Providing for Consideration of H.R. Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, Providing for Consideration of H.R. Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024
Floor Speech
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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Minnesota for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I want to be clear about something. Democracy is messy, and, yes, at times it can be very frustrating. However, what happened in this Chamber last month, putting everything on hold for 3 weeks as House Republicans failed time and time again to elect a Speaker, was not democracy.
All the drama and all the chaos of the Republican Conference over the last few weeks was not democracy. Shutting down one-half of the United States Congress and immobilizing our national legislature at a time of global turmoil is actually the exact opposite of democracy.
I keep hearing my colleagues across the aisle claim that not having a Speaker for 3 weeks was somehow democracy in action. That is a bunch of baloney. Some of them even said that this impasse made our country look good on the world stage.
Are you kidding me?
What planet do they live on?
Their dysfunction makes us look like idiots.
The American public elected all of us to come here and to represent their interests and their ideals. That is democracy. They didn't send us here to play student government. They didn't send us here to sit around and yell at each other about who gets to be Speaker as if this were ``Lord of the Flies.'' They sent us here to work, to govern, to get things done, and, yes, when necessary, to compromise.
Republicans have a slim majority in the House, Democrats have a slim majority in the Senate, and Joe Biden is President of the United States. To get anything done--anything--Republicans need to come to the table and work with us in a bipartisan way. That is what democracy is. It is compromise. It is consensus.
However, the spectacle that we saw last month of this Chamber sitting empty for weeks on end while Republicans fought with each other, or even the idea that they should be fighting over which member of their conference would compromise with the Democrats the least--let that sink in--is not democracy. That is a national embarrassment.
Now, even after 3 weeks of self-inflicted chaos, the House GOP still doesn't seem to get it. Instead of working across the aisle, they are digging in their heels, and they are continuing to advance their extremely partisan appropriations bills that will never become law. There have been no lessons learned over the last few weeks at all.
The GOP's Interior and Environment funding bill for fiscal year 2024 profits polluters while endangering the health of Americans. It cuts EPA funding to its lowest level since 1991. The bill additionally slashes funding for arts programs and, once again, shoves MAGA culture wars down the throats of the American people. They can't help themselves.
The Republican Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development funding bill for fiscal year 2024 would also keep us from meeting our Nation's infrastructure and housing needs. It cuts funding for housing and transportation programs by 28 percent, putting Americans' safety at risk while, once again, attacking vulnerable communities.
Now, I don't know how often this needs to be said before it sinks in: These draconian cuts to essential programs will not become law. If these bills manage to make it off the House floor, then the Senate will vote them down. It will be a bipartisan vote in the Senate, by the way. Even the Senate Republicans can't stomach this garbage, and if they ever made it to the President's desk, he would veto it.
What I am gathering is that Republicans would rather press forward with these unreasonable bills instead of coming together to form a funding plan that serves all Americans. We are just over 2 weeks out from a government shutdown, and all Republicans are doing here is wasting more time. This is a complete waste of time. It is ridiculous.
Mr. Speaker, I haven't even got to how cynical--how cynical--and insulting this new supplemental aid package is. Republicans are leveraging the excruciating pain of an international crisis to help rich people who cheat on their taxes and big corporations who regularly dodge their taxes.
Are you kidding me?
The fact of the matter is the richest people in this country pay less in taxes than teachers, than police officers, than firefighters, than nurses, and than laborers.
This is what this is all about?
Who came up with this brilliant idea to help rich tax cheats? Who came up with that idea? Was that hatched at a fundraiser in Mar-a-Lago?
Did some big donor come up and twist somebody's arm and say, You have to do this. You have to protect us. We want to be able to continue to cheat on our taxes so we can make more and keep more money. This is truly despicable.
Here is what I love: The bill's so-called offset cuts $14.3 billion from the IRS which will further increase the deficit. Basically they want to cut funding from those who are responsible for holding big corporations accountable and for going after rich tax cheats. That is their offset.
According to CBO, it will add to the deficit.
Let me repeat that. This bill adds $12.5 billion to the deficit. Their offset actually needs an offset.
Once again, they cry, they cry, and they cry about the deficit, but they have no problem conditioning aid to Israel on another tax break to millionaires, billionaires, and corporations.
Representative Chip Roy who is on the Rules Committee said--or maybe he yelled: The aid ``should be paid for, and it should be paid for with real money, not budgetary gimmicks.''
Nonetheless, that is what this is. This is a budgetary gimmick. It is a big, gigantic, and in-your-face gimmick. It is a joke, and they come to the floor with a straight face to say that somehow we are paying for this package.
Really? How can they say that with a straight face?
It makes sense because they don't like the results of the election and they tried to overturn it. They don't like the math from CBO, by the way, and they pretend it doesn't exist.
Republicans say they are friends of Israel. If I were Israel, I would unfriend them. What they are doing here will delay aid to Israel, not to mention there is no humanitarian aid in here for the vulnerable people in Israel or Gaza.
Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz came before the Rules Committee last night and asked us and tearfully pleaded with us to make in order her amendment for humanitarian aid that the President of the United States requested. This is humanitarian aid for Israel, for Palestinians, and for people in Ukraine. She pleaded with Republicans to unlink their conditions on aid. She offered an amendment to put in the humanitarian aid the Republicans left out, again, and asked that we help some of the most vulnerable people who are caught in the middle of this conflict. These are people in Israel, people in Gaza, and people in Ukraine.
By the way, one-half of the people in Gaza are children, for God's sake. They need food, they need medicine, and they need water. They need it now. They need help now.
I offered Ms. Wasserman Schultz's amendment, and it was voted down. It was voted down by every single Republican.
I have to tell you, Mr. Speaker, the ease and the indifference with which they rejected even making her amendment in order was, quite frankly, chilling.
By the way, there is no aid for Ukraine in this supplemental package. There is nothing. This is what the President asked for.
So Vladimir Putin is happy. I am always amazed at how my friends on the other side of the aisle fall over each other to try to make Vladimir Putin happy. He is happy with the package they are bringing to the floor today. There is no aid for any other national security priorities that the President asked for.
To sum it up, Mr. Speaker, the House is back, but Halloween has been extended. These people are scary, and there is no saying what will happen next. I hope and I pray for the sake of the Nation that House Republicans come to their senses soon. This is no way to govern.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Again, let's make no mistake about it, my Republican friends are deliberately delaying aid to Israel. They are deliberately delaying aid to Israel.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, despite a clear bipartisan path to assisting Israel, House Republicans have decided to go at it alone, alienating Senate Republicans, Democrats, and the President. The President has indicated that he will veto this supplemental in favor of a bipartisan approach that he knows Congress is capable of.
A bipartisan approach is what our allies deserve. A bipartisan approach is what the American people expect, not playing politics with an international crisis to be able to satisfy their richest donors.
Madam Speaker, aid to Israel should not be conditioned on giving greater tax breaks to the rich, let alone a fake offset that adds to the deficit. Again, it is not me who is saying that their budgetary gimmick, their fake offset, is a fake offset. It is the Congressional Budget Office that says it will add $12.5 billion to the deficit.
It doesn't pay for anything. It adds to the deficit. That is according to CBO. That is the office we use to figure out how much things are going to cost. They know that, and they come here and they deliberately distort the facts and distort the truth.
They are conditioning aid to Israel on helping out the richest tax cheats in America. I mean, it is mind-boggling. It is mind-boggling. Again, maybe they will raise money at a fundraiser or something, but it is not the way we should proceed here.
By the way, it is going to delay aid to Israel. The Senate, in a bipartisan way, wants no part of this. The President wants no part of it; therefore, we are wasting time. We are spinning our wheels for no reason at all.
When people come down here, like the gentleman just said, oh, we want to stand by our ally Israel, you know, we are a friend of Israel, I will repeat what I said before: If I were Israel, I would unfriend you because you are delaying the aid package.
Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell).
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
My colleagues on the other side of the aisle have promised the American people that they won't cut a single dime from Social Security and Medicare. However, this past September, Budget Committee Republicans passed a budget that favors the wealthy and well connected over working families and makes massive cuts to critical programs that Americans rely on. They even rejected amendments to protect Social Security and Medicare earned benefits.
Madam Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer a resolution to state unequivocally that the House won't cut a single cent from these crucial programs that so many of our constituents rely on.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.
Look, the decision here is simple. The two appropriations bills that we are talking about today literally strip billions and billions of dollars that fund essential agency functions and services. Members are either for these extreme funding cuts or they are not.
I would say to my friends on the Republican side who like to masquerade as moderates that they can't get away with saying, oh, I just wanted to move the process along. The bottom line is, you vote for these bills, you own what is in them. Please understand that.
On the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, they cut $26 billion below the 2023 levels. It raises costs while threatening to damage our Nation's economy. It makes travel and communities less safe. Who does that?
It further harms our environment and ignores the impact of climate change. I mean, open your eyes. I would say to my Republican friends: If Republicans don't believe that climate change is real now, then they are hopeless. They are hopeless. They should go retire. They are not fit to be here.
It strips away equal access to housing and community development investments. Who does that?
On the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, again, there are deep, deep cuts. Cuts aimed at trying to undo attempts to deal with the climate crisis. We are having wildfires all over the world and in this country; extreme weather conditions, floods and droughts. I mean, talk to your farmers, talk to people in your community. Everybody gets it, except the Republican Conference here has its head in the sand.
On these appropriation bills, it is clear. I mean, read the bills. Read the bills. I don't know how anybody could come here with a straight face and say that this is good legislating. The only thing that is good is the fact that they are so extreme that even Senate Republicans are not going to take any of this garbage seriously.
The supplemental aid bill is as disastrous as it is disgraceful. Everybody in this House, everybody is horrified by the events of October 7. A terrible tragedy occurred that day. Israeli civilians were massacred that day. My Republican friends say they want to help Israel, and so what do they do? They condition the aid to Israel on essentially a tax break for millionaires, billionaires, and corporations that cheat on their taxes. Really? That is what they are thinking about? That is the focus? Don't miss an opportunity to help the well off and the well connected. Don't miss an opportunity to help tax cheats.
Let's not miss an opportunity to help millionaires, billionaires, and big corporations to try to cheat on their taxes. They may be big donors, but I am going to tell you what they do is not right. It is illegal. They ought to be held accountable, the same way that average working people are held accountable.
Rich people in this country do not pay taxes anywhere near as much as average workers in this country. Rich people don't pay as much taxes as nurses, teachers, laborers, and people who work hard every day just to make ends meet. Come on, we ought to be able to agree on that. However, to condition any aid on helping protect these tax cheaters? Boy, that is cynical. It tells you where their priorities are, Madam Speaker.
The question is, Members either want to provide the aid to Israel or they don't. If Republicans really were serious about this, they wouldn't politicize it. If Republicans were really serious about this, they would be working in a bipartisan way not only with Democrats in the House but with Republicans and Democrats in the Senate and with the White House, and let's get this thing done quickly but they can't do it.
They decide that they can't bring themselves to support any kind of humanitarian aid. Half the people who live in Gaza, half the people are children. Children. They are not Hamas. They are just innocent children. The idea that we will get to a humanitarian aid package, oh, whenever we feel like it, I mean, really? Are you watching the footage on TV? Are you reading anything about the reports, about the suffering? These children need help now. They needed help a week ago. The idea that, oh, we just can't talk about that right now, is inhumane. It is inhumane.
There is nothing in here to help Ukraine. By the way, there is a humanitarian crisis unfolding in Ukraine as well. That humanitarian aid package would help those innocent people caught in the crossfire in Ukraine, but can't be bothered. We have to help protect tax breaks for rich people. That is the priority. Not the suffering people of Ukraine.
No security package for Ukraine, nothing. Vladimir Putin is celebrating as we speak. That is exactly what he wants. I am sure my friends will get great coverage on Moscow TV because this is exactly what Putin has been hoping for, that Congress will walk away from helping the Ukrainians defend their sovereignty.
Russia attacked Ukraine, tried to invade Ukraine with only provocation, and you are acting like it is no big deal; and the people that are being caught in the crossfire, well, we can't be bothered with giving you any humanitarian aid.
Other national security priorities the President asked for will be put on the back burner.
What is this Republican majority thinking? What world are they living in?
Again, please don't repeat the lie that the majority is paying for things with these offsets. These offsets are not real. The Congressional Budget Office says it. I get that Republicans don't like that the CBO says it, but CBO tells the truth. The majority can either ignore it or not, but don't say that somehow we are offsetting the costs of our foreign aid package here. We are not. It is a joke. It is an insult to the intelligence of the American people. It is an insult to the Members of Congress who serve in this institution. Plus, my Republican colleagues say it with a straight face. What is going on here?
The chaos of the Republican Party is no longer just about the Republican Party. It has become an international embarrassment for our country. The way they are handling legislation today is an international embarrassment for our country.
The insensitivity that is being demonstrated for innocent civilians being caught in the crossfire of these conflicts is an embarrassment for this country. It is a failure of government, and this is a national security threat.
The Grand Old Party, the once-great party of Lincoln and Eisenhower, is no longer fit to govern. They are no longer fit to govern. It no longer represents a coherent political philosophy or ideology. It relies on scandal and spectacle to mask sedition, selfishness, and greed. How else do we explain the giveaway to tax cheats in their Israel aid package?
I am pleading with normal Republicans, traditional Republicans, with courage, integrity, and guts. We need them to retake their party. I want a strong Democratic Party, but we need a strong, principled Republican Party if this country is going to work. Right now, we do not have that.
What is happening here today is wasting our time on appropriations bills that are so extreme in terms of what they cut that they are going nowhere. We are wasting our time on that and the cynical attempt to help big donors who cheat on their taxes by conditioning aid to Israel on protecting them. Who thought that one up? I don't even know where that idea came from. Who thought it was a good idea to do this?
At a time of an international crisis, it would be nice if we all spoke with one voice. Wouldn't it be great if everybody could stand up here and say we are together and meeting the challenges appropriately, properly, and decisively? That is not what we are doing today.
I have to say, Madam Speaker, just when you think it can't get any worse around here, it does.
I will close with this: I still can't get out of my head the ease with which my Republican friends on the Rules Committee voted to not even allow us to consider the amendments by Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz, especially the one on humanitarian aid.
There was no discussion. There was no debate. Let's quickly all reject it as if it was no big deal.
Look at those pictures. Look at those pictures of not only what is happening in the Middle East but what is happening in Ukraine.
We have to start asking ourselves why we are here. We are supposed to be about helping people in this country. We are supposed to be about standing for human rights all around the world. Yet, we are dealing with these garbage appropriations bills that are a disgrace. We are dealing with a supplemental aid package that is insufficient in so many ways in terms of what it doesn't fund, and it is so cynical. It is so cynical.
Again, I urge my colleagues, Madam Speaker, to vote ``no'' on this rule. I urge them to vote ``no'' on all the underlying bills. I urge my Republican colleagues to go to one of their many conferences that they seem to have five times a day to try to work out their problems within their Conference and actually come to an agreement that maybe we ought to put the country and doing what is right ahead of everything else.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
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