January 9, 2009 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H141 

I think there is certainly a majority 

opinion. Indeed, President Bush expressed his own thoughts on that as to 

wanting to include children. So we 

think this is another matter that we 

need to move very quickly. But it will 

be almost exactly like, not exactly 

like, but very, very much like, very, 

from a substantive standpoint, very little different than the bill that we 

passed overwhelmingly in the House. 

And, of course, two-thirds of the Senate voted for it as well. 

Mr. CANTOR. I would ask, Madam 

Speaker, along those lines, if nothing 

else, the budget window has changed, 

as the gentleman recognized, and the 

costs will likely be more substantial. 

We do have, obviously, 55 new Members 

of this Congress that have not had a 

chance to vote on this bill or even be a 

part of the discussion, may not have 

any experience on this issue. 

While we have very little time to review a multibillion dollar authorization, I would ask the gentleman if the 

bill is coming to the floor in the form 

of a suspension. He noted, Madam 

Speaker, that it was a bipartisan vote. 

It was maybe 40 Members on our side. 

I think the majority of those Members on our side support the extension 

of the existing SCHIP program. I was 

wondering, again, if the bill is coming 

to the floor as a suspension, or will we 

have an opportunity to offer our 

amendments and suggestions under a 

rule? 

Mr. HOYER. The bill will come under 

a rule. That rule, I haven’t talked to 

the committee Chair, I haven’t talked 

to Mr. WAXMAN, nor have I talked to 

Ms. SLAUGHTER about the rule, so I 

don’t want to represent what form the 

rule will be in. But it will not be a suspension bill. 

Furthermore, I think the gentleman’s observation is a valid observation. We have many new Members who 

did not consider it. We are hopeful and 

working towards having that bill online available on Monday for a full 48 

hours before we would bring it forward 

on the floor for Members to see and the 

public to see and all the Members of 

the House to see. 

Mr. CANTOR. I thank the gentleman 

for that. 

The Republicans under the leadership 

of our leader, JOHN BOEHNER, will be 

sending a letter later today outlining 

our ideas for improving the SCHIP program. I am hopeful that under the rule 

that we will have the ability to have 

those ideas considered on the House 

floor, just as President-elect Obama 

has advised us to proceed when the 

gentleman and I and several others met 

with him earlier this week. 

Madam Speaker, I would now like 

just to make one additional inquiry to 

the gentleman that three suspensions 

were considered on Wednesday. I would 

say to the gentleman votes were over 

by 1 p.m. 

Yesterday we counted electoral ballots for the historical election of 

Barack Obama. We were finished by 2 

p.m. 

Since no legislative business was conducted and no votes were taken after 

that, can we expect this to be the manner in which the floor will be scheduled 

each week? 

Mr. HOYER. It’s hard to predict what 

every week will look like, as the gentleman will soon find out. If you talk 

to your leaders and the majority, they 

will tell you it is more daunting than 

it first appears. 

Having said that, obviously, the 

schedule has been submitted to all the 

Members, all the Members know what 

we have scheduled in terms of days to 

be in session. Hopefully they have notice of that, they are cognizant of that, 

particularly their schedulers are cognizant of that. 

We have provided, we believe, sufficient days in which to do the work that 

the American public expects us to get 

done and that we expect that needs to 

be done. If there are more days, we will 

add days. 

Having said that, we are in, obviously, the first weeks of the session. A 

lot has been going on, which is not on 

the floor, simply in getting organized, 

the committees getting organized, getting committee members appointed by 

both the Republican and the Democratic sides so that much has been 

going on, notwithstanding the fact 

there have been long days on the floor. 

But in the early days of the session, obviously, much is going on to get ready 

for future floor action. 

Mr. CANTOR. I thank the gentleman. 

I would also like to just point out and 

make a comment and suggestion that 

we do promote the efficient operation 

of this House, because we have new 

Members who have inquired as to why 

we would be finishing up so early each 

day and not working more so that 

maybe we could return to our districts 

and be with our constituents on a day 

that perhaps we could save by working 

more on others. 

There are 5 legislative weeks scheduled between now and President’s Day. 

I would ask the gentleman if he could 

lay out the calendar, the legislative 

calendar for those 5 weeks. 

Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman 

for his question. As you know, the 

President-elect was here this week to 

discuss and has discussed, gave a 

speech regarding the recovery package. 

Obviously that is an important item 

that we will be considering. 

You have heard the agenda for next 

week. We also need to do the omnibus 

at some point in time in the near term. 

We will hopefully do that before the 

President’s break. 

We will have other legislation, but 

they will be the two major items that 

we will be focused on, the recovery 

package and the omnibus appropriation 

bill. Clearly, as you know, there are 

nine appropriation bills which were not 

completed last year that need to be 

completed so that agencies will have 

the funding they need to accomplish 

the objectives we have given them. 

Mr. CANTOR. Madam Speaker, I 

thank the gentleman, the majority 

leader. I look forward to continuing 

this dialogue with him on a weekly 

basis, and I yield back my time. 

f 

ADJOURNMENT TO TUESDAY, 

JANUARY 13, 2009 

Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I ask 

unanimous consent that when the 

House adjourns today, it adjourn to 

meet at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday next for 

morning-hour debate. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there 

objection to the request of the gentleman from Maryland? 

There was no objection. 

f 

NATION’S BEST UNDEFEATED 

TEAM 

(Mr. BISHOP of Utah asked and was 

given permission to address the House 

for 1 minute.) 

Mr. BISHOP of Utah. Madam Speaker, last night was another BCS bowl 

game. I congratulate two fine educational institutions and football 

teams, Florida and Oklahoma. Florida 

won a hard-fought and deserved victory. However, there is still only one 

ranked undefeated team in the Nation, 

and, yes, I am an alumnus of the University of Utah, the two-time BCS 

buster. 

The problem is clearly the BCS. According to the BCS, a system with one 

too many initials, having a tough competition and going undefeated is not 

good enough. Using the BCS system, 

Germany won World War II, HILLARY

CLINTON is still the leading Presidential candidate and winning all your 

games is apparently not the same thing 

as—winning all your games. 

With no intention of disparaging a 

wonderful Florida football team and 

program, I still have to commend the 

achievements of the University of 

Utah. They are commendable, and I 

wish to recognize the Nation’s best 

undefeated team. Certainly with the 

BCS, this Nation can do a whole lot 

better. 

f 

FOOTBALL BOWL VICTORIES FOR 

RICE UNIVERSITY AND THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON 

(Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked 

and was given permission to address 

the House for 1 minute and to revise 

and extend her remarks.) 

Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam 

Speaker, well, in talking about bowl 

games, I have certainly got to rise and 

salute the City of Houston, the fourth 

largest city in the Nation. We had two 

universities win their bowl games. 

Rice University and the University of 

Houston proudly won their bowl games 

and showed the world that football is 

played in large cities. Let me congratulate Rice University, which has 

one of the highest academic standards 

and standings in the United States of 

America, along with the proudness of 

their football team, and, yes, the University of Houston that is now reaching 


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