Providing for Consideration of H.R. Manage Our Wolves Act, and Providing for Proceedings During the Period From November Through November 2018

Floor Speech

(Mr. McGOVERN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, we are here today considering our first rule following a long district work period. During that time, we had a big national debate about the direction of our country. According to exit polling, the top issue for voters was healthcare and, in particular, protecting coverage from preexisting conditions.

But that is not what the bill before us addresses. Nor does it involve immigration, another top issue for voters, or strengthening the economy or combating gun violence. All of these are what our constituents just said was important to them.

But instead of doing anything on any of that, we are here today considering a bill to undermine endangered species protections. Are you kidding me?

And get this: Also, last night in the Rules Committee, the majority placed a provision in the rule that would remove the privileged status of Representative Khanna's War Powers Resolution, H. Con. Res. 138. This resolution states that Congress never authorized the United States' support of Saudi-led forces in Yemen and would direct the President of the United States to end his support.

This measure is a privileged resolution under the terms of the War Powers Resolution, which provides that resolutions concerning the involvement of the U.S. military in armed conflict have a direct path to the floor to be debated and to be voted on.

The rules provide this privileged status because such questions are among the most important that the people's House can debate. Such privileged resolutions or a negotiated substitute have come before the House under Republican and Democratic majorities.

Yet, with this rule before us today, Republicans have taken the unprecedented step of striking this privilege, preventing us from doing our constitutional duty and foreclosing the only available mechanism to compel an up or down vote in Congress regarding our military involvement in the Yemen war.

As of this morning, this bill, introduced by Congressman Khanna, has over 80 bipartisan cosponsors, including Democratic Whip Hoyer and Ranking Members Smith, Lowey, Engel, and myself.

The U.S.-Saudi military campaign in Yemen has triggered the world's worst humanitarian crisis, prompting the late Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi to call for an end to the war. Published just weeks before his murder, Khashoggi's Washington Post column was headlined, ``Saudi Arabia's crown prince must restore dignity to his country by ending Yemen's cruel war.''

It is unconscionable for Republican leadership to take this unprecedented action to strip Members of their right to bring such measures to the floor for debate.

Mr. Speaker, what is the majority afraid of? We should be debating this. Instead, the Republican majority continues to turn a deaf ear to this and many other issues.

We are 11 days away from our government running out of funding. Five appropriations bills have been signed into law so far. They have funded 75 percent of the government, but there is more work that we need to do.

We should be continuing that momentum and getting the job done, keeping the lights on, not wasting time considering a bill to attack an endangered species.

Or how about reauthorizing the National Flood Insurance Program that expires at the end of this month or putting a comprehensive reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act on the House floor that is set to expire December 7, not to mention the need to reauthorize the farm bill that expired back on October 1.

Our country's farmers are depending upon this Congress to put into place a new bill that provides them with certainty, especially in light of the trade war that President Trump has started; yet the majority has, instead, prioritized a bill that completely ignores all the important issues that we face in this country.

The American people have clearly had enough. They demanded a new direction and a new Congress that actually addresses what they care most about, and they demanded an end to this closed process. This rule marks the 102nd closed rule of this Congress. Now, let me repeat that: the 102nd closed rule. Mr. Speaker, that is a staggering number.

Now, I am not suggesting that every rule needs to be an open one or that there is never a time for a closed rule, but there is never a time for more than 100 closed rules. There is no justification for that at all.

Since the election, I heard my friends on the other side of the aisle express a hope that the next Congress is a more accommodating one. That is ironic since the Republicans have voted in lockstep for one closed rule after another, after another, after another.

But to them, I ask: Why wait? A Democratic majority will certainly be better than the current one. But Republicans don't have to wait until January. They could demand a more open process here today by voting against this closed rule.

This is your chance to prove that your newfound calls for openness are above more than politics. Vote against this record-breaking closed rule.

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Washington State, my good friend, Mr. Newhouse, seemed to imply that it would be an inconvenience for us to have the House consider a measure on Yemen, and I am a little bit puzzled by that. The reason why Representative Khanna took the step is because, for months, while this terrible carnage has unfolded in Yemen, this House has done nothing.

We just learned that the Saudi Government was directly involved in the killing of a Washington Post journalist and, again, nothing-- nothing at all. The Republicans took the unprecedented step of basically derailing this privileged resolution. It is unprecedented.

Over 100,000 Yemeni children have already perished because of war- triggered hunger and disease over the past 2 years. Why is the Republican leadership stripping us of the right to debate?

According to the U.N., 14 million people in Yemen--half the population--face an imminent and catastrophic famine not seen in 100 years if this war is not ended.

Why is the Republican leadership stripping our right to debate? I don't understand what they are afraid of. It is not like they have a lot to do. We are going to be talking about gray wolves today, and we are not voting on this until Friday. They have nothing going on. Certainly, we should have time to debate this important humanitarian issue.

Mr. Speaker, when my Republican friends want to dedicate the next 3 days to talking about gray wolves, people are being murdered every single hour in Yemen. The Saudi-led effort even bombed a school bus filled with innocent children. So it seems to me that there could be no more important time for debate in the House on ending U.S. military support for this war.

I just don't know what the Republican majority is afraid of. Privileged resolutions--I want my colleagues to understand this--by Members of this House, have always been allowed to be debated on this House floor, under Republican and Democrat majorities alike until now; until today. I don't know what the Republican majority is afraid of.

Let me begin by reminding my colleagues what the Republicans are proposing here, it is that the next 3 days be dedicated to the gray wolf. We are not debating healthcare, we are not debating the economy, or jobs, or keeping the government running, but it is to this.

They bring it to us under a rule that is completely closed, so there are no amendments to be made in order, and the rule is even worse because it basically undercuts the privilege resolution introduced by Mr. Khanna so we could debate this horrific war going on in Yemen.

It takes my breath away at the lengths that this majority goes through to basically deny Members of Congress the right to be able to talk about important issues.

Mr. Speaker, undermining endangered species protections isn't a national emergency. We shouldn't be prioritizing it today.

Not only is this rule a closed one, as you have heard from our side over and over and over again, Republicans took the unprecedented step of removing the privileged status of a resolution that would have given us the chance to debate the United States' support of the war in Yemen. We should be voting on this.

People are dying every minute in Yemen. Our silence and our inaction mean that we are complicit.

I have always believed that if the United States stands for anything, then we need to stand out loud and foursquare for human rights. There was a time when the issue of human rights was a bipartisan concern. But it is clear that this administration doesn't give a damn about human rights. But that doesn't mean that this institution should follow suit. Human rights ought to be the centerpiece of our foreign policy.

There are innocent people being killed every single day. Children were riding to school in buses where the buses have been bombed, where these children have died, have been murdered, and all my Republican friends can say is: Oh, you can take care of that after January when you are in charge. We are just going to spend the next 3 days dedicated to the issue of gray wolves.

Really?

There is so much real work in front of us, including our most basic responsibility of funding this government and reauthorizing programs like the National Flood Insurance Program, the Violence Against Women Act, and the farm bill. I could go on and on and on. Education costs are skyrocketing. Americans are afraid coverage for their preexisting conditions will be ripped away by this administration and its allies in Congress because you have tried to do it dozens and dozens and dozens of times. How about doing something about that?

It was interesting, during the campaign, my Republican colleagues were rushing to every microphone they could find to say that they somehow supported covering preexisting conditions. Let me remind everybody, and especially my Republican colleagues, that that was a Democratic idea that you opposed.

This was the worst election for Republican Presidents since Watergate. Maybe that is why Republicans are trying to rewrite history.

But here is another politically popular idea Republicans should follow: bringing an end to the most closed Congress in history. Let's let some sunlight in. Don't wait until January. Start today by voting against this closed rule and demand action on things that our constituents actually care about.

Just one final note, again, on this unprecedented move of basically denying us the right to debate this war in Yemen: I agree with what Mr. Khanna said. History is going to look back on our inaction not only on the war in Yemen, but on our inaction dealing with the brutality of the Saudi regime.

I would have thought that when we came back that one of the first items up on the agenda would be holding the Saudi Government accountable. Instead, we got nothing. Not only we get nothing, you take the unprecedented step of denying a Member of this House the right that he has under the privileges of this House to debate this issue of war.

This is so wrong. This is damaging to the institution, and it shows a callous disregard for what is happening in Yemen.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, do the right thing and vote against this rule.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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