Providing for Consideration of H.R. Protecting Our Democracy Act; Providing for Consideration of S. National Pulse Memorial; and Providing for Consideration of S. Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Scanlon), my good friend, for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Today's rule, Mr. Speaker, covers three items. I will begin my remarks on a bipartisan note with the House amendment to S. 1605, the vehicle for the agreement between the House and the Senate for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022.
It has been a long road to get us to this point, Mr. Speaker, but with this week's action, the House and Senate are poised to enact the NDAA for the 61st consecutive year. This is quite an accomplishment, and one that could not have been possible but for the bipartisan cooperation in the House and the Senate.
It didn't always look promising. At the beginning of the process, President Biden proposed a defense budget that would deeply underfund our national defense. Chronic underfunding of defense was the hallmark of the Obama-Biden administration, a trend that was thankfully reversed by President Trump and a Republican Congress.
With his first budget, President Biden appeared poised to return to the previous sorry state of affairs. Fortunately, a bipartisan group of legislators on the Armed Services Committee rejected this approach, ensuring an increase in defense funding that would be sufficient to meet the country's needs. This increase garnered overwhelming bipartisan support in the committee, allowing the NDAA to be reported out on a 57-2 vote, and extending to final passage out of the House, with a bipartisan 316-113 vote.
At a glance, it is easy to see why. The United States and our allies face significant threats around the globe. We see this every day in trouble spots around the world, ranging from the Middle East, to Afghanistan, to the Taiwan Strait. Between Russian adventurism in Eastern Europe, Chinese development of new hypersonic missiles and saber rattling against Taiwan, and the ongoing threat posed by extremist terror organizations like al-Qaida and the Islamic State, this is not the time to underfund our national defense.
Fortunately, the 2022 NDAA will adequately fund our defense needs and set clear priorities for our Armed Forces. The bill before us funds continued acquisition of ships to ensure the United States Navy can meet its mission. It funds the procurement and development of new weapons systems, which ensures that our military will be prepared to meet new and emerging challenges in the coming years. It provides our servicemembers with a 2.7 percent pay raise.
And perhaps most important of all, it includes many provisions designed to provide much-needed oversight of President Biden's bungled withdrawal from Afghanistan. America deserves answers about decisions that were made and the resulting failures of leadership that occurred at all levels. Thanks to this bill, they can be assured that they will get them.
Our second item is the House amendment to S. 610, which addresses Medicare sequestration. While most of the Members on both sides of the aisle would agree that a resolution of this problem is necessary, I fear today's bill is a missed opportunity for bipartisanship.
Rather than pursuing a clean, bipartisan deal, we have a bill which includes provisions addressing the debt ceiling and delaying the paygo cuts from the majority's partisan reconciliation bill earlier this year.
Mr. Speaker, 2 months ago Democrats passed a measure to increase the debt ceiling, leading us to the deadline we face today. At that time, Republicans told Democrats two things which I think bear repeating. First, Democrats needed to step back from their massive partisan spending priorities. And second, they needed to work with the Republicans on solutions to our ever-increasing, structurally imbalanced debt.
Instead, Democrats have doubled down on their spending habits without using reconciliation to address the debt ceiling. Earlier this year, the majority passed a $1.9 trillion reconciliation bill with only Democratic votes. Last month, the House passed another partisan reconciliation bill, with only Democratic votes, which may ultimately cost us as much as $4.5 trillion.
Even if you take the Democrats at their word and accept their claim that these measures are fully paid for, all the new revenues this legislation claims to raise do nothing to address the existing $29 trillion national debt. They just go to new programs overwhelmingly designed to benefit the wealthy and liberal special interests.
Both of these measures are larded up with more spending, more taxation, and more Big Government control over the lives of everyday Americans. And these measures come on top of normal Federal spending and on top of the trillions of dollars appropriated last year and earlier this year to address the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic crisis.
After continuing to spend money in such a reckless and partisan manner, it is deeply disappointing that the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate waited until now to address the debt ceiling. Waiting until this point has placed the House in an awkward position, resulting in today's unfortunate bill.
Additionally, the paygo cuts due to be implemented next month, due mostly to the Democrats' first reconciliation bill, are not addressed. Instead, they are delayed until the end of 2022, setting up an even bigger crisis at that time.
Finally, the House is also considering H.R. 5314, which the majority is calling the Protecting Our Democracy Act. This is a package of purported reforms relating to Presidential power and foreign interference in elections. But the reality is that this package is an attempt by the majority to write into law supposed solutions to every complaint they ever had about the previous President.
The best thing I can say about this package is that it is duplicative. Many of the provisions included in this package have already passed the House as part of the majority's previous purported reform packages, notably including H.R. 1.
But not content with having passed these partisan provisions previously, the majority is pushing ahead with today's package. This is such a waste of time for this institution. At a time when the American people are deeply concerned about inflation and the weak economy, and when we are seeing the consequences of President Biden's weak leadership, both domestically and abroad, the majority is once again wasting time by talking about the last administration. I can think of countless other ways we could and should be spending our time that would be more productive and would deliver better results for our constituents.
Mr. Speaker, this is a sorry state of affairs. I continue to hope that the majority will shift its focus back to where it should be. Governing in a deeply partisan manner may be satisfying to their base, but it is hardly productive for the American people.
Mr. Speaker, I urge opposition to this rule, and I reserve the balance of my time.
If we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to immediately bring up H.R. 1995, the Protecting Our Communities From Gang Violence Act of 2021. This bill would make alien gang members inadmissible to the United States and deportable. It would also authorize revoking the citizenship of certain naturalized individuals who are members of a criminal gang, and it would ensure that individuals associated with criminal gangs are ineligible for asylum or temporary protected status.
Mr. Speaker, gang violence continues to be a scourge on American communities, threatening the lives and livelihoods of ordinary, hardworking Americans. Certain gangs, like MS-13, operate internationally, bringing violence from overseas to the United States. If enacted, H.R. 1995 would ensure the Federal Government has an appropriate response to gang members and wrongdoers who seek to enter the United States or who have taken advantage of our broken immigration system to cause chaos in our communities.
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