[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 141]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

  (Mr. LEWIS of Georgia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I wish to address the House for 
the purpose of inquiring of the majority leader the schedule for next 
week.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.
  Mr. Speaker, the House will convene on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. for 
morning hour and 2 p.m. for legislative business. We 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. 
Any votes called on these measures will be rolled until 6:30 p.m.
  On Wednesday, the House will convene at 10 a.m. for legislative 
business. We plan to consider S. 1920, which extends Chapter 12 of the 
Federal Bankruptcy Code until July 1, 2004. In addition, we hope to 
consider S. 610, which would provide some important management reforms 
at NASA.
  Finally, it is my understanding that our colleagues in the Senate are 
likely to pass the omnibus appropriations bill, possibly as early as 
tomorrow. However, I would like to make all Members aware that if the 
Senate does not act, we may be forced to move a long-term continuing 
resolution next week, as the present continuing resolution we are 
operating on expires at the end of next week.
  I thank the gentleman for yielding and would be happy to answer any 
questions he may have.
  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the 
leader for that information.
  Mr. Majority Leader, when the Congress adjourned for the year last 
year, it failed to extend the Emergency Unemployment Compensation 
Program, leaving 90,000 American workers and their families every week, 
roughly one-half million workers by the end of this month, in the 
lurch. We have 200 Democrats who have signed a discharge petition that 
would bring to the floor legislation to extend this much-needed help to 
those workers.
  Can the majority leader tell the House, tell all of us when he will 
schedule debate on this important matter?
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will continue to yield.
  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. I continue to yield to the gentleman from 
Texas.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's yielding to me.
  As the gentleman knows, he was here last night, the President 
mentioned last night that the third-quarter economic growth in 2003 was 
the strongest in 20 years and that housing starts and home ownership 
rates are up and at an all-time high; that financial markets are 
growing, after a long contraction; that interest rates are low; that 
factory orders are up; that unemployment is on the decline. 
Unemployment benefit claims have decreased actually every month since 
September, and the unemployment rate today is 5.7 percent, which is 
almost a full percentage point lower than the rate that we had in 1994 
when a Democrat Congress and a Democrat President discontinued an 
expanded unemployment compensation program.
  So with a growing economy and a recent precedent for managing these 
scenarios, it is clear to the majority that the best employment program 
is to keep growing jobs and paychecks instead of extending and 
expanding Federal programs.
  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, is the majority leader telling us 
there is not a need to bring this legislation to the floor of the House 
for a vote when more than 200 Democratic Members have signed a 
discharge petition?
  Mr. DeLAY. The last time I checked, Mr. Speaker, 218 is a majority.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. I yield to the gentleman from Maryland.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me, 
and I appreciate the distinguished leader's response in regards to this 
issue.
  Let me just point out, if I might, that we now have 300,000 fewer 
people that are seeking employment because they have given up, and that 
brings down the unemployment rate when in reality it is higher than it 
has ever been. And the last time we did not extend the unemployment, 
the last recession, we did that when there was a significant growth in 
employment. We have had 1,000 new jobs created in the last month. We 
have a net loss of over 2.4 million jobs in the last 3 years.
  I would just urge the distinguished leader to talk to members of both 
caucuses. This is an important issue. There are a lot of people who are 
being lost in this economy that need this help. And I would just urge 
the leader to consider scheduling debate on the floor on the extension 
of the Federal unemployment accounts. We have bills sponsored by both 
Democrats and Republicans on this issue. It is an important subject. 
And I thank my friend from Georgia for yielding to me.

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