Providing for Consideration of H.R. Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act of Providing for Consideration of H.J. Res. Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under the Rule Submitted By the National Labor Relations Board Relating to ``Standard for Determining Joint Employer Status''; and Providing for Consideration of S.J. Res. Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under the Rule Submitted By the Federal Highway Administration Relating to ``Waiver of Buy America Requirements for Electric Vehicle Chargers''

Floor Speech

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

Mr. Speaker, you would think that for the very first week back of the new year, House Republicans would try to correct course and fix their failing majority.

You would think that after presiding over one of the most unproductive, ineffective, incompetent sessions of Congress in history, certainly since I have been here, that Republicans would use the new year as a fresh start to reset their priorities and to actually work with Democrats to get stuff done.

You would think that they would bring to the floor some big, important piece of legislation to follow through on their promises, or, I don't know, a bill to stop the government shutdown that is right around the corner.

You would think all of that, but you would be wrong.

Today, we are here for the first meeting of 2024 to consider more junk, more filler, more nonsense messaging bills that do nothing to help everyday people--bills that seek to help their billionaire friends and corporate sponsors.

First is H.R. 788, the so-called Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act. This bill stems from a fruitless Republican-led investigation based on meritless allegations of political bias when the Obama administration's Justice Department held big banks accountable for their predatory lending practices.

After a full year in the majority, Republicans still have no new ideas or real agenda to help the American public, so they want to pass off this solution in search of a problem from 10 years ago as some big, important new bill.

It is not big, it is not new, and it is definitely not important. It is a waste of our time.

Then we have S.J. Res. 38. This joint resolution is House Republicans' attempt to weaken President Biden's Buy America requirements, allowing Federal dollars to be spent on chargers made in competitor countries like the People's Republic of China. While Democrats and President Biden work to bring jobs back from China, Republicans are eager to do the bidding of billionaire corporations and ship jobs overseas to China.

Now let that sink in.

Finally, is H.J. Res. 98, a resolution that blatantly attacks workers. This bill would weaken their ability to organize and collectively bargain. These three bills have one thing in common, Mr. Speaker: They will not become law. They are going nowhere, and they are a waste of our time.

The way this place is being run is just so absurd. It is pathetic.

We are facing a partial government shutdown by the end of next week. The extreme MAGA Freedom Caucus is once again eager to shut it down.

Now maybe they think a shutdown will help crash the economy, like Donald Trump has said he wants. The leader of the Republican Party spent the week praying for the economy to collapse because he thinks it will help him win the election in November. Imagine that.

Mr. Speaker, that really illustrates the difference between Democrats and Republicans.

We want America to succeed, no matter who is in charge, because we love this country and we put people over politics. Republicans led by Trump are cheering for America to fail and for everyone to suffer because they think it will help them politically.

What a sick, twisted, messed up ideology. They are literally cheering for America to fail. I guess they think that maybe if they shut down the government that that will help.

I heard that the current Speaker was on the telephone with Donald Trump basically begging him to support the deal to fund the government, because let's be honest, that is who run this place: Donald Trump and the MAGA extremists who worship him.

That is the guy, by the way, whose lawyers argued in court yesterday that he can legally assassinate any of us and he can't be held accountable because the President is above the law.

I mean, what the hell is wrong with these people? Not a peep, not a whisper from any of my Republican colleagues. Not a single one of them who is willing to stand up and display some courage and say that the former President should not be above the rule of law.

We may be back, Mr. Speaker, and it may be a new year, but it is clear it is the same old Republican majority trying to distract from their own disarray and division and doing the bidding of Donald Trump instead of working for the American people.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, we can talk about these filler bills all day, but the fact of the matter is they are going nowhere. We are wasting our time doing this.

We should be focused on making sure that Republicans don't shut the government down beginning at the end of next week.

Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to provide for consideration of a measure that unambiguously states that the people's House will keep its promise to the American workers and senior citizens. We will protect and preserve Social Security and Medicare for future generations, two important programs that my Republican friends are constantly attacking.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Wild), to discuss our proposal.

Mr. Speaker, I would just respond to the gentlewoman that one of the differences between Democrats and Republicans is the Democrats have historically been and continue to be on the side of workers and on behalf of small businesses in trying to bring as many jobs back from places like China as possible, and we would be doing that no matter who is in charge in the White House because we put people above politics.

I contrast that with my friends on the other side of the aisle who seem to be cheering for America to fail and who work overtime to try to demean our workers.

Mr. Speaker, let that sink in. The leader of the Republican Party, the person whom they are all falling over each other to try to support, is cheering for our economy to crash because it might help him politically.

It is not about the American people, it is not about workers, and it is not about businesses. It is about him.

What happened to the Republican Party?

The obsession with Trump and all of this is not only disappointing, but it is scary. Again, I will go back to the way I began this debate. The legislation we are considering today is three nothing burgers. None of these bills are going to become law. They are just filler. They are an excuse for us to be able to meet when what we should be doing is making sure that the government remains open and that it doesn't shut down at the end of next week.

Quite frankly, that business should have been done last year, but Republicans continue to fight amongst themselves and can't seem to be able to get anything done. Again, this is the most unproductive and useless Congress, I think, in history.

So, again, I would just simply say that we all need to figure out a way to pass legislation that will not adversely impact our economy and to find areas of common ground where we can actually get stuff done, but this is not what we are doing today.

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

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, Republicans are just at it again, aren't they?

They keep bringing up bills that protect big corporations and banks instead of helping Americans and protecting working families.

We saw it when Republicans tried to cut funding for the Consumer Product Safety Commission and to weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. These are agencies that the American people trust and they want because these are agencies that stand with consumers.

Our consumers need and want someone in their corner. Republicans, however, keep trying to restrain the Federal agencies who are charged with defending and protecting our consumers, including today, the Department of Justice.

H.R. 788 is another attempt to protect those same big banks and big corporations, the ones that pollute our communities and put their own profits over people's ability to stay in their homes.

For example, Bank of America made a lot of money by selling subprime mortgages before the 2008 financial crisis. Bank of America hurt regular peoples' ability to buy and stay in a home of their own. So the Department of Justice went after Bank of America, and they entered into a settlement agreement to hold that bank accountable. That settlement required the bank to pay damages to the Americans who were directly harmed by its actions.

We know that what the Bank of America and all those greedy corporations did was to more than just hurt the consumers of that bank, it hurt the housing market itself. It made it harder for families to buy homes. Their actions led to the Great Recession.

So the settlement that the Department of Justice did made sure that Bank of America had to pay nonprofits to address the larger systemic harm the bank caused. Those settlement funds helped provide resources for housing, counseling, homeownership, and more. In Iowa, nonprofits provided down payment assistance and demolished decaying homes. In Indiana, the bar foundation provided legal aid in foreclosure cases.

These are good things.

Why would we want to stop them?

Apparently, however, Republicans didn't like the fact that the Department of Justice was standing up to bad actors because H.R. 788 would block that help.

H.R. 788 would handcuff the Department of Justice so it could not demand a bad actor pay for the harm it caused to our society.

I must remind everybody that, just as we heard from our ranking member, we are dedicating a whole week to this bill and some others that would overturn actions that our Americans need to protect them to move us forward in protecting our climate.

We are doing all of this instead of what?

We are not funding the government, are we?

Do any of these bills deal with any of the issues that Americans want us to do?

These bills show us that Republicans cannot govern. Instead, they are continuing to put profits over people, and we must reject this rule.

Mr. Speaker, again, this has been the most incompetent, ineffective, and unproductive Congress in the history of the United States of America. The fact that we are here considering these nonsense, do- nothing bills is just the latest example.

This Republican majority has been a failure and a total embarrassment. I could spend all day comparing our record with theirs. Republicans have had pathetically few bills of substance enacted into law, and on must-pass legislation, every single time it has been Democrats who have had to step up to give Republicans the votes that they needed to get things across the finish line. The gentlewoman can't rebut that because there is nothing to rebut. Republicans have done nothing of importance. I don't even know why they want to be in charge, quite frankly, since they have wasted away their time in the majority.

It is not just me saying that. It is them. Congressman Chip Roy who sits on the Rules Committee said: ``I want my Republican colleagues to give me one thing, one thing, that I can go campaign on and say we did. One. Anybody sitting in the complex, if you want to come down to the floor and come explain to me one material, meaningful, significant thing the Republican majority has done. . . . ''

More recently, Congressman Andy Biggs said: ``We have nothing to go out there and campaign on. . . . It is embarrassing.''

Congresswoman Debbie Lesko said: ``We can't get anything done around here. It is very frustrating.''

What do Republicans say when they go home and voters ask: What have you done? What have you done?

What do you tell them?

What do you say to somebody who asks: Why are you more concerned about Hunter Biden than about our constituents?

You people need to touch the grass, get a grip, and get some help. Republicans have turned this place into one big SNL skit, except this isn't funny. We have serious business to get done around here, and they are just openly admitting that they cannot govern.

They have no new ideas or problems that they want to solve. Their whole platform is built around using division and anger to distract from the unmitigated disaster that is this Republican majority. The only hope around this place is that it is an election year and their gross incompetence will probably lose them the House come November.

Mr. Speaker, we have to do better, and there needs to be more urgency in this Chamber about making sure that the government doesn't shut down next week.

The one job, that no matter who is in charge has, is to make sure that the lights stay on here, that we don't stop the functioning of Government, and that we don't turn our backs on the American people.

Yet, we are getting perilously close to that moment when there could be a shutdown. It is disgraceful that we are here debating these filler bills that are going nowhere and that we are not working on real business that will help real people in this country and help pave the way for a better future.

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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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