Providing for Consideration of H.R. Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, let me first thank the gentleman from Oklahoma, the distinguished chairman, for yielding me the customary 30 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, with less than a week from default, we have been rushed back to Washington because Republicans decided they wanted to waste months playing games with the debt limit.

They said if Democrats and President Biden didn't give House Republicans everything they wanted, they were prepared to push the entire economy off a cliff, causing catastrophic, lasting, irreparable damage to America.

Even though the GOP voted three times to prevent default when Donald Trump was President, even though 97 percent of the debt was accumulated before President Biden took office and over a quarter of the debt was accumulated under Donald Trump, even though Republicans had no problem adding trillions to the debt with their giveaways to Big Oil and to Wall Street CEOs and lavish tax cuts for the very rich, now they choose to play Russian roulette with our economy.

Frankly, we should not be here. We should have taken care of this months ago, but once again, Republicans are demonstrating that they cannot govern.

Let's rewind to the end of 2017. The last time Republicans held the majority, they left our government with the longest shutdown in American history.

Here we are today, dealing with a totally manufactured crisis that jeopardizes the full faith and credit of the United States.

Both then and now, Democrats have had to be the adults in the room to come in and clean up Republicans' self-made mess. Every time Republicans are in charge, Mr. Speaker, they screw things up.

Mr. Speaker, I thank President Biden, Shalanda Young, Steve Ricchetti, Louisa Terrell, Ashley Jones, Alicia Molt-West, and the White House team, as well as Leader Jeffries and his staff, for their leadership throughout these negotiations. I am sure it wasn't easy working with our Republican colleagues. I saw reports that White House staff was holed up in a stuffy room late at night and early in the morning, arguing for hours on end with Republicans.

All I can say as a longstanding member of the Rules Committee: Welcome to the club.

Mr. Speaker, because of their efforts, this bill is a lot less awful than it could have been.

That said, I have some very real, very serious reservations about this bill. There are better ways to deal with our deficit than to further burden our Nation's most vulnerable.

We can make sure the wealthy and well connected pay their fair share.

Let's close the tax loopholes that millionaires and billionaires and corporations exploit. This bill does the opposite. It cuts IRS funding that would have kept big corporations and the top 1 percent in check. We have some of the wealthiest corporations on the entire planet, and they pay little to no taxes. They should at least pay the rate their lowest paying workers pay.

What about the military budget? ``60 Minutes'' covered a story a couple of weekends ago where a former Pentagon official talked about the insane price gouging taking place at the Pentagon. He told us that the Pentagon overpays for almost everything--in one example, the Pentagon paid $10,000 for a $300 oil switch--but we are hearing from the Republicans that we can't find any savings in the bloated Pentagon budget.

Really? Instead, they say, let's continue to take from the most vulnerable in our country. Give me a break.

I know my Republican friends claim that investing less in military expenditures would somehow undercut our national security. Yes, we want a defense budget that ensures we are second to none, but to put everything in perspective here, we spend more on our national defense than the next 10 countries combined, including China and Russia. Defense spending accounts for nearly half of discretionary spending.

Our national security is so much more than bullets and bombs. It is healthcare. It is education and food. It is a clean environment. It is good jobs and safe neighborhoods. It includes adequate support for our veterans, our seniors, and for our children--all the things that strengthen our communities.

Honestly, Mr. Speaker, thank God for Joe Biden. He secured expanded food benefits for some of the most vulnerable individuals, like veterans, kids emerging from the foster care system, and the unhoused.

It is clear the President entered these negotiations trying to protect as many people as possible from the GOP's war on the poor, but at the end of the day, we should not be making tradeoffs between which vulnerable population gets to eat.

I have a hard time understanding why we are kicking up to 700,000 older adults off of SNAP. It is just cruel. Food and hunger should not be a partisan issue. It is a human issue, but Republicans don't care who they hurt.

We have over 30 million people in this country who do not know where their next meal will come from. The current SNAP benefit, on average, is $6 per person per day. That is $2 per meal. The majority of people on SNAP who can work do work, and we also know that work requirements do not work.

In a February 2021 report titled: ``The Effects of Changing SNAP Work Requirement on the Health and Employment Outcomes of Able-Bodied Adults without Dependents,'' exactly what we are talking about here today, it was reported that losing SNAP made people less healthy and had no significant change in employment status. Again, work requirements do not work.

By the way, if my Republican colleagues don't believe me, they could have held a hearing. They could have held a hearing in the Agriculture Committee or in the Nutrition, Foreign Agriculture, and Horticulture Subcommittee.

They didn't hold a single hearing on this issue, not one. They have no clue who this will adversely impact, and I don't even think they care. You would think that we want to go into this knowing exactly how this legislation would affect our constituents, but they didn't even have time for a hearing.

Here is the kicker, Mr. Speaker. You are going to love this. Many of the people in this Chamber who are trying to take food away from struggling Americans are the same people who had their PPP loans forgiven. Some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle received hundreds of thousands of dollars--some, millions--in taxpayer dollars that were used to forgive some of their loans.

They had no problem with that. They just shrugged that off, but they say we cannot afford to help make sure that families can put food on their tables. It is ridiculous.

I also have issues with the antienvironmental language in the deal. The bill slashes key NEPA protections, approves the Mountain Valley Pipeline, and doesn't include transmission reform.

Look, we all knew there would have to be compromise. No side was going to get everything they wanted out of this deal, but Republicans have used this manufactured crisis to force policy changes that are so unpopular that they could not possibly get them through regular order.

For some on the far, far right--and there are a lot of them over there--this bill isn't mean enough. Let that sink in, everybody.

By weaponizing the debt ceiling, Republicans are establishing a precedent that will haunt us forever, that one party can use the full faith and credit of the United States as a hostage to pass their widely unpopular ideas that they could not get done through the normal legislative process. It is a lousy, lousy way to govern.

Mr. Speaker, let me conclude by saying that in this Republican-led Congress, it has become unfashionable to worry about the poor and the vulnerable, to believe in the principle that we should bring everyone along, that we must meet the needs of the many, not just of the few.

Mr. Speaker, our goal should be to elevate people, not demean them. The policies being advocated and forced upon us by my Republican friends do not reflect my values. It is sad that, for them, solving problems and uplifting all people apparently is not their mission.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a report by The Balance titled: ``President Trump's Impact on the National Debt.'' [From the balance, Jan. 26, 2022] President Trump's Impact on the National Debt (By Kimberly Amadeo)

The national debt increased by almost 36% during Trump's tenure.

Republican candidate Donald Trump promised during the 2016 presidential campaign that he would eliminate the nation's debt in eight years.

Instead, his budget estimates showed that he would actually add at least $8.3 trillion, increasing the U.S. debt to $28.5 trillion by 2025. But the national debt reached that figure much sooner. The national debt stood at $19.9 trillion when President Trump took office in January 2017, and it reached a high of $27 trillion in October 2020.

The national debt reached another high of $28 trillion less than two months after President Trump left office. In December 2021, Congress then increased the debt limit by $2.5 trillion, to almost $31.4 trillion, as debt rose again under President Joe Biden. How Did the National Debt Increase?

At first it seemed that Trump was lowering the debt. It fell $102 billion in the first six months after he took office. The debt was $19.9 trillion on Jan. 20, the day Trump was inaugurated. It was $19.8 trillion on July 30, thanks to the federal debt ceiling.

Trump signed a bill increasing the debt ceiling on Sept. 8, 2017. The debt exceeded $20 trillion for the first time in U.S. history later that day. Trump signed a bill on Feb. 9, 2018, suspending the debt ceiling until March 1, 2019. The total national debt was at $22 trillion by February 2019. Trump again suspended the debt ceiling in July 2019 until after the 2020 presidential election.

The debt hit a record $27 trillion on Oct. 1, 2020 before reaching further peaks in 2021 that caused Congress to act again to raise the debt limit in December.

Trump oversaw the fastest increase in the debt of any president, almost 36% from 2017 to 2020. Did President Trump Reduce the National Debt?

Trump promised two strategies to reduce U.S. debt before taking office: He would increase growth by 4% to 6%, and he would eliminate wasteful federal spending Increasing Growth

Trump promised while on the campaign trail to grow the economy by 4% to 6% annually to increase tax revenues. Once in office, he lowered his growth estimates to between 2% and 3%. These more realistic projections are within the 2% to 3% healthy growth rate.

President Trump also promised to achieve between 2% and 4% growth with tax cuts. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% beginning in 2018. The top individual income tax rate dropped to 37%. The TCJA doubled the standard deduction and eliminated personal exemptions. The corporate cuts are permanent, but the individual changes expire at the end of 2025.

According to the Laffer curve, tax cuts only stimulate the economy enough to make up for lost revenue when the rates are above 50%. It worked during the Reagan administration because the highest tax rate was 70% at that time. Eliminating Wasteful Federal Spending

Trump's second strategy was to eliminate waste and redundancy in federal spending. He demonstrated this cost- consciousness during his campaign when he used his Twitter account and rallies instead of expensive television ads.

Trump was right that there is waste in federal spending. The problem isn't finding it. The problem is in cutting it. Each program has a constituency that lobbies Congress. Eliminating these benefits may lose voters and contributors. Congressional representatives may agree to cut spending in someone else's district, but they resist doing so on their own.

More than two-thirds of government spending goes to mandatory obligations made by previous acts of Congress. Social Security benefits cost $1.2 trillion in Fiscal Year 2021. Medicare cost $722 billion, and Medicaid cost $448 billion. The interest on the debt was $378 billion.

Military spending must also be cut to lower the debt because it's such a large portion of the budget. But Trump increased military spending in Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 to $933 billion. That includes three components:

$636 billion base budget for the Department of Defense

$69 billion in overseas contingency operations for DoD to fight the Islamic State group

$229 billion to fund the other agencies that protect our nation, including the Department of Veterans Affairs ($105 billion), Homeland Security ($50 billion), the State Department ($44 billion), the National Nuclear Security Administration in the Department of Energy ($20 billion), and the FBI and Cybersecurity for the eDepartment of Justice ($10 billion)

Only $595 billion was left to pay for everything else budgeted for FY 2021 after mandatory and military spending. That includes agencies that process Social Security and other benefits. It also includes the necessary functions performed by the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service. We'd have to eliminate it all to make a dent in the $966 billion deficit.

You can't reduce the deficit or debt without major cuts to defense and mandated benefits programs. Cutting waste isn't enough.

Did Trump's Business Debt Affect His Approach to U.S. Debt?

Trump said in an interview with CNBC during his 2016 campaign that he would ``borrow, knowing that if the economy crashed, you could make a deal.'' But sovereign debt is different from personal debt. It can't be handled the same way.

A 2016 Fortune magazine analysis revealed Trump's business was $1.11 billion in debt. That includes $846 million owed on five properties. These include Trump Tower, 40 Wall Street, and 1290 Avenue of the Americas in New York. It also includes the Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C., and 555 California Street in San Francisco. But the income generated by these properties easily pays their annual interest payment. Trump's debt is reasonable in the business world.

The U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio was 129% at the end of 2020. That's the $27.8 trillion U.S. debt as of December 2020, divided by the $21.5 trillion nominal GDP at the end of the second quarter this year.

The World Bank compares countries based on their total debt-to-gross domestic product ratio. It considers a country to be in trouble if that ratio is greater than 77%.

The high U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio didn't discourage investors. America is one of the safest economies in the world and its currency is the world's reserve currency. Investors purchase U.S. Treasurys in a flight to safety even during a U.S. economic crisis. That's one reason why interest rates plunged to historical lows in March 2020 after the coronavirus outbreak. Those falling interest rates meant that America's debt could increase, but interest payments remain stable.

The U.S. also has a massive fixed pension expense and health insurance costs. A business can renege on these benefits, ask for bankruptcy, and weather the resulting lawsuits, but a president and Congress can't cut back those costs without losing their jobs at the next election. As such, Trump's experience in handling business debt did not transfer to managing the U.S. debt. How the National Debt Affects You

The national debt doesn't affect you directly until it reaches the tipping point. It slows economic growth once the debt-to-GDP ratio exceeds 77% for an extended period of time. Every percentage point of debt above this level costs the country 0.017 percentage points in economic growth, according to a World Bank analysis.

The first sign of trouble is when interest rates start to rise significantly. Investors need a higher return to offset the greater perceived risk. They start to doubt that the debt can be paid off.

The second sign is that the U.S. dollar loses value. You will notice that as inflation rises, imported goods cost more. Gas and grocery prices rise. Travel to other countries also becomes much more expensive.

The cost of providing benefits and paying the interest on the debt will skyrocket as interest rates and inflation rise. That leaves less money for other services. The government will be forced to cut services or raise taxes at that point. This will further slow economic growth. Continued deficit spending will no longer work at that point.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, talk about spending. The national debt increased by almost 36 percent from 2017 to 2020 during Trump's tenure.

I wish the gentleman from Texas was on the floor screaming then as he is now. He has no problem with spending trillions of dollars on tax cuts for rich people and taxpayer subsidies for Big Oil companies, but when it comes to providing people the basics to be able to put food on the table, he has a problem. We just don't share the same values.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Leger Fernandez), a member of the Rules Committee.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, we are where we are at today, at the precipice of ruin, because extreme Republicans chose to hold Americans hostage by refusing to pay America's bills. Their chaos created fear and stress as Americans worried about a catastrophic recession.

Extreme Republicans' ransom demand was the default on America act, a proposal which targeted rural communities, Head Start, veterans' healthcare, and more, with 22 percent tax cuts--all to pay for the Trump tax cuts for the wealthiest CEOs that added $2 trillion to the deficit.

Rather than making the wealthiest pay their fair share, extreme Republicans wanted to balance the budget on American's growling, hungry stomachs.

Democrats proposed amendments to the default on America act to protect programs like rural development and veterans' healthcare programs. Republicans rejected every amendment.

So we went to our communities. We told them the truth about what the Republicans' default on America act would do. Americans listened, and they spoke out against the Republicans' plan.

When Democrats and President Biden's team went into the room to negotiate with Republicans, the voices of veterans, seniors, and working Americans went in, too.

Now, we have H.R. 3746. The bill does save us from economic catastrophe. It rejects the most extreme and cruel proposals contained in the Republicans' default on America act. It allows advanced appropriations for the Indian Health Service, and protects clean energy tax credits and healthcare for veterans.

Is it perfect? Absolutely not.

I do not support many of the changes to our environmental laws and our social safety net programs.

Let's talk fiscal responsibility for a moment. President Trump increased the debt by $8 trillion. In contrast, President Biden reduced the deficit in his first 2 years alone by $1.7 trillion, while creating 12 million jobs, bringing manufacturing back, and making the largest investments to address the climate crisis ever.

The bill today reduces the deficit by only $1.5 trillion. If we had merely passed the President's budget, we would have decreased the deficit by $3 trillion, without creating the fear and economic insecurity that extreme MAGA Republicans have forced Americans to endure.

Let me repeat this point: This crisis didn't have to happen. Everything in this bill could have been negotiated through the normal process without a debt crisis. Indeed, that is how it has almost always been done, except for in 2011 when the Republicans did this before. The American people need to tell the Republicans: No more hostage taking.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to yield 2 minutes to the very distinguished gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer).

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I would just remind the gentleman that under the new standards in this bill, 700,000 older Americans, vulnerable Americans, will lose their food benefits. If that is his idea of protecting the vulnerable, we don't want your help.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Jackson Lee).

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I am going to say my good friend, Mr. Cole--because he is my good friend--Mr. Cole had the facts very much incorrect.

The President of the United States was protecting the American people, protecting their future, and being, in essence, the great protector, while my friends on the other side of the aisle were passing legislation that was taking away H.R. 1, 30 million medical appointments for veterans, and throwing millions of Americans off of Medicaid. That is why the President was trying to get a clean debt ceiling, so we could come back as a House, Democrats working to get a fair budget bill.

That did not happen as he waited over and over again to see whether or not the Republicans would do what was done in the last administration and raise the debt ceiling not for debt, but to pay America's bills.

Now, this picture depicts the Speaker Emeritus and Good Hope Baptist Church with the children in daycare. Under the leadership of my friends, without the work that we are doing now to pay our bills, nondiscretionary funding, which takes care of Head Starts and childcare, would have been literally thrown out and families would be standing in line looking for an empty chair for their child to go in so they could go to work. In actuality, that is what Democrats did to ensure that did not happen.

Today, we stand on this floor to say that we will not allow the cruelty of default. We will not allow hostage taking. We will stand for the American people. We will ensure that the expansion of veterans and homeless persons and children in foster care that are now able to get SNAP, that is because we continue to fight, even though we could not get the Republicans to come to the table for 4 or 5 months.

I offered amendments to provide an increase or provision for those students who are still in their families' homes. Mr. Speaker, I am here today to speak on the Rule offered here today in consideration of H.R. 3746, the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.

It is important to highlight and discuss how we got here and what is at stake with this critical and momentous measure.

I know I am not alone in the disappointment at what steps have been taken to hold our nation's economy hostage and put American lives at risk.

It is shameful that, while we have a bipartisan agreement here today, we have taken painful compromises to get here.

And although arduous efforts on both sides of the aisle allowed for us to move forward with this agreement, and some critical protections for the American people have been preserved--it must be stated that this agreement is not one that entirely reflects what we in Congress should be united on--namely, our most basic and fundamental truths that hold us together as a democracy.

We are a nation that upholds the ability for all to prosper, as well as one that upholds the ability for all Americans to be protected and cared for in our times of greatest need.

It is important to understand that the foundations of a society do not extend only to its political and economic system; they must extend to its social and moral system as well.

Taking all of these in balance there is no other comparable governmental system that has raised the standard of living of millions of people, created vast new wealth and resources, or inspired so many beneficial innovations and technologies.

Governmental structures providing for protections and safety nets for all Americans is what makes us all successful as a nation united.

Creating and preserving such structure is the critical investment in our government, our nation, our security, and our development and growth for current and future generations to benefit from.

Yet, instead of investing in America, many of my Republican colleagues would rather focus on holding our economy hostage to advance unpopular and dangerous priorities.

Holding our nation's debt ceiling as collateral to inflict painful cuts that will impact the lives of millions of Americans and knowing that breaching the debt limit would provoke unprecedented economic damage and instability in the U.S. and around the world is a sad state that we have found ourselves in.

Yes, it is evident that my Republican colleagues will not prioritize the wellbeing, safety, health, and prosperity of the American people when looking at what we have had to give up in this bill.

While much is unknown about the devastating impact this bill will have, we do know that some immediate changes will inevitably cause harm to many American families, children and vulnerable individuals.

That is why I offered several amendments during the Rules Committee that will make additional exemptions and elimination of disqualifications for several additional special populations in which we must protect and continue to support when they are in their most desperate and fragile times of need.

Ensuring that we are not taking critical resources and money for food away from children and families living in poverty is not only the right thing to do, but also the economically smart thing to do.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the nation's most important and effective anti-hunger program.

Any changes in SNAP will have an incredible impact on millions of Americans and Texans.

As of 2020, there were 18.66 million households relying on SNAP and 7.11 million SNAP households with children.

Texas holds the second highest number of households using the SNAP program in 2023 at 1,167,720, making up 11.5 percent of Texas households.

As of April 2023, there were 284,794 SNAP cases and 6l5,463 eligible individuals in Harris County, my district's biggest county.

This included 92,214 individuals aged less than 5 and 228,5l9 individuals between the ages of 5-17.

My first amendment for H.R. 3746, listed on the Rules Committee roster as Amendment #56, would have added a provision to extend exemption regarding current work requirement exemptions in the Food and Nutrition Act for a parent or person responsible for dependent child up to age 24 in SNAP household.

In Texas, 79 percent of SNAP participants are families with children. That's more than the national rate of 69 percent of SNAP participants across the country being families with children.

Further, the SNAP participation rate in Texas for working poor people is 72 percent which is also more than the national rate of 4l percent of SNAP participants nationwide being in working families.

We need to understand that parents continue to support children beyond the age of adolescence impacting financial resources for families well into a child's early twenties.

Across the country there 5.134 million, and 528,000 in Texas aged 18- 24 in poverty as of 2021.

Nearly 1 in 3 parents (31 percent) have made a significant financial sacrifice to help their adult children financially.

Over two-thirds (68 percent) of parents of adult children have made or are currently making a financial sacrifice to help their kids financially.

Parents say they sacrificed retirement savings (43 percent), emergency savings (51 percent), paying down their own debt (49 percent) or reaching a financial milestone (55 percent).

Over 40 percent of American children rely primarily on their mothers' earnings for financial support in cross-sectional surveys.

In July 2022, half of adults ages 18 to 29 were living with one or both of their parents.

Significantly higher than the share who were living with their parents in 2010 (44 percent on average that year) or 2000 (38 percent on average).

What this means is that we need to understand that support for families with dependent children under the age of 24 and who are living in poverty need to be protected and extended the grace of an exemption in this bill.

My second amendment for H.R. 3746, listed on the Rules Committee roster as Amendment #59, would have extended the former foster care exemption to all individuals 24 or younger under state custody and aging out of critical support services.

More than 23,000 children will age out of the US foster care system every year.

Every year in Texas, more than 1,200 young adults age out of the foster care system without being adopted.

Less than half of Texas foster care alumni (46.9 percent) were currently employed at least ten hours per week.

Only half of alumni (51.6 percent) reported having a household income that was greater than the poverty line.

By 24 years old, 50 percent of former foster kids had been ``couch surfing'' since leaving care.

One in ten interviewed alumni (11.1 percent) was currently incarcerated; nearly seven in ten males (68.0 percent) had been arrested since leaving care, 55.2 percent had been convicted of a crime, and 62.3 percent had spent at least one night incarcerated.

Over 90 percent of foster youth who move more than four times will end up in juvenile justice.

Many youth in the juvenile and criminal justice system are not deemed to be indigent but have also had contact with the foster care system and have been removed from their homes even if they have not been formerly adjudicated as a foster child.

Far too often children in state custody are taken from their homes for significant periods of times during their adolescence and at a time when they are most vulnerable to recidivating upon their return to their homes due to gaps and lack of resources to help them get jobs, education, mental health care, substance abuse and housing.

It is important that we continue to provide necessary resources for all children and youth aging out of state custody where they have been removed from their homes during critical times of development and growth--and often are left to survive on their own and/or cannot return to their homes upon their release.

We need to do more to support youth aging out of state custody.

Despite no Democratic common-sense amendments being accepted at this posture, we have no choice but to continue to move forward and still try to make a better way for our nation. And to stop a devastating default where all Americans would suffer.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, the last time I checked, the Republican Conference hasn't provided us with a budget.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, if we want to talk about messes, let me just remind everybody that the last time my Republican friends were in charge, they left us with the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

Wasserman Schultz).

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the bipartisan budget agreement and thank President Biden and his team, particularly OMB Director Shalanda Young, for putting people over politics, defending our values, and protecting the full faith and credit of the United States.

My colleagues across the aisle were prepared to force a disastrous default and crash the economy into the side of a cliff, but Democrats will always put people over politics and our economy's durability over default.

My friend from Oklahoma knows well that Republicans' VA appropriations bill zeroed out guaranteed funding for our toxic-exposed veterans in fiscal year 2025. It is in the bill in black and white. It is why they were afraid to vote on it and pulled the bill from consideration.

Democrats protected toxic-exposed veterans' healthcare, expanded SNAP benefits to more food insecure people, and stopped Republicans' dangerous budget cuts in the default on America act.

Yesterday, CBO officially scored the bill and found that participation rates in SNAP will increase because of this compromise. President Biden negotiated a deal that gets us through the short-term and puts us in a good position to work through the appropriations process.

As an appropriator, I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to efficiently finish this year's budget.

Furthermore, I will remind my friend from Oklahoma that under the Trump administration, Republicans blew a hole in the deficit with a $1.5 trillion tax cut package that was unpaid for, so that is on them.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to vote in favor of the underlying legislation.

The gentleman is absolutely right that COVID did add to the deficit, but he neglected to mention the multitrillion-dollar tax cut for the rich that was unpaid for.

Mr. Speaker, I think there is a difference between Democrats and Republicans. I think that Democrats have proven that we can govern and that Republicans have proven they cannot.

We have seen the great things that government is capable of doing.

In the last Congress, with Democrats in charge of the House, we invested to rebuild our neglected infrastructure: airports, roads, bridges, and ports in all of our communities. We will see the benefits of that infrastructure bill for years and years to come. We brought manufacturing back to the United States. We passed the CHIPS and Science Act to drive innovation and create good-paying jobs. We made the largest investment in climate, protecting our water and our air. We strengthened our supply chains and set up new programs to support minority businesses. We lifted a record number of kids out of poverty in this country. We ensured that our veterans get the healthcare they earned.

It is possible for us to deliver for the American people, though I haven't seen much of it this year. Instead, Republicans spent a week in January trying to elect a Speaker. Republicans spent the last 5 months trying to destroy everything that we built over the last 2 years. They have only enacted three laws in 5 months, and those laws don't do much.

The bill we are debating today may become their fourth law. It will be their biggest legislative accomplishment of the year. Think about that. The biggest accomplishment will be ending a crisis that they created.

We have wasted time going back and forth on how to pay our bills. The fact that we have had to bend and contort ourselves to get this done, to prevent our economy from falling off a cliff because Republicans wanted to play games, is unconscionable and doesn't bode well for the future.

Finally, let me say, I plead with my colleagues on the Republican side to stop this assault against the poor. Every concession in this bill, every demand that Republicans made in this bill, hurts somebody. It hurts the most vulnerable in our country. Going after SNAP for older people, a measly $6 a day benefit, shame on you for doing that.

We are here to help people. We are here to uplift people. We are not here to demean people. We are not here to try to punish people.

Quite frankly, the narrative that the Republicans have been utilizing in this whole debate doesn't reflect the reality. Talk to the people in your district who are struggling. Let them tell you how difficult it is to make ends meet and how maddening it is to not know whether you can put food on the table.

We can do so much better, but you have to stop this assault against the poor, against the vulnerable in this country.

We need to do better, and I urge all my colleagues, as we move forward in the coming months, to keep that in mind. We are here to bring everybody forward, not just a select few. We are here to represent everybody, not just the rich and powerful and well-connected and people who give to our campaigns.

Again, the contrast here is that we have Members of Congress who accepted government-subsidized loan forgiveness for PPP who are the ones out here demanding that we nickel and dime programs like SNAP and TANF. It is disgusting, quite frankly, that we are even having this debate. We should be able to do so much better.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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