[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15717-15718]
[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 for the week to come.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, on Monday, no votes are expected in the House on account 
of Columbus Day. On Tuesday, 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 Wednesday and Thursday, the House will meet at 10 a.m. for 
morning hour and noon for legislative business. On Friday, the House 
will meet at 9 a.m. for legislative business. Last votes of the week 
are expected no later than 3 p.m.
  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.
  In addition, the House will consider S. 585, the Dr. Chris 
Kirkpatrick Whistleblower Protection Act, sponsored by Senator Ron 
Johnson. Dr. Kirkpatrick was a psychologist who was fired from the VA 
medical center where he worked after raising concerns about patients' 
medications. He committed suicide the day he was fired.
  This bill will enhance whistleblower protections while ensuring 
supervisors who retaliate against whistleblowers are punished. I look 
forward to the House passing this bill and continuing our work to 
fundamentally change the culture of the VA.
  Mr. Speaker, I also expect the House to make a motion to go to 
conference on the National Defense Authorization Act.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, I expect the House to consider an additional 
supplemental package to assist the ongoing recovery efforts following 
Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments.
  I would ask him, Mr. Speaker, will the supplemental that the 
gentleman mentioned--which is, as I understand, approximately $29 
billion, which will take care of forest fires in the West; $16 billion, 
as I understand it, in debt relief, which will raise the borrowing 
level for FEMA; and then, of course, money directly for the victims of 
the hurricanes. Can the gentleman tell me whether or not there will be 
any, what I will call, extraneous matters that might be controversial, 
or will this be a straight supplemental without controversy? We all 
want to make sure that we have the resources to help.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  The gentleman is correct. The White House has sent up a supplemental, 
and I do not believe this will be the last of the supplementals, based 
on the damage that has been done from the numerous hurricanes. But, 
yes, there will be more money for the Disaster Relief Fund to help 
throughout Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
  As you know, too, the West had devastating forest fires, so there is 
roughly $577 million there. And the National Flood Insurance Program 
has hit a ceiling. To deal with all of the flooding that has gone on, 
we have to deal with that, as well.
  The Appropriations Committee has just received that last night. They 
are working through it now. I don't intend on seeing other things with 
it. I look forward to the Member working with me on that to make sure 
we get it right from what the President has asked.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his thought that 
there will not be anything in there that would make it a partisan bill. 
I think, as the President sent it down, it is, obviously, something 
that we need to do quickly and in a bipartisan way.
  Mr. Speaker, the majority leader and I have talked about the Dream 
Act. Another week has gone by and, therefore, the 6-month deadline is 
closer, and the President has urged us to pass legislation.
  Can the gentleman tell me what the expectations are to address the 
Dream Act?
  As you know, Michelle Lujan Grisham, the chair of the Congressional 
Hispanic Caucus, has filed a discharge petition on the bill sponsored 
by Lucille Roybal-Allard and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Can the gentleman 
tell me what progress we are making on that?
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Yes, we are dealing with the DACA situation and the situation along 
the border.
  As you know, the Speaker has put together a task force. They have met 
numerous times. I have had dinner with the President just this week 
dealing with this issue, and you and I have talked, as well.
  I think the best way to solve this problem, to make sure we get to 
the root cause, we have to secure the border, we have to deal with 
DACA, and,

[[Page 15718]]

more importantly, I think we do it in a manner where we are all working 
together.
  I am, as you know, not a fan of a discharge petition. I think the 
best way to handle this is continuing to work through the matter with 
the committees--and on your side of the aisle, as well--to solve this 
problem. The President gave us 6 months. I would like to get this done 
before then.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his answer.
  Let me, if I might, Mr. Speaker, simply suggest to the gentleman, we 
certainly understand, and this side agrees, we want to have secure 
borders. There is, obviously, a disagreement on the President's 
proposal of a wall, I think, frankly, on your side as well as on my 
side of the aisle. I would hope that we would not, in effect, hold 
hostage the 800,000 students, workers, and young people brought here as 
children who know no other country.
  In my discussions with Mr. Ryan, and his public comments have 
indicated, he is sympathetic to making sure that we address that issue. 
He urged, as you know, President Trump not to rescind DACA. The 
President did anyway.
  I am hopeful that we can deal with the DREAMers, which I think 
certainly has very robust support on both sides of the aisle, in my 
view, Mr. Leader. I hope we can deal with that without clouding it with 
an issue, i.e., the wall. Not security; security I think we can reach 
agreement on. But I am hopeful that we can do that.
  The DREAMers are extraordinarily anxious. I presume you have met with 
some of the DREAMers. They are really very impressive people and are 
enhancing our communities and our country.
  So I would hope that we could do that. I look forward to talking to 
you personally about how we move forward and, hopefully, move quickly. 
I would like to have done it by next week.
  As you know, I said that it would be nice to do it in this work 
period, to lay to rest the anxiety of the 800,000-plus people who will 
be affected. But, if we can't do that, certainly I would hope that we 
could do it shortly after we get back after the next district work 
period.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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