Providing for Consideration of H.R. Crucial Communism Teaching Act, and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Prove It Act of 2024

Floor Speech

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

Mr. Speaker, today we are debating two bills that perfectly show who Republicans in Congress really work for, and, spoiler alert, it is not the American people. We are here today doing nothing to help regular people and families. Republicans just have us debating a bill to undercut our constituents' safety and a useless bill on communism.

One of these bills I call the corporate giveaway act. It will give massive trade associations the power to gut the very protections that keep workers safe, prevent kids from being poisoned by polluted air and water, and ensure that corporations don't cut corners on safety.

Republicans say this is all about freedom, but the only people who get more freedom under this bill are CEOs flying on private jets while the rest of us are stuck dealing with higher prices and unsafe products. If you are a billionaire, Mr. Speaker, then this bill works for you. If you are a mom or dad in Worcester, Massachusetts, where I am from, working two jobs to pay for rent and childcare, then this bill doesn't do anything for you. It sells you out.

Then there is H.R. 5349. Now, I guess the Republicans want us to spend time debating whether high school students should be taught that communism is bad. The last time I checked, most schools already do that, and I say that as a brother of two teachers, by the way. I actually read the bill, and I want to let everyone in on a little secret about their bill, a bill which claims to be about teaching kids about bad political ideologies.

Guess what, Mr. Speaker. They left out a really, really, really bad one. Here is a hint: It is what Adolf Hitler implemented in Germany and what Americans fought and died for to defeat in World War II. It is an ideology that idolizes racial purity and uses violence to suppress those who disagree. It is called fascism. For some reason, Republicans did not want to include it in their bill. I would love an answer as to why.

Can any of them tell me why they don't want to teach kids that fascism is bad?

Does anyone at all?

The silence is deafening right now, Mr. Speaker.

Let me help them out: Communism is bad, totalitarianism is bad, and fascism is bad.

Do you see how easy that is, Mr. Speaker?

All they had to do was put it in their bill, but they didn't and they won't because they feel they can't.

It is no oversight, by the way. I personally offered an amendment by Ranking Member Scott to include fascism as one of the ideologies we condemn, and they rejected it. Every single one of the Republicans in the Rules Committee, every single one, voted ``no.''

I can't think of a reason that they would do that, unless they don't agree and unless they don't think that fascism is a bad thing. My friends on the other side of the aisle literally take my breath away.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to say this again: Americans voted with their wallets in mind, and I don't blame them, but I do blame Republican leaders for bringing up this nonsense.

I go out in my district, and I listen to people.

Do you know what, Mr. Speaker?

They don't want to be talked down to by Republican leaders lecturing them about communism or telling us how to teach our kids. They want leaders who understand problems, leaders who understand we are not sent here to talk at people. We are sent here to work with them to make this country a better place.

On our side of the aisle, we are listening to the struggles of working families, and we are going to fight alongside of them.

Washington hasn't always worked the way it should, but we are committed to doing better because people in this country deserve better. That means lower costs, bigger paychecks, and building an economy that rewards hard work, not wealth. That is a fight that my colleagues and I will never ever stop showing up for.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues, and I plead with Republicans: Please, please, let's focus on the real challenges facing all of us as Americans.

Mr. Speaker, right before the gentleman spoke, I asked the question: Can anybody explain to me why fascism wasn't included in this bill as one of the ideologies that we should teach our young people is a bad thing?

The gentleman who just spoke went on for 4 minutes and never once answered that question.

The reality is that yes, communism is bad, totalitarianism is bad, and so is fascism, and we see fascist movements growing up and springing up all over the world, including in this country, and my friends on the other side of the aisle can't bring themselves to condemn it.

I don't understand this.

Does anyone remember World War II?

It seems that, for whatever reason, that is something that my friends can't seem to recall.

That is the point here. It is what you omit, Mr. Speaker. It is what you choose to protect and not include in this bill that is so disturbing in my mind.

Mr. Speaker, I urge that we defeat the previous question. If we do, 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.

In this country, the United States of America, we now have States with almost complete bans on abortions, like the State of Idaho. Just this week, a circuit court upheld an ``abortion trafficking'' law, ensuring that anyone in Idaho who accompanies a young woman to receive abortion care in another State gets a prison sentence.

Thank God the judge will allow people in Idaho to simply talk with pregnant minors about abortion healthcare, which the original law prohibited.

This is where women in this country now find themselves, Mr. Speaker, but that is why House Democrats are fighting to protect women and doctors who simply want access and the ability to provide needed care. H.R. 12, the Women's Health Protection Act, will keep fundamental healthcare services available across this country.

What is happening in some States in this country is offensive. It is dangerous. Women are dying because of these overly oppressive Republican-led laws that are being put into place.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Lee Carter), one of our newest Members of the House, to discuss our proposal.

Mrs. LEE CARTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I think one of the best ways to protect children is to protect their mothers, and so I rise to speak on H.R. 12, the Women's Health Protection Act, a critical piece of legislation that we should be considering during these increasingly dangerous and tumultuous times for women and their reproductive healthcare.

There has never been a more appropriate time to discuss a woman's right to choose than today. Simply, but most impactful for our generation, the Women's Health Protection Act will reestablish a nationwide right to abortion in the United States.

The WHPA would create a statutory right for healthcare providers to provide abortion care and a right for their patients to receive the care free from bans and restrictions that single out abortion and impede access. It will save lives.

Reproductive rights have been constantly at risk since Roe v. Wade became the law of the land almost 50 years ago, but never have they been in jeopardy as much as they are in these current times. In the wake of the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, State restrictions and new limits or bans on abortion fractured women's healthcare access and dramatically affected the ability of providers to treat pregnancy complications.

With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court has taken away the constitutional right to abortion, leaving millions without access to care due to restrictive and deadly State abortion bans.

In my home State of Texas, we have seen horrific cases of women being denied access to care. In fact, Texas is now ranked the second worst State in the Nation for women with health issues, according to research conducted by the Commonwealth Fund.

The Commonwealth Fund developed the first-ever State scorecard to track trends in women's health over time and documents how policy choices and judicial decisions may impact women's access to timely healthcare.

The data came from sources including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and evaluated States on 32 metrics across 3 areas: health outcomes; healthcare quality and prevention; and coverage, access, and affordability.

Texas ranked last in the country on healthcare coverage, access, and affordability for women according to the fund. The number of Texans seeking an abortion out of State more than quadrupled between 2021 and 2023, after a State law went into effect that banned the procedure in almost all cases.

Data from our own Texas Health and Human Services Commission shows at least 7,844 Texas residents received an abortion in a different State in 2023, up from 4,718 in 2022, and over 1,700 in 2021.

Still, the total abortions for Texas residents dropped by 85 percent compared to 2021. In 2023, just 62 abortions were reported in Texas, all due to medical emergency and/or to preserve the health of the mother. Between January of this year and June of 2024, 38 abortions were performed in the State.

Every day without congressional action means more people are being denied their human right to abortion. We need a Federal legislative solution. WHPA is the solution.

We must all continue to work together toward a future where all of us are free to make the personal decisions that shape our lives, our futures, and our families without political interference.

As we know and have seen, those hurt the most by abortion restrictions are those who already face discriminatory barriers to accessing healthcare, particularly Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, Asian- American, Pacific Islander, and other people of color; women; and those working to make ends meet, especially those in my district.

Ensuring access to abortion care is central to the pursuit of reproductive justice and the human rights to maintain bodily autonomy and live in safe and sustainable communities.

Mr. Speaker, for these reasons, I ask my colleagues to defeat the previous question so we can bring up this important legislation.

One of the bills that is being brought before us, H.R. 7198, is a Republican partisan bill, but it violates their own CutGo budgetary rule.

Yesterday, in committee, when we pointed that inconvenient fact out to our colleagues across the aisle, rather than Republicans saying they were going to try to find a way to pay for the bill, my colleagues spent about 40 minutes railing against the CBO Director that the majority themselves, by the way, helped appoint.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I also ask unanimous consent to include in the Record the CBO score for H.R. 7198.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, in the Rules Committee last night, Democrats tried to have an amendment to basically not protect this bill from a point of order. If Republicans believe that this bill costs nothing, then surely the chair would rule in such a way. Clearly, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle don't even believe their own rhetoric.

The bottom line is that this bill, among many of the bad things it is going to do, will add to our deficit. There was a time when I thought Republicans cared about the deficit and debt, but apparently those days are gone forever because I have never met a group of people who are more interested in passing legislation without pay-fors, tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires and well-connected people and well-off people at the expense of the middle class, and then Republicans bring bills like this, which will add millions and millions of dollars to our deficit.

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Mr. McGOVERN. I am having trouble following this debate. I just raised an issue about the fact that one of the bills, H.R. 7198, is not paid for; that it is a violation of Republicans' own CutGo rules; and that this bill, as passed, will add to the deficit. Then the gentleman just started talking about communism.

Mr. Speaker, I repeat that the reality is that one of the bills here, H.R. 7198, needs a special waiver to protect it from a Republican point of order on CutGo because this bill adds to the deficit. Republicans could have paid for it or could have found an offset but chose not to. My colleagues chose to protect it from a point of order. That was my question.

I don't know what communism has to do with the CBO estimate that this bill will add millions of dollars to the deficit. Anyway, I make that clear in case people who are watching this are confused about the gentleman's response to the point I raised.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire whether the gentleman wants to answer the CBO question or whether he wants me to close?

Mr. Speaker, let us talk about priorities. My Republican colleagues have theirs all screwed up, and I am being really kind here. Republicans are lecturing us about communism instead of talking about real struggles facing American families.

One of the speakers got up and complained that this is like deja vu all over again. The Republicans are in charge and set the agenda around here. These are their priority bills.

We are wasting time working on their bills. We are talking about studies to inform kids about communism in schools rather than talking about things that are going to lower healthcare costs or lower food prices or help small businesses or do anything that is going to make any difference in the lives of average people in this country.

My colleagues on the other side of the aisle are talking about what bathrooms people should use instead of talking about grocery prices. I think one Republican Member tweeted 326 times about bathrooms in a 72- hour period. My colleagues are just strange. It is weird what is going on around here.

If my colleagues go out and actually listen to people in this country, Mr. Speaker, they will say what they want. It isn't what my friends on the other side have us here debating today. They want politicians to stop catering to those at the top. Yet, look at who Donald Trump is empowering in his new administration. This is not what people wanted.

Mr. Speaker, it looks like the requirements to be in the Trump White House are that you either abuse women or are an out-of-touch billionaire. What is next? Are they going to replace FBI background checks with a FOX News screen test? Forget about a White House Cabinet. Donald Trump is making it into a junk drawer.

His Commerce Secretary is a billionaire. Big surprise. I don't think this guy is capable of understanding what average people in my district deal with.

His Education Secretary is yet another billionaire. What is her qualification? She ran WWE. I guess some schools have wrestling programs. It would be funny if it weren't so sad.

His new Attorney General pick is an election denier.

The person he tapped to lead Health & Human Services thinks tap water turns kids gay.

His Defense Secretary is probably dropping out momentarily. Apparently he drinks on the job and paid to cover up his sexual assault allegations. Even his mom doesn't like him.

These people don't shop at grocery stores. Do my colleagues think that they pump their own gas or cook their own food? Of course not. These are people who hop on helicopters to avoid traffic. They are poster children for the out-of-touch elites. The Republicans are bending over backward for them. It is unbelievable.

It is not just bad governance, Mr. Speaker. These fights matter because they are fundamentally about who we want working for us. These people are going to make important decisions that are going to impact all of us.

Mr. Speaker, do my colleagues want people who understand our struggles, people who will fight for regular folks, or do we want billionaire, trust-fund weirdos who just prop up the same broken, rigged system that helps themselves and screws over the rest of us?

Mr. Speaker, I can anticipate what my good friend, the chairman of the Rules Committee, is going to say when he closes. He is going to accuse me of Trump derangement syndrome, which the gentleman usually always does, but what is deranged here is what is happening right before our very eyes: these crazy picks that have no interest in what average people in this country care about.

I will say it again: People in this country voted for lower food prices and cheaper rent, not whatever the hell this is.

Guess what. Democrats are listening. We are not lecturing, and we are going to fight for what matters: lowering costs, building an economic system that works for everyone, and taking power from corporations and those at the top and returning it back to the American people where it belongs.

We are going to fight for young people who can't afford a downpayment on a house. We are going to fight for parents taking items out of the cart at the grocery store in order to make ends meet. We are going to fight for workers who come home after a long shift, get in the shower, and wonder how in the hell they are ever going to retire if Republicans cut Social Security and Medicare.

Guess what. We believe everybody, no matter where they come from or who they vote for, should live with dignity and have hope for a better future.

Mr. Speaker, 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. All this stuff that we are talking about here today is not what people voted for.

The people are probably scratching their heads and saying: What the hell is happening in the United States House of Representatives?

In January, Republicans will have the slimmest majority of any party in almost a century. I will make the American people a promise: Democrats will show up. We are not going to let them get away with taking away people's healthcare. We are not going to let them get away with rolling back the clock and taking this country backward.

We will show up. We are going to listen to the American people. We pledge to work with my Republican friends where we can, but I am going to tell you this: We are going to fight like hell for an economic system where all of us can succeed and nobody gets left behind.

Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on this rule, and I yield back the remainder 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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