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Dec. 20, 2024 11:04-11:31 - CSPAN
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Consider legislation one piece at a time.
There's not a single thing in here that you oppose, except maybe the debt limit extension, which is the same debt limit extension you supported two years ago.
So I urge my colleagues to vote yes and keep the government open, help people in need, help the rural economy, and let us move forward with our work.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of the bill and yield back.
Gentleman yields.
The question is, will the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 10515?
Those in favor say aye.
Those opposed say no.
In the opinion of the chair, two-thirds being in the affirmative, for what purpose does the gentlewoman from Connecticut seek recognition?
Guess what?
We request a recorded vote.
Does the gentlewoman ask with great surprise?
The yays and nays are requested.
It's deadline day in Washington.
Welcome back to C-SPAN's live coverage of the government funding debate here.
We are waiting for Speaker Mike Johnson to bring a bill to the floor that would avoid a government shutdown at 12.01 a.m. Saturday.
He has 13 hours to do so.
We want to get your reaction to the latest from Capitol Hill and this debate over the path forward.
Democrats, dial in at 202-748-8000.
Republicans, 202-748-8001.
Independents, join us at 202-748-8002.
You can also text all of you if you don't want to pick up the phone at 202-748-8003.
Include your first name, city and state.
Let's give you the latest from Capitol Hill from Michael Schnell, who reports for the Hill newspaper.
She reports that Ralph Norman, a Republican of South Carolina, said Republicans are going to try to move a bill through the rules committee today.
He said rules needs an hour notice to hold a meeting, and folks are working on that notice now.
Norman said he's supportive.
He wouldn't divulge any other details.
And then you have John Bresnahan, veteran reporter on Capitol Hill for Punch Bowl News.
Norman will support it in rules and on the floor, but wouldn't say what the deal was.
Anne Manu Raju of CNN asked Hakeem Jeffries if including the debt limit suspension was a red line for him in government funding talks.
He didn't say.
He instead teed off on the Republicans.
Democrats met behind closed doors this morning.
Jake Sherman of Punch Bowl News, Jeffries told the Democratic caucus that the lines of communication with Republicans have been reopened.
And Chad Pergram of Fox News, House Dem caucus chair Pete Aguilar of California, on if anything short of the original CR deal, that's option A, could get Democratic support without GOP working with Dems, Aguilar?
Probably not.
And this from Politico's reporting on House Democrats meeting this morning.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries seems to be holding to his position that Speaker Mike Johnson needs to bring back the bipartisan stopgap spending deal that Donald Trump torpedoed earlier this week.
Quote, the best path forward is the bipartisan agreement that was reached between House Republicans, House Democrats, Senate Republicans, and Senate Democrats.
He told reporters as he headed into the closed-door caucus meeting.
Asked whether he was in contact with Johnson, Jeffries said there was an open line of communication.
During the private meeting, Jeffries told members, according to two people, because of our display of unity, the lines of communication have been reopened.
Now, reopened with Democrats.
However, Representative Anna Paulina Luna, Republican, told reporters after she met with Speaker Johnson this morning that there would be no deal with Democrats.
And Chad Bergham of Fox News tweeting out then that if there's no Democratic support and if they were able to pass this on the floor with just Republicans, that would trigger a shutdown because Dems control the Senate.
Take a listen to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer this morning when the Senate gabbled in.
If Republicans do not work with Democrats in a bipartisan way very soon, the government will shut down at midnight.
It's time to go back to the original agreement we had just a few days ago.
It's time the House votes on our bipartisan CR.
It's the quickest, simplest, and easiest way we can make sure the government stays open while delivering critical emergency aid to the American people.
If the House put our original agreement on the floor today, it would pass, and we could put the threat of a shutdown behind us.
Our agreement would keep the government open, provide emergency aid for communities battered by hurricanes and other natural disasters, support our seniors, support our doctors, nurses, rural hospitals, and protect our farmers from the dairy cliff.
As I said, the only, only way to get anything done is through bipartisanship.
The Democratic leader Chuck Schumer in the Senate this morning talking about the way forward for the lawmakers here in Washington.
They face a midnight deadline to pass legislation that would keep the government funded past 12 p.m. today, 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time.
The government would shut down if they are unable to pass legislation in the House, in the Senate, and get the president, President Biden, to sign it by midnight.
President-elect Donald Trump, who has been part of this debate here in Washington all week, saying this earlier this morning: if there's going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now under the Biden administration, not after January 20th under, quote, Trump.
This is a Biden problem to solve, but if Republicans can help solve it, they will.
On what Republicans will do.
Here is Jake Sherman of Punch Bowl News tweeting out moments ago: we hear that House Republicans are likely to split the bill in pieces, hold votes on different titles in the bill.
CR and then debt limit, ag, disaster relief.
Those would all be separate votes.
That would allow each piece to pass or fail on its own merit.
Now we turn to all of you.
You get to be part of the conversation and debate here in Washington.
What do you want these lawmakers to do?
Beth in Seattle, a Republican.
You were up first.
Yes, I would like to say that as I listened here carefully to the debate, especially the Democrats, let's face it, we've just come off of a year of lies by Democrats.
I don't believe a thing these Democrat representatives say, and I sure don't believe Schumer.
And so I don't want the Republicans to soften.
They want a clean CR, pass the clean CR.
All right, so you want Republicans to push this through the House on their own.
No votes from Democrats.
If that's what it takes, it'll expose the whole Democrat caucus as frauds, every one of them.
All right.
C-SPAN cameras live outside of the Capitol this morning here, a little after 11 a.m. Eastern time.
And we're waiting to see what House Republicans do.
They control the chamber over across the Capitol on the Senate side, controlled by Democrats.
Cindy in Lake Ann, Michigan, Democratic caller.
Cindy?
Yes, good morning.
We have put up with just enough of this chaos long before today.
And it just is a continuation.
And I'm not being fooled by Mr. Trump.
He wants this debt limit because he is going to give his rich the tax breaks, and he's got to make up for that somewhere.
So that's his idea.
And the fools that want to go for this are the same fools that voted for him and President-elect, non-elect Musk.
It's a shame.
It's just shameful for our beloved country.
Okay, that's Cindy in a Democrat in Michigan.
Teresa is an independent in Indiana.
Teresa.
I was previously actually a Republican.
What I wanted to say about the debt ceiling is we give Trump full control over the spending.
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswame, they are supposed to be cutting the wasteful spending of the country, but we give them full control over what is going to be happening in the country as far as how the spending is going to be going.
What are they going to be spending our money on and the taxpayers' money on by giving billionaires big tax cuts?
They're going to deport the immigrants that don't have citizenship.
They think that they're going to resolve our grocery prices.
But where are we going to come up with these workers to pick our groceries, to pick the vegetables, the fruits?
Where are we going to find workers for our infrastructure that they're working on our roads right now?
These workers are going to be deported.
And they think that they are coming up with all of these solutions.
They had a bipartisan bill as of yesterday until Elon Musk tweeted out an X to kill the bill.
He's acting more like he wants to be president.
He is not eligible to be president.
He's from a foreign country.
Basically, Trump is listening to everything that Elon says.
I've looked at different platforms and even the different platforms on there.
They won't mention this stuff.
Teresa, at this point, at this hour, when we are less than 13 hours away from a government shutdown, if Republicans put on the floor just a clean CR, keeps the government open, it doesn't have any other provisions in it, let's say, and it funds the government through mid-January or March.
Should Democrats vote for it?
Yes.
But they should not give him a two-year no-debt ceiling.
And that's what the Republicans are proposing.
They do not want a debt ceiling for two years.
How are we going to pay that back?
Okay.
Tom, Cincinnati, Ohio, Republican.
Tom, your turn.
Your turn.
Oh, hi.
I'm a fiscal conservative.
I believe in living within your means.
So I'm against the part of the bill for extending the debt ceiling for any reason.
I'm for the rest to get it.
Just get us over the hump, wait till everybody gets inaugurated in January, then go forward and straighten out the funding of the country.
All right.
So you are with the Tip Roy camp of the Republican Party, who argued last night, I'm not going to raise the debt ceiling without spending cuts in place.
I don't think you should raise the debt ceiling, period, but then manage the money once you get in.
All right.
Leonard in Michigan, Democratic caller.
Let's hear from you, Leonard.
Okay, you have a president that he had a program called the Big Deal.
Everything he has touched, it went to nothing.
When he did the hotels, it went to nothing.
When he did the casino, it went to nothing.
And you want to put him in charge of something.
And everybody looks at him and Elon Musk.
Both, listen, he ran the deficit up $9 trillion.
Who's going to pay for it?
Then he came back and then he said that the rich shouldn't have to pay tax.
Something wrong with that picture.
And for people to vote for it, that's insane.
So people are doing it to themselves.
You got a president that ain't about nothing.
Elon Musk ain't about nothing.
I just don't get it.
Leonard's thoughts there.
A Democrat in Michigan.
Abraham in Miami, Florida, an independent.
Good morning.
Good morning.
How are you?
Listen, I don't think the Democrats should do anything to assist Donald Trump.
They had a bill that they had negotiated and agreed upon, and they allowed Musk and Trump to come back and keep them from voting on it.
The Democrats should let the Republicans and Donald Trump and Elon Musk stand on their own so the American people can actually see what they voted for.
They should get no help at all.
I'm a veteran.
I got cancer.
I might not get a check.
Fine.
I might not get a check for two or three months.
But you have to fight with resistance, giving in to the Republicans who have not allowed the American people to see what they have been duped into voting for.
All right, caller, let me run this by you.
This is from Jake Sherman of Punch Bowl News, tweeting this out moments ago.
The votes will be a CR, a continuing resolution that keeps the government funded to March.
That will be one of the votes.
Then another vote will be on disaster relief, about $100 billion disaster relief.
And then another vote on the farm bill, on ag, no debt limit vote.
Your reaction to take now, that is the plan, possibly the plan, I should say, one of the options.
Jake Sherman says from his reporting that that's how the votes could be if they do bring this to the floor.
What do you think?
No, because the Republicans have to be taught that they have to honor their commitments initially.
They can't keep changing stuff to suit them.
This is only a delayed tactic to get what they need because they couldn't get exactly what they want.
You got to train Donald Trump that he's got to come straight up from the beginning, along with the House Republicans and the senators.
You can't keep bidding over backwards for them.
If you bid over backwards for them, you'll be defeated all the way down the line.
You got to show some strength.
What if, wouldn't Democrats be blamed if there's a government shutdown, if they have to take these individual votes and then they vote no on the CR?
Keeps the government open.
They vote no on disaster relief and vote no on ag to arguing what you're arguing that they had a deal and they should teach Republicans a lesson.
Aren't you concerned they get blamed?
What difference does it make?
They're going to get blamed anyway.
We have to change the structure of how the Republicans respect the Democrats and how they operate within their system.
You can't keep changing stuff to accommodate them to make them look good.
Sometimes we just have to suffer.
All right.
Ethan, excuse me, in North Carolina, Republican, what do you say?
Yeah, first I just want to start with by saying I may be a Republican, but I am loyal to America.
I supported the bipartisan agreement between both Republicans and Democrats that was established on Tuesday.
What irks me is Republicans gave their word that they would run this through the House and through the Senate.
This was a bicameral bill.
And then now all of a sudden, Trump posted on True Social or whatever his site is now.
And then now all of a sudden they can't honor their word, our word that we gave to this country, to our people.
Yeah.
I hope to God this legislation does not pass.
I hope they do the original agreement as stated Tuesday.
And I hope that passes and heads to Biden's desk by the end of the week.
Ethan, did you vote for President-elect Donald Trump in November?
No, ma'am.
You did not.
You're a Republican.
Did you vote down ballot for Republicans?
No, ma'am.
It was a split ticket.
And why?
Because my loyalty goes to my state, my country, for my party.
Okay.
Gerald, Union, Washington, Democratic caller.
Let's turn to you, Gerald.
Good morning.
Good morning.
How are you this fine day?
Doing well.
Good.
You know, I'm almost 80 years old, and I was taught, don't lie.
Your word is your word.
To lie is actually a sin.
And when Republicans and Democrats agreed on the bill that was supposed to be passed Tuesday, and then the Republicans decided their word was no good, what's that do to our government?
That's the only thing our representatives have is their word.
And they negotiate that.
That's all negotiated.
That's politics.
And go back and break your word is, to me, very silly and undemocratic.
You can't have somebody say, that's not even elected.
No, I don't like this.
And I've got billions of dollars, and I will primary you.
And it seems that Republicans don't have enough guts.
All right, Gerald.
Well, that was the threat from President-elect Donald Trump.
He threatened to primary or said that there should be a primary against Chip Roy, who yesterday came out against option B, Plan B, and he and 37 other Republicans opposed it when Speaker Johnson put it on the floor for a vote yesterday.
197 Democrats joined them in voting it down.
Two Democrats voted for it.
One was present.
More reporting from Jake Sherman of Punch Bowl News.
They could do this under suspension today, the individual votes that we were talking about.
Again, this requires two-thirds, but there's talk of going to rules and waiting to vote until tomorrow when government funding has lapsed.
Your reaction to that bit of news.
Do you agree or disagree?
Carl in Eugene, Oregon, independent.
Hi, Carl.
Hi.
Morning.
Good morning.
I hope it's a good morning.
I don't know.
Is it a good morning in Washington, Carl?
That's the question.
Obviously not.
The underlying problem is that we've had a fiscally irresponsible federal government since 1980 or 1981, that the government seems to be unable to balance a budget.
We don't even try anymore.
We keep, you know, a government shutdown is a bad thing, but what I'm worried about is an actual default.
We keep flirting with it.
It would be an unmitigated disaster.
So, do you agree with raising the debt ceiling?
It doesn't have to be done until June.
If Trump wants to be president, then he should show how he wants to handle the debt ceiling, not make Biden sign the bill, which I don't think Biden would do anyhow.
Okay.
William in DeWitt, Michigan, Republican.
Hi, William.
Good morning.
How are you?
Good morning.
We're listening, William.
Well, I'm a retired vet, and I am so tired of watching and listening to DC fight amongst themselves.
And above all, I am tired of listening and seeing the infighting that's caused us so many problems over the years.
On top of everything else, I am a Republican, and I am just tired of being held hostage by the Democrats.
All they seem to want is power, and if they don't get their way, they throw a tantrum.
Their tantrums cause everyone, everyone, money.
Republican, Democrat, Independent, it makes no difference.
William, what about everyone?
What about the 38 Republicans who voted against it?
Democrats.
I'm sorry, what'd you say?
I'd say everyone is paying for the mistakes and the power grab that the Democrats seem to want to have.
Whether it's Republicans in power, the Democrats throw a tantrum.
When they don't get their way, they throw a tantrum.
And it causes everyone so much consternation and so much money, and it's just infighting.
Everyone seems to be out for themselves.
So, William, who do you support here?
I'm supporting all those who want to have a fair and an honest government.
In this case, I believe it's Chip Roy.
I vote for shutting the government down.
The Democrats are not the only ones that can have a tantrum.
We want fair for everyone, and I believe this is the only way we're going to see it: to put everyone in their place and vote for the American people.
Okay, William, do you support this idea of separating out the bills and holding individual votes on them?
Absolutely.
They all have their own merit.
They can vote independently on each item.
And I think everyone will see who shows their colors at this point, for what cause they support.
Okay, so that is what reporters on Capitol Hill are saying this morning as they talk to lawmakers that potentially is what we see today: these provisions separated out, and House lawmakers then have to take a vote separately on them.
Mika Solner of Punch Bowl News, Schweikert, Congressman Schweiker, Republican, just came out of the Speaker's office and softly endorsed the plan to vote on separate bills.
Here's a quote from him: I'd like to see how it's played out, but that may be structurally a smart way to do it.
There were several Republicans, as we said, 38, almost three dozen, who voted against it yesterday.
And opposed for reasons like Chip Roy made on the floor yesterday when Democrats yielded time to him, not his own party.
And he vehemently opposed the plan that failed last night, saying he was not in support of raising the debt ceiling without spending cuts.
Cindy in Idaho, Democratic caller.
Hi, Cindy.
Hi, how are you?
Good morning.
I'm a first-time caller, a little nervous, so bear with me.
But I love watching your program.
So with the very first bill that they negotiated on Tuesday, this was a bipartisan bill.
The Democrats weren't entirely happy.
The Republicans weren't entirely happy, but it was agreed upon.
Elon Musk came in at the last moment and decided that they need to put the debt ceiling suspension on there so that that debt would go to Biden's administration.
The Democrats were not going to go for it because they don't agree to these tax cuts for the rich.
This has got to go on Trump's term, and that's what they're fighting about.
As Senator Whitehouse pointed out, the Democrats or the billionaires intend to fleece the Federal Reserve to the tune of $3 trillion, $4 trillion.
And they want to cut our Social Security and cut all of our benefits.
They have no health care plan.
If these tax cuts are so important to them, they have to wait until June and they can wear that on their debt ceiling because there's 38 Republicans that see it that way too.
All right, Cindy, who's a Democrat there in Idaho?
Patrick's an independent in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Patrick.
Hi, and thank you for taking my call.
Right now, to be straightforward, I prefer they would split it out, do a straight CR, and then vote on the items individually.
And it's mostly because of history.
A lot of times during the election, people will say, why did you vote for this provision?
And the candidate, the incumbent, will come back saying, I didn't have a choice because it was embedded as part of another package.
And so I think it's good to see where they actually stand on each individual item and basically let us know exactly where they stand on these things.
All right.
Patrick, an independent there in Michigan, supporting this idea of separating out the provisions that have, that were part of Plan B, the Speaker Johnson's plan that he put on the floor and it failed yesterday, separating them out and taking individual votes.
We are learning from Capitol Hill reporters this morning that that is an option on the table.
Jeremy in New Hampshire, Republican, good morning to you.
Hey, good morning.
I'm going to try and get out as much as I can as quickly as I can.
I feel like the Democrats tried to fleece us by putting in 1,500 pages worth of ridiculousness like immunity for Liz Cheney.
I wholeheartedly believe that Elon Musk could be a great Speaker of the House.
He is an outsider coming in regardless if he's a billionaire or not.
This is great that they're putting up a fight.
Where is Joe Biden?
Where is Kamala Harris?
They're nowhere to be found.
Where is President Trump standing behind the current Speaker of the House?
This is leadership.
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