[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 357-358]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1315
                          LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

  (Mr. HOYER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise for the purpose of inquiring of the 
majority leader the schedule for the week to come. So at this point, I 
am pleased to yield to my friend from California (Mr. McCarthy), the 
majority leader.
  Mr. McCARTHY. I thank my friend 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, the House will meet at 10 a.m. for morning-hour and 
noon for legislative business. On Wednesday, the House will meet at 9 
a.m. for legislative business. Last votes of the week are expected 
around noon. On Thursday and Friday, no votes are expected.
  Mr. Speaker, the House will consider a number of suspensions next 
week, a complete list of which will be announced by close of business 
today.
  In addition, the House will consider H.R. 186, the Regulatory 
Accountability Act, authored by Chairman Goodlatte. This bipartisan 
bill will modernize the regulatory process, ensure transparency, and 
reduce overly burdensome costs that are hurting job creators across the 
country.
  The House will also consider H.R. 37, the Promoting Job Creation and 
Reducing Small Business Burdens Act, authored by the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania, Representative Fitzpatrick, which includes bipartisan 
reforms to reduce red tape and ensure that small businesses have access 
to the capital they need to grow.
  Finally, the House is expected to consider legislation to fund the 
Department of Homeland Security and respond to the President's 
unconstitutional executive action.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for the information he has given us.
  First, Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the majority leader for 
bringing to the floor in a timely fashion the Terrorism Risk Insurance 
Act, which we passed overwhelmingly in a bipartisan fashion. I think 
that it was very, very important that we got that through the House 
early. As the majority leader knows, the Senate has already passed that 
bill, and it is on its way to the President. That, obviously, will 
raise the confidence level of those who are going to create jobs and 
enter into construction projects. It is very important for our economy 
and for our communities. So I thank the majority leader for his quick 
action and leadership on that issue.
  Mr. Speaker, I am hopeful the majority leader can inform us of what 
form the Department of Homeland Security appropriation bill will come 
to the floor. And what I mean by ``what form,'' the committee bill, 
obviously, will be supported almost unanimously on both sides--
certainly on this side of the aisle unanimously--if, in fact, it is the 
funding levels that resulted from the agreement between the Republican 
Party and the Democratic Party and passed overwhelmingly, known as the 
Ryan-Murray budget numbers.
  The committee marked up its bill, reported it out. It was included in 
the omnibus. But it was included, as the gentleman knows, only until 
February 27.
  Can the gentleman tell me whether that will come to the floor as 
reported out of committee? And when I say ``committee,'' I mean the 
House Appropriations Committee. Or when reported out, will it be 
considered under a rule? And if considered under a rule, will that rule 
allow amendments?
  And I yield to my friend.
  Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  The base bill will reflect the Appropriations Committee's bipartisan, 
bicameral negotiations on funding for the Department of Homeland 
Security, the text of which will be available later today. And to 
answer the question, yes, the funding level will be at that.
  We also will consider a series of amendments which respond to the 
President's executive action, and I expect the text of those will be 
available a little later today.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman.
  I am pretty sure I understand exactly what the gentleman said. 
Therefore, those amendments will be offered on the floor and will not 
be incorporated in the base bill?
  Mr. McCARTHY. That is correct.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman.
  When will the hearing on the rule be held so that our Members can 
know; so that if they have amendments they would like to offer, they 
can appear at the Rules Committee?
  And I yield to my friend.
  Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  I anticipate the Rules Committee meeting on Monday.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for that, and I will make sure that 
our Members know that.
  Mr. Speaker, I know the Speaker just held a moment of silence--and I 
will be saying something in a few minutes--on the tragic events that 
have happened in France, the loss of life in the initial incident, in 
the hostage-taking, and of the law enforcement officer. Clearly this 
was in France, but we know that we are all vulnerable in all of the 
free world.
  I would urge the majority leader to ensure that the Homeland Security 
bill passes this House in a bipartisan fashion. And what I mean by that 
is, I know there are going to be amendments offered. I know his side of 
the aisle is very concerned and believes--and he has asserted--that the 
actions taken by the President were unconstitutional. We do not share 
that view, as the gentleman knows, that they were unconstitutional. We 
believe the executive was within his authority and prosecutorial 
discretion on the executive side of the government. But we also know 
that that issue is going to be an issue of substantial debate, 
discussion, and I am sure other legislative actions.
  Mr. Speaker, I would urge the majority leader to--I think it is in 
the best interest making sure the Homeland Security bill is passed so 
there is no doubt as to the resources that the Homeland Security 
Department will have to protect all Americans, to protect our homeland, 
and to coordinate extensively.
  Secretary Johnson has made statements this week that the failure to 
have full funding for the Department of Homeland Security has already 
impeded his ability and the Department's ability to act fully on behalf 
of the security of this country.
  So, Mr. Majority Leader, I know that all 435 of us are committed to 
making sure that we do everything we can to keep our homeland safe and 
our people safe. And I would hope that we would have nothing included 
in the bill which would be very controversial, reflecting our 
differences, when the underlying bill, I think, is not controversial, 
when the underlying bill is something on which we can almost 
unanimously, I think, agree and is something that ought to be passed 
and ought to be

[[Page 358]]

signed by the President and ought to give the Department of Homeland 
Security the full resources it needs to keep America safe.
  And I would be glad to yield to my friend, the majority leader.
  Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  As the gentleman knows, currently, the Department of Homeland 
Security is funded up until February 27. But as was noted, next week is 
the second week back in. And we are taking this up in the second week 
because I believe on both sides of the aisle, we care about the 
homeland, we care about our security, and this is something that has 
been worked on together. And inside this body, we have a constitutional 
responsibility to deal with those items that are germane, and we will 
deal with all the items that are germane.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman.
  I look forward to working with him next week to hopefully achieve the 
passage of a bill that will not prove controversial in the Senate or 
with the President of the United States so that this can be effective, 
as the gentleman observed, as quickly as possible. I appreciate him 
bringing it to the floor, and I also appreciate the fact that the 
amendments are going to be considered separately. And I would hope that 
we could join together in opposing amendments which will undermine the 
bipartisanship of the legislation.
  We have 3-day weeks coming up now. We will have a couple of short 
weeks when the Republicans go to their retreat, their issues 
conference, and then when the Democrats go to their issues conference.
  I would ask if you could give me a sense of the legislation that will 
be on for the remainder of the month.
  I yield to my friend.
  Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  The gentleman is correct. We have 3-day weeks for retreats for the 
House on both sides of the aisle. And this year, the Republicans will 
be retreating with the Republicans in the Senate as well, leaving next 
Wednesday.
  The House will be very active throughout January, focusing on 
bipartisan solutions that have been needlessly stuck in the Senate. As 
the gentleman knows, 382 bills did pass this House but got stuck in the 
Senate, and more than half of those actually were even passed by voice 
vote.
  This will include a bill to expedite the Federal review process for 
natural gas pipeline permit applications and a bill to cut through red 
tape and ensure exports of liquefied natural gas to our allies.
  As we get closer to consideration for each week, I assure the 
gentleman that a full list of bills coming before the House will be 
available for Members.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman.
  And lastly, Mr. Leader, if I could ask you about the border security 
bill. It is my understanding that the border bill could be coming to 
the floor this month. And I know that the gentleman from Texas, 
Chairman McCaul, has said that Republican leaders are getting close--
and I am quoting--to having a separate border policy bill ready to go. 
I know they, referring to the Republican leadership, want Homeland 
appropriations on the floor next week, as we have already discussed. So 
what is going to be tied to that is unclear at this point, but we are 
working on a border bill right now.
  Now, as you know, Mr. Leader, the McCaul border bill passed out of 
committee either on voice vote or unanimously, with both parties 
agreeing. And, in fact, the Democrats in the last Congress, in the 
comprehensive immigration bill that we introduced, included dropping 
the Senate border security bill and putting in the McCaul bill, as the 
gentleman undoubtedly knows, because we believed that was the better 
approach.
  Can the gentleman tell me, will the McCaul bill, as passed in the 
last Congress, be the border bill that will be reported? Or does the 
majority leader know that at this point in time?
  Mr. McCARTHY. Well, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  In speaking to Chairman McCaul, he does want to move a bill, maybe 
towards later this month. I know he has a trip to the border with a 
number of Members. I know he would like to move the bill after that 
trip. So I anticipate a bill shortly. And as soon as we have a date, I 
will let the gentleman know.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman.
  And I hope that we can, as we did in the first iteration of the 
McCaul bill, have a unanimous bipartisan agreement because all of us 
want to make sure the border is, in fact, secure again, as we want to 
see that the Homeland Security Department has its full complement of 
resources to protect the American people.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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