Tom DeLay

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. If the gentleman will yield further, that is correct.

Mr. DeLAY. If the gentleman will yield further, as we are doing this colloquy, the Speaker is contemplating how we can accommodate the ranking member of the Committee on Ways and Means who is going with the Speaker over the weekend for the D-Day celebration. I think we have at least tentatively worked out a schedule whereby the Committee on Ways and Means could do their markup on Wednesday or Thursday and have the bill on the floor the first of the week following.

Mr. DeLAY. If the gentleman will yield further, I might also add that the jobs bill contemplated by the chairman will probably be introduced by tomorrow. So Members will have at least over the weekend a chance to look at the bill before the markup of the committee.

Mr. DeLAY. That is correct. Some people refer to that as FSC.

Mr. DeLAY. They are all in that bill, thousands upon thousands of them.

Mr. DeLAY. As the gentleman knows, in March the Committee on the Budget passed a bill that would extend statutory pay-as-you-go rules on new mandatory spending to ensure that new programs are offset by spending reductions. In addition, the bill would instate statutory spending caps on statutory programs. Now that the House has passed the budget resolution conference report, we look forward to quick consideration of this bill. We have a very busy schedule planned for next week. We had planned on bringing this bill up next week and still may do so. But we may not be able to consider this bill next week; and, therefore, we most probably would schedule it for the following week.

Mr. DeLAY. If the gentleman will yield further, that is very difficult to say. We do have a very ambitious schedule for next week. It could very likely take Friday to complete that schedule. However, we are going to work as hard as we can to get our work done as soon as we can; and, if we can get our work done, we may not have to work on Friday. But I would warn the Members that it is very possible that we would have to be here on Friday.

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. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding, and I really appreciate his holding this special order, because it is so important to continue this debate on the President's vision, and this is a perfect way to do that, and I appreciate the gentleman from California and the gentleman from Texas and their comments. If I could just make my comments, for four decades the men and women of NASA have done the impossible. Whether conquering Earth's gravity, or shooting the moon, or studying the vast expanse of space or just beyond our atmosphere, NASA has taken on every challenge put to it and succeeded. We owe them our thanks, and we owe them our loyalty. But as valuable as the research NASA has conducted over the last two decades has been, both in its application in space and here on Earth, the time has come for NASA to once again dare mighty things. The President's vision asks them to do just that, to return the space shuttle to flight, to complete the International Space Station, to return to the moon and ultimately launch a manned mission to Mars. The President's vision is bold, practical and consistent with America's tradition of leading mankind's journey into the unknown. Now the only way this Nation could in good conscience walk away from our historic legacy in space, from the legacy of John Glenn, Allen Sheppard and Neil Armstrong, is if we determine that space exploration is no longer worth it, not worth America's expense, not worth America's risk, not worth America's time. If the time had indeed come when mankind, and specifically the United States of America, had gotten out of space everything it could hope for, then I would be the first in line to declare victory over the unknown and move on to something else. But, of course, nothing of the sort is true. America's space program is not merely a choice but a mission in our national interests and in the interests of all nations. Not worth the expense? Consider the value of the satellite technologies that we use to communicate which have become the basis of our national defense of this Nation; of touch tone and cellular phones; of global positioning technologies now employed in Iraq and Afghanistan to win the war on terror; of magnetic resonance imaging, which has revolutionized medicine; the automatic insulin pump, which has saved and improved millions of lives; or the portable X-ray machine. Madam Speaker, our economy, our national defense and our ability to communicate with each other and the world, for that matter, would simply be unrecognizable to us without the expensive space travel paid for by previous generations of Americans. Not worth the risk? Exploration, mankind's inherent curiosity and will to discover the truth, not worth the risk? Such thinking, Madam Speaker would have left Columbus in Spain, Magellan in Portugal and Lewis and Clark in Virginia. The history of mankind is not a matter of advance despite the risks, but advance, in a sense, because of them. Of course, space travel is risky. It is the most dangerous enterprise in history but also the greatest adventure. If space travel were easy, everyone would be doing it. We are lucky, lucky despite the hardships and tragedies that we have endured, to have been chosen by history and providence to live in a nation with the collective wealth and courage to meet such harrowing challenges, to live such an adventure. And no one knows this more than our astronauts, all of whom would gladly take on those challenges, and many more, for the opportunity to serve this Nation and all mankind in this endeavor. Now I concede that space travel is risky, but so is anything worth doing, and the risk involved in turning our backs on space far outweigh the risk of advancing further into it, which is why questions about the President's timing are the least viable. We are at war, we are told, and facing a budget crunch. Come back when times are rosier, and then we can look at space again. But, Madam Speaker, the President's assertion that the time is now for America to reestablish its space program is not only correct; it is urgent. We are at war, just as we were when Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon. The budget is constricted; but for 4 decades, America's mission in space has been one of the surest economic investments the Federal Government has made. Rocketry, satellite technology, cellular telephony, the MRI, all of these were direct benefits of the space program, solutions to problems found in space. And they are just the tip of the iceberg of the knowledge that we have discovered and a subtle foreshadowing of what we will learn. There is simply no telling what new innovations await our Nation, our economy, our health care, our national defense, when NASA's engineers begin staring down even larger problems of long-term space flight. What will a fully constructed international space station discover during its intensive research on bioastronautics? What engineering and medical miracles will be created to compensate for an astronaut's prolonged exposure to radiation and microgravity? What new materials and devices will be forged in the development of a new crew exploration vehicle? And what applications will these discoveries have to our life on Earth? We cannot answer these questions without first having the courage to allow our scientists and engineers at NASA to have at them. The President's vision is a bold challenge to each and every one of them, and to each and every one of us, to do it again. And when they do, Americans of all ages, from seniors who remember a time before NASA, to children who never saw an Apollo landing, will come together one night in the future, look up in the sky, see that tiny red dot 50 million miles away, and know that somewhere up there Americans are doing the impossible. The President's vision is a vision of that night. It is a vision that will fulfill the promise of the Mercury Seven and inspire the dreams of their grandchildren. Generations of scientists and engineers were drawn into their fields by the awesome images and historic competition of the space race. It is time to reignite the torch of knowledge and push deeper into the darkness. Thousands of years to get to Kitty Hawk, and only 66 more to get to the Moon. The time has come, Madam Speaker, for our Nation to strap itself in for the next leg of that journey. We have come too far as a Nation and as a world to turn back now. Even as we fight to liberate mankind from the oppression of tyranny and terror, we have an opportunity, and I believe a calling, to liberate mankind from the ancient oppression of ignorance of the unknown that continues to hold us back. The answers are a long and difficult road away, but despite the costs, risks, and hardship, we can get there from here. Back to space, back to the Moon, and on to Mars.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, Memorial Day this year has new, sharp meaning for us, as we remember the deaths of the American soldiers who have so recently given their lives for our freedom. By the grace of God, no soldier from my district has died in Iraq or Afghanistan, but I join the whole Nation in mourning the men and women who have given their lives in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. These service men and women join the ranks of those we remember this Memorial Day--those who have died defending America, who have ``fallen in the cause of the free'' since the founding of our Nation. These heroes were lowly privates and bemedaled generals. They were green volunteers and gray veterans. They were minute men and Navy seals. But the men who died at Lexington and Concord are the same as the men who died at Kandahar and Fallujah--men of dauntless courage, united in their love of country and their supreme self-denial. Uniforms and weapons change; valor does not. The men and women who have died defending America have kept our homes and our liberties secure for the past 228 years. More than that, they have held out to the whole world the promise that a nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the equality of all men can indeed endure. They have preserved the fire of liberty not just for America, but for all men. We owe them a debt we cannot hope to pay, least of all with mere words. Memorial Day is set aside for us to remember. But this day should not just be a day of remembrance, but a day of resolve. The memory of their sacrifice should inspire in us a firm purpose to live our lives in a way that will honor the heroes who have died for us--to emulate their courage in defense of the right and their devotion to the cause of liberty. We cannot honor the memory of our heroes with words alone; rather, we must honor them with actions worthy of their memory. Today we offer our gratitude to the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces who have fallen defending our nation. We thank them for protecting us, but most of all we thank them for reminding us, in the midst of a world torn by ugliness and war and pain, of the highest things--of duty, honor, courage, sacrifice, and love. We thank them for reminding us, even when ``the machinations of tyranny'' stare us in the face, ``that a man can stand up.''

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, strong economic news can be found wherever we look these days: 337,000 new jobs created in March; another 288,000 in April. May numbers due out at the end of this week are expected to be good, but numbers alone do not paint the picture of the economy that we are trying to build. That is why the summer economic agenda in the House, the Careers Initiative, is about much more than numbers. This week, we will take on the third component of the Careers Initiative: lifelong learning. When people have access to training and higher education, they can acquire skills and expertise in new and more valuable technologies and improve both their stability and mobility. They cannot only provide for themselves and their families in the short term but can find the kinds of jobs that will give them and their families security for the future. In other words, Mr. Speaker, lifelong learning can be the difference between having a job and having a career. The difference may seem small, but it could not be more important. A job is for survival in the here and now. It is something you do for a paycheck to make ends meet. A career, on the other hand, is for the future. It is long-term security for you and your family. It pushes you to get out of bed in the morning and inspires you with a sense of purpose and the feeling that you are making a contribution, and it is something that stays with you your entire life, not just until you punch out at the end of the day. Through reforms in the Higher Education Act and the new, innovative Worker Reemployment Accounts we will take up this week, the House will help Americans not only make the transition from welfare to work but from jobs to careers. Lifelong learning is a noble undertaking, Mr. Speaker, and it is more valuable than any numbers could ever show. The men and women who work to get it are heroes and deserve our help to help themselves.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I yield half of my time to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi) and ask unanimous consent that she be allowed to control that time.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, it is with mixed feelings that I come to the House today to wish farewell to our respected and beloved Parliamentarian Charlie Johnson. It is a happy day because it provides us with an opportunity to recognize one of the true giants of the United States House of Representatives and finally give one of our often underappreciated officials his due and also because we know he is on his way to a happy retirement. But it is a sad day, as well, for the House is losing one of its true institutions. For more than 4 decades, Charlie has provided Members of both parties the benefit of his guidance and his judgment and his experience. Charlie is an honest man, one of the few in Washington whose staff can honestly claim that they rarely make mistakes and honestly claim that they take responsibility for them when they do. For instance, when I took over as majority leader, Charlie and I often butted heads over the length of floor votes. I urged the Chair to gavel votes closely right at 15 minutes, even as Members were scrambling to the floor to cast their votes. I thought that imposing a little discipline in the voting would encourage a more efficient use of floor time in the House. But Charlie's experience taught him the value of tolerance and understanding in these matters; and particularly during certain votes late last year, I finally saw the wisdom of Charlie's way of thinking in leaving some of those votes open. For those of you on the other side of the aisle, that was a Tom DeLay's idea of a joke. Along with Charlie's experience, we will also miss his undying support for the Amherst College Lord Jeffs, which, to those of you who follow the perennial NESCAC, the cellar-dwellers, know, is vocal, enthusiastic, and honestly a little sad. Seriously, Mr. Speaker, the job of the Parliamentarian is a job of trust, of integrity, and of honesty. These are the qualities without which no description of Charlie Johnson would be complete. The House has been honored by his service, and we have been honored by his presence. Good luck, Charlie. God bless you and your family, and of course we always thank you for your exemplary and distinguished service to the House of Representatives and to this Nation. Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) and ask unanimous consent that he be allowed to control that time.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I send to the desk a privileged concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 432) and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the Senate bill (S. 2092) to address the participation of Taiwan in the World Health Organization, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 4 p.m. on Monday, May 24, 2004, unless it sooner has received a message from the Senate transmitting its concurrence in House Concurrent Resolution 432, in which case the House shall stand adjourned pursuant to that concurrent resolution.

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, June 2, 2004.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I offer a preferential motion.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, this week the House will take up the second component of our careers initiative to unshackle the national economy and unleash the potential of the American people on the global market. Last week, we passed three major bills to help doctors, patients and consumers retake control of the American health care system from government bureaucrats and trial lawyers. This week we are setting our sights on an even bigger target, the invisible monster of the Federal regulatory state. Today, in America, Federal regulations cost American consumers and companies more than $800 billion a year, about $8,000 for an average American family every year. That is more than that family spends on food. Those $800 billion could be saved, invested, used to train employees or create millions of new jobs. We in the Republican majority think it is about time that that money was put toward those better uses than being swallowed up by Beltway bureaucrats and outdated rules and regulations. That is why we will take up legislation this week that reforms four aspects of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, to bring parity and common sense back to the regulatory review and citation process. We will also take up major legislation specifically targeting the massive amounts of paperwork that consume not only hundreds of thousands of man-hours and millions of trees every year, but upwards of $320 billion as well. Because when you think about this kind of job- killing, career-stagnating menace, Mr. Speaker, you realize that regulation is just taxation's evil twin. All you have to do is imagine the Internal Revenue Code dressed in black with an eye-patch and you have got the Federal Register. For decades, layer upon layer of rules and regulations, many of them duplicative and many more of them self-contradictory, have been foisted upon the American people, their employers and their employees. The time has come for Congress to begin moving toward universal regulatory reform and looking for new ways to reduce and eliminate bureaucratic red tape. This week, we will begin that process and allow the American people to go back to work for their customers and clients instead of their Federal overseers in Washington, D.C.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I know the gentleman has been waiting with bated breath, and I know he checks every day to see the status of the budget, and I appreciate his concern for getting this budget to the floor. I wish I had more news than I did last week. There continues to be discussions between the two bodies, and I hope and expect to have a conference report ready for the House to consider sometime next week.

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

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Maryland for yielding to me. Mr. Speaker, I would like to make all the Members aware that the House has completed voting for the day and the week. Regarding next week's schedule, 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 this week. Any votes called on these measures will be rolled until 6:30 p.m. For Tuesday and the balance of the week, we may consider additional legislation under suspension of the rules. We also plan to consider several bills that would amend the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970: H.R. 2728, the Small Business Day in Court Act; H.R. 2729, the Review Commission Efficiency Act; H.R. 2730, the Independent Review of OSHA Citations Act; and H.R. 2731, the Small Employer Access to Justice Act. In addition, we expect to consider H.R. 2432, the Paperwork and Regulatory Improvements Act; and H.R. 4200, the National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2005. Finally, I would like to make all Members aware that we plan to consider H.R. 4359, the Child Credit Preservation and Expansion Act, which would make the full $1,000 per child credit permanent and expand the number of families eligible for the credit. I will be happy to answer any questions the gentleman may have.

Mr. DeLAY. I really hesitate to comment on what the content of the bill will be as we bring it to the floor next week. My understanding, as I have been advised, is the child tax credit that was to be given in 2006 will be accelerated to 2005, so that should cover the gentleman's concerns.

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

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's yielding. The chairman of the Committee on Rules has just made announcements for the four OSHA bills, the regulatory accounting bill, and I believe the DOD authorization bill. So on these I believe the Committee on Rules is inclined to make multiple amendments in order for those bills.