[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 16172-16173]
[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, Mr. Cantor, 
for the purpose of informing us of the schedule for the week to come.
  Mr. CANTOR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Maryland, the 
Democratic whip, for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, on Monday, the House will meet at noon for morning-hour 
and 2 p.m. for legislative business. Votes will be postponed until 6:30 
p.m. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the House will meet at 10 a.m. for 
morning-hour and noon for legislative business. Last votes of the week 
are expected Wednesday afternoon.
  Mr. Speaker, the House will consider a few suspensions next week, a 
complete list of which will be announced by close of business Friday. 
In addition, the House will consider two bipartisan bills from the 
Financial Services Committee: H.R. 992, the Swaps Regulatory 
Improvement Act, authored by Representative Randy Hultgren; and H.R. 
2374, the Retail Investor Protection Act, sponsored by Representative 
Ann Wagner.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman, and I appreciate that information.
  I would simply observe, Mr. Speaker, and then I will have a couple of 
questions of the majority leader, but last week we did something that 
was, I think, critically important, and we did it in a bipartisan 
fashion: we made sure that the government was open, and we made sure 
that America pays its bills.
  Today, in an overwhelming bipartisan fashion, we passed the Water 
Resources Reform and Development Act, which will, as I heard the 
majority leader saying and I said as well, be helpful in growing our 
economy, growing jobs, and investing in America's growth.
  I would simply observe that there are other things, Mr. Speaker, that 
I think we can act on in a bipartisan fashion as well and be successful 
in seeing enacted, which would make a real difference on behalf of our 
country.
  I would therefore, Mr. Speaker, ask the majority leader whether or 
not there is any thought about bringing to the floor before the end of 
the year the immigration bill, and I will yield to my friend for the 
purpose of a response.
  Mr. CANTOR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and 
would respond by saying that I think the gentleman knows that both the 
Speaker and I have said that we are not going to consider the Senate 
bill because we object to the Senate bill, although we do want to make 
some progress in reforming our broken immigration system, and there are 
plenty of bipartisan efforts underway and in discussion between Members 
on both sides of the aisle to try and address what is broken about our 
immigration system. The committees are still working on this issue, and 
I expect us to move forward this year in trying to address reform and 
what is broken about our system.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for that information, Mr. Speaker, 
and I would say of course the Senate has passed a bill in an 
overwhelming bipartisan fashion, an immigration bill, and if in fact we 
bring an immigration bill to the floor, whether I vote for it or not, 
and we move that bill through the House, that will give us an 
opportunity to do what my Republican friends, Mr. Speaker, have been 
talking about--negotiating, sitting down, talking, going to conference. 
I think that will be a step forward.
  We are on this side of the aisle very, very strongly in favor of 
moving immigration reform. We are obviously hopeful that the budget 
conference that has been convened will reach an agreement. We hope it 
will reach an agreement, frankly, before Thanksgiving so we will not 
again have to address on a crisis basis either the keeping of 
government open and funding of government for the balance of the fiscal 
year, but also ensuring that we do not have another time when we come 
very close to not approving the payment of our bills by what ought to 
be the most creditworthy nation on Earth, and I think it is the most 
creditworthy nation on Earth, so I am pleased to hear that information.
  Mr. Speaker, let me ask the majority leader whether or not he has any 
information which might lead us to having some confidence that we might 
have progress on the conference on the farm bill.
  I yield to my friend, the majority leader.

                              {time}  1830

  Mr. CANTOR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  As the gentleman knows, the conference committee has been appointed, 
it is meeting, and we anticipate a productive discussion on the farm 
bill and the reforms that the House voted on in all parts of the bill. 
We hopefully look forward to resolution on the differences between the 
Senate so that we can produce yet another bill that can be signed into 
law.
  I would just underscore the fact, Mr. Speaker, that talks and 
negotiations are, yes, the way to go about trying to accomplish more 
for the American people. Along those lines, it is about trying to focus 
on the things and the beliefs that we have in common and not allowing 
those things that we disagree on to get in the way. If that spirit of 
negotiation is adopted by both sides, I believe there could be progress 
on the farm bill as well as other issues.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I think Mr. Cantor and I are in absolute 
agreement. If both sides take that attitude, then we can make some 
progress. Hopefully, that will be the case.
  Mr. Speaker, the majority leader has said, I said, Hal Rogers of the 
Appropriations Committee has said, and others have said that the 
sequester will not work, that the sequester will, in fact, undermine 
the ability of America to invest in its growth and its opportunities 
and its ability to compete globally so that we can create jobs here in 
America. The majority leader has made an observation, Mr. Speaker, that 
he didn't think the sequester was the way to go. I share that view, and 
I share very strongly the view of Mr. Rogers that, in fact, the 
sequester could not be implemented in a way that was consistent with 
the interests of our country.
  I want to ask the majority leader, Mr. Speaker, focusing on what we 
can agree on and not what we disagree on, whether or not he shares my 
view that one of the conference's objectives should be replacing the 
sequester with a formula that gets us to a place where we are bringing 
down our expenditures and at the same time making sure that we protect 
the mandatory expenditures that Mr. Ryan talks about and others talk 
about to make sure that our most vulnerable in America are protected 
and that we do so, frankly, before Thanksgiving, Mr. Speaker.
  I am urging the majority leader to hopefully take that course so that 
we do not once again confront a crisis prior to Christmas when we are 
scheduled to adjourn for the Christmas and Hanukkah holidays, but also 
to preclude coming into the first of January with a deadline 
confronting us and disrupting the confidence of our people and, 
frankly, the people around the world.
  I yield to my friend.
  Mr. CANTOR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  I agree with the gentleman that it is desirable. I look at it as a 
priority that we allow for the appropriations process to begin again, 
but that will require us to arrive at an agreement on what that top 
line number is, as the gentleman knows as a former appropriator.
  We have said and maintained all along on the majority side of the 
aisle that the sequester is not the best way to go about achieving 
spending reductions, and I have said continuously that we would like to 
exchange for sequester mandatory savings and put

[[Page 16173]]

that into law in exchange for the sequester. There are items in the 
President's budget that we agree on as well. That goes to my point, Mr. 
Speaker, of working and focusing on things that we have in common, 
things that we believe in in common, and leaving aside those things 
that we disagree on.
  The main item that we disagree on in these discussions has been 
higher taxes. The Republicans and the majority in the House do not 
believe we ought to raise taxes, and we will not go about raising taxes 
in exchange for sequester relief. What we want to do instead is to 
allow for sequester relief and put into law mandatory savings that, in 
the long run, will exceed the kind of spending reductions that are in 
the sequester. They are smarter reductions. They make more sense and 
will allow us to provide, as the gentleman said, for the needs of those 
who are most wanting in our society. It will also allow for the defense 
of our country and will put us on to a path of fiscal stability.
  Mr. Speaker, it takes us focusing and limiting our discussions to 
those things we have in common. I believe that is the best way forward.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for his comments.
  Mr. Speaker, we have two bills: the Senate bill, which was passed 
some 6 months ago, and the House bill, which was passed about 6 months 
ago. We have been hoping to go to conference during those past 6 
months. That hasn't happened. We are now going to conference. That is a 
positive step forward. My belief is that the conference will discuss 
both the Senate bill and its priorities and the House bill and its 
priorities, and we will come to a resolution, hopefully, on a 
compromise so that we can get from where we are to where we need to be.
  I am not going to get into a debate at this point in time. At some 
point in time that will be appropriate with the gentleman. We seem to 
hoe this road a lot, but the fact of the matter is we ought to look at 
those who have made recommendations, worked on this to figure out how 
we can get from where we are to where we need to be.
  Without going further into the specifics, as we talk about next week, 
let me ask the gentleman if he can give our Members some view of his 
thoughts on scheduling and subject matters for consideration for the 
balance of the year. I know we talked about a couple of items, and I 
know Members are interested in what their planning should be for the 
balance of the year, which is coming up pretty soon.
  I yield to the majority leader.
  Mr. CANTOR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  As we just discussed, we expect there to be a farm bill conference 
report that we will consider here in the House. We will also look to 
consider items dealing with our domestic energy supply and the ability 
for us to maximize the indigenous assets and resources we have here to 
increase our competitiveness as a country for investment, for job 
opportunity, and to increase the standard of living for all of working 
middle class Americans as well as all Americans.
  I would also say to the gentleman that if the Senate acts in time, we 
look forward to a conference report on the National Defense 
Authorization Act as well as various provisions that expire at the end 
of the year. Obviously, we have SGR and other things that will expire 
that we will have to take time to deal with.
  Obviously, we maintain our focus on the rollout of ObamaCare, Mr. 
Speaker, and our committees will be hard at work trying to understand 
exactly what is going on with the signup on these exchanges and to once 
again assert that it is only fair that all Americans are treated 
equally and fairly under this law, as is expected under every other 
law.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for his comments.
  He is going to find out, I am sure, over the next few weeks the 
overwhelming interest that Americans are displaying in getting health 
care opportunities and access to an affordable, quality health care.
  I yield back the balance of my time.

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