[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 111 (Thursday, July 16, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H5284-H5286]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM
(Mr. HOYER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1
minute.)
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the majority leader, Mr. McCarthy,
for the purpose of inquiring about the schedule of the week to come and
thereafter.
(Mr. McCARTHY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, 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.
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.
Mr. Speaker, the House will consider a number of suspensions next
week, a complete list of which will be announced by close of business
tomorrow.
In addition, the House will consider H.R. 1734, the Improving Coal
Combustion Residuals Regulation Act, sponsored by Representative David
McKinley. This bill is essential to protect and create jobs.
If we do not act, the EPA will replace the existing successful State-
based regulatory program with harmful new regulations that will cost
hundreds of thousands of jobs and result in billions of dollars in
burdensome costs for job creators.
{time} 1245
The House will also consider H.R. 1599, the Safe and Accurate Food
Labeling Act, sponsored by Representative Mike Pompeo. This bipartisan
bill will ensure uniform national labeling of foods from genetically
engineered plants. By addressing the patchwork of conflicting labeling
laws, we will fix the growing problem of inconsistent and confusing
information for consumers.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, the House is expected to consider the
conference report for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
Year 2016.
Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for his information with respect to
the legislation for next week.
As the gentleman knows, we have now passed six appropriation bills.
Last week, consideration of the Interior bill was postponed. The
gentleman and Mr. Rogers have both made representations that they hope
to do all 12 appropriations bills.
You did not announce any appropriations bills on the schedule for
next week. Can the gentleman tell me whether or not he expects to bring
additional appropriations bills to the floor prior to the August break?
I yield to my friend.
Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Yes, it is our intention to get back to the appropriations process as
soon as possible. As the gentleman does know, there are some very
serious and sensitive issues involved. We are in the midst of a
constructive and bipartisan conversation on how we can resolve these
issues. I will be sure to keep the Members updated as the
appropriations bills are scheduled for continued consideration.
Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for his comment, particularly in
terms of the willingness to work in a bipartisan fashion.
As the majority leader knows, there is, on his side of the aisle and
on our side of the aisle, a great concern that the 302 allocations to
the Appropriations Committee are insufficient to meet their
responsibilities. Mr. Rogers, as you know, your chairman of the
Appropriations Committee, a Member of your side of the aisle from
Kentucky, has characterized the sequestration numbers as unrealistic
and ill-advised.
The Senate has not passed any appropriations bills, as the gentleman
knows. It is my hope, and I would like to ask the majority leader
whether he contemplates any bipartisan discussions with reference to
how we might come to an agreement so that appropriations bills could,
in fact, be enacted, sent to the President, and signed by the
President.
The President, as you know, sent down a budget which was paid for,
which had Defense numbers at the numbers that your side of the aisle
used by utilizing Overseas Contingency Operation funds to bridge the
gap between the sequester number and the President's number.
My question to you is: Is there any contemplation, either before we
break or shortly after we come back--because October 1 will be on us
very, very quickly--to have bipartisan discussions, a la Ryan-Murray,
to get to a number that we can agree on and that we can pass
appropriations bills, have conferences, and send them to the President
and be signed, hopefully, before October 1, but if not before October
1, certainly before December 18?
I yield to my friend.
Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding and his continuous
questions throughout the months on this.
It is still our intention on this side of the aisle to get our
business done, uphold the current law which is in place. I know you and
I have had many debates back and forth that we know that sequestration
started in the White House, and we continue to play by what the law
states today and move our bills in a bipartisan manner, with a very
open process on the floor where any Member can bring an amendment up,
and we will continue to use that process as we move forward.
Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman.
The majority leader, Mr. Speaker, regularly brings up that sequester
started in the White House. He knows I very severely disagree with
that. And he voted for a Cut, Cap, and Balance Act which had in that
bill--which no Democrat, I think, voted for--sequester. And it was
passed 5 days before our Republican friends, Mr. Speaker, alleged that
Mr. Lew suggested that to Mr. Reid as a way we could get by the House's
refusal, up to that point in time, to extend the debt limit, which
meant we couldn't pay our bills. But I don't think that is very useful
in discussing how we get by this loggerhead that we have met on the
appropriations process.
I served on the Appropriations Committee for 23 years before I became
a leader, and we did pass bills--not always on time, but we had an
ability, Republicans and Democrats working on the Appropriations
Committee, working in the Congress, to get our bills done.
Mr. Speaker, I don't know whether you recall. I presume you will
recall that when we got to a similar impasse, Mr. Ryan, the then-
chairman of the Budget Committee, Ms. Murray, the then-chairwoman of
the Budget Committee in the Senate, got together and came up with some
figures that we could agree on on a bipartisan basis. Until that time,
we had the same kind of scenario that we are now confronted with.
Mr. Speaker, it is my view that, unless we have such a meeting of the
minds, we are going to put this country in another crisis of our own
making.
We, Democrats, are prepared to enter into some sort of an agreement,
consistent with Hal Rogers' belief, that we can get to a realistic and
advised compromise, not this unrealistic and ill-advised--Mr. Rogers'
words, Republican chair of the Appropriations Committee, not mine.
And if we don't do so, when we get to September 30, or we get to
December 18, let's not wring our hands and say, How did this happen? We
will know exactly how it happened, and it will have happened because we
refused to sit down, as the majority leader just said
[[Page H5285]]
a few minutes ago, in a bipartisan way to do the people's business in a
responsible, collegial way in which we can get to an agreement so the
bills can be passed.
I think this argument about who is responsible for sequestration--
clearly, we have a different point of view--and a bill that passed
before the suggestion was made by Jack Lew so we could get by the
impasse and America pay its bills is really not very useful.
Mr. Leader, let me go to another subject. The gentleman moved, on two
occasions, to refer to the House Administration Committee legislation
which related to the use of the Confederate battle flag. Both of those
issues are now pending in the House Administration Committee. One of
them has been there for some 3 weeks now.
Can the gentleman tell me whether there is any suggested action by
the committee, whether there have been any hearings scheduled, and
whether or not we may see that legislation brought to the floor at any
time in the foreseeable future?
I yield to my friend.
Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Just to clarify before I answer your other question on some of your
other statements, I am concerned about what the rest of the summer
looks like. A lot of my concern stems from what I hear on the other
side of the aisle, especially in the Senate side.
As the gentleman knows from his years of working for more than two
decades on appropriations, the appropriations process we have today is
the most open this House has ever seen. Never in history, while you
were on the Appropriations Committee, was it as open a process that any
Member from any side of the aisle could just offer an amendment, not
even prewritten, just a closed process.
But your comments about sequester, what I am really concerned about
is the comments of Senator Schumer, Senator Reid, that they were going
to have the summer of the shutdown, the destruction, that they were
going to shut everything down, and I am concerned about some of your
comments that are leading in that direction. I don't want to go there.
I want to finish our work as we have been doing here.
And history, I can't rewrite it. I mean, Bob Woodward, respected
journalist as we all know from his days back to Watergate, today, in
his ``The Price of Politics,'' he wrote of the time in history.
Sequester was not debated here on this floor or created on this floor,
not even in the Senate as well. You can read it in his book. It was
created in the White House of this administration. It is the law of the
land. We will uphold the law of the land and do our work based upon
those numbers.
Now, the question you had before me was dealing with what we referred
to House Administration. I have met with the chair and I have met with
Members on the gentleman's side of the aisle. We have nothing scheduled
for next week, but we are currently working towards solving this, to
me, a very serious and sensitive issue, and I look forward to getting
it done and working with you to make it happen.
Mr. HOYER. I appreciate the fact that we might be bringing something
to the floor so that we can express the opinion of this House. As the
house and senate in South Carolina expressed its opinion, it surely is
appropriate for this House of Representatives, representing the values
of our country, sworn to uphold our Constitution that stands for
equality of all, that we can express ourselves and take appropriate
action. I appreciate the gentleman's view.
I have great respect for Mr. Woodward. Mr. Woodward, shortly after
that book came out, I called him. He came into my office. We had a
discussion about that representation. I will tell the gentleman that I
believe Mr. Woodward was incorrect. He did not have information I gave
him. I don't mean that he necessarily says he is incorrect.
But there is no doubt, when you want to talk about history, you
passed a bill 5 days before the suggestion was made by Jack Lew, which
was, presumably, coming out of the White House, to Mr. Reid, the
majority leader. Five days before that, you passed, on this floor, a
bill which was called Cut, Cap, and Balance, which had sequester as
your fallback policy.
So you are right. You can't change history. That is history. I have
said that a number of times. The gentleman has not corrected me. I
presume that, therefore, he believes that I am accurate in that
representation of the timing.
But very frankly, that history is irrelevant. What is relevant, as
the gentleman and I, I think, both agree, if we don't get to an
agreement on a number that is as we did in Ryan-Murray--we have done
this before. We have done this before. Now, my view is we did it
because you didn't want to have your Members vote on legislation that
had numbers that were draconian before the election, but that may be
only my personal perspective.
But the fact of the matter is the American people expect us to get
their work done. Getting their work done, at minimum, means funding the
government at appropriate levels. And, again, I would say that Mr.
Rogers does not believe the sequester--I agree with you. It is the law
of the land. I think it is wrong. I think it is a bad law. It was not a
law that was intended to go into effect. It went into effect simply
because the supercommittee that was established in that same
legislation couldn't come out with a solution.
In 13 months, the Congress couldn't come out with a solution, and,
therefore, on January 1, 2014, we were confronted with these draconian,
ill-conceived numbers, according to Mr. Rogers. Let's not be confronted
with those numbers 60 days from now on October 1 where we are unable to
do our business. So I would urge my friend, and I would be glad to work
with him toward that end.
We just passed a bill, Mr. Leader, which I voted for. We passed it on
a bipartisan basis--the majority of my Members voted for it; the
majority of your Members voted for it--a highway bill. It was, however,
I know on our side, and I know that in discussions with you, your
feeling as well, that it is not what we ought to be doing.
What we ought to be doing is passing a long-term, at least 6-year
reauthorization bill for the highway program so that Governors, mayors,
county executives, local officials, contractors, and construction
workers would all have some confidence that there would be a revenue
stream to fix our roads, repair our bridges, and build roads where they
are needed.
Can the gentleman tell me whether he believes that there is a plan to
get to the--and I know he and I have discussed it--but a plan to get
to, before the December 18 date that the present bill calls for, a
long-term highway reauthorization?
I yield to my friend.
Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank him for
his work and help on passing the highway bill this week.
As the gentleman knows, nobody in this House wants to pass a short-
term highway bill. We want certainty. We want to make sure the money
goes the furthest and in the most efficient and effective way.
The reason why we are going to a short-term, December 18, is because
it is our plan and our intention, together, to be able to find the
resources to have a highway bill that can be 5 years.
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It is our intention to be able to have that.
We have a plan, I believe, we are working towards, and the first step
was extending highways to the December 18 date. All we have next is to
pass the Senate.
If they pass our highway bill, we will be in the right place,
prepared to have it done before December, a 5-year that we could all
work together in a bipartisan manner to have done.
Mr. HOYER. I hope we do that.
In the short term, however, we have done another item which we have
not reauthorized, and that is the Export-Import Bank.
Senator McConnell believes that that has the votes in the Senate, and
he believes that the highway bill that we have just sent them is a
vehicle to add that Export-Import Bank proposal to. And my presumption
is it will be in that bill when it comes back to us.
Hopefully, it will come back within the next few days because, of
course, the highway authorization ends at the end of this month, in
which case there will be no authorization to spend money on the highway
program.
[[Page H5286]]
Can the gentleman tell me whether or not, if that comes back, it will
be on the floor? I have heard some discussion about the fact that the
Speaker says it will be on the floor, but the Export-Import Bank would
be open to amendment.
Would the gentleman tell me whether or not there are any plans along
those lines.
I yield to my friend.
Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me one more time.
The gentleman is well aware of how I feel about the Export-Import
Bank, and we have a difference of opinion. I am one who has always
believed in the principle that you should just deal with the subject
that is before you.
We have passed the highway bill. The best advice I can give to the
Senate--it is a clean highway bill until December 18--is to pass a
clean highway bill and move it to the President.
Mr. HOYER. I understand that that is the gentleman's desire. I know
he is opposed to the Ex-Im Bank reauthorization.
As you know, we passed it in a bipartisan fashion when the gentleman
from Virginia (Mr. Cantor) was the majority leader, and the gentleman
voted for it. He has changed his mind. Certainly many of us do that
from time to time.
But my question to him is: If they don't do what the gentleman
suggests--i.e., a clean highway bill--and they send it back, as,
apparently, Leader McConnell thought that they would do, consistent
with his representation to the Senator from Washington State and
others--if they add the Ex-Im Bank to that bill and it comes back--I
know the gentleman is reluctant to speculate. But we have a very, very
short period of time left in this session before the August break.
Does the gentleman believe that, if it comes back and is in the
highway bill, that we would make the Export-Import Bank portion of that
bill at least open to amendment?
I yield to my friend.
Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
And if I just may correct the gentleman, he took the liberty of
saying whether I changed my mind. I did vote for the Ex-Im Bank 2 years
ago, but I voted for an Ex-Im Bank that had reform in it. I have not
seen that reform. I did not change my mind. I kept my principle. The
same principle that I have is my best advice to the Senate.
I know you want to talk hypotheticals, and I know our colloquy is
about next week. But none of that is scheduled for next week.
But to the gentleman and to the Senate, my best advice for them is to
pass our clean highway bill and send it to the President.
Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman.
Mr. Speaker, the problem with the suggestion the majority leader
makes is the Export-Import Bank will be out of business. If that
happens, Speaker Boehner has said it is going to adversely affect jobs
in America. It will adversely affect the ability of small, medium, and
large businesses to sell our goods overseas by people working here in
America.
The Export-Import Bank is about jobs, and to simply let it twist in
the wind and let it be unauthorized simply because of inattention, when
it has the majority of votes on this floor? Mr. Speaker, I have said
that over and over again and have not been contradicted.
There are 60 Republicans who have sponsored the Export-Import Bank's
reauthorization. There are 188 Democrats--or at least 185 Democrats who
will vote for it. That is 249 votes. All you need is 218. There is no
doubt that the Export-Import Bank has the votes to pass this House and
the Senate, and, yet, we fiddle while jobs are being burned.
Mr. Speaker, that is not good policy for our country. It is not good
policy for our workers. It is not good policy for our businesses, for
our exporters. It makes us uncompetitive with the rest of the world.
Sixty countries have a similar facility. I know in a perfect world
perhaps that wouldn't exist. But 60 of our competitors around the world
have such a facility that make their goods cheaper than we will be
making ours.
That is not good sense. It is not good policy. It is not the
expectation, I think, of the American people. And it is not the will of
this House.
I regret that we have not addressed this already. But I certainly
hope when the Senate--as I expect them to do--adds it to the House
highway bill--and I am not sure whether it will be our bill or their
bill or our bill amended--we may have to go to conference or we may
have to get to an agreement.
But one way or the other, we ought to adopt the will of this House
and reauthorize the Export-Import Bank so that we will protect jobs.
It was Speaker Boehner who said that it was shortly after we took the
action we took on June 30 and allowed the Export-Import Bank to expire
that we would lose jobs. In fact, that is happening. So I would hope
that that would not be the case.
Lastly, Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the majority leader this: I
get a lot of rumors on my side. I know you get a lot of rumors on your
side. And I sort of smile at them and I say, ``I think not.''
But I have had 20 Members today ask me, Mr. Speaker, are we not going
to be here the last week of July that is presently scheduled. And I
would like to clear that up.
I yield to my friend for a definitive answer on the schedule for--
this is a scheduling question, by the way, as to whether or not, in
fact, we are going to be here the last week of July.
Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
I smile because the only rumor I heard more of was about Taylor Swift
in the Capitol the other day.
I think this is just wishful thinking of the Members. But the
American people expect us to get our work done. We have a lot of work
to get done. No, we will be here, as the schedule says, and we will
finish it. But we will not be leaving early.
Mr. HOYER. I appreciate the majority leader's clarification. My
Members will not necessarily appreciate it, but I understand it.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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