Working in A Bipartisan Manner

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. SLOTKIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to answer a question that I was asked actually on the plane ride here yesterday from Michigan.

I was sitting next to a woman. She recognized me. She was from a different political affiliation. She said: It just looks like such a mess in Washington. Is anything getting done?

I will highlight some of the things that we actually did get done this week, just in the past week, because of bipartisan cooperation.

It doesn't make headlines, it is not sexy, but I think it is important to understand that the country wants us to work together, and when we do, we pass things that are important.

This week, we passed important bipartisan priorities and legislation. We worked hard to get them across the finish line.

Here is an example. We passed the Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism Pilot Program Act. It is a lot of words, but it is a bipartisan bill I introduced in December of 2023. It is basically TSA PreCheck for freight coming across our borders. This bill will cut a lot of red tape for companies transporting goods across our borders.

In Michigan, we are a northern border State. It will help keep our country safe by creating this pilot program that allows us to move more freight and allow freight and warehouse companies to participate in Customs and Border Protection's CTPAT program. It is a public-private partnership that basically allows you to get preclearance to move freight and store freight that has been precleared.

I introduced this bill because Michigan is a border State. Every single day we have 40,000 commuters, tourists, and truck drivers coming across our border.

Mr. Speaker, $323 million worth of goods every single day is coming across our borders, one of the busiest land borders in the country.

I introduced this bill specifically because of freight companies and businesses like Frontline Logistics, which is a small, 15-person business in Brighton, Michigan. They reached out and they said: Hey, we want to expand this TSA PreCheck program so we can grow our business and other small businesses can grow.

The bill will become law because it was bipartisan, and I am grateful to the group of bipartisan Members in the House who sponsored this bill and helped get it passed not just in the House but in the Senate, and it is on its way to be signed at the White House.

Here is another example from yesterday. There was not a lot of press on this. We passed the IMPACTT Human Trafficking Act, which is designed to give survivors of human trafficking and law enforcement officers who fight this crime the tools and the resources they need.

Michigan is number eight in the country for human trafficking. Again, our border plays a role in this. It is an issue that is close to many people's hearts. We have had young women, in particular, taken from their homes and moved across State lines.

Again, this bill will become law because it was bipartisan, and I was proud to introduce it with Representative Joyce as well as Representatives Wagner and Titus. That bipartisan support got it over the finish line in the House and in the Senate.

Similarly, just yesterday, the House passed the Senate version of the Building Chips in America Act, a bipartisan bill that Congresswoman Kiggans introduced here in the House and on which I am a proud cosponsor.

It will streamline the process so that we can build more microchips in the United States, manufacture more microchips in the United States. We invented those microchips. We make zero percent of the microchips that go in cars. That is a problem. We were able to pass this yesterday because it was bipartisan, and it passed unanimously in the Senate.

These bills are evidence that we do not need to be at each other's throats. In fact, being at each other's throats is principally against the mission of what it means to be a Representative.

It means you are not getting work done. It means you are doing things for political posturing. It means that you care more about making a statement that makes the news or goes viral on Twitter than you do about actually moving the ball down the field for your constituents.

I hope that when Congress returns in November and when a new Congress is sworn in next year, we can learn that basic lesson. We do our best work when we work together, even when it is hard.

We could do things that support the Commerce Department. Yesterday, they put in a big countermeasure to make sure that Chinese-connected vehicles aren't moving around in the United States. Congress should pass legislation that strengthens that.

We could pass the farm bill, which should be bipartisan, a big piece of legislation every 5 years.

The National Defense Authorization Act, funding our military, funding our military salaries, big appropriations bills that go to the essential function of government, all of that is work on our plate after the election.

I sincerely hope that we are able to act like adults and do the things that most people want us to do, which is get in a room, hash things out, hammer it out, compromise, and move the ball forward for the American people. I urge my colleagues to remember this. It is much easier to get things done when we work together.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source