[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 22]
[House]
[Pages 30825-30826]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

  (Mr. BLUNT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Speaker, I would yield to my friend, the majority 
leader, for an update on next week's schedule.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the distinguished whip for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, on Monday the House will not be in session so that we 
can observe Veterans Day in honor of those who have sacrificed for our 
country, served our country so ably and well, and to remember those who 
have paid the ultimate price for our freedoms that we enjoy today.
  On Tuesday, the House will meet at 10:30 for morning-hour debate and 
noon for legislative business.
  On Wednesday and Thursday, the House will meet at 10 a.m. for 
legislative business and 9 a.m. on Friday. We will consider several 
bills under suspension of the rules. A list of those bills, of course, 
will be announced by the close of business today.
  Under rules, we expect to consider H.R. 3915, Mortgage Reform and 
Anti-Predatory Lending Act, and the conference report on H.R. 1429, 
Improving Head Start Act. In addition, we hope to be able to consider 
additional conference reports as they become available. And in light of 
the fact it's our last week before the Thanksgiving break, if there are 
other items that come to our attention, we will try to move those 
forward as well. But we don't have notice of those at this point in 
time.
  I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. BLUNT. I thank you for that information. I certainly agree with 
your observation about our veterans and the appropriateness of us 
taking the day on Monday to honor them.
  On that issue, we went to conference this week on two different 
bills, and my impression was, based on the combination of the Military 
Construction and Veterans bill with Labor-HHS, that that veterans part 
of that bill was probably done. I'm wondering if the gentleman has any 
sense of how we can reinitiate a conference on that bill so that we can 
get the veterans and the military quality of life, military 
construction money passed. Is there a plan to go to conference there?
  Mr. HOYER. I can't represent to the gentleman the specific plan 
because I have not gotten that from Mr. Obey, what his thoughts are on 
that or what his discussions have been with Senator Byrd or with the 
subcommittee Chairs in both of the bodies. However, we certainly intend 
to move that forward, as the gentleman suggests, as quickly as 
possible.
  Mr. BLUNT. Well, I appreciate that. And I would think since 
essentially it appears that bill has already been conferenced, since it 
was included with the Labor-HHS bill in conference, that it should be 
pretty easy to do and hope that we can do it. The President has 
announced he would sign that bill. The difference in this year's 
spending and last year's is about $18.5 million dollars a day, and I 
would hope we could get there.
  On the trade agreement this week, I thought we had a significant 
bipartisan vote on the Peru Trade Agreement. There are three other 
agreements out there that have been negotiated, and I wonder if the 
leader has any sense of when we might be able to look toward any of 
those bills coming to the floor.
  And I would yield.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank my friend for that question on the trade bills. We 
did have a bipartisan vote on the Peru Trade Agreement which 
incorporated, as we had urged, both worker protections and 
environmental protections. And with respect to the other three 
agreements which have been negotiated, Panama, Colombia and South 
Korea, frankly, we don't yet know. As the gentleman knows, with respect 
to the agreement with Panama, the complication really doesn't regard 
the trade agreement as much as it regards the concern that many people 
have on both sides of the aisle that the Speaker or President of the 
Panamanian Parliament is under indictment in the United States with an 
extradition request for the murder of an American soldier. That, 
obviously, has complicated the consideration of that agreement.
  With respect to Colombia, frankly, I want to tell the gentleman, I 
don't expect Colombia to come up until next year or South Korea to come 
up before next year. We obviously have, after next week, we hope, a 
short time left to go, maybe six, seven legislative days. So it would 
be unrealistic to expect us to be able to move these agreements within 
that time frame. But if we could resolve, I think, the issue regarding 
Panama, that might be possible.
  Mr. BLUNT. I appreciate that. I'd also say that I was heartened by 
the good work that Chairman Rangel and Mr. McCrery and others did on 
the Peru agreement, and certainly, I think I want to continue to reach 
out to you and the chairman and others who'd like to get things done so 
these bills could come to the floor.
  Colombia is the one that was negotiated next, and because of the 
Panama complication, it may even be more likely that that could come 
next.
  I would be pleased to yield to Mr. Rangel for any thoughts he has on 
that topic.
  Mr. RANGEL. Well, it was about the Panama complication, because it 
was my understanding, to a large extent, that it would be the 
administration to make the decision or to respond to the answer that 
you asked of the majority leader. And it's because of the complication 
that they'll have to decide, politically, as to how they want to handle 
it, because it goes beyond a trade agreement. It's involved with State 
Department policy.
  And I always get the impression, since the FTA with Korea that's been 
left out of the discussion with me, that when the administration 
believes it has completed its negotiation on the executive level, then 
they too would be coming back to the Congress.
  And of course Colombia has its own special problems, which we can 
talk about at a different time. So I just wanted to say, as it relates 
to Panama and Korea, it was my impression that the administration has 
to make some major decisions before we can respond.
  Mr. BLUNT. Well, I appreciate that. And I do know that the chairman 
has worked hard with the U.S. Trade Ambassador and others, and I'm 
appreciative of that. And the administration, as this process works, 
will decide whether to send those up, but I know that they will do that 
in significant consultation with the chairman and ranking member and, I 
hope, others in the leadership. And these are important discussions.
  I thought we had a significant step in the right direction for our 
neighborhood this week. To have all of the leaders of both parties vote 
for a trade agreement was a good sign about the future of our 
relationships with Panama and, I hope, a good sign about how we 
approach more of these trade agreements.
  The other question I had also relates just on the Armenian 
resolution. I know that a lot of things have happened in regard to that 
resolution. But

[[Page 30826]]

I also know that the leader, 3 or 4 weeks ago, maybe it was 4 weeks 
ago, said that that resolution would be on the floor by November 16. I 
know it wasn't announced today. I wonder, has any decision been made on 
advancing that resolution?
  And I would yield to my friend.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for his question. I did say that. 
He's correct. However, the principal proponents of that resolution, 
obviously, the relationship with Turkey is a very important one for the 
United States. It is a critical time in the Middle East. Turkey has 
been, obviously, a great help in some respects, sometimes. And so the 
principal sponsors of that resolution have written a letter to the 
Speaker and myself and asked us not to move forward with that 
resolution at this time. But it is obviously still a matter of great 
concern to the Speaker, to myself and, frankly, the majority of this 
House who are sponsors of this resolution.
  But in answer to the gentleman's question, I do not expect it to move 
forward any time soon.
  Mr. BLUNT. I appreciate that. What I believe will be my last 
question, Mr. Leader, is on Tuesday, knowing this is the last week 
before there is a break, and we may not stay with the normal procedure, 
should we expect anything beyond suspension bills on Tuesday? Do you 
think there's any likelihood, not possibility, but any likelihood of a 
rule bill as early as Tuesday?
  Mr. HOYER. It is possible. And the reason I say it's possible is 
because a lot of Members, obviously, would like to get out. It's 
Thanksgiving week. We're leaving. And I'm not sure whether it's a 
majority of your side or the majority, but I think there's probably 
unanimity that if we could see our way clear to finishing the business 
that we have by Thursday, they would prefer to work Tuesday night than 
they would prefer to work on Friday day. So I want to say to my friend 
it's possible, to facilitate the work. We're going to be talking about 
that later on today, and maybe even over the weekend, where we are. So 
I want to say to the gentleman, it's possible.
  Mr. BLUNT. Well, we'd be pleased to be notified as early as you know 
about it. And I think you're absolutely right, that Members would be 
pleased to work a little longer days this week to get some time at home 
with their families during the holidays.

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