Providing for Consideration of H.R. Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, Providing for Consideration of H.R. Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2022

Floor Speech

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Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my very good friend from Pennsylvania for yielding.

I rise today in opposition to the rule, Mr. Speaker. I have two matters I wish to discuss today.

First, I want to speak to the Republican motion to recommit on H.R. 4502, on which the House will be voting in the coming days. While I have many concerns with the bills reported out of the Appropriations Committee, none is more alarming than the systematic removal of longstanding provisions to protect the lives of unborn children and preserve the conscience rights of American taxpayers. This has been done in bill after bill after bill.

If my motion to recommit passes, Republicans will restore essential pro-life protections that have been stripped from these bills.

We will restore the Hyde amendment, which prohibits Federal tax dollars from funding abortions on demand and has been included in appropriations bills for every year for the past 45 years.

We will restore the Weldon amendment, which protects American doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals from participating in or providing an abortion if they have a moral objection to that procedure.

We will restore the Dornan amendment, which prevents District of Columbia resident taxpayer moneys from being used for abortions on demand.

We will restore the Smith amendment, which prevents the Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan from subsidizing abortions on demand for Federal workers.

We will restore the Helms amendment, which prevents American taxpayers from financing abortions to foreign organizations or countries.

Regardless of one's personal views, lawmakers and Presidents of both parties have always agreed that Americans should not be forced to pay for abortions on demand with their hard-earned tax dollars.

It is not too late for Democrats to change course, abandon their radical, far-left policies, and restore these important protections before a final vote on this measure. Every Democrat who is not a freshman has voted to support this language and these amendments on this floor, and we know they must again if any of these appropriations bills are ever to become law.

All Republicans in the House stand united with the American people on this issue, and none will support appropriations bills that do not include these important pro-life protections.

We urge Democrats to accept the motion to recommit, restore these bipartisan compromises, and allow appropriations bills to move forward toward a final negotiation in good faith. Ultimately, failure to do so will result in either a continuing resolution or, even worse, a government shutdown later this year. Neither outcome should ever be acceptable to any Member on this floor.

Let me now turn, Mr. Speaker, if I may, to an issue that is more parochial but where the outlook is more promising. That is the Federal response to the so-called McGirt decision by the United States Supreme Court.

Many Members will not be aware of this, but last year, the Supreme Court decided that much of Oklahoma, for the purposes of criminal prosecution, remains Indian Country.

In Indian Country, only the Federal Government and Tribal law enforcement officials can prosecute Indians who commit crimes, again, on Indian reservations. That, obviously, in the State of Oklahoma, will now call for enormously robust Federal law enforcement and Tribal law enforcement capabilities.

I am happy to report that in one of the measures that we face today, that reality has been taken into account. Frankly, our friends, the Biden administration, asked for an additional $70 million for the Department of Justice to finance additional U.S. attorneys, additional Federal marshals, and additional FBI for Oklahoma to respond to the McGirt decision.

Sadly, our friends did not request similar funds for Tribal law enforcement officials, and none of the bills in front of us actually deal with that issue.

Last night, we placed an amendment dealing with this before this House. It was part of an en bloc amendment. I actually believe if it had come on its own, it would have passed. But it failed.

However, the appropriations process is a long process, and I think negotiations in good faith with the full committee will eventually result in additional Federal dollars for law enforcement.

Regardless, that Supreme Court decision, the McGirt decision, means the Federal Government and Tribal law enforcement officials must do more in this area. Again, one of the bills in front of us helps with regard to the Federal Government. I am hopeful, in the final negotiations, we can do more on McGirt.

My last point, Mr. Speaker, is simply to say we need to look at all of these bills collectively. Just as a piece of friendly advice to my friends, if we are going to get to a deal, three things absolutely have to happen.

The first is, the amount of money we spend on defense simply must go up. There is not enough money in the bills passed out of the Appropriations Committee to adequately fund our defense in a dangerous world.

Second, the outrageous domestic explosion of spending must come down. We simply, as my friend from Pennsylvania pointed out, can't afford a spending spree.

Finally, and most importantly, and my friends need to realize this politically, for any of these bills to pass the United States Senate and ultimately become law, all the pro-life provisions that they have systematically stripped out of these bills have to be restored. Otherwise, my friends will get Donald Trump's last negotiated budget for the second year of the Biden administration. I don't think that is what they want, but that is exactly where we are headed unless they change course and work with us to preserve these longstanding, pro-life protections that have been in these bills for, in many cases, decades.

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