Providing for Consideration of H.R. Committing Leases for Energy Access Now Act; and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act
Floor Speech
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1449, the Committing Leases for Energy Access Now Act enforces unreasonable deadlines on geothermal energy permitting that shuts the public out of the process, so my colleagues on the other side can do their favorite thing: Shut out the American people and rush things through in a way that could harm the environment and hurt public safety. That is what they are good at.
The second bill is the so-called Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act. Mr. Speaker, I think we can all agree that families who are held hostage shouldn't be responsible for paying IRS fines or penalties. I think that is a no-brainer. I know that it has already passed the Senate. We could take up that bill and pass it today, send it right to the President's desk, or we could pass a House bill that has been introduced which would do the same thing, ensure that hostage victims don't get charged IRS fines.
If my friends had brought either of those bills up, they could be sent to the President's desk and signed very, very quickly, as I said. That is not what we are doing, and that is not what we are voting on. This bill, the one they are bringing up, has been hijacked and turned into a vehicle to give the incoming administration the ability to revoke the nonprofit status of any advocacy group they want simply by labeling them as terrorist sympathizers. That means the President will acquire the power to just unilaterally accuse an American group of terrorism and then shut them down.
I have to tell you, I just came back from a codel in El Salvador, that is how they do things down there. The government doesn't like you, boom, you are a terrorist.
I am sure the party that talks so much about weaponizing the government, that talks so much about reining in the Federal Government, they have put some guardrails in here, right? Wrong. There are no guardrails, no guardrails for an administration that says it will go after the enemy within, just a bill that gives them the power to do it on day one. This is nuts.
A university has too many protests against Donald Trump: terrorists. An environmental group suing the administration in court: terrorists. Think tanks that think differently than Donald Trump: terrorists. That is what this bill does.
People say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Mr. Speaker, the road to fascism in America is paved with a million little votes that slowly erode our democracy and make it easier to go after anyone who disagrees with the government. There is no due process or right to appeal in this bill, no proof required. Donald Trump says you are a terrorist, so you are a terrorist. It is beyond nuts. My friends on the other side of the aisle know that, even if they don't want to admit it.
I just respond to the gentlewoman by saying it wasn't me but it was Donald Trump who said he would be a dictator on day one. It was Donald Trump who talked about the enemy from within and actually mentioned individuals who are in the United States House of Representatives and in the U.S. Senate.
Forgive me if I am a little concerned about somebody who would say such things on the campaign trail and now coming into power again. Forgive me if I am a little concerned about how he might abuse the power that my friends on the other side of the aisle seem so eager to give him. There would be no due process, no nothing. If Donald Trump says we don't like you, he will label you as a terrorist and will shut you down.
They are talking now about recess appointments in the United States Senate. They don't want to do FBI background checks. They don't want to do confirmation processes where Members of both sides of the aisle get to question potential Cabinet officials and be able to find out whether they are fit for office. No, rush everything through, no questions asked, just take him at his word.
I am on the floor today sounding the alarm bells. We should be concerned. We should be concerned. Maya Angelou had this great line. She said: When somebody shows you who they are, believe them the first time.
People did not vote for the stuff that we are doing today. People did not vote for recess appointments. People voted their pocketbooks, and I understand why.
I just want the record to reflect that there are some of us who are raising the alarm bells because this is the time, quite frankly, when people should be concerned, when we can actually do something about it, when we can put some guardrails into place so the excesses that the President-elect talked about on the campaign trail don't become reality.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up H.R. 12, a bill that would ensure that every American has full access to essential reproductive healthcare, including abortion care.
Since the Dobbs decision, there are now 21 States that have banned or restricted abortion across the country. Without this fundamental right, women are suffering. In Texas, in Georgia, and in Indiana, the number of preventable deaths due to abortion bans is rising.
This is the grim landscape that the incoming administration wants to maintain and even worsen. I wish I could say that it won't get worse, but we know Republicans are fighting tooth and nail to strip more and more rights from Americans.
That is why we must pass H.R. 12, to ensure that every American has full access to reproductive healthcare and to make sure that women's rights are protected no matter where they live.
Mr. Speaker, once again, I do not believe that any of what my Republican friends are talking about on the floor today is in line with what the American people voted for. They voted for cheaper groceries, not whatever the hell this stuff is.
They are asking us to vote for a bill, my Republicans friends, that would give the incoming administration the ability to revoke the nonprofit status of any advocacy group they want just by labeling them as a terrorist sympathizer, a bill that would give President-elect Trump a new power to just unilaterally accuse an American group of terrorism and then shut them down. Again, there are no guardrails for an administration that says it will go after the enemy within, just a bill that gives them power to do that on day one.
Meanwhile, every decision that has been made by this incoming administration so far has not been about the American people. It has been about them. I am reading in the newspaper again this morning that they want to issue blanket pardons to those who committed crimes on January 6. Republicans call them political prisoners. These are people who were arrested, indicted, tried, and convicted by juries and judges in courtrooms across this country for violently attacking our brave law enforcement officers, people who smashed cops in the head with metal barricades, who jammed them in doors until blood was coming out of their mouths, and the incoming administration is thinking about pardoning them? Let that sink in. Let that sink in.
Before I am accused of harping on January 6, I am not the one bringing it up. The incoming President-elect is. He won't shut up about it.
When I am talking about my concerns over the bill we are considering here today, understand that these are not unfounded fears. The new administration is leaking plans to court martial military officers who are not sufficiently loyal. Isn't that usually how things go in authoritarian dictatorships? They purge the military of anybody who might have a spine and refuse to obey an unlawful order. What the hell is going on here?
Their Cabinet picks so far, these are like beyond insane: someone who is credibly accused of having sex with an underage girl; someone who sucks up to foreign dictators and has attracted major concern that they can't be trusted to protect America's secrets from our adversaries; someone who paid hush money to cover up a sexual assault accusation to lead our military--he is picked because Donald Trump likes him on FOX News; and someone who says that tap water turns kids gay? This is the dream team? Really?
Seriously, it would be funny if it weren't so sad. Hopefully, the United States Senate has a backbone and insists on a thorough confirmation process.
The truth is that this is not what people voted for. They voted for their pocketbooks, and, frankly, I don't blame them.
You know who I do blame? I blame the billionaires who have rigged our country against working people and spent the last four decades squeezing every penny they could out of people. I blame the politicians, including the incoming administration, who have abandoned workers and who have done nothing while the rich get richer and everyone else gets screwed.
My friends on the other side want to blame trans people. Guess what, Mr. Speaker? Trans people aren't the ones raising people's grocery prices. Big corporations are. They want to blame immigrants, and here is the deal: Immigrants aren't the ones denying health insurance claims, Mr. Speaker. It is the billion-dollar insurance companies that do that on a daily basis.
They want to blame woke this and woke that. What is woke about thinking special interests should not be able to buy tax breaks? What is woke about telling Chevron and Exxon that they can't dump toxic chemicals into our air and water? What is woke about thinking it is wrong to give tax breaks to billionaires while the rest of us get screwed?
It is time for us to get serious about fixing this country and making sure it works for everyone. Instead, we have BS bills that allow the new administration to go after any group that disagrees with the government and shut them down.
My friends on the other side can keep doing whatever the hell this is. Good luck with that. Democrats will be talking about the economy. We are going to talk about how we will make housing more affordable and lower your grocery bills. We are going to talk about taking on corporate greed and standing up to the donor class that buys off tax breaks for the rich and powerful. We are going to talk about the fact that billionaires pay less in taxes than teachers and police officers.
There is something deeply wrong with that, and it needs to change. We are hearing from the Republicans already that they are planning a tax package that will what? Not help the middle class, not help those struggling to get into the middle class, but, again, more tax breaks for the well off and the well-connected.
Really? Mr. Speaker, do you think that is what the American people voted for?
We Democrats are going to talk about the inequality that has risen in this country under Democratic and Republican Presidents, quite frankly, and the wages that have stagnated for decades and decades as prices go up and people get left behind.
Democrats will be the party of working people in this country, and we are not going to go down every absurd rabbit hole that this majority digs in order to divide and distract us from our mission.
As I have said before, and I am going to say it again today: We will show up, and we will fight for the American people.
Our allegiance is to the American people, not to Elon Musk, not to the billionaires and big donors, not to the oil tycoons and the insurance company CEOs who rip people off on a daily basis. Our allegiance is to the American people.
Mr. Speaker, as I just mentioned, we will show up, and we will fight tooth and nail every one of these policies that is designed to advantage those who are rich and powerful at the expense of those who work hard for a living, regular people: teachers, police officers, firefighters, and people who work in factories. Those are the people whom we will champion, and we are going to do everything we can to make sure that their voices are heard as my Republican friends move forward their agenda that really is about rewarding those who are well-off and well-connected.
Mr. Speaker, again, I urge a ``no'' vote on this rule, and I urge a ``no'' vote on this lousy legislation. I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source