Providing for Consideration of H.R. 348, Responsibly and Professionally Invigorating Development Act of 2015; Providing for Consideration of H.R. 758, Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2015; And Providing for Consideration of Motions to Suspend the Rules

Floor Speech

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Mr. POLIS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding the customary 30 minutes.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 348, the RAPID Act, is an attempt to limit flexibility and eliminate the public's role in environmental review and decisionmaking processes. H.R. 758 would force judges to impose sanctions against any claim that appears to lack support or involve a novel legal theory.

These are no doubt important issues to debate and discuss, and we will have that time on the floor, but I want to address what this body is failing to address. Though the subject matter of these two bills couldn't be different, neither one of them relates to the fact that we are 6 legislative days before a job-killing, money-wasting shutdown of government.

Now, when we hear 6 legislative days, let me translate that for normal days that Americans have. That is actually 14 days. We are 14 days until we risk the government shutting down. Of the next 14 days, Congress is only scheduled to work 6. Now, by the way, we should thank Pope Francis for that, because before Pope Francis scheduled his visit, Congress was scheduled to work 4 of the next 14 days.

Now, if everything were going wonderfully and this body was a model of keeping the government open and fulfilling its responsibilities, I think the American people would say: ``Well, guess what, Congress. You deserve a vacation.'' But that is not what I hear from my constituents. They are not saying that we should be on vacation 8 out of the next 14 days when we are facing a government shutdown.

Not only are we facing a government shutdown now, but we are 76 days after the expiration of the Export-Import Bank, which already has lost at least 500 jobs here in our country. We are 41 days until authorizing legislation to maintain our Federal highway systems expire. We have already passed that deadline twice and done short-term extensions.

In my August townhall meetings--and I had a number of them across the district--I do not recall any of my constituents telling me their family's top concerns are we start eliminating environmental reviews and public health standards.

While we are wasting unconscionable time on issues when we are only 6 legislative days or 14 real days from a shutdown, we wonder why this body is losing popularity every day among the American public and will continue to.

To my friends across the aisle, I want to work with you. My Democratic colleagues want to work with you. We want to work to avoid a government shutdown. We want to work with you to reauthorize the Federal highway bill.

These are not Democratic or Republican principles. Both parties believe in a Federal Government; both parties believe in highways and investment in infrastructure. So let's do that. I think we should do that all 14 days, or at least 12 of the next 14 days rather than 6, but at least let's get to work and do it.

I think we share many of the same domestic and foreign policy interests, and hopefully we can agree upon our priorities. The average American family in my district and across our country has no interest in grandstanding on display. They have no desire to send their hard-earned dollars in taxes to a body that continues to govern crisis by crisis, sometimes after the fact.

So I implore my colleagues to use the next 14 days--or, if they want to take 8 of them off, 6 days--to consider the threat we are facing and the hardship a shutdown would cause in districts like mine that rely on two major universities to receive Federal funding; Federal labs; national parks that support countless local businesses that would close if the Federal Government is closed; the Centers for Disease Control, with a strong presence in Fort Collins; and the many other secondary and tertiary effects that a Federal shutdown would have.

Let's find a way to avert it. There is still time. Let's not wait until it is 2 days or 1 day or zero days or negative 1 day or just hours remaining on the countdown clock. Let's pass a bipartisan bill to fund government. Let's reauthorize the Export-Import Bank. Let's make a long-term commitment to our Federal highway system and infrastructure to keep our economy growing.

After we fulfill these basic needs, these self-created crises that Congress is presented, then let's have a discussion about limitation of irregular lawsuits or eradication of environmental reviews on public projects. We can have our disagreements. We can debate them. But let's get our priorities right.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. POLIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Again, I think it is clear. We have had many Democrats coming to the floor talking about what we should be doing. I think the gentleman from Georgia might be the only Republican in the Chamber. Maybe there is one other in the back. I don't have my glasses on.

We have a lot of ideas for keeping government open. Mainly, let's pass a continuing resolution to do it now. Let's work more than 6 days out of the next 14. Let's stay here until we can keep government open, until we can reauthorize the transportation and infrastructure bill.

It sounds obvious to me; yet there just didn't seem to be any interest from the other side. No Republicans have approached me about keeping government open. I hope you do, Mr. Speaker. I hope you encourage your colleagues to. There is no one here in the Chamber talking about what we can do to avoid a job-crushing government shutdown, which we are 14 days away from.
Mr. Speaker, I want to make sure I am clear. These issues we should discuss. Natural resources. The World Health Organization estimates that 2 million people a year are killed because of air pollution. But putting forth these bills now does nothing to eliminate or deal with a job-crushing government shutdown.

Over just 16 days in 2013, our country lost $24 billion in economic growth, hundreds of thousands of Federal workers were furloughed, contractors and subcontractors were not paid. It is an avoidable scenario. It is a crisis created by Congress. We wonder why people don't like Congress. It is a crisis of our own making.

Why are we threatening the critical, everyday services Americans rely on, the millions of people that work for contractors and subcontractors of the Federal Government?

A small-R republic is a system of governance in which people exert influence over their elected officials, and those representatives are supposed to listen and act upon those requests.

We need to listen to the American people and take the responsible course, Mr. Speaker. I urge my colleagues to join me on this commonsense mission before it is too late.

I urge my colleagues to oppose the rule and the underlying legislation. We need to reinstate a legislative agenda that aligns with the desires and wills and aspirations of the American people and American businesses.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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