[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 99 (Thursday, June 9, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H5430]
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 to inquire of the House majority
leader the schedule for next week.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), my
friend and the majority leader of the House.
Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Louisiana, the
Republican whip, for yielding.
Madam Speaker, on Monday, the House will meet at 12 p.m. for morning
hour and 2 p.m. for legislative business, with votes postponed, as
usual, until 6:30 p.m.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the House will meet at 10 a.m. for morning
hour and 12 p.m. for legislative business.
On Thursday, the House will meet at 9 a.m. for legislative business.
Next week, the House will consider legislation to address inflation
and help bring down costs for Americans. The House will consider the
Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act from the Committee on Agriculture and the
Committee on Energy and Commerce to address food prices and help bring
down the cost of fertilizer for farmers while providing more affordable
options at the gas pump for Americans.
The House will also consider S. 3580, the Senate-passed companion to
John Garamendi's Ocean Shipping Reform Act, under suspension. We
passed it previously, and it is in the Senate. However, this is a
compromise with which Mr. Garamendi agrees. This legislation will
address continued supply chain problems and ensure the fair and
expeditious flow of goods in and out of our ports, helping lower costs
for American consumers and bolstering our domestic agriculture
products.
Additionally, Madam Speaker, the House will consider H.R. 2543, the
Racial Equity, Inclusion, and Economic Justice Act, from Chairwoman
Maxine Waters and the Financial Services Committee to promote racial
equity and fair access to economic opportunity for those who are facing
discrimination or bias. This will help families who are challenged in
accessing financial services and housing at a time when every dollar is
critical.
Finally, Madam Speaker, the House will also consider H.R. 2773,
Representative Debbie Dingell's bipartisan Recovering America's
Wildlife Act.
The House will consider other bills, Madam Speaker, under suspension
of the rules. A complete list of suspension bills will be announced by
the close of business tomorrow. Additional legislative items, of
course, are possible.
I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I wanted to ask, specifically, there was
some talk that we may today take up the Senate bill, the bill that
passed over a month ago in the Senate, to give stronger protections to
Supreme Court Justices and their families.
Of course, yesterday, something that angers a lot of us--Justice
Kavanaugh, there was an arrest of a man that was at his house,
attempting to murder Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh. This is something
we have expressed concern about for weeks, especially some of the
language directed at Supreme Court Justices, people encouraging people
to go to their houses.
There was a bill that had bipartisan support that passed the Senate
over a month ago to give them stronger protections. We thought that may
come up today. I don't hear it on the schedule. Can we get a vote on
that bill when we come back early next week on the suspension calendar
to get that bill sent to the President's desk to get that in motion
quickly?
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman.
Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his question. I
think it is a very relevant question. I am hopeful that we can move
that as early as possible.
I want to tell the gentleman the reason he thought that it might be
moved this morning was because last night, I thought I had, after
discussions with Senator Cornyn, a way forward that both the Senate and
the House could agree on. Unfortunately, this morning, that appeared
not to be the case.
We are trying to pursue that because we believe that it is a critical
piece of legislation, as are the pieces of legislation we are
considering.
I will tell the gentleman that the incident that occurred last night,
of course, was covered, as the gentleman, I am sure knows, by the
present security arrangements for Supreme Court Justices. The gentleman
was taken into custody and apparently didn't get close to the house
because of the security.
Nevertheless, we share the gentleman's concerns about the security
for our Supreme Court Justices and, frankly, their families, their
residences, as we are for the officers and clerks of the Supreme Court
and their families and their employees.
So, the answer to your question is that is a priority item that I
hope we can get done very early next week.
Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I hope that we can get that early in the
week put on the suspension calendar, in the form the Senate sent over
where there is broad agreement on both sides of the aisle, and get that
to the President's desk to get those stronger protections in place.
Finally, I would like to ask the gentleman, we have talked about this
bill a number of times, H.R. 6858, which is a bill dealing with
American energy independence, to open up more areas of our country to
American energy production so that we don't have to be reliant on
foreign countries, whether it is Russia, Venezuela, Iran or, now, the
President is going to go to plead with Saudi to produce more energy
when America has more energy that we could be producing that we can't
because of current policies by President Biden.
This would open those up. It would allow us to lower gas prices. It
would allow relief to families who are struggling because of these
energy policies that are hurting our ability to produce in America and
making us more dependent on countries that are cartels or monopolies,
whether it is OPEC or other countries where they want they want a
higher price. They want to limit production.
We want to open up American energy, and that is what that package of
legislation would do.
Can we get that bill added to the calendar quickly, hopefully next
week, so that we can help get relief to families who are trying to plan
a family vacation and can't afford to pay $4.50, $5 a gallon or more
for gasoline?
I yield to the gentleman.
Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his question. He
has mentioned this before. I am talking to the committee whose
jurisdiction this bill is in to consider what they want to do with it,
and I am waiting to hear back from them.
Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, hopefully, we can get that addressed as
well so that we can tackle some of these other problems: inflation,
high gas prices, border issues that we are trying to bring legislation
on.
If the gentleman has nothing else, Madam Speaker, I yield back the
balance of my time.
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