Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman from Missouri for yielding. I enjoyed working with him on the Budget Committee the last 2 years. I wish I was this time. Maybe we will do it in a couple of years.

I enjoy working with the distinguished chairman from Kentucky, but I find it interesting that after 2 years on the Budget Committee I am finally seeing a budget resolution, because I sure didn't see one for the last 2 years.

But here we are. We are on the floor of the House of Representatives, allegedly the people's House.

Do I get to offer an amendment? Do I get to say a single word about what is in this $2 trillion bill?

No, because this is fake.

The American people are looking at the people's House. They are asking: What are we doing?

We are surrounded by fences and razor wire. We are going through magnetometers. I am sitting here on the floor of the House with a $2 trillion bill larded up for political purposes that I never had a chance to amend, debate or have any discussion about besides 2 minutes or 3 minutes here with a prepackaged bill done in smoke-filled rooms, brought to the floor, and I am told to vote ``yes'' or ``no,'' push the green button, push the red button.

That is what we have taken the people's House and reduced it to.

We have $4 trillion that we have spent on COVID relief. With all due respect to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who are saying go big, we have spent $4 trillion.

I have worked on a bipartisan basis with my friend, Dean Phillips, to pass the PPP Flexibility Act. We are all working hard to help the American people, but this resolution is a sham.

When are we going to get in committee and vote and debate and roll our sleeves up and offer amendments? When are we going to do the work that we were sent here to do?

The distinguished leader from Maryland has been here a while, respectfully. This place has changed. The gentleman from Maryland and I have talked about this.

When are we going to offer amendments? When are we going to debate and vote on those amendments?

That is what bipartisanship is, not throwing a $2 trillion reconciliation measure to use as pressure with the Senate to play games so that you can try to force the hand of the Senate to get the 60 votes, and then come down here and say: Oh, yeah, we have done something great with some budget reconciliation.

Have we had any debate down here about what is actually affecting the people of this country? Or do we have a bunch of show speeches?

When are we going to turn this body back into the people's House? When are we going to turn this into something the American people can be proud about, that we are sitting here debating something serious?

Should we have $300 billion for local governments? Should we have some help for small businesses? Should we have something?

Let's debate this out. No one over here wants to see their people suffer in the States that they represent. But we want businesses open. We want economic growth and opportunity. We don't want to point fingers. We have 30-something million vaccines distributed. Let's not point fingers. Let's take the work that has been done by the previous administration, by this body on a bipartisan basis, and let's move forward and get this country working again.

China is about to roll right over us if we don't do our job, Mr. Speaker.

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Mr. ROY. I would just ask if we might be able to at least meet in private and have discussions about how to restore regular order and offer amendments on the floor because to the distinguished chairman of the Budget Committee that is great to debate it in committee, but I am no longer on the Budget Committee, so I would love to have the ability to debate on the floor and have regular order. And I just think if we could just have a conversation, sit in a room and figure out how we can do that going forward, no matter who is in charge of the Chamber.

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