[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 14653-14654]
[From the U.S. 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 for the purpose of inquiring of the 
distinguished majority whip the schedule for tomorrow, and I will be 
pleased to yield to my friend, the distinguished majority whip.
  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from Missouri.
  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Maryland, my good 
friend, the Democratic whip for yielding to me.
  Mr. Speaker, the House will convene on Monday at 12:30 p.m. for 
morning hour and 2 p.m. for legislative business and will consider 
several measures under suspension of the rules, and a final list of 
those bills will be sent to Members' offices by the end of this week.

                              {time}  1845

  Mr. Speaker, any votes called on those measures will be rolled until 
6:30 p.m.
  On Tuesday, we may consider additional legislation under suspension 
of the rules as well as the conference report on S. 342, the Keeping 
the Children and Families Safe Act. Next week we expect to consider 
several bills under a rule, including H.R. 8, the Death Tax Permanency 
Act; H.R. 1528, the Taxpayers Protection and IRS Accountability Act; 
and H.R. 660, the Small Business Health Fairness Act.
  I would like to note for all Members that we are making a change to 
schedules that were sent to offices at the beginning of the year, and 
we do not plan to have votes next Friday, June 20.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for the information he 
provided us. I would like to ask a number of questions about bills that 
we see on the horizon, to see whether or not they may be scheduled in 
the near future.
  The Associated Health Plans, can you tell us what day we might 
consider that bill, and how the bill will be considered, and whether or 
not we will be allowed a substitute and/or amendment?
  Mr. BLUNT. If the gentleman will continue to yield, we intend to 
bring that bill to the floor this coming week, I think on Wednesday or 
Thursday.
  Mr. HOYER. Does the gentleman have any information as to whether or 
not the minority would be allowed a substitute to that bill?
  Mr. BLUNT. We look forward to a fair and full debate on that bill. 
Our rules generally leave that to the Committee on Rules, but if the 
proposed substitute is within the rules of the House, that is normally 
the procedure.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's remarks and I 
hope that we will be able to get a substitute and such amendments as we 
might deem to be appropriate to be considered by the full House.
  On the State tax bill, can you tell us when we might consider that 
bill and also the status of any rule?
  Mr. BLUNT. Again, I have announced that we intend to bring that bill 
to the floor next week. Again I would expect that would be on Wednesday 
or Thursday.
  Mr. HOYER. Do you know which would come first, the associated health 
plans or the State tax?
  Mr. BLUNT. I do not know which will come first.
  Mr. HOYER. The IRS Accountability Act, can you tell us what day we 
might consider that bill and under what type of rule?
  Mr. BLUNT. We are working with the Committee on Ways and Means on 
that bill and intend to have that bill up the two heavy working days, 
Wednesday and Thursday of next week.
  Mr. HOYER. Medicare prescription drugs, there has been a lot of 
activity on that, and I know that a lot of work is going on in the 
Senate and here in the House. Can you tell us about when we can expect 
to see the Medicare prescription drug legislation considered in the 
committee of jurisdiction and then on the floor?
  Mr. BLUNT. If the gentleman will continue to yield, this is one of 
the most important topics we will deal with, one of the most important 
debates we will have this year. Both the Committee on Ways and Means 
and the Committee on Energy and Commerce have been working hard for 
months now on a bill. That bill appears to be very near completion. We 
hope to have that bill on the floor before we take a district work 
break later this month.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman.
  Appropriations bills, I know we have started to mark up 
appropriations bills in the committee. When do you expect the first 
appropriations bills may come to the floor, now that some of the 
subcommittees are beginning to mark up their bills, and how many bills 
do you expect to consider before the July 4 district work period?
  Mr. BLUNT. As the gentleman knows, the Committee on Appropriations 
has begun to move forward on these bills. Two bills, Military 
Construction and Homeland Security, were able to mark up their bills 
this week. We believe the Committee on Appropriations will have several 
additional markups in the next week. I would anticipate that we would 
have some of these appropriations bills on the floor this month.

[[Page 14654]]


  Mr. HOYER. Lastly, Mr. Whip, the child tax credit, we have just 
instructed the conference committee to pass the Senate bill out of 
conference on a bipartisan vote. I do not see the chairman of the 
Committee on Ways and Means, but is there any feel when that bill might 
come out of conference?
  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Whip, I do not have any specific feel for that, but I 
have heard that the other body has indicated a willingness to go to 
conference fairly quickly on that. I would expect that conference to 
move in the relatively near future.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, would it be fair to expect that we would 
consider that conference committee prior to the July 4 district work 
period?
  Mr. BLUNT. It is always difficult to expect anything out of a 
conference committee, but it is certainly possible it could happen that 
quickly; but it is possible that is a little quicker than the 
conference could move. That would be some time within the next 2 weeks. 
I do not think that is impossible, but I think it might be a little 
optimistic.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman for 
his comments, and I would simply say from our side of the aisle, and I 
know I speak for the leader and myself, in light of the fact that the 
House has urged the conference committee to report out the Senate bill, 
and in light of the fact that the Senate passed it 94-2, it would seem 
to be a relatively easy matter if the conferees followed the 
instructions of the House to pass the Senate bill. I believe the Senate 
would probably concur in that judgment, and we could have a bill out of 
here perhaps as early as next week.
  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from Missouri.
  Mr. BLUNT. I would only say that the motion to instruct was a much 
narrower decision than the vote on the bill itself. There were many 
Members not making that vote. Certainly the motion to instruct did 
carry, but perhaps it was because of those elevators that Members were 
stuck in.
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, I do not know about everybody else, 
but of course had the gentleman who complained made the vote, we would 
have had one more vote on our side, as the gentleman indicated.
  Mr. BLUNT. I would not want to overclaim where our votes were, but I 
was told we had more people in the elevator getting here. I think the 
gentleman's comments about time and ability to get to the floor were 
well taken, and I am sure the Speaker and the leaders on both sides of 
the aisle will take that under serious consideration.
  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from Virginia.
  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. I missed 
the vote as well. There was a thunderstorm. I was caught in traffic, 
and I had no idea that such a quick gavel would be called on such an 
important vote. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, it is almost an avalanche of support for the 
position of this side, and some enlightened souls on your side of the 
aisle, and so perhaps we ought to conclude before we have such an 
overwhelming majority that there will be no alternative but to follow 
those instructions.
  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from Missouri.
  Mr. BLUNT. By the speed of some of the things we do, my friend, a 
couple of Members stepping up in 10 minutes of time is almost an 
avalanche. The gentleman may be right about that.

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