January 30, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 19 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session
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LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM; Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 19
(House of Representatives - January 30, 2019)
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[Pages H1317-H1318] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM (Mr. SCALISE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.) Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the majority leader, for the purpose of inquiring as to the schedule for the week to come. Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding. On Tuesday, the House will meet at 12 p.m. for morning-hour debate and 2 p.m. for legislative business following 1 minutes. The House will recess to allow for a security sweep of the House Chamber prior to the President's State of the Union Address. The House will meet again at approximately 8:35 p.m. in a joint session with the Senate for the purpose of receiving an address from the President of the United States. Members are advised that there will be no votes in the House on Tuesday. On Wednesday and Thursday, the House will meet at 10 a.m. for morning-hour debate and noon for legislative business. On Friday, Madam Speaker, the House will meet at 9 a.m. for legislative business, with last votes no later than 3 p.m. We will consider several bills under suspension of the rules. The complete list of those suspensions will be announced by close of business Friday. In addition, Madam Speaker, the House will consider H.R. 840, the Veterans' Access to Child Care Act, introduced by Representatives Brownley and Higgins. This bill would make permanent the VA's childcare pilot program and expand it so that veterans across the Nation who are parents or grandparents have a convenient, cost-free option for childcare when they have VA medical appointments. [[Page H1318]] Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, as it relates to the suspension calendar, I know, this week, there was an extra bill added to the suspension calendar that wasn't on the list by close of business last week. Do you anticipate this Friday's list being amended again the following week, or should that be a complete list? Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman. Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, as I pointed out, additional items are possible to be added. We said that last week. We did add one. It was noticed on Monday, and we voted on it today. In effect, we met the 3- day rule, not the 72-hour rule, but that was a suspension. There may be others that we will add. Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, clearly, as a suspension, it wasn't in the traditional sense--obviously, it went down. There being a sense of the House resolution, typically, those are resolutions where both sides work together. I ask the gentleman, do they anticipate approaching senses of the House in a partisan way or, hopefully, in a bipartisan way, where we can work together to get a true sense of the House that could pass? Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman. Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, we want to move on a bipartisan basis. The good news was that this resolution, although it failed to have a two- thirds vote, did have a bipartisan vote with more than 20 Republicans voting for it, which I appreciate. Of course, the balance voted against the resolution, which said that shutdowns were bad. But we will certainly try to give as much notice as possible to the gentleman and to his party. Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman. Madam Speaker, as we approach bipartisan resolutions, we hope that the gentleman from Maryland and his side would work with us on those. It could have been a resolution that actually passed, had we been able to work together and, hopefully, include some language about border security. As we look to the conference committee that is now meeting, as we talk about border security especially being the centerpiece of the big debate over government funding that, hopefully, we get agreement to, there were reports that, last week, the Democrat majority was going to roll out their plan for homeland security. Ultimately, that plan wasn't, in fact, rolled out. Is there going to be a rollout? As we have these negotiations---- Mr. HOYER. Will the gentleman yield? Mr. SCALISE. I yield to the gentleman from Maryland to let him know that his side said they wouldn't negotiate during a shutdown. Obviously, the shutdown is over now. Will there be a counteroffer now put on the table? Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, as the gentleman knows, the conference committee has either met or is meeting. It is my understanding that Chairwoman Lowey is going to have a press conference after the first initial meeting, so that we are in a conference. That is good news. I am sure the conferees are going to talk about proposals that they have to reach border security. I might say that, although it appears to be the central part, in terms of our perspective, a shutdown is not about border security or any other particular issue. It is that it is a bad policy to shut down the Government of the United States. Notwithstanding that, I expect that Chairwoman Lowey will be explaining our position in the conference. Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I look forward to hearing that proposal laid out. As the House and Senate Republican and Democrat conferees meet together, I do think, and have an optimistic approach, that we are not that far removed from reaching a deal, if we can ultimately find a way to put a real amount on the table that shows how we can secure the border, as our experts--the men and women who risk their lives to secure the border--have suggested in their proposal, if we can come to a place where we can agree on a way to actually achieve border security, and that includes physical barriers. When the gentleman from Maryland, I think it was 2 weeks ago, was talking about some Democrats who were going over to the White House back then, it was said that they didn't have the authority to negotiate. Do the Democrat conferees have the authority to negotiate on behalf of the Democrat majority in the House? Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman. Mr. HOYER. Certainly. Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's quick candor. Madam Speaker, as we wrap this up, I would ask about an issue that a number of our Members were concerned about and hope this is not a trend. In the House Natural Resources Committee, the majority, yesterday, as they were proposing their new rules for the committee-- and each committee, as we know, proposes their new rules as a new Congress is sworn in and established on a committee level--in the oath that is administered to men and women who come before the committee to testify, the original proposal suggested removing ``so help you God'' from the oath. One of the Members on our side noticed that omission and put an amendment in place to restore ``so help you God'' in the oath. Fortunately, that was added back in. I would ask the gentleman, is this going to be a trend? Is there going to be some kind of general movement by committees to try to remove ``so help you God'' from the oaths that are administered to witnesses? Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, not as far as I know. Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, hopefully, it is not a trend that we see. Madam Speaker, I know the last few weeks have been contentious. We have a lot at stake as we try to get an agreement on something that actually can work to properly fund the government and properly secure the border. I am glad that the conferees are finally meeting. I hope we don't see any attempt to run out the clock, because we do have a limited amount of time, although it is far more than enough time to reach an agreement, if all parties are truly there in earnest, and I do think they are. I hope that they put all options on the table and listen to all the proper expert testimony that has been given on why we need to have certain amounts to secure the border and certain tactics and techniques and technology that are all going to be part of this. Hopefully, at the end of that discussion, very quickly, they can reach an agreement that we can then bring to the House and the Senate and pass in a bipartisan way that the President can sign to finally properly fund the government and secure our Nation's border. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman. {time} 1430 Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I share the gentleman's view. I hope the conferees can reach an agreement that will be agreeable to the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, both the House and the Senate, and the President. Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman and I know we look forward to welcoming the President of the United States to this House Chamber on Tuesday night for the State of the Union Address. I appreciate the work that we are going to do together to secure our Nation's border and properly fund our government, and unless the gentleman has something else he would like to add, I yield back the balance of my time. ____________________
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