Providing for Consideration of H.R. Build Back Better Act; and for Other Purposes
Floor Speech
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I raise a point of order against consideration of the resolution because the resolution waives all points of order against consideration of H.R. 5376.
The resolution is therefore in violation of section 426 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 prohibiting the consideration of a rule waiving the application of section 425 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, we have seen a circus here for the last 7 hours. We saw history: The longest vote held in this body in modern history, a motion to adjourn, just so some backroom agreement could be made.
This point of order, the whole purpose of it, is to make sure that this budget bill that is before us--before there is a vote--that we know the true cost of this agreement from the Congressional Budget Office. That is what the rules are.
We know that there are more than 150 different programs being created in this legislation, and we know that there are a lot of many--numerous different possibilities of unfunded mandates that would go to the States, that would go to individuals. And before there is a vote on this bill, a vote on this rule, we need to make sure that there is a Congressional Budget Office score. We do not need to violate the House rules and Federal statute by forcing through this piece of legislation without knowing exactly the cost.
Madam Speaker, I include in the Record a letter that was sent to the Speaker of the House from five different Democrats of this body, following our lead, what we just said here, that there should not be a vote on this bill until the Congressional Budget Office does a score. Congress of the United States, Washington, DC, November 2, 2021.
Hon. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Madam Speaker: As we work to put the COVID-19 crisis behind us and build back better than ever before, we applaud your focus on infrastructure and on measures that help children and working families across America.
We continue to ask that you please schedule a floor vote on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework as soon as possible, and we are pleased by the progress we are making on the Build Back Better (BBB) Act. As we enter the home stretch of these negotiations, we ask that you please provide additional information so that we may make more informed decisions that better serve our constituents.
First, we applaud the commitment from both you and the President that the BBB Act will be fully paid for. In order to ensure the final bill is indeed fiscally responsible, we must first have the proper CBO/JCT scoring information before any floor consideration. Therefore, we cannot lend our support to advancing the BBB Act until we have had a chance to review these scores which provide the true cost of the legislation. Moreover, the U.S. Senate cannot even consider the BBB Act under reconciliation rules until it has received an official CBO score.
Secondly, we appreciate your public statements committing to properly pre-conferencing the BBB Act with the U.S. Senate. We continue to urge you to only bring a bill to the floor for which we have a strong level of confidence that the provisions in the bill will be ruled in order by the Senate Parliamentarian and earn passage in the U.S. Senate.
Finally, consistent with House rules and considering the magnitude and complexity of the BBB Act, we ask that the final text of the bill be posted at least 72 hours before its consideration so that we--and, more importantly our constituents--have time to review the bill before any vote.
While we understand the needs of the nation are great, we believe our job as legislators is to provide the due diligence required to properly serve our constituents. It is better to get this done right than to needlessly rush its consideration only for our constituents to discover the negative impacts of our unintended consequences. Sincerely, Ed Case. Josh Gottheimer. Kurt Schrader. Jared Golden. Stephanie Murphy.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I hope that the five Members that are on this letter to the Speaker will follow through with the same commitment that they allowed on November 2, and to make sure that the American people get a valid, transparent score so that they know what exactly is in this piece of legislation.
We know it is the largest spending bill in the history of the United States. We just don't know exactly how much. It is at least $4.5 trillion, but we don't have the Congressional scorecards of doing it.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Reschenthaler).
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Iowa (Mrs. Hinson).
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole).
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, it has been quite a groundhog day when you watch what has been going on with this legislation over and over. It started out with a 2,400 page bill; last Thursday a new 1,700 page bill was dropped; this week on Wednesday an additional 2,135 page bill was dropped, and none of the bills have been completely scored.
What we do know, after 11 p.m. last night they made additional changes to the 2,135 page bill that was dropped on Wednesday. And you know what their priorities were in those changes? It was to give millionaires larger tax breaks. That was their priority, to give already millionaires larger tax breaks.
They try to tell you that this legislation was about the kids and the babies and it is all about the children. That is a bunch of hogwash, Madam Speaker. This bill is all about giving tax breaks to the millionaires. The largest portion in this bill, over $300 billion, goes toward their tax breaks for millionaires.
They don't want a score because they don't want the American people to see the giveaways that they are giving to the most wealthy at the expense of the working class. That is unacceptable. We need to make sure that the only thing that is bipartisan in this legislation is bipartisan opposition.
There is bipartisan support to make sure that this bill is scored before a vote, to make sure that the American people know what is in this bill. Don't you dare try to sneak this through. Don't you dare.
The people of the United States deserve the huge tax break you are giving your millionaires in this legislation. Madam Speaker, I hope the five Democrats that sent this letter to the Speaker join with us and makes sure that we know how much the price tag is in this legislation, in this proposal, so we can tell everyday working-class Americans how much their cost of goods are going to be going up because of the reckless, irresponsible spending of the people on that side of the aisle.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
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