Providing for Consideration of Senate Amendment to H.R. Haiti Development, Accountability, and Institutional Transparency Initiative Act; Providing for Consideration of H.J. Res. Extension of Continuing Appropriations Act, Providing for Consideration of H.R. Suspending Energy Imports From Russia Act; and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Covid Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022
Floor Speech
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 973 and ask for its immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the resolution, as follows: H. Res. 973
Resolved, That upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 2471) to measure the progress of post-disaster recovery and efforts to address corruption, governance, rule of law, and media freedoms in Haiti, with the Senate amendment thereto, and to consider in the House, without intervention of any point of order, a motion offered by the chair of the Committee on Appropriations or her designee that the House concur in the Senate amendment with an amendment consisting of the text of Rules Committee Print 117-35 modified by the amendment printed in the report of the Committee on Rules accompanying this resolution. The Senate amendment and the motion shall be considered as read. The motion shall be debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations or their respective designees. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the motion to its adoption without intervening motion. The question of adoption of the motion shall be divided for a separate vote on all of the matter proposed to be inserted by the amendment of the House other than divisions B, C, F, X, and Z, and titles 2 and 3 of division N. The two portions of the divided question shall be considered in the order specified by the Chair. If either portion of the divided question fails of adoption, then the House shall be considered to have made no disposition of the Senate amendment.
Sec. 2. The chair of the Committee on Appropriations and the chair of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence may insert in the Congressional Record not later than March 11, 2022, such material as they may deem explanatory of the Senate amendment and the motion specified in the first section of this resolution.
Sec. 3. Upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the House the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 75) making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2022, and for other purposes. All points of order against consideration of the joint resolution are waived. The joint resolution shall be considered as read. All points of order against provisions in the joint resolution are waived. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the joint resolution 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 Appropriations or their respective designees; and (2) one motion to recommit.
Sec. 4. Upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the House the bill (H.R. 6968) to prohibit the importation of energy products of the Russian Federation, 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 Ways and Means or their respective designees; and (2) one motion to recommit.
Sec. 5. Upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the House the bill (H.R. 7007) making emergency supplemental appropriations for coronavirus response and relief for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2022, 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 Appropriations or their respective designees; and (2) one motion to recommit.
Sec. 6. House Resolution 972 is laid on the table.
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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), who is my good friend, 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, the Rules Committee met and reported a rule, House Resolution 973, providing for consideration of the Senate amendment to H.R. 2471, the Consolidated Appropriations Act. It provides for a motion to concur in the Senate amendment to H.R. 2471 with a House amendment and self-executes a manager's amendment. It divides the question on adoption of the motion into two votes in the order specified by the chair, and provides that if any portion of the divided question fails, then the House shall be considered to have made no disposition on the Senate amendment.
The rule also provides for consideration of H.J. Res. 75, the Extension of Continuing Appropriations Act, under a closed rule, and provides one motion to recommit.
The rule provides for consideration of H.R. 6968, the Suspending Energy Imports from Russia Act, under a closed rule. It provides 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Ways and Means and provides one motion to recommit.
The rule provides for consideration of H.R. 7007, the COVID Supplemental Appropriations Act, under a closed rule, and provides one motion to recommit.
The rule provides 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations for H.R. 2471, H.J. Res. 75, and H.R. 7007.
Finally, the rule tables House Resolution 972.
Madam Speaker, at this point, I am a big believer that less is more. I have spoken about the important aspects of what we are doing here today earlier, so I will not repeat it.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I don't have any other requests for time.
Does the gentleman have any additional requests for time?
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Mr. McGOVERN.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
We talked about this earlier. I don't want to belabor the point, but I just want to make sure my colleagues understand there are 9,000 wells that are currently unused. Oil companies are experiencing record profits, $174 billion in profits, while they gouge American consumers.
As for the Keystone pipeline, when people say to just turn on the switch, there is no switch to turn on. It was never completed. By the way, even if it was completed, estimates are that maybe it would save you a penny on a gallon of gas.
Maybe the time has come for us to have a serious conversation about energy independence that involves an acknowledgment that we need to wean ourselves off of fossil fuels. We need to actually care about the environment and dealing with climate change. And we need to tell the oil companies, especially during this crisis, to work with us to help the American people get through this difficult time--in fact, help the world get through this difficult time. But there is no excuse for price gouging.
Madam Speaker, I have no other requests for speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Let me again thank my friend from Oklahoma for his comments and for him being so accommodating during this day that began really early this morning.
Let me also thank the staff of the Rules Committee, Democrats and Republicans, who work incredibly hard. I think this entire Congress and the American people owe them a debt of gratitude.
I also want to thank Chairwoman DeLauro and Ranking Member Granger and the staff, both Democratic and Republican, of the Appropriations Committee for all of the incredible work that they have done.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the previous question. The gentleman is right that American consumers need relief right now, and we ought to be having a discussion on how to help alleviate the burden of high energy costs right now.
The problem with what my Republican friends are proposing is it purports to provide relief 20 years or 30 years down the road. We need to find mechanisms right now to help lower costs to consumers, and we have to find a way to do it so that whatever we do gets passed on to the consumers and not just absorbed by the oil companies, as we have seen in the past.
We also need to get serious about renewable energy and about dealing with the climate crisis. I mean, we should have done it a long time ago. We would probably be having a very different conversation right now.
So as we deal with Putin's price hike, let's understand that, you know, there is an immediate issue that what they are proposing doesn't even begin to address and there is the long-term issue. I would rather have a long-term solution that is not so reliant on fossil fuels.
What we have in this omnibus bill will help this country, will help everybody, will help every State, will make a real difference in people's lives. It will help our kids in school. It will help the parents of those kids get good jobs. It helps provide additional resources to medical research to try to find cures to life-threatening diseases like cancer. There are so many good things in here.
There are obviously things that we all don't agree on or see eye to eye on. The gentleman mentioned the changes that he liked. No surprise that I don't like all of those changes that he liked. He doesn't like some of the things that I like. But that is the way this works, especially when we have to negotiate four corners, which means Democrats and Republicans have to work things out and you have a Senate that--well, I don't want to go there. Anyway, the bottom line is, we ought to get this done.
Madam Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' on the rule and a ``yes'' on the previous question.
The material previously referred to by Mr. Cole is as follows: Amendment to House Resolution 973
At the end of the resolution, add the following:
Sec. 7. Immediately upon adoption of this resolution, the House shall proceed to the consideration in the House of the bill (H.R. 6858) to strengthen United States energy security, encourage domestic production of crude oil, petroleum products, and natural gas, 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 Energy and Commerce; and (2) one motion to recommit.
Sec. 8. Clause 1(c) of rule XIX shall not apply to the consideration of H.R. 6858.
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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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