Providing for Consideration of H.R. Build Back Better Act; and for Other Purposes
Floor Speech
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 774 and ask for its immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the resolution, as follows: H. Res. 774
Resolved, That upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the House the bill (H.R. 5376) to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of S. Con. Res. 14. 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 117-18, modified by the amendment printed in the report of the Committee on Rules accompanying this resolution, 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) two hours of debate equally divided among and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Budget or their respective designees and the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Ways and Means or their respective designees; and (2) one motion to recommit.
Sec. 2. House Resolution 188, agreed to March 8, 2021 (as most recently amended by House Resolution 716, agreed to October 12, 2021), is amended by striking ``November 18, 2021'' each place it appears and inserting (in each instance) ``December 3, 2021''. Point of Order
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I claim the time in opposition.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, let me first begin by suggesting, and I say this seriously, that the gentleman from Missouri take a chill pill. We ought to be able to discuss serious matters without getting hysterical and yelling and screaming all the time. The American people expect us to debate serious issues seriously.
First of all, let me just say, this is another tactic to try to derail an effort to help reduce premiums for more than 9 million Americans, lower prescription drug costs, ensure that seniors never pay more than $2,000 a year for their drugs under Medicare part D.
This is an effort by my Republican friends to derail a bill that would lower insulin prices; it offers access to universal and free preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds, which would save American families an average of $8,600 per year per child. That is what they are fighting against here.
This effort by my Republican friends is an attempt to derail a bill that would support the construction of affordable homes, boost our housing supply, deliver much-needed rental and downpayment assistance to our constituents; it would enhance and expand home energy and efficiency tax credits; it would bolster our domestic supply chains; creates thousands of new good-paying jobs right here in the United States of America; it would make historic investments in coastal restoration, forest management, and soil conservation; provides resources to reduce emissions and support our farmers; it creates a diverse new workforce for the establishment of the Civilian Climate Corps, which will conserve our land and improve resilience.
Now, my friends on the other side of the aisle were talking about the cost. They are worried about the cost. Boy, it is nice that they finally worry about the cost of things. They rammed through a tax cut bill for the wealthy, for billionaires, for big corporations, and they never paid for it. It added $2 trillion to our debt. Where were they then?
But here is the good news, Madam Speaker. This bill is fully paid for. The Joint Committee on Taxation and the White House has provided much of the detail. I appreciate the fact that my friends would rather shout than debate, but the American people expect a debate, expect a conversation.
When people, by the way, come to the Rules Committee, they get as much time as they want to be able to speak, and we welcome the diversity of opinion.
Madam Speaker, we also know that the Build Back Better bill will not become law without a CBO score. It will not go through the Senate without a CBO score. That will be coming, and my friends know that.
So the bottom line is, this is a red herring. They are not concerned about a CBO score. They are not concerned about cost, they never have been in the past on any of their legislative priorities that benefit the well-off and the well-connected. The idea that somehow they are fighting for the middle class or those struggling to get in the middle class; give me a break. People know the record of my Republican friends, they know the priorities of the Republican Congress, they know the priorities of the previous occupant of the White House.
Nobody buys that this is about protecting the middle class because most of my friends on the other side of the aisle never gave a damn about the middle class or those struggling to get into the middle class.
So this is an effort to try to basically derail or stall or obstruct all the things that I mentioned. Madam Speaker, there is no merit to what my friends are complaining about here today, but they will complain, and they have a right to do so. We will grin and bear it. At the end of the day we will deliver for the American people.
We have two major pieces of legislation that we want to get enacted into law: one is the Build Back Better initiative, which I just talked about all the priorities in it; the other is the infrastructure bill that was bipartisan over in the Senate, and maybe we will see if it is bipartisan over here, I hope so. It is about investing in our roads and our bridges and our water and our sewer facilities, and giving America basically a facelift because we have neglected our infrastructure for too long.
And here is the difference. When they were in charge, when the previous occupant of the White House was in charge, we got infrastructure weeks and infrastructure months and infrastructure press releases, but no money, no resources to help build one single infrastructure project. That is going to change with this majority and this President.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to reject what my friends are peddling here today and vote ``yes'' on the question of consideration.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess), 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, yesterday the Committee on Rules reported a rule, House Resolution 774. The rule provides for the consideration of H.R. 5376, the Build Back Better Act, under a closed rule. The rule provides 2 hours of debate equally divided among and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Budget and the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Ways and Means. The rule self-executes a manager's amendment from Chairman Yarmuth and provides one motion to recommit.
Finally, the rule extends recess instructions, suspension authority, and same day authority through December 3.
Madam Speaker, when Franklin Roosevelt stood before the American people in Chicago, Illinois, and accepted the Democratic nomination for President nearly 90 years ago, he promised them a New Deal, one built on equality and fairness. That work is bigger than a single President or a single era, and it continues to this day.
All these years later, this Congress is working to fulfill that promise. We will be considering a bill that will transform the lives of most people in this country for the better.
The Build Back Better Act will help Americans access stronger and more affordable healthcare, better family care, and will set up a stronger response to the climate crisis. It will lower prescription drug costs, capping the cost of insulin at $35. It will establish paid family and medical leave and provide universal and free pre-K.
Madam Speaker, I have talked to so many of my constituents who are sick and tired of working hard but falling behind. All they want is a country and a Congress that looks out for their interest and puts their needs first. That is what the policies contained in this bill will do.
These are the kind of priorities that make me proud to be a Democrat. They are the kind of advancements that the American people have been demanding for decades.
The Build Back Better Act finally turns the page on four decades of failed trickle-down economics. It invests in the people who built this country; in our workers, the middle class, and everyone fighting hard to get there. And at a time when the wealth gap between the richest and the poorest families in this country has more than doubled, this bill will stem the rising tide of income inequality by asking those at the very top to pay what they owe, to pay their fair share. It is bold. It is consequential. And it will transform the lives of so many Americans.
By expanding the child tax credit, more than 35 million families with children will see their taxes go down.
Older Americans and those with disabilities will also see expanded access to home care as part of this bill. People working two or three jobs to make ends meet--17 million of them--will have hope for a better future with access to an education that extends beyond high school.
Parents of three- and four-year-old kids can breathe a sigh of relief as they gain access to universal pre-K, meaning that they can go to work safe in the knowledge that their kids are learning while they are earning.
Nine million Americans will save money on their premiums through changes to the Affordable Care Act, and folks in States that have been cut out of healthcare--four million of them--will finally get healthcare because this bill closes the Medicaid coverage gap.
By making the biggest investment ever to combat climate change, the Build Back Better Act will advance environmental justice and give more communities a fighting chance to respond to this crisis. There are resources here to cut pollution, grow small businesses, improve care for our veterans.
This bill accomplishes all of this while being fully paid for. It finally demands that the largest corporations and the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share. And importantly, it keeps the President's promise not to raise taxes on those making under $400,000, not even one single penny.
This is a seismic shift after my colleagues on the other side of the aisle exploded the deficit to give tax cuts to the rich and the well- off.
And let me just say to all those Republicans who have been urging action on the COVID-caused supply chain issues, you should join us and support this bill because there are provisions here to bolster our supply chain and prepare for the next pandemic and future supply chain issues.
Madam Speaker, I will put the values contained in this bill against the priorities of my colleagues on the other side any day of the week.
It is about damn time that the wealthy were asked to pay their fair share. It is about damn time that workers and small businesses get a tax break. And it is about damn time that we focus on the middle class for a change.
My Republican friends may stand here today and complain about the process, but the truth is 13 committees of jurisdiction have spent more than 165 hours marking up this legislation. They considered more than 850 amendments. And all that was before the Committee on Rules did its work. Before the Committee on Rules met, not once, but twice, and talked about this bill--even before it was final.
The committees have done their work. Members in this Congress, in this House and all across the Capitol have debated this bill over and over and over again.
The American people are demanding action. Now is the time. Time for us to make real the promises of the New Deal. Time for us to put our government back on the side of working people in this country. And time for us to deliver the agenda that the American people voted for last November.
Madam Speaker, I thank Members on both sides of the aisle, and especially staff. I know that this has been a long day and a long week. We have our differences, but I thank all of my colleagues for their patience.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Morelle), a member of the Rules Committee.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I am not going to spend any time debating my friend from Oklahoma. We have spent 12 hours in the Rules Committee debating. But I do want to say that I have genuine admiration for him as well as for Dr. Burgess, Mrs. Fischbach, and Mr. Reschenthaler. We have strong disagreements, but I respect their service to this Congress and to this country.
Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott), who is the distinguished chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I am proud to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I am proud to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone), the distinguished chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I am proud to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), the distinguished chairwoman for the Committee on Appropriations.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, in a moment I will ask to amend the rule to correct a clerical error in the Rules Committee report. The amendment reinserts the text of the manager's amendment posted on our website yesterday which was inadvertently omitted from the copy of the report filed today. This is purely a clerical fix. Amendment Offered by Mr. McGovern
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I want to thank Dr. Burgess and Ranking Member Cole for their courtesy.
Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler), the distinguished chairman on the Judiciary Committee.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson), the distinguished chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio), the chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I include in the Record a November 4 Vox article titled, ``This May Finally Be the Year Congress Lets Medicare Negotiate Drug Prices.'' [Nov. 4, 2021] Vox: This May Finally Be the Year Congress Lets Medicare Negotiate Drug Prices (By Dylan Scott)
Democrats in Congress have managed to revive a prescription drug reform proposal that would allow the party to finally deliver on a campaign promise they've been making for 15 years: letting Medicare negotiate drug prices and lowering drug costs for patients.
The breakthrough was the result of negotiations with a few moderate members of the Democratic conference who were uneasy with an earlier version. That version was briefly dropped from the Build Back Better Act, Democrats' wide-ranging social spending bill.
Nothing can be considered final until both the House and the Senate pass the legislation, but the new draft of the Medicare drug negotiations proposal appears to make some concessions to centrists who share the drug industry's concerns about the effect of price controls on medical innovation.
Still, the new plan would also be a rare loss for the pharmaceutical industry, which fervently opposes every version of such a proposal and has lobbied aggressively to stop it.
Under the revised plan, the maximum price Medicare would pay would be 75 percent of what commercial US insurers pay on average for drugs that have been on the market between 9 and 12 years, with the maximum decreasing the longer the drug has been available. Democrats had originally set a maximum price of 120 percent of the average of what other wealthy nations pay for the same drug. The change should lead to drug makers losing less revenue, the goal of moderates, though no CBO score is yet available.
Fewer drugs would also be subject to negotiation. Under the new plan, the government would start by negotiating the cost of 10 drugs in 2025, before gradually ramping up to 20 after a few years. Under the original plan, the government would have negotiated the price of 25 drugs immediately and that number would have eventually increased to 50.
The plan now also includes a moratorium on negotiations for drugs that have been on the market for less than 9 years (for small-molecule drugs) or 12 years (for biologics). Drug companies would be penalized for price hikes that are higher than inflation under the new proposal, a holdover from prior versions of the plan.
Overall, the new plan would save the government about half as much money ($250 billion, by the White House's estimates) as the original plan ($450 billion). That has forced Dems to cut down their health care spending plans, for example, by nixing a progressive proposal to add dental and vision benefits to Medicare. Nevertheless, Democrats can take the savings from their new drug pricing plan and use it to lower drug costs for seniors.
The Build Back Better Act would set a hard cap on how much seniors who enrolled in Medicare's prescription drug benefit pay for prescription drugs: $2,000 out of pocket annually. It would also require private Part D plans to cover more of the cost of expensive drugs, which experts say may motivate those plans to try to extract lower prices from drug makers on medications not included in the new government-led negotiations.
The new proposal also adds a provision that requires all insurers to cover insulin, so patients pay only $35 a month of their own money for the medication.
Democrats have finally built sufficient momentum to approve Medicare negotiations for the first time. They have wanted to do this since at least 2003, when Medicare Part D was first created. While the party still has a long way to go on figuring out what comes next in its health care agenda, this was one priority they knew they wanted to get done.
And with the moment of truth upon us, it looks like they will.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
With the Build Back Better bill, we are on the verge of finally allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, which will bring down the cost substantially for consumers.
This has been decades in the making and is overwhelmingly supported by the American people. There is even a provision that caps insulin costs in this bill to just $35 a month. This is a big deal for so many of our constituents.
We are making history here today. This bill will transform people's lives for the better.
Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Johnson), the distinguished chairwoman of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the distinguished majority leader.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Khanna), my friend.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the distinguished Speaker of the House.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I am prepared to close.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I don't know what my Republican friends find so offensive about making historic investments in healthcare and family care and combating climate change. Maybe we just have different values. Maybe they are just angry that we are investing not in the wealthy as they did, not in large corporations as they did, but in our workers, and in the middle-class families all across the Nation.
I am proud that we are finally allowing drug prices to be negotiated, proud that we are establishing universal free pre-K. I am proud that we are making the biggest expansion in healthcare coverage in a decade; proud that we are making the most transformative investments in caregiving in American history; and I am proud that we are making the biggest investments to combat climate change ever.
I didn't run for office to help the well connected or just to hold the title. I came here to actually get something done for workers, for students, and for the next generation so we are not saddling them with a planet whose climate is out of control. I ran for office to pass big, bold, transformative legislation like this.
This is the agenda the American people voted for in November. They demanded a clean break from the Republicans. They entrusted a Democratic Congress and a Democratic White House to use their power to change people's lives for the better. Today, we are delivering.
I know it took a while to get to this point, some ups and downs, and I know this isn't everybody's idea of a great and wonderful and fun Friday night, but it is testament to this President, to the Speaker, and to the Democrats on both sides of the Capitol.
We are on the doorstep of delivering once-in-a-generation legislation that builds on the New Deal and the promise that President Roosevelt made over 80 years ago. I urge all of my colleagues to seize this chance to vote for this rule and the underlying legislation so that the American people can truly have a fair shot in the 21st century.
The system, as it exists, is still rigged against workers, against too many families, against too many who are struggling in our country. Let us change that reality. Let us pass the infrastructure bill, the BIF bill, and then let us pass the Build Back Better bill and let's transform this country for the better. I am proud to be here today to advocate for this legislation.
Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I ran for Congress to help people. To help people in Chicago, in Illinois and across the country achieve the American dream. The Build Back Better Act represents a transformative investment in children, families, workers, businesses, and the planet that will improve health and well-being, advance economic and environmental justice, meaningfully address climate change, and grow our economy while asking the wealthiest and most secure to pay their fair share.
The pandemic has harmed tens of millions of Americans-- disproportionately hurting African Americans and other communities of color, women, seniors, and children. This legislation directly and profoundly helps individuals, communities, and businesses build back better by meeting immediate needs for food, shelter, medical care, and child care as well as long-term needs for quality education, good- paying jobs, safe roads and water, and a healthy environment.
I am deeply proud that many priorities that I have championed are included in this historic bill.
It provides 4 weeks of paid family and medical leave for workers so that they do not face the inhumane choice of caring for loved ones or financial ruin. As Chair of the Subcommittee with jurisdiction over paid leave, I have worked closely with Ways and Means Chairman Neal and advocates to shape this amazing, equity-generating, universal benefit. Lower-income workers and workers of color are much less likely to have any paid leave, yet are more likely to need paid leave due to greater health challenges and less savings to weather caregiving without pay. Paid leave strengthens workers, families, and businesses, and I will continue to fight to enact this provision into law.
The bill enhances the Earned Income Tax Credit to improve the economic well-being and increase the labor-force participation of millions childless workers and noncustodial parents--with special improvements to assist younger workers, foster and homeless youth, and seniors. This provision is expected to help 17 adults nationwide and over 600,000 in Illinois. I've fought for these improvements since the early 2000s as part of my Responsible Fatherhood Act.
It provides $2 billion to train workers with barriers to employment-- including people with records--for careers in the allied health professions, simultaneously connecting people to the labor force and addressing health profession shortages. This success will help Chicago State which has a stellar Health Profession Opportunity Grant program and expand programs like those offered by the Safer Foundation and Johns Hopkins to help people with records become successful healthcare professionals.
It helps vulnerable students by making Pell non-taxable and removing the lifetime ban on the American Opportunity Tax Credit for past felony convictions.
It incents substantial private investment in solar energy that will put money in the pockets of millions of low-income individuals by reducing electricity costs while making the air they breathe safer.
It contains strong labor provisions so that our investments in green energy benefit workers as well as businesses.
It includes $1 billion for to help justice-involved adults and youth to obtain employment and training services via the Reentry Employment Opportunities Program. It makes sure that people leaving prison have Medicaid coverage to improve health and successful reentry.
It includes $2.5 billion for public health approaches to reduce community violence and trauma interventions. I have championed these interventions with Senator Durbin in our RISE from Trauma Act.
It helps restore fairness to the tax code by rolling back the Republicans' punitive limit on the State and Local Tax deduction to hurt citizens and public employees in blue states like Illinois.
The Build Back Better Act dramatically reduces child poverty via a substantial Child Tax Credit for 2022 coupled with making the credit refundable permanently, raising a projected 4.1 million children above the poverty line and cutting child poverty by more than 40 percent. In October alone, the advanced CTC gave caregivers in my Congressional District over $30 million to provide food, shelter, and other necessities for 121,000 children.
It makes Americans healthier via substantial tax credits to cover health insurance, coverage for millions of people excluded from the ACA because their states failed to expand Medicaid, $1 billion for community health centers, Medicaid coverage for women after giving birth, tremendous funding to reduce health inequities, Medicare hearing coverage, and reduced medication costs. African Americans' risk for diabetes is 77 percent higher than that for non-Hispanic white Americans. This bill limits the co-pay for insulin to $35, which will help so many people I know.
The bill addresses racial and economic inequities for communities of color and rural and underserved communities.
It makes the largest investment in child care in our nation's history, saving most families more than half of their spending on child care. Child care is a fundamental component so that our economy and families can recover. Further, it makes historic investments to care for seniors and individuals with disabilities so that they can receive care in their homes and communities, recognizing the need to care for our aging population.
It makes the largest expansion of free education since our country established public high schools a century ago. It provides universal and free preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds, promoting racial equity in education. In addition, it expands access to affordable higher education by increasing the Pell grants by $550 for more than 5 million students, creating grants to close the college completion gap, and investing in Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions, including Predominantly Black Institutions like Malcolm X, Olive-Harvey, and Chicago State.
It makes the largest investment in affordable housing and community development in half a century. It addresses the housing crisis with $25 billion for rental assistance, $65 billion for public housing, $15 billion to build or improve affordable homes, and another $40 billion for critical housing initiatives. The pandemic has hit Black renters with children especially hard, with 29 percent--or an estimated 1.7 million renters--reporting that their household is not caught up on rent.
It feeds the hungry with $10 billion for nutrition, including expanding free school and summer meals. In 2020, Black and Latino families with children were more than twice as likely to suffer food insecurity as white households. Hunger has no place in the United States.
This bill invests billions in small businesses, including $1.6 billion for minority owned business and $105 million for education and financial assistance for the formerly incarcerated to form businesses to create jobs in their communities. It invests over $3 billion in capital access for small employers and entrepreneurs. The SBA lending programs have been lifelines to local businesses during the pandemic and these funds will help businesses build back better post pandemic.
This legislation ensures the largest effort combat climate change in American history by: putting money back in people's pockets as they shift to clean energy; promoting the manufacturing of clean energy technology in the US, creating hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs; and advancing environmental justice to deliver benefits to disadvantaged communities.
I am honored to vote for this once-in-a-generation legislation. I came to Congress to make this type of momentous change to make life better for tens of millions of people. I urge my colleagues to pass it.
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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, as amended.
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