Providing for Consideration of H.R. Department of Defense Appropriations Act, Providing for Consideration of H.R. Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, Providing for Consideration of H.R. Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024
Floor Speech
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Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, the American people deserve to know why we are in this position. They need to know that less than 5 percent of the 435 Members of this body have put us in this position.
The gentleman from Texas indicated how they did that. They have held the rest of us hostage unless the bill that they want is passed. They are taking hostage the American people. They are taking hostage Federal employees. They have taken hostage the Congress of the United States.
What ought to happen is the over 300 of us--147 Republicans and 165 Democrats vote to compromise. I would call all of your attention to a 1998 speech in October by Newt Gingrich, he called it the ``Perfectionist Caucus'' speech.
He made a deal with Clinton because Clinton was the President. As Newt Gingrich pointed out, we had a lot of Democrats in the House, a lot of Democrats in the Senate, and a lot of Republicans in the Senate, who he said, by the way, don't always agree with us.
The American people expect us to make it work. How do we make it work?
We make compromises.
The 5 percent that shut down the Congress for a week did it because they didn't like the compromise, and they stomped their feet and they sent us home, which of course cost money because none of us took a salary cut. Nothing got done that week.
Yeah, maybe it should be back in July, but it was shut down again just last week when they sent us home because less than 5 percent--in this case, a little more than 1 percent, of the Congress--1 percent of this body had a tantrum.
They wouldn't vote for national security. They wouldn't vote for a rule that put a defense appropriation bill on the floor. Their bill, not our bill.
Madam Speaker, the American public needs to know why their House is in the chaos of which the gentleman from Texas talked about is occurring at the border.
We are going to be here for the next 4 or 5 days, maybe even longer, pretending that somehow we are compromising, and we are moving forward. That is not the case. We have had a small group take the House hostage, the American peoples' House hostage.
We can talk about the numbers and disagree on the numbers.
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Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I only have 30 seconds left to say some pretty substantive things, and I won't have the time to do it.
Madam Speaker, Mr. and Mrs. America ought to know that when I was the majority leader we didn't shut down the government. When I was the majority leader on this side of the House, we passed every bill we wanted to pass because we are not a divided party, as the party that is now in the majority has so clearly demonstrated on a regular basis how divided they are.
The Speaker made a deal. Keep the deal. Stop taking hostage the American people and their government.
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