Providing for Consideration of H.R. National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend, the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole), the distinguished chairman of the Rules Committee for yielding me the customary 30 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, I have to say that I respect the gentleman, and I appreciate his remarks, his commitment to civility and decency and fairness. I know that he wants this House to run better and reflect the will of the Members. Quite frankly, I just don't believe what is happening in this Chamber lives up to the standard that he has set.

Last night, the Rules Committee met at 11 p.m. to advance a rule, not for the whole National Defense Authorization Act, which we were supposed to start debating today, but for part of the National Defense Authorization Act.

I get it. I have been in the majority before. I understand it is not always easy. What is happening today on the floor--not knowing when we are coming back to finish the second rule for this bill, or what offensive amendments will be included--is not just weird, it is nuts.

A small group of radical, hard-right Members, the MAGA circus I call them, is threatening to take down the NDAA rule unless they get their way. The ``unless they get their way'' part is really becoming a theme in this Congress.

I don't envy the gentleman from Oklahoma because what he is dealing with is truly bizarre. The MAGA circus wants to load up what could and should be a bipartisan bill--a bipartisan bill that passes every single year. They want to load it up with every single divisive social issue under the sun via the amendment process. Anti-abortion? Check. Anti- LGBTQ rights? Check. Anti-gun safety? Check.

It is not just that they are demanding it, it is that Republican leadership is probably caving. It is embarrassing, but, quite frankly, it is not surprising. This is just the latest example of how Kevin McCarthy has ceded control of this body to the most extreme Members of his own caucus while hanging everyone else out to dry and cutting mainstream Members out of the process. Kevin McCarthy may be the ringmaster, Mr. Speaker, but the clowns have taken over the circus.

This is a group of Members that are so far to the right that they have now begun purging Members from their own ranks for not being ideologically pure enough. It is honestly kind of scary. That is who is trying to write this year's defense bill.

The party of single-issue bills wants to turn the NDAA into an anti- abortion, anti-LGBTQ bill that weighs in on every wedge issue and culture war from guns to border and beyond.

Give me a break. If they want to do a single-issue bill, get this stuff out of here and pass a bipartisan NDAA bill.

By the way, I would say that I find some of the amendments that have been introduced to this NDAA incredibly offensive. We have Members saying they want to get woke out of the military, but they can't even define ``woke.''

Was desegregating the military woke?

Was allowing women in combat roles woke?

Was repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell woke?

That is what I want to ask some of my colleagues. I am pretty sure what their answer would be.

Mr. Speaker, why all the backroom dealing and negotiating with MAGA clowns?

By the way, I say that as somebody who has voted against the NDAA in the minority and in the majority because, quite frankly, I am sick and tired of sending blank checks to the Pentagon while we nickel and dime programs that help everyday people.

Mr. Speaker, I wish the Republicans luck in trying to solve this internal power struggle. I have to say, I don't have a whole lot of faith that this is going to work out in a way that will be good for this country.

I don't think it will work out in a way that will be good for most people in this country.

This is an example. I think when people are watching these proceedings and are seeing the kind of extortion that the MAGA Republicans are exacting from the current leadership, this is what I think people look at and say: This is what is wrong with Washington.

Mr. Speaker, I say this with no disrespect to the chairman, who I think is an example of what is right in this place. I will be voting ``no'' on this rule. I urge all of my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this rule. I hope and pray that my Republican friends can get their act together so we can actually start doing the people's business.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his comments. I would just say for the record that we are not objecting to more amendments being made in order.

I will remind my colleagues that when I was chairman of the Rules Committee, we had made 650 amendments in order for the National Defense Authorization Act, which is far higher than the 290. We hope that you have at least 650, and maybe you can surpass us. That would be wonderful.

We don't object to a process that allows for more amendments to be considered or more amendments to be made in order. What we object to is the extorting of your leadership by a small group of extremists in this House who are trying to force their rightwing and hard-line views on Congress and the people of this country.

We are concerned, quite frankly, that some of these ideas that the MAGA circus is proposing couldn't even pass if it were brought up as a freestanding amendment. We are worried about a self-executing rule as part of the next rule that will make them part of the base bill. That is what we are concerned about.

Mr. Speaker, I would say to the gentleman, we want more amendments in order. We think that is a good thing. What we are worried about is what this small group of individuals that seems to be engaged in extortion on every single major bill that comes to this floor, what they will end up winning in this process. What they will win is not reflective of what I think the majority of this Chamber believes. That is deeply concerning to us.

Mr. Speaker, I urge that we defeat the previous question. If we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to provide for consideration of a resolution which states that it is the House's sacred responsibility to protect and preserve Social Security and Medicare for our future generations and reject any cuts to these essential programs.
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Mr. McGOVERN. 2670.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, the administration supports this bill as it is written, but the statement also notes several concerns that the administration has with the bill, which they hope Congress will work with them to address.

House Democrats are going to do what we can to fight against any attempts to push the bill to the extreme MAGA fringes.

Again, when I was chairman of the Rules Committee, we made a lot of amendments in order to the defense authorization bill.

Let me give you an example, Mr. Speaker, about some of the people who are not thinking in reality here.

Last night, we had a Republican Member come up and testify about an amendment to withdraw us totally from NATO, a critical alliance between Europe and North America created after World War II that provides massive social, economic, and political benefits to its members in the face of an aggressive adversary.

My Republican friends have their heads in the sand if this is the kind of thing that they think will make our country more safe, and this is exactly the kind of amendment that the fringe elements of the MAGA circus are supporting.

By the way, the author of this amendment isn't extreme enough for the Freedom Caucus. They want her out of the Freedom Caucus because she is not pure enough or not extreme enough.

Mr. Speaker, we are really worried about where this is headed. The amendments that are contained in this first rule--most of them, I think, if not all of them--will probably pass with bipartisan support. Many of them are not controversial at all. It is what is coming next that has us concerned.

What will the MAGA wing of the Republican Party extort from this leadership? What are the horrific policy items that they are going to demand to be put into this bill in order to get it through the House?

Those are the things we are worried about.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, ``A Pentagon study released earlier this year found major defense contractors flush with, `cash beyond their needs for operations or investment.' They have tens of billions of excess cash from Pentagon business to hand out to shareholders.''

I think it is outrageous that Republicans will happily line the pockets of these ultra wealthy contractors but pinch pennies when it comes to the American people.

As I said earlier, we are talking about nearly a trillion-dollar Pentagon budget here. At the same time, appropriators led by Republicans are cutting programs like WIC and Meals on Wheels.

Mr. Speaker, I request unanimous consent to include in the Record an article from CBS News titled, ``How the Pentagon falls victim to price gouging by military contractors.''

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Mr. McGOVERN. Sewell).

Mr. Speaker, this is more ridiculous Republican infighting and wasting more time. That is what this is. They are bickering on everything, from spending levels to whose bill gets on the floor when. It distracts from the other very real work that Congress has the opportunity to do here.

We should also be working to protect our constituents from gun violence. There were more than 17 mass shootings this past Fourth of July weekend that killed dozens of Americans, but Republicans are too busy fighting with Republicans.

We should also pass bills to keep pollutants from clogging up our air and toxins from ruining our water, but Republicans are too busy fighting with Republicans.

We should also do more to stop the opioid crisis and provide support for those struggling with their mental health, but Republicans are too busy fighting with Republicans.

We should also make sure that every American has access to quality healthcare, the chance to receive a good education, or even the basic rights to housing and food, but Republicans are too busy fighting with Republicans.

There is so, so much we should be doing, including passing this bipartisan defense budget, but Republican leadership is busy trying to cater to every whim of the MAGA circus.

I will say it again, Kevin McCarthy may be the ringleader, but the clowns have taken over. It is no way to govern, and it continues to set a deeply dangerous precedent for how this body conducts business moving forward, including with the appropriations process.

Mr. Speaker, let me explain why we are here right now, and why we are in this situation.

We have passed a defense bill by huge margins every year for the past 63 years. Yet here we are with this stalling of moving the full bill forward because a small group of people who call themselves the Freedom Caucus have basically said that they will block passage of this bill if the Republican leadership doesn't cave to every one of their demands.

They call themselves the Freedom Caucus. That seems like a strange name. I mean, are they for the freedom for people to read whatever books they want in the library? No.

Are they for the freedom of women to be able to control their own bodies? No.

Are they for the freedom for people to love who they want in this country? No.

Are they for the freedom to protect people from gun violence in this country as we see the number of incidents involving guns in this country rise at this alarming rate? No.

I think the only thing they are pro-freedom about is the freedom to harass the Republican leadership, the freedom to extort the leadership to cave to their ideas that, by the way, are deeply unpopular not only in this Chamber, that is sadly controlled by the Republicans, but views and ideas that are deeply unpopular throughout this country.

Mr. Speaker, and I get it. They threaten the Speaker by saying that we will move to vacate the Chair. We will move to oust you as Speaker if you don't do everything we say. When they say jump, they want the Speaker to respond by saying, how high. This is a bad way to run this Congress. This is not what the American people expect from the House of Representatives. They certainly don't want ideas that are so extreme, so to the fringe, being shoved down their throats.

At some point, the Speaker has to stand up to these people. At some point, he has to say no. At some point, he has to make it clear that what they are asking is beyond the pale. It is not only not good policy, but it is bad for this institution, and it is bad for this country. That is why we are here.

We don't know when the Rules Committee will meet again. We don't know whether we are going to meet again this afternoon, tonight, tomorrow. We had one member of the Freedom Caucus say: Well, we can meet in August-- or after August.

So this notion of everything being held hostage because of a small group of rightwing extremists just has to stop.

Mr. Speaker, we are about to approach appropriations season. I don't know how the hell you are going to get appropriation bills through here with some of the stuff that is being forced onto those bills and some of the cuts that are being forced.

As I said earlier, cuts in programs like WIC, Women, Infants and Children's program; Meals on Wheels. I mean, really? Those are the priorities of this Republican majority? This has to stop. This has to stop.

So stay tuned, everybody, for how this all plays out. We don't know whether we are going to finish this bill this week or next week or sometime into the future, but this is not the way Congress should be run.

Certainly, I would urge the Speaker to stand up to this small group of fringe lawmakers who are trying to extort unreasonable demands from him that are not in the interest of the people of this country.

Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on the previous question because I believe it is important that we make it clear we don't want cuts in Social Security and Medicare. I urge a ``no'' vote on the rule.

Again, I hope and pray that my friends can get their act together in the very near future so we can actually move forward with a debate and a final determination on where people stand on this bill.

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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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