[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 5 (Friday, January 8, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H211-H213]
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, at this time, I yield to the gentleman from 
Louisiana (Mr. Scalise), the majority whip, for the purpose of giving 
us the schedule for the week to come.
  Mr. SCALISE. I thank the gentleman from Maryland for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, on Monday, the House will meet at noon for morning hour 
and 2 p.m. for legislative business. Members are advised that first 
votes of the week are expected at 6:30 p.m. on Monday.
  Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, the House will meet at 10 a.m. for morning 
hour and noon for legislative business.
  On Wednesday, the House will meet at 9 a.m. for legislative business. 
No votes are expected in the House on Thursday or Friday.
  Mr. Speaker, the House will consider a number of suspensions next 
week, a complete list which will be announced at the close of business 
today.
  I want to take a moment to highlight one of those bills. The North 
Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act by Chairman Ed Royce is a critical 
bill, given current events, which would prohibit North Korea's access 
to the hard currency and other prohibited goods that allow this 
oppressive regime to continue its destabilizing behavior.
  Additionally, Mr. Speaker, the House will consider a bill, H.R. 3662, 
the Iran Terror Finance Transparency Act, sponsored by Representative 
Steve Russell. This bill, Mr. Speaker, would block the President from 
offering sanctions relief to an individual or bank until certifying 
that the entity has not conducted any transactions with a terrorist 
organization.
  Lastly, Mr. Speaker, the House will consider two bills aimed at 
burdensome rules and regulations by this Obama administration. The 
first of those, Mr. Speaker, is a bill by Representative Alex Mooney, 
H.R. 1644, the STREAM Act, which is a critical piece of legislation to 
address the administration's stream protection rule. This is a rule 
which is designed to shut down all surface mining and a significant 
portion of underground mining, particularly in the Appalachian region. 
H.R. 1644 would save taxpayer dollars and protect American jobs.
  The second is a joint resolution, S.J. Res. 22, calling for the 
disapproval of the Obama administration's regulatory overreach on the 
Waters of the United States. This resolution would express 
congressional disapproval of an unprecedented power grab that harms the 
traditional Federal-State partnership in implementing the Clean Water 
Act and would expand the scope of the EPA to puddles in the backyards 
of millions of Americans.
  Those are the bills that I wanted to highlight and feature.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for the information. I know the 
majority leader is not here, but I observed, with some irony, how much 
argument for legislation was included in the scheduling announcement. I 
think that is not necessarily inappropriate--I will make that point--
but I am sure the majority leader will remember that in the future.
  I thank the gentleman for the information.
  I want to say to him at the outset, we note and we took action on his 
motion to which we neither asked for a vote nor objected, but that we 
have delayed the consideration of the veto of the President of the 
United States, ensuring that the 22 million people that would be 
removed from health insurance, if the President had not vetoed that 
bill, will not go into effect.
  I want to assure the majority whip, as the minority whip, that that 
bill will not go into effect whether we vote on it today or we vote for 
it on the 25th. There are more than sufficient votes on this side of 
the aisle to support and confirm the President's veto and to ensure 
that those 22 million people, as well as those who are benefiting

[[Page H212]]

from other portions of the bill, will continue to do so.
  I thank the gentleman for that information. I regret that we have 
delayed that vote, but I am absolutely assured that on the 25th or the 
26th, that veto will be sustained by this House. Of course, it will 
initiate in this House.
  I also wanted to say to the gentleman, the Speaker has pointed out 
that this year, he wants to see real substance considered during the 
debate on the bill that I just discussed, the Affordable Care Act. 
There was some discussion by Mr. Upton that there was an alternative 
that the Republican side of the aisle had or his committee had. We, of 
course, never considered--notwithstanding the 62 votes to repeal--an 
alternative.
  I would ask the gentleman if he believes that there will be, during 
the coming weeks or months, an alternative to the Affordable Care Act 
considered on this floor.
  I yield to my friend from Louisiana.
  Mr. SCALISE. I thank the gentleman from Maryland for yielding.
  I know that the gentleman from Maryland is aware that Speaker Ryan 
has laid out a vision that we want to have a bold agenda that we are 
going to bring forward for 2016. In fact, one of the things that the 
Speaker laid out is not an agenda that is going to be driven from the 
top down; it is not agenda that is going to be driven by leadership. In 
fact, it will be driven by the Members.
  One of the things that both the House Republican and House Democrat 
conferences do in the upcoming weeks is have Member retreats, where our 
Members can come together and discuss those items. That is what we are 
going to be doing next: our Members are going to be coming together. We 
want to build a consensus amongst our membership, again, not from the 
top down, but one that includes the interests of the Members of our 
conference to fix the problems that have been created by the 
President's healthcare law and actually bring forward a patient-
centered approach that puts patients back in charge of their healthcare 
decisions.
  Mr. HOYER. I understand that, and I appreciate the gentleman's 
observations.
  I am wondering whether or not our Members would expect, at some time 
in the future, to have such a bill presented for a vote on the floor so 
that the American people could see, as I understand the Speaker's 
premise being that he wants to lay out an agenda so that in this 
Presidential election, there will be alternatives.
  My question to the whip is: Will this House be expecting to vote on 
an alternative, to consider an alternative with amendments perhaps made 
in order as well?
  I yield to my friend from Louisiana.
  Mr. SCALISE. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Again, Speaker Ryan's commitment has been that we are going to 
restore regular order in the House. What regular order means is that 
there is not going to be some predisposed outcome by leadership to 
determine what is going to happen and when it is going to happen, 
regardless of what the membership feels, regardless of what the 
committee process produces.
  Again, I think what is exciting to our membership about this year is 
that the Members are going to be able to participate in that process 
and the committees will be involved in this. I can't tell you what the 
committees will ultimately do or produce. This is going to be a process 
that is going to be very open and transparent. People can watch on C-
SPAN as hearings are held. It is not going to be some predisposed 
outcome from the top down. Again, this will be something that will be 
membership-driven, using the regular order of the House.
  Mr. HOYER. Well, I appreciate the gentleman's presentation.
  Of course, presumably, if it is transparent, if it is open, then 
presumably, the Democratic members of the committee of jurisdiction on 
whatever issue there may be, we think we can work together with you on 
supporting job creation, reaching a long-term fiscal agreement on 
permanently replacing the sequester, which your chairman believes is 
not a reasonable alternative.
  We believe we can reach agreement with you hopefully on comprehensive 
tax reform, although my personal opinion was that the passage of the 
tax bill a few weeks ago, which I voted against, undermines that 
possibility.
  We also believe we can work together with you on something that this 
week has been made dramatically clear, that is needed very, very badly, 
and that is comprehensive immigration reform.
  As I said on Ex-Im Bank, I thought there was a majority of votes in 
both parties for the Ex-Im Bank. Unfortunately, it took a discharge 
petition to get it to the floor. When it got to the floor, I was 
correct. It had a majority of the Republicans and all but one Democrat 
for it.
  I think comprehensive immigration reform would pass. In a system that 
is transparent and open to the American people, what one would do would 
have a vote here on this floor so the American people can see where 
each Member is on that issue.
  We also believe we can work with you, Mr. Whip, and with the majority 
leader, the Speaker, and your Members, on restoring voting rights.
  Mr. Cantor, when he was here, and Mr. McCarthy, the majority leader, 
he and I were honorary cochairs--John Lewis is, of course, the chair--
when we went to the Edmund Pettus Bridge in recognition of that march, 
which ultimately led to the adoption of the Voting Rights Act. We think 
we can work together with you on that.
  I know there are strong feelings on the efforts that the President 
has taken to make sure that those who purchase guns in America are not 
dangerous to their neighbors or to others. We think we can work 
together with you on that.
  Does the gentleman expect a vote on that issue on this floor in the 
near future?
  I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana.
  Mr. SCALISE. I thank the gentleman, again, for yielding.
  Of course, as the gentleman knows, many of these issues that he 
discussed are at various stages of the legislative process. Some are in 
current hearings in committees. Some legislation is being developed or 
being voted on. Some of those issues that were discussed by the 
gentleman have already come to the House floor and passed. In fact, 
many of the bills to get the economy back on track passed this Senate 
with good, strong bipartisan votes that had been stuck in the Senate.
  I encourage the gentleman from Maryland, the minority whip, to work 
with us in the majority to get our colleagues in the Senate to move 
forward on some of that important legislation that we have passed out 
of the House in a bipartisan fashion.
  I know the gentleman from Maryland was at the same ceremony as I was 
earlier this week, where the Navy did, I think, a very important, 
significant action in naming a class of Naval vessels after our 
colleague and civil rights hero, John Lewis. It was an honor to 
participate in that ceremony, as I know you were there as well, in a 
very touching, warm moment where you saw House Members come together to 
pay tribute to our colleague, John Lewis.

  Also, you saw the Navy making such a significant step in saying they 
are going to develop and build a class of Naval ships that honor civil 
rights legends, starting with and, in fact, naming the entire class of 
ships after John Lewis.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for bringing up that issue. We are 
all privileged and honored to serve in this House with John Lewis. 
There is probably no Member of this House who has been recognized for 
greater contributions to what America stands for than our colleague, 
John Lewis.
  It was so appropriate for Secretary Mabus, who is the Secretary of 
the Navy from Mississippi and former Governor of Mississippi, to not 
only name this ship, as the gentleman observed, but because it is the 
first ship. And this ship is all about serving others, about supplying 
others with that which they need--not only fuel, but also food and 
supplies--and is so appropriate because John Lewis lived his life 
serving others and supplying.
  This is not a warship, per se. It is a Naval ship that is going to be 
critically important to our Navy. The gentleman is absolutely correct 
that honoring John Lewis was an appropriate act to take. I think he and 
I both extend our thanks to Secretary Ray Mabus for taking this action.

[[Page H213]]

  


                              {time}  1315

  Lastly, I have had a long association with Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico, 
of course, is an integral part of the United States of America. Its 
citizens are citizens of the United States of America. Like other 
jurisdictions--whether they be in California or in New York or in the 
Midwest or the South or the North--who have from time to time found 
themselves in deep fiscal trouble, Puerto Rico now finds itself in that 
position.
  I had the opportunity to talk a little earlier today with Chairman 
Rob Bishop about the hearings that are going on in the Committee on 
Natural Resources this month with reference to Puerto Rico. I know that 
Speaker Ryan has indicated that we need to address this issue in an 
effective way by March 31. I very much appreciate his setting a goal 
and a timeframe for that.
  Can the gentleman give me any additional information as to the status 
of consideration of Puerto Rico and extending it bankruptcy authority 
so that it might restructure its debt so that it doesn't undermine its 
school system, its public safety, its transportation, and other needs 
of its people?
  I yield to my friend.
  Mr. SCALISE. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Of course, as the gentleman from Maryland knows, Puerto Rico is 
facing a serious debt crisis and is in need of structural reform. That 
is critical. That is why our committee is starting the process of 
examining solutions. In fact, as the gentleman mentioned, next week, on 
January 12 at 10 a.m., the committee of primary jurisdiction, the House 
Committee on Natural Resources, led by Chairman Bishop, as the 
gentleman mentioned, has the first hearing scheduled on this matter.
  In keeping with Speaker Ryan's commitment to regular order, it is 
important that we allow the committees of jurisdiction to work through 
these issues to put forward the best solutions to a bad situation.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman.
  I would reiterate to my friend, we really do look forward to working 
with your side of the aisle on addressing some of the critical problems 
that I mentioned, that you have mentioned, that Speaker Ryan has 
mentioned. We hope that those will be open, transparent, and inclusive 
so that all views can be heard. Ultimately, we hope that proposals and 
policies do come to this floor for a vote.
  It is my understanding that the Speaker also wants to do the 12 
appropriations bills, do them discretely, that is, one at a time, and 
bring them to this floor. We look forward to that process occurring as 
well.
  I yield to my friend.
  Mr. SCALISE. I appreciate the gentleman yielding.
  I would just say, in the spirit of bipartisanship, at some point I 
would like to bring up some great blue crabs from the Gulf of Mexico, 
and the gentleman can bring up some of those great Maryland blue crabs, 
and we can do a good taste test and enjoy some of our great cuisines 
and enjoy some good company.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for that offer. I hope his feelings 
are not hurt when his crabs are left on the table.
  I yield back the balance of my time.

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