Tom DeLay

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished whip for yielding to me. Mr. Speaker, the House will convene on Tuesday 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, and a final list of the bills will be sent to the Members' offices early next week. I might alert the Members, Mr. Speaker, that in a change from our traditional schedule, I would like to put the Members on notice that we plan to vote one-half hour earlier than usual on Tuesday, at 6 p.m. Members from both sides of the aisle have asked for flexibility this Tuesday because a number of them and their spouses are involved in the annual March of Dimes Dinner Gala, which begins at 6:30. So Members should be aware that we are still trying to work it out with the minority, but be aware that they could be notified that votes will start at 6 p.m. Tuesday rather than the normal 6:30. Next week we expect to consider H.R. 975, the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2003, as well as the 2004 Budget Resolution. Earlier this week, the Subcommittee on Crime of the Committee on the Judiciary marked up H.R. 1104, the Child Abduction Prevention Act. Nearly identical legislation passed the House last Congress with close to 400 ``yea'' votes. Chairman Sensenbrenner has announced that the Committee on the Judiciary will report the bill out from a markup on Tuesday. This important legislation would codify a current judicial program to implement a nationwide Amber Alert System. In addition, this bill eliminates the statute of limitations for child abduction and sex crimes, prohibits pretrial release in cases of rape or child kidnapping, provides for mandatory minimum sentencing for child kidnapping, and establishes a ``two strikes and you're out'' for child sex offenders. We hope to work with the minority to find a way to bring this important legislation to the floor next Wednesday, realizing that the House rules require a 2-day layover, after committee markup, to allow the minority to express their dissenting and minority views on legislation. But I hope we can work together in expediting this very important legislation to the floor. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me, and I am happy to answer any questions.

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

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's question, and I might point out that the gentleman, as well as many other Members around here, are always calling for regular order and we are expediting regular order. The bill that the gentleman refers to is a bill that has just been marked up this week, even before, thank goodness, Mr. Smart's daughter was returned to him, and was on its way to full committee to be marked up later on next week. Because of the situation, the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary feels very strongly that they can expedite the matter, actually hold an unusual markup before Members return, and hopefully have this bill on the floor on Wednesday. There are a lot of provisions in this bill that help. And I might also point out to the gentleman that the Justice Department is running an Amber Alert System in 38 States. They are up and going. There are over 80 systems, Amber Alerts, operating as we speak. So it is not a situation where there will not be coverage of Amber Alerts out there. But I think this legislation is important to get at these criminals that are kidnapping these children, to help the police departments find them quicker and easier and be able to put them away, away from our children, along with codifying what the Justice Department is already doing.

Mr. DeLAY. Well, if the gentleman will continue to yield, I am not sure I remember the question of the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. DeLAY. I appreciate the gentleman's continuing to yield; and, Mr. Speaker, let me just say that I do not agree with the assessment of the gentleman from Texas as to how slow this process can be. And if we honor what this House has already expressed itself on, I remind the gentleman that this bill that he is talking about that got so bogged down, passed this House with over 400 votes and went to the other body where the other body killed it in the last Congress. So this House has expressed itself that it thinks it is important not only to codify the Amber Alert System that is being run by the Judiciary Department but also to eliminate the statute of limitations for child abduction and sex crimes, to prevent pretrial release in cases of rape or child kidnapping, to provide for a mandatory minimum sentence for child kidnapping, and we also would like to see a ``two strikes and you're out'' requirement for child sex offenders. I think all of these issues are vitally important when it comes to dealing with children that are being kidnapped in this country.

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

Mr. DeLAY. I did not see the press conference, but I just ask the question, what did she do to pass the bill out of the Senate in the last Congress?

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

Mr. DeLAY. I appreciate the gentleman's concern. I have the same concern the gentleman has. I have convinced the chairman to accelerate the process. We are going to have this bill on the floor. With the cooperation of the minority, we will have this bill on the floor next week.

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

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I doubt that. I have not had an opportunity to see that the Senate has even passed the partial birth abortion bill yet. If they have, we will take a look at it. The last I checked, there was an amendment put on the bill that would cause it to go to conference under regular order.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will continue to yield, actually the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) intended to mark up a partial birth abortion bill next week, but under the circumstances he wanted to accelerate the Amber alert bill and take it up earlier, and so he is putting off the markup on the partial birth abortion bill that we would bring to the floor, and then hopefully go to conference with the Senate under regular order.

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

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I know the chairman of the Committee on Rules is a very fair man and the Committee on Rules tries to be as fair as they can. I would presume that the committee will be inclined to follow historic practice for the consideration of the budget next week.

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

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, the Committee on Ways and Means held a markup of the Social Security bill yesterday, and I expect to consider that legislation under a rule in the next week or so. On the Armed Services Tax Fairness Act, the committee is still reviewing options for potential changes to that bill, but we also expect to consider that legislation in the very near future.

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

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman is correct. This is a special and rare occurrence where we would not be starting votes on legislation at 6:30 on a day that we come back into session. There are extenuating circumstances, and we are trying to accommodate our Members. Yes, we hope to stick to 6:30 as much as possible.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns on Monday, March 17, that it adjourn to meet at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 18, 2003, for morning hour debates.

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 when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at noon on Monday, March 17, 2003.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Whip yielding to me, and I would note, Mr. Speaker, that the House has completed its business for the week. While we expected to consider the Armed Services Tax Fairness Act today, some problems with the bill have arisen, and we intend to work through those problems over the next several days and hope to consider the bill in the very near future. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would continue to yield.

Mr. DeLAY. The House will convene on Tuesday 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 early next week. There will be no votes in the House before 6:30 on Tuesday. On Wednesday, we expect to consider several health-related measures: the Automatic Defibrillation in Adam's Memory Act, the Organ Donation Improvement Act, the Mosquito Abatement for Safety and Health Act, the Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities Prevention Act. We will also consider a bill addressing medical errors. We expect several of those measures to be considered under suspension of the rules. On Thursday, we expect to consider H.R. 5, the HEALTH Act, to improve patients' access to health care and reduce health care costs by reforming our medical liability system, and that is the schedule for next week. I thank the gentleman for yielding and happy to answer any questions.

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

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, first, I appreciate the gentleman's concerns. I might also add, the gentleman should never have to apologize for a delay, but as the gentleman knows, the Committee on Ways and Means worked on this bill and marked it up last week in open process and within the rules of their committee and the House and many of the provisions that were added to the Military Tax Fairness bill were added, in many cases, by voice vote and unanimous votes. Some were controversial, but the committee acted in good faith and marked up the bill and there was full participation by every Member on that committee. Unfortunately, as the bill headed towards the floor, as the gentleman knows, there were concerns raised by our Members and as well as the gentleman's Members, and we felt compelled that we needed to address those concerns before we actually bring it to the floor, and that is what we are going to try to do in the next several days, and hopefully, we will get a bill that everybody can vote for.