[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 208 (Thursday, December 2, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H6892-H6893]
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 rise for the purpose of inquiring of 
the majority leader the schedule for next week. I yield to my friend, 
the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), to talk about the schedule for 
next week.

                              {time}  1815

  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Madam Speaker, pending Senate passage of the CR tonight without 
amendment, the House will not be in session tomorrow--I want to 
reiterate, pending passage of the CR tonight. If the CR is not passed, 
we will be in session tomorrow at 9.
  If the Senate fails to act, as I just said, we will meet at 9 a.m. 
for legislative business and expect to vote on some of the postponed 
suspensions. Members are encouraged to keep their schedules flexible as 
we work to fully fund government and prevent a shutdown at 12 midnight 
tomorrow night.
  Next week, on Monday, pending Senate action on full government 
funding and H.R. 6119, the Further Extending Government Act, being 
signed into law, the House is no longer expected to meet. This is a 
change from our previously announced schedule. We will not be in 
session Monday, assuming we have funded the government.
  On Tuesday, the House will meet at 12 p.m. for morning hour and 2 
p.m. for legislative business.
  On Wednesday and Thursday, the House will meet at 10 a.m. for morning 
hour and 12 p.m. for legislative business.
  On Friday, the House will meet at 9 a.m. for legislative business, as 
was previously scheduled.
  The House will consider several bills under suspension of the rules. 
The complete list of suspension bills will be announced by the close of 
business tomorrow.
  Additionally, the House will pass H.R. 4350, the National Defense 
Authorization Act, again, a second time, to provide our troops with the 
pay they deserve and our military with the tools it needs to carry out 
its missions safely and effectively, keep America safe, and keep the 
peace.
  Again, I will reiterate that is the second time we will pass this 
version. As I understand it, it will be the conference-agreed version 
of the defense bill. This has been a discussion between the House and 
the Senate.
  The House will also consider H.R. 8363, the Protecting Our Democracy

[[Page H6893]]

Act, to reassert Congress' role as a coequal branch of government by 
addressing the vulnerabilities exploited by the former President and 
his enablers to weaken our democracy, undermine the rule of law, and 
subvert the systems of checks and balances enshrined by the Framers in 
our Constitution.
  The House may also consider legislation to address the debt limit and 
prevent a manufactured economic catastrophe that would derail our 
recovery from the pandemic and cause needless suffering to millions of 
American families.
  I would reiterate that while we don't know the exact date at which 
America will be unable to pay its bills, we will address this next 
week, hopefully, in a bipartisan fashion.
  Moreover, the House will be ready to act on H.R. 5376, the Build Back 
Better Act, should the Senate amend it and send it back to the House.
  Lastly, of course, additional legislative items are possible.
  Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for that update. As 
it relates to tomorrow's schedule, as the gentleman from Maryland said, 
it could be fluid, depending on how the CR is processed in the Senate. 
If the CR does not pass the Senate tonight, are there bills that are 
specifically designated to come up tomorrow, or is that a to-be-
determined issue?
  Mr. HOYER. We have a list of suspension bills, which has been 
announced and has been on our calendar for consideration. Those would 
be the pieces of legislation with which we would deal, pending action 
by the Senate.
  Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for that update.
  As it relates to the debt ceiling, we had a discussion a few weeks 
ago relating to the debt ceiling. Would there be a bipartisan 
negotiation? We haven't had that so far. Is there anticipation that 
there would be a plan to try to engage both sides in a negotiation on 
the debt ceiling, or is this something that we are just going to have 
to wait to see next week?
  Mr. HOYER. Well, I think we will probably have to wait to see exactly 
what is going to happen. As the gentleman knows, we have passed a debt 
limit twice through this House. There has been a problem in the Senate, 
and I would expect Senator Schumer and Senator McConnell will be 
discussing that in the next few days.
  Senator McConnell has made it very clear that he thinks that failing 
to protect the full faith and credit of the United States of America 
would have dire adverse consequences, so he has made it very clear he 
thinks we ought not to do that. Senator Schumer has done the same.
  Essentially, my answer to the gentleman is, we have passed it twice 
in one form or another, so we can pass it and will pass it once the 
Senate agrees on a version. The two leaders are discussing that, I am 
sure. Now, I haven't talked to either one of them, but that is my 
premise.
  Mr. SCALISE. Well, then we will see what develops from that 
discussion.
  As it relates to the National Defense Authorization Act, and as the 
gentleman pointed out, we are aware there are bipartisan negotiations 
between both the House and Senate, Republicans and Democrats.
  I share the hope and expectation that they can come to an agreement. 
There are a few final details that both sides are trying to work out. I 
think they have already agreed, which we both share, that our troops 
deserve a pay raise, need a pay raise, and that number has been agreed 
to.
  Hopefully, that is part of this, as well as the proper funding levels 
for our Nation's defense as we see threats emerging throughout the 
world. We also know the detriment of not having proper defense funding 
because they can't enter into the contracts that are necessary.
  Both of those conversations seem to be, from what we are hearing, 
going well. Hopefully, that is a bill that can come to the floor next 
week, and we can all come together to help pass that.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman for any comments.
  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman, and I agree with his 
comments. It is my understanding, although I haven't talked personally, 
but it is my understanding that introducing the conference-agreed bill 
in the House, and passing it through the House will, under Senate 
procedures, facilitate them resolving this issue, hopefully, in a 
positive way next week.
  Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, there are two specific pieces of 
legislation I would like to ask the gentleman to look at.
  One is, by the end of the year, as you know, there are some potential 
cuts coming to entities like Medicare if Congress doesn't take action. 
There is a bipartisan bill that members of the Doctors Caucus and other 
members of the Committee on Energy and Commerce and other committees of 
jurisdiction have worked on. It is H.R. 6020. That would stave off 
those cuts to our healthcare providers.
  It would need to be passed by the end of the year--otherwise, those 
cuts would automatically kick in--if the gentleman could take a look at 
that bill and see if that is something we could do in a bipartisan way 
before we leave for the year.
  Another would be, you and I have had this conversation successfully 
on other legislation dealing with ALS. The Steve Gleason Act was one of 
those; there are others. I have spoken to Steve Gleason recently. There 
is a piece of legislation that we were able to work on that got out of 
the Committee on Energy and Commerce unanimously. It is H.R. 3537, the 
Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Act.
  I would just ask if the gentleman could look at that bill. It came 
out unanimously, bipartisan, from the Committee on Energy and Commerce, 
and it is something that, obviously, would help a lot of people who 
could use that help.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I agree with the gentleman. We have talked 
to the sponsor, and we have talked to others. I expect this bill to be 
on the floor next week.
  Mr. SCALISE. Well, that would be great news to so many people across 
the country.
  Mr. HOYER. If the gentleman would yield?
  Mr. SCALISE. I yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. HOYER. With respect to the issues that I think we have broad 
agreement on, the cliffs that were created on Medicare and sequester 
are not good policy, and we ought to act on those. We are very seized 
of that issue, and hopefully, we can resolve something next week.
  The gentleman mentions doing it in a bipartisan fashion. The good 
news is, and I know the gentleman will agree, that earlier this year, 
we delayed to January 1 of this coming year these items, particularly 
the 2 percent sequester by a vote of 90-2 in the Senate, meaning only 
two people voted against it, and in the House, 384. We were unanimous 
on our side, but you had the overwhelming majority on your side as 
well. So by 384-38, we extended that.
  I am hopeful that we will do that again in a bipartisan way because 
not to do so, I think, would be very harmful to the medical community, 
to the country, and, obviously, to patients that are served by the 
medical community.
  I am hopeful that we can resolve that as early as next week.
  Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I share that sentiment the gentleman had, 
and hopefully, we can achieve those bipartisan victories.
  As you mentioned, H.R. 3537 would be a tremendous victory for people 
who struggle with ALS to continue to seek out new therapies and be able 
to live their lives in the best way possible. I appreciate the 
gentleman's past efforts as well as the offer to bring that bill to the 
floor next week.
  Madam Speaker, if the gentleman doesn't have anything else, I thank 
the gentleman, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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