[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 19424-19425]
[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 gentleman from California (Mr. 
McCarthy) for the purpose of inquiring of the majority leader the 
schedule of the week to come.
  Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, on Monday, the House will meet at noon for morning hour 
and 2 p.m. for legislative business. No votes are expected in the House 
in order to accommodate Members going to the White House event.
  On Tuesday, the House will meet at 10 a.m. for morning hour and noon 
for legislative business. Members are advised that the first votes of 
the week are expected mid-afternoon on Tuesday.
  On Wednesday, the House will meet at 10 a.m. for morning hour and 
noon for legislative business. On Thursday, the House will meet at 9 
a.m. for legislative business.
  Last votes of the week are still to be determined, but Members are 
encouraged to keep their schedules flexible as we approach the end of 
the year.
  Mr. Speaker, the House will consider a number of suspensions next 
week, a complete list of which will be announced by close of business 
tomorrow. Included will be a bill to make urgent and necessary changes 
to the Visa Waiver Program.
  H.R. 158, sponsored by Representative Candice Miller, will close 
loopholes in the visa waiver system to prevent terrorists from 
exploiting the system to come to America to wreak havoc.
  The House has identified a host of recommendations to improve the 
visa waiver system in a bipartisan way. I do want to thank the 
gentleman for his work and cooperation on this critical bill.
  In addition, the House will consider H.R. 2130, the Red River Private 
Property Protection Act, sponsored by Representative Mac Thornberry, 
which

[[Page 19425]]

will provide legal certainty to property owners in Texas.
  Mr. Speaker, the House may also consider the conference report to 
H.R. 644, the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, as 
well as a bill to extend certain provisions of the Tax Code.
  Additionally, it is possible that the House will consider an omnibus 
appropriations act.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, the House may also consider budget 
reconciliation, if the Senate acts on that measure.

                              {time}  1330

  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for that information.
  I want to also thank him for the work that he has done on the Visa 
Waiver Program. His staff and my staff and the staff on Homeland 
Security on both sides of the aisle and the staff on the Judiciary 
Committee on both sides of the aisle, including the leaders on both 
sides, have worked very hard.
  I think we have come up with a bipartisan effort to keep America 
safer while at the same time providing for access to people who do not 
pose a threat to America or to Americans.
  I thank him for his leadership on that. I am pleased to have had the 
opportunity to work with him, and I look forward to the bill's passing 
with big majorities next week. So I thank him for that.
  Mr. Leader, there is indication that the appropriation bills, or the 
omnibus, as we are now calling it, will come to the floor. Can the 
leader tell me whether or not we are making any progress on riders?
  Obviously, as I understand it, essentially, we have agreement on the 
allocation of the dollars, which of course is the responsibility of the 
Appropriations Committee, and that is what they do.
  Clearly, we seem to be having difficulty with the so-called riders--
that is, additions to the appropriations bill--which accomplish 
legislative objectives either through a ``none of the funds'' provision 
or a legislative provision which would require a waiver.
  Does the gentleman know whether or not we are making progress on 
eliminating riders that are controversial so that we can move the bill 
in a bipartisan fashion next week?
  I yield to my friend.
  Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  As the gentleman knows, negotiations are ongoing. The appropriators 
are working hard in trying to wrap up the bill, and I will advise the 
Members as soon as action is scheduled in the House.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for that.
  Can I ask the gentleman again in terms of the timing of the omnibus. 
The existing CR, which is funding the government at the present time, 
expires as of midnight on the 11th. Does the gentleman have any insight 
as to the scheduling of the omnibus?
  Presumably, we will have to pass it and give enough time for the 
Senate to consider it and then for the President to sign it.
  I yield to my friend.
  Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  As the gentleman knows, wrapping up legislative business in December 
is always unpredictable. In knowing that the omni is a larger bill, we 
want to allow plenty of time for Members to be able to see it and read 
it, but it is our intention to get it done by the deadline.
  If we have to move it a few days later, we shall. We are scheduled to 
be here until the 18th, but we will get our business done.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman.
  I understand that we are here until the 18th. Does the gentleman 
contemplate the possibility of a short-term CR from the 11th to the 
18th at any point in time?
  Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Only if necessary. I would rather get it done by the 11th.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman, and I certainly share his view on 
that. It will be better for the country and better for the House if we 
do that.
  The gentleman also referenced tax extenders. Obviously, we have tax 
extenders that expired in December of 2014, which have not been 
extended. Does the gentleman have any knowledge as to whether or not we 
have reached an agreement on a tax extender bill and, if so, the 
substance of that and when it might be scheduled?
  I yield to my friend.
  Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  As the gentleman knows, this side of the aisle did not want to wait 
on tax extenders, and many times we have passed the bills here to make 
them permanent.
  There are ongoing negotiations. There is good movement, and I hope to 
see that done very soon. When it is, I will advise the Members of the 
action to be taking place.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman.
  Let me just observe to the majority leader, Mr. Speaker, that I have 
great reservations. I want to let the gentleman know that, on this side 
of the aisle, I think we have great reservations about doing in this 
short time that we have left any kind of comprehensive tax extender 
bill, which will adversely impact the possibility of tax reform, which 
all of us have said we want.
  But if we make a major effort on taxes now, particularly making many, 
many items permanent, some of which I support making permanent, it will 
have an adverse effect on the ability to do a big tax reform bill, 
bring corporate rates down, look at preference items, and try to make 
sure that we have a fiscally responsible piece of legislation.
  So I would hope that there is an alternative, obviously, and that is 
a short-term bill that the Senate has passed and that that would be 
part of the discussions as a fallback.
  I don't know that I am for a larger bill that I have heard about, but 
I would hope, certainly, that the alternative that the Senate has 
passed would be an alternative if, in fact, we cannot get agreement on 
a bigger package so that we will have, at least for last year and the 
year to come, some certainty with respect to tax consequences of 
certain actions that private businesses may be taking.
  I yield to my friend if he has any comment.
  Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman.
  As the gentleman knows, at times, we have philosophical differences. 
I think the greater certainty we can give to the American public, the 
more they can keep in their pockets and the stronger the economy is. I 
do not believe that if we solve tax extenders that that harms us in any 
way in getting overall tax reform.
  But I do look forward to working with you on overall tax reform, and 
hopefully we can work in the same manner that we were able to on the 
Visa Waiver Program.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman.
  As I said on the floor a little earlier today, this was a good week. 
We passed an education bill in an overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion. 
Just a few minutes ago, we passed an infrastructure-highway 
transportation bill with overwhelming bipartisan support.
  I hope America feels good about what we have been able to do this 
week, and I hope America and I and others can feel good about what we 
will do next week.
  Unless the gentleman has any further comments, I yield back the 
balance of my time.

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