[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 19 (Wednesday, January 30, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H1317-H1318]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

  (Mr. SCALISE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Maryland 
(Mr. Hoyer), the majority leader, for the purpose of inquiring as to 
the schedule for the week to come.
  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding.
  On Tuesday, the House will meet at 12 p.m. for morning-hour debate 
and 2 p.m. for legislative business following 1 minutes. The House will 
recess to allow for a security sweep of the House Chamber prior to the 
President's State of the Union Address. The House will meet again at 
approximately 8:35 p.m. in a joint session with the Senate for the 
purpose of receiving an address from the President of the United 
States. Members are advised that there will be no votes in the House on 
Tuesday.
  On Wednesday and Thursday, the House will meet at 10 a.m. for 
morning-hour debate and noon for legislative business.
  On Friday, Madam Speaker, the House will meet at 9 a.m. for 
legislative business, with last votes no later than 3 p.m. We will 
consider several bills under suspension of the rules. The complete list 
of those suspensions will be announced by close of business Friday.
  In addition, Madam Speaker, the House will consider H.R. 840, the 
Veterans' Access to Child Care Act, introduced by Representatives 
Brownley and Higgins. This bill would make permanent the VA's childcare 
pilot program and expand it so that veterans across the Nation who are 
parents or grandparents have a convenient, cost-free option for 
childcare when they have VA medical appointments.

[[Page H1318]]

  

  Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, as it relates to the suspension calendar, 
I know, this week, there was an extra bill added to the suspension 
calendar that wasn't on the list by close of business last week. Do you 
anticipate this Friday's list being amended again the following week, 
or should that be a complete list?
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, as I pointed out, additional items are 
possible to be added. We said that last week. We did add one. It was 
noticed on Monday, and we voted on it today. In effect, we met the 3-
day rule, not the 72-hour rule, but that was a suspension. There may be 
others that we will add.
  Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, clearly, as a suspension, it wasn't in 
the traditional sense--obviously, it went down. There being a sense of 
the House resolution, typically, those are resolutions where both sides 
work together.
  I ask the gentleman, do they anticipate approaching senses of the 
House in a partisan way or, hopefully, in a bipartisan way, where we 
can work together to get a true sense of the House that could pass?
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, we want to move on a bipartisan basis. The 
good news was that this resolution, although it failed to have a two-
thirds vote, did have a bipartisan vote with more than 20 Republicans 
voting for it, which I appreciate. Of course, the balance voted against 
the resolution, which said that shutdowns were bad.
  But we will certainly try to give as much notice as possible to the 
gentleman and to his party.
  Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman.
  Madam Speaker, as we approach bipartisan resolutions, we hope that 
the gentleman from Maryland and his side would work with us on those. 
It could have been a resolution that actually passed, had we been able 
to work together and, hopefully, include some language about border 
security.
  As we look to the conference committee that is now meeting, as we 
talk about border security especially being the centerpiece of the big 
debate over government funding that, hopefully, we get agreement to, 
there were reports that, last week, the Democrat majority was going to 
roll out their plan for homeland security. Ultimately, that plan 
wasn't, in fact, rolled out. Is there going to be a rollout? As we have 
these negotiations----
  Mr. HOYER. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. SCALISE. I yield to the gentleman from Maryland to let him know 
that his side said they wouldn't negotiate during a shutdown. 
Obviously, the shutdown is over now. Will there be a counteroffer now 
put on the table?
  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, as the gentleman knows, the conference 
committee has either met or is meeting. It is my understanding that 
Chairwoman Lowey is going to have a press conference after the first 
initial meeting, so that we are in a conference. That is good news. I 
am sure the conferees are going to talk about proposals that they have 
to reach border security.

  I might say that, although it appears to be the central part, in 
terms of our perspective, a shutdown is not about border security or 
any other particular issue. It is that it is a bad policy to shut down 
the Government of the United States. Notwithstanding that, I expect 
that Chairwoman Lowey will be explaining our position in the 
conference.
  Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I look forward to hearing that proposal 
laid out. As the House and Senate Republican and Democrat conferees 
meet together, I do think, and have an optimistic approach, that we are 
not that far removed from reaching a deal, if we can ultimately find a 
way to put a real amount on the table that shows how we can secure the 
border, as our experts--the men and women who risk their lives to 
secure the border--have suggested in their proposal, if we can come to 
a place where we can agree on a way to actually achieve border 
security, and that includes physical barriers.
  When the gentleman from Maryland, I think it was 2 weeks ago, was 
talking about some Democrats who were going over to the White House 
back then, it was said that they didn't have the authority to 
negotiate. Do the Democrat conferees have the authority to negotiate on 
behalf of the Democrat majority in the House?
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. HOYER. Certainly.
  Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's quick 
candor.
  Madam Speaker, as we wrap this up, I would ask about an issue that a 
number of our Members were concerned about and hope this is not a 
trend. In the House Natural Resources Committee, the majority, 
yesterday, as they were proposing their new rules for the committee--
and each committee, as we know, proposes their new rules as a new 
Congress is sworn in and established on a committee level--in the oath 
that is administered to men and women who come before the committee to 
testify, the original proposal suggested removing ``so help you God'' 
from the oath. One of the Members on our side noticed that omission and 
put an amendment in place to restore ``so help you God'' in the oath. 
Fortunately, that was added back in.
  I would ask the gentleman, is this going to be a trend? Is there 
going to be some kind of general movement by committees to try to 
remove ``so help you God'' from the oaths that are administered to 
witnesses?
  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, not as far as I know.
  Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, hopefully, it is not a trend that we see.
  Madam Speaker, I know the last few weeks have been contentious. We 
have a lot at stake as we try to get an agreement on something that 
actually can work to properly fund the government and properly secure 
the border.
  I am glad that the conferees are finally meeting. I hope we don't see 
any attempt to run out the clock, because we do have a limited amount 
of time, although it is far more than enough time to reach an 
agreement, if all parties are truly there in earnest, and I do think 
they are.
  I hope that they put all options on the table and listen to all the 
proper expert testimony that has been given on why we need to have 
certain amounts to secure the border and certain tactics and techniques 
and technology that are all going to be part of this.
  Hopefully, at the end of that discussion, very quickly, they can 
reach an agreement that we can then bring to the House and the Senate 
and pass in a bipartisan way that the President can sign to finally 
properly fund the government and secure our Nation's border.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman.

                              {time}  1430

  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I share the gentleman's view. I hope the 
conferees can reach an agreement that will be agreeable to the 
Democratic Party, the Republican Party, both the House and the Senate, 
and the President.
  Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman and I know we look 
forward to welcoming the President of the United States to this House 
Chamber on Tuesday night for the State of the Union Address.
  I appreciate the work that we are going to do together to secure our 
Nation's border and properly fund our government, and unless the 
gentleman has something else he would like to add, I yield back the 
balance of my time.

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