Providing for Consideration of Senate Amendment to H.R. Shiloh National Military Park Boundary Adjustment and Parker's Crossroads Battlefield Designation Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, let me first of all say to the gentleman from Texas, the distinguished chairman of the Rules Committee, that I like him a lot, he is a great friend, and I respect him a lot, but I don't like this bill and I don't respect this process.

Mr. Speaker, we are here today with the majority's last ditch effort to ram through another partisan tax bill before the end of this Congress.

And like so many of the Republican tax bills that came before it, this legislation hasn't been considered by the relevant committee. There was no hearing. There was no markup. Regular order was thrown to the wind. And Republicans didn't even consult with us, us Democrats, on this legislation.

This 300-page bill was drafted in the dark of night behind closed doors in some back room somewhere. Apparently the majority has completely abandoned any semblance of responsible governing.

My friends on the other side of the aisle are rushing to discuss how this is a commonsense plan and the result of some kind of negotiation.

Mr. Speaker, are they discussing the same bill? Because this one was introduced late Monday night. Democrats learned about it after it was released to the press. To claim otherwise is revisionist history.

This legislation goes beyond a traditional tax extenders deal. It is a vehicle for the majority to rush in fixes to their disastrous tax scam, which added $2.3 trillion to the debt to give the wealthy more tax cuts, fixes that are necessary because they rushed the bill through the House and the Senate in just 51 days. That is not a deliberative process, Mr. Speaker. That is a disastrous process.

This majority just had its worst election since Watergate. Democrats earned 9 million more votes, and counting. But apparently Republicans still haven't gotten the message, because they are continuing to fight for corporations instead of truly working with us to advance changes to our Tax Code that actually improve the lives of hardworking Americans.

Let me say it as clearly as I can: this is no real fix for the tax scam monstrosity. So why are we wasting legislative time?

We have real work to do, by the way. There are seven appropriation bills that still need to be signed into law over the next 5 legislative days, otherwise, our Nation faces yet another Republican shutdown. I read an interview with President Trump yesterday. He said he would ``totally be willing'' to shut down the government if taxpayers aren't forced to pay for his offensive border wall with Mexico. This is the same wall the President promised Mexico would pay for.

Apparently the majority is willing to have the American taxpayer get stuck with the bill, because instead of fulfilling our most basic responsibility of keeping the lights on, we are here today with another Band-Aid for their tax scam.

They are also ignoring the need to reauthorize the farm bill, which expired on October 1.

Oh, and the Violence Against Women Act will expire on December 7. It deserves a full reauthorization after a comprehensive floor debate so it could be updated to reflect the changing times.

We still have no long-term plan to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program. This majority continues to kick the can down the road little by little, leaving millions of Americans that rely on this important program in limbo.

But the only thing the majority apparently wants to debate over and over and over again are partisan tax bills.

And by the way, for all their talk about the importance of providing disaster relief, the Republicans are refusing to support nationwide relief. They are picking and choosing which disaster victims deserve aid.

Mr. Speaker, where is the coverage for the devastating flooding in Wisconsin or Montana or Kansas or many other States that aren't included here? Apparently to this majority, getting disaster relief depends on your ZIP Code.

So I hope everyone watching here today isn't fooled when the majority presents its bill as just some mundane tax extenders bill, because this is really another partisan attempt to fix their tax scam before a Democratic majority takes over in January.

The American people made abundantly clear that they want Congress to listen to them. Yet today we are once again considering a tax bill to try and fix the Republicans' unfixable tax scam. This is the same agenda the American people rejected from coast to coast.

The majority may be content continuing to turn a deaf ear to the public, but we will not.

Mr. Speaker, let me just make a couple of points before I yield time to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Kind).

First of all, Mr. Speaker, the distinguished chairman of the Rules Committee mentioned the great people on the Ways and Means Committee. I just want to say that there are great people on the Ways and Means Committee, both Democrats and Republicans. Unfortunately, they didn't get to do their job.

When I think of committees doing their work, I think of them holding a hearing. I think of them doing a markup, or amendments are offered and things are adjusted and changed where everybody has an input. This bypassed the committee.

We can say all the nice things we want about the members of the Ways and Means Committee, but they had nothing to do with this. Leadership kind of drafted this in the back room and put it forward.

The gentleman talks about disasters. We need to help the areas of this country that have been subjects of natural disasters. The problem is--and I have a list that I am happy to share with the gentleman-- there are, like, 38 areas of this country that have experienced disasters that get nothing in this bill--not a thing. Maybe if you had a hearing, you might have figured that out.

Finally, there are a couple of good things in this bill we all can agree on, but let's not kid ourselves. This bill really is a way to fix the disastrous tax scam monstrosity which was about giveaways to corporations and wealthy individuals that they rushed through so quickly that it is filled with errors. That is what this is about.

I stand by what I said when I said that this is not a good bill and this is a lousy process. We need to do better. I hope in the future, when we talk about tax legislation, we come to the floor where the committee of jurisdiction takes the time to deliberate on it, to do hearings, to do markups, and to hear from both sides.

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Texas, the distinguished chairman of the Rules Committee, is right. There are differences between Democrats and Republicans on how we should approach some of these issues, including tax issues. We believe that the focus ought to be on the middle class and those struggling to get in the middle class.

My friends on the other side are more interested in helping those who are well-off and well connected. We are horrified by the fact that my Republican friends seem to have no regard for adding to the debt the way they have. We think that there has to be some responsibility.

But we can have those fights. I think whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, whether you are a liberal or a conservative, the one thing that we should all agree on is that the process should have some integrity.

When you bring bills to the floor like major tax bills, it ought to have been the result of the committee process. There should have been hearings where you have people who are pro and con come forward and testify and give their advice, or you have a markup where Democrats and Republicans can offer amendments to try to make the bill better.

I still don't understand why so many areas of the country that have been victims of disasters are not even mentioned in this so-called wonderful bill that the gentleman from Texas talks about.

Process has to matter. The committees of jurisdiction--in this case, it is the Ways and Means Committee--matter. But this is not unique. We have seen bills come to the Rules Committee time and time again that have bypassed committees of jurisdiction, have had no hearings, have had no markups, no nothing.

If I were a Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, I would be upset that a major piece of legislation would come to the Rules Committee without having gone through the committee that I am on. That is not the way this place is supposed to work. We need to do better.

I would say that if this were subjected to a normal process where committees could work their will, maybe we would be here having a different discussion. Maybe there would be more bipartisanship here, not just on a couple of items that are tucked into this bill, but on the whole package. I don't know. But I would like to see us go back to having committees matter again.

Mr. Speaker, the chairman of the Rules Committee keeps on talking about success and how the Republicans delivered and how great everything is. If that were the case, I think the election results in November would have been much different.

The bottom line is that--this is according to exit polls that were conducted by major news outlets--28 percent of the people surveyed said that the Republican tax bill has helped them--only 28 percent. That is it. Sixty-eight percent say it has had absolutely no impact or has hurt them. That is what the American people think.

So my friends can pontificate all they want and talk about how wonderful everything is, and it may be good therapy. But at the end of the day, the American people have a very different opinion of the performance.

When the gentleman talks about investing in our country, where is the infrastructure bill? Where is the infrastructure bill that the President promised, that the Republicans said they were going to work on to rebuild our country, to put millions of people to work in good- paying jobs? It is nowhere to be found.

So the bottom line is, the American people issued their verdict on the Republican performance, and, quite frankly, it wasn't a positive one.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire from the gentleman from Texas how many more speakers he has?

Mr. Speaker, people are beginning to read the bill. Members should have just received a letter from 27 national groups, including labor unions, good government groups, and anti-poverty groups, who just sent us a letter strongly urging us to oppose this partisan tax bill. These groups represent millions and millions of people in this country. They don't represent the big corporations or the people who are well- connected and well-off. They represent working-class people and middle- class people, those who are struggling in poverty. But they are asking us to oppose this, and I urge my colleagues to take note of their appeal.

Mr. Speaker, this very week, General Motors announced that they are laying off nearly 50 percent of their workers in North America and shuttering five plants. That is thousands of workers--thousands of families--who are going to spend their holiday season applying for unemployment and worrying about what is next. They don't have the luxury of waiting until the Democratic majority takes over in January. They are hurting right now. Many of them believed President Trump when he visited Ohio last year. He told them:

Don't move. Don't sell your house. The jobs are all coming back. They are all coming back.

So what are House Republicans doing to help? Are they making good on their promise to help support working families?

The answer is absolutely not.

They are spending their last month in power doubling down on their tax scam to help the corporate elite. I have to ask my friends on the other side of the aisle: Are you kidding me?

All the while, the President's disastrous trade war has been making things even worse. According to General Motors, his tariffs have cost the company an extra $1 billion--that is billion with a B.

Tell me, is this what winning is supposed to look like? Because it feels an awful lot like losing.

This bill is what happens when Republicans rush bills through so fast that there is no time to understand its impact.

Let me tell you: things have to change around here. They really do. I say this over and over and over again, but I believe it. This should not be a partisan matter for debate, and that is that committees of jurisdiction in this House ought to do their job. They ought to do their work. On major issues like this, there ought to be hearings. There ought to be markups. People ought to be able to express themselves.

People fight to get on the Ways and Means Committee because they want to have their fingerprints on tax legislation. They don't fight to get on committees like Ways and Means so that somebody in the leadership just bypasses the committee totally, we go right to the Rules Committee with a closed rule.

So much of what has happened in this last session has happened with total disregard to regular order. I think, quite frankly, it has negatively impacted the products that have come out of this Congress. But I also think it has been insulting to, not just Democratic Members, but to Republican Members as well.

So we really need to step back and to figure out how we can run this place better, and I hope that a Democratic majority will do that.

We are days away from a possible government shutdown. We have seven appropriation bills left to sign into law, and we are helping corporations instead. What an embarrassment and what a shame.

Lastly, Mr. Speaker, I do want to take a moment, despite my strong reservations with how we are proceeding here today, to recognize the chairman of the Rules Committee, Congressman Sessions, for his service. He and I, obviously, don't agree on every policy or every piece of legislation, but despite our disagreements, he has always had my respect, and I have always appreciated his professionalism and the courtesy that he has shown those of us on both sides of the aisle who have testified before the committee over the years.

The Rules Committee has a reputation for long hearings, and that is because the chairman insists that everybody has an opportunity to say what is on their mind, and sometimes people can't say it in 5 minutes. Sometimes they say it in 5 hours. Nonetheless, he has presided over a committee that has always been receptive to people's views.

It is important as we discuss policy here that we don't lose sight of the people we serve with, and I know he will lead a professional transition as we prepare for the next Congress. But I wanted to say, for the Record, that despite our sharp disagreements on issues like today, and even on process, that I have high regard for him, and I thank him for his service.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the rule and vote ``no'' on the underlying bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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