Providing for Consideration of H.R. Choice in Automobile Retail Sales Act of Providing for Consideration of H.R. Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions Act; and Providing for Consideration of H.J. Res. Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under Chapter 8 of Title United States Code, of the Rule Submitted By the Department of Education Relating to ``Improving Income Driven Repayment for the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program and the Federal Family Education Loan (Ffel) Program''

Floor Speech

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Indiana for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, this rule would bring three measures to the House floor. First, H.R. 5933, the DETERRENT Act. Democrats and Republicans agree there ought to be transparency if higher education institutions get money from foreign countries.

Thankfully, President Biden has worked to improve compliance with existing laws. Because of that, over $1.5 billion more per year have been reported publicly under this President than the prior one.

Instead of working together and building on this progress, Republicans are trying to advance this bill that adds onerous new reporting requirements, making it harder for our academic institutions and researchers to remain number one in the world.

The second bill here, H.R. 4468, the Choice in Automobile Retail Sales Act of 2023, blocks the Environmental Protection Agency's final authority to finalize a car emissions rule protecting Americans from motor vehicle pollution.

The message House Republicans are sending here is pretty simple. Yet again, they are putting polluters over people and picking winners and losers in our transportation sector.

Over 100 million Americans live in counties with unhealthy air pollution, with children, the elderly, low-income communities, and communities of color being disproportionately at risk. Air pollution is associated with over 100,000 premature deaths in the United States every single year.

The health impacts of rolling back these standards are bad enough. Frankly, it is outrageous that this majority continues to actively fight against innovation and against lower energy costs and against the private sector making decisions based on what people actually want.

The reality is that EVs are already popular. American demand for EVs is largely outpacing supply as demand has increased by over 350 percent in the last few years alone. They are also cheaper to own, decreasing fuel costs by 50 percent or more, and ongoing technological advancements are translating to better options for consumers every year.

I must point out that Republicans oppose our investments in American EV manufacturing. They are actually advocating for American industry to stand down. Rather than conceding ground to global adversaries like China, Democrats want to invest in America's ability to compete and beat our economic competitors.

For all these reasons and more, H.R. 4468 is a bad bill that denies Americans immense public health and environmental benefits of the EPA proposed standards.

Finally, we have H.J. Res. 88, a bill that would block the Biden administration from implementing a new income-driven repayment plan to help save borrowers money.

I want people to listen carefully to me. President Biden tried to create a new plan to reduce people's student loan monthly payments, and Republicans want to stop him from doing it for no other reason than they don't care. They literally do not care about this issue.

It seems that Republicans are willing to stop at nothing to prevent hardworking Americans from getting student loan relief. This is just another attempt to attack the Biden administration for addressing the serious financial concerns of low- and middle-income student loan borrowers.

The best thing about this bill, the only good thing I can say here, Mr. Speaker, is that it failed to pass the Senate. In other words, this bill is going nowhere.

Another wasted week for America, Mr. Speaker, courtesy of this Republican majority. Today, three more bills that do nothing--nothing-- to make life better for anyone.

Republicans want to increase the cost of student loans for workers and families and make it easier for Big Oil CEOs to pollute our communities. That is their agenda.

They have been a total and complete failure, the least productive Congress in history, with the most rules failed in a single year. They have dragged our country to the brink of default, almost shut down the government twice, and wasted weeks and weeks fighting about which one of them should be Speaker.

Bill after bill, amendment after amendment to ban abortion and attack LGBTQ people, and now they want to impeach the President when even their own Members say there is no ``there'' there. They are doing a lousy job, and it shows. The only good news is that they are not going to be in the majority after this next election.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Scanlon), a distinguished member of the Rules Committee.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to provide consideration of a resolution which clearly states that this House will keep our promise to American seniors and workers to protect and preserve Social Security and Medicare against any cuts to these crucial programs.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, it is important that my colleagues vote ``yes'' on the vote to defeat the previous question because my Republican friends have made it clear time and time again that they are going after Social Security. The benefit cuts are on the table. They have repeatedly made that clear.

It is important that this House speak with one voice, or at least the majority speak, that we reject Republican attempts to renege on our promise to our senior citizens and that we make it clear that we will not stand for any cuts to this important program.

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

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I stand in opposition to the rule and to the measures underlying it.

Today, we have an extreme Republican proposal that would make college more expensive and paying for it harder for hardworking families across America.

College costs have soared in recent years. They have put higher education out of reach for too many. They have saddled families and students with excessive student debt.

We are the only country in the world facing a dire student loan debt crisis. The Biden administration saw this problem and said that they promised they would try to address it. Nevertheless, every solution that they have come up with that would make it easier for my communities, the people in rural America, Latinos, women, and people who haven't gone to college before and choose to, for them, they have made it more expensive and harder.

The latest action by the Biden administration makes sense. It is the SAVE student loan repayment plan, and it is already fulfilling its promise. It has saved thousands of dollars for 5.5 million American people who are enrolled in that program, including from New Mexico-- 7,500 in my own district.

Mr. Speaker, the SAVE program ties your student loan payments to your income. This is vital for ``mi gente,'' the people of New Mexico, who often go into careers like education and public service that don't pay as well. This program helps people who are following their hearts into careers that aren't the highest paying so that when they pay their student debt, it will be tied to their income.

Nonetheless, instead of addressing the debt crisis, my colleagues across the aisle want to gut the SAVE program and make college more expensive for the 5.5 million Americans using it now. This is outrageous.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, the Senate rejected this same Republican proposal last month.

Let's address the student debt crisis at its roots. Let's get back to lowering costs for working families and putting people over politics.

Republicans seem to always want to make it more costly and more expensive for people to get along. I am so pleased that Democrats don't and that they stand for the working family.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I would remind the gentleman who just yelled at us that his party is in charge.

He is talking about jamming things down the throats of Democrats and the Senate and the White House, as if somehow that is a way to get anything done for the American people.

He talks about standing up.

What did they do when we were on the verge of shutting the government down? They didn't stand up. Democrats had to stand up and save the day.

Mr. Speaker, I do agree with one thing the gentleman said when he came to the floor. He shouted: One thing--I want my Republican colleagues to tell me one thing. Tell me one thing that I can go back and campaign on and say that we did; one material, meaningful, significant thing that the Republican majority has done.

The bottom line is, he is right. The Republican majority of this House has done nothing to help the American people.

It is a disgrace. It is political malpractice.

The bills that we are debating here today, they are making it sound like, oh, if we pass these bills, once the ink dries, this is the law. These bills are going nowhere. These bills are going nowhere.

I mean, what they do is tell you about values. I mean, the gentlewoman from Indiana mentioned in her opening remarks that student loan forgiveness is not fair because not everybody goes to college.

Think about that--not fair?

By her logic, public high schools aren't fair, public middle schools aren't fair, public elementary schools aren't fair.

My kids aren't in middle or high school anymore, but I am proud that my tax dollars pay for other people's kids to get an education. That is how it should work. It helps make us more competitive. It strengthens our country when our students are the best educated in the world. It is the right thing to do.

The bottom line is that Republicans seem to think that education is just not a good idea, that somehow we don't benefit from a well- educated workforce.

They are wrong. They are wrong.

Democrats have a different view. We believe education is important, and we ought to support it. We believe more Americans having a good education helps everyone. We believe more Americans with college degrees uplifts our whole economy, not just those who go to college.

So if my colleagues oppose student loan forgiveness because it isn't fair--that is what they say--I guess they just want to get rid of our whole public education system. I know some of them do. I hear them bash public education every chance they get, but I think most people think that is nuts.

So, again, we have an opportunity to do something, to do something meaningful to help people, and these are the bills we bring to the floor. I guess they are filler. I don't know, maybe they make good posts on social media for the Republican base, but this is a complete waste of time.

So the gentleman from Texas was right when he said, name one thing, one thing that Republicans have done. The bottom line is he couldn't, and nobody came to help him out because my friends on the other side have done nothing.

Mr. Speaker, these bills are so impactful that the demand to speak is so underwhelming that I am the only one left.

Mr. Speaker, with just one week left before we finish our official business for this year, these are the three measures that House Republican leadership has decided that we should focus on:

A bill to overcorrect a problem in a way that would hinder U.S. global research; a bill to limit consumer choice, promote pollution, and hurt America's economic leadership; and a bill that attacks the Biden administration for addressing the serious financial concerns of low- and middle-income student loan borrowers.

That is it. That is it.

Now they want to go home for the holidays instead of addressing--I don't know--anything that matters.

I will repeat again, they have done nothing, nothing, nothing in this Congress that helps people. It almost feels like Groundhog Day every time we come to the floor.

We have considered multiple bills to roll back environmental rules and protections, multiple bills that promote the far right's bizarre culture wars, multiple bills that would help Republicans' greedy corporate friends and billionaire donors, instead of everyday people. A rule is taken down one day, and we are trying to elect a new Speaker the next. We have votes on measures to destroy, deflect, and distract but not to fix any of the very real problems that our constituents face.

We are on an extreme MAGA merry-go-round. To be honest, Mr. Speaker, I want to get off this ride, and so do the people I represent. They are sick and tired of this. As we have all year, House Democrats continue to extend the hand of partnership. We will try to find common ground so we can lower costs and grow the middle class.

The American people deserve a Congress that can put people over politics and meet their urgent needs. They are not getting that with this Republican majority. As I said before, you guys are doing a lousy job, and it shows. The only good news is that I believe after the next election you will no longer be in the majority.

I hear from Democrats, I hear from Independents, I hear from Republicans all the time about their disappointment with the failure of this Congress to address any of the real concerns that they have.

Everything is a sound bite. Everything is a gotcha vote. Everything is an appeal to the most extreme rightwing of the rightwing.

Enough. Enough.

Mr. Speaker, I hope my friends will reconsider their priorities and actually start focusing in on things that the American people care about.

I urge a strong ``no'' vote on this rule, a ``no'' vote on the underlying bills, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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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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