[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 10432-10434]
[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 yield to my good friend from Maryland, the 
majority leader, for the purpose of inquiring about next week's 
schedule.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank my friend, Mr. Blunt, for yielding.
  On Monday, the House will meet at 12 noon in pro forma session. No 
legislative business.
  On Tuesday the House will meet at 10:30 for morning hour business and 
noon for legislative business. We will consider several bills under 
suspension of the rules. A complete list of those bills will be made 
available by the close of business tomorrow.
  On Wednesday and Thursday the House will meet at 10 a.m.
  On Friday no votes are expected, assuming we complete our business 
scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.
  We'll consider H.R. 1429, the Head Start reauthorization bill; H.R. 
1867, the National Science Foundation reauthorization bill; H.R. 1868, 
the NIST reauthorization bill; and H.R. 1592, the Local Law Enforcement 
and Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
  Mr. BLUNT. I thank the gentleman for that information. And on the 
discussion of Tuesday, I want to say, first of all, I appreciate the 
early information you were able to give us on Monday and Tuesday, and 
wonder, as Members are planning on traveling either Monday or Tuesday, 
if you have any further sense of when votes may occur on Tuesday.
  Mr. HOYER. Votes could occur as early as 12 noon. It will be a full 
day. Even though we are not here Monday, usually you're in 6:30 the 
next day. But because of the shortness of the week, we will be in, as I 
indicated, at 10:30 a.m. for morning hour and then 12 for business. 
There could be votes as early as 12 noon.
  Mr. BLUNT. I appreciate that, and I think that is helpful to Members 
to know where the leader is headed on that topic.
  Two bills you mentioned for next week. I know the local law 
enforcement, the hate crimes, some of our Members are beginning to be, 
I think, concerned about this bill, refer to it as a thought crimes 
bill. But there was a long markup in committee, lots of amendments, and 
I am thinking on that bill we're hopeful that we can have the same kind 
of opportunity for a wide-ranging discussion on the floor that the 
committee had; and on both that and the Head Start bill, we are hoping 
for a rule that allows that. I wonder if the gentleman has any sense of 
what the rule on those two bills will look like.
  Mr. HOYER. The answer is I have not talked to Rules Committee 
Chairman Slaughter about the specific nature of those rules. But, as 
you know, the Rules Committee is scheduled to meet on the Head Start 
bill and two science bills on Tuesday, and they will do the rules then.
  We'll do the hate crimes bill rule later in the week, probably 
Wednesday, for consideration on Thursday.
  But I understand the gentleman's observation that there was 
significant debate on both these bills. There are issues that a number 
of people want to raise on the floor, and I would think that the 
committee would want to try to make in order some amendments to 
accomplish that objective.
  Mr. BLUNT. Well, I certainly hope so. And I think the time that this 
took, and the bill on hate crimes or thought crimes, whatever we decide 
to refer to it as in the coming days, the markup there would indicate a 
lot of interest.
  On the supplemental that we voted on last week, Mr. Leader, do we 
have a sense of when that will go to the White House or how quickly 
that bill will come back? And would you expect us to deal with a 
return? I mean, we all expect the President to veto this particular 
supplemental. Would it be your sense that we would likely deal with 
that next week as well?
  Mr. HOYER. Obviously, to some degree, that is dependent upon how 
quickly the President acts. Obviously, he has a number of days to act. 
But our presumption is he will act soon. And one of the reasons that we 
have put the time of 12 noon, I mean, it depends upon how early in the 
day he vetoes that bill. We may have it back here very soon. I talked 
to the majority leader in the Senate just an hour ago. It's his 
expectation that that vote will occur today. It's our expectation that 
we will send the bill down either late Monday, obviously the funeral is 
occurring and people won't be here, or very, very early Tuesday so that 
the President will have it Tuesday. And then it will depend upon how 
soon the President acts. But it would be our expectation that we would 
act quickly on any action the President took if he vetoes the bill.
  We, of course, as you know, are hopeful that he will sign the bill. 
We think it gives all the money for the troops that the President has 
asked for, and then some additional monies, and it does not either 
micromanage the troops or set any precipitous withdrawal dates. But 
obviously the President has expressed a contrary opinion.
  So I think you're right; I think the expectation, based upon the 
President's representation, is that he is going to veto that bill if it 
comes to him, and we will have to consider that veto.
  Mr. BLUNT. This bill has been, of course, very widely debated, pretty 
divisive in our points of view on it. A couple of our Members voted 
with you. A number of your Members voted with us against the bill. But 
I am certainly in agreement with the gentleman's view that we should 
pursue whatever next steps are there as soon as possible.
  I'd also like to say to the gentleman that I, and I know others on 
our side, a significant number of others on our side, are eager to work 
with the majority and the White House both, and get this issue resolved 
so that our troops are appropriately funded. We can move on to the 
other appropriations work. And some of these issues, I am sure, are 
going to be available to the other

[[Page 10433]]

appropriations bills as topics of discussion that don't necessarily 
need to be resolved immediately.
  On the topic of rules, on the bill that was considered on Tuesday, 
the science bill, we had an open rule on that. But the deadline to file 
an amendment, a potential amendment, was last Friday. Obviously, Friday 
was a travel day.
  Normally the deadline would have been sometime the day before the 
bill was taken up, and I am hopeful that we are not seeing that as a 
pattern; that we'll still give maximum time for Members to look at 
legislation, to be able to file a bill. And obviously, if you've got a 
rule that requires looking at the amendments, you have to have the 
amendments in before the Rules Committee can meet. But a Friday 
deadline, when no one was here anyway, on a bill to be handled on 
Tuesday, seemed to me to be outside of the norm.

                              {time}  1245

  And I hope that the gentleman's response is that it is outside the 
norm and not a new view of a very limited, needlessly limited, time to 
file amendments. And I would be glad to hear your response to that.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BLUNT. I yield.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Of course, as you know, that bill was scheduled for consideration 
last week. We did not get to that bill. We took it off the calendar.
  Mr. BLUNT. I think I am talking about the other science bill. Not the 
one that was scheduled on Friday, but the one that was the teachers 
bill also had a Friday deadline.
  Mr. HOYER. Let me find out.
  Mr. BLUNT. I believe that is the case. Maybe we could let our staff 
sort this out.
  Mr. HOYER. I am not sure of the exact sequencing. But let me say this 
in answer to your question, because your question was really not 
necessarily about this specific bill, but about general process.
  Mr. BLUNT. It was.
  Mr. HOYER. Clearly, we are trying to pursue a process which gives 
notice to Members about what they are going to consider.
  As you noted, I hope, we waited the full 24 hours on the supplemental 
conference report so that Members will have the full 24 hours. And as a 
matter of fact, we were almost to the hour at 5:50 p.m. yesterday. And 
although there were some Members whom it had caused a problem to 
because of their schedules, we had said we were going to give 24 hours' 
notice, and we did give 24 hours' notice, and we want to continue to do 
that.
  On the amending process, obviously, we are going to many times 
require that amendments be filed timely so that Members have an 
opportunity to see what amendments are going to be asked of the Rules 
Committee. But we will pursue what we believe to be, and hope in 
consultation with you, is a reasonable time frame to expect people to 
notice their amendments. Clearly, they have to be out of committee. 
Clearly, they have to have time to see the bill and prepare amendments. 
But we want to have amendments in many instances noted so that the 
membership can know what they are considering.
  Mr. BLUNT. I appreciate that and I appreciate your commitment to 
consultation. Our staffs can look at which of these two Science 
Committee bills that we are talking about.
  And, again, my concern would be that we give Members maximum 
opportunity to file a bill and not set a deadline on a travel day for a 
bill that is not going to be on the floor for several days anyway. And 
I think we have had a discussion that I am comfortable with, and I hope 
our staff continues to talk about that process meeting everybody's 
needs, the Rules Committee, the Members that want to file amendments, 
and understanding that a deadline on a day when Members are trying to 
get back to their district is really almost a day that the Members 
themselves may not be able to be engaged in that process. If it is 
necessary, it is necessary. But when it is not, I would hope we can 
avoid it. And I believe the gentleman suggested we will continue to 
view that in that way.
  Mr. HOYER. If the gentleman would yield.
  Mr. BLUNT. I would.
  Mr. HOYER. Certainly we want to make a process where all Members on 
either side of the aisle have the opportunity to note their amendments 
in a fashion that does not put them in a place where it makes it very 
difficult for them. On the other hand, obviously, it is not just the 
floor that considers it. It is the Rules Committee that has to; so you 
have to consider when the Rules Committee is going to meet as well.
  And although I appreciate the gentleman's observation about Fridays, 
I have heard a lot about what we can or cannot do on Fridays, I will 
tell my friend, or what we should be doing on Fridays.
  But having said that, assuming a Member is working with his staff 
and/or the committee's staff or CRS in preparing his or her amendment, 
obviously if they get it ready and the Rules Committee is going to meet 
Monday or Tuesday, an expectation that it would be filed by close of 
business on Friday I don't think is unreasonable, even if we are not 
here on Fridays, because presumably their staff has been working with 
them on their amendment and can make sure that amendment gets filed 
even if the Member is not physically present here.
  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Speaker, I would say to my friend as long as the bill 
is available the full week before, and our opportunity at the end of 
the week to talk about what is going to be available, I think there is 
reasonableness there. On a bill that suddenly we just decide we have 
time to do it, that might be different than the normal procedure that 
my friend is suggesting.
  Mr. HOYER. Will my friend yield?
  Mr. BLUNT. I would.
  Mr. HOYER. Because you said as long as the bill has been available at 
least a week before. I want to think about that timeframe. That was 
sort of an add-on in your comment. I don't want my silence to be 
perceived as, oh, yes, okay, that's a procedure we can follow. I am not 
sure we can follow that. But certainly the substance of your comment we 
do want to follow, and that is give Members a reasonable opportunity to 
prepare an amendment to a bill. Obviously they considered it in 
committee and they reported it out of committee, but there may be 
times, as you observed, when that doesn't happen and it goes more 
quickly.
  Mr. BLUNT. On that topic of what may be out there, Mr. Speaker, I 
have just a couple of final questions.
  One is we are now approaching 4 weeks before another opportunity for 
a district work period during the Memorial Day time. I wonder if the 
leader has a sense of a couple of items, your sense of what you are 
hoping as major things to get done during that month, generally; and, 
specifically, if there is any information about a GSE bill. The 
committee voted a GSE bill out on March 28. That was a full month ago. 
I am wondering if there is a sense of when that might be on the floor. 
And anything else the gentleman has about an appropriation schedule 
that might involve the next 4 weeks would be helpful. And that would be 
my final question unless your answer prompts a question.
  I yield to my friend.
  Mr. HOYER. I will try to be precise so that your response will be 
germane to my observations.
  Let me say that with respect to the GSE bill, there has been a 
reference to another committee. That committee has not reported out 
that bill, so obviously we have to find out what it does.
  On your general question, let me say it is my hope during the next 30 
days prior to the Memorial Day break there will be a number of 
significant things we will do. We mentioned this coming week's work. We 
will start the appropriations process. I am hopeful that we will adopt 
a budget resolution conference report by that time. If we do not, as I 
indicated last week to you, it would be my hope that we would have the 
Appropriations Committee move ahead and mark bills to the House-passed 
level, as we have done in the past, and deem its passage.

[[Page 10434]]

  I would hope that we would pass a number of appropriations bills in 
May. And as the gentleman also knows, as we have historically done, we 
will be considering the defense authorization bill in May.
  So appropriation bills, the authorization bill. There will be some 
other pieces of legislation, but I expect them to be the major focus of 
the balance of time between now and when we take the Memorial Day 
break.
  Mr. BLUNT. I think that is very helpful, and I thank the majority 
leader.

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