Kevin McCarthy

Mr. McCARTHY

Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding. As the gentleman did mention, the highway program is currently authorized through the end of October. The relevant committees are at work--I met with them today--developing the best path forward, and I will keep you apprised, as well as the Members, and I expect it to be done before the deadline.

Mr. McCARTHY

Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, September 15, 2015; and, further, when the House adjourns on that day, it adjourn to meet at noon on Wednesday, September 16, 2015, for morning-hour debate and 2 p.m. for legislative business.

Mr. McCARTHY

Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I thank my friend for his weekly questions. I think you may have asked these questions actually more times than we repealed ObamaCare, but my answer remains the same.

Mr. McCARTHY. My answer still remains the same to the gentleman. There is no action scheduled in the House on Ex-Im.

Mr. McCARTHY. We will keep repealing ObamaCare.

Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding. As I mentioned last week, yes, it is our intention to get back to the appropriation process as soon as possible. As the gentleman knows, we are halfway done. We should finish our job, but I will make sure to keep the Members updated on the appropriation bills as they are scheduled and continue to be considered.

Mr. McCARTHY. I thank my friend for yielding. What happened in San Francisco was not just a mistake. This individual had seven felonies. It is not miscommunication. Kate lost her life and should not had to have. Sanctuary cities are made up of individuals who believe they can make their own law and disregard the law of the Federal Government. I think today's bill was a good first start. I do look forward to continuing the conversations on both sides of the aisle on immigration reform, but I have nothing scheduled at this time.

Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, on Monday, the House will meet at noon for morning hour and 2 p.m. for legislative business. Votes will be postponed until 6:30 p.m. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the House will meet at 10 a.m. for morning hour and noon for legislative business. On Thursday, the House will meet at 9 a.m. for legislative business. Last votes of the week are expected no later than 3 p.m. On Friday, no votes are expected in the House. Mr. Speaker, the House will consider a number of suspensions next week, a complete list of which will be announced by close of business tomorrow. In addition, the House will consider H.R. 427, the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2015, sponsored by Representative Todd Young. Last year Federal regulations burdened job creators with trillions of dollars in costs. This bill, commonly referred to as the REINS Act, will ensure that Congress has a say in whether major rules should be imposed on the American people. The House will also consider H.R. 1994, the VA Accountability Act, sponsored by Chairman Jeff Miller. Getting the best possible service to our Nation's veterans starts with having the best possible personnel in charge VA programs. This critical bill will give the administration additional tools to turn things around at the VA and ensure veterans have the kind of care they deserve. I thank the gentleman.

Mr. McCARTHY. No.

Mr. McCARTHY. Well, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I thank him for his discussions with me regarding highways. Just last week, we passed a bipartisan bill that would ensure critical infrastructure projects continue throughout the year. I know the Senate has their debate. Our bill goes to the end of the year with a long-term solution. The Senate currently is debating a bill that is not funded long term. I think the best bit of advice is to urge the Senate to accept our bill.

Mr. McCARTHY

Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet on Monday, July 27, 2015, when it shall convene at noon for morning-hour debate and 2 p.m. for legislative business.

Mr. McCARTHY

Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. McCARTHY

Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me one more time. The gentleman is well aware of how I feel about the Export-Import Bank, and we have a difference of opinion. I am one who has always believed in the principle that you should just deal with the subject that is before you. We have passed the highway bill. The best advice I can give to the Senate--it is a clean highway bill until December 18--is to pass a clean highway bill and move it to the President.

Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I smile because the only rumor I heard more of was about Taylor Swift in the Capitol the other day. I think this is just wishful thinking of the Members. But the American people expect us to get our work done. We have a lot of work to get done. No, we will be here, as the schedule says, and we will finish it. But we will not be leaving early.

Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, on Monday, no votes are expected in the House. On Tuesday, the House will meet at noon for morning-hour and 2 p.m. for legislative business. Votes will be postponed until 6:30. On Wednesday and Thursday, the House will meet at 10 a.m. for morning hour and noon for legislative business. On Friday, the House will meet at 9 a.m. for legislative business. Last votes of the week are expected no later than 3 p.m. Mr. Speaker, the House will consider a number of suspensions next week, a complete list of which will be announced by close of business tomorrow. In addition, the House will consider H.R. 1734, the Improving Coal Combustion Residuals Regulation Act, sponsored by Representative David McKinley. This bill is essential to protect and create jobs. If we do not act, the EPA will replace the existing successful State- based regulatory program with harmful new regulations that will cost hundreds of thousands of jobs and result in billions of dollars in burdensome costs for job creators. The House will also consider H.R. 1599, the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, sponsored by Representative Mike Pompeo. This bipartisan bill will ensure uniform national labeling of foods from genetically engineered plants. By addressing the patchwork of conflicting labeling laws, we will fix the growing problem of inconsistent and confusing information for consumers. Finally, Mr. Speaker, the House is expected to consider the conference report for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016.

Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding and his continuous questions throughout the months on this. It is still our intention on this side of the aisle to get our business done, uphold the current law which is in place. I know you and I have had many debates back and forth that we know that sequestration started in the White House, and we continue to play by what the law states today and move our bills in a bipartisan manner, with a very open process on the floor where any Member can bring an amendment up, and we will continue to use that process as we move forward.

Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank him for his work and help on passing the highway bill this week. As the gentleman knows, nobody in this House wants to pass a short- term highway bill. We want certainty. We want to make sure the money goes the furthest and in the most efficient and effective way. The reason why we are going to a short-term, December 18, is because it is our plan and our intention, together, to be able to find the resources to have a highway bill that can be 5 years. It is our intention to be able to have that. We have a plan, I believe, we are working towards, and the first step was extending highways to the December 18 date. All we have next is to pass the Senate. If they pass our highway bill, we will be in the right place, prepared to have it done before December, a 5-year that we could all work together in a bipartisan manner to have done.

Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Just to clarify before I answer your other question on some of your other statements, I am concerned about what the rest of the summer looks like. A lot of my concern stems from what I hear on the other side of the aisle, especially in the Senate side. As the gentleman knows from his years of working for more than two decades on appropriations, the appropriations process we have today is the most open this House has ever seen. Never in history, while you were on the Appropriations Committee, was it as open a process that any Member from any side of the aisle could just offer an amendment, not even prewritten, just a closed process. But your comments about sequester, what I am really concerned about is the comments of Senator Schumer, Senator Reid, that they were going to have the summer of the shutdown, the destruction, that they were going to shut everything down, and I am concerned about some of your comments that are leading in that direction. I don't want to go there. I want to finish our work as we have been doing here. And history, I can't rewrite it. I mean, Bob Woodward, respected journalist as we all know from his days back to Watergate, today, in his ``The Price of Politics,'' he wrote of the time in history. Sequester was not debated here on this floor or created on this floor, not even in the Senate as well. You can read it in his book. It was created in the White House of this administration. It is the law of the land. We will uphold the law of the land and do our work based upon those numbers. Now, the question you had before me was dealing with what we referred to House Administration. I have met with the chair and I have met with Members on the gentleman's side of the aisle. We have nothing scheduled for next week, but we are currently working towards solving this, to me, a very serious and sensitive issue, and I look forward to getting it done and working with you to make it happen.

Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding. And if I just may correct the gentleman, he took the liberty of saying whether I changed my mind. I did vote for the Ex-Im Bank 2 years ago, but I voted for an Ex-Im Bank that had reform in it. I have not seen that reform. I did not change my mind. I kept my principle. The same principle that I have is my best advice to the Senate. I know you want to talk hypotheticals, and I know our colloquy is about next week. But none of that is scheduled for next week. But to the gentleman and to the Senate, my best advice for them is to pass our clean highway bill and send it to the President.

Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Yes, it is our intention to get back to the appropriations process as soon as possible. As the gentleman does know, there are some very serious and sensitive issues involved. We are in the midst of a constructive and bipartisan conversation on how we can resolve these issues. I will be sure to keep the Members updated as the appropriations bills are scheduled for continued consideration.

Mr. McCARTHY

Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that, when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 2 p.m. on Monday next and that the order of the House of January 6, 2015, regarding morning-hour debate not apply on that day.

Mr. McCARTHY

Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding; and I thank my colleague on the other side, Mr. Costa, for his work on this in the bipartisan bill. I thank Congressman Valadao for bringing it to the floor. Mr. Chairman, I come from a place that is called, for a very good reason, ``America's salad bowl.'' We produce the vegetables; we produce the fruits, and we produce the nuts that feed the Nation. The Nation should know what the people in my district know: Food grows where water flows, and no water equals higher food costs. That is what the signs read across the district if you drive down the highways, but you can see trouble in more than just the signs you read. You see it in the parched farmlands, in the reservoirs that are all but empty, and in the faces of those whose jobs have dried up with the water. Now, I am talking about this as a Californian, a native from Bakersfield, but this isn't a local problem. Half of the produce we eat in America is grown in California, and California is the eighth largest economy in the world. When California hurts, the entire Nation hurts as well. This is even bigger than just California. Almost 40 percent of the West is facing a severe drought, and it is undeniably clear that the status quo is unsustainable. If we do nothing, people will lose their livelihoods; water prices also continue to go up, and America will have to rely more and more on foreign food, perhaps from countries that don't have the same labor or environmental laws that we do. Now, we can't make it rain, but we can't give up either. Some people want to do just that, Mr. Chairman; some believe that our way of life has to change, that it is time to focus on conservation above all and manage our decline. I reject that. If California is in decline, then the American West is in decline, and the hope of so many generations is in decline. We will lose that pioneering spirit that will lead us through the 21st century. Now, we have a bill before us today that rejects the idea that we have reached the heights of the shining city on a hill and that it is time to come back down to a world of limits and of uncertainty. We have never accepted failure; nothing, not even a historic drought, will make us start now. Here in the House, we have tried time and again to address this problem. This Congress, the last two Congresses, have addressed it before we hit a historic drought. Let's not forget, just 5 years ago, we had 172 percent of snowpack. We talk a lot about desalinization, and I support it. What does desalinization do? It takes saltwater and makes it freshwater. Why in California do we allow our freshwater to become saltwater? Shouldn't we protect that first? This bill takes ideas from both sides, as we just heard from Congressman Costa and from this side. We designed the bill to move as much water down south to our farms and to our cities as possible without making any fundamental changes to the environmental law. In reality, this bill is very simple. It does four things in California. We allow water to flow through the delta. We create a process to build more storage that has been promised so many years before but has been held in bureaucratic red tape. We will increase the reservoirs, and we will protect the senior water rights and the California State water project. This drought also extends beyond California. That is why this bill includes so many provisions to help our friends in the Western States through their tough times as well. You see, Mr. Chairman, we have a challenge before us. It is a challenge of nature, yes; but it is also a change of policy, foresight, and plain common sense. For decades, our State and country have faced droughts. For years, Californians have endured this drought. Now, we are here today to move forward toward a solution. It is a solution built upon ideas from, yes, Democrats and Republicans. It is a solution that rejects the idea of decline and failure and says with a clear voice: We will not let the drought defeat us. California is better than that; the West is better than that, and, Mr. Chairman, America is better than that. We will not lose hope. We will solve the problem with or without you.

Mr. McCARTHY

Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, this resolution raises a number of important questions, and the House would be best served by committee action on this measure. Accordingly, I am moving to refer the resolution to the Committee on House Administration. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the motion to refer.

Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion at the desk.

Mr. McCARTHY

Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion at the desk.