Providing for Consideration of H.R. Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Ms. SCANLON. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for yielding the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, over the past month, House Republicans have plunged this Chamber into chaos. Whether it is the extremists who refuse to honor the bipartisan budget deal negotiated with the White House and voted into law by bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress, and then sought to shut down the government with their outrageous demands, or whether it is House leadership who seem unable to prevent this destructive behavior or perhaps to leave this Chamber at all.

As I and my Democratic colleagues push back against the majority's cruel, extreme, and unworkable agenda, Members on the other side of the aisle have been consumed with infighting and trying to distract from the fact that their refusal to work in a collaborative or bipartisan manner either with the Senate, Democrats, or even within their own party, has resulted in their failing to perform Congress' most basic job of funding the Federal Government.

Just this past weekend, they brought us within hours of a devastating government shutdown. As the funding deadline approached, my office was fielding calls from terrified constituents; people feeling that come the end of month, their paychecks would no longer arrive and that critical government services which they rely upon would be interrupted.

Parents wondered whether they would be able to make ends meet, whether they would be able to pay the childcare bills that allowed them to go to work and keep food on the table for themselves and their children. Seniors worried about heat assistance as temperatures drop. That is why Democrats stepped in to keep the government up and running without the outrageous rightwing demands coming from the most extreme and exotic fringes of the House Republican majority.

Now, we have 6 weeks before another funding deadline, and we have a lot of work to do. The American people don't deserve this continued uncertainty.

After the majority's reckless approach to government funding failed, time and time again, on the House floor, we still only have 4 of the 12 appropriations bills passed through the House; 2 haven't even been marked up, another one has failed, and more may go down this week.

One would think they would be willing to change tactics because after all, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

You would think they would be willing to come to the table, honor the agreements, pass the spending bills that the American people should expect and certainly deserve, but apparently not. Instead, we see them doubling down on the strategy of jamming through unrealistic spending proposals that would devastate children, families, seniors, and veterans all across this country.

That includes the two hyper-partisan bills they have brought to the House floor today; bills that continue to break the pattern of the bipartisan funding agreement that Congress approved last spring and that both parties in the Senate have been willing to honor.

These bills slash vital services and include rightwing culture war provisions; bills that are so extreme that the House Republicans may not be able to pass them here, the Senate won't agree to, and the President certainly won't sign.

The first of these is H.R. 4394, the Energy and Water Development funding bill. With this legislation, we should be ensuring that the U.S. is able to meet the challenges of today's and tomorrow's world.

Unfortunately, the bill in front of us doesn't do that. It is full of harmful rescissions, repeals, and funding cuts. It attempts to impede the progress we have made by increasing America's energy costs, jeopardizing our energy security and hurting U.S. global competitiveness.

It claws back important funding that supports programs to combat flooding, improve wildlife habitat, and reduce pollution in our drinking water. That includes millions in funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Let me zoom in on that for a minute and talk about all the important work that the Army Corps does in my district alone.

It is responsible for the regular maintenance of two major rivers running through and alongside Pennsylvania's Fifth district: the Schuylkill and the Delaware. That maintenance includes tasks like dredging, debris removal, and maintaining river embankments.

This river work is critical to our region's environmental, public, and even economic health because it means boats can use our waterways without interruption, and larger vessels can sail into and trade at the port of Philadelphia.

The broader budget cuts included in this bill undermine the importance and viability of all of these programs and means that additional measures to improve the health of our communities, both in my district and others, will go undone.

Critically, this bill also fails to meaningfully confront the climate crisis. In southeastern Pennsylvania, we have already started to feel the effects of climate change, more intense and frequent storms have resulted in unprecedented, devastating flooding across our region.

For example, the Eastwick neighborhood of Philadelphia, which sits adjacent to a flood-prone marsh, has experienced increasingly dramatic floods in recent years. About 3 years ago, Tropical Storm Isaias damaged more than 300 homes in this low-lying area. We have seen tornados and flooding in the Brandywine River region in Norristown and elsewhere.

It is important for everyone here to realize that none of our districts are immune from the impacts of the climate crisis. Flooding, hurricanes, rising sea levels, wildfires, and other climate disasters, they affect us all.

My Republican colleagues' denial of this fact would only leave us extremely unprepared and will prevent us from doing anything proactively to address these growing threats and help our communities be more resilient.

Ultimately, it is our constituents and future generations of Americans who will suffer the consequences of these kind of policy failures.

Additionally, just as families have started taking advantage of provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act that reduce their home energy costs, this bill would increase energy bills for hardworking Americans.

For all my Republican colleagues' talk, it is clear that Democrats are the only ones here willing to take action to keep costs down for American families, because with this bill, the majority is trying to undo the work that we did with the Inflation Reduction Act. They want to slash funding for programs that help people to weatherize their homes, purchase efficient appliances, and be able to afford to heat their homes.

These programs have the potential to save Americans thousands of dollars a year. For the past several months, I have been holding meetings across my district to talk to constituents about these measures and help them access and improve their lives and their budgets. Now House Republicans want to take this away.

This bill also blocks funding for initiatives that direct investments to our underserved communities most overburdened by pollution. My region has long struggled with dangerous air quality and its negative health impacts leading to high rates of cancer and some of the highest rates of childhood asthma in our Nation.

Federal investment is needed to ensure that kids in my district and across the country can grow up healthy and have bright futures. In kneecapping this important work, it seems that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are more concerned with catering to polluters than the health of our children, and I find that incredibly disappointing.

We are also considering today H.R. 4364, the legislative branch funding bill.

Unfortunately, this legislation undermines the important work of this institution and threatens Congress' ability to move into the future and serve its constituents and America today rather than in the 19th century or so.

I served on the bipartisan Select Committee on Modernization of Congress for 2 years. Since then, I have followed its subsequent work to produce recommendations on how to make Congress work better for the American people.

Ultimately, that committee passed over 200 bipartisan recommendations, including recommendations related to diversity and inclusion among our staff here in Congress. Leading businesses around the globe have embraced diversity and inclusion because they know that a diverse workforce is more effective.

Despite the successes we have seen in other sectors, it seems my Republican colleagues here in the House want to go backwards.

Troublingly, they want to eliminate the Office of Diversity and Inclusion here on Capitol Hill. A well-functioning legislative branch is critical our democracy, and I know our democracy is strongest when Members of Congress and their staff look like the America we are here to represent.

We should all want to serve our constituents in the best way we possibly can, and we can only do that if we give our institution the tools and the staff to achieve progress with the times and truly represent our modern Nation.

Unfortunately, this bill would undermine that goal.

Even after flirting with a disastrous shutdown, my Republican colleagues are still trying to force through spending bills written in back rooms with no bipartisan agreement and riddled with culture war poison pills and devastating cuts. They do so knowing that these bills are so extreme that their passage is imperiled here in the House, and it is a fiction if they think it is going through the Senate or that it will be signed into law by the President.

This continued dysfunction only hurts America and throws our country into chaos.

The bottom line is that the House needs to do better than this. The American people deserve better than this.

Madam Speaker, I strongly oppose both of these bills, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Ms. SCANLON. Madam Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), the distinguished ranking member of the Committee on Rules.

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Ms. SCANLON. Madam Speaker, I wish that our colleagues across the aisle were as concerned about the fact that this bill would increase our dependence on Russian oil, Russian oil that is being used to fund their illegal, inhumane war against the Ukrainian people.

Madam Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to provide for consideration of a resolution which clearly states that it is the people's House's duty to keep our promise to American workers and seniors to protect and preserve Social Security and Medicare and fight against any cuts to these vital programs.

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Ms. SCANLON. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Kamlager-Dove) to discuss our proposal.

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Ms. SCANLON. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania for her leadership and for managing this rule that we now have on the floor of the House.

I stand here in the name of so many Americans who live in cities and rural communities that are so dependent on the Federal funding that helps to bridge local government funding, and also those who are most vulnerable in our Nation.

As I rise today, we Democrats did come together to stop the shutdown. As I said earlier, there was applause across my district. At the same time, bills are passed that really shock me. Again, bills were passed that cut $800 million from the women, infants, and children program dealing with feeding babies. Then, one of the most talked about issues across America--we just saw something where Habitat for Humanity is building 39 homes under the name of the great President Jimmy Carter and his wife. Here we are cutting $1 billion to $500 million from the HOME Investment Partnerships Program that directly deals with the funding that is necessary.

Can you believe the cuts in Medicare? Can you absolutely believe that that is what is happening? The bills are being passed by the Republican majority.

Now, I thought they were concerned about Homeland Security--I served on this committee since 9/11--but border management funding has been severely cut for shelter and services programs, the very programs that are needed by those who come seeking asylum or even those who come whose asylum will be rejected, but the burden is on those local cities. The USCIS and the Transportation Security Administration are both receiving cuts.

Then, of course, we are dealing with this particular legislation, legislative branch and energy and commerce.

It is important to note that funding dealing with water, dealing with climate, and dealing with renewables are all being cut.

I offered amendments in particular to deal with water that were not accepted. I offered amendments to ensure that DACA residents could be hired, which we have done before. Those are individuals that did not spend any time in their foreign land, were brought here as children, and are now doctors, paramedics, lawyers, and teachers, and because of the DACA program we cannot hire them. How insensitive is that?

Then the attacks against the LGBTQ+ community, all of the amendments throughout the entire time that attack them. Then to get rid of the diversity office that we worked so hard for, to ensure that this Congress, the people's House, the United States Senate, reflects the wonderment of America, this wonderful experiment that the world looks to and says: How great this land is. ``My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty.'' That is what America is to people. How can we in appropriations after appropriations put in these poison pills?

We stopped the shutdown, but what I can say to you is there is more work to be done. We don't know what the vote will be on the floor today, but I want whatever happens, as I said before, to be for the best for the American people. That is Democrats leading.

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Ms. SCANLON. Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Ms. Leger Fernandez), a distinguished member of the Rules Committee.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, just 3 days ago, Democrats voted to keep our government open. We told America how Republicans were slashing vital programs in their extreme appropriations bills.

We voted down the Republican plan to drastically cut programs that keep our babies, children, and their mothers from going hungry, cut public school funding, cut agricultural investments, and cut support for small businesses. That is what the Republicans wanted to do.

The American people heard our warnings, and their voices rang through Congress. Finally, we had a clean continuing resolution without those cuts on the House floor.

With support from the American people, Democrats led the way in keeping our government open. It is a continuation of our work from last Congress where Democrats passed laws to make investments in our future energy independence and in our vision for rural development that has been lacking for decades.

In Jeremiah 29:11, the Lord says: My plan is not for you to suffer, but for you to prosper, have hope and a future.

Democrats showed that we are ready and willing to make that prosperity plan a reality for Americans and especially for rural America.

For too long in rural America and in rural New Mexico, our families have been leaving the farms and ranches that give us our identity, our ``herencia y cultura,'' ``heritage and culture,'' and importantly, that give us the food we eat.

Last year, Democrats passed bill after bill to change this trend. We want to invest in rural America.

Through the Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS and Science Act, we can build the next generation of innovation in places like rural New Mexico. I am looking forward to an enchanted innovation hub in New Mexico.

Now that Republicans are in charge, they want to gut those bills, making rural families pay more and get less.

The Republican energy bill we are considering today wants to gut rural projects, like the SunZia line in Corona, New Mexico, which just installed the largest wind farm in the country. I call it the Route 66 of renewable energy. These wind farms are generating revenues for multiple local ranchers.

Let me tell you something. Many ranchers in the country don't make a profit. The USDA reported in 2020 that ranchers didn't generate enough profit to cover their own living expenses and debt obligations for 9 out of 10 years.

The Democrat prosperity plan changes that equation and allows ranchers to earn revenue from clean energy and from food production.

What is more, a wind farm in a rural county like Lincoln, New Mexico, will provide $1.3 billion in taxes in 30 years. Lincoln County has never seen such revenue before and can use it to invest in rural healthcare and behavioral health.

Rather than build on the transformational investments that Democrats made to support our rural communities, what are the Republicans doing? They are gutting our progress. They want to look backward.

Indeed, all the appropriations bills that the Republicans are putting forth hurt American competitiveness, they hurt rural areas, and they hurt families who need to save money.

Rather than incentivizing the programs that our children will need to save this planet and outcompete China, Republicans are taking us backward.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote for a future where the Democratic prosperity plan can become a reality.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this rule.

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Ms. SCANLON. Madam Speaker, funding the Federal Government is not a game. The American people who elect us to Congress depend on us to solve real problems. They don't send us here to play politics with their lives and our country's future.

The incompetence, extremism, and infighting we have seen on display from our Republican colleagues is not serious governance. It is dangerous. It is destructive behavior, and it makes it wholly clear that there are Members of this body who care more about making headlines than the job they were sent here to do.

Madam Speaker, our budgets reflect our priorities. Democrats are here to put people over politics, and these bills make it clear that my Republican colleagues are prioritizing scoring political points over working for American families or strengthening this body and our democracy or protecting our planet.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose the previous question and the rule, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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