Legislative Program
Floor Speech
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Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I rise for the purpose of inquiring of the majority leader the schedule for next week.
I yield to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), our distinguished majority leader.
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Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I know the gentleman and I have been having the conversation for well over a month now about this crisis at the border. I am glad to hear that there is the possibility, maybe the likelihood, that there will be legislation coming to the floor to address the crisis.
I am also aware, as the gentleman is, that the Senate did just pass legislation out of committee to address the crisis. It was a 30-1 vote, a very bipartisan vote, to address the crisis.
In fact, I know that the Senate, both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate, worked closely with the White House to get to a point where, while they don't completely agree on all the details, it seems clear that the White House would be able to have this bill signed by the President, which, again, addresses the crisis before it becomes imminent shutdown.
There was a letter sent just days ago, and Secretary Azar has been making it very clear how serious of a crisis this is, literally to the point where they are about to run out of money to take care of young children who are coming over illegally, many of whom have serious health problems.
They want to take care of these kids. They are properly taking care of these kids, but they are about to run out of money to take care of these kids.
They just sent an Antideficiency Act notice, which means they basically are out of money that has been appropriated by Congress. It would be a violation of the law to spend any money after they have run out of money appropriated by Congress. Under this act, they can spend money in violation of that law if it is to preserve life and safety. They are at that critical of a point.
I make all of these points just to ask the gentleman: As we look at the Senate bill, while it might not be ideal, it can be signed by the President. We haven't seen any details of what my friend is working on right now. I am not sure how closely the gentleman has been working with the White House. Has the gentleman been working with the White House to come up with a bill that can actually be signed by the President in time to avert this crisis before they run out of money in a matter of days?
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman.
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Mr. SCALISE. I just can't urge enough that as these conversations are happening and as this work is going on over the weekend that it is work not just among Democrat appropriators and Democrat leadership but that the majority is working with Republicans as well and with the White House as well because we have been hearing that there may be some of what would be considered poison pills that might be added.
There are things that the agency is doing. For example, HHS is trying to find more places to house these children. They have over 13,000 children in their custody right now, in their care, and they want to take care of them. They need the money to take care of them. They are literally days away from running out of money to take care of them.
This is the midnight hour, but it is not the midnight hour because they just dropped it. This has been known for over a month. They have been asking for this money for over a month. They are days away from running out.
If this becomes a game where only a partisan bill is brought to the floor with poison pills that everybody knows the White House can't support, when we have seen the Senate take action with a 30-1 vote on a bill that the President can support, if a bill comes out of the House that does have those kinds of poison pills and limits the ability of the agency--not on the wall.
We are not even talking about all the other problems with the border and things that are causing so many people to come over illegally. We still have to deal with that. Now we are just talking about taking care of these kids.
The Senate proved that they can pass a bill in a very bipartisan way that can be signed by the President. We need to be working not just among Democrats but among Republicans with the White House on a bill the President can sign because if we don't pass a bill by the end of next week--the gentleman from Maryland makes the schedule. He knows the schedule. We are not here on July Fourth recess. Once we leave next week, if we don't have a bill that the President can sign passed through the House and through the Senate, they go into shutdown mode. They will literally be in shutdown mode after the July Fourth recess.
The employees of HHS will not get paid. They will have to be finding money to feed these young kids, over 13,000 of them, with moneys that are not appropriated by Congress. They will be out of money.
I appreciate that the gentleman has a group working on a bill, but I can't urge enough that this bill has to be bipartisan and in a way that the President can sign by the time we leave next week. If we go to conference because the House passes a partisan bill when the Senate proved that they can come together and pass a very bipartisan bill 30-1 out of committee that the President will sign--we have to be working on that same track.
Otherwise, if we leave next week without a bill that is signed by the President, they go into shutdown. Those 13,000-plus kids who are being treated will be being treated by HHS employees who won't be getting paid and with money to feed them and take care of their healthcare needs from who knows what account.
There is no money left. Again, this isn't a new problem. This has been known for over a month. We have been urging action.
I would just urge that while the work is being done over the weekend, can we get an assurance that it will be done in a way that we will be working with the White House like the Senate did, Republicans and Democrats, a 30-1 vote out of committee, that kind of approach as opposed to an approach that might include some poison pills that everybody knows then poison the well where it won't be signed by the President?
I yield to the gentleman, Madam Speaker.
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Mr. SCALISE. I thank the gentleman for that commitment because I know that our teams will be talking. The leadership teams will be talking and working, hopefully, completely together in a way where, when we look at the Senate bill, there are components of the Senate bill that I would prefer not be in there, and I know there are things that the White House would rather not have in that bill, but there is give-and- take.
There has been give-and-take, and it has gotten to a point where they at least recognize that, with the things that they might not want, there are no poison pills in it. At least it gives them the tools they need so that the agency can take care of those 13,700-plus kids who are here.
We can talk all day about why a mother and father would send their 12-year-old daughter on a journey from another country into America, but it is happening. When they come here, they need to be properly taken care of, and that money is literally about to run out in days.
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Mr. SCALISE. I yield to the gentleman from Maryland.
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Mr. SCALISE. I appreciate that, and obviously, when you see that somebody would send their child--let's use Guatemala as an example because they are one of the countries where a lot of these young children are coming from. They went through Mexico. Mexico offered them asylum, and they turned that down and, ultimately, came to America.
I appreciate the fact that people look to America as that beacon of freedom. We are the beacon of freedom for a lot of reasons.
One of the reasons is because we are a nation of freedom and laws. We are a nation of laws, and we need to find a way to get back to the rule of law so that we can have an immigration system that works for everybody, not just for the people who come over one way but for the people who follow the rule of law to come here legally.
Millions of people are waiting today to come to this great country and ultimately will become part of the American Dream. They will add to the richness and greatness of our Nation.
But as those 12-year-old children are coming over, they are right now in the custody of HHS because of our laws. But under our law, they are literally running out of money.
The HHS Secretary sent a letter to all of us over a week ago. In that letter, he said that our valued Federal employees in ORR who care for children and place them with sponsors would be required to work without pay. That is from the Secretary of HHS. Under the law, his employees would be required to work without pay if we break by the end of next week without an agreement that is signed by the President to properly fund the agency that is taking care of these 13,700-plus kids. That was from the letter Secretary Azar and Secretary McAleenan, the Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, sent to every Member of Congress over a week ago.
The agency has told us what the crisis is. They have told us they are about to run out of money. They have sent the Antideficiency Act notice to make it clear that under the law, if they run out of money, the only money they can spend is for life and safety of those kids, and they are going to be doing that.
But we can prevent that from happening. We need to prevent that from happening.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman.
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Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, the gentleman and I need to and, hopefully, will work closely together--not isolated, but together--over the weekend to come up with a bill to solve this problem, recognizing that the Senate is going to, hopefully, move their own bill that, while flawed, does address the basic needs, so that those children can be taken care of and the employees can be paid, and we can come together and get a bill done by the end of next week.
The urgency of getting it done by the end of next week can't be understated because, after that, they have made it very clear they do run out of money. It is not a new issue. It is not something that is thrown at us at the midnight hour. For more than a month this has been identified.
So, I appreciate that we are going to work to get it done. Let's make sure we do work to get it done.
I know there are a lot of other issues we can talk about: the appropriations process, the need to come together on an agreement on what the proper levels of spending are and should be, that the President would also agree with us on, so that we can be writing appropriations bills that would actually have the chance to get signed into law and prevent a shutdown, that kind of impasse, by the end of September.
This is the emergency, immediate need. There are other things that we need to keep working on, and I look forward to working with the gentleman in the coming days and weeks to address those problems as well.
If the gentleman has anything else, I yield to the gentleman.
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Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, the political differences between the parties are not mutually exclusive to Republicans. Clearly, we have had ours within the Budget Committee.
Now that you are in the majority, the Democrats on the Budget Committee could not come to an agreement amongst themselves about how to get a budget, which is why the Democrat majority, the gentleman's Democrat majority, didn't pass a budget. The first time in 9 years that the Budget Committee hasn't produced a budget out of committee.
We produced all 8 years we were in the majority. We had differences, clearly, and some of those were well written about in the press, but we ultimately came together and passed our budgets, every year of the 8 years, out of committee.
Many of those not only got through the floor but went into law. Sometimes we got those 2-year budget agreements so we didn't need the second year.
This is the time to be working on negotiating our differences. I am glad we are having these conversations on finding out if we can get to a caps deal.
Even the Acting Chief of Staff, Mr. Mulvaney, who was mentioned, would like to get a 2-year deal. I am sure he has some things he would like in a deal that the gentleman wouldn't agree to, but that is going to be negotiated. That is why we have negotiations in June, not in September when it is the midnight hour.
So, I am glad we are having these talks now. Of course we have differences within our parties, the gentleman's party and mine. Ultimately, amongst ourselves, we will have differences, but the ideal objective is that we come together well before the September 30 deadline.
That is why it is important that these discussions are being held now, not in September, so that we can hopefully get that agreement and then write appropriations bills.
I think the gentleman knows, the bills that he is moving through the process this week, next week, are not bills that will be signed into law, not only because, in many cases, the spending levels are well above what we would agree to but, also, the many poison pill amendments that will ultimately get worked out in a conference committee. They won't be in a final product.
But let's at least try to get in agreement on a caps deal. We are in a time frame where, at least, it is responsible to have these differences earlier, not later, in the fiscal year.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman.
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Mr. SCALISE. I do appreciate this is part of the process. And, again, I say the reason that it is good that we are having these talks now is because, as we have our differences--the gentleman within his own party, the gentleman with us, us with the Senate, maybe with the White House--we have time to work that out now, and we don't wait until mid- September, late September, to try to get that kind of agreement.
So, we will continue to have these discussions. I am glad we are having these discussions at this early point so that it is not midnight-hour discussions like we were talking about on the supplemental.
Final point: I wanted to just commend the gentleman. We had a very good meeting yesterday, our two leadership teams, with the Canadian Prime Minister.
Mr. Trudeau was here to talk to us about a number of things. Of course, USMCA is the most imminent and most up-front issue. Mexico just passed the agreement.
I know we are having discussions to see if we can find a path forward for the House to move USMCA and get a better deal with our partners, both on the south and north, Canada and Mexico.
They loaned us Lord Stanley's cup. We are going to loan them the NBA trophy for a little while. But, beyond those trade issues, we do, I think, have some common ground on some trade issues that had been needed to be resolved for a long time.
I know we are going to continue to have those discussions, Mr. Hoyer with the White House, to hopefully get to a point where we can, then, get that agreement in place. But I do appreciate that we had a very productive, bipartisan meeting with the Canadian Prime Minister, Mr. Trudeau, and we appreciated that he was here on behalf of his Nation.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman.
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Mr. SCALISE. I am equally hopeful we can get that resolved, and I appreciate the gentleman's work on that.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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