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Floor Speech

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Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I would just remind our colleagues we are here today to talk about a rule to bring the Protecting Our Democracy Act to the floor. That is a bill that would prevent criminal behavior by Presidents, not by illegal aliens, so I would just kind of redirect the conversation there.

We are also here to engage in the extremely important business of passing the National Defense Authorization Act and to help the Senate, since they are having difficulty on their own, to raise the debt limit. That is what we are here to discuss.

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Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I would inquire how many speakers Mr. Cole has remaining.

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Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, As long as I have a few minutes left, I did just want to raise an amendment I have to the Protecting Our Democracy Act, which has been made in order. This amendment would effectuate the findings of the Senate Judiciary Committee report titled ``Subverting Justice: How the Former President and His Allies Pressured DOJ to Overturn the 2020 Election.''

That report made numerous recommendations, but one of them is directly related to the Protecting Our Democracy Act. It would increase the frequency with which reports are made of contact between the White House and the Department of Justice in order to make sure that protections occur against politicization of our law enforcement arm at the behest of bad actors in the White House.

I am very, very pleased that that amendment was made in order and, as always, very grateful to the Committee on Rules for its continuing efforts to make amendments in order, which it has been doing at a much higher rate this term than last.

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Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I completely agree that protecting Medicare from cuts is a bipartisan issue, and we are happy to engage on that. Unfortunately, if there is a complaint about how this bill is coming up at this time, that is something that was pushed by Republican leadership here in the House. That is not how our leadership proposed to do it.

If my colleagues want to have a serious conversation about the Nation's fiscal policies, we encourage them to do the work with us to pass a funding bill for the current fiscal year. We are now 2 months into this fiscal year, and we still don't have a funding bill because Senate Republicans are refusing to work with the rest of Congress to negotiate a bipartisan appropriations bill.

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Ms. SCANLON. The Protecting Our Democracy Act is a necessary package of policies to address abuses of our constitutional processes that have developed over time but accelerated under the most recent administration. It has become clear that our government will not survive solely on the good behavior of good people. We need statutory guardrails to ensure compliance with norms of good behavior.

The Protecting Our Democracy Act will impose reasonable and constitutionally sound limits on Presidential power and then create enforceable penalties for Presidents who abuse the powers of their office.

I am proud of my colleagues who contributed legislation to the final bill, especially Representative Adam Schiff, who spearheaded this important effort.

The Protecting Our Democracy Act is an important continuation of the House's work for the people to protect our democratic institutions at this critical moment in time. It builds off bills like H.R. 1, H.R. 4, and the Inspector General Independence and Empowerment Act to protect our elections and make good government reforms to ensure that our government works for everyone and that the rule of law applies to everyone.

As with many of these bills and others passed by the House, I strongly urge my Senate colleagues to join us and do some legislating. Our country is facing multiple problems, and we frankly cannot afford continued inaction from the Senate on voting rights, the NDAA, the debt limit, or any of the hundreds of bills passed by the House over the past year.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to vote for the rule today and to support the underlying legislation.

The material previously referred to by Mr. Cole is as follows: Amendment to House Resolution 838

At the end of the resolution, add the following:

Sec. 9. Immediately upon adoption of this resolution, the House shall proceed to the consideration in the House of the bill (H.R. 1995) to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act with respect to aliens associated with criminal gangs, 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. 10. Clause 1(c) of rule XIX shall not apply to the consideration of H.R. 1995.
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