John Boehner

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that, during further proceedings today, the Chair be authorized to reduce to 2 minutes the minimum time for electronic voting on any question that otherwise could be subjected to 5-minute voting under clause 8 or 9 of rule XX.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the business in order under the Calendar Wednesday rule be dispensed with on Wednesday next.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 12:30 p.m. on Monday next for morning hour debate.

Mr. BOEHNER

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

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

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. 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. BOEHNER. I do not.

Mr. BOEHNER. It is.

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. 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. 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. BOEHNER. Likely they will.

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. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, let me thank my colleague from California (Mr. Dreier), the chairman of the Rules Committee, for yielding, and thank him and the Speaker for their tremendous work on this rule change. Mr. Speaker, today is an important day for the House as an institution. There has been much written this year about the practice of earmarking, which has allowed lawmakers to anonymously insert spending projects into bills without scrutiny or significant debate. It is a major source of frustration, I think, for the American people, and for those of us who believe that we need greater accountability and transparency in the way Congress works. Earlier this year, I, along with many of my colleagues, called for reforms to this earmark process. We need a process where we can determine what are worthy projects and distinguish those from worthless pork. These reforms before us will help accomplish that goal so unworthy projects can be publicly identified, debated and, hopefully, weeded out. I think the reforms before us are very straightforward. They specify that if the House considers a bill which includes earmarks, it must be accompanied by a list identifying those earmarks as well as the names of the Members who requested them. The reforms also ensure that in the case of a conference report, the list includes any earmarks that were what we call ``air-dropped,'' or in other words, not included in either the House or Senate bills. No longer will Members, the media or average taxpayers have to thumb through pages of legislative and report language looking for earmarks that are sometimes added at the eleventh hour. This information will be publicly available for everyone to see. I think it is simple common sense. If you request a project, you ought to be willing to put your name on it, and if you aren't willing to put your name on a project, you shouldn't expect the American people to pay for it. Fulfilling a commitment made by Republican leaders earlier this year to treat everyone equally, these reforms will apply to all committees, authorizers, appropriators and tax writers alike. The goal here is to bring earmarking out of the shadows and into the light of public scrutiny. These reforms will bring sunshine and transparency to the earmark process, resulting in greater accountability for lawmakers and greater public confidence in how their taxpayer dollars are spent. Importantly, it also likely will result in fewer earmarks, building on the progress already made by leaders such as chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Jerry Lewis. This year during the appropriations process, there were 37 percent fewer earmarks than the year before and the cost of those earmarks has been reduced by some $7.8 billion. Earmark reform is just one component of Republicans' larger effort to promote fiscal discipline and ensure that Congress spends America's taxpayer dollars wisely.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. I thank my friend and colleague from Maryland for yielding. Mr. Speaker, next week, the House will convene Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. for morning hour and 2 p.m. for legislative business. There are a number of items on the suspension calendar. A final list of those bills will be sent to Members' offices by tomorrow afternoon. For the balance of the week, the House will consider H.R. 6054, the Military Commissions Act, from the Committee on Armed Services; and H.R. 4844, the Federal Election Integrity Act, from the Committee on House Administration. The House will also consider additional legislation on border security, including providing for more Border Patrol agents, stricter enforcement, enhancing State and local law enforcement authority. I would also like to note conference reports may be brought up at any time, and I expect to see H.R. 5122, the Sonny Montgomery National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, a conference report, and hopefully we will have that passed next week. About Friday votes, I know Members want to get home in time next Friday for Rosh Hashanah, and I am working to make that happen. But to do that, I believe we will be in very late on Thursday. So I would suggest to Members that if they want to make flight arrangements for first thing on Friday morning, that would be the safe thing to do, but I do expect that we will be in late on Thursday in order to complete our work for the week.

Mr. BOEHNER. This bill was reported out of the House Administration Committee some time ago. I imagine we will see an announcement out of the Rules Committee in terms of when their hearing is and whether they will call for amendments. But I would expect that announcement to come from the Rules Committee.

Mr. BOEHNER. That is correct.

Mr. BOEHNER. I am expecting that next week, and possibly as early and going into the following week, we may have two or three packages of issues that are intended to help strengthen our border. As the gentleman is aware, we have done a lot over the last 4 or 5 years to strengthen the border, adding additional Border Patrol agents, fencing, all types of technology. We now have the National Guard down on the border. But we believe that there are a number of smaller issues that we can work with the Senate on and possibly include in the Homeland Security appropriations conference report. We talked about it today earlier in a press event. A list of those bills will be available, should be available by now.

Mr. BOEHNER. I thank my colleague for yielding. There are conversations continuing about that bill. There are still some issues in that bill. Those conversations are continuing, but no decisions have been made.

Mr. BOEHNER. I am well aware of it, yes.

Mr. BOEHNER. The terrorist surveillance program is expected to be marked up next week in the Judiciary Committee, which I would then suspect would be on the floor the week thereafter.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the business in order under the Calendar Wednesday rule be dispensed with on Wednesday next.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 11 a.m. tomorrow, and further, that when the House adjourns on that day, it adjourn to meet at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 19, 2006, for morning hour debate.