[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 4417-4418]
[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 about the 
schedule for the week to come.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, 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. Votes will be postponed until 
6:30.
  On Tuesday and Wednesday, the House will meet at 10 a.m. for morning 
hour and at noon for legislative business.
  On Thursday, the House will meet at 9 a.m. for legislative business. 
No votes are expected in the House on Friday.
  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.
  Mr. Speaker, since next Monday is Tax Day, the House will also 
consider four commonsense bills aimed at protecting all taxpayers.
  First will be H.R. 1206, the No Hires for the Delinquent IRS Act, 
sponsored by Representative David Rouzer, and will ensure that IRS 
employees--the very people who are responsible for collecting taxes 
from every American--pay their own taxes.
  H.R. 4885, the IRS Oversight While Eliminating Spending Act, 
sponsored by Representative Jason Smith, will require fees collected by 
the IRS to be subject to congressional appropriations so that there is 
proper oversight into how the taxpayer money is spent.
  H.R. 3724, the Ensuring Integrity in the IRS Workforce Act, sponsored 
by Representative Kristi Noem, will prohibit the IRS from rehiring 
someone who has been fired for cause.

                              {time}  1130

  Finally, Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4890, the IRS Bonuses Tied to Measurable 
Metrics Act, sponsored by Representative Pat Meehan, will ban IRS 
bonuses until they can demonstrate improved customer service. It just 
doesn't get any more common sense than that.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for that information. I 
want to ask him just one question on one of those commonsense bills 
that seeks to remove those employees who work for the IRS who collect 
taxes, that if they are delinquent, they will be removed.
  Does that apply to the Congress of the United States as well which 
levies those taxes, that if we have any Members who are delinquent, 
that they, too, would be removed?
  I yield to my friend.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  The bill solely deals with the IRS, but he can always offer an 
amendment.
  Mr. HOYER. I may do that.
  First of all, let me thank the gentleman. We are confronting a 
crisis, as the gentleman so well knows, in Puerto Rico. On May 1, they 
will be unable to pay their debts.
  I want to thank the majority leader who has been leading to reach a 
bipartisan solution. Unfortunately, as the majority leader and I both 
know, there was a failure in committee this week to move the bill 
forward. But I want to reiterate my appreciation to the gentleman from 
California, the majority leader, for his efforts to make sure that we 
do, in fact, address this issue before May 1. I want to thank him for 
that.
  It is critical that we do so, it is critical that we do so in a 
bipartisan fashion, and it is critical to have a bill that both sides 
can support. I have told the majority leader, and I reiterate, we hope 
that on both restructuring and the composition and the authority of a 
board of review, an oversight board, that we can come to an agreement 
so that we can have such a vote and have it in the near future.
  Secondly, can the majority leader tell me where we are? I know the 
budget has been reported out of committee. The gentleman talks about 
Tax Day. Obviously, we are now at the point when a budget was expected 
to be brought to the floor. Can the majority

[[Page 4418]]

leader tell me where we stand on the budget process and the budget 
coming to the floor of the House of Representatives?
  I yield to my friend.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  I will first touch on Puerto Rico. I thank the gentleman for his work 
on that. Let me start by saying that any proposal that the House 
considers cannot be a bailout of Puerto Rico.
  I know the committee had a markup and they postponed the vote on it 
simply because Treasury was still negotiating. We had heard from those 
on your side of the aisle that they did not want to pursue or continue 
until Treasury was done negotiating. So we look forward to continue 
solving this problem in a bipartisan manner.
  I also understand the gentleman asking about the budget. I do believe 
the budget process is an important one, and we are continuing to work 
through it. It is out of the committee, and I look forward to getting 
it onto the floor.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman.
  Let me mention two other items briefly because I know the gentleman 
has a time constraint. Zika and Ebola continue to be challenges to the 
health of Americans and, indeed, the health of the international 
community as well.
  Obviously, we previously committed a significant sum of money to meet 
the Ebola crisis, which still remains with us. It is not on the front 
burner as it was for a period of time, but it is, nevertheless, as the 
gentleman knows, a very significant and serious one.
  In addition, of course, we have the crisis that Zika poses to the 
health and welfare not only of women who either are or may become 
pregnant, but also to others as well.
  Can the gentleman tell me where the funding--as the gentleman knows, 
the administration transferred some funds out of the money that was 
dedicated to Ebola. And I want to thank the gentleman for having a 
hearing, which he invited me. We joined in having that hearing, and we 
had Secretary Burwell of HHS, Tony Fauci of NIH, and Dr. Frieden of 
CDC--a very important hearing. They have transferred some money.
  Does the gentleman have any information as to when we might move 
forward, both on backfilling the money that has been taken from Ebola 
and responding to the administration's request for funding for response 
to Zika?
  I yield to my friend.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I do 
think the gentleman's work is bipartisan on our challenge with Zika and 
as we continue to move forward with it.
  First, I am very happy to see that the administration did take our 
advice last week and began using the unused Ebola funding in our 
efforts to combat Zika. I know that was more than half a billion 
dollars. That money is going to go a long way to containing the 
disease. I had met with the chairman of Appropriations just today. They 
are continuing to look and monitor. We believe this money will take us 
throughout the rest of this fiscal year, but we will look and monitor 
where we need it and what we need to move forward.
  As the gentleman knows, every day we continue to learn more about 
Zika. We are committed on this side, and I know on your side as well, 
to make sure that we eradicate this problem from ever furthering in 
America.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. I look forward to 
working with him on both--continuing to focus on Ebola, while at the 
same time we focus on the immediate threat of Zika.
  The last comment I would make, Mr. Speaker, is that Members ought to 
be disabused of the concept--and I have heard it, as well as the 
gentleman has heard it--that the legislation under consideration for 
Puerto Rico is a bailout. There is no money going to Puerto Rico. There 
is no guarantee of any of their indebtedness going from the United 
States to Puerto Rico.
  This is simply whether or not we can construct a mechanism so that 
they can restructure their debt, which may prolong the period of time 
in which the debt is paid off. It may reduce by some amount the debt 
that is repaid. But as the gentleman knows--and he is shaking his head 
in agreement--we are not contemplating nor are we moving forward on a 
bailout for Puerto Rico.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________