[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5338-5339]
[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 rise for the purpose of asking the majority 
leader the schedule for the week to come.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, next week the House will convene on Monday at 
12:30 p.m. for morning hour debates 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 Tuesday, the House will convene at 12 p.m. We plan to consider 
additional measures under suspension of the rules, as well as H.R. 
3966, the ROTC and Military Recruiter Equal Access to Campus Act. Next 
week we also expect to consider H.R. 3550, the TEA-LU highway bill.
  Finally, I would like to remind all Members that next week is a full 
5-day work week. We may work some late nights as we work to complete 
these important pieces of legislation. I am happy to answer any 
questions.

                              {time}  1830

  Mr. HOYER. I thank the majority leader for the information.
  First of all, Mr. Speaker, on the highway reauthorization bill, can 
the majority leader give us some view? I see the chairman of the 
Committee on Rules is on the floor. Can the gentleman from Texas give 
us some view of the rule under which the majority contemplates 
consideration of the highway bill?
  Mr. DeLAY. While I would defer to the Committee on Rules who should 
have an announcement regarding amendments very shortly, I anticipate 
that they would make in order a variety of amendments and call for a 
very lengthy debate.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman. Obviously this is a very important 
bill. I think most of us believe it is very important to pass this 
bill.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from California.
  Mr. DREIER. The distinguished majority leader is correct that we do 
hope to have a wide-ranging debate. I would just like to say that the 
announcement that I will make in just a few moments when the colloquy 
is completed will be calling for a structured rule, and what I wanted 
to say is that we have had a tradition in the past for consideration of 
these transportation authorization bills of a structured rule which has 
made in order a certain number of amendments. I just wanted to say, 
under both Democratic and Republican majorities, that has been the 
pattern. I thank my friend for yielding.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the chairman for his comments. I understand the 
background. As long, obviously, as we do have, within the structured 
rule, an opportunity to debate different points of view, that will be, 
I think, helpful to all the Members.
  The gentleman from Texas did not mention in his initial discussion of 
the schedule whether or not there was any plan, at least on Monday, to 
do anything with respect to going to conference on the budget or 
instructions. Can we assume from that that there will be no action on 
the budget going to conference, at least on Monday night?
  Mr. DeLAY. I appreciate the gentleman reminding me. The gentleman 
knows, of course, that the other body has already passed their version 
of the

[[Page 5339]]

budget resolution; and in working with the other body, I really 
anticipate moving to go to conference on the budget as early as Monday 
afternoon of next week.
  Mr. HOYER. I am going to go back. There will be no votes until 6:30 
on Monday.
  Mr. DeLAY. That is correct.
  Mr. HOYER. I had asked the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt) 
whether or not he contemplated any action on Monday. He indicated that 
he had not. Subsequently, the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Nussle) and the 
gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt) have talked, but I do not 
know whether the gentleman from South Carolina knows that at this point 
in time. Do we know whether they have really made a decision on that? I 
know the gentleman hopes to do that, but would it be fair to believe 
that this matter is still under consideration, or is the gentleman 
positive that there will be action on Monday afternoon?
  Mr. DeLAY. All I can tell the gentleman is what I know and what I 
have been advised of. I have been advised that the Budget Committee, at 
least the House, and the conference committee wanted to start meeting 
as early as Tuesday morning. In order for that to happen, we would have 
to go to conference Monday evening.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Leader, let me correct for the record because I was in 
error, it is my understanding that Mr. Kahn has been told, who is our 
chief clerk on the Budget Committee. I am sure that the gentleman from 
South Carolina now knows. I thank the leader for his comment. I wanted 
to clarify that, that we have received, apparently, notice.
  Is it the majority leader's thought in light of the fact that we will 
be leaving next Friday for a 2-week break, district work period, that 
the conference report will be returned to the House next week? Would it 
be the gentleman's expectation that we might take up the conference 
report next week?
  Mr. DeLAY. Certainly we would like to reach an agreement with the 
Senate prior to our district work period. For that reason, Members 
really should anticipate a very long workweek next week, because we 
would want to give the House and Senate negotiators all the time that 
they need in order to hopefully get this done and passed by both Houses 
before we leave next week. I know that is asking a lot of Members, but 
it would be nice if we could get the budget done before we break for 
the district work period.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for his comments. One additional, 
and I think final, item, the continuity of Congress challenge that we 
have has been discussed. There are obviously a number of different 
proposals, including constitutional amendments, as well as legislative 
action, as well as rules considerations. We have heard on this side 
there may be something happening next week. The gentleman did not 
mention it in his announcement. Can he tell us whether or not there is 
any possibility of having that matter on the floor next week.
  Mr. DeLAY. I appreciate the gentleman asking about the continuity in 
Congress bill. We had it sort of waiting in the wings, but it looks 
like next week is going to be a pretty full week, and we may have to 
look for another time to bring that bill to the floor.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for that information.
  Reclaiming my time, I think we still have some work to do on that, 
hopefully in a bipartisan fashion. This is obviously a critical problem 
confronting the Congress and the American people. Hopefully, perhaps, 
we can reach some agreement on that. If we had some extra time, that 
might be possible.
  Mr. DeLAY. I want to congratulate the gentleman, because I know he 
has worked on it and others have. I have been very pleased with the 
bipartisanship that has been exhibited in working on this continuity of 
government bill. I am very pleased that it is coming along. I think we 
can continue to work together and come to some sort of solution to 
protect this House in case of some calamity.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the leader for his comment.

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