John Boehner

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. I wish I could be clearer in terms of what it would look like and how it would be considered; but as soon as those decisions are made, we will pass them on.

Mr. BOEHNER. If the gentleman will yield.

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, the House will convene on Monday at 12:30 for morning hour and at 2 p.m. for legislative business. We have items that will be considered under suspension of the rules. A final list of those bills will be in Members' offices by the end of the day. Any votes called on these will be taken after 6:30 on Monday evening. On Tuesday and the balance of the week, the House will consider the Ag approps bill, which I anticipate will be scheduled on Tuesday; the Energy and Water appropriations bill, which I would anticipate to be Wednesday or Thursday; and the Homeland Security appropriations bill, which will be Wednesday or Thursday as well. On Wednesday morning at 11 a.m. there will be a joint meeting of the Congress to receive the Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert. We also anticipate action next week on H.R. 4939, the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror and Hurricane Recovery, if it is finished. Finally, I anticipate that we will likely consider energy legislation next week. Specifically, the issue of ANWR is likely to come to the floor.

Mr. BOEHNER. That is correct. As we all know, next Friday is the beginning of the holiday weekend. We do have an awful lot of work to do, and Members should anticipate that we will be here until 2 p.m. next Friday.

Mr. BOEHNER. I think the issue would center around the availability of the supplemental, if it is finished.

Mr. BOEHNER. It really depends on how quickly we get through the appropriations process. The House was in late on Wednesday night. The House was rather late last night. As the gentleman knows, I like to go to bed at 10 o'clock, and to the extent that we can finish our work during normal business hours would be my approach. And considering Friday is a getaway day for the holiday weekend, we are going to work together to try to see how quickly these bills move.

Mr. BOEHNER. There was anticipation that we would have the refinery bill up next week, the bill that did not receive the required two- thirds when it was brought up under suspension, but there have been some conversations under way, bipartisan conversations under way on that bill, and we have decided to let those conversations continue to see if there is some way for both sides to resolve their differences, which would mean that the bill would be brought up under some kind of structured rule as opposed to bringing up the same bill under a closed rule.

Mr. BOEHNER. Just that we are very likely to have one next week.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that it may be in order at any time on Wednesday, May 24, 2006, for the Speaker to declare a recess, subject to the call of the Chair, for the purpose of receiving in joint meeting his Excellency Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister of Israel.

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. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word. I want to thank my colleagues for their indulgence for just a moment. On Wednesday we passed a budget. We did it, I think, in the right way. Members had ample time for debate. We had a 15-minute vote and the budget was passed. And I am proud of my colleagues on our side for coming together to make that happen. Once that decision was made, we have got to allocate those funds, and we have got to make decisions. And we are beginning that process, yesterday with the Interior approps bill, today with the military quality of life. I come here today because there is a process fight under way. Not a fight over policy. Not a fight over the quality of the spending that was in here. It was over how it was done. And the leadership could have intervened and could have protected this and irritated one group of Members in favor of another. We did not do that. But I rise to say that all of us in this House want to do everything we can for our troops. As my friend from Wisconsin, Mr. Obey, would say, we can all pose for the holy pictures. But the points of order that have been raised on this go to a question of how this $50 billion that was set aside for the use of fighting the war on terror and Iraq is set aside to do that. Last year when we had the military quality of life bill, none of those funds were included in this. We worked with the appropriators today, and I have a better understanding of why it is in there. But we obviously have some Members that disagree about the fact that that money was used in this fashion. But the reason I rise is to ask all of my colleagues to be patient. It is easy around here to get into a fight over issues of process that sound like some big policy fight when, in fact, it is not about the policy. It is not about the fact that we are not supporting our troops. There is a disagreement over about how this was done today. And I am going to pledge to work with the appropriators and all of my colleagues to make sure that we all have a clearer understanding of how this money is to be spent and the process by which it is spent.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, let me first congratulate the chairman of the Budget Committee, Mr. Nussle. This is his sixth year chairing the Budget Committee. As I think most of my colleagues know, it has been six tough years, and Mr. Nussle has done a very, very good job in bringing us to this point. And I want to congratulate him and wish him well as he decides to leave the House and to pursue other political interests in the State of Iowa. I think all of us know that we have been through a long, arduous process to bring this budget to the floor tonight. It has been months of conversations with Members, not always easy; certainly it has been very difficult. But the process has allowed us to better understand each other, understand our needs, and understand the needs of the American people. As one of my colleagues earlier was pointing out, revenues to the Federal Government grew last year at over 11 percent. Revenues to the Federal Government this year are going to grow at over 12 percent, which really, I think, speaks volumes, that lowering tax rates does not necessarily mean lower revenues to the Federal Government. If you look at what we did in the late 1990s when we balanced the budget, it was revenue growing to double digits rates and us holding the line on spending. And I know there is a lot of well-meaning, well- intentioned spending that people would like. But we can't continue to spend our kids' and their kids' inheritance every year, which has gone on here far too long. And if you look at what we are doing here, with revenues rising and holding the line on spending, we can, in fact, balance the budget in the next 4 or 5 years. It is very possible. And so I want to thank all of my colleagues for working with us to get to this point. I want to yield to my colleague from Delaware (Mr. Castle).

Mr. BOEHNER. Reclaiming my time, I thank my colleague from Delaware for his willingness to work through these long several months. I think you have very accurately portrayed the agreements that we have come to. And it is important to understand that we were able to do this without spending $1 more than what the President asked for. The $873 billion, 302(a) discretionary cap remains in effect. But moving the priorities around to meet the needs of our various Members is how we were able to do this. And any additional spending on the Labor, HHS bill at the end of the day is either going to have to be offset or come from other 302(b) accounts. And the commitment is that we will get there at the end of the day. We will work with Members across the spectrum in terms of how we get there. But the important thing is that we are able to meet the needs of all of our Members without exceeding the President's numbers. So I want to thank my colleague, tell him how much I have enjoyed working with him and all of the members of our conference. I am just glad that we are here.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. It is not likely we will have any energy bills up next week, but there are a number of energy bills that are in the pipeline with regard to the possibility of drilling in ANWR, the CAFE bill continues to move along, and the refinery legislation that did not receive a two-thirds vote under suspension is likely to be back in some form.

Mr. BOEHNER. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I appreciate your concern. As the gentleman is well aware, these conferences that occur between the House and Senate trying to resolve the differences in these bills are sometimes dealt with by the majority. I saw it when I was a minority Member of the House. I understand the gentleman's concern. I will urge my colleagues, my chairmen, to be more open. I share the gentleman's view that we all have a role to play in this institution and having people at the table gives usually a much better product and everyone has a right to voice their approval or disapproval of the actions that the conference is taking.

Mr. BOEHNER. I thank my friend for yielding. You and I did have a conversation about participation. The conversation was centered around the pension reform bill, only because I am a conferee on the pension bill. What happens in other committees and some of these conferences, they all have their own style and own way of doing their conferences. I understand the gentleman's concern, but that was not the reference that I was making when you and I were having a discussion about the pension bill.

Mr. BOEHNER. I have talked to Chairman Sensenbrenner and others about the bill. We don't have it scheduled as yet, but we are hopeful that it will be coming to the floor in the near future.

Mr. BOEHNER. It depends on the ruling of the Parliamentarians; and until they rule whether there is a jurisdictional claim or not, there is not much that we can do.

Mr. BOEHNER. As I have indicated, when we think we have the votes to pass the budget, we will bring it up, sooner rather than later, I hope.

Mr. BOEHNER. I thank my colleague for yielding. Next week, Mr. Speaker, the House will convene on Tuesday at 12:30 for morning hour and 2 p.m. for legislative business. We will consider measures under suspension of the rules. A list of those bills will be sent to Members' offices by the end of the week. Any votes called on those measures will be rolled until 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. On Wednesday and the balance of the week, the House will likely consider the Ag, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, which I anticipate will be scheduled for Wednesday, subject to change. We will deal with the Department of the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, and the Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act. The House will also consider H.R. 4200, the Forest Emergency Recovery and Research Act. The Committee on Resources, Ag, and Transportation and Infrastructure have all completed action on that bill. In addition to these bills, I continue to hope that we are able to bring a budget resolution to the floor. A lot of progress was made today, but that is an issue that I am hopeful we can deal with next week.

Mr. BOEHNER. I am very sure that next week there will be votes on Friday.

Mr. BOEHNER. With three appropriations bills and several other bills, and the possibility of doing the budget, we will have our hands full.

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 2 p.m. tomorrow; that when the House adjourns on that day, it adjourn to meet at 2 p.m. on Monday next, and further, when the House adjourns on that day, it adjourn to meet at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 16, 2006, for morning hour debate.