Tom DeLay

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. We do have a very, very full schedule over the next few weeks. As the gentleman knows and most of the Members know, the Appropriations Committee is trying their best to get all the appropriations bills out of the House before the July 4 break, so there is very little time between now and the Fourth of July to do other bills. We are considering the Head Start bill, but we do not have any immediate plans to consider the Head Start bill reauthorization and hope that we can get to it as soon as possible.

Mr. DeLAY. As the gentleman knows, this House passed the highway bill some weeks ago and the Senate just finished the highway bill in their Chamber. We will probably have to consider some type of short-term extension next week, hopefully an agreed-to extension bill. And if the Senate requests a conference next week, I believe that the Speaker will be prepared to appoint House conferees next week.

Mr. DeLAY. Which ag bill?

Mr. DeLAY. He signed the bill.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the distinguished minority whip yielding to me. The House will convene on Monday 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. Any votes called on these measures will be rolled until 6:30 p.m. On Tuesday and the balance of the week, the House will consider several bills under a rule: H.R. 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005; H.R. 2419, the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2006; and H.R. 1815, the National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2006. In addition, Mr. Speaker, we plan to consider the Military Quality of Life Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2006 sometime later in the week.

Mr. DeLAY. While it is certainly subject to change, I would expect us to consider the stem cell bill on Tuesday, followed on Tuesday by the energy and water bill. Hopefully, we could finish that bill by Tuesday night and start the DOD authorization bill on Wednesday and Thursday, if necessary, and complete the week with the military quality of life appropriations bill.

Mr. DeLAY. I would anticipate the same types of amendments being allowed that has been sort of tradition around here on the DOD authorization bill. The Rules Committee did make an announcement tonight about filing amendments in a timely fashion. Most of the amendments would be considered by the Rules Committee, but obviously it is too early to tell what the Rules Committee will finally do.

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

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I would just say that the President has been criticized for not vetoing any bills over the last 4\1/2\ years, but it has become a tradition around here to include the President as we do legislation through the House and the Senate and therefore working out any of our differences so that he would not have to veto a bill, and I do not see that the highway bill is any different than anything else we have been doing for the last 4\1/2\ years. So he is obviously a major player in this process. The House, as the gentleman says, has expressed itself at a number. We think the President will sign the bill. The Senate has chosen to do otherwise. Hopefully, we can work this out in the conference committee so that the President will not have to mar his record by vetoing a bill.

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

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's yielding to me. I would just point out to the gentleman that in the good old days that he refers to, yes, this House had a great reputation for wanting to spend more money, and those days have changed in that the President is adamant about spending and spending the right amount of money to do the job and the House has concurred in that many times and have voted in the House. And it has been a pleasure to work with the President to hold down spending and make sure that every dollar is spent properly.

Mr. DeLAY

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

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the words that you just spoke in honoring our former Members that are here today, and some that are here in spirit. Friends and honored guests, I want to welcome you back home. It is an honor to have back again the Association of Former Members of Congress, a very esteemed organization. I have to tell you, Ms. Pelosi has been encouraging me to join your organization for some time now. Former Members Day is always a treat for me, because when you put 2 decades of your life into an institution, it is always reinvigorating to see so many friendly faces from days and battles gone by. As I look at both sides of the aisle, Beryl Anthony is here, who showed me kindness. As a freshman I walked in, and he as a Democrat actually wanted to meet me and wanted to work with me. Jim Slattery and Dan Coats had a great deal to do in changing my heart; Leader Michel, who tried to teach me patience; Bill Alexander really taught me a lot about the legislative process; and Ron Mazzoli sent a grandchild to my district, which I greatly appreciate. He is not voting yet, but we are working on him. We did not always agree on everything back then, and I suppose we still do not; but the fact is we are all part of the same heritage of service to this body and to this Nation. No matter how long you have served or when, if you have sat in this Chamber, you helped write at least a bit of America's history. Much more importantly, by staying active in the Association of Former Members, you are still serving your country and still helping to make history. In your post-congressional careers, many of you have gone on to bigger and better things. There is life after Congress, and we understand that. Many of you have stayed in Washington and served here, and others have returned home to do the same. But regardless of where you are and how you are spending your time, everyone left behind here in Congress still feels your presence and still builds on the legacies that you have left here. So, I, for one Member, thank you all for staying involved, for the work you do around the world, and for your continued service to this House and to this Nation. Thank you all, and God bless you.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. 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. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Madam Speaker, this week the House will uphold, for the 216th time, its constitutionally mandated responsibility to begin the process of funding the Federal Government. The Founding Fathers understood the power of the purse and that that power of the purse was government's most potent, and therefore installed that power first and foremost in the body most accountable to the American people, the House of Representatives. In the 10 years Republicans have controlled the House appropriations process, we have fundamentally changed the way we spend the people's money. We have based this process on an entirely new question: no longer ``How much can we spend?'' but ``How much should we spend?'' That may seem like a very small matter, but it has saved our government and our economy billions of dollars and millions of jobs over the last decade. The fiscal accountability our Republican majority instituted helped balance the budget in the late 1990s, helped ensure the recession of 2001 was the shallowest in memory, and helped ensure our recovery from that recession and the 9/11 attacks was strong and durable. This week we will begin our second decade protecting the American people's money, and our first year with our streamlined Committee on Appropriations, by taking up the first two spending bills for the 2006 fiscal year. First, the homeland security spending bill will provide the resources our homeland security agencies need to do their work. And since September 11, 2001, Congress has worked tirelessly with the administration to identify and address our national vulnerabilities, culminating with the creation of the new Department of Homeland Security. The fiscal year 2006 security appropriation will meet the needs of our first responders, make it harder for terrorists and criminals to pierce our borders, better prepare our Nation for emergencies, and help us stay one step ahead of our enemies. Second, we will provide for the 2006 budgets for the Department of the Interior and environment-related agencies. It makes sense these two bills will be the first we take up. After all, our homeland security agencies protect our people and our infrastructure while our interior agencies protect everything in between. For these and the rest of the fiscal year 2006 spending bills, Madam Speaker, the House will lead the way not only chronologically but responsibly. We will continue to build on the record we have established these last 10 years, making sure every dollar is put to its best use and making sure we only spend those dollars we must. For another appropriation season is upon us and we will spend it wisely.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding to me. Mr. Speaker, the House will convene on Monday 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 the Members' offices by the end of the week. Any votes called on these measures will be rolled until 6:30 p.m. On Tuesday and the balance of the week, the House will convene at 10 a.m. for legislative business. We may consider additional legislation under suspension of the rules, as well as several bills under a rule: The Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2006; the Department of the Interior Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2006; and H.R. 1817, the Homeland Security Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006. Mr. Speaker, I yield back to the distinguished Minority Whip.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding. While things could certainly change as we work through what will be a very busy week, we will likely have the two appropriations bills sort of bookending the week, with the Homeland Security authorization bill coming in the middle of those two bookends. So I would expect that the Homeland Security Appropriations bill would start as early as Tuesday morning. Then we would go to the Homeland Security authorization bill, and when it is finished, we would go to the Department of the Interior appropriations bill.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) yielding. I have not been advised as to what kind of rule. I think the gentleman that is sitting here is about to make an announcement in that regard. I would assume that it would be handled like most major bills. As the gentleman knows, the Homeland Security authorization bill is the first Homeland Security authorization bill that this House has considered, and so there is a lot of room for negotiation.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding. As the gentleman knows, serving on committee, the committee has a very ambitious schedule, and it hopes to complete all 11 bills coming out of its committee by the Fourth of July recess, meaning all 11 bills out of the House by the Fourth of July recess. So, in addition to managing the two bills on the floor next week, the committee intends to mark up both the Military Quality of Life and the Energy and Water bills. So we would anticipate, if things go well, those two bills being on the floor the following week.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. There is a good chance that the House will consider changes in the President's research policies between now and the August recess. The form and timing of this debate has yet to be determined. There is still a lot of discussion going on. I could inform the gentleman that probably the timing for the floor, the best I could tell you is that timing for the floor would be sooner than later.

Mr. DeLAY

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

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns on Wednesday, May 18, 2005, it adjourn to meet at 9 a.m. on Thursday, May 19, for the purpose of receiving in this Chamber former Members of Congress.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that it may be in order on Thursday, May 19, for the Speaker to declare a recess subject to the call of the chair for the purpose of receiving in this Chamber former Members of Congress.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. 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. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, as we all now know, a short time ago a small aircraft invaded the National Capital air space. The command structure for both the U.S. Capitol and the White House tracked this plane before making a decision to evacuate the Capitol complex at approximately 12:04 p.m. At the time of the evacuation, Mr. Speaker, the House of Representatives was in the midst of a roll call vote and the House Chamber was ordered cleared in the middle of that vote. In addition to the Members of the House, the Capitol was filled with a number of foreign dignitaries, tourists, certainly staff and congressional pages. The Capitol Police led a rapid, yet orderly, evacuation for all of these people, as well as those who were in the House office buildings. Mr. Speaker, I just want to commend the Capitol Police and the Sergeant at Arms Office for a job well done. We were all part of that evacuation. It was orderly. The Capitol and the office buildings were evacuated in record time. It went relatively smoothly. I have heard little or no complaints about the evacuation. I also want to especially commend the employees of this House, those in the office buildings as well as in the Capitol. Everybody evacuated quickly and calmly, and it was a very good operation. It is unfortunate that we have to live in these times where we have to evacuate the Capitol complex; but we are very pleased and proud of the Capitol Police, of their orderliness under very extreme conditions, their politeness and their calmness and reserve in the way they evacuated these buildings. From a personal note, as I was going out of the Capitol complex, the Capitol Police were on station and were deployed in a very professional manner. They were acting in a very professional manner and moved people along in a very rapid manner. So in the event that we do have a catastrophe, many lives would be saved; and we greatly appreciate that. I also want to say as a side note, Mr. Speaker, that a lot of times we treat these Capitol Police as furniture. Because they are so good at their job, we often do not notice them. I would hope that Members of the House and employees of the House would congratulate each and every officer that they may come across over the next few days and thank them for the good job that they have done. They deserve it. We appreciate their protection, and we appreciate their professionalism. Mr. Speaker, I feel much safer in the hands of the Capitol Police today than I did yesterday, and I greatly appreciate them. I also have to point out that there are Capitol Police that are stationed in this building even in the event of a catastrophe, and they showed great courage to stand their posts, knowing that something bad may happen to this building or the office buildings. They do not leave the building. That is incredible courage that we should honor, and we appreciate that courage and that honor. You have to extend that to their families, because their families also know that they are standing in this building with an eventual catastrophe coming and standing their posts like the courageous men and women that they are. So we greatly appreciate what they have done, the way they have protected the buildings and, most importantly, the people that work in these buildings. You just cannot say enough for how the House appreciates their service.