[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 18707-18708]
[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 and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I would be glad to yield for the purpose of 
inquiring of the majority regarding the schedule for the week to come.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from Ohio.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  The House will convene on Monday at 12:30 p.m. for morning hour 
debates and 2 p.m. for legislative business, and will consider several 
measures under suspension of the rules. A final list of those measures 
will be sent to Members' offices by the end of the day. Any votes 
called on those measures will be rolled until 6:30 p.m.
  On Tuesday, we plan to consider the fiscal year 2004 Foreign 
Operations Appropriations Act. Next week we also expect to consider 
H.R. 2210, which is the School Readiness Act; H.R. 2738 and H.R. 2739, 
which is the U.S.-Chile and

[[Page 18708]]

the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement Implementation Acts; the fiscal 
year 2004 Commerce, Justice, State, Judiciary and Related Agencies 
Appropriations Act; H.R. 2427, which is the Pharmaceutical Market 
Access Act; and H.R. 2765, the District of Columbia Appropriations Act.
  In addition to these bills, we also may consider the fiscal year 2004 
VA-HUD Appropriations Act.
  Finally, I would like to note that we are expecting a busy week 
leading into this August recess. We are likely to work late some 
nights, including Friday evening, as we work to resolve these important 
pieces of legislation.
  I thank the gentleman for yielding and would be happy to answer any 
questions.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I understand the School Readiness Act or the 
Head Start Reauthorization bill will be on the floor. Let me ask if you 
expect to have an open rule on that bill? Specifically, while you are 
getting information, we want to be assured hopefully that we will be 
allowed to offer such amendments as we deem to be appropriate and that 
we will be allowed to have a substitute for the majority's bill.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would continue to yield, I 
do not know if a decision has been made on that yet. Apparently, there 
are over a dozen amendments, and the Committee on Rules has not made a 
decision yet with regard to the substitute or the rule.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman, and I would urge the 
gentleman, and I know he may not have control over this, but urge him 
to urge his leadership, of which he is a member, as well as the 
Committee on Rules, to give us an open rule so that this bill, which is 
an extraordinarily important bill to our country, be fully debated and 
the alternatives that Members would like to offer can be considered. I 
would hope that he can work in that vein.
  The Medicare prescription drug legislation, when does the gentleman 
expect the conferees will have a substantive meeting to seriously start 
resolving their differences, and might we see a conference report prior 
to the August recess?
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will continue to yield, 
our intent was to a conference report before this House before the 
August recess. It is a very complicated bill, a very important issue, 
and perhaps the most important one that Congress will tackle this year.
  The conferees have met, and the staff is working. It looks as though 
it would be difficult to have legislation before us before the August 
recess. We do not want to rush this important bill or set arbitrary 
deadlines, but the conferees will continue to work and the staff will 
continue to work hard to reach agreement on as many issues as possible 
before the August recess.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, we think taking the time to do this right is 
better than doing it immediately or quickly. It is, obviously, of great 
importance to our seniors but as well to our families in America. We 
appreciate the fact that it is going to be given some time. We hope 
that there will be full participation in that conference.
  On the child tax credit, and there was discussion about this on the 
floor just a few days ago. We are very concerned about the fact that 
checks will be going to people on July 25. The individuals who were 
included in the Senate bill but were dropped in conference will not be 
receiving a check. That is largely because we have yet to pass a bill. 
It is now almost 37 days since we appointed conferees, and the checks 
for those who will get the credit go out next Friday. What is the 
status of that piece of legislation?
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, we did have a good debate on the floor the 
last night, the night before that, and I understand we may have another 
this afternoon. Some of the points made in those debates would reflect 
some of the difficulties of coming together with regard to this 
conference.
  The House bill, we believe, is more appropriate because it covers 
more families and more children, and we think it is fairer than the 
Senate bill. The Senate has a different point of view. We are still 
working out those difference. I cannot tell the gentleman when the 
conference will resolve those differences, but, as with Medicare, we 
are certainly hoping for a resolution as soon as possible, perhaps 
before the recess, but it is certainly not guaranteed.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I would say to my friend, I know the 
differences that the chairman pointed to and you have pointed to in 
terms of making this either permanent or at least 10 years in 
authorization. I do not, frankly, think there would be opposition to 
making this permanent on our side. However, we are concerned that in 
the effort to make it permanent we will fail to make it at least 
temporary, which we could then follow up by making it permanent. I 
appreciate the gentleman's comments.
  Drug reimportation is an issue. Which day does the gentleman expect 
to have the drug reimportation bill on the floor? Do you know when it 
will be on the floor?
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, it would appear because of the 
appropriations schedule we are going to have to play that by ear. We 
expect to bring the drug reimportation legislation to the floor next 
week, probably late next week, given the appropriations schedule. We 
are hoping to have as many as four appropriations bills on the floor 
next week, and so the timing of the drug reimportation bill will depend 
on the progress we make in the first few days in regard to the 
appropriations bills.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, lastly, the gentleman indicated that we may 
be meeting Friday night. Is the gentleman pretty confident that our 
Members need to make definite plans to be here on Friday, or is there 
an expectation that we could get our work done on Thursday? Is Friday a 
contingency or is the majority sure that we are going to be meeting on 
Friday?
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, it looks now as though it would be very 
difficult to avoid a Friday session. Looking at the legislation laid 
out, even if we are in late, it looks like Friday is more likely. It is 
likely that we will be here, and they should make travel plans 
accordingly.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his information.

                          ____________________