[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 172 (Friday, October 2, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H5658-H5659]
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 rise to discuss where we are now and where 
I expect to be in the coming hours and days.
  First of all, I would caution all of us. We had a procedure in place 
where we would come on the floor in relatively small numbers and exit 
the floor.
  Our President and the First Lady have been found to be afflicted with 
COVID-19. We pray for their health and their safety.
  But we ought to also admonish ourselves to practice that distancing 
and that wearing a mask. We don't wear them when we are speaking so 
people can hear us, but I would urge all of us to understand that, 
obviously, COVID-19 is still very much among us. And for all of our 
sakes, and for the people's sake who we represent who want us to be 
healthy and articulate their position when we come to the floor, that 
we would be cautious.
  Secondly, let me say, Mr. Speaker, that we have not, sadly, come to 
either a legislative agreement or an agreement between the 
administration and ourselves on a resolution of the next steps to take 
dealing with the COVID health crisis and the economic consequences of 
that crisis.
  I want to tell Members that it is my expectation that this will be 
after this coming vote, which will be the last vote of today. There may 
well be, in discussions with our both sides, unanimous consent 
requests, but obviously they will have to be unanimous consent 
requests, and they will be agreements between both sides.
  In addition to that, we will not be leaving for the break that 
usually occurs in October for the election that is about to come 
because, obviously, all of us want the opportunity to be talking to our 
constituents, but we also have a responsibility to ensure that our 
constituents are safe and get the help that they need.
  So we are negotiating, and negotiations are going on as we speak 
between the administration and between our side of the aisle both here 
and across the Capitol. Hopefully, those negotiations will bear fruit 
sooner rather than later. When I say ``sooner rather than later,'' I 
hope that this weekend perhaps an agreement can be reached.
  Now, if an agreement is reached, it will take some time to 
memorialize that agreement on paper. So I do not necessarily expect 
that a Monday or Tuesday vote is likely, but I want everybody to know, 
and it will be 24 hours' notice. It will not be 36 and it will not be 
48 hours. I know that is difficult, but I think all of us feel, on both 
sides of the aisle, an urgency.
  Clearly, for tactical reasons, we go back and forth and try to get an 
advantage on one another. That is what both sides do. I will tell you 
as sincerely as I can tell you, I know that the Speaker, who is 
negotiating with Secretary Mnuchin, I believe both of them are 
negotiating in goodwill, and both of them very much want to get to an 
agreement.
  I know how hard our Speaker has been working and I know how hard 
Secretary Mnuchin has been working because I know, when they meet with 
one another and when they talk with one another on the phone, I almost 
invariably get a call from the Speaker, saying: This is what happens. 
This is where we are.
  So I want to advise all of you that, while this vote that is to come 
is going to be our last vote of the day--and I don't expect even if an 
agreement were reached in the next hour that we would be able to bring 
something to the floor.
  So after this next vote, Members are free to go where they want to 
go. Just be aware that there will be very short--no shorter than 24 
hours'--notice so that we can come back and try to do what the American 
people want us to do, notwithstanding the fact we have different 
perspectives exactly what that is.
  I hope that all of us will be focused and will be thinking about what 
we think is a reasonable agreement that we will reach, and hopefully 
whatever agreement is reached will be perceived by both sides as 
something that we can vote for.
  Obviously, it won't have everything in it that each person wants or 
maybe has something that each person or some people may not want, but 
we have come together four times, Mr. Speaker. One was by unanimous 
consent. There was no vote. It passed by voice vote. I don't know if 
everybody was for, it but at least nobody said ``no.'' The other three 
were overwhelmingly passed and, in the Senate, I think at least twice, 
by voice vote.

[[Page H5659]]

  So that, Mr. Speaker, is where we are at this point in time. I may 
make another announcement 45 minutes from now just to let other Members 
know.
  I hope Members are watching, and certainly we will send it out, but 
Members need to check flights, obviously. My staff member tells me. I 
presume all of you understand that you have to check which flights are 
available. Obviously, that is a challenge. One of the things that we 
need to deal with is, obviously, the airlines. We need to deal with a 
lot of other things as well, and we will try to do that.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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