[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6302-6303]
[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 yield to the majority leader for the 
purposes of inquiring about the schedule for the balance of the week 
and the week to come.
  Mr. BOEHNER. I thank my colleague for yielding. Given the hour and 
the commitments that Members have tomorrow, it is the intention of the 
majority leader to finish the bill under which the rule we just passed 
on ethics and lobbying reform on Tuesday. And so the House will convene 
at 12:30 for morning hour and 2 o'clock for legislative business. There 
will be some suspensions. Votes will be rolled until 6:30.
  On Wednesday and the balance of the week, the House will consider 
H.R. 4943, the Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act. In 
addition to H.R. 4943, we will do H.R. 4954, the SAFE Port Act, which 
the Committee on Homeland Security completed yesterday, and we are 
continuing to work with other committees to assure that this bill will 
be ready. I would expect this bill to be considered on Thursday.
  The committees of jurisdiction have also begun to hold hearings on 
energy, and Members should expect votes in the coming weeks addressing 
America's energy needs. That completes my report on what next week 
looks like.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Leader, could you comment perhaps on the 
Communications Opportunity Promotion and Enhancement Act, the Telecom 
Act.
  I yield to my friend.
  Mr. BOEHNER. There is a possiblity that the telco bill could get out 
next week. The committee acted. There are other committees of interest, 
and we are working with them. It is too early to give a hard commitment 
that it will be up next week.
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman for that 
information. Of course, there was expectation that we were going to 
pass the lobbying reform act that was offered. We are obviously not 
doing that. You mentioned that it would be up on Tuesday. My question 
is, is that accurate? I am sure that you would tell the truth, but, I 
mean, I want to make that clear.
  Mr. BOEHNER. If the gentleman would yield.
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the majority leader.
  Mr. BOEHNER. Let me work with you on whether that is actually Tuesday 
or whether we do it first thing Wednesday morning.
  Mr. HOYER. I think that is very important, Mr. Leader, for us to know 
and maybe we can work on that because obviously Members want to speak 
on amendments and they would have to know whether they have to be back 
before the 6:30 voting if you were going to take it up prior to that.
  I yield to my friend.
  Mr. BOEHNER. Does the gentleman want to agree right now that the 
first thing, the first order of business on Wednesday morning will be 
to take up the lobby and ethics reform package?
  Mr. HOYER. Yes. We have not discussed that, but I am sure that would 
be fine.
  Mr. BOEHNER. If it meets with your approval, I would be happy to do 
it.
  Mr. HOYER. That is acceptable to us. We think the bill needs a lot of 
work, and that will give you some more time to work on it.
  I am sorry. I couldn't help myself.
  Now, Mr. Leader, the budget. We have not voted on a budget yet. And 
you did not mention it in your schedule. Is there any expectation that 
you might have, Mr. Leader, that the budget might be on the floor 
either next week or some week after that?
  I yield to my friend.
  Mr. BOEHNER. I am hopeful.
  Mr. HOYER. Still?
  Mr. BOEHNER. Still.
  Mr. HOYER. I presume the Appropriations Committee, at some point in 
time, will proceed without the budget. Would that be your expectation 
if we don't pass a budget in the near term?
  Mr. BOEHNER. I would hope that we would have a budget.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Leader, let me turn the page here. The other bills 
that you and I have talked about, one in particular we think is 
extraordinarily important. I know you feel it is important, and that is 
the pension bill. There are literally millions of Americans and 
thousands of companies very concerned about the status of the pension 
conference. Can you bring us up to date on whether or not you have any 
expectation that the pension conference would be completed in the near 
term and come to the floor?
  I yield to my friend.
  Mr. BOEHNER. I appreciate my colleague for yielding. It is important 
that we protect America's pensions and that we protect the pension 
system that we have. And having spent some 6 years working on this 
proposal, trust me, there is no one wants this finished more than me.
  There was some progress last night amongst the principals, and I 
remain optimistic that we will have this finished before the Memorial 
Day District Work Period. I am hopeful that it will be finished before 
then. But there has been some movement. There is some cooperation with 
the Senate. And I have talked to Members on both sides of the aisle, 
both the House and Senate, that are working together to get this issue 
passed. And I am very optimistic.
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time. Mr. Leader, again, I say this with all 
due respect and seriousness. I read in the paper today that the 
conferees met last night. With all due respect, Mr. Leader, the 
conferees did not meet last night. Apparently, the Republican conferees 
met last night. You indicated both sides of the aisle. It is my 
understanding, from our conferees, that they are not being included in 
the discussions of the conference. Again, it is our perspective that 
cuts out about 125 million Americans that we represent on this side of 
the aisle from discussions about an issue that you have worked very 
hard on, Members on our side have worked very hard on, and that we all 
agree is critical to our country and to millions of Americans 
individually. I would hope, Mr. Leader, that you would prevail on the 
chairman of the conference to include our side of the aisle in the 
discussions.
  Mr. BOEHNER. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. We can't be helpful or, frankly, we can't know what is 
going on if we are not in the room.
  I would be glad to yield to my friend.
  Mr. BOEHNER. I appreciate my friend yielding. The gentleman has been 
involved in a number of conferences himself over his long and 
distinguished career here in the House. And you realize that at some 
point, getting the basic framework or at least some beginning framework 
together amongst the principals, the committee Chairs, is essential 
before bringing other Members into this.
  The chairman of the conference, Senator Enzi, and I have talked about 
this on several occasions, and I am very confident that you, all 
Members will have an opportunity to participate because it has been 
clear, as it is in all conferences that I am in, that nothing is agreed 
to until everything is agreed to. And so the gentleman should have no 
fears.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Leader, I hope that is accurate. I understand that in 
any conference, the chairman of the conference ought to take the 
position that unless all things are agreed to the conference is not 
closed on other issues that might have been tentatively agreed to. But 
if, frankly, our side of the aisle is not included, does not have the 
opportunity to put our input into the issues, very frankly, too often, 
I have been here a long time. You are right, and I have been in a lot 
of conferences. And those have been real conferences. They have not 
been conferences that one side has agreed on, comes to the conference 
and says it's done.
  The leader looks at me somewhat disparagingly or at least 
incredulously that there haven't been such conferences that occurred 
prior to the leadership of the Republican Party. I understand what he 
is saying, but this is a pattern, Mr. Leader. We have talked about it 
on a regular basis. And it is not good for this institution.
  Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

[[Page 6303]]


  Mr. HOYER. I yield to the leader.
  Mr. BOEHNER. I appreciate the concerns raised by my friend from 
Maryland, but I need to remind my colleagues that the Pension 
Protection Act passed right before Christmas with almost 300 votes. 
There was broad bipartisan support for this bill, and it is my 
intention to maintain that broad bipartisan support for an eventual 
conference report. And the gentleman has my word that all Members will 
have their opportunity to be engaged in this conference report.
  Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, I appreciate the representation of the 
leader, and I take him at his word. I have found his word to be good in 
the past. I certainly take him at his word, and I thank him for that.
  Mr. BOEHNER. It still is.
  Mr. HOYER. No doubt in my mind. I am not going to quote Ronald 
Reagan.

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