Legislative Progam

Floor Speech

LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM -- (House of Representatives - February 26, 2004)

(Mr. HOYER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise for the purposes of inquiring of the distinguished majority leader the schedule for the coming week.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Maryland for yielding to me.

Mr. Speaker, the House will convene on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. for morning hour and 2 p.m. for legislative business. We will consider several measures under suspension of the rules. A final list of those bills will be sent to Members' offices by the end of the week, and any votes called on those measures will be rolled until 6:30 p.m.

On Wednesday, the House will convene at 10 a.m. We plan to consider H.R. 1561, the Patent & Trademark Fee Modernization Act. In addition, we plan to consider H.R. 3752, the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act. And, finally, I would like to remind all Members that we do not plan to have any votes next Friday, March 5.

I thank the gentleman for yielding and will be happy to answer any questions he may have.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for that information; and reclaiming my time, I wish to ask the gentleman just a few questions about other legislation.

It is my understanding the highway reauthorization bill has not been completed by the other body. It has not come back here. As the gentleman knows, it expires Sunday, I think. Does the gentleman have any idea of what action, if any, might be taken on this?

Mr. DeLAY. If the gentleman will continue to yield, I would just remind the gentleman the House passed a 4-month extension. It has been over in the Senate for some time. The Senate is having trouble with their rules to keep extraneous matters off of that bill, and they want to change the time of the extension.

So, unfortunately, we informed the Senate that the House has finished its business; and in order to accommodate the Senate with the 2-month extension, we would have to work with the minority to come up with a unanimous consent request to do that, because holding Members around for votes would be impossible. The Senate has a dilemma on their hands, and they are trying to work through it.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for that information. We did pass the extension in a timely fashion. And although I have not had the opportunity to discuss this with the Democratic leader, my presumption would be that we would try to work with the majority in providing unanimous consent, so that if something can move in the next 48 hours, we accomplish that objective.

Mr. Leader, as you know, the 9-11 commission has requested an extension of time. My understanding is the President has indicated his support of that extension. I also think I have read that the majority leader in the Senate believes that they would support that.

Can the gentleman inform us as to whether or not we might see legislation on the floor to accomplish an extension of time that Governor Kean and Mr. Hamilton have requested?

Mr. DeLAY. Again, if the gentleman will continue to yield, we are working through that issue. There are people that have great concerns about extending the 9-11 commission on our side of the rotunda. That is one of the problems that we are having with the highway extension bill, is they want to stick the 9-11 commission extension on to it. We feel strongly that we cannot do a unanimous consent request to deal with that issue under present circumstances.

So we are working through this. The Senate thinks that they can pass such an extension, and the House will have to deal with it if and when that occurs.

Mr. HOYER. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. On this issue, I have discussed briefly with the leader on our side, and I believe if such an extension, even if it were on the highway bill, that would not preclude us from entering into a unanimous consent. I have not polled everybody, so I cannot say unanimity; but there is broad support.

The families I know, as well as the commission, believe that they need more time to do the work we have asked them to do. So I thank the gentleman for that answer and for focusing on that.

The fiscal 2005 budget resolution, Mr. Leader. When might we expect the budget to be marked up in the Committee on the Budget and to be here on the floor?

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, the Committee on the Budget has held their hearings and hopes to hold a markup in the next couple of weeks. We hope to keep the House on a schedule that allows us to complete a conference report by April 15. A lot of work is being done on both sides of the aisle. This process is, as far as we are concerned, on time for an early consideration of the budget.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, so the gentleman would expect consideration on the budget in the March 15 time frame?

Mr. DeLAY. If the gentleman would yield, that is what we expect, and that is what we hope to do.

Mr. HOYER. Lastly, Mr. Leader, the Foreign Sales Corporation Act, as the gentleman knows, we have not modified that, and the European Union has said on March 1, a few days from now, Monday, they have the ability to start imposing sanctions on U.S. goods. When do you think or is there any information as to when we may consider on the floor a bill dealing with foreign sales corporations to respond to the problem that exists that will motivate the EU to impose such sanctions?

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, as the gentleman knows, the Committee on Ways and Means has reported a bill to address the repeal of the foreign sales credit last year. We understand the problem. While there have been a couple of deadlines for European retaliation which have come and gone, we understand the threat that now exists beginning March 1. Clearly we need to find a way to address this issue. We are coordinating with the Committee on Ways and Means, the Senate leadership and the White House to resolve the issue in a way that not only ensures our compliance with the World Trade Organization, but also increases the competitive position of all American companies in the global economy.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for that answer, and I would hope that we can respond to that issue as soon as possible. I know there is bipartisan support for what was referred to as the Crane-Rangel bill. I am not sure what it is referred to now, the Rangel-Manzullo bill. I think we could proceed in a bipartisan way if that bill could be moved forward. I understand that is not the bill that the committee has reported out, but it seems to me there is bipartisan consensus on that issue, and I thank the gentleman from Texas for that information.

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