Legislative Program

LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM -- (House of Representatives - September 21, 2006)

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Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for that information. To clarify, am I correct that the three bills that you mentioned prior to the mentioning of the last conference report, the NIH authorization bill, the Open Space and Farmland Preservation Act, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Modernization Reform Act, am I correct they will all be suspension bills?

Mr. BOEHNER. Likely they will.

Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman.

On the schedule, last week we talked about the 29th being the target date, and that we were going to get out on the 29th. But that being Friday, we might go over to Saturday if we did not finish on Friday, and we have advised Members to make sure that their Saturday schedule was flexible to accommodate that. But can you clarify that additionally as to what your thoughts are and the possibility of being here on Saturday?

I yield to my friend.

Mr. BOEHNER. I thank my colleague for yielding.

I have told Members and have told you for months that we will be finished on the 29th. We will be finished on the 29th. Now, how long the 29th lasts, I don't know. But I would expect that we would be here on the evening of the 29th and hopefully not much longer than that.

Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for that information.

It reminds me that before we had a court of appeals opinion in Maryland, before I went to the Senate, constitutionally you had a 90-day session, but as you point out, on the last day you weren't quite sure how long that last day would be.

Mr. BOEHNER. If the gentleman would yield, we have both been here long enough to know that that last day before the recess for the election lasts a little longer than an average day.

Mr. HOYER. I hear you. I will advise our Members not to have Friday night planes scheduled, and to have maybe a little later Saturday scheduled, maybe well into the morning.

November is when we will next reconvene, it is my understanding. You previously indicated that after we have our last votes, the House will not be in session again until Monday, November 13. Is that still your intention?

I yield to my friend.

Mr. BOEHNER. It is.

Mr. HOYER. What can you tell us about the rest of the November and December schedule so that Members might be planning for that as well? Are we likely to have votes on Friday, the 17th, for example; and what about the following week and Thanksgiving week?

Mr. BOEHNER. I would expect that we would have votes all that week, including the 17th. But once you get beyond there, it really is unclear as to when we will be back. I have been working with the Senate leadership trying to come to some understanding. We have not come to any agreement or understanding. But I can say this. If we cannot complete our work by Thanksgiving, which in my view is doubtful, that the House would be off the week of Thanksgiving and the following week and would come back the week of December 4 for a week or two to finish our business.

I think that is the most realistic schedule that I see. Is it firm? Nowhere close. But in terms of trying to be helpful to Members as they plan, that is as helpful as I can be with the knowledge that I have today.

Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for that information. We understand it has to be tentative, and we understand that the leader cannot anticipate exactly what will and will not pass within certain time frames. We appreciate sort of the ballpark estimate of what would be available for time if we need it.

You have not noted, but there has been a lot of talk about tax-related legislation and speculation as to whether or not we will consider any tax or trade-related legislation, for example, the tax extenders, prior to leaving for the elections. It is not on your schedule. Do you have any expectation that we would be considering prior to the election, not after the election but prior to, any tax legislation, extenders or otherwise?

Mr. BOEHNER. I do not.

Mr. HOYER. You do not. Thank you.

There is noted on the calendar a bill which is the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act. Would it be your expectation there would be any other legislation prior to the election dealing with that subject, abortion?

Mr. BOEHNER. I am not sure that there is any definitive answer on that. We do have this interstate notification bill up next week. There was some consideration to the unborn child pain bill that some Members have been hoping to get up. At this point I do not expect to have it on the floor next week. But at this point that is as much information as I have.

Mr. HOYER. I thank you for that.

You mentioned we are going to have, and you are going to try to pass a rule, I suppose, to give you suspension authority all of next week. Are there any other bills that you are contemplating bringing up under suspension? You noted the three that we discussed. Are there any others?

I yield to my friend.

Mr. BOEHNER. Which of the several hundred bills that Members have asked me to bring to the floor next week would you like to know about?

Mr. HOYER. It is a challenge, isn't it, Mr. Leader?

Mr. BOEHNER. If the gentleman would yield, we are working with Members on both sides of the aisle who have issues that have been through committee or are almost through committee that they would like to bring to the floor. As typically happens, I and my staff will work closely with you and your staff to schedule those so everyone has fair notice and we have gone through the usual scrubbing process.

Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman. I understand there are a lot of bills that are possible, and we appreciate that fact and appreciate his working with us to try to accommodate Members on both sides.

Two last things. Mr. Goodlatte and Mr. Peterson have been very concerned, as you know, about the drought and the stress that many of our farmers in rural areas of our country have been experiencing. There has been a lot of discussion about assistance that we could give. Is there any contemplation that next week we might be able to consider an emergency disaster assistance bill, H.R. 5099, that will help our farmers and ranchers who have been badly hurt by floods, droughts and other natural disasters?

Mr. BOEHNER. I am not familiar with the bill, but I will be happy to take a look at it.

Mr. HOYER. I appreciate that.

The last question will not come as a surprise to you, I know. We still have yet to pass one appropriation bill.

Mr. BOEHNER. That's right. We are still talking about it.

Mr. HOYER. We have passed the others, but it is still out there. It is a large bill that deals with the education of our children, the health of our people, and the ability of our working people to succeed. I know that there is great attention being given to that bill. We are hopeful that it will come to the floor, and we are hopeful when it comes to the floor, there will be an opportunity to vote up or down on increasing the minimum wage over a period of time. Is there any hope or expectation that that bill might come to the floor?

Mr. BOEHNER. The gentleman is aware there are some problems with the bill. We have been having conversations about trying to solve those problems. I don't expect it to be on the floor next week.

With regard to raising the minimum wage, the House did, in fact, vote on that in late July. We sent it to the Senate where it remains under consideration.

Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman. Reclaiming my time, we would hope that you would continue to consider that.

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