Tom DeLay

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, the Members of the 108th House of Representatives have served the American people well during the longest legislative stretch we will have this year. We have passed, or will pass, legislation that has upheld American values, protected American families, affirmed fiscal discipline, and provided tax relief for millions. The record is clear. We passed a permanent ban on human cloning. We passed a resolution affirming Americans' identity as ``one Nation, under God, indivisible'' in the Pledge of Allegiance. We passed the Social Security Protection Act to crack down on waste, fraud and abuse against the program's most vulnerable intended beneficiaries. We passed a budget that sets the United States on a path to balance and provides tax relief necessary to stimulate an economy that can meet all our needs. We passed a compassionate and effective welfare reform package. We passed sweeping reforms to the Nation's bankruptcy system. We passed medical liability reform. We passed legislation providing $835 million in tax relief for America's military servicemen and their families. We passed legislation to create a national AMBER Alert system. We passed tougher penalties against criminals who prey on children and funding to assist battered-women shelters and victims of family violence. Not a bad start. Yet before we recess, the House will also complete a final budget resolution with the Senate to provide tax relief and fiscal accountability. We will pass a comprehensive energy package to better secure the United States by reducing our dependence on foreign oil. We will pass the supplemental appropriation to fund the liberation of Iraq, the ongoing war on terror, and meet emerging homeland security needs. The House of Representatives has acted on behalf of our troops on the other side of the world and we have acted to secure their proud and grateful countrymen here at home. Mr. Speaker, our actions speak for themselves, so I will stop interrupting.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) 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 a suspension of the rules and a final list sent to Members' offices by the end of the week. We may also consider a motion to go to conference on the Armed Services Tax Fairness Act and any votes called on these measures, though, will be rolled until 6:30 p.m. On Tuesday we expect to consider several additional bills under suspension of the rules, as well as S. 380, which is virtually identical to the Postal Service Reform Bill that we had scheduled for consideration tonight. For Wednesday and the balance of the week we have several measures that we will consider under a rule. These include the gun manufacturers liability Reform Bill that was reported by the Committee on the Judiciary earlier today, the comprehensive energy policy bill, the FY 2004 Budget Resolution Conference Report, and the Conference Report on the FY 2003 War Supplemental. I would note for Members that we plan to stay in session into the weekend if necessary in order to complete the supplemental before our spring recess. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I am happy to answer any questions.

Mr. DeLAY. I appreciate the gentleman yielding and I wish I could give him a more definite answer. We are trying to consider how we would approach this very important bill and we want to get it out before the Easter break. And the best I can tell the gentleman is it looks like we are going to conference on it or we want to go to conference on it. But I do not want to mislead him. There may be other alternatives available to us after we consider work with the Senate.

Mr. DeLAY. Absolutely, I will let the gentleman know, so he will have plenty of time to write a motion to instruct.

Mr. DeLAY. If the gentleman would yield, ``definitely'' is a very tough word in this business and on this floor. I would think, looking at the work ahead of us, that the probability of having votes on Friday is more to the affirmative than to the negative.

Mr. DeLAY. If the gentleman would yield, I do want to repeat that it is very possible that we could have votes on Friday and we intend to pass the War Supplemental Conference Report and send it to the President before we break for the break. And if things get a little difficult, we could actually be here through the weekend.

Mr. DeLAY. If the gentleman would yield, I have not personally consulted with the Speaker or the rest of the leadership, but it is my own understanding that the conference report on the budget is as important as doing the supplemental. But the word that I have is things are progressing with that conference report. There are very few issues to resolve, and we have the greatest expectation that that conference report will be on the floor sometime next week and will not slow down our ability to go into the Easter break.

Mr. DeLAY. If the gentleman would yield, the gentleman is very well aware that we reinstituted a very important rule called the Gephardt rule that includes in the budget conference report the number that is needed in order to raise the debt ceiling. So the vote on the conference report as far as the House is concerned is the vote on the debt ceiling.

Mr. DeLAY. I think it is a different rule. I think it is the Hastert rule now.

Mr. DeLAY. If the gentleman would yield, as the gentleman knows, this is a very complicated piece of legislation that has had at least four committees consider. All four committees have reported, and we have to get together with the minority to pull this bill together and bring it to the floor, and we hope to schedule that bill for some time on Wednesday; if not Wednesday, on Thursday of next week.

Mr. DeLAY. The discussion in the Committee on Rules has not been forthcoming, and certainly we would hope that a rule would be fashioned to give every Member of the House the greatest opportunity to express himself on a very important and complicated piece of legislation like the energy bill.

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 today it adjourn to meet at 12:30 p.m. on Monday next for morning hour debates.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, the President of the United States has no greater responsibility than to protect and defend the American people. While defending our freedoms half a world away, this administration is just as focused on the security needs right here in our homeland. These dual priorities are expressed in the President's supplemental budget request. This war budget will meet America's needs directly arising from Operation Iraqi Freedom and our ongoing war against terror, including $63 billion for military operations, $5 billion in assistance to help our brave coalition partners and $4 billion for the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to address the immediate and emerging threats to American soil. Predictably, detractors are surfacing to criticize the President's request. It should come as no surprise that many of the people criticizing this war budget are the same ones who have criticized all along the bold policies it would pay for. The war in Iraq and the war on terror are vital to the national security of the United States. The Secretaries of Defense, State and Homeland Security and the Attorney General have assessed their needs and asked the President for the funds necessary to meet those needs. This supplemental then reflects the informed opinions of the experts on President Bush's national security and homeland security teams. Yet the pseudo-experts say it is not enough. The ballooning of spending bills seems to be an annual ritual here in Washington, D.C., but before we are tempted to spend money for projects unrelated to our pressing security needs, we should all remember what it is we are doing here. This is not a normal appropriations bill. Its purpose is to fight and win the war in Iraq, to liberate an oppressed people from a brutal dictator. Its purpose is to fight and win the war on terror and defend our Nation from those who would revisit on us the horrors of 9/11. Let us keep in mind the seriousness of the times and the cool deliberation required of our homeland security experts to determine our needs. We must give our national and homeland security agencies the money that they need to protect us, and we must make sure every dime we spend in the supplemental goes to that purpose, and that purpose alone.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker, I was watching this debate, and I was very intrigued by the Democrat's motion to instruct. And as I look at this motion to instruct and I want to yield to the chairman of the Committee on the Budget to answer, if he sees this as what I see this. This looks like to me that the Democrats are suggesting that we have attacked an economic growth package that sets out a number of about $514 billion. Is that correct, Mr. Chairman?

Mr. DeLAY. I yield to the gentleman from Iowa.

Mr. DeLAY. So from what the chairman is saying, Mr. Speaker, is that the Democrats of this House are suggesting that the tax number be $514 billion. I might be able to take that, Mr. Chairman. I am a little concerned that in the motion to instruct to continue spending, and I know that the minority loves to spend and they want to continue to spend; and we tried to as we pointed out in the House budget, that it was important not only to get the economy going again but also to show some fiscal restraint in the way the Federal Government spends money around here, and we wanted to go after waste, fraud and abuse and efficiencies and reforms, not cutting programs, but trying to squeeze out, out of this bureaucracy in Washington, D.C. the kind of savings we could find, anywhere we could find them, so that we could show some spending restraint and at the same time have an economic growth package. So if the minority is suggesting that we go to conference and we go to conference with a number that seems to me to be a floor on the tax bill of $514 billion, having faced in conference that the House has a number of 726 and the Senate has a number of 350 billion, I might take that. I might take that right now. I think we could do some really good stimulative effect with $514 billion. We could go in there and make sure that the accelerated experiencing for small business people to be able to go out and buy equipment and start people making equipment would be there. We might be able to do something on capital gains. We all know through history that lowering capital gains rates always stimulates the economy and provides for long-term growth. And frankly, at 514 billion we could probably fool around a little bit with the double taxation dividends and even get something like that in there. So I just might vote for this. I am going to look at it a little closer, but I just might vote for this motion to instruct because I for the first time am noticing that the Democrats are suggesting that we have a $514 billion tax relief package, and I think we could do a lot with that.

Mr. DeLAY. I yield to the gentleman from Iowa.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, obviously we are going to have to give them the opportunity to express themselves, but the chairman knows that I want to restrain spending, too, and I want to find that waste, fraud and abuse myself. Just because we have a motion to instruct that says we want to do that does not mean the chairman has to negotiate that way on that particular portion. But to have the Democrats support a $514 billion tax cut, I think that strengthens us in conference because all throughout the debate, all I heard is, they did not want any of it, they wanted to spend it all. In fact, in their proposal, they wanted to raise taxes in order to bring down the deficit, which I think is a flawed way to go, because we have seen in the past that when we raise taxes and keep spending, the deficits keep going. The point is, now we have a revelation here where the Democrats want $514 billion. We could do that and we can still fight, or the chairman could fight in the conference committee for those spending restraints that we all want and come out of conference with a $514 billion tax number and still have the spending. I think the Democrats may have something, and I am going to think real hard about this.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, the previous speaker should have saved that debate for the debate on the budget. We are debating a motion to instruct conferees. I have to admit to the gentleman from South Carolina I did misread this. I thought he was eliminating all the cuts, 1 percent across the board. Indeed, what he is doing is freezing. I am willing to accept that. I will take a freeze over the cut. It is still spending restraint, and I will do that. Secondly, in the provision, the gentleman is right. I thought it was $212 billion out of the $726 billion tax relief, but as I read it and analyze it, it is $212 billion from $1.4 trillion that is in the budget. So we lower the tax number down to $1.2 trillion, more than enough to accommodate the President's economic growth package. I am going to support this motion to instruct, and I ask the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt) in the interest of bipartisanship, I am willing to work with the gentleman on this motion to instruct and ask the gentleman if he is going to call a voice vote on the motion.

Mr. DeLAY. I yield to the gentleman from South Carolina.

Mr. DeLAY. Then it is obvious this is nothing but a political operation. If the gentleman calls for a recorded vote on this, it is all politics on the other side. The problem is, they so poorly wrote this that now the Democrats are going to support freezing the budget to 2003 levels of all these committees, and give us enough of a tax number to accommodate the President's package. I am all for it, and I am going to vote with the gentleman.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Chairman, today the House will consider the ``Child Abduction Prevention Act'' sponsored by Chairman Sensenbrenner. This bill, H.R. 1104, is drafted to do two important things: increase the communication systems to locate a missing child and put in place stronger penalties to prevent child abductions and sexual exploitation. Both things are needed to make our children safer. Support of the AMBER Alert communications plans is a key component of this legislation. AMBER Alert is used by state and local enforcement agencies to search for abducted children. Currently there are 87 AMBER plans across the country with 38 of them statewide. Forty seven children have been recovered as a direct result of AMBER. AMBER Alert systems must be coordinated and funded to increase communication when a child is a abducted or reported missing. This bill increases AMBER funding and puts in law the national coordinator already in place at the Department of Justice. But increasing communication alone will not deter child abductors or child predators from abusing children. It will take the strong penalties contained in this legislation to prevent child abductions and child exploitation. This legislation puts in place the necessary enforcement tools to assure that child abductors and child predators will not escape justice. This bill offers a comprehensive package of child abduction prevention tools that make severe child abuse and torture a capital crime; provide stronger penalties against kidnapping and sexual trafficking; keep child kidnappers behind bars until trial; and put a ``two strikes you're out'' law in place. After all, how many children's lives do you have to ruin before you should be locked up for life? Additionally, this legislation keeps all the safeguards in place for wiretapping, but creates 4 new circumstances to allow better monitoring of criminals' abuse of children's chat rooms. We used to be able to keep an eye on our children at the playground in order to keep them safe. Chat rooms pose a dangerous new challenge that we must confront. I believe that H.R. 1104 shows the American people that communication and prevention are necessary to protect our children and keep them safe.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding. 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 Members' offices by the end of the week. Any votes called on these bills will be rolled until 6:30 p.m. on Monday. On Tuesday, we expect to consider several additional bills under suspension of the rules, including legislation that will provide relief from student loan payments to our men and women currently serving in the Middle East. We would also hope to go to conference on the 2004 budget resolution. For Wednesday and the balance of the week, we have several measures that we will consider under a rule. Those include H.R. 522, a bill to reauthorize the Federal Deposit Insurance Program; H.R. 735, which would alter the method used to calculate Postal Service contributions to the Federal Employee Pension System; and H.R. 743, the Social Security Protection Act. Finally, next week, we hope to be considering the Fiscal Year 2003 War Supplemental that was requested by the President earlier this week. I believe that the Committee on Appropriations has tentatively scheduled a markup of this legislation for Tuesday. Now, Members should be aware, while I remain hopeful that we could consider this legislation on the floor on Thursday, I know that this schedule would disrupt the traditional 3-day layover practice by the Committee on Appropriations, but if the supplemental is not available for floor consideration on Thursday, Members should be advised we would be in session next Friday to consider this very important bill. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I would be happy to answer any questions.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, the gentleman is correct. If we can get the supplemental passed by the House by Thursday, we would not be in on Friday. But Members need to be advised that the President has asked the bipartisan leadership to try to get the supplemental to his desk before the Easter break, and we have to get it done next week in order to accomplish that.