| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
Activating Compassion
00:02:58
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|
unidentified
|
Meetings with 250 congressional leaders on this topic. | |
| We're just trying to make sure we stay consistent on at least the top three and we're just trying to activate the team to make sure that this is not about creating jobs, increasing wages. | ||
| If you look at the first two years after the 2017 tax cuts, real wages went up 5%, right? | ||
| Many of our companies have these whole hiring stories that they can talk about about how many people in the United States they hired as a result of that. | ||
| And so I think we're just trying to tell those stories and make sure that the data is what is really important in the facts and not necessarily the belief or the perception or some of the stories that get cooked up by the folks that don't want this to happen. | ||
| We are leaving this here to take you live now to Capitol Hill, where the U.S. House is gaveling in. | ||
| Today, members are working on a series of bills, including a spending package to keep the government funded until September 30th. | ||
| Live coverage here on C-SPAN. | ||
| Would you pray with me? | ||
| Holy God, you have chosen us, each of us, and called us holy and beloved. | ||
| When we let that sink in, that you, the Lord of all creation, would love us, we either cannot fathom why you do, or we boast in our presumed worthiness. | ||
| In the hearts of those who doubt they are lovable, let alone that you would deign to love them through our acts of compassion, our words of kindness, our willingness to forgive whatever wrong they may have done to us. | ||
| May we plant seeds that bear the fruit of your acceptance, of your mercy, and of your desire to convey to them that nothing can separate them from your love. | ||
| And in the hearts of those who believe they have a leg up on others, who assume superiority or entitlement, through our acts of compassion, words of kindness, and our willingness to forgive whatever wrong they may have done to us, may we plant seeds that bear the fruit of your humility, your forbearance, and your desire that they separate themselves from anything that does not reflect your love. | ||
| May we all be renewed in the knowledge that we are each made in the image of our Creator. | ||
| And may we accept your mercy, reflect your grace, and reveal your love this day. | ||
| In your eternal name we pray. | ||
| Amen. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Amen. | |
| Thank you, Chaplain. | ||
| The chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the House the approval thereof. | ||
| Pursuant to clause one of Rule 1, the journal stands as approved. | ||
|
Honoring Canine Veterans
00:10:11
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| The Pledge of Allegiance will be led by the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Maguire. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Please face our flag and put your hand over your heart for the Pledge of Allegiance. | |
| I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice to all. | ||
| Thank you to the gentleman from Virginia. | ||
| The chair will entertain up to 15 requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Virginia seek recognition? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address the House for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. | |
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
|
unidentified
|
We have some amazing people in Virginia's 5th congressional district that spend their life helping others. | |
| I rise today to wish happy birthday to the President of the Danville, Pennsylvania County Chamber of Commerce, Anne Moore Sparks, who celebrated her birthday on March 1st. | ||
| Ann is a native Danville graduate of Averett University and the Sorison Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia. | ||
| She has lived her entire life in service to the citizens of Danville and Pennsylvania County. | ||
| As president of the chamber, she has led the charge to build a secure economic economy in Southside, Virginia. | ||
| I want to congratulate Ann on her success and wish her a happy birthday. | ||
| And with that, I yield back. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from New York seek recognition? | ||
| I ask unanimous consent to address the House for one minute and expand and extend my remarks. | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Hazel Dukes, a former civil rights champion and the president, the former president of the NAACP New York State Conference. | ||
| After her family migrated to New York from the South, Dr. Dukes became involved in the fight for racial justice and spent more than seven decades tirelessly fighting for voting rights, economic development, fair housing, and education. | ||
| She was ultimately selected by Lyndon Ben Johnson to head the Head Start program. | ||
| Dr. Duke was an active and dynamic leader. | ||
| She was someone that you will never forget. | ||
| But if I could describe her, I would say that Dr. Dukes was Harlem, and in many ways, Harlem was her. | ||
| We would always remember her as an icon and the heartbeat of Harlem and the NAACP. | ||
| She would always be with us in thought, rest in power, Mama Dukes. | ||
| Harlem loves you. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Pennsylvania seek recognition? | ||
|
unidentified
|
South Carolina. | |
| South Carolina. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from South Carolina seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address the House and revise and extend my remarks for one minute. | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Today, House Republicans will vote on a continuing resolution, which will avoid a government shutdown funding core government services. | ||
| President Trump backs the legislation so that, quote, we can continue to put the country's financial house in order, end of quote. | ||
| Among the benefits today, it maintains government operations without increasing borrowing more of taxpayers' money. | ||
| It increases border security. | ||
| It supports veterans and ensures full funding for their health care services and benefits. | ||
| It enhances defense investments and includes the largest pay raise for junior enlisted troops in over 40 years. | ||
| The congressional resolution is necessary to support the agenda of President Trump on behalf of American families and allows Congress to address federal waste, fraud, and abuse. | ||
| In conclusion, God bless our troops. | ||
| As the global war on terrorism continues, open borders for dictators puts all Americans at risk of more 9-11 attacks imminent, as warned by the FBI. | ||
| Trump is reinstituting existing laws to protect American families with peace through strength. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Kentucky seek recognition? | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Ask the announcement to address the House body for one minute and simplify my Marxist Secretary. | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, five years ago, a young Louisville woman was killed in the middle of the night by police officers who forced entry into her home without warning. | ||
| Her name was Breonna Taylor. | ||
| While we will never forget how Breonna Taylor died, we get to choose to remember how she lived. | ||
| Brianna was a sister, a daughter, a girlfriend. | ||
| Breonna was a caregiver working at UofL's emergency room to save lives. | ||
| Brianna was a 26-year-old with her whole life in front of her. | ||
| She had dreams, including of becoming a mom someday. | ||
| Brianna loved her family, her community, and more than anything, she loved life. | ||
| In the face of injustice, we cannot be silent. | ||
| We must speak up. | ||
| We must say her name. | ||
| Breonna Taylor. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Michigan seek recognition? | ||
| Request unanimous consent to address the House for one minute. | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Over the past few weeks, Doge has been hard at work locating wasteful spending and improving the efficiency of the federal government, something that has been a priority for me during my time in Congress. | ||
| For many years, I've worked in a bipartisan manner to highlight and target government waste, fraud, and abuse. | ||
| Over four years ago, my legislation, the Taxpayer Right to Know Act, passed the House and became law. | ||
| This bipartisan legislation required the Office of Management and Budget to publish an online inventory of each agency's federal programs to streamline duplicative programs and prevent wasteful spending on ineffective programs. | ||
| Last year, the OMB officially launched the federal program inventory, representing a vital first step in increasing transparency and providing us with the tools necessary to eliminate government waste. | ||
| Along with OMB Director and Doge, I remain committed to ensuring that taxpayers know how the government is spending their hard-earned money. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield back. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Massachusetts seek recognition? | ||
| I asked to address the House for one minute to revise my remarks. | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, on January 25th, I had the honor of joining Worcester Mayor Joe Petty and former State Senate President Harriet Chandler and other community leaders to present Richard Richie Perlman with the key to the city of Worcester. | ||
| It was a moving ceremony for a man who has spent his life quietly serving others. | ||
| For over 110 years, three generations of Perlmans have provided care and comfort to families during their most difficult moments. | ||
| As a funeral director, Richie has ensured that every person is treated with dignity and respect, honoring sacred traditions that have stood the test of time, including the sacred Jewish ritual of Tahara. | ||
| Richie's service has strengthened our community and upheld the values of compassion, faith, and humanity. | ||
| Worcester is better because of him. | ||
| I was proud to stand with so many local leaders to celebrate Richie's contributions, and I congratulate him once again on receiving this great honor. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Pennsylvania seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, request unanimous consent to address the House for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman from Pennsylvania is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise today to recognize March 13th as Canine Veterans Day, honoring the courageous dogs who serve alongside our men and women in uniform. | ||
| The legacy of military working dogs dates back to Sergeant Stubby, the most decorated war dog of World War I. Stubby served in 17 battles, warning his unit of poison gas attacks, detecting incoming artillery, and finding wounded soldiers. | ||
| On March 13th, 1942, the U.S. military officially established the Canine Corps, recognizing the importance of war dogs. | ||
| Since then, these highly trained canines have served in conflicts from Korea and Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan. | ||
| Today, over 3,000 military working dogs are deployed worldwide, protecting our troops and supporting critical missions. | ||
| For decades, however, these heroic dogs were classified as equipment and often left behind after service. | ||
| Thankfully, since the year 2000, retired military dogs can be adopted, usually by their handlers, ensuring they receive the care and the love that they deserve and have earned. | ||
| Our K-9 veterans have served our country with loyalty and bravery. | ||
| Today, we recognize them as heroes, as the heroes that they are. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I yield back the balance of my time. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from New York seek recognition? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I'll rise today. | |
| I'll ask Nadis and Sanders to address the House for one minute. | ||
| The gentleman is recognized without objection and is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise today to remember the life, the legacy, and the leadership of the legendary Hazel Dukes. | ||
| Dr. Dukes was a New York icon, a remarkable role model, and an American hero who helped to breathe life into the principles of liberty and justice for all and equal protection under the law. | ||
|
Honor Reverend Phil Lawson
00:04:51
|
||
| As an iconic president of the NAACP and the leader of our New York chapter for decades, Dr. Dukes was a fierce civil rights champion, a defender of democracy, and a powerful voice for the voiceless. | ||
| She never hesitated to speak truth to power and always fought for a nation designed to be the best version of herself. | ||
| The lasting impact of Dr. Dukes will be felt for decades to come, including through her work to launch the Head Start program nationally and her continued support for children and families all across the United States of America, fighting to make sure that every single child had access to a high-quality education so they could experience the American dream. | ||
| I pray for Hazel's son Ronald, the entire Dukes family, and all who loved her. | ||
| May she forever rest in peace. | ||
| God bless Hazel Dukes. | ||
| God bless New York, and may God continue to bless the United States of America. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from North Carolina seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address the House for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today to offer a warning to college basketball teams across our country. | ||
| The Panthers are coming. | ||
| For the first time in history, the High Point University men's and women's basketball teams have both punched their tickets to the March Madness Tournament. | ||
| The men's team clinched their spot with a Sunday night victory over Winthrop coming back from a 15-point deficit. | ||
| The women's team punched their ticket by winning the Big South tournament against Longwood University. | ||
| Together, these teams have made history and they're not stopping now. | ||
| So, to anyone unfortunate enough to be facing the Panthers later this month, good luck. | ||
| You're going to need it. | ||
| And to both teams, Guilford County and the entire 6th District of North Carolina are with you. | ||
| Remember your values, God, family, and country. | ||
| Let's choose to be extraordinary and bring it home. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield back. | ||
| Thank you for that warning to the member from North Carolina. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from California seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address the House for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman from California is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Reverend Phil Lawson, a civil rights leader, pastor, a tireless advocate for social justice, a mentor, and a friend. | ||
| From a young age, Reverend Lawson committed himself to faith and peace, studying nonviolent direct action under the leadership of Bayard Rustin. | ||
| He emerges as a powerful voice for civil rights, participating in events like the historic 1965 Selma de Montgomery marches alongside his friend, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. | ||
| After leading the Methodist parish, a Methodist parish in Kansas City, Reverend Lawson took a job with the City of Berkeley, California. | ||
| He later served in roles of two local Methodist parishes before being appointed to lead the Easter Hill United Methodist Church in Richmond, California. | ||
| His work on social justice issues earned him recognition as the Contra Costa County Humanitarian of the Year in 2003. | ||
| After a distinguished life of service, Reverend Lawson passed away earlier this year at the age of 92. | ||
| He will be remembered for his outstanding character, his deep impact to this country, and to our community in California. | ||
| I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the life of Reverend Phil Lawson. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from California seek recognition? | ||
| Speaker, as he can answer, the sentence addressed National Land and rise to Seminole Remarks. | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman from California is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Per the continuing resolution, one of the good aspects is that is for California and nationally, for those that like California grown food, is a portion that will be in there for under the WIN Act under Bureau of Reclamation funding for water projects in California, mainly the Sites Reservoir. | ||
|
Honoring Dr. Hazel Dukes
00:09:46
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||
| What you see here is the Shasta Reservoir and all that water going over that's actually going nowhere except for out to the Pacific Ocean. | ||
| Sites Reservoir's existence will mean we'll have the ability to impound up to 1.5 million acre-feet of saved water that the whole state can use instead of being lost. | ||
| We've lost so much water this year due to, I think, not great management of that resource. | ||
| At least 800,000 acre-feet, many up to 2 million acre-feet, have been lost just from Lake Shasta down the river out to the ocean. | ||
| So this funding here will help build a good project that will help California's water supply go much farther than what we see happening right now. | ||
| We see farms being cut to 35% of their allocation. | ||
| We see people in the urban areas being cut to 42 gallons per day because we can't manage this water supply. | ||
| Build the storage, manage the water better, and we'll get a lot more wins. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentlewoman from Maryland seek recognition? | ||
| I ask unanimous consent to address the House for one moment and rise and extend my comments. | ||
| The gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today in defense of the National Park Service, whose payroll and costs may be cut up to 30% by the administration in the coming weeks. | ||
| For over a century, the National Park Service has protected and preserved the stunning beauty of our country for all Americans. | ||
| And these parks have further generated tens of billions of dollars for our local economies. | ||
| My district is the 6th District of Maryland, and we're home to seven national parks, including Antietam and the CNO Canal, which has over 4 million visitors annually. | ||
| This supports thousands of jobs, hotels, and restaurants. | ||
| Cuts to the National Park Service just don't hurt its employees, like my constituent Carrie Schmidt, who was laid off by the Katakan Mountain Park two weeks ago. | ||
| They also hurt the millions of small businesses who depend on our parks to keep the lights on. | ||
| And equally important, our future generations, who, like my first grandbaby, seven-week-old Charlie, deserves to see the beauty and the grandeur of our geography. | ||
| We must protect our parks and the dedicated public servants who take care of them. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Ohio seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address the House for one minute to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman from Ohio is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise today to commend President Trump for his position that the United States Steel Corporation must remain an American company. | ||
| Steel is foundational to our nation's economic and national security. | ||
| We must maintain a strong domestic steel industry. | ||
| United States Steel was once the largest steel producer in the world, a symbol of global competitiveness, but over decades it was weakened by an onslaught of subsidized steel dumped from overseas. | ||
| Instead of auctioning off critical manufacturing assets to the highest foreign bidder, President Trump is focused on policies to ensure our American steel industry stays resilient. | ||
| This is not about being anti-Japan or any other nation, but about being pro-America and protecting our economic future and our national security. | ||
| We shouldn't sell out our workers or our future to foreign corporations. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I yield back. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Minnesota seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I'm requesting Medicaid's consent to address the House and to revise Ms. Demeter Remember. | ||
| Without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, today I rise to recognize Bob Christensen, a resident of a local nursing home in Bloomington, Minnesota. | ||
| Bob is 85 years old. | ||
| He bravely served our country in the U.S. Marine Reserve, and he, like millions of seniors across the country, gets his nursing home coverage through Medicaid. | ||
| When I met Bob, he said he would not be here today were it not for Medicaid. | ||
| But now congressional Republicans are proposing to gut Medicaid in order to pay for tax cuts for billionaires, which would mean less access to services, less access to care, and worse quality of life for seniors everywhere. | ||
| Bob told me he is fighting this proposed budget with all the effort he can muster, calling his representatives, joining local organizations, and going to protests, all at 85 years old. | ||
| It shouldn't be this way. | ||
| Bob should not have to be spending his days protesting just to get the health care and nursing home coverage he needs. | ||
| Remember, 62 percent of all nursing home residents in the United States are covered by Medicaid. | ||
| We cannot put our seniors' care on the chopping block to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. | ||
| I implore my Republican colleagues to work with us on a budget that will give our seniors the care they need and deserve. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from New York seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address the House for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman from New York is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a towering figure in the fight for justice, civil rights, and equality, Dr. Hazel Dukes, a trailblazer whose impact will be felt for generations to come, a dear friend and mentor. | ||
| For decades, Dr. Dukes was a force of nature, dedicating her life to the advancement of people of color and all Americans in the unyielding pursuit of social and economic justice. | ||
| As the longtime president of the NAACP New York State Conference, she led with extraordinary courage, wisdom, and an unwavering commitment to the cause of equality. | ||
| From 1990 to 1992, she carried that leadership to the national stage as president of the NAACP, steering the organization through a pivotal era in the ongoing struggle for civil rights. | ||
| She was not just an advocate, she was a warrior fighting on the front lines for fairness, dignity, and opportunity for all. | ||
| From her early days pushing for desegregation to her tireless work empowering marginalized communities, Dr. Dukes was a guiding light, illuminating the path toward justice for countless Americans. | ||
| Her influence extended far beyond the NAACP. | ||
| She shaped policy, broke down barriers, and lifted up those who too often had been left behind. | ||
| She never wavered, never backed down, and never stopped believing in the power of collective action to change the world. | ||
| New York and our entire nation are stronger because of her relentless dedication to equality and fairness. | ||
| Her legacy is one of courage, resilience, and an unshakable belief in what is right. | ||
| Let us honor her memory not just with words but with action by continuing her fight and working toward a future where justice is not just an aspiration but a reality for all. | ||
| May Dr. Hazel Dukes rest in peace and power. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from the Empire State seek recognition? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Dress the floor for one minute. | |
| The gentleman from New York is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I am deeply saddened today for the passing of Dr. Hazel Dukes. | ||
| We called her Ma Dukes. | ||
| Her lifelong commitment to equality, from breaking racial barriers in New York to leading the NAACP at the national and state levels, has left an indelible mark on our society. | ||
| She was a trailblazer. | ||
| For many of us, she was our present-day sojourner truth. | ||
| She was the first black woman employed at the Nassau County Attorney's Office in 1966. | ||
| Her tireless work for voting rights, fair housing, education, and economic development uplifted countless individuals and communities. | ||
| Through her leadership and determination, she not only changed policies, but she also inspired generations to continue the fight for justice. | ||
| While words cannot fully ease the pain of such great loss, I find comfort in the extraordinary legacy that she leaves behind. | ||
| May her memory continue to inspire us all to carry forward the work she so passionately championed. | ||
| And as all of us grieve in the state of New York and across America, we find peace in the words of Psalm 34:18. | ||
| The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saved those who are crushed in spirit. | ||
| May his presence bring strength, wisdom, and healing to all who are mourning the loss of the great Ma Dukes, a woman of warmth, a woman of wisdom, and a woman of unwavering dedication to those she served. | ||
| Her impact is extended beyond her advocacy. | ||
| She was a mentor, a friend, and a guiding force to me and so many others. | ||
| I yield back to Bounce of Baton. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from New York seek recognition? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | |
| I request one minute to make comments about Dr. Hazel Dukes. | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman from New York is recognized for one minute. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you so much. | |
| Like many who have met Dr. Hazel Dukes, you will remember the first time that you meet her, for she is a force and her presence is pronounced. | ||
| For me, it was at a dinner at the Rome NAACP, Rome, New York, which was an area which was new to me. | ||
| But when I had a chance to speak with Dr. Dukes, she was warm and welcoming, held my hands and said to me, you are on the right side of history, and it is always the right time to do what's right. | ||
|
Motion to Recommit Waived
00:07:59
|
||
|
unidentified
|
I'm confident that you'll be successful. | |
| And like many words that Dr. Dukes spoke in her lifetime, she was also correct, just, and right. | ||
| I thank her for her service, her faith in me, and her faith in the American dream and American values. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| For what purposes? | ||
| The gentleman here convinced me. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentlewoman from Minnesota seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, by the direction on the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 211 and ask for its immediate consideration. | ||
| The clerk will report the resolution. | ||
| House calendar number eight, House Resolution 211. | ||
| Resolved that upon adoption of this resolution, it shall be an order to consider in the House the joint resolution, House Joint Resolution 25, providing for congressional disapproval under Chapter 8 of Title V, United States Code, of the rules submitted by the Internal Revenue Service relating to gross proceeds reporting by brokers that regularly provide services effectuating digital asset sales. | ||
| All points of order against consideration of the joint resolution are waived. | ||
| The joint resolution shall be considered as read. | ||
| All points of order against provisions in the joint resolution are waived. | ||
| The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the joint resolution and on any amendment thereto to final passage without intervening motion except one. | ||
| One hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on ways and means or their respective designees. | ||
| And two, one motion to recommit. | ||
| Section two, upon adoption of this resolution, it shall be an order to consider in the House the bill H.R. 1156 to amend the CARES Act to extend the statute of limitations for fraud under certain unemployment programs and for other purposes. | ||
| All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. | ||
| The amendment and the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on Ways and Means now printed in the bill shall be considered as adopted. | ||
| The bill as amended shall be considered as read. | ||
| All points of order against provisions in the bill as amended are waived. | ||
| The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill as amended and on any further amendment thereto to final passage without intervening motion except one. | ||
| One hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on ways and means or their respective designees and two one motion to recommit. | ||
| Section three upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the House the bill H.R. 1968 making further continuing appropriations or other extensions for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025 and for other purposes. | ||
| All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. | ||
| The amendment printed in the report of the Committee on Rules accompanying this resolution shall Be considered as adopted. | ||
| The bill, as amended, shall be considered as read. | ||
| All points of order against provisions in the bill, as amended, are waived. | ||
| The previous questions shall be considered as ordered, on the bill as amended and on any further amendment thereto to final passage, without intervening motion, except one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on appropriations or their respective designees, and two one motion to recommit section four. | ||
| Each day for the remainder of the first session of the 119th Congress shall not constitute a calendar day for purposes of section 202 of the National Emergency Act, 50 USC 1622 with respect to a joint resolution terminating a national emergency declared by the President on February 1 2025. | ||
| The gentlewoman from Minnesota is recognized for one hour. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| For the purposes of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts, pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume during. | ||
| The gentlewoman is recognized during consideration of this resolution. | ||
| All time yielded is for the purposes of debate only. | ||
| I ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks without objection. | ||
| So ordered, thank you, mr. Speaker. | ||
| Mr speaker, we are here to debate the rule providing for consideration for HJ res 25, HR 1156 and the continuing resolution. | ||
| The rule provides for HJ res 25 and HR 1156 to be considered under a closed rule, one hour of debate for each bill, which shall be equally divided and controlled by the chair and the ranking member of the WAYS AND Means Committee for their or their designees. | ||
| The rule provides for a motion to recommit for both bills. | ||
| The rule also provides for HR 1668 to be considered under a closed rule. | ||
| One hour of debate shall be equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking member of the appropriations committee or their designees. | ||
| The rule provides for one motion to recommit for this bill. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, House Republicans want to keep America open for business. | ||
| I would. | ||
| I would like to believe nobody in this chamber wants a government shutdown, and the bill we are considering today would keep the government fully funded through September 30th. | ||
| This will ensure that there are no disruptions to veterans health care services and benefits, or to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. | ||
| It invests in defense personnel with the largest pay raise for junior enlisted troops in over 40 years. | ||
| And it includes funding for the Toxic Exposures Fund to treat veterans who have experienced service-related exposure to toxic substances. | ||
| This bill fully funds the program that provides key nutrition assistance for mothers, infants, and children and increases funding for the WIC program. | ||
| And it increases funding for the FAA. | ||
| There are no poison pills in this bill. | ||
| It is a clean CR that fully funds the government. | ||
| And a shutdown would mean small businesses cannot get their federal loans, national parks would close, and assistance programs for families would quickly run out. | ||
| There is nothing controversial in here for my Democrat colleagues to vote against, but I am certain many of them will. | ||
| You see, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have taken to fear-mongering. | ||
| They are okay with the chaos of a government shutdown because they cannot see past their blind hatred of President Trump. | ||
| We are also here today to discuss legislation to repeal a misguided Biden rule that requires decentralization finance platforms to file a Form 1099DA. | ||
| This would include disclosing taxpayer information and transaction details these platforms currently do not collect. | ||
| This rule demonstrates a lack of understanding about how decentralized currencies and their platforms they are traded on actually work. | ||
| Misguided policies like this need to be repealed, and that is what the CRA will do. | ||
| Finally, we're here to debate the Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act, which was introduced by the Waynes and Means Chairman, Mr. Jason Smith, to extend the statute of limitations for prosecuting unemployment insurance fraud that took place under the CARES Act. | ||
|
Extend Limits, Root Out Fraud
00:08:36
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| Currently, the statute of limitations is five years, which means many of these would expire at the end of this month. | ||
| Unfortunately, we saw a wide range of fraud and abuse take place in this federally funded unemployment insurance program, and more time is needed to root it all out. | ||
| This bill, which extends the statute of limitations to 10 years, is a clear example of the House's commitment to removing waste, fraud, and abuse from the federal government. | ||
| Anyone who is serious about protecting taxpayer dollars should agree that simply giving law enforcement the ability to continue to investigate and prosecute fraudsters is a common sense proposal. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I reserve. | ||
| For what purposes the gentleman from Massachusetts is recognized? | ||
| Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the gentlewoman from Minnesota for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. | ||
| The gentleman is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, as we speak, prices are going up. | ||
| Inflation is up. | ||
| Groceries are up. | ||
| I saw eggs for $10 recently. | ||
| Used car prices are up, other than Teslas. | ||
| Those seem much cheaper these days for some reason. | ||
| Energy prices are up 25% in the gentlelady's home state of Minnesota. | ||
| 25% energy price increases for her constituents thanks to Trump's tariffs that she is supporting by bringing this rule to the floor. | ||
| Boy, I'm just glad she's not my representative. | ||
| Meanwhile, Elon Musk was on Fox Business this morning. | ||
| He's not talking about food prices or energy prices. | ||
| He's talking about how he wants to, quote, eliminate entitlements. | ||
| This is the guy that calls Social Security a Ponzi scheme, the guy that's laying off people at Social Security offices already. | ||
| Maybe Elon doesn't know this, but Social Security is not an entitlement. | ||
| It's a program that people have spent their entire life paying into. | ||
| Shame on him. | ||
| Maybe Elon needs to watch the news instead of going on it because you know what else is going down, Mr. Speaker? | ||
| Consumer confidence. | ||
| People are waking up to the fact that Trump's trade war is going to hurt them in their pocketbooks. | ||
| The stock market is going down. | ||
| People in this country are starting to panic because their retirement accounts are dropping. | ||
| Planes are going down. | ||
| We've had several major accidents, several close calls, and we just learned that Elon Musk, the guy whose rocket just exploded in mid-air this weekend, wants to fire air traffic controllers. | ||
| Make that make sense. | ||
| And Republicans are doing nothing, nothing, about any of it. | ||
| Trump spent two minutes in his two-hour lecture last week talking about lowering prices. | ||
| Two minutes. | ||
| Now Republicans bring to the floor this CR, basically a blank check to Trump and Musk that says, keep doing what you're doing. | ||
| We're all fine with it. | ||
| No way, no way. | ||
| My Republican friends want to pretend like this is a clean CR. | ||
| It's 99 pages, for God's sake. | ||
| A CR is pretty simple. | ||
| The government gets funded at the same levels. | ||
| Calling this CR clean is laughable. | ||
| This bill cuts health care for veterans. | ||
| $23 billion ripped away from veterans exposed to Burn Pitts and Agent Orange. | ||
| This bill defunds the police. | ||
| I guess my Republican friends only care about the police when they need their votes because this CR takes money away from the police. | ||
| You know what's another word for taking money away? | ||
| Defunding. | ||
| This CR helps fire thousands of Social Security workers, forcing seniors to wait longer for their benefits that they have earned. | ||
| That is what House Republicans are trying to jam through on the floor right now. | ||
| And the brazenness that Musk and Trump have when going after Social Security takes my breath away. | ||
| They tried to close down a Social Security office in Chairman Tom Cole's district in Oklahoma. | ||
| That's nuts. | ||
| He's one of the most senior Republicans in Congress, a Republican, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and Elon went after his constituents. | ||
| Now, Chairman Cole was able to stop it, but what about the rest of the country? | ||
| God help you if your congressperson doesn't run a powerful committee, because that means there's nothing to stop Elon Musk from coming after your Social Security. | ||
| And Republicans are really hoping, really, really hoping I don't bring up this last part. | ||
| Guess what they tucked into this rule, hoping that nobody would notice? | ||
| They did this after everyone went home. | ||
| They slipped in a little clause letting them escape from ever having to debate or vote on Trump's tariffs. | ||
| Isn't that clever? | ||
| Trump's trade war will result in one of the largest, if not the largest, tax increase on American families ever. | ||
| And this rule gives him the ability to do it without a vote in Congress. | ||
| I get it. | ||
| They're already hiding from their voters, running away from their own town halls, slipping out the back doors because they're afraid of being held accountable by their own actions. | ||
| But guess what, Mr. Speaker? | ||
| People don't send us here to hide. | ||
| They send us here to fight for them, and they send us here to vote. | ||
| And Democrats are not going to be complicit in voting to screw over America's veterans. | ||
| We're not going to be complicit in voting to screw over our senior citizens on Social Security. | ||
| We're not going to be complicit in taking money away from first responders. | ||
| And we're sure as hell not going to be silent when it comes to this administration's BS and their corruption. | ||
| Because what we are going to do is we're going to show up in our communities. | ||
| We're going to stand up for veterans. | ||
| We're going to speak up for people on Medicaid and Social Security. | ||
| And we're going to put up one hell of a fight when it comes to middle-class families who are counting on us to fight for them. | ||
| I urge a no vote on the disgraceful rule, a no vote on the underlying legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time. | ||
| Gentleman in reserves, the gentlelady from Minnesota is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I would just like to take a minute just to address one thing out of that entire rant, because it's categorically false. | ||
| The Community-Oriented Policing Services COPS program maintains a consistent level under this CR. | ||
| The only variation in levels reflect the removal of previously enacted FY24 community project funding allocations, which are separate from the main programming. | ||
| Claims that the COPS program has been defunded to zero are categorically false. | ||
| Unlike the Democrats, Republicans remain committed to supporting law enforcement and ensuring public safety. | ||
| I just wanted to address that one thing, and I would also like to yield as much time as he may consume to my rules colleague from South Carolina. | ||
| The gentleman from the Palmetto State is recognized for as much time as he may consume. | ||
| Thank you so much. | ||
| You know, it's really laughable. | ||
| And as the listening audience and those watching on TV, to hear my good friend, Mr. McGovern, talk about defunding the police. | ||
| They're the party that wanted to defund the police. | ||
| Their vice presidential candidate put up money to pay the rioters to get out of jail. | ||
| He talks about the military. | ||
| We've had four years of a Biden administration that ran the military off with the wokeness and DEI. | ||
| Enrollments are up at record levels. | ||
| President Trump has been in office now for, what, 49 days? | ||
| Look what he's done. | ||
| The fact he mentioned cutting Social Security. | ||
|
Taxpayers Want Real Change
00:15:27
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| There's nothing about Social Security that's in this bill. | ||
| He mentions, I guess we'll mention cutting Medicaid. | ||
| There's nothing about cutting Medicaid in here. | ||
| So what they're doing is just using scare tactics. | ||
| But the American people aren't buying it. | ||
| They had four years to have their way with the government, and look what it brought. | ||
| High taxes, high gas prices, high egg prices. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Why? | |
| Why did the 77 million vote them out of office? | ||
| Because of their policies. | ||
| And President Trump in 49 days is bringing it back. | ||
| If they get back in control, the main thing they will try to get a concession on is to defund, they keep saying the billionaire Elon Musk. | ||
| I'm sorry, Elon Musk didn't make it from government. | ||
| He made it from producing a product. | ||
| And guess what? | ||
| He has had the mind and the genius to find. | ||
| They support these things that he found in the different agencies, mainly leading off of USAID. | ||
| And I want everybody to listen to see if you agree with this. | ||
| For the taxpayers, what Elon Musk found, $2 billion, which was part of a greenhouse gas emission fund. | ||
| Guess where it went? | ||
| Stacey Abrams. | ||
| Is that where the taxpayers want their money spent? | ||
| $1 million to Social Security's Administration's Gen X initiative marker. | ||
| Is that where the taxpayers want their money to go? | ||
| $45 million diversity, equity, and inclusion scholarship in Burma. | ||
| In Burma. | ||
| How does that work? | ||
| $182 million health and human services contracts, including $168,000 for an Anthony Fauci exhibit at the NIH. | ||
| Folks, this would be funny if it wasn't so serious. | ||
| $2.5 million to promote inclusion in Vietnam. | ||
| I'm not going to waste the time, but this is just a short list of how this president under Elon Musk is identifying waste, fraud, and abuse. | ||
| And all the things that you're saying are just not true. | ||
| I sat through this. | ||
| You mentioned this was like needles in your eyes. | ||
| Hearing you say these things is worse than that because it's just untrue. | ||
| What this bill does, it extends the funding, and I'm typically not for CRs. | ||
| There's no way to do business, but extends funding with fixed spending of 2,024 levels. | ||
| It includes anomalies requested by the Trump administration to support immigration enforcement efforts to deport criminals. | ||
| Their party was the one that opened the gates to America. | ||
| How is that working out? | ||
| How about the deaths? | ||
| And we had the mothers and fathers in this audience. | ||
| Guess who didn't stand? | ||
| Anybody in your party? | ||
| No one didn't have the decency to stand up for the little boy with cancer who wanted to be a police officer. | ||
| These total anomalies, which increase defense discretionary spending by $6 billion, it cuts non-defense discretionary spending by $13 billion. | ||
| It reduces the overall federal spending for fiscal year 25 below the 24 levels. | ||
| And guess what? | ||
| Y'all remember the, you remember the, what, 87,000 IRS agents that are going to harass the taxpayers? | ||
| This bill cuts $20 billion out of it. | ||
| It does away with it. | ||
| And this president is just getting started. | ||
| I doubt we will have any support from the Democrat side, which I don't expect. | ||
| This bill is going to pass, and the country is in better shape. | ||
| You had your time four years ago. | ||
| And how did that work out for the American people? | ||
| Not too good. | ||
| I fully support this bill. | ||
| And, Madam Chairman, I yield the balance of my time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Reserve. | |
| Gentlelady, Reserves. | ||
| Members are reminded to address their remarks to the Chair. | ||
| The gentleman from Massachusetts is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, the gentleman wants to talk about grocery prices. | ||
| Read the room, man. | ||
| Or better yet, visit a grocery store. | ||
| Give me a break. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up H.R. 1974, a short-term continuing resolution that keeps the government funded through April 11th. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment into the record, along with any extraneous material immediately prior to the vote on the previous question. | ||
| And to discuss our proposal, I yield two minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota, Ms. McCollum. | ||
| Without objection, so ordered. | ||
| The gentlelady from Minnesota is recognized. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | |
| I rise in opposition to the full year CR. | ||
| This bill abdicates our constitutional responsibilities to direct funding, and it gives it to Elon Musk and Mr. Trump. | ||
| It undercuts the separations of powers in our Constitution. | ||
| This CR cuts $13 billion from domestic priorities that Americans rely on. | ||
| I'm going to talk specifically about $2.2 billion in reduction to health care. | ||
| Here's a few examples. | ||
| $280 million cut from NIH means cuts to research and clinical trials. | ||
| Fewer lives will be saved. | ||
| The bill removes congressional directions for CDC funding. | ||
| That's how we detect and control health threats at home and from abroad. | ||
| And there's an $891 million reduction to HHS investments. | ||
| That will lead to more health care workforce shortages. | ||
| The ramifications of these cuts will be felt everywhere, but especially to the most vulnerable Americans who are already hurting from the illegal cuts of Elon Musk is making to health care grants and research. | ||
| $17 million reduction to Indian health service facilities, and they're already falling apart. | ||
| The bill shortchanges our veterans by failing to include $22 billion in advance funding for VA toxic exposure. | ||
| That jeopardizes the health care of our veterans exposed to burn pits in Agent Orange. | ||
| And the bill cuts DOD medical research by over $850 million. | ||
| This will obstruct new cures for cancer and infectious diseases. | ||
| These just aren't funding cuts. | ||
| The Republicans are cutting cures and treatments and hopes for healthier American families. | ||
| And this is before we know what Elon Musk has in store for Social Security disability, Medicaid, and Medicare. | ||
| A full-year CR is a disaster, and it does not have to be this way. | ||
| The American people deserve better. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to defeat this PQ and bring forward a short-term CR, and let's get to work. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman from Massachusetts Reserves. | ||
| Gentlelady from Minnesota is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield five minutes to my colleague on the Rules Committee from Texas. | ||
| The gentleman from Texas is recognized for five minutes. | ||
| I thank the gentlelady. | ||
| So here we are again. | ||
| My colleagues on the other side of the aisle, who constantly always talk about the need to support a CR to, quote, keep the lights on, now find themselves in the curious position of not wanting to have the lights on because they don't like what's happening. | ||
| So they don't want the lights to be on because you've got people in the executive branch who have taken seriously the election mandate that was given to the President of the United States to end the absurdity of nonstop wasteful spending, the ridiculousness of expenditures like $32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru. | ||
| That's the kind of stuff that makes the American people's head explode. | ||
| And there are dozens, hundreds of these examples I could sit here and list. | ||
| And the fact is, this stuff is getting exposed in real time. | ||
| The American people are seeing it. | ||
| And now my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are trying to run from it. | ||
| That's why they don't like this bill. | ||
| That's why they want to have a shutdown after all of these years of decrying the possibility of shutdown. | ||
| You're seeing all of the news today talking about the possibility of a Schumer shutdown. | ||
| You're talking about, there's news article after news article. | ||
| The Hill, February 11th, Democrats step up talk about using shutdown as leverage against Donald Trump. | ||
| Democrat senators who request anonymity said that March 14th deadline may be the best leverage they have. | ||
| Democrats in Congress see potential shutdown as leverage to counter Trump, U.S. Congress, The Guardian, February 15th. | ||
| I could insert into the record dozens of these stories because the fact of the matter is the gig is up. | ||
| Much like the American people were able to see the absolute and rampant corruption in our education system during COVID when everything was shut down and they were watching their kids and they saw these screens and they said, what on earth are they being taught? | ||
| And suddenly the American people saw the reality of our broken education system. | ||
| They saw the fraud that was perpetrated by Anthony Fauci on the American people and shutting down their way of life. | ||
| And now you've got Democrats who are now being exposed for having continuously funded this largesse and this bureaucracy that is completely indefensible. | ||
| The American people are tired of having their tax dollars taken and dollars being borrowed by an endless stream of borrowing by this Congress. | ||
| And now you've got a Congress that is willing to work with the president to stop it, to stand up and say enough. | ||
| And what are we putting in place? | ||
| Oh, the horror, a spending freeze? | ||
| Oh, can you believe it that the federal government might need to tighten its belt and have a spending freeze? | ||
| And then my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to bring out these parade of horribles. | ||
| Somehow that is a massive number of cuts because only in Washington is that a cut. | ||
| When you've got a spending freeze and holding basically spending in check from 2024, and we have a bill that, by the way, pulls out earmarks, which are often replete with special wish lists. | ||
| By the way, that's both sides of the aisle. | ||
| And we've got a bill here that is going to hold spending in check to allow us to do our job for the fiscal year 26 appropriation cycle between now and September. | ||
| By the way, it was Republicans who passed five appropriations bills off of the House floor last year and 12 appropriations bills out of committee last year. | ||
| The previous year, it was Republicans who passed seven off the floor and all 12 out of committee. | ||
| The Democrat-led Senate passed zero. | ||
| You want to know why we are where we are right now? | ||
| It's because our Democratic colleagues in the Senate passed zero appropriations bills, not one. | ||
| So we came in here. | ||
| Now Republicans have control of the House, the Senate, and the White House. | ||
| And now we're trying to get things moving in the right direction. | ||
| And our Democrat colleagues don't want to have any part of it. | ||
| So we're putting forward a common sense measure that, look, I understand why some of my conservative flank fiscal conservatives have concerns about a CR. | ||
| I don't love CRs. | ||
| But when you can have a CR that extends spending at 2024 levels for the next six months and empowers the president to be able to continue to do what they're doing, shining the light on spending restraint, shining the light on waste, so that we can do our job and implement that. | ||
| And by the way, I'll say that to both sides of the aisle. | ||
| Both sides of the aisle need to take in that information and implement it when we do appropriations this year. | ||
| Move spending down, eliminate the waste, try to do something about the fact that in 2019 our entire budget was $4.5 trillion. | ||
| Today it is $7 trillion. | ||
| My colleagues on the other side of the aisle have no answer to that besides, oh, oh, magic tax cuts. | ||
| You could literally confiscate the wealth of the wealthiest 1% of America and not dent what we've got in terms of $36 trillion in debt when you would kill jobs and destroy the economy in the process. | ||
| But that's the only answer my colleagues have to $7 trillion in spending. | ||
| The fact of the matter is this CR is responsible. | ||
| It's fiscally appropriate. | ||
| It'll leave the lights on so that the president and Doge and Elon and Russ Voter OMB can do their job. | ||
| And I hope that my colleagues on this side of the aisle will support the rule. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Gentlelady, reserves. | ||
| Reserve. | ||
| Gentleman from Massachusetts is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, that was an awful lot of words from the gentleman to announce that he's caving and changing his position and finally supporting a CR. | ||
| I now yield two minutes to the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Moskowitz. | ||
| Gentleman from Florida is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| No, that's exactly right. | ||
| It's CR Day on Capitol Hill. | ||
| And what is going on with the Republicans? | ||
| I mean, President Trump puts out a tweet and says, please, and all of a sudden, all of a sudden, just flip-flops. | ||
| But you know what? | ||
| Let me do some mean tweets about how you feel about CRs when you're in the minority only. | ||
| And the first one actually is from the gentleman from Texas. | ||
| And it says, it's Groundhog Day in the House chamber, all the time, every day. | ||
| Yet again, spending money we don't have. | ||
| Apparently, only when he's in the minority. | ||
| Another one from a colleague comparing continuing resolutions to attending a P. Diddy party. | ||
| In any given year, another colleague says, if Congress raises the debt ceiling, passes a CR, and rams through an omninous bill, no member of Congress should receive a paycheck. | ||
| That's awkward for you guys. | ||
| How many of you are going to give back your paycheck? | ||
| Another colleague, I've never voted for a CR. | ||
| You sent me to Congress to cut wasteful spending, and I'm a woman of my word. | ||
| You can guess who that is. | ||
| And this one, this is my favorite. | ||
| What does a CR stand for? | ||
| It stands for Capitulating Republicans, Caving Republicans, said by a Republican. | ||
| And you know what? | ||
| I'm going to miss the Never CR group. | ||
| I mean, they were great, but they're breaking up. | ||
| And it was great to see them live while they were together. | ||
| They had lots of fans. | ||
| I'm going to miss them. | ||
| I mean, they were mostly a boy band. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Some of them are going solo. | ||
| Appears it's only Thomas Massey. | ||
| But you know what? | ||
| Something tells me there'll be a reunion, but only when they're in the minority. | ||
| And to quote Representative Massey, talking about Republicans, I guess deficits only matter when we're in the minority. | ||
| So listen, go home to your families, turn in your voting cards, give Trump the gavel, because that is what has happened to your entire party. | ||
| You don't need to be here. | ||
| He tells you to do something, you jump. | ||
| And so what's going on in the world? | ||
| Another representative, what's going on in the world in the last 30 days? | ||
| Well, let's see. | ||
| Egg prices are up. | ||
| Goods are up. | ||
| Stock market is down. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| The gentleman yields back to the gentleman from Massachusetts Reserve. | ||
|
People Spoke, Horribly Misunderstood
00:15:46
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| Mr. Speaker, are admonished for the second time and reminded to address their remarks to the chair. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| The gentleman from Minnesota is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for that reminder. | ||
| I appreciate that. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield two minutes again to my colleague from the Rules Committee from Texas. | ||
| The gentleman from Texas is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| Well, I appreciate the sudden religion my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have found on spending restraint and the need to cut spending. | ||
| I look forward to all the proposals that my colleagues will put forward on reducing significant amounts of spending and waste, fraud, and abuse. | ||
| And I'll look for that press conference they'll no doubt have sometime this week. | ||
| I would also note that when we talk about continuing resolutions, what my colleague just failed to mention was the fact that literally every single Democrat voted for the CR that we just had in December. | ||
| Like literally every single Democrat, except for one who I think maybe took a present vote. | ||
| The fact of the matter is has nothing to do with that. | ||
| The fact of the matter is, for those of us who do not like CRs as a general principle, the fact is because Democrats literally wouldn't pass an appropriations bill out of the Senate, we're left doing the cleanup work of trying to figure out how to move forward while we have an administration that isn't at war with its own people. | ||
| When the previous administration was blatantly disregarding the well-being of the American people, to have wide open borders, letting fentanyl and letting all manners of evil come into our country, leading to the death and destruction of the people that I represent, people like Jocelyn Nungare, who lost her life to the hands of Trende Aragua, because Joe Biden decided it was more important to let millions of people into this country in violation of our laws, endangering the people. | ||
| That's why our bill has additional funding for ICE to make sure that we've got the beds to undo the damage that the Biden regime has carried out on the American people. | ||
| Those are the actual facts. | ||
| The fact of the matter is, no, you don't want to have a CR to continue the funding under Joe Biden because Joe Biden was at war with the American people. | ||
| Now we have a president administration that is trying to do the job that they sent him there to do. | ||
| Secure the border of the United States, hold back spending, eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse, get this economy going again, get the regulations out of the way of the American people, and do the job they want us to do. | ||
| With that, I yield back. | ||
| Gentlelady Reserve. | ||
| The chairs of each respective side are advised that the gentlelady from Minnesota has 13 minutes remaining, and the gentleman from Massachusetts has 20 and a half minutes remaining. | ||
| The gentleman from Massachusetts is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, let me forget about it. | ||
| I'm not going to respond. | ||
| I just want to yield two minutes to the gentleman from New York, the distinguished ranking member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Mr. Meeks. | ||
| The gentleman from New York is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| The fact of the matter is, Donald Trump's policies are collapsing our economy. | ||
| Unemployment is rising. | ||
| The NASDAQ had its worst days since the COVID crash. | ||
| Millions of dollars in retirement savings have been wiped out in just weeks. | ||
| And the reason is clear. | ||
| The Trump administration's reckless tariffs on our allies. | ||
| To impose these tariffs, Trump declared a made-up national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEPA. | ||
| But the law has a safeguard. | ||
| Any member can force a vote to terminate the emergency. | ||
| Ah, but what happened? | ||
| Speaker Johnson doesn't want to vote. | ||
| Why? | ||
| Because it would force Republicans to go on the record about Trump's tariffs. | ||
| So instead, Speaker Johnson has rewritten the law in real time. | ||
| And here's what the rule says, and I quote, each day for the remainder of the first session of the 119th Congress shall not constitute a calendar day. | ||
|
unidentified
|
What? | |
| If that don't think, if you don't think that makes any sense, neither do I. House Republicans are declaring that the days are no longer days and that time has literally stopped. | ||
| The Speaker is petrified that members of this House will actually have to take a vote on lowering costs on the American people. | ||
| This is what the American people elected us to do. | ||
| But now, because it's Donald Trump's tariffs and Republicans would have to take a tough vote, Speaker Johnson is stopping us from voting. | ||
| If Congress can't act to lower prices, protect retirement savings, and hold the president accountable, what are we even here? | ||
| What are we doing here? | ||
| A yes vote on this rule is a vote for Trump's tariffs. | ||
| A yes vote on this vote, or this vote is a vote to keep prices high for American families. | ||
| A yes vote is a vote to block Congress from doing its job to lower costs. | ||
| If you actually care about lowering costs, you should vote no on this rule. | ||
| And with that, I yield back the balance of my time. | ||
| Gentleman from Massachusetts Reserves, gentlelady from Wisconsin is recognized. | ||
| Minnesota. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| You were close. | ||
| But Mr. Speaker, I just want to point out, you know, Democrats love to claim foul when Republicans on Republicans for shutting off national emergencies, but they're cherry-picking the facts. | ||
| Let's take a look back at when they were in charge in the 117th Congress. | ||
| They never allowed a vote on terminating the COVID national emergency. | ||
| Mr. Gosar introduced two separate national emergency disapproval resolutions, and Democrats, who were in control at the time, not only shut off consideration of those resolutions without a single vote, they shut them off for the remaining 18 months of the Congress. | ||
| Even two years after the COVID emergency was declared, Democrats still silenced the voices of Republicans who wanted to take a vote. | ||
| What's that saying again? | ||
| Rules for thee, but not for me. | ||
| I reserve. | ||
| Gentlelady Reserves. | ||
| Gentleman from Massachusetts is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| The gentlelady just conceded that this rule would prevent the House from voting on Trump's tariffs, thereby resulting in the biggest tax increase on middle-class families that we've ever seen. | ||
| I now yield two minutes to the gentleman from New Mexico, Ms. Stansbury. | ||
| Gentlelady from New Mexico is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Sometimes when I'm standing in this chamber, I literally cannot believe my ears. | ||
| And I have to say that today is one of those days because as we stand here on the floor today, I am hearing members at the other side of the aisle who said they would never vote for a continuing resolution, that they would never vote to raise the debt, that they would never vote for a bill that extends the debt ceiling, say that we have to pass this bill. | ||
| And so I literally cannot believe my ears today because the GOP today is here with a great American bait and switch. | ||
| So let me explain to you what exactly is going on. | ||
| Donald Trump spent the weekend calling our colleagues across the aisle, asking them to keep the government open until the end of the fiscal year so that they can get on with their real agenda. | ||
| And you all know what the real agenda is. | ||
| The real agenda is that they're dismantling the federal government. | ||
| They're firing tens of thousands of federal workers, teachers, firefighters, veterans, military, members of our community who are in crisis right now, and they are illegally impounding funds. | ||
| And meanwhile, my Republican colleagues who said they would never vote for anything like this are saying that they are going to vote for it because on the side, Donald Trump is winking at them and his people are telling them, don't worry, if you pass this bill, we're going to continue to do all of that illegal activity. | ||
| And then we can get on to the real work, which is dismantling our basic programs that support our communities. | ||
| They want to take away your Medicaid. | ||
| This weekend, Elon Musk said he wants to take away your Social Security. | ||
| They want to dismantle housing programs. | ||
| They want to dismantle food assistance programs. | ||
| They are literally bait and switching the American people and abdicating their fundamental responsibility as representatives of the people because the people have spoken, my friends. | ||
| And there are no number of town halls that you can run away from to know that your people and your communities do not support your bait and switch. | ||
| So I say to my GOP colleagues, do your jobs. | ||
| The gentlelady yields back. | ||
| The gentleman from Massachusetts Reserves. | ||
| I want to commend the previous Speaker on setting an excellent example on addressing remarks to the chair. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| Add to that list now, members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities towards the president. | ||
| The gentlelady from Minnesota is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| And I do want to remind everyone that the people have spoken. | ||
| They spoke in November. | ||
| The Republicans are the majority in the House. | ||
| The Republicans are the majority in the Senate. | ||
| And they elected President Trump. | ||
| The people have spoken. | ||
| And we are talking about, I'd like to bring it back to what we're actually talking about today, and that's the rule in front of us. | ||
| And we're discussing the rule and the continuing resolution. | ||
| And as my colleague from Texas mentioned, there was not a single no vote from Democrats for the continuing resolution in December. | ||
| And they're standing here today, willing to shut down the government, not because of anything substantive in the bill, but because they believe that as long as they are acting against the Trump administration, against the elected president and Republicans' agenda, then they must be doing the right thing. | ||
| Motivation by blind hatred. | ||
| That is the Democrat Party that we have before us today. | ||
| And with that, I reserve. | ||
| Gentlelady Reserves, the gentleman from Massachusetts is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, this rule contains tariffs, and I don't understand why the gentlelady supports these tariffs. | ||
| She represents a district with over 50,000 farmers, the second most of any member of Congress. | ||
| And during the last trade war started by Trump, American farmers lost $27 billion in agricultural exports. | ||
| It's farmers in the gentlelady's district who are being harmed by these tariffs. | ||
| So I don't understand why she supports them. | ||
| I now yield two minutes to the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Frost. | ||
| The gentleman from Florida is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| I appreciate it. | ||
| I think it's interesting because any time my colleagues want to defend horrible moves by the Trump administration whether they're trying to cut Medicare or cut Medicaid, they keep saying the people have spoken, the people have spoken without realizing that the people are speaking. | ||
| That's why they continue to cancel their town halls because they don't want to hear what the people are saying right now. | ||
| Costs are at an all-time high. | ||
| I came down here to tell people that if you're struggling to afford food, you can't pay your rent, the medical bills are stacking up, this bill will make your life worse. | ||
| Why? | ||
| To give tax cuts to billionaires and big corporations. | ||
| This bill sets up major cuts to Medicaid, which 60,000 children in my district rely on for health care. | ||
| Cuts to Medicare, steals from veterans, ripping away benefits, steals from working people and families, gives even more unchecked power to President Elon Musk and Doge. | ||
| And recently, Musk said that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. | ||
| So every vote in favor of this bill endorses those words. | ||
| You vote for this? | ||
| Go to your constituents and be loud and proud. | ||
| Tell them that the program that they've paid into and worked on their entire life so they can retire with dignity is a Ponzi scheme. | ||
| Oh, wait. | ||
| Republicans have been told by the leadership to stop doing town halls. | ||
| Why? | ||
| Because the people are pissed off. | ||
| They're scared. | ||
| Many have been sold this BS lie that if we just give all the power to billionaires like Elon Musk, we'll all be okay. | ||
| But I got breaking news for you. | ||
| The billionaires have always had immense power in this country, and it hasn't worked out for us. | ||
| I'm opposing today's rule so we can stop the House from voting on the Republican Party spending bill that works to cut Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, veterans' benefits, and school lunches, all in favor of the ultra-rich. | ||
| I know what it's like to not be able to pay for housing, to go into debt just to survive. | ||
| We're not in this because people have lived beyond their means, but because we've been denied the means to live. | ||
| So vote no on this rule, and I yield back. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Gentleman from Massachusetts Reserves, the gentlelady from Minnesota is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| And this is just another example of how talking points are written before they actually read the bill, because this is about a government shutdown, plain and simple. | ||
| We have to have the rule to pass the CR so that we can avoid government shutdown. | ||
| I reserve. | ||
| Gentlelady Reserves, the gentleman from Massachusetts is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, this is a rule to protect tariffs. | ||
| I yield one and a half minutes to the gentlewoman from Illinois, Ms. Ramirez. | ||
| The gentlelady is recognized for one and a half minutes. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| So this is about the rule so that we can get to this continuing resolution, or so-called continuing resolution. | ||
| But let me tell you what continuing resolutions are. | ||
| They give Congress time to negotiate budget bills in the interests of the American people. | ||
| Let me be very clear. | ||
| That is not what Republicans want to do here. | ||
| They're proposing we skip budget negotiations and we give the Musk Trump administration a slush fund. | ||
| Their actions prove that they have more respect for their billionaire bosses than they do for the Constitution. | ||
| They're more willing to hand over their power to Trump and Musk than they are to defend the power of the people. | ||
| And they're more committed to enabling a bully than to stand up for their constituents. | ||
| And that is what Trump and Musk are. | ||
| They're bullies who use intimidation and retribution to get what they want. | ||
| And Musk, or, you know, Trump under Musk, as my colleague said, they want it all. | ||
| They want to disregard the law. | ||
| They want to dismantle the agencies that serve the American people. | ||
| And they want to destroy the programs and the services that Americans rely on. | ||
| Bottom line, Republicans are using a shutdown to bully us into giving Trump a blank check, no guardrails, folks, and six months, six months, to plunge us into further chaos. | ||
|
Eliminating VA Funding
00:04:20
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||
| Yes, if we are in chaos, it's your fault. | ||
| You control the House, you control the Senate, and you have your guy in the White House. | ||
| So let me be honest, I will not be bullied. | ||
| The full-year slush fund CR they call is a red line, and I call my colleagues to vote no on the rule and on the Republicans' slush fund CR. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman Reserves, gentlelady from Minnesota is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, the House Appropriations Committee worked in good faith throughout the FY25 process, and it was the Democrats that weaponized this process, holding up negotiations on demands that were completely unrelated to funding. | ||
| If my colleagues choose a Democrat shutdown simply because they hate Donald Trump and his administration, they are showing they have still learned nothing from the results of last year's elections. | ||
| I reserve. | ||
| Gentlelady Reserves members are again reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities towards the president. | ||
| The gentleman from Massachusetts is recognizing. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, we are opposed to the tariffs and a tax increase on American families. | ||
| I yield two minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania, a distinguished member of the Rules Committee, Ms. Scanlon. | ||
| The gentleman from Pennsylvania is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Today, House Republicans are trying to avert a funding crisis of their own making by passing a partisan Republican spending bill they've drafted behind closed doors. | ||
| It cuts $13 billion from programs like low-income housing, agricultural inspections, and election security. | ||
| This bill would allow President Trump and Elon Musk to supercharge their attacks on essential federal programs and workers, including Social Security and the FAA, with no input from Congress. | ||
| I want to highlight how this bill impacts our nation's veterans, particularly in light of the administration's recent actions. | ||
| Due to the success of the PACT Act, more veterans than ever before have enrolled in VA care, and we should celebrate that success. | ||
| Instead, this bill renegs on a commitment of $23 billion in health care funding for veterans who were exposed to burn pits and Agent Orange. | ||
| It also fails to guarantee essential programs within the Veterans Health Administration. | ||
| Programs like homelessness assistance, mental health care, rural health initiatives, opioid and substance abuse treatment, oncology services, and caregiver support are left undefined and therefore subject to cuts or elimination by Doge or Trump. | ||
| This isn't an oversight. | ||
| Our Republican colleagues are supporting this bill because it allows Musk to eliminate more programs without congressional approval. | ||
| Look, in just six weeks, over 6,000 veterans have been fired from the VA and other federal programs. | ||
| Veterans comprise 30% of our federal workforce. | ||
| They're among the hardest-working, most patriotic employees in our country. | ||
| But Trump has allowed Elon Musk and Doge to fire thousands of them without cause. | ||
| And more jobs are on the chopping block. | ||
| 80,000 at the VA, tens of thousands at the IRS, 7,000 at Social Security. | ||
| When Doge destroys federal programs, it's not just cutting essential services for American families. | ||
| It's also firing veterans. | ||
| Between deep VA cuts eliminating funding for veterans health care and job cuts that disproportionately hit veterans, it appears that the Trump White House has declared war on veterans. | ||
| Our veterans and their families deserve better than this. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to reject this travesty of a bill and instead pass the clean CR offered by the ranking member on appropriations. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman from Massachusetts Reserves, the gentlelady from Minnesota is recognized. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Reserve. | |
| Gentlelady reserves. | ||
| Gentleman from Massachusetts is recognized. | ||
| No speakers. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield three minutes to the gentleman from the District of Columbia, Ms. Holmes Norton. | ||
|
Consequences Be Damned
00:03:14
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| The gentlelady from the District of Columbia is recognized for three minutes. | ||
| I thank my friend for yielding. | ||
| I strongly oppose this rule and the full-year funding resolution. | ||
| The CR is an act of fiscal sabotage against D.C. and is an abuse of power over a disenfranchised jurisdiction. | ||
| The consequences be damned. | ||
| For the last 20 years, D.C. has been able to operate under the local budget enacted by D.C. for the next fiscal year for the duration of every CR, including four-year CRs and the first two-year, two fiscal year 2025 CRs. | ||
| The CR under consideration does not allow D.C. to do so. | ||
| Indeed, the CR effectively repeals the fiscal year 2025 local budget enacted by D.C., which DC has been operating under for the last six months, and restores the fiscal year 2024 local budget enacted by D.C., which DC stopped operating under six months ago. | ||
| This unprecedented budget substitution will result in an immediate cut of more than $1 billion from DC's $21 billion budget. | ||
| This cut will likely force DC to immediately terminate programs and delay off or furlough police officers, firefighters, other first responders, and teachers. | ||
| This cut does not save the federal government any money because D.C.'s local budget consists entirely of locally raised revenues such as taxes and fees. | ||
| The CR also fails to exempt D.C. from a federal government shutdown in fiscal year 2026. | ||
| Since the 2013 federal budget shutdown, Congress has exempted D.C. from federal government shutdowns because Congress recognized that shutting down a city of more than 700,000 people was harmful to the operations of both D.C. and the federal government. | ||
| I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record a memorandum from D.C. Mayor Miriam Bowser's office detailing the impact of this CR on D.C. | ||
|
Republicans' Partisan Funding Bill
00:14:28
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| I urge members to vote no. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Without objection, so ordered. | ||
| Gentleman from Massachusetts, Gentlelady from Minnesota is recognized. | ||
| Reserves, gentleman from Massachusetts is recognized. | ||
| Still no speakers? | ||
| Okay. | ||
| I yield two minutes to the gentleman from New York, Mr. Goldman. | ||
| Gentleman from New York is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| I thank you very much to the ranking member for yielding. | ||
| I rise today in strong opposition to the Republicans' partisan sham of a government funding bill, which is nothing more than a blank canvas for Donald Trump and Elon Musk to continue their smashing and looting of our federal government. | ||
| There are too many things that are wrong with this bill to mention in just two minutes, including cuts to safety net programs for housing, food, veterans, law enforcement, as well as essential community projects for every district in the country. | ||
| But what's really shocking is that Republicans rejected any and all input from Democrats, even though they need Democratic votes to pass this bill in the Senate. | ||
| If you want to go it alone, then go it alone. | ||
| But you can't blame anyone but yourselves when it fails. | ||
| If the government shuts down with a Republican House, Republican Senate, and Republican President, it will be solely because the Republicans have moved forward with a terrible partisan take-it-or-leave it bill. | ||
| In November, the clear number one issue on voters' minds was the economy and the cost of living. | ||
| But since he has taken over, President Trump has increased costs significantly and tanked the economy. | ||
| But it gets even worse. | ||
| The president has not only failed to keep his promise to help working Americans, but he has enlisted a corrupt, unelected billionaire to slash essential programs that hundreds of millions of Americans depend on. | ||
| Elon Musk isn't cutting waste, fraud, and abuse. | ||
| He doesn't even know what he's cutting. | ||
| And unlike regular appropriations bills, this bill does not include the usual language to fund specific programs. | ||
| And what that means is that Elon Musk has unfettered discretion to cut whatever he wants. | ||
| You don't need to take my word for it. | ||
| The House Freedom Caucus issued a press release supporting this bill because of that very reality. | ||
| With this bill, Republicans are handing the power of the purse to Congress and not working with Democrats. | ||
| We continue to stand ready to work together, but this bill does not do that, and I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman, Reserves, gentlelady is recognized. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Reserves. | |
| Gentlelady, Reserves. | ||
| Gentleman from Massachusetts is recognized. | ||
| Can I inquire in the time, Mr. Speaker? | ||
| Massachusetts has five and a half minutes. | ||
| And the gentlelady has no speakers. | ||
| Okay, all right. | ||
| I yield two minutes to the gentleman from New Mexico, a distinguished member of the Rules Committee, Ms. Ledger Fernandez. | ||
| Gentlelady from New Mexico is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, Americans across the country are angry about Elon Musk illegally firing employees and freezing federal funds. | ||
| Rather than stand up to Musk, Republicans are giving him the power to shut down the government programs Musk doesn't like. | ||
| Remember, just last night, Musk said he wants to eliminate the big programs like Social Security and Medicare. | ||
| Musk also wants to fire thousands of VA employees. | ||
| This bill cuts $22.8 billion for veterans care. | ||
| It cuts housing. | ||
| It cuts programs that protect our food supply so we can bring down the cost of eggs. | ||
| This rule also endorses Trump's tariffs under the guise of a national emergency. | ||
| Yesterday, Trump's tariffs caused the markets to plummet, taking Americans' retirement savings with them. | ||
| That's the real national emergency. | ||
| A vote for this rule is a vote for Trump's tariffs. | ||
| Is that why Republicans are hiding from their constituents? | ||
| Because they're backing unpopular tariffs that will cost the average family $2,000 a year? | ||
| Or maybe they're hiding because this funding bill cuts $15 billion from community projects. | ||
| We're losing first responder and water infrastructure projects in New Mexico. | ||
| Republicans are also defunding the police in Hazelton, Pennsylvania, in Representative Bresnahan's district. | ||
| And how about eliminating the water project in Lehigh County in Representative McKenzie's district, just to name a few of the many projects out there being gutted in Republican and Democratic districts alike? | ||
| This is not a clean CR. | ||
| It's as dirty as it gets. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman from Massachusetts Reserves. | ||
| Gentlelady from Minnesota is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close. | ||
| Gentlelady, Reserves. | ||
| The gentlelady has 10 minutes left remaining, and the gentleman from Massachusetts has three and a half minutes remaining. | ||
| The gentleman from Massachusetts is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I'm proud to yield one and one-half minutes to the gentleman from California, the Speaker Emerita Ms. Pelosi. | ||
| The Speaker Emeritus from California is recognized for one and a half minutes. | ||
| Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his extraordinary leadership. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, today Republicans will vote to pass a continuing resolution that hallows out our nation's commitment to the health, education, economic security of America's working families. | ||
| Instead of working constructively in a bipartisan way to meet the needs of the American people, Republicans are trying to starve the domestic budget with a partisan bill. | ||
| And I'm going to focus on veterans here that cuts nearly $23 billion in veterans' benefits, in addition to slashing even more money from health care and affordable housing. | ||
| Indeed, the Republican CR is a betrayal of our nation, America's veterans, with devastating cuts to initiatives that care for our veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances. | ||
| Our nation's sacred promise, our nation's sacred promise, is just as the military says, on the battlefield, we leave no soldier behind. | ||
| And when they come home, we leave no veteran behind. | ||
| With this bill, Republicans have broken that promise. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to be known this betrayal of our veterans and urge my colleagues, Republican colleagues, to join Democrats at the negotiating table to get us serious about the people's business. | ||
| Vote no. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| Gentleman from Massachusetts Reserves. | ||
| Gentlelady from Minnesota is recognized. | ||
| Gentlelady from Minnesota Reserves. | ||
| Gentleman from Massachusetts is recognized. | ||
| Is the gentlelady prepared to close, Mr. Speaker? | ||
| Okay. | ||
| We haven't heard a speaker in a long time. | ||
| I just wasn't sure. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| The gentleman from Massachusetts is recognized. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Mr. Speaker, if you vote for this rule, you own the tariffs. | ||
| Republicans snuck in a provision that blocks this House from voting on resolutions that could end the tariffs. | ||
| They know these tariffs will cost families an extra $1,200 a year, and they're scared to vote for them. | ||
| So instead of letting Congress do its job, they're shutting down the debate. | ||
| They're hiding, and they're shielding themselves from any accountability. | ||
| And do you know who's going to feel the pain, Mr. Speaker? | ||
| It's working families, it's small businesses who are already struggling with high costs. | ||
| It's farmers who are already the victim of retaliatory tariffs. | ||
| Meanwhile, the stock market was in a freefall yesterday, and today it's going down again. | ||
| Retirement accounts have taken a huge hit. | ||
| Ontario is already hitting us with a 25% electricity surcharge, hurting families in Minnesota. | ||
| In fact, I saw a breaking news story this morning that Trump's now escalating his trade war by doubling tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum. | ||
| So he and his enablers are pushing forward full steam ahead into a possible recession with no regard for the chaos he's causing in this country. | ||
| That's why House Democrats, led by Ranking Member Meeks, introduced resolutions to end Trump's devastating tariffs. | ||
| According to the National Emergencies Act, these resolutions should be fast-tracked for a vote on the House floor. | ||
| Republicans are using this rule to shut them down. | ||
| And I'd love to hear them explain to their constituents why they're standing by while prices are skyrocketing. | ||
| But Republicans are scared of their constituents, too, hiding in their offices instead of holding town halls. | ||
| So let me be perfectly clear. | ||
| If your representative votes for this rule, they're voting to ratify the Trump tariffs. | ||
| They're hoping you won't notice while they let our economy burn. | ||
| That's not leadership. | ||
| That's cowardice. | ||
| And a vote against this CR is not a vote to shut down the government. | ||
| We have offered a one-month CR to fund the government while appropriators finish the budget process. | ||
| Instead of giving up on a direct to Trump and Musk, vote no on this. | ||
| Gentleman yields back. | ||
| And the gentlewoman from Minnesota is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| And now that we've finished listening to the Democrats' talking points, the same talking points that they use over and over and over to mislead the American people and demonize Republicans and demonize President Trump, I will actually focus on what we're talking about today and what is actually in front of the body. | ||
| And that's the rule to deal with the CR and two other bills. | ||
| And even with the additional funding for veterans and the FAA and families in this bill, it will cost less than last year. | ||
| Not by gutting programs, as my Democrat colleagues have so wrongfully claimed, but by removing projects from the FY24 bill so that they are not double funding projects that have already received funds in 2020, excuse me, in FY24. | ||
| My Democrat colleagues must be confused because I certainly would not want to be accused of calling them liars. | ||
| This bill upholds the responsibility of our veterans and ensures full funding for the health care services and benefits. | ||
| It includes the largest pay raise for junior enlisted troops in over 40 years. | ||
| It supports federal wildland firefighters. | ||
| It increases funding for air traffic controller priorities. | ||
| It does not cut grants for law enforcement. | ||
| It does not cut spending on family assistance programs. | ||
| In fact, it increases spending for WIC by more than $500 million. | ||
| And it includes an additional $6 billion for the Toxic Exposure Fund to treat veterans who have experienced service-related exposure to toxic substances. | ||
| This bill can increase spending on these critical needs by making sure that we are not double funding existing programs. | ||
| It is really that simple. | ||
| Avoiding government shutdowns ensures that the administration can continue to identify waste, fraud, and abuse. | ||
| It also allows ICE to continue deporting criminal migrants. | ||
| This clean CR will allow us to focus on one big, beautiful reconciliation bill. | ||
| Furthermore, this rule provides a way for us to continue to remove waste, fraud, and abuse right now by extending the time to prosecute those who committed unemployment insurance fraud during the COVID CARES programming. | ||
| I would ask my Democrat colleagues to spare us the speeches about President Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency trimming some of the bloated bureaucracy from our federal departments. | ||
| They are about to vote against a continuing resolution in the hopes of shutting our government down and sending every single federal employee home without a paycheck. | ||
| Maybe my Democrat colleagues just don't think Doge is going far enough. | ||
| The truth is that there are more than 25,000 federal employees in the state of Massachusetts whose paycheck will be put on an indefinite hold if the government shuts down. | ||
| And that's what my Democrat colleagues are going to vote for. | ||
| My Democrat colleagues keep complaining how unfair this CR is to the D.C. residents. | ||
| But there are over six, excuse me, 160,000 federal employees in the District of Columbia, which quite frankly is more than there should be. | ||
| But you are going to make every one of their paychecks go away if you succeed in shutting the government down. | ||
| I thank my colleagues, Mr. Kerry and Mr. Cole and Mr. Smith, for introducing these thoughtful pieces of legislation. | ||
| And I encourage every single one of my colleagues to vote for this nonpartisan continuing resolution to keep our government fully funded and hold fraudsters accountable. | ||
| A no vote, and I'll make it very clear, a no vote on this rule is actually a no vote to shut down government. | ||
|
Voting on Rules Package
00:02:52
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| With that, Mr. Speaker, I support the rule and the underlying legislation and yield back the balance of my time. | ||
| The gentlewoman yields back. | ||
| The question on the resolution. | ||
| Gentlewoman moves the previous question. | ||
| The question is on ordering the previous question on the resolution. | ||
| Those in favor say aye. | ||
| Those opposed, no. | ||
| In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask for the yays and nays, please. | ||
| The yays and nays are requested. | ||
| Those favoring the vote for yays and nays will rise. | ||
| A sufficient number having risen, the yays and nays are ordered. | ||
| Members will record their votes by electronic device. | ||
| Pursuant to clause 9 of rule 20, the chair will reduce to five minutes the minimum time for any electronic vote on the question of adoption of a resolution if ordered. | ||
| This is a 15-minute vote. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So the House taking the first roll call votes of the day here. | |
| Members have been debating the rules governing debate for three bills, including a measure extending government funding passed this Friday and through the next fiscal year. | ||
| This is a procedural vote. | ||
| A vote on approval of the actual rules package is expected next. | ||
| The legislation also includes a Republican amendment dealing with special immigrant visas for Afghans pertaining to Afghan nationals who worked for the U.S. government during America's military presence in the country. | ||
| If the rule here is approved, the cap and deadline to apply for the special immigrant visas would remain the same. | ||
| Additionally, there's a provision here to block any future actions from the House to repeal President Trump's tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China. | ||
| Again, we're starting with a procedural vote. | ||
| A vote on passage of the debate rules for three bills, including the government funding measure, is expected next. | ||
| While we wait here, we'll take you to the remaining moments of today's White House briefing. | ||
| The president has engaged in correspondence with House Republicans, whipping votes and getting them to a yes, which I understand has been pretty successful this morning thus far. | ||
| And so, again, the president is encouraging Republicans, especially, but again, as I said, all members of Congress to vote to continue funding this government so we can continue the business of the American people, which elected President Trump to do. | ||
|
Wall Street Uncertain
00:15:51
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|
unidentified
|
And then on financial markets, we've seen this decline yesterday. | |
| We see it today as well. | ||
| It seems that the read on the president's policies is one in which they do not have confidence in his trade tariffs policy. | ||
| They do not have confidence in what the president said to Fox News over the weekend that he didn't rule out the idea of a recession. | ||
| What is your read in terms of the decline that we've seen over the last week and a half in financial markets? | ||
| Well, I think there's actually a lot of reason to be confident, and many people do feel confident. | ||
| Just look at the nearly $2 trillion in private investment that this president has secured. | ||
| Look at the comments made by the CEO of Apple, one of the biggest companies in this world, who said that he is bullish on the future of American innovation under the leadership of President Trump. | ||
| Look at CEO confidence. | ||
| According to the conference board measure of CEO confidence, in Q1, 2025, under the leadership of this president, it jumped to its highest level in three years from cautious optimism to confident optimism. | ||
| If you, again, look at the $2 trillion in investments from some of the biggest companies in the world, look at the jobs report last Friday, as I also cited in my opening remarks. | ||
| Fox Business reported that Trump sees a manufacturing boom in First Full's jobs report of his second term. | ||
| Look at the auto jobs that have already poured back into America. | ||
| We added 9,000 new auto jobs. | ||
| Those are sticky jobs. | ||
| Those are good paying jobs. | ||
| That's 9,000 American families who will now be able to live the American dream because of the policies of this administration. | ||
| You also look at small business optimism. | ||
| The NFIB put out a report this morning. | ||
| Small business optimism continues to be far higher than it ever was under the previous administration. | ||
| There's a lot of reason to be optimistic. | ||
| And again, the American people, CEOs, and people on Wall Street and on Main Street should bet on this president. | ||
| He is a dealmaker. | ||
| He is a businessman. | ||
| And he's doing what's right for our country. | ||
| He wants to restore wealth to the United States of America. | ||
| Michael, good to see you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hey, Carolyn, thank you. | |
| Two questions, if I may. | ||
| Will the administration be providing any relief to states affected by the Ontario power tariff debate? | ||
| Well, the President has made it very clear that Canada would be very wise not to shut off electricity for the American people. | ||
| And we hope that that does not happen. | ||
| As for what would happen if that does take place, I'll leave it to the President to make those decisions. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Does President Trump share the Justice Department's concern over rising egg prices and possible collusion of big egg? | |
| Well, we definitely do share the concerns of the American people when it comes to the price of eggs. | ||
| However, good news, the average cost of a dozen eggs is actually down since Secretary Rollins and President Trump announced their plan. | ||
| It's down $1.85. | ||
| So that's good news on the cost of eggs. | ||
| And as we know, under the Biden administration, egg prices went up 22 percent. | ||
| This is another example of an economic mess that President Trump inherited. | ||
| And the Secretary of Agriculture and the President are focused on fixing it. | ||
| Secretary Rollins put out a five-point plan, a four-point plan rather, to address this crisis. | ||
| And she has been honest and realistic with the American people, as this administration always is. | ||
| It will take about three to six months to get the ag supply back to where it should be. | ||
| But she's focused, and this administration is focused on doing that every day. | ||
| Karen. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks, Caroline. | |
| Just back on the markets. | ||
| You said that what we're seeing this week right now on Wall Street is a snapshot of a moment in time. | ||
| But does the president think he bears any responsibility for the turmoil in the stock market this week? | ||
| Look, the president is unwavering in his commitment to restore American manufacturing and global dominance. | ||
| And I think he doubled down on that this morning with his new statement and the tariffs that will be implemented tomorrow on steel and aluminum. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And he has said recently he's not looking at the market. | |
| He said you can't really watch the start of the stock market, but all of the gains since election day have been erased in the SP 500. | ||
| At what point, how far do stocks have to fall before the president considers it a factor and changes course? | ||
| Again, as I just said, the president will look out for Wall Street and for Main Street, just like he did in his first term. | ||
| And people on Wall Street and Main Street should bet on this president. | ||
| He's doing what's right for this country. | ||
| Nick, good to see you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good to see you, too. | |
| Thank you, Caroline. | ||
| So is the president prepared like what we saw with Congressman Massey to pressure other Republican lawmakers into supporting this continuing resolution? | ||
| Well, he is very much, as I said, engaged in this process. | ||
| He's been making calls to lawmakers on Capitol Hill. | ||
| And I think his statements against Congressman Massey speak for themselves. | ||
| And I will let the president put out any additional statements if he chooses to, but he fully expects all House Republicans to vote for this continuing resolution. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Just to follow up, can we start to anticipate seeing more of the president swaying in on upcoming 2026 races like we saw this morning? | |
| I'm not sure about that. | ||
| I'm not even sure if I'm allowed to speak about that from this podium. | ||
| I would check in with our outside political team for guidance on future races and the president's involvement. | ||
| Elena. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| I want to ask you about some comments Elon Musk made yesterday. | ||
| He said that there is $500 to $700 billion in waste and fraud and entitlement spending. | ||
| He called it, quote, the big one to eliminate. | ||
| Earlier this month, he also referred to Social Security as a Ponzi scheme. | ||
| Should Americans expect changes, big changes to Social Security and Medicare? | ||
| President Trump has been unequivocally clear on this. | ||
| He is going to protect Social Security and Medicare benefits and Medicaid for hardworking Americans who paid into these entitlement programs and deserve those hard-earned benefits. | ||
| And unfortunately, the mainstream media has taken Mr. Musk out of context. | ||
| I saw a Bloomberg headline that our team actually worked on getting updated and fixed because it was so wrong and it took Mr. Musk out of context. | ||
| What he was specifically referring to cutting was the waste and the fraud and abuse that does exist in these programs. | ||
| According to an IG report from the Social Security Administration, there's more than $70 billion of fraud in the Social Security program alone that we know of. | ||
| And so the President will continue to protect these programs for hardworking Americans. | ||
| and actually cutting the waste, fraud, and abuse out of these programs will protect it for hardworking Americans. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The Pressure on Respectfully, he said around $500 to $700 billion. | |
| There was no evidence to claim that. | ||
| And also, if that is the case, that would represent more than a third of what Social Security paid out last year, maybe 20 percent of Social Security and Medicare. | ||
| Ms. Well, again, Again, if you read his full quote, he said, we think, so it's an estimate based on what he's seen. | ||
| He's not saying definitively. | ||
| He's saying that's what Doge suspects and thinks. | ||
| And that's exactly why Doge was created, to ensure that we are investigating the fraudulent spending, the wasteful abuse across our federal government. | ||
| And I would remind everybody in this room that 77% of the American people support this effort by Elon Musk and Doge to identify such waste fraud and abuse. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Go ahead. | |
| Thanks, Caroline. | ||
| You're welcome. | ||
| If we could just step back for a second, when President Trump last addressed the BRT when he was on the campaign trail, his big push was on tax cuts. | ||
| He's going there today as he's proposing tax hikes in the form of tariffs. | ||
| And I'm curious why he's prioritizing that over the tax cuts. | ||
| He's actually not implementing tax hikes. | ||
| Tariffs are a tax hike on foreign countries that, again, have been ripping us off. | ||
| Tariffs are a tax cut for the American people. | ||
| And the president is a staunch advocate of tax cuts. | ||
| As you know, he campaigned on no taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime, no taxes on Social Security benefits. | ||
| He is committed to all three of those things, and he expects Congress to pass them later this year. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I'm sorry, have you ever paid a tariff? | |
| Because I have. | ||
| They don't get charged on foreign companies. | ||
| They get charged on the importers. | ||
| And ultimately, when we have fair and balanced trade, which the American people have not seen in decades, as I said at the beginning, revenues will stay here, wages will go up, and our country will be made wealthy again. | ||
| And I think it's insulting that you are trying to test my knowledge of economics and the decisions that this president has made. | ||
| I now regret giving a question to the Associated Press. | ||
| Mary, go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I have two of us okay. | |
| The first one was on Russia-Ukraine. | ||
| I know Special Envoy Witcloff said yesterday that Zelensky apologized in his letter to Trump. | ||
| Can you share any more about that letter and what else might be interesting from it that we don't know? | ||
| Yes, the President did reference that letter, as you're saying, in his joint address to Congress. | ||
| And I do have an update. | ||
| As you know, Secretary of State Rubio and our National Security Advisor Mike Waltz have been negotiating with the Ukrainians today in Saudi. | ||
| They will be providing a full readout of that meeting very soon. | ||
| But I can assure you and everybody here and the American people that the news we've received from that meeting throughout the day and the president has been briefed on is positive. | ||
| This meeting has been productive. | ||
| I will let Secretary of Rubio and our National Security, Secretary of State Rubio, and our National Security Advisor speak to the specifics of what has taken place today when they are ready to do so when the meeting concludes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Lindsay, go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Caroline. | |
| Turn to Mahmoud Khalil. | ||
| The President has said this is the first of many arrests like this. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Does the administration have a rough estimate of how many arrests you're planning to make similar? | |
| I don't have an estimate. | ||
| I do know that DHS, based on very good intel that they have gathered at the direction of the President's executive order, which made it very clear to the Department of Homeland Security that engaging, as I said, in anti-American, anti-Semitic, pro-Hamas protests will not be tolerated. | ||
| So since the President signed that executive order and since Secretary of Noan has taken the oath at DHS, they have been using intelligence to identify individuals on our nation's colleges and universities on our college campuses who have engaged in such behavior and activity, and especially illegal activity. | ||
| And so I don't have a readout on how many arrests will come, but I do know that DHS is actively working on it. | ||
| And I also know that Columbia University has been given the names of other individuals who have engaged in pro-Hamas activity, and they are refusing to help DHS identify those individuals on campus. | ||
| And as the President said very strongly in his statement yesterday, he is not going to tolerate that. | ||
| And we expect all America's colleges and universities to comply with this administration's policy. | ||
| Jasmine. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you so much, Carol. | |
| That's great question. | ||
| On Canada, after all of these threats to increase tariffs or turn off electricity, I wonder, does this administration still consider Canada to be a close ally of the United States? | ||
| Well, I think Canada is a neighbor. | ||
| They are a partner. | ||
| They have always been an ally. | ||
| Perhaps they are becoming a competitor now. | ||
| But as the president also laid out in his truth social post today, he believes that Canadians would benefit greatly from becoming the 51st state of the United States of America. | ||
| And I actually looked into some of the research about the cost of living in Canada, and the cost of living is much higher than it is here in the United States of America. | ||
| The average cost of a home in Canada is much higher. | ||
| In Quebec, the highest tax rate for an income of $150,000 or more is 53.3%, more than half of Canadians' incomes they are being taxed on. | ||
| So the President has made it clear that he believes Canadians would be better served economically, militarily, if they were to become the 51st state of the United States of America. | ||
| Reagan. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Caroline. | |
| A week ago, Attorney General Bondi said a truckload of Epstein files had been delivered to her office from the SDNY. | ||
| When can we expect those files to be released to the public? | ||
| I would defer you to the Department of Justice. | ||
| I don't have a timeline here. | ||
| Do you have any update on the JFK files? | ||
| I don't at this moment. | ||
| Again, I would defer you to our DNI director, Tulsi Goward, and also the Department of Justice. | ||
| I know that they are working on that diligently, as the President requested them to do. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Christian. | |
| Thanks, Caroline. | ||
| Two questions. | ||
| Since we've been talking a lot about tariffs, have there been any updates on standing up the external revenue service to collect revenue from that? | ||
| Well, we need reciprocal tariffs to go into effect first, and as you know, the president will be rolling those out on April 2nd. | ||
| And then the next start of that process is collecting that revenue to ultimately create the external revenue service, which Secretary Lutnick is working very hard on and is quite enthusiastic about, if you have noticed from his media interviews. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Can the President do that through executive action or will it require legislation? | |
| Well, the President already signed an executive order to direct the Secretary of Commerce to establish the External Revenue Service or at least to identify ways in which it can be done. | ||
| I would defer you to the Department of Commerce for more on specifics on that. | ||
| Sure. | ||
| In the back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you very much, Mr. Caroline. | |
| I have a few questions on South Korea and North Korea. | ||
| As you know, South Korean President Yoon has been released from illegal detention. | ||
| What is the reaction of the United States as an ally? | ||
| Is there a possibility of a summit with President Trump when President Yoon returns? | ||
| Second case on North Korea. | ||
| North Korea launched several policing missiles into the West Coast yesterday. | ||
| What is the White House's reaction on this? | ||
| Sure. | ||
| Yes, I'll start with your question on North Korea. | ||
| We condemn these actions and we call on North Korea to stop their unlawful and destabilizing actions. | ||
| As for South Korea, the U.S. and Republic of Korea's alliance is ironclad and the Trump administration remains in close contact with our South Korean counterparts as we work together to promote a free and open Indo-Specific South Korean president from day. | ||
| I don't have anything on that, but I can certainly check in with the National Security Council and get back to you. | ||
| Ms. Sure, good to see you. | ||
| Press Secretary, many are concerned about the validity of President Biden's official actions and also his pardons of the possible criminal actions of individuals such as his family members and Liz Cheney as information is emerging that many of his official actions were auto-signed, possibly even the pardons and without his knowledge or consent. | ||
| Does the White House have any information available currently that Biden was actually the one that approved and signed those pardons? | ||
| And second question, will a DOJ investigate whether President Biden's cognitive decline allowed unelected staff to push through radical policy and pardons without his non-approval? | ||
| I don't know the answer to that question, but I can check in with our folks here who may know the answer to that question and get back to you. | ||
| Dasha, Dasha, go ahead. | ||
| You did a great job articulating the vision that President Trump has for what his tariffs, he believes his tariffs can do in terms of bringing jobs back to the United States. | ||
| I asked you last week about how much Americans might need to buckle up for some short-term pain, a conversation that the President and Treasurer Secretary Scott Bessett have had with the people. | ||
| I'm wondering what is the how high is the pain threshold for President Trump and for this White House as you watch some of the turbulence in the stock markets, as you field concerns from businesses and potentially see some of those approval ratings drop in the short term. | ||
|
President's Economic Agenda
00:02:33
|
||
| How much is he willing to stomach that and will he stay committed to his vision for tariffs even as all of this comes up? | ||
| Well, the president has been working hard every single day to alleviate the pain that was inflicted by the previous administration through massive deregulation, through drill baby drill, as we like to call it, unleashing the might of our energy industry, which we know will ultimately drive down costs for consumers here at home. | ||
| And again, as I mentioned, the president is intent on signing tax cuts for the American people to put more money back into their pockets, which will ultimately unlock consumer confidence. | ||
| And again, I'll reiterate the president's words in layman's terms as he does best. | ||
| The president wants the American people to have so much more money in their pockets, they don't know what to do with it. | ||
| That's the goal of this administration through tariffs, through tax cuts, through deregulation, and through unleashing the potential of our energy industry. | ||
| I have two more quick notes before I wrap up. | ||
| April 28th, I can confirm that the Philadelphia Eagles will be here at the White House to celebrate their Super Bowl victory. | ||
| I know there was a lot of fake news about an invitation that wasn't sent or was sent. | ||
| We want to correct the record. | ||
| We sent an invitation. | ||
| They enthusiastically accepted, and you will see them here on April 28th. | ||
| And lastly, on a sad note, I would like to express our condolences to Fox News and to the entire Fox family who did lose a cameraman, Craig Savage, who passed away at 61 years old recently, a very tragic death, an individual who was a great man and covered this building for many, many years. | ||
| So the entire press office, the communications office here wants to express our condolences with his family and also with Fox News. | ||
| And I'll see you guys later. | ||
| Perhaps you'll see the president in a Tesla later this afternoon. | ||
| Have a good one. | ||
| Thanks. | ||
|
Recorded Vote on Debate Rules
00:05:48
|
||
|
unidentified
|
We joined the White House briefing in progress, but you can see it in its entirety if you go to our website, c-span.org, or with the C-SPAN Now app. | |
| The House continuing their procedural vote that would seek further committee debate on the rules pertaining to the debate on three bills, including a measure extending government funding passed this Friday and through the next fiscal year. | ||
| vote on approval of those debate rules is expected to follow. | ||
| The nays to 12. | ||
| The previous question is not ordered. | ||
| I thought so. | ||
| The question is on the adoption of the resolution. | ||
| Those in favor say aye. | ||
| Those opposed, no. | ||
|
unidentified
|
In the opinion of the chairs, the ayes have. | |
| Mr. Speaker. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mr. Speaker, for what purposes the gentleman from Massachusetts seek recognition? | |
| I asked for a recorded vote. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The eight. | |
| A recorded vote is requested. | ||
| Those favoring a recorded vote will rise. | ||
| A sufficient number having risen, a recorded vote is ordered. | ||
| Members will record their votes by electronic device. | ||
| This is a five-minute vote. | ||
| The House now voting on whether to adopt a rule for three bills, one of them a funding package to keep the government open until September 30th. | ||
| If the rule is adopted, the House will begin debate on those three individual bills. | ||
| While members vote here, we'll show you a press conference with House Republican leaders from earlier today. | ||
|
Americans Chose Republicans
00:05:23
|
||
| The sun is shining today. | ||
| It's supposed to be 70 degrees. | ||
| That's a good day. | ||
| Yeah? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Wherever you want. | |
| Well, good morning, everyone. | ||
| And I'm sure everyone saw the Democrats' choose your fighter video. | ||
| Did we all catch that? | ||
| Well, I'm here to tell you that America and Americans chose their fighter last November. | ||
| They chose to send President Trump and Vice President JD Vance to the White House. | ||
| And Americans chose Republicans to lead the U.S. House and Senate. | ||
| The American people chose us to fight for lower taxes, energy dominance, and a secure border. | ||
| Americans also chose us to fight for common sense, not for hatred and lies like the Democrats are spreading. | ||
| On top of spreading lies and hatred, since President Trump's return to the White House, Democrats have repeatedly embarrassed themselves and their party. | ||
| Look no further than last week's joint address. | ||
| Their derangement was on full display for all Americans to see. | ||
| I mean, Rep Al Green was removed from the chamber for his outlandish behavior. | ||
| Multiple Democrats walked out. | ||
| Now, the ones that stayed, they held up cute little signs, though. | ||
| And the minority leader, he couldn't find one thing that he could support. | ||
| Seriously? | ||
| He couldn't find one thing that he could support? | ||
| A speech that honored America and its people? | ||
| Sadly, they refused to stand for a child battling cancer, a future cadet's appointment, returning the hostages home. | ||
| I mean, those are horrible things to stand for, right? | ||
| I would never applaud those. | ||
| Democrats don't. | ||
| We're talking about patriotism. | ||
| We're talking about pride in our country. | ||
| They can't stand for that. | ||
| They're the party of hate. | ||
| And they hate little kids. | ||
| They hate America. | ||
| Maybe Democrats should just join us in building a more prosperous nation. | ||
| And then on Thursday, nearly 200 Democrats endorsed Rep. Al Green's behavior and his disruption. | ||
| Then they disrupted proceedings by singing songs on the House floor. | ||
| Let's be honest. | ||
| Things just aren't going real well for the Democrats right now. | ||
| And what do they stand or fight for? | ||
| No one really knows. | ||
| And don't take my word for it. | ||
| One progressive Democrat said, and I quote: there was definitely frustration about the lack of guidance or plan. | ||
| Another one said, and I quote, people are super pissed that we didn't get more direction from leadership. | ||
| Well, be careful what you wish for. | ||
| According to reports, Democratic leadership held a closed-door meeting to berate them for their behavior. | ||
| We'll see if berating the members is a useful strategy. | ||
| Because deranged Democrats, they have no vision, they have no plan, and they still have no leader. | ||
| They need something. | ||
| And since their leadership has given them no guidance, as a member of House Republican leadership, I encourage Democrats to stay the course. | ||
| Keep hating. | ||
| Keep doing what you're doing. | ||
| Democrats hate so much of what President Trump stands for and what the American people stand for that they are willing to shut our government down. | ||
| They want service members and border patrol agents to work without pay. | ||
| Small businesses not to be able to obtain SBA loans. | ||
| The Democrats want relief projects to be delayed. | ||
| National parks to be closed. | ||
| They want WIC to run out of funding. | ||
| This is what the Democrats want. | ||
| What Democrats actually want is nothing more than disruption. | ||
| Democrats have become chaos agents. | ||
| Democrats are deranged. | ||
| Their disarray is on display for all of the American people to witness. | ||
| And Americans will witness them attempt to shut the government down. | ||
| And if a shutdown happens, the Democrats will own it. | ||
| Just listen to what some of their members have said. | ||
| One said, and I quote, I'm not voting for a CR of any length. | ||
| Now, they might want to read the text before they say that, because the text wasn't even out when they said that. | ||
| And others said, we'd rather close down the government. | ||
|
Allow Parents to Bring Children
00:09:26
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||
| And look at the house. | ||
|
unidentified
|
216, the nays are 214. | |
| The resolution is adopted. | ||
| Without objection, a motion to reconsider is laid on the table. | ||
| I always have to get a delay in | ||
| action on the House floor. | ||
| You see members gathered kind of on the left side of your screen there. | ||
| They're apparently signing what's called a discharge petition. | ||
| This would allow parents of newborns, in particular, this would allow parents of newborns to bring their children to the floor. | ||
| And we believe they're all kind of surrounded by around member Brittany Peterson. | ||
| She's a new member who you see other members surrounding. | ||
| And we expect this to have further action here on the floor this afternoon. | ||
| Watching live coverage of the House here on C-span and just | ||
| a quick clarification. | ||
| This particular discharge petition would allow parents of newborn to bring their children to vote by. | ||
| I'm sorry. | ||
| to allow parents to vote by proxy. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Missouri seek recognition? | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I offer a resolution constituting a question of the privileges of the House. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The clerk will report the resolution. | |
| House Resolution 212. | ||
| Resolve that the Senate joint resolution 3 entitled a joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under Chapter 8 of Title V United States Code of the rules submitted by the Internal Revenue Service relating to gross proceeds reporting by brokers that regularly provide services effectuating digital asset sales. | ||
|
Opposing Bill: House Privileges Debate
00:09:42
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| In the opinion of this House, contravenes the first clause of the seventh section of the first article of the Constitution of the United States and is an infringement of the privileges of this House. | ||
| And that such joint resolution be respectfully returned to the Senate with a message communicating this resolution. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The resolution presents a question of the privileges of the House. | |
| Without objection, the resolution is adopted. | ||
| Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Missouri seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 211, I call up the bill H.R. 1156, the Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The clerk will report the title of the bill. | |
| Union calendar number two, H.R. 1156, a bill to amend the CARES Act to extend the statute of limitations for fraud under certain unemployment programs and for other purposes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Pursuant to House Resolution 211, the amendment in the nature of substitute recommended by the Committee on Ways and Means printed in the bill is adopted and the bill as amended is considered read. | |
| The bill as amended shall be debatable for one hour, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on ways and means or their respective designee. | ||
| The gentleman from Missouri, Mr. Smith, and the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Davis, will each control 30 minutes. | ||
| The chair recognizes the gentleman from Missouri. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| I ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and submit extraneous material on the bill under consideration. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield myself such time as I may consume. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman is recognized. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| The American people supported President Trump in November because he pledged to eliminate waste and fraud in government. | ||
| There is no better example of what President Trump is talking about than the rampant fraud the Ways and Means Committee has uncovered in the COVID-era unemployment insurance program. | ||
| This money was supposed to help workers and their families through a crisis. | ||
| Instead, it was stolen. | ||
| It was stolen by fraudsters and criminals. | ||
| According to government estimates, between $100 and $135 billion of UI benefits were stolen during the pandemic. | ||
| Outside estimates range as high as $400 billion. | ||
| That's higher than the economy of my home state of Missouri and about 20 other states. | ||
| It is the greatest theft of tax dollars in U.S. history. | ||
| So far, the government has only recovered about $5 billion. | ||
| As we stand here, there are over 157,000 open UI fraud hotline complaints and more than 1,600 ongoing fraud investigations. | ||
| This is a must-pass bill. | ||
| The statute of limitations for these investigations start to run out in 16 days on March 27th. | ||
| If we don't extend it, the criminals who stole money from the pockets of taxpayers and continue to do so to this day will get away. | ||
| The Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act is simple. | ||
| It doubles the statute of limitations from five to ten years so we can prosecute and recover hundreds of billions of stolen tax dollars. | ||
| We did this in the 117th Congress when Republicans and Democrats voted unanimously to extend the statute of limitations for fighting fraud in other COVID-era programs plagued by criminal theft. | ||
| This legislation deserves the same strong bipartisan support. | ||
| Yet during our markup, not a single Ways and Means Democrat voted for this bill. | ||
| Let me preview some of the fear-mongering you're going to hear today on this floor. | ||
| First, Committee Democrats will argue that giving law enforcement more time to prosecute fraud will lead to surprise bills or targeting of innocent Americans who accidentally received an overpayment. | ||
| This is completely false. | ||
| DOJ is focused on prosecuting sophisticated criminals who maliciously, who maliciously defrauded the government, including international crime rings, online scammers, and gangs that are using tax dollars to illegally purchase firearms and commit crimes. | ||
| This is not about going after grandma, who made a mistake on her form. | ||
| Anyone making that claim is simply not telling the truth. | ||
| That isn't happening today, and it won't happen tomorrow. | ||
| All this bill does is simply extend the investigations ongoing today. | ||
| Second, Democrats claim that rescinding $5 million to offset the cost of this bill is a bridge too far. | ||
| This is money sitting over at Department of Labor unused. | ||
| With over 1,600 open investigations, Democrats should be more concerned about what their constituents and American taxpayers have to lose if this doesn't get done. | ||
| Third, you will hear complaints about items completely, completely unrelated to this bill, like Doge, or the streamlining of the federal government to make it work better for the American taxpayer. | ||
| I understand that my colleagues on the other side may want to use their floor time to discuss those issues, but that is not what the bill in front of us is all about. | ||
| It is simply about continuing ongoing efforts to recoup tens of billions criminally taken from the American taxpayer. | ||
| A no vote is a vote to allow these criminals to keep the money they stole from taxpayers. | ||
| It's a vote to surrender to fraudsters, and it's a vote that says to Americans, we don't care about your hard-earned taxpayer dollars. | ||
| I urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman from Missouri Reserves. | |
| The gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Davis, is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman is recognized. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I rise to reluctantly oppose H.R. 1156 that would extend the statue of limitations for pandemic unemployment insurance fraud for five years. | ||
| During the pandemic, criminal actors and fraud rings took advantage of overwhelmed state unemployment offices and unqualified contractors to steal billions of dollars from American taxpayers. | ||
| Like the rest of my Democratic colleagues, I have strongly supported the Department of Labor, Inspector General, or OIG efforts to serve justice and recover taxpayer dollars. | ||
| We opposed Republican cuts to the OIG budget that slowed their work. | ||
| Then two years ago, when the Inspector General recommended we extend the statute of limitations for specific crimes to allow more time for prosecution of criminal rings, we tried to work with our Republican colleagues on a bill to accomplish that. | ||
| Why then am I opposing this bill today? | ||
| Just before this bill was introduced, President Trump illegally fired the very Inspector General who recommended this extension of the Statute of Limitations and who led the OIG's work to prosecute criminal rings, | ||
|
Exposing Pandemic Fraud
00:15:41
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| securing 1,400, 1,400 convictions, and over $1 billion in court audit restitution. | ||
| President Trump also illegally fired 16 other nonpartisan inspectors general, the same officials we depend on to fight fraud and hold agencies accountable. | ||
| And since that time, we've seen Elon Musk and his dog team sweep through federal agencies firing experts, demanding access to American citizens' most sensitive identity and financial information, | ||
| and levying unfounded accusations of fraud, federal program beneficiaries, even at Social Security recipients. | ||
| One in four Americans received pandemic unemployment benefits. | ||
| Many of them unknowingly received modest overpayments, often because of state contractor errors. | ||
| For example, Arkansas businesses received specific instructions from the Arkansas Unemployment Office about how their workers should report income on their pandemic unemployment applications. | ||
| Unfortunately, this guidance was incorrect, resulting in overpayments. | ||
| Consequently, the Arkansas Unemployment Office applied to the Department of Labor for permission to waive overpayments to employees whose employers gave them incorrect information. | ||
| These workers did nothing wrong, but still today, the Dodge team falsely claim these workers defrauded the government and filed criminal charges 10 years after they spent the funds on rent, food to survive, and the pandemic. | ||
| Extending the statute of limitations without a Senate confirmed nonpartisan inspector general and without guardrails limiting the extension to serious criminals could put every American who lost their job during the pandemic at risk of harassment and accusations of fraud. | ||
| Given the false accusations of rampant fraud by federal program beneficiaries, coupled with administration stopping enforcement against criminal activity by certain foreign adversaries, any extension of the statute of limitation need guardrails in the law to protect workers who were unemployed during the pandemic. | ||
| I filed an amendment to limit the extension to cases with an expected recovery of at least $100,000, which is standard practice at the office of Inspector General right now. | ||
| I am deeply disappointed that my amendment that would simply codify current practice was not made in order so that I could support the bill. | ||
| This bill will also cut the Department of Labor's limited budget to support state fraud prevention, including criminal identity verification tools. | ||
| As unemployment surges across the country, due to the Dodge firing of federal employees and contractors, due to the Trump administration's illegal cuts to nonprofits and theft of federal funding, | ||
| and due to the Trump trade wars, states will need all the help they can get to pay benefits accurately and to protect against the same bad actors that targeted us during the pandemic. | ||
| Given the failure of this Republican bill to protect the tens of millions of unemployed workers during the pandemic from the dog witch hunt, I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill until language is included that ensures that the prosecution's focus remains on criminal rings and large-scale fraud, rather than overpayments due to state or individual. | ||
| error. | ||
| And I reserve the balance of my time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman from Illinois Reserves, the gentleman from Missouri is recognized. | |
| I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. LaHood, the chairman of the Work and Welfare Subcommittee. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman is recognized. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Thank you, Chairman Smith, for your leadership on this very important topic. | ||
| I rise in strong support of H.R. 1156, the Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act. | ||
| This bill extends the Statue of Limitations for CARES Act unemployment fraud from five to ten years to provide law enforcement agencies with more time to go after the fraudsters and international criminal organizations. | ||
| Nearly five years after the CARES Act was signed into law, we are facing the expiration of the Statue of Limitations for holding criminals accountable. | ||
| Congress must act quickly. | ||
| We cannot retroactively change criminal liability for federal crimes. | ||
| As chairman of the Work and Welfare Subcommittee, we have done considerable oversight to investigate the size and scope of unemployment fraud throughout the pandemic. | ||
| GAO estimates between $100 and $135 billion with a B was lost to fraud, yet only $5 billion has been recovered. | ||
| This February, our subcommittee held a hearing with fraud experts from across the country. | ||
| One of our witnesses said that as much as 70% of the fraudulent unemployment benefits went to Russian mobsters, Chinese hackers, and Nigerian scammers. | ||
| A recent DOJ case involved a Pennsylvania man obtaining $59 million in public benefits and laundering the proceeds to China. | ||
| As a member of the House Select Committee on China, cases like this are deeply concerning to me and confirm our worst fears regarding the attacks on our institutions by hostile nations such as China and the CCP. | ||
| Witnesses also told us that fraud is continuing to happen. | ||
| Fraudsters are now targeting the disaster unemployment benefits using stolen identities of California fire victims. | ||
| The Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act is a common sense bill that doubles the statue of limitations so we can recover hundreds of billions of stolen taxpayer dollars. | ||
| Prosecuting bad actors has a ripple effect that will deter crime and prevent additional losses to the government and American taxpayers. | ||
| The DOJ has more than 1,600 open cases, uncharged COVID-19 criminal matters. | ||
| And the Department of Labor Inspector General has yet to investigate 157,000 UI fraud hotline complaints. | ||
| This bill is simple. | ||
| Once the statute of limitation expires, these cases will go cold and criminals will go unpunished. | ||
| Let me be clear. | ||
| A vote against this bill is a vote to surrender to fraudsters and criminals. | ||
| Don't let the criminals and fraudsters win. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman yields back. | ||
| Gentleman from Missouri Reserves. | ||
| Gentleman from Illinois is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I give four minutes to the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Dogan. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman from Texas is recognized for four minutes. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Well, today, Republicans offer a truly remarkable answer to unemployment insurance fraud, and that's to make a big cut in those who are already fighting unemployment insurance fraud and abuse. | ||
| Likely gone will be the resources for providing the states access to databases that they use to prevent fraud by confirming identities. | ||
| Once again, arithmetic is just simply not a Republican friend. | ||
| They cut $5 million from any fraud efforts that are going on today to produce a savings of $500,000 over a 10-year period, according to the independent nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which estimates also that, quote, any additional recoveries from their sorry bill of overpaid benefits would be insignificant. | ||
| And this rash Republican move comes on top of Elon Musk's slash and burn rampage through our government. | ||
| Who knows how many civil servants have already been fired whose principal responsibility is to fight fraud? | ||
| And not only the fraud that's occurred in the past, but some shyster who's come up with a new approach. | ||
| As the sponsor of anti-fraud legislation myself, legislation which Mr. Smith has refused to consider to prevent some bilking of Medicaid, I can tell the difference between a real anti-fraud measure and one advance on behalf of administration extremists who don't believe in unemployment insurance in the first place. | ||
| This bill's true objective is to penalize working Americans who, through no fault of their own, both lost their jobs during the pandemic and then received mistaken amounts of overpayment thereafter. | ||
| Now, years later, instead of accepting responsibility for the failure of the first Trump administration to improperly in improperly making those overpayments done first by the Trump administration itself and in failing to establish safeguards so that there would not be overpayments, Republicans instead are shifting the blame from Trump's wrong to workers, to wrongs that the workers did not commit in the first place. | ||
| This bill is just another part of the Trump-Musk fake war on waste, fraud and abuse. | ||
| Big claims, big, big claims. | ||
| No proof of genuine savings. | ||
| Really all about wrecking programs like unemployment insurance that the extremist Project 2025 said they wanted to eliminate even though they don't actually help taxpayers. | ||
| One thing we can be sure of is that with Trump, we have no accountability, no transparency, and no watchdogs. | ||
| That's why he moved quickly to fire at least 17 inspectors, generals, and different agencies, including the Department of Labor Inspector General Larry Turner. | ||
| At the very time he was fired, Mr. Turner received no cause for being fired, of course, because the real cause was they didn't want a watchdog there. | ||
| He was about fighting fraud. | ||
| He was prosecuting large, sophisticated criminal rings responsible for stealing hundreds of millions of dollars in other ways. | ||
| Make no mistake, if they had really wanted to target those who are taking this money unfairly and in a criminal way, they would have taken Mr. Davis' amendment to prioritize those who are doing the most damage. | ||
| I believe that Trump, Musk, and their House Republican enablers here today are much more interested in brash declarations than in genuine savings. | ||
| They have made clear that their number one priority in our committee is not unemployment fraud, but more tax breaks for plutocrats by shifting more of the tax burden to working families and irresponsibly increasing by trillions of dollars the size of our national debt. | ||
| I would urge a rejection of this bill and I yield back the balance of my time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlemen yields. | |
| Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities towards the president. | ||
| Gentleman from Illinois Reserves, gentleman from Missouri is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, yesterday my colleagues introduced an amendment that would limit prosecution of fraud cases with at least $100,000 in stolen funds. | ||
| Apparently, Mr. Speaker, Democrats want to give some criminals a get-out-of-jail-free card. | ||
| Let me give you an example of what that looks like. | ||
| A woman from Rockford, Iowa was sentenced to more than a year in prison for receiving $45,000 in unemployment benefits from eight different states using stolen identities and laundering the proceeds through cryptocurrency. | ||
| I ask for unanimous consent to submit for the record a September 20th, 22 release from the United States Attorney's Office, Northern District of Iowa, quote, Iowa woman sentenced to federal prison for fraud and money laundering. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Out objection. | |
| A criminal, Mr. Speaker, is a criminal, no matter how much they steal from the American taxpayers. | ||
| H.R. 1156 is a must-pass bill for anyone interested in enforcing the rule of law. | ||
| I yield as much time as she may consume to the gentlelady from New York, Ms. Maliatakis. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlelady from New York is recognized. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| It's unconscionable to me that our colleagues on the other side are actually continuing to fight to protect fraudsters, going so far as to even say that if they just stole $500,000, that they should not be prosecuted. | ||
| But we, House Republicans, we're fighting for transparency. | ||
| We're fighting to protect taxpayers. | ||
| We're exposing the waste, the fraud, and the abuse, including an estimated $100,000 to $135 billion in pandemic unemployment fraud. | ||
| Money that was paid for by the hardworking taxpayers of this country to help people who are going through a tough time during the COVID pandemic. | ||
| Sadly, my state of New York ranks near the top of the list with an estimated $11 billion in fraudulent unemployment payment benefits. | ||
| The precious taxpayer dollars went to fraudsters, many overseas, including China, Russia, and Nigeria. | ||
| They even went to dead people and inmates in prison. | ||
|
Pandemic Fraud Revelations
00:15:22
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| Criminals spent their money on luxury items like Rolex watches, fancy furnishings, items from Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Gucci, and even a $10 million villa in the Dominican Republic. | ||
| One spent $3.5 million on a mansion in New Jersey, a chartered private jet, Porsche's, Ferraris, Bentley's, BMWs, and Mercedes-Benz. | ||
| Another received over $1.5 million over a span of 10 months. | ||
| Meanwhile, my district office in Staten Island and Brooklyn had to help dozens of constituents who had their identities stolen and could not get unemployment benefits they desperately needed. | ||
| This is about fixing something that went badly wrong, to not just recoup taxpayers' money, but to ensure it doesn't happen again. | ||
| This bill will help crack down on the type of fraud, on this type of fraud, and would extend the statute of limitations that law enforcement needs to pursue criminal charges or civil actions. | ||
| And it also incentivizes states to help us crack down and recover these fraudulent payments. | ||
| And it puts checks and balances to stop future unemployment insurance payments from going to incarcerated and deceased people. | ||
| To date, only $5 billion or less, about 4% of this massive fraud has been recovered. | ||
| This statute of limitations for prosecuting fraud in COVID-19 pandemic era unemployment insurance will expire on March 27th. | ||
| And there's roughly 1,000 open cases investigating the fraud, and we must allow law enforcement to do their work. | ||
| And so I gladly support this bill because I'm on the side of the hardworking, taxpaying American who has had to foot this bill, while my colleagues on the other side of the aisle continue to defend and protect the criminals and the fraudsters. | ||
| Thank you, and I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlelady from New York yields, gentleman from Missouri Reserves. | |
| Gentleman from Illinois. | ||
| Mr. Davis is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield two minutes to the gentlelady from Alabama, Representative Tushoul. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlelady from Alabama is recognized for two minutes. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this bill. | ||
| This partisan charge bill targets innocent workers who lost their jobs during the pandemic, received unemployment benefits, spent them in good faith to pay for necessities, and had no idea that their states made mistakes in paying their benefits. | ||
| Sadly, my Republican colleagues are using this bill to throw millions of Americans' lives and livelihoods into instability. | ||
| This financial attack on my constituents required them to then reimburse the federal government for a mistake that they did not make, upending their ability to pay their rent, leaving families homeless, upending their ability to purchase school supplies or make a car payment, resulting in the loss of transportation that gets them to their jobs. | ||
| For people living on the margins of poverty, they don't have a financial cushion to fall back on when a surprise bill like this one is thrown into their family. | ||
| It will cause major disarray. | ||
| This bill is not about addressing fraud. | ||
| Republicans are simply using this opportunity to wage war on individuals themselves who did no wrong. | ||
| I encourage my colleagues to vote against this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Kansas, Mr. Estes. | ||
| Thank you, Chairman Smith, for yielding, and I want to thank you for introducing this common sense piece of legislation. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act. | ||
| But before I get into my planned remarks, I want to fact-check some of the colleagues on the other side of the aisle attacking President Trump, claiming that laid-off federal workers are being prevented from receiving unemployment. | ||
| We've been in touch with the Department of Labor, and they've published documented guidelines describing filing and eligibility requirements that make it clear federal workers are eligible for unemployment. | ||
| The biggest risk to federal workers is not being able to claim their benefits at all because fraudsters got there first. | ||
| There have been multiple data breaches at agencies across the government, including the Office of Personnel Management, exposing the personal information of millions of federal workers. | ||
| Democrats should be supporting this bill to catch fraudsters that are still out there using stolen identities to file illegitimate claims. | ||
| My colleagues on the other side of the aisle have insisted, despite their pushback on Trump's administration's actions, they want to cut waste fraud and abuse. | ||
| Well, today they can prove it. | ||
| The bill we're debating is really pretty simple. | ||
| We know that during the COVID-19 pandemic, many Americans benefited from unemployment insurance, but fraudsters took advantage of an overwhelmed system, resulting in more than $100 billion in sham UI payments, including $466 million of UI fraud in my home state of Kansas. | ||
| But the statute of limitations is fast approaching on March 27th, and if Congress doesn't act, these scammers are off the hook. | ||
| Our legislation today extends the statute of limitations from five to ten years. | ||
| With nearly 1,700 open cases, this bill gives the Labor and Justice Department the tools they need to go after these criminals. | ||
| This should be an easy yes for everyone in the chamber. | ||
| And with that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman from Missouri Reserves, the gentleman from Illinois is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| It's my pleasure to yield two minutes to the gentlelady from California. | ||
| Gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| I rise today in strong opposition to H.R. 1156. | ||
| Since the COVID-19 pandemic's start, Democrats have gone after the criminal fraud rings who stole from our pandemic unemployment insurance programs and empowered our partners across the federal government. | ||
| But today's Republican bill is so hypocritical. | ||
| It completely ignores President Trump's illegal termination of the nonpartisan Inspector General responsible for that very work. | ||
| Before he was fired, it was Inspector General Larry Turner's leadership investigating UI fraud that resulted in over 2,000 individuals charged, 1,400 convictions, and more than $1 billion in taxpayer dollars recovered. | ||
| In fact, it was I.G. Turner who had recommended that Congress extend the statute of limitations in the first place. | ||
| It's outrageous that Republicans now want to act on the IG's recommendation but refuse to address the illegal firing of I.G. Turner and 18 other nonpartisan inspectors general across the federal government. | ||
| Further, Republicans refuse to even consider my and Congressmember Del Benny's amendment, which would have extended the statute of limitations for six additional months and would have allowed for the full 10-year extension only if the president either reappoints I.G. Turner or appoints another Senate-confirmed individual for the role. | ||
| This would have been the responsible thing for Congress to do, keep the door open for now on investigating and prosecuting this fraud while also ensuring we have a competent Senate-confirmed Inspector General leading the charge. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to vote no on this bill, and I yield back. | ||
| The gentleman from Illinois Reserves, gentleman from Missouri, is recognized. | ||
| I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Indiana, Mr. Yachim. | ||
| Gentlemen from Indiana is recognized. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Mr. Chairman. | |
| I rise in strong support of H.R. 1156, the Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act. | ||
| Unemployment insurance or UI fraud ran rampant during the pandemic. | ||
| The Government Accountability Office estimates that pandemic-era unemployment insurance fraud totaled $135 billion. | ||
| That's about 15% of total UI benefits during the pandemic. | ||
| Other estimates estimate that UI fraud ran up to $400 billion. | ||
| California alone accounts for $20 to $33 billion of fraudulent pandemic UI payments. | ||
| One estimate put the state's improper payment rate at almost 37 percent during the first six months of the pandemic. | ||
| This fraud isn't just a blatant waste of hardworking taxpayer dollars. | ||
| It completely undermines Americans' faith in the system and our management of taxpayer-funded programs. | ||
| The Hoosiers that I represent expect more from their government as they should. | ||
| Despite these egregious levels of fraud, we've only recovered $5 billion of it, or less than 4% of fraudulent payments. | ||
| As of January, the Department of Justice had over 1,600 open, uncharged criminal matters relating to COVID-19 fraud. | ||
| Additionally, the Department of Labor has approximately 157,000 open UI fraud complaints assigned to its hotline office. | ||
| Unfortunately, the statute of limitations for prosecuting these fraudsters expires at the end of March. | ||
| This bill would extend that deadline for another five years so that we can continue to hold these criminals accountable and recover the stolen funds. | ||
| One of our most important responsibilities as members of Congress is to be good stewards of taxpayer money. | ||
| It would be irresponsible not to take every possible step to recover these fraudulent funds. | ||
| This is a common sense bill, and I am proud to be a co-sponsor of it. | ||
| I urge its support. | ||
| Thank you, Chairman Smith, for your leadership on this bill. | ||
| And, Mr. Speaker, I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman from Missouri Reserves, the gentleman from Illinois is recognized. | ||
| Speaker, I reserve. | ||
| Gentleman Reserves, gentleman from Missouri. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield as much time as he may consume. | ||
| The gentleman from Florida, Mr. Bean. | ||
| Gentleman from Florida is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Chairman Smith, for yielding. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, the COVID pandemic is over, and so have many of our problems that have disappeared with it, but the mushroom cloud of fraud still lingers in the air. | ||
| The COVID-19 pandemic just didn't just reveal cracks in the U.S. relief programs. | ||
| It turned them into sinkholes. | ||
| Due to a lack of guardrails, fraudsters stole hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars from numerous pandemic-era programs. | ||
| $135 billion. | ||
| That's how much was stolen from the American people in unemployment insurance programs alone. | ||
| As of today, only a paltry $5 billion has been recovered. | ||
| Meanwhile, the statute of limitations is set to expire March 27. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, letting cheats get away with stealing taxpayer money would truly be a tragedy. | ||
| To the fraudsters, conman, and outright thieves, I've got a message to you from the American people. | ||
| We want our money back, and this bill is going to help us get it. | ||
| That's why, Mr. Speaker, I am proud today to rise in favor of my colleague from Missouri, Ways and Means Committee Chairman, Jason Smith's bill, H.R. 1156, the Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act. | ||
| This must-pass bill will extend the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution and civil enforcement actions from five to ten years so the Justice Department can deliver justice and go after these fraudsters and recover our money. | ||
| The only answer, Mr. Speaker, is to vote yes. | ||
| Let's go get them. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman from Missouri Reserves, the gentleman from Illinois is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve. | ||
| Gentleman Reserves, the gentleman from Missouri. | ||
| I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Moran. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise today in support of H.R. 1156, the Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act, introduced by our Chairman Jason Smith. | ||
| It is clear by the day that the COVID pandemic gave rise to widespread financial fraud. | ||
| A prime example of that is the fraudulent unemployment insurance claims that were filed, which total between $100 and $150 billion, most of which happened as a result of organized crime. | ||
| Incredibly, to date, less than 4% of these stolen funds have been recovered. | ||
| And if we do nothing before March 27th, the statute of limitations to bring these criminal cases against these fraudsters will come to an end, and the rest of these taxpayer funds will be lost forever. | ||
| We cannot allow this to happen, and we must make best efforts to recover these stolen funds. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, make no mistake, the Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act is supported by both red and blue states across the country. | ||
| The National Association of State Workforce Agencies, a nonpartisan association representing all states, endorsed extending the statute limitations so that criminal prosecutions and civil enforcement actions could continue uninterrupted. | ||
| I ask for unanimous consent to submit for the record a letter from the National Association of State Workforce Agencies dated February 11, 2025, supporting passage of H.R. 1156. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, this bill gives states the time they need to go after criminals who commit acts of malice and intentional fraud against American taxpayers. | ||
| As a proud co-sponsor of this legislation, I strongly urge my colleagues to stand in support of the American taxpayer and stand in support of passage of this important piece of legislation. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield back. | ||
| The gentleman from Missouri Reserves, the gentleman from Illinois is recognized. | ||
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Federal Partners' Promise
00:06:35
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| I continue, Mr. Speaker, to reserve. | ||
| Gentleman Reserves, gentleman from Missouri. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Edwards. | ||
| The gentleman from North Carolina is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Chairman Smith, for your leadership on this important piece of legislation. | ||
| During the pandemic, Congress created three new unemployment benefits and issued $675 billion in benefits to folks who lost their job because of the pandemic. | ||
| Since then, the Government Accountability Office estimates up to $135 billion in fraud nationwide, with some of the more egregious states like California and New York reporting $18 billion and $11 billion respectfully in fraud alone. | ||
| Despite such rampant fraud, only $5 billion, less than 4% has been recovered. | ||
| Without H.R. 1156, the statute of limitations to recover fraud will expire in just two weeks. | ||
| Simply put, we cannot let criminals who defrauded the federal government retain over $100 billion of improper payments. | ||
| That money rightfully belongs to the American people and must be recovered. | ||
| I strongly urge us to support this bill. | ||
| And with that, I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman Reserves, gentlemen from Illinois is recognized. | ||
| Continue to reserve. | ||
| Gentleman Reserves, gentleman from Missouri. | ||
| I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from California, Mr. Kiley. | ||
| Gentleman from California is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| And Mr. Chair, I'm quite astonished. | ||
| I had every expectation I'd be coming to the floor for what would be a bill with overwhelming bipartisan support. | ||
| After all, COVID-era unemployment fraud was the largest fraud of taxpayer dollars in U.S. history. | ||
| In California alone, it amounted to some $32 billion. | ||
| By the way, California made it really easy. | ||
| People would submit claims with the name Mickey Mouse or something along those lines, and it was given no scrutiny as the state ignored the basic fraud detection procedures that were recommended by the federal government. | ||
| But because of the scale of this fraud, there's a very small percentage of the cases that have been prosecuted, and thousands remain unresolved. | ||
| So there's the need to extend the statute of limitations. | ||
| And the question with this bill is, are we going to allow those cases to go forward or are they all going to be dismissed? | ||
| Are we going to hold the perpetrators accountable or are we going to let them all go free? | ||
| Are we going to try to recover these funds for taxpayers or are we going to allow the international criminal syndicates to keep it? | ||
| And by the way, what do you think they're going to do with the money? | ||
| Give it to charity? | ||
| No, they're going to use it for further criminal activity. | ||
| This is a common sense measure. | ||
| I'm sure 99.9% of Americans support it. | ||
| And I sure hope 100% of our friends on the other side of the aisle don't oppose it when it comes for a vote. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman from Missouri Reserves, a gentleman from Illinois. | ||
| I continue, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Gentleman Reserves, the gentleman from Missouri is recognized. | ||
| I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Kansas, Mr. Schmidt. | ||
| Gentleman from Kansas is recognized. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I also want to thank the Chairman of the Committee for bringing this bill. | |
| I rise in strong support of H.R. 1156, the Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act. | ||
| There's an old expression that we've all heard at one time or another about the somewhat famous bank robber Willie Sutton. | ||
| He was asked, why do you rob banks? | ||
| And his answer was, because that's where the money is. | ||
| Well, that is exactly what happened with expanded pandemic unemployment insurance during the pandemic. | ||
| We all lived through it. | ||
| We saw it. | ||
| I had a front row seat as a state law enforcement official at the time. | ||
| We saw enormous, unprecedented amounts of money shoveled from this town out into state unemployment systems that were ill-equipped to handle them. | ||
| And you know what? | ||
| We didn't just know that. | ||
| The fraudsters, the criminals, the organized criminal enterprises knew it too. | ||
| And they saw opportunity. | ||
| They saw that's where the money was, and they chased it. | ||
| And they stole enormous amounts of money. | ||
| In the case of my state, Kansas, a subsequent forensic audit suggests about $466 million in documentable stolen pandemic funds. | ||
| So the question is, what are we going to do about it? | ||
| I'll tell you what we did about it as state officials at the time. | ||
| We looked to our federal partners. | ||
| Because we worked closely, everybody was dealing with a circumstance we hadn't seen before. | ||
| And we were assured that our federal partners had the tools, had the capacity, had the reach to exceed our borders and reach out and touch these transnational criminal organizations operating from overseas that stole money from our taxpayers right here at home. | ||
| So we deferred. | ||
| We relied on the assurances that the federal government was going to step up and enforce the law to its full extent. | ||
| And now here we are five years later. | ||
| And not just by happenstance, but because of decisions made in this body by people who came before us, the sun is about to set on the ability of the federal government to do what it promised to do because there is a statutorily enacted statute of limitations that shuts the door on further prosecutions in only a few short days. | ||
| It is within our power to change that decision, to let the federal government follow through on its promise, to bring to bear whatever tools we have, to try to recover whatever portion of that remaining stolen money is available to be recovered. | ||
| Why on earth would we not do that? | ||
| It is the right thing to do for our taxpayers. | ||
| It is the right thing to do for the rule of law. | ||
| It is just the right thing to do. | ||
| We should abandon the see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil approach that is the status quo. | ||
| We should adopt this bill, extend the statute of limitations, let our dedicated federal law enforcement authorities do their jobs, keep chasing this money, and bring back whatever they can find. | ||
| I support the bill. | ||
| I'm grateful for the leadership, and I yield back. | ||
|
Intend To Prosecute Everyone?
00:04:20
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||
| Gentleman from Missouri Reserves, a gentleman from Illinois. | ||
| I have no further speakers, so I'm prepared to close. | ||
| Gentleman Reserves, a gentleman from Missouri. | ||
| We're prepared to close. | ||
| I agree. | ||
| Gentleman from Illinois is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Then I will close. | ||
| After listening to the comments of Chairman Smith and my Republican colleagues, it's pretty clear to me that they don't intend to stay the course, the course that led to 1,400 convictions. | ||
| It appears that they really intend to prosecute everybody, the whole group, everybody involved. | ||
| So I want to thank my Democratic colleagues for their thoughtful comments and ongoing efforts to fight fraud while protecting workers from harassment. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to vote no on this bill so that we can incorporate the guardrails needed to balance our goals of prosecuting criminals and protecting innocent workers from harassment by the DOGE or others who might misuse this authority. | ||
| I trust that those individuals will not endure, have to endure the harassment that often comes. | ||
| So I thank you, Mr. Speaker, and give back the balance of my time. | ||
| The gentleman yields back. | ||
| The gentleman from Missouri is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| The folks on the other side of the aisle was referring to President Trump firing the Department of Labor Inspector General earlier. | ||
| President Trump campaigned on changing Washington. | ||
| He is well within his power to remove members of the executive branch at will. | ||
| And it is understandable, it's understandable, Mr. Speaker, that he wants people in his administration that reflects his views. | ||
| The Labor Department's Inspector General plays an important role in identifying fraud, but does not charge cases or decide which ones to prosecute. | ||
| The Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney's Offices handle prosecution of federal crimes. | ||
| This bill extends the statute of limitations to ensure the Department of Justice and has the time they need to go after criminals who committed acts of malice and intentional fraud against American taxpayers. | ||
| The criminal activity in the COVID-era unemployment insurance program represents the largest theft of tax dollars in U.S. history. | ||
| This money was supposed to help American families through a once-in-a-lifetime crisis. | ||
| Instead, thousands of criminals, including foreign crime rings, made off with hundreds of billions of dollars. | ||
| We know that some of these same groups are continuing to perpetrate UI fraud targeting disaster victims. | ||
| Fraudsters are filing claims on behalf of individuals impacted by fires in your state, Mr. Speaker, and North Carolina floods, then using the money for criminal activity. | ||
| The statute of limitations to prosecute these crimes is set to expire next this month, with just 4% of the stolen funds having so far been recovered. | ||
| Criminals are going to get away scot-free unless we pass this legislation. | ||
| Over the past few weeks, Democrats have sued and stonewalled President Trump, Elon Musk, and Doge over the broader investigation into how our tax dollars are being spent. | ||
| The American people are tired of words. | ||
| It is time for action. | ||
| The Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act will buy prosecutors and law enforcement more time to go after criminals and recoup the money taxpayers are rightfully owed. | ||
|
Aye
00:02:26
|
||
| It's no wonder this legislation is widely supported by federal law enforcement agencies and states. | ||
| The American people deserve justice, and now it's up to Congress to deliver it. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| All time for debate has expired. | ||
| Pursuant to House Resolution 211, the previous question is ordered on the bill as amended. | ||
| The question is on engrossment and third reading of the bill. | ||
| Those in favor say aye. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Aye. | |
| Those opposed say no. | ||
| The ayes have it. | ||
| Third reading. | ||
| A bill to amend the CARES Act to extend the statute of limitations for fraud under certain unemployment programs and for other purposes. | ||
| The question is on the passage of the bill. | ||
| Those in favor say aye. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Aye. | |
| Those opposed say no. | ||
| The ayes have it. | ||
| And without objection, the bill is passed. | ||
| And without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid. | ||
| For what purposes do the gentleman from Illinois seek recognition? | ||
| Yays and nays. | ||
| The yeas and nays are requested. | ||
| Those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. | ||
| A sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. | ||
| Pursuant to Clause 8 of Rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. | ||
| For what purposes the gentlemen from Missouri seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 211, I call up the bill HJ Res 25 disapproving the rule submitted by the Internal Revenue Service related to gross proceeds reporting by brokers that regularly provide services effectuating digital asset sales and ask for its immediate consideration in the House. | ||
| The clerk will report the title of the joint resolution. | ||
| Union calendar number three, House Joint Resolution 25. | ||
|
Repealing Biden's IRS Cryptocurrency Rule
00:14:51
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||
| Joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under Chapter 8 of Title V, United States Code, of the rules submitted by the Internal Revenue Service relating to gross proceeds reporting by brokers that regularly provide services effectuating digital asset sales. | ||
| Pursuant to House Resolution 211, the joint resolution is considered read. | ||
| The joint resolution shall be debatable for one hour, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Ways and Means or their respective designees. | ||
| The gentleman from Missouri, Mr. Smith, and the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Davis, will each control 30 minutes. | ||
| Chair recognizes the gentleman from Missouri. | ||
| I ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and submit extraneous material on the bill under consideration. | ||
| Without objection. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. | ||
| The gentleman is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise today in support of a Congressional Review Act resolution repealing the last-minute, unfair, and unworkable Biden IRS rule that places a bureaucratic burden on the Americans who own cryptocurrency and the platforms that allow them to own it. | ||
| Congress gave the IRS clear instructions in the 2021 infrastructure law regarding digital asset reporting. | ||
| The IRS was given an inch and took a mile, writing a rule that is overly broad and downright sloppy in the process. | ||
| The rule subjects decentralized finance platforms or DeFi exchanges to the same reporting requirement as a centralized bank or traditional securities broker. | ||
| Under President Biden, the IRS traded congressional intent for a politically motivated mandate. | ||
| The Biden administration made no secret of its opposition to digital assets and America's leadership in this booming industry. | ||
| Bureaucrats weaponized every tool in the toolbox, including finalizing this rule at the 11th hour, crippling the digital asset industry and threatening American leadership and innovation in the process. | ||
| Approximately one in four Americans own cryptocurrency. | ||
| This rule puts a huge burden on these regular folks and could discourage participation in the digital asset market altogether. | ||
| While workers lose, foreign countries win. | ||
| Since only American companies and taxpayers have to comply with the burdensome rules, only American companies and taxpayers will need to spend billions of dollars to change their business models and report billions of pieces of taxpayer data. | ||
| America risks losing our edge to foreign companies as a result. | ||
| The rule disincentivizes the very innovation that has powered American leadership in the digital asset industry. | ||
| In a global economic competition with China, this rule chips away at a source of American economic strength. | ||
| There are real questions if the rule can ever even be administered. | ||
| DeFi exchanges are not the same as centralized crypto exchanges or traditional banks or brokers. | ||
| DeFi platforms do not and cannot even collect the information from users needed to implement this rule. | ||
| Their software never controls the digital assets. | ||
| DeFi platforms cannot exchange currencies, hold assets in escrow, or maintain third-party records of financial transactions like their counterparts. | ||
| Yet, the Biden administration, they wanted to treat them the same. | ||
| As former IRS Commissioner Redig said himself, these new IRS crypto regulations require millions of taxpayers to file new Form 1099s in a way that would, quote, overwhelm the agency and have little or no value to be effective and efficient tax administration. | ||
| The lesson here is simple. | ||
| Laws passed by Congress should be interpreted and implemented fairly, not used as a pretext to gain more control over the economy at the expense of individual taxpayers. | ||
| The repeal of this misguided rule would remove a barrier preventing American consumers from participating in crypto and help cement America's digital asset leadership. | ||
| I want to thank my ways and means colleague, Congressman Mike Kerry, for leading the effort to protect taxpayers from an unjustified overreach from the Biden IRS. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to support this bill and I reserve the balance of my time. | ||
| Gentlemen of Reserves, the gentleman from Illinois is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I give myself such time as I might consume. | ||
| The gentleman's recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, back in 2021, when we passed the bipartisan infrastructure law, Congress felt it was necessary to pay for what we spent. | ||
| That's a novel concept around here these days, I know. | ||
| As part of the offsets to that truly bipartisan bill, we made some changes around tax reporting for the sale of cryptocurrency. | ||
| Under the tax system, taxpayers are required to pay tax when they sell an asset, such as stock or securities, at a game. | ||
| I know that some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle bristle at that notion, but that's how our income tax works. | ||
| Nothing in the bipartisan infrastructure law changed anything about the tax that cryptocurrency sellers owe. | ||
| Instead, we created a reporting requirement related to the sales of these assets. | ||
| When you sell stock with a stockbroker, the broker reports the proceeds of the sale to both you and the Internal Revenue Service. | ||
| Probably to no one's surprise, when there is independent reporting on these sales, taxpayers are more likely to report their income to the Internal Revenue Service. | ||
| It's a simple nature. | ||
| When there is an independent check on one's financial gain, taxpayers are more honest in their reporting of that gain. | ||
| This resolution today would repeal some, but not all of the Treasury regulations by the Biden administration regarding the new reporting requirements related to sales of cryptocurrency. | ||
| Although cryptocurrency is exchanged on both centralized and decentralized platforms, the bill today only repeals the regulation related to decentralized exchanges. | ||
| This inconsistent treatment of cryptocurrency exchanges leaves a significant gap in this reporting system. | ||
| If this CRA, well, we've done it, passes, taxpayers who would rather avoid paying taxes on the gains of their cryptocurrency sale can now move to a decentralized exchange, knowing that the transaction will not be subject to reporting. | ||
| In fact, the Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that this bill will cost the federal government $4 billion in tax revenue. | ||
| That is, this bill is expected to cost $4 billion in tax cheating. | ||
| It is clear to me that this bill weakens the Internal Revenue Service's ability to detect and reduce cheating. | ||
| Further, I'm deeply troubled by the potential of this bill to bolster nefarious criminal activity. | ||
| Decentralized exchanges are far less regulated than other exchanges. | ||
| They are known for being a method of laundering the sales of fentanyl and human trafficking. | ||
| My colleagues on the other side of the aisle yesterday at the Rules Committee suggested that nothing is stopping Congress from coming back and modifying the rules to ensure tax compliance. | ||
| Unfortunately, given that my Republican colleagues have repeatedly promoted tax cheating by the wealthy by their repeated efforts to cut funding for IRS enforcement, this claim that they would take action to ensure tax compliance in the deregulated crypto world rings hollow. | ||
| In short, this is an unpaid-for $4 billion giveaway to wealthy crypto traders with the potential for side effects that are much worse. | ||
| And for that reason, I do not support this joint resolution and reserve the balance of my time. | ||
| General Reserves, the gentleman from Missouri is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Kerry. | ||
| Gentleman from Ohio is recognized. | ||
|
unidentified
|
First, I'd like to thank Chairman Smith for his work on bringing this legislation to the floor. | |
| I would also like to thank the Ways and Means Committee staff for their efforts in moving this lisp of very important legislation forward. | ||
| This common sense, bipartisan resolution would overturn the IRS digital asset sale and exchange rule, otherwise known as the DeFi broker rule. | ||
| This legislation has broad bipartisan support. | ||
| You know how we know this. | ||
| In the Senate last week, 51 Republicans were joined by 18 Democrats and one Independent who favored it. | ||
| The DeFi broker rule, which came out at the end of 2024, implements stringent reporting requirements on decentralized finance exchanges or DeFi exchanges. | ||
| DeFi exchanges were subject to the same reporting requirements as traditional brokers and centralized exchanges, despite the fact that DeFi exchanges don't have the ability to collect any information that the IRS requires from individuals using their platforms. | ||
| This goes well beyond the scope of the Infrastructure and Investment and Jobs Act instructions to the IRS and Treasury regarding establishing rules for digital asset exchanges. | ||
| Through this rule, the IRS effectively imposed consumer and technology-related regulatory policies through the tax code in absence of an explicit delegation of legislative authority. | ||
| The DeFi broker rule invades the privacy of tens of millions of Americans, hinders the development of an important new industry in the United States, and would overwhelm the IRS with over 8 billion new information returns on Form 1099DA. | ||
| DA stands for digital asset. | ||
| To put this in perspective, this is more than double the amount of information returns the IRS currently receives on all forms of 1099 combined. | ||
| This rule will push American companies, jobs, and tax revenue overseas into foreign countries because American cryptocurrency owners would seek DeFi platforms outside the United States. | ||
| It establishes what we passed this it is essential that we pass this legislation today to avoid this nightmare from the IRS and for the American taxpayers while ensuring that the United States is in a position to lead the world in innovation with the digital asset and cryptocurrency sector. | ||
| That is why I am proud to have introduced House Joint Resolution 25 and I encourage my colleagues on both sides to vote yes on this important legislation. | ||
| With that, I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman from Missouri Reserves, the gentleman from Illinois is recognized. | ||
| Chairman. | ||
| I give such time as you might consume to Mr. Doggett. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas is recognized. | ||
| Well, thank you very much. | ||
| Brokers who sell stocks in mutual funds have long been required to file a report in January of each year on Form 1099. | ||
| They send it to their customers. | ||
| They send it to the Internal Revenue Service. | ||
| Many honest taxpayers out there right now have been collecting their 1099s from a bank or a securities broker to attach when they pay their taxes. | ||
|
Why Crypto Exemptions Fail
00:15:21
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| Well-established crypto exchanges like Coinbase and Binance are this year required to do the same thing. | ||
| So why is it that Republicans are coming here today and saying we want these decentralized finance crypto exchanges to be exempt from what everyone else in the financial service industry does? | ||
| Well, the answer is two words. | ||
| The answer is the same answer as to why it is we're about to see approved a new spending bill tonight. | ||
| It's the same answer as to why Republicans are insistent on a reconciliation bill that will add literally trillions of dollars to our national debt as they boast about being fiscal conservatives who are cutting health care in this country. | ||
| It's the same answer as to why Republicans can't find their tongue when Elon Musk goes rampaging through our civil service. | ||
| The president is responsible for dismissing more veterans than any president in the history of the United States. | ||
| It's the same answer that exists when the same rampage is undermining Social Security and the ability of the Social Security system to pay those checks that have been the lifeline for so many individuals who are seniors or individuals with disability. | ||
| The answer in chart is Donald Trump. | ||
| Because shortly before he became president, Mr. Trump began raking in tens of millions of dollars in fees by launching his own meme coin, and the Trump family launched World Liberty Financial, which seeks to become a future decentralized finance. | ||
| As usual, the Trumps don't want to play by the rules that apply to mere commoners. | ||
| King Trump, as he has self-described himself, plays by different rules for the royalty. | ||
| And of course, disclosure and transparency are absolute anathema to this administration, for whom lies are the currency of the realm. | ||
| Getting a special interest exemption from a pesky 1099 disclosure makes tax evasion and money laundering so much easier for the wealthy Republican donors who've been using these decentralized exchanges. | ||
| And this bill to exempt crypto fraud is consistent with the decision of Trump's SEC last week, sudden decision to halt prosecuting fraud against a Chinese businessman who just coincidentally invested $75 million in the Trump family's World Liberty Financial. | ||
| In this administration, friends don't prosecute friends, are certainly not friendly investors. | ||
| And despite President Trump's claim that he must launch a trade war and impose a 25% tax on Americans who purchase anything from Canada in order to stop the estimated fraction of 1% of the fentanyl that enters our country from that longtime ally, today's bill opens the door to rewarding drug traffickers in fentanyl and cocaine and whatever, as well as terrorists. | ||
| You need not take my word for it. | ||
| We can turn to a Republican, Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who said, quote, cryptocurrency has played an increasingly prominent role in the global fentanyl trade, both in terms of manufacturing and trafficking of fentanyl and in launching drug cartels and criminal proceeds. | ||
| This is particularly true, he says, of the so-called decentralized crypto exchanges, for which this bill provides a totally unjustified special treatment. | ||
| And according to the nonpartisan FAC Coalition, cryptocurrency is becoming attractive to hostile actors like Hamas, who seek ways to sidestep sanctions. | ||
| The risks are especially severe with decentralized finance platforms which are enabled to operate outside the traditional regulatory oversight that applies to others. | ||
| The further note when we talk about fiscal responsibility, this bill, $4 billion, $4 billion added to our national debt, they can't even question that. | ||
| It's like the $8 billion in one of the gifts they gave to the oil industry last week. | ||
| So $4 billion here and $8 billion there and $4 trillion or so with the Republican tax bill to provide more tax breaks to people like Elon Musk and the people that were there on the front roll of the President's inauguration. | ||
| It adds up. | ||
| And those Republicans who've been telling us we have a great national security problem with our national debt are so concerned about it that they're going to add trillions of dollars more, and $4 billion is nothing to ignore, which this bill does and does not pay for. | ||
| We should reject this new Trump special interest legislation that will just result in more corruption in this administration, a loophole that would be exploited by wealthy tax cheats, drug traffickers, and terrorist financiers, and for which there is absolutely no reasonable justification. | ||
| I yield back the ballots of my time. | ||
| The gentleman from Illinois Reserves members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the President. | ||
| Gentleman from Missouri is recognized. | ||
| I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Miller. | ||
| Gentleman from Ohio is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Chairman Smith. | ||
| The IRS's DeFi broker rule is a misguided and overreaching attempt to impose financial reporting requirements, which represents a fundamental misunderstanding of digital assets and its underlying technology. | ||
| DeFi protocols are not brokers. | ||
| They don't facilitate transactions like traditional financial institutions, nor can they collect and report user information. | ||
| DeFi protocols provide infrastructure. | ||
| Expecting them to track and report user activity is both impractical and misaligned with their core function of what they do. | ||
| Yet the IRS wants to force software developers, validators, and even everyday users into compliance with regulations that simply don't fit. | ||
| This is the equivalent of requiring the builders of our interstate highways to report the identity of every driver who uses them. | ||
| It's unworkable, it's unfair, and it completely misses the mark. | ||
| This rule would drive U.S. blockchain innovation overseas, killing jobs and stifling economic growth while doing little to increase tax compliance. | ||
| Congress should lead in crafting clear, workable regulations that protect consumers, ensuring that innovation isn't stifled and compliance remains practical. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to vote yes and do away with this unworkable rule. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| The gentleman from Missouri Reserves, the gentleman from Illinois, is recognized. | ||
| General Reserves, the gentleman from Missouri. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Moore. | ||
| Gentleman from North Carolina is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| I rise today in strong support of House Joint Resolution 25, which overturns the Biden administration's misguided attempt to impose unworkable reporting requirements on the digital asset industry. | ||
| In November, the American people sent a very clear message. | ||
| They were tired of the far-left policies of the Biden administration. | ||
| They gave President Trump a mandate to turn our country around. | ||
| Despite this clear mandate and warnings from committees, the Biden administration pressed forward with partisan midnight rulemaking. | ||
| Last December, the Internal Revenue Service finalized a rule that would require decentralized platforms to facilitate digital asset transactions to report user data to the IRS. | ||
| User data. | ||
| While the Biden administration claimed this rule was about improving tax compliance, in reality, it goes far beyond what Congress ever intended. | ||
| This rule would place impossible burdens on software developers, threaten American leadership in digital asset innovation, and ultimately drive entrepreneurs and investors overseas. | ||
| We cannot continue the Biden-era policies that crush innovation and put American companies at a disadvantage. | ||
| That's why I support House Joint Resolution 25, which repeals this harmful IRS rule and allows Congress to develop a targeted common sense framework that protects both consumer privacy and American innovation. | ||
| This resolution is backed by over 117 industry leaders, including the Blockchain Association, Coinbase, and the Crypto Council for Innovation. | ||
| Empowering innovation, empowering innovation, not stifling it, is key to keeping America competitive. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to stand with American entrepreneurs and innovators by supporting House Joint Resolution 25. | ||
| Thank you, and I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman from Missouri Reserves, gentleman from Illinois is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests. | ||
| I'm prepared to close. | ||
| Gentlemen Reserves, the gentleman from Missouri is recognized. | ||
| Pardon me, the gentleman from Missouri is ready to close. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes. | |
| Gentleman from Illinois is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield myself the balance of my time. | ||
| Gentlemen is recognized. | ||
| I appreciate the heartfelt arguments from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. | ||
| But at the end of the day, it's hard for me to overcome the fact that this bill would add $4 billion to the deficit solely due to taxpayer non-compliance. | ||
| If Republicans have a meaningful solution to address this non-compliance, we look forward to working with you on it. | ||
| But embracing tax cheating by completely throwing these rules out is simply not the answer. | ||
| And for that reason, I do not support this joint resolution and yield back the balance of my time. | ||
| The gentleman yields back. | ||
| The gentleman from Missouri is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Earlier this afternoon, we reminded the other chamber that the Constitution says all revenue measures must originate in the House of Representatives. | ||
| The Senate must have been just so excited about this bipartisan CRA that they couldn't wait another minute. | ||
| But that's okay. | ||
| Whether it's the CRA or the budget, guess they will just have to vote again. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, the repeal of the Biden IRS rule is a victory for common sense. | ||
| The federal government shouldn't demand decentralized finance platforms used by ordinary Americans to buy and sell cryptocurrency to fill out forms when those platforms don't collect the information needed for the form. | ||
| Neither the American people nor the IRS are equipped to handle the demands of this unworkable rule. | ||
| These platforms are not like banks. | ||
| They're not like security brokers. | ||
| Yet this rule treats them as if they are. | ||
| In order to justify the burden placed on ordinary people, Mr. Speaker, the Biden IRS stretched and twisted congressional intent to enact regulations designed to cripple the digital asset industry. | ||
| I urge all of my colleagues to vote for this bill and help dismantle the politically motivated regulations from the last administration. | ||
| I yield back the balance of my time. | ||
| All time for debate has expired. | ||
| Pursuant to House Resolution 211, the previous question is ordered on the joint resolution. | ||
| The question is on the engrossment and third reading of the joint resolution. | ||
| Those in favor, say aye. | ||
| Aye. | ||
| Those opposed, no. | ||
| The ayes have it. | ||
| Third reading. | ||
| Joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under Chapter 8 of Title V United States Code of the rules submitted by the Internal Revenue Service relating to gross proceeds reporting by brokers that regularly provide services effectuating digital asset sales. | ||
| The question is on passage of the joint resolution. | ||
| Those in favor will say aye. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Aye. | |
| Those opposed, no. | ||
| The ayes have it. | ||
| The joint resolution is passed. | ||
| Mr. Speaker. | ||
| First, the gentleman rise. | ||
| The yeas and nays are requested. | ||
| Those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. | ||
| A sufficient number having risen, the yays and nays are ordered, pursuant to clause 8 of Rule 20. | ||
| Further proceedings on this question will be postponed. | ||
| Does the gentleman from Oklahoma, Chairman Cole, seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 211, I call up the bill H.R. 1968, a full year continuing appropriations and extension act for 2025, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House. | ||
| The clerk will report the title of the bill. | ||
| H.R. 1968, a bill making further continuing appropriations and other extensions for the fiscal year ending September 30th, 2025, and for other purposes. | ||
|
Choice Over Open Operating
00:12:51
|
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| Pursuant to House Resolution 211, the amendment printed in House Report 11915 is adopted and the bill, as amended, is considered read. | ||
| The bill, as amended, shall be debatable for one hour, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on appropriations or their respective designees. | ||
| The gentleman from Oklahoma, Mr. Cole, and the gentlewoman from Connecticut, Ms. DeLauro, each control 30 minutes. | ||
| The chair recognizes the gentleman from Oklahoma. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the measure under consideration. | ||
| Without objection. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. | ||
| I rise today in support of H.R. 1968, the full year continuing appropriations and extensions act 2025. | ||
| Today's bill comes about at a critical time for this institution and this nation. | ||
| As members are well aware, government funding all runs out at midnight on Friday. | ||
| That means that members are faced with a stark but clear choice. | ||
| Will they vote in favor of this bill and thereby keep the government open and operating, or will they vote no, thereby affirmatively choosing to shut down the government? | ||
| This choice is the choice we face today. | ||
| We are now nearly five and a half months into the fiscal year 2025. | ||
| Congress has previously passed two short-term continuing resolutions, both of which extended government funding and kept the status quo in place, ensuring the government can remain open. | ||
| Today's bill is really no different than the CR passed in December. | ||
| Other than the most essential and critical anomalies, it simply maintains current conditions through the end of the fiscal year. | ||
| For those who supported the CR in December, you should have no qualms about voting for the same way on today's bill. | ||
| There are no policy differences, no poison pills, and no reason to vote against keeping the government open and operating. | ||
| A year-long CR is not how I hoped that FY 2025 appropriations process would end. | ||
| The Appropriations Committee and the House did their work. | ||
| Indeed, the committee reported out all 12 appropriations bills by midsummer, and the House passed five of those bills, covering over 70 percent of discretionary spending across the floor by the end of July. | ||
| Sadly, despite our best efforts, we were unable to come to a final agreement on the full-year appropriations bills. | ||
| Although we were very close on a final dollar figure, my colleagues in the minority made additional demands that would restrict the legitimate authority of the executive in the appropriations process. | ||
| These are restrictions that the minority would never accept for a Democratic president, nor are they provisions that President Trump would or should sign into law. | ||
| It is deeply unfortunate and disappointing that the minority chose to make these unreasonable demands. | ||
| Republicans never left the negotiating table and indeed worked diligently with Democrats to reach a bicameral bipartisan deal. | ||
| Sadly, the minority allowed their opposition to the President to cloud their judgment, giving in to a political temper tantrum rather than voting to keep the government open. | ||
| That truly is the choice before us, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Today's bill is a simple, straightforward, continuing resolution, funding the government and keeping it open through September 30th. | ||
| It maintains the status quo, providing flat funding for the government and including only legitimate anomalies. | ||
| Importantly, this bill does not contain a single poison pill policy writer. | ||
| It's a clean CR, fully funding our government. | ||
| This includes our military and defense needs, and indeed we've accomplished this while also fully funding the Department of Defense, including the largest pay raise for junior enlisted personnel in over 40 years. | ||
| We're also maintaining funding for other critical functions of government, including border defense, roads, parks, child care, water infrastructure projects, biomedical research, job training, and countless others. | ||
| I know members have heard some fearmongering about Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. | ||
| This bill makes no changes to any of these programs, leaving them intact, as is, and with the funding they need to operate through the end of the fiscal year. | ||
| Let me say that again. | ||
| There are no changes to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid period. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, the outcome of the fiscal year 2025 appropriations process is not what I wanted. | ||
| But at the end of the day, it is significantly better than the alternative, a government shutdown. | ||
| The choice is clear. | ||
| Either members will vote for this bill and for keeping the government open, or they will vote to shut the government down. | ||
| I know which option my constituents expect, and I know which I will choose. | ||
| I urge all my colleagues to do the same, vote for this bill, vote to keep the government open and operating. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I reserve the balance of my time. | ||
| Jim Neals. | ||
| And General Reserve. | ||
| The gentlelady from Connecticut, Ms. Lawrence recognized to the bank bill. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. | ||
| Ladies recognize. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I'm opposed to this one-year continuing resolution. | ||
| It is not a simple stopgap that keeps the lights on, the doors open. | ||
| This is Republican leadership handing over the keys of the government and a blank check to Elon Musk and to President Trump. | ||
| As the White House has said, this bill creates more flexibility for this administration to continue to undermine the Constitution and the countless spending laws by stealing promised investments from American families, children, and businesses, unlawfully dismantling agencies, arbitrarily firing civil servants, and canceling union contracts. | ||
| Read the Constitution. | ||
| Article 1, Section 9, Clause 7. | ||
| The power of the purse resides with the Congress and not with the executive. | ||
| And in fact, the President has no legitimate authority from meddling in the appropriations process. | ||
| Our colleagues across the aisle have gone to their districts and witnessed rage from their constituents at these actions. | ||
| They have been advised by their political consultants not to do town halls altogether. | ||
| Why bother listening to the American people? | ||
| It was President Lincoln who said, public sentiment is everything, and without it, you can do nothing. | ||
| They do not have public sentiment. | ||
| So now what we should do? | ||
| The answer should not be cutting non-defense programs by $15 billion and defense by $3 billion as compared to the Fiscal Responsibility Act agreement in 2025. | ||
| They are in violation of the Fiscal Responsibility Act. | ||
| There was an agreement with Senator Schumer, Speaker Johnson. | ||
| We all voted for it here. | ||
| But this is a violation. | ||
| Cuts non-defense $15 billion and defense by $3 billion. | ||
| Why do they want to shortchange defense investments by $3 billion? | ||
| I ask them. | ||
| Not only is it bad for our military, there is a reason the Department of Defense has never operated for an entire year under a continuing resolution. | ||
| And above all, it transfers more power to the administration to shut off and repurpose funding as they see fit. | ||
| The will of the Congress and the people ignored. | ||
| Elon Musk and President Trump would be able to fire thousands of employees. | ||
| Yes, we do not oversee Social Security. | ||
| That's in the purview of the Ways and Means Committee. | ||
| However, we do have control over the administration of Social Security. | ||
| And the President and Elon Musk would be able to fire thousands of employees at the Social Security Administration. | ||
| Just witness, they're talking about 7,000 positions gone. | ||
| What does that result in? | ||
| Office closures, longer wait times, unacceptable backlogs for Americans trying to access their earned benefits. | ||
| In effect, you remove the staff and the personnel, thereby crippling the agency to be able to do its job and, yes, to provide benefits. | ||
| And it's nice if you can individually negotiate with the administration on your own to keep your Social Security office open. | ||
| 47 are on the docket to get closed. | ||
| If one stays open, why not all 47? | ||
| The Army Corps of Engineers construction projects would be cut by $1.4 billion, 44%. | ||
| And President Trump, not the Congress, would determine who gets the funding, what city, state, locality, and how much money that is there. | ||
| Instead of helping address housing costs, the bill cuts rent subsidies by over $700 million. | ||
| It leaves landlords to foot the bill or to evict. | ||
| We will evict more than 32,000 households. | ||
| This bill breaks promises to veterans. | ||
| House Republicans wisely proposed $23 billion in advance funding for the Toxic Exposures Fund to care for veterans that were exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, other toxic substances, in their own bill. | ||
| Their bill last summer was in there. | ||
| We voted for the PACT Act on a bipartisan basis. | ||
| But that $23 billion in advance funding has now disappeared. | ||
| It is gone. | ||
| We do advance funding here. | ||
| We do it with veterans programs, others. | ||
| We do it with the Indian Health Service. | ||
| We do it for public broadcasting. | ||
| Why do we not want to do it for veterans' care and their health care and their treatment? | ||
| Why? | ||
| If I were a veteran and they said no to my advanced program, and we do advance funding, so issues like veterans' medical care don't get caught up in the political whims of this organization, of this body. | ||
| Veterans today have to understand that that $23 billion for them is not there. | ||
| There is uncertainty about that. | ||
| And there's no emergency funding in this bill for disaster relief. | ||
| It abandons American families who have had their lives turned upside down by extreme weather. | ||
| You know, the funding for the disaster relief runs out in the spring. | ||
| What about Kentucky that just had a winter storm in February? | ||
| Families will not be able to get back on their feet and recover. | ||
| Neither will businesses who have been shut down because of a disaster, a natural disaster. | ||
| You know, the decisions about investments that we make cannot be entrusted in one single office holder. | ||
| This Congress must decide: do we have the authority to control spending as we were granted and is laid out in Article 1 of the Constitution? | ||
| Why? | ||
| Why would we want to relinquish this to give this administration, which is already doing massive harm, dismantling agencies, firing people, telling them today they're no longer needed? | ||
|
Fatal Attraction Debate
00:10:02
|
||
| The chaos and confusion that has been caused by Elon Musk and President Trump. | ||
| Why would we want to turn over our authority to appropriate bills? | ||
| I implore my colleagues, join me. | ||
| Stand up for our constituents against an unelected billionaire, Elon Musk, who was stealing taxpayers' dollars from American families, children, and businesses. | ||
| Oppose this giveaway to the administration. | ||
| Pass a short-term CR, which I introduced yesterday, which would take us to April 11th to continue negotiations and pass regular bills. | ||
| Let us finish the regular bills that we agree on. | ||
| That would be such an improvement over a full-year continuing resolution. | ||
| And I would just say to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, a shutdown will be the result of the Republican majority walking away from negotiations. | ||
| We were that close. | ||
| They pulled the rug out from under us and said, stop negotiating, because Musk and Trump want to have the control with a full-year continuing resolution. | ||
| I reserve the balance of my time. | ||
| Gentlewoman reserves. | ||
| The gentleman from Oklahoma is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield three minutes to my very good friend, distinguished member of the Appropriations Committee, Mr. Alfred of Missouri. | ||
| Gentleman is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Chair. | ||
| And I just want to preface this by saying how much respect I have for the ranking member and her passionate arguments. | ||
| Although we don't agree, I do respect her highly. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, America broke up with the Progressive Democrats, but they just can't let it go. | ||
| And in the words of Glenn Close, they will not be ignored. | ||
| They're like the ex in the 1987 movie Fatal Attraction. | ||
| The ex who got dumped and is stuck in a deranged reality, refusing to move on. | ||
| They're causing chaos, spreading mistruths, and doing everything they can to disrupt what the American people voted for, all because they cannot accept that their big government, open border, America-last agenda is over. | ||
| We saw it just last week in this very chamber, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| We see it when we go back home to try to have conversations with our constituents. | ||
| It's quite simple. | ||
| House Republicans are here to govern. | ||
| We are passing a continuing resolution to keep America open for business, freeze wasteful spending, and secure our border. | ||
| This continuing resolution gives President Trump the time and power to continue draining the swamp and undoing the damage the radical left did to our country for the past four long years. | ||
| And what is the far left doing? | ||
| Throwing a tantrum. | ||
| A childish, petulant tantrum full of fear-mongering and gaslighting of the American people, rooting for a shutdown just so that they can point fingers. | ||
| Well, let me tell you something, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| It's not going to work. | ||
| We're not falling for it. | ||
| We're not playing this game. | ||
| This will be a Schumer shutdown when it gets to the Senate if that happens. | ||
| The American people chose secure borders, a secure economy, secure neighborhoods, and an America-first agenda. | ||
| The progressive Democrats just can't accept it. | ||
| But guess what, Mr. Speaker? | ||
| This breakup is final. | ||
| Republicans are moving on. | ||
| We will pass this CR. | ||
| We will keep America running. | ||
| I urge progressive Democrats to join the rest of the nation. | ||
| It's that, or they can keep screaming into the void because America is not taking them back. | ||
| The breakup is over. | ||
| So leave the rabbit in the backyard alone. | ||
| With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman Yields. | |
| Gentlewoman is recognized. | ||
| Speaker, yield one minute to the gentleman from New York, the distinguished Democratic leader, Mr. Jeffries. | ||
| Gentleman is recognized. | ||
| I thank the distinguished gentlelady for her tremendous leadership and for yielding. | ||
| I don't really understand the fatal attraction reference because if anyone is dealing with fatal attraction, it's between President Trump and House Republicans. | ||
| As soon as he says jump, your only answer is how high. | ||
| It doesn't matter whether you are hurting the American people. | ||
| That's why House Republicans are marching the country on a track toward the largest Medicaid cut in American history. | ||
| You hurt children, hurt families, hurt Americans with disabilities, hurt seniors, closed nursing homes and closed hospitals. | ||
| When Donald Trump says jump, extreme MAGA Republicans say how high. | ||
| That's the fatal attraction that's hurting the people of the United States of America. | ||
| And by the way, the core promise that you made last year was about lowering costs. | ||
| All you talked about was how you were going to lower the high cost of living. | ||
| Democrats believe that America is too expensive. | ||
| Housing costs are too high. | ||
| Grocery costs are too high. | ||
| Child care costs are too high. | ||
| Utility costs are too high. | ||
| And insurance costs are too high. | ||
| America is too expensive. | ||
| We believe that that, in fact, is the case. | ||
| But Republicans have done nothing to lower the high cost of living. | ||
| No bill, no executive order, no administrative action. | ||
| That's the broken promise. | ||
| We were told by President Trump that costs were going to go down on day one. | ||
| Grocery prices haven't gone down. | ||
| They've gone up. | ||
| Inflation is up. | ||
| You know what's going down? | ||
| The stock market. | ||
| Because President Trump and House Republicans are crashing the economy in real time and marching us to a possible Republican recession. | ||
| That's what's confronting the American people. | ||
| And so now we have this partisan, reckless spending bill that we're being asked to consider on the floor today. | ||
| Bipartisan negotiations were underway. | ||
| Rosa DeLaura was at the table working to reach an agreement consistent with the Fiscal Responsibility Act that was passed by Republicans and Democrats and then signed into law in 2023. | ||
| But when Donald Trump says jump, extreme agro-Republicans say how high. | ||
| And he ordered the Republicans to leave the negotiating table to try to jam this far-right extremist bill down the throats of the American people. | ||
| There are so many challenges with this bill, too many to detail. | ||
| But let me just articulate a few. | ||
| The House Republican, highly partisan, shut down, threatening bill is an attack on veterans. | ||
| It's an attack on families. | ||
| It's an attack on seniors. | ||
| It cuts funding for veterans, including billions of dollars in funds that will be cut from veterans in desperate need of health care for people who serve this country, who are suffering from painful exposure to toxic substances, Agent Orange and burn pits. | ||
| And this bill before this House cuts billions of dollars in that health care that is desperately needed. | ||
| That's an attack on veterans. | ||
| It's an attack on children and families in America because this bill cuts funding for nutritional assistance that would otherwise be available for everyday Americans to put food on the table. | ||
| When people are already struggling because grocery prices aren't going down, they're going up under this administration. | ||
| And yet, this Republican bill will cut funding for nutritional assistance. | ||
| That's an attack on children and families here in America. | ||
| It's an attack on seniors, an attack on everyday Americans, an attack on housing, an attack on health care, which cuts funds from things like Alzheimer's research to help older Americans battle these challenges. | ||
| That's what this extreme Republican bill is all about. | ||
| It will hurt families, hurt seniors, and hurt veterans. | ||
| The second problem, equally troublesome, is that this bill does nothing to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. | ||
| We've been very clear as Democrats. | ||