Providing for Consideration of S. Promoting Physical Activity for Americans Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 688 and ask for its immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the resolution, as follows: H. Res. 688
Resolved, That upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the House bill (S. 1301) to provide for the publication by the Secretary of Health and Human Services of physical activity recommendations for Americans. All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. An amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of Rules Committee Print 117-16 shall be considered as adopted. The bill, as amended, shall be considered as read. All points of order against provisions in the bill, as amended, are waived. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill, as amended, and on any further amendment thereto, to final passage without intervening motion except: (1) one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Ways and Means or their respective designees; and (2) one motion to commit.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. General Leave
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, today the Rules Committee met and reported a rule, House Resolution 688, providing for consideration of S. 1301 under a closed rule. The rule self-executes an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of Rules Committee Print 117-16, temporarily extending the public debt limit.
The rule provides one hour of debate, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Ways and Means or their respective designees. Finally, the rule provides one motion to commit.
Madam Speaker, having just sat through a Rules Committee meeting, it is a pleasant surprise that the Republicans have now rediscovered the issue of the debt. Wow.
Where the hell were you for the past 4 years?
Where was your concern when you all passed the tax cut bill for the wealthy and big corporations that CBO projected would add $1.9 trillion to the deficit? That is trillion with a T. And that is even after taking into account any effects from economic growth.
Give me a break.
Madam Speaker, the question before us today is this: Will the United States of America pay its bills?
I wish that were hyperbole.
We always have. The United States has never defaulted. Never, ever defaulted, not once.
But the actions of my friends on the other side have made the world seriously wonder about the full faith and credit of this Nation.
Raising the debt ceiling has traditionally been something that both parties have agreed to, no matter who controlled Congress or who sat in the White House.
I have been in Congress more than 20 years now. I voted to raise the debt ceiling when I was in the majority, and I voted to raise the debt ceiling when I was in the minority. I voted to raise it under Democratic Presidents and Republican Presidents, and I cast those votes even when I vehemently disagreed with our spending decisions.
I opposed the Republican tax cut for the wealthy and large corporations that passed under the last administration. I still think it is awful, awful, awful policy; but I still, nevertheless, voted to raise the debt ceiling under the prior administration because regardless whether we win or lose on policy here, defaulting on our debt would lead to economic catastrophe on a global scale.
Unemployment would rise; the stock market would crater; interest rates would skyrocket; imports would become more expensive; and inflation would increase.
We are not talking about a scenario that only impacts wealthy investors or large corporations. Every single American would be hurt, everyone with a pension or a retirement account, everyone with a small business, everyone with a car or home loan, and everyone who walks into a store, whether they are buying groceries or the latest smartphone. Our country would be thrown into a recession virtually overnight.
This is the type of disaster that Republicans are flirting with here, Madam Speaker. They are not refusing to raise the debt ceiling to try to prevent President Biden's agenda in the future. This isn't about the bipartisan transportation bill or reconciliation bill, which we have yet to consider, because raising the debt ceiling only pays for the prior debts that we have already racked up. We are talking about the spending Republicans voted for under President Trump.
They ballooned the deficit, and now they are trying to wash their hands of the consequences. It is like going to a restaurant, eating a meal, and refusing to pay the tab when the waiter brings the bill. Only here, they risk bringing down the entire global economy.
All because of what? They are upset that their party doesn't control Congress. Give me a break. We are talking about people's livelihoods here.
Earlier this week, Senate Republicans filibustered a continuing resolution that would have lifted the debt ceiling. Every day Republicans waste playing political games brings us one day closer to a default, one day closer to catastrophe.
I have heard the Senate minority leader and others suggest that reconciliation is some kind of panacea that will allow us to raise the debt ceiling easily and in a partisan way. Well, let me remind them that there are challenges with that, and it will take time, time that we do not have.
Just yesterday, the Treasury Secretary said that we are likely to hit the debt limit on October 18, just days from now.
We have had a lot of fights on this floor. Congress has been a little dysfunctional from time to time. But let me repeat, the United States of America has never defaulted in its more than 200-year history. Not once.
Republicans are playing with fire here. We need cooler heads to prevail. The underlying bill is that chance. It is an opportunity to raise the debt ceiling in a clean way, the kind of approach that would have passed overwhelmingly on suspension a few years ago.
We need to get this done, Madam Speaker. We don't have a moment to spare. Economists estimate that defaulting on our debts even for just a few hours could cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade.
After all that we have done to bring our Nation through the COVID pandemic, that is a hit that we can't afford, Madam Speaker.
So, to my friends on the other side, I get it. You are not going to vote for this even though 97 percent of what is necessitating us to raise the debt ceiling was accumulated before President Biden even took office. Much of it was racked up under President Trump on your watch when you controlled the Congress.
Still, you are not going to vote to do the responsible thing here. That is crystal clear. But please get out of the way and tell all your friends in the Senate to get out of the way, too.
Let us pass this. Let us do the responsible thing.
We will do it with a Democratic majority in the House and the Senate. We are good at cleaning up your mess.
Let's pass this rule and the underlying legislation. Let's step back from the brink. Let's prevent an avoidable economic meltdown. And let's do what America has always done: pay its bills.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Let me say this, and let me preface my remarks by saying I love the gentleman from Oklahoma. He is one of my favorite people here in the Congress. But I would remind him that when the Republicans passed their expensive tax cut for the rich, for the very wealthy, for big corporations, they didn't work with us. They just shoved it through. As I mentioned earlier, CBO tells us that the addition to our debt is close to $2 trillion, and that is after taking into account any potential benefits from growth.
I didn't like that policy. I still don't like that policy. I think the rich already get enough, and I think big corporations get too much in this country. But nonetheless, my view did not prevail.
Then, when we had to vote on the debt ceiling, the issue was: Do we pay our bills?
Now, this is a quote from the distinguished Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Let me read it. He says: ``When the United States makes promises, it keeps them, which is why the House voted today to avoid the threat of a debt default.''
That was several years ago, but he is right. When the United States makes promises, it keeps them. I didn't think that was a partisan issue. I didn't think that that was controversial.
But, look, here we are in Washington. Everything is a political fight. I mean, that is the way this place seems to work nowadays. And I get it. I am not even asking Republicans to vote with us to raise the debt ceiling anymore. I mean, it is just a hopeless cause. They have made a political decision. I get it. So, we are not asking for your support. What we are asking for is for you to get out of the way.
In the Senate, Democrats are prepared to carry the burden and raise the debt ceiling to make sure we pay bills, 97 percent of which were accumulated before Joe Biden was President. We are still paying for the Trump tax cuts.
We will do it. We will clean up the mess. What we are asking for is for you to get out of the way. Yet, we have Senators now threatening to use the filibuster to try to derail this, to put one hurdle after another after another.
They said they wanted Democrats to bear the burden. Democrats will do it. We always do. We are good at cleaning up messes that are left for us by our Republican friends. But get out of the way. Get out of the way, and let us do what the American people expect us to do, and that is to pay our bills.
Let me say one other thing. Everybody keeps telling me--and I heard this on the Rules Committee, too--the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the reconciliation, unless I missed something, we haven't passed either one of them yet. I mean, hopefully, we will, but those are things we are going to do in the future.
By the way, on the reconciliation bill, we are doing something that my Republican friends refused to do on their tax cut bill, and that is we are paying for it. So, we understood the issue of the debt, I guess, long before they did. At least we are more consistent than my Republican friends are.
In any event, I would just again say to my friends, we are not even asking you to vote for this anymore because that is a hopeless cause at this point. We are just asking you to get out of the way so we can get this done.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, we are talking about whether or not the United States of America will pay its bills and not default. I mean, that is what this is about. And we could talk about this, but with all due respect to the gentlewoman from Iowa, if we want to solve this pandemic, it begins at home.
She represents a State where just maybe a little more than 50 percent are vaccinated.
Go home and tell your people to get vaccinated.
It is the unvaccinated in this country that are filling up our emergency rooms, that are allowing this disease to be able to mutate.
So there's that old saying, ``physician, heal thyself,'' and to hear this from a party that embraces the conspiracy theories that are out there that are discouraging people from getting vaccinated. But I would encourage the gentlewoman--we can talk about this at another time--but in the meantime, Iowa needs to do better, as well as many other States in this country.
Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett).
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, we are on the edge of default, on the edge of catastrophe, and this is the response from my Republican friends.
Madam Speaker, yes, I have nothing but the highest respect for the gentlewoman from Iowa, but I just pointed out that a little over 50 percent of her State is vaccinated. That is not good. And the gentlewoman from Tennessee who just spoke, her State is even worse-- something like 45 percent are fully vaccinated. That is dangerous for not only the people of Iowa and Tennessee, but for the people of this country.
Doctor after doctor after doctor have told us that this is spreading because of the lack of attention to getting people vaccinated in this country. So we need to do better.
What we are talking about here today is whether or not we are going to default, whether we are going to court a catastrophe.
Madam Speaker, I will say to the gentleman from Oklahoma, he went through a list of people who voted against raising the debt ceiling in the past. I am willing to bet that many of those were attached to policy items where there was an objection.
I don't recall Democrats threatening to filibuster--threatening to filibuster--raising the debt ceiling. And yet, that is what Republicans are doing, cheered on by Republicans in the House.
So, look, we are happy to clean up your mess. We are happy to do the right thing. All Democrats will vote for it in the House. I am not asking anymore for you to join us because it is a waste of my breath.
But what we are asking you to do is get out of the way so that something really horrible doesn't happen in this country.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I just want to point out for the record that in Texas only 51 percent of the population is fully vaccinated. That is better than Tennessee, but still that means half the population.
Madam Speaker, I yield 15 seconds to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess).
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I merely point out that we have a lot of work to do in this country to be able to control the virus.
Madam Speaker, I also include in the Record a letter to Speaker Pelosi from Janet Yellen, who is the Secretary of the Treasury. Department of the Treasury, Washington, DC, September 28, 2021. Hon. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker, House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Madam Speaker: I am writing to follow up on my previous letters regarding the debt limit and to provide additional information regarding the Department of the Treasury's ability to continue to finance the operations of the U.S. government.
In my September 8 letter, I explained that Treasury's cash and extraordinary measures would most likely be exhausted sometime during the month of October. Based on our most recent information, including tax payments associated with the September 15 deadline for third quarter estimated tax payments for businesses and individuals, I am now able to further refine that projection.
We now estimate that Treasury is likely to exhaust its extraordinary measures if Congress has not acted to raise or suspend the debt limit by October 18. At that point, we expect Treasury would be left with very limited resources that would be depleted quickly. It is uncertain whether we could continue to meet all the nation's commitments after that date. While this is our best estimate, the federal government's cash flows are subject to unavoidable variability. For example, the government's daily gross cash flow (excluding financing) over the past year averages nearly $50 billion per day and has exceeded $300 billion. As a result, it is important to remember that estimates regarding how long our remaining extraordinary measures and cash may last can unpredictably shift forward or backward. This uncertainty underscores the critical importance of not waiting to raise or suspend the debt limit. The full faith and credit of the United States should not be put at risk.
Furthermore, we know from previous debt limit impasses that waiting until the last minute can cause serious harm to business and consumer confidence, raise borrowing costs for taxpayers, and negatively impact the credit rating of the United States for years to come. Failure to act promptly could also result in substantial disruptions to financial markets, as heightened uncertainty can exacerbate volatility and erode investor confidence.
I am also writing to notify you, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 8348(1)(2), of my determination that, by reason of the statutory debt limit, I will continue to be unable to fully invest the portion of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund (CSRDF) not immediately required to pay beneficiaries, and that a ``debt issuance suspension period,'' previously determined to end on September 30, 2021, will continue through October 18, 2021. As a result, the Treasury Department will continue to suspend additional investments of amounts credited to, and will redeem an additional portion of the investment held by, the CSRDF, as authorized by law.
In addition, because the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 provides that investments in the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund (PSRHBF) shall be made in the same manner as investments for the CSRDF, the Treasury Department will also continue to suspend additional investments of amounts credited to, and will redeem an additional portion of the investments held by, the PSRHBF. By law, the CSRDF and PSRHBF will be made whole once the debt limit is increased or suspended. Federal retirees and employees will be unaffected by these actions.
Again, I respectfully urge Congress to protect the full faith and credit of the United States by acting as soon as possible. Sincerely, Janet L. Yellen.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, let me quote from the letter. It says: ``We know from previous debt limit impasses that waiting until the last minute can cause serious harm to business and consumer confidence, raise borrowing costs for taxpayers, and negatively impact the credit rating of the United States for years to come. Failure to act promptly could also result in substantial disruptions to financial markets, as heightened uncertainly can exacerbate volatility and erode investor confidence.''
We are not asking you to do anything more other than to just step out of the way. We will do the serious business of making sure that we don't default on our financial obligations.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I am.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, let me remind my colleagues that Mitch McConnell led three efforts to increase the debt limit under President Trump. He has voted over 30 times to increase the debt limit by over $20 trillion during his career.
He worked with President Obama in 2015, saying then: I made it very clear that after the November election we are certainly not going to shut down the government or default on the national debt. We will figure some way to handle that. What is different now? Not a thing. Nothing.
He did the right thing then. He is simply unwilling to do the right thing today. Instead, he is making up new precedent out of whole cloth, the impacts of which would be devastating.
So this is not just about Senator McConnell, every Republican in the House and Senate should do the right thing and raise the debt ceiling.
It has never been the responsibility of just one party to ensure that America pays its bills. And to pretend otherwise, is to blindly be following a policy that will send our economy off a cliff.
Madam Speaker, I just have to say to my Republican friends, stop doubling down on the insanity. At some point we all have to act like grownups around here and get the people's business done. Too many of my friends on the other side of the aisle continue to get on one knee and genuflect in front of the altar of Donald Trump and all the stuff that goes with that. Well, you know what, it is time that we all act like serious legislators.
We have a discussion on immigration and COVID testing, we ought to have that discussion in a different context, not on the debt ceiling bill.
I will again say to my colleagues, I don't even know how many Members of the Republican Conference are vaccinated. We have people who come here and fight against efforts to get everybody vaccinated, who fight against communities that want to encourage people to wear masks in order to protect the citizens of that community.
We are here to legislate. This bill will fulfill one of the most basic responsibilities Congress has; that is, to ensure that America pays its bills. We always have, Madam Speaker.
And, you know, to try to make this debate into a debate about reconciliation--by the way, which we want to pay for as much of it as possible so it won't add to the deficit and the debt. That is a future debate.
This is about paying all the bills that were accumulated; 97 percent of which was accumulated, not under Joe Biden, but under his predecessor. Stuff that my friends on the other side of the aisle voted for. And to turn this into a political football about what might happen down the road is really ridiculous. It is dangerous. It is reckless.
My friends have said that they want Democrats to basically carry these bills. Happy to do it. On our side nobody wants to default. On our side we all understand the consequences. Mark Zandi, an economist for Moody's, said that it would be such a catastrophe if we defaulted on our debt. He said it would impact generations and generations and generations into the future.
Every economist, no matter what their political affiliation may be, has said the same thing. So we have to do this.
And, again, to try to make this about something else is just trying to avoid dealing with reality. I would say to my colleagues, all we are asking for now--we are no longer asking for your vote--you know, that is a waste of time at this particular point. I have seen all the press releases. I have seen the talking points come out of the RCCC and the RNC. It is maddening to see how this issue can be so distorted. We are not asking for that anymore. You already decided to make this a political issue.
We are just asking you to get the hell out of the way and to allow us to keep this government running on track and not in default. That should not be a controversial issue. It should not be an issue that people walk away from. When you accumulate bills, you got to pay for them.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote for this rule so we can prevent a completely avoidable economic meltdown.
The material previously referred to by Mr. Cole is as follows: Amendment to House Resolution 688
At the end of the resolution, add the following:
Sec. 2. Immediately upon adoption of this resolution, the House shall proceed to the consideration in the House of the bill (H.R. 1897) to require a diagnostic test for COVID-19 for an inadmissible alien released from the custody of the United States Customs and Border Protection or the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and for other purposes. All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. The bill shall be considered as read. All points of order against provisions in the bill are waived. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and on any amendment thereto to final passage without intervening motion except: (1) one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Judiciary; and (2) one motion to recommit.
Sec. 3. Clause l(c) of rule XIX shall not apply to the consideration of H.R. 1897.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.
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