Providing for Consideration of Senate Amendments to House Amendment to S. Joseph Woodrow Hatchett United States Courthouse and Federal Building; Providing for Consideration of Senate Amendment to House Amendment to S. Keep Kids Fed Act of Relating to Consideration of Senate Amendment to H.R. Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I thank the Representative from Massachusetts and the distinguished chair of the Rules Committee for yielding me the customary 30 minutes.

Madam Speaker, S. 2938, as amended in the Senate, is at its core an effort to chip away at the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. It has received no hearings, no committee process, and has only recently been released in bill form for the public to review. It came to us very early this morning after the Senate passed it late last night, and my colleagues expect us to vote on this bill later today, despite the egregious procedural violations. Unfortunately for the American people, that is not a unique development here in Congress. I am disappointed that this is the way the majority has chosen to proceed with legislation, with no hearing and no public input.

The bill provides $750 million over 5 years in Federal Byrne JAG grant funding to States for crisis intervention proceedings, including State-level red flag programs. However, this bill fails to provide explicit due process requirements. We have seen in places where red flag laws have been adopted that these types of laws always infringe on the constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners. This ambiguous language contains insufficient guardrails to ensure that the money is actually going toward keeping guns out of the hands of criminals or preventing mass violence.

Vague red flag laws are ripe for abuse and can become extremely dangerous. For example, a person could have just gotten out of an abusive relationship and has a firearm to defend themselves against their ex-partner. Their abusive partner could report this individual and have their firearm taken away, putting the victim at even greater risk.

This bill also includes provisions that will lead to enhanced scrutiny of certain adults based on their age before they can exercise their constitutionally guaranteed rights. There are no other constitutional rights in which we require enhanced screenings of certain adults based solely on their age.

There is also surprisingly little in this bill that actually focuses on making our schools safer. The bill does nothing to help provide for additional school resource officers. I suspect this is due to the fact that some of my Democrat colleagues are still incapable of supporting funding for additional law enforcement officers, even in our children's schools.

Lastly, we know that this is just the tip of the iceberg. President Biden and my Democrat colleagues have made it abundantly clear that this is just a ``small step'' toward their larger gun-grabbing agenda. The actions of this administration's Department of Justice, FBI, and ATF have completely whittled away the confidence of gun-owning Americans that the provisions in these bills will not be abused beyond their stated scope.

House Republicans are committed to identifying and solving the root causes of violent crimes and bolstering school security, but doing so must not infringe upon the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. For example, just earlier this week, we voted on the bipartisan Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act. This bill contains the bulk of the mental health care provisions included in the Senate bill, without infringing on Second Amendment rights.

In this case, the bill we are considering under this rule is not only a blatant infringement on lawful gun owners' Second Amendment rights, but an unnecessary duplication of the bipartisan work we have already done.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I would just like to mention that my distinguished colleague repeatedly talks about how this is not controversial. If it is not controversial, then committee hearings held by the majority should not be a problem. So I would ask again that we follow the procedures of the House.

Madam Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to immediately consider Congressman Hudson's STOP II Act, critical legislation that addresses two issues that both sides of the aisle should be able to agree on, hardening for schools and active-shooter training, law enforcement, and mental health funding.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, House Republicans are committed to addressing the tragedy of these school shootings, but we cannot and should not impede the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. This is not a matter of Democrat or Republican; it is a matter of what is in the Constitution.

Congressman Hudson's legislation is something we can pass right now, today, that will have immediate positive effects, keeping students safe while getting Americans the mental health resources they need.

Many of these solutions are included in the bill we are considering under the rule, but Congressman Hudson's solution achieves the same outcome without infringing on our Second Amendment rights.

Madam Speaker, I yield 10 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Hudson), to speak further on the amendment.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, I wanted to point out to the gentleman from the Massachusetts that the majority solely holds the power to give the bill a hearing. And I am sure I can speak on behalf of the gentleman from North Carolina that he would be happy to be granted a hearing on his bill and would love to have that done given that you are in control of those hearings.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Weber).

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, we join the chairman in wishing Rose the best in her future endeavors. Thank you for that.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, House Republicans want to ensure that our schools and communities are safe, but today the lack of hearings, the lack of public input, and the lack of procedure offends our duty to our constituents and our oath to defend the Constitution.

We are not willing to subvert constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans, like this bill would do. There are solutions to prevent tragedies like we have seen without affecting law-abiding gun owners. We can pass those today, and that, both sides can agree on.

Unfortunately, the legislation provided under the rule attaches these solutions to unconstitutional and misguided policies that are a ``small step'' in the Democrats' broader gun control agenda.

Madam Speaker, I oppose the rule, and I ask Members to do the same. I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

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