Steny Hoyer

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman is talking about here?

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, in this session?

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I am pointing out that when the gentleman says we didn't pass the appropriations bills, when I said we passed all 12 through the House, we did not shut down government. We ultimately got to a resolution of the differences between us. Mr. Speaker, I ask the majority leader, what is his plan to do that?

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, everybody likes to talk about the Senate. What the gentleman has ignored is that I said the bill is in committee and in 340 days has not been brought to this floor. If that is the gentleman's policy, he has not brought it to the floor for consideration. By the way, when he talks about a broader issue of immigration, we agree with him. He has not brought a comprehensive immigration reform bill to the floor, either.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, did they pass those bills?

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, why not?

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, we didn't vote for it because we didn't like the bills. But the gentleman is in charge, and he has 240 Members. All he needed was 218. We didn't like his bill, so we did what we do when we don't like bills: we vote against them. But he has 240 people still on his side of the aisle, and he couldn't pass his bill because so many of his Members didn't like it. That is why his bill didn't pass. Mr. Speaker, what is the gentleman's plan, however, between now and 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday to get us off this dime that we are stuck on and have been stuck on now for almost the entire year, 12 days from Christmas? Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, me, too.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, what is the solution?

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, is the compromise we take the wall or we shut down the government? Is that the compromise?

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, is your answer to the question, yes, the wall, or we shut down government?

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, the President to whom the gentleman is very close, he says so. The gentleman says so. The President says, and the gentleman heard the quote, he probably gets tired of hearing it, I am sure: I am proud, he says--I am proud, he says, to shut down the government. I will shut down the government. Absolutely, I will shut it down. That is what the President said just 2 days ago.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, what is he talking about? I voted against bills whose policies I did not agree with and that he said ``we will therefore shut down the government,'' because if we don't agree, he couldn't get the majority votes on his side, and he couldn't get 60 votes in the Senate--which the Republicans were very, very pleased with that when the Senate was controlled by Democrats. They loved having that 60-vote rule because what they said is it requires compromise. It requires coming together, having to get 60 votes. It requires not saying, ``Do it our way or you don't do it.'' The gentleman has not brought a bill, he has not brought a plan to this floor on how to get out of that. And, Mr. Speaker, the leader has not answered when I said, essentially when he says come together and have compromise, these are his bills. They are not our bills. We had to compromise. These didn't come out of Democratic subcommittees. They didn't come out of a Democratic committee, didn't come out of a Democratic Senate. These are bills that are his bills that we compromised on. We are prepared to vote for 99 percent--99 percent--of those seven bills, 99 percent. That is compromising, I think, a pretty far way. We don't agree with everything in those bills, but he is right, this is a collective body. We have all been elected. We all have one vote, and we have compromised on 99 percent. He is holding it up. He has no plan other than we take the wall or the President of the United States shuts down government. That is not the compromise that I heard him talking about we ought to have. Mr. Speaker, if that is the kind of compromise we are going to have between now and Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., we are not going to get there. We have compromised on 99 percent. Let's pass it. Let's move on. Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend, then I am going to yield back.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I am afraid we are going to almost finish the rest of that hour.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, what I hear is that the majority leader's plan is that we give up. Ninety-nine percent of the Homeland Security bill, I presume and believe, is directed at securing our borders. We have agreed with 99 percent of it, probably 99.9 percent of it. That is probably not true in dollar value. But the plan is for us to give up because 99 percent is not good enough for us to agree with. It has got to be 100 percent. If that is the plan, it is not going to work. The bill has not been brought to this floor, ever, this year. It is worthy of debate as to how we keep our borders most secure. As I have said, many Republicans, including, very frankly, the second ranking member of the Senate on the Republican side, have questions about the wall. He is from Texas. A lot of Texans think the wall doesn't make sense, Republicans and Democrats. Maybe not all, but some. But if the plan is we just give up after agreeing to 99 percent, that is no plan at all. Unless the gentleman wants to say more, I am going to yield back.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the majority leader. I must say, Mr. Speaker, I have a serious suspicion--I trust the majority leader, but I believe that gift was probably purchased by Judy, his wonderful, beautiful wife. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate Charles David Woodburn, Jr. on his retirement on November 2 after thirty-four years of distinguished service to this House. Charles David ``Dave'' Woodburn, Jr. was first hired by former Clerk of the House Donn Anderson in September 1984 as a Sales Clerk in the Office Supply Store. He moved through the ranks of Special Order Clerk, Purchasing Department, to Inventory Control Specialist from 1984-2002. When the Chief Administrative Office underwent a reorganization, Dave joined the furniture organization. Dave has always been recognized as a diligent and hard worker, with a strong work ethic. In the furniture organization he held many positions, including Supervisor and Manager for Receiving and Warehousing. Eventually, he was asked to serve as the Director of the Logistics and Distribution Department. This department was expanded to include Receiving and Warehousing, Logistics and Distribution, and Workflow Management. In addition to these duties, since 2008, Dave has played an integral role in the Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR) team with the U.S. House of Representatives. His official title is Capability Manager, responsible for providing logistical support and furniture needs for all House emergency preparedness activities. One notable contribution that Dave made to the House was his participation in the October 17, 2001 ``Response Project'' related to the anthrax incident on Capitol Hill. All Members, Committees, and Staff were able to be relocated to an alternate location, and Dave and his team were responsible for all logistical aspects of this project. He was commended for his contribution to this effort while ensuring that the business of the House went forward unhindered. Dave and his team have also been at the forefront of the Cannon Renewal Project since 2013. He received the CAO Knowledge Award, presented by Chief Administrative Officer Jay Eagan in 2007, for his extensive knowledge of the House and its operations. Dave plans to spend his retirement years with his still very active parents, his wife of fourteen years, Marie, and his six children and ten grandchildren. He has said how much he is looking forward to returning to his hometown of Leonardtown, in Maryland's Fifth District, where he was born and raised, after a long and storied career with the House of Representatives. Just as important as the work he performed over the years, Dave passed along his extensive logistics and furniture experience to his staff and coworkers as a mentor. On behalf of the entire House, I congratulate Dave for his many years of dedication and outstanding contributions to this institution. I wish him many wonderful years of fulfillment with family and community in his retirement.

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I will ask the majority leader a question, just to make sure we all understand the schedule. But before I do that, I want to join the majority leader in saying how pleased we are that Steve Scalise not only came back, but is making such a positive contribution to the Congress of the United States. I say to Steve that, when he came back, he gave one of those talks that I will always remember: his gratitude for the care of so many people around the world for a Member of our body. I thank him for his friendship and working together. Hopefully we will continue to do so, hopefully in a very constructive way for the American people. Welcome back, and God bless him, and we wish him a full, full recovery. We don't want him to be too strong on this side, but we want him strong. And with that, we were talking on this side, and it appeared that the majority leader said we weren't going to be here next week.

Mr. HOYER. Or the week after. Is there a possibility, from that, that we may be here during the month of October?

Mr. HOYER. Thank you. We look forward to being back on November 13. I thank the majority leader.

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate the College of Southern Maryland on its sixtieth anniversary. I join in thanking President Maureen Murphy, faculty, staff, students, and alumni on this milestone. Recognized by the 2019 Aspen Prize as one of the top 150 community colleges in the nation, the College of Southern Maryland provides thousands of students with pathways to successful careers. Founded as the Charles County Community College in 1958, its first classes met in the evenings at La Plata High School. A decade later, the College's La Plata campus opened its doors, and branches were launched to serve St. Mary's and Calvert Counties in the years that followed. Its name change to the College of Southern Maryland in 2000 reflected a growing regional institution of higher learning. Now, as it begins its seventh decade serving the community, the College provides a broad range of associate degrees, certifications, skills training courses, and wellness programs. Always adapting to meet the educational challenges of its day, the College continues to adopt new technologies to further its mission. It now offers twelve fully online degree programs and is committed to continued innovation in the design and implementation of curricula. The College has stayed true to its foundational principles of diversity, affordability, accessibility, and forging innovative partnerships that benefit students. More than sixty academic institutions have partnered with the College of Southern Maryland to offer guaranteed transfer admission to its graduates who complete their associate's degrees and meet other criteria. I've been proud over the years to support the work of the College of Southern Maryland, including by securing $497,000 for its Nursing and Allied Health Care Training and Technology program in 2008 and $468,000 for its STEM Workforce Initiative in 2009. I was happy to be on hand when the clinical nursing lab was opened in 2010 as well as to help facilitate a U.S. Department of Labor grant of $1.5 million in 2012 for the College's program to teach juvenile offenders in-demand job skills for success in the workforce after their release. For the past six decades, the College has lived up to its vision of ``transforming lives through lifelong learning and service'', and I look forward to working with President Murphy and the entire College of Southern Maryland community to ensure that it can continue to do so.