Providing for Consideration of H.R. Protecting the Right to Organize Act of Providing for Consideration of H.R. Bipartisan Background Checks Act of Providing for Consideration of H.R. Enhanced Background Checks Act of and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from California for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I am also happy to see him back doing well. I appreciate that, and that we are here in the Chamber together.

Madam Speaker, we are here considering the rule for three controversial, divisive bills being moved forward by the majority with very little input from Republicans or the millions of Americans these bills will affect. Two of these bills are highly controversial gun control bills that undermine the constitutional right to bear arms.

H.R. 8, the so-called universal background check bill, would criminalize the private transfer of firearms. Combined with the restrictions already placed on private transfers during the pandemic, this makes it impossible for law-abiding gun owners to acquire or even borrow or lend firearms.

Universal background checks do not stop criminals. In fact, the majority of the criminals in State and Federal prisons who used a firearm during their offense got that firearm by stealing it, taking it from a family member or friend, or just an underground market. In 2013, the Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice researched universal background checks and determined that they would not be effective without additional restrictions on firearms.

The other gun control bill, the Charleston loophole bill, would permit the Federal Government to delay a firearm transfer indefinitely without any proof that the person is ineligible to possess a firearm. This bill undermines the ability for Americans to legally purchase a firearm, as it subjects firearm dealers to the mercy of the Federal bureaucracy.

Before we jump straight to this kind of constitutional overreach, it is important to remember that gun control legislation isn't going to stop criminals from gaining access to guns.

In the rural district I represent, many of my constituents are hunters, sportsmen, and law-abiding gun owners who utilize their Second Amendment rights. These bills undermine their ability to do so, and flies in the face of unity that has been promised by the President and Democrats.

Lastly, we are considering a bill that amounts to a union boss wish list that the majority is pushing, circumventing regular order and without input from the minority.

Madam Speaker, labor law must strike a balance--a careful balance between labor unions' rights to organize and employers' abilities to respond to these efforts. However, the PRO Act, a monumental rewrite of Federal labor law, will massively tip the scales in favor of unions, leaving employers and small businesses with massive costs and burdensome or vague legal standards.

Among the most egregious, a section of this bill is applying a one- size-fits-all standard for union contracts, rendering the franchise industry completely unviable by imposing a burdensome joint-employer Obama rule and requiring the disclosure of private information of employees to union organizers without their consent.

My great home State has a proud history of supporting organized labor, and I support employees' right to collective bargaining. However, this legislation before us today represents a misguided and unbalanced approached to labor law.

Madam Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to think twice before supporting these bills that could permanently alter our job market and threaten our constitutional rights.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Reschenthaler), my good friend and colleague from the Rules Committee.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from the 26th District of Texas (Mr. Burgess), who is another one of my colleagues on the Rules Committee.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, I yield the gentleman from Texas an additional 15 seconds.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from the Fifth District of Oklahoma (Mrs. Bice).

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Good).

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman).

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from the First District of Iowa (Mrs. Hinson).

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from the Third District of Florida (Mrs. Cammack).

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from the Ninth District of Georgia (Mr. Clyde).

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Alabama's Second District (Mr. Moore).

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Harshbarger).

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to provide for consideration of Congresswoman Hinson's bill, H.R. 682, the Reopen Schools Act.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, H.R. 682, the Reopen Schools Act, provides a safe and responsible path forward to reopen our schools and to get our students back in the classroom.

To speak further on the bill, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Iowa (Mrs. Hinson), my colleague.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, the Centers for Disease Control has indicated schools can operate safely with students in the classroom, yet many schools across the country remain closed.

President Biden has chosen to side with political allies and big labor groups over scientists, and our students are being denied their right to a good education as a result.

Kids need to be in school, and we should follow the science and reopen the schools for in-person instruction now.

Madam Speaker, I urge a ``no'' on the previous question and ``no'' on the underlying measure, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

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