Providing for Consideration of H.R. Gulf of America Act; and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Dhs Restrictions on Confucius Institutes and Chinese Entities of Concern Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, as much as it pains me to say this, we are here on the House floor today because the House Republican majority has chosen to prioritize debate and passage of a bill to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. That is not what my constituents think is the most important thing Congress should tackle this week or this year, and I bet it is not what your constituents think either.

It is easy to mock this legislation because it is so inane and embarrassing, and we have, but its very existence and the fact that House Republicans have chosen to waste time and taxpayer dollars to bring it up for a vote, is worth considering.

Let's talk about the real gulf of America--the gulf in America--the gulf between the ambitions and priorities of this White House, aided and abetted by the House majority, and the needs of the American people.

That is the gulf that makes Republicans think that it is more important to give tax cuts to billionaires than to make sure that America's children, veterans, and seniors have food, housing, and medical services, and that we protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat.

It is the gulf that causes the Speaker to bring ridiculous legislation to the floor to flatter the President and appease his base rather than meet the needs of the American people.

Americans want a Congress and a White House that solves problems rather than creates them. Americans aren't asking to rename the Gulf of Mexico. In fact, public polling, including on FOX, says that nearly 70 percent of Americans oppose that executive order and this legislation to rename the Gulf of Mexico.

Like many Americans, I follow the news each day with trepidation. Many folks tell me that the chaos and missteps of this administration are too painful or upsetting to follow. They have tuned it out because the only guarantee we have is that every day the President or his administration will have done something dumber or more dangerous than the day before.

Each day brings its own self-inflicted crisis with this White House, and millions of Americans are exhausted by it. They are pleading with their elected officials to act, to do something, anything, to bring normalcy back to this country, to bring decency back to this country.

There was a time when American public life was guided by a genuine sense of duty and a converse fear of shame, but today neither appear to hold much sway.

Instead, we have a White House filled with charlatans, con men, snake oil salesmen, grifters, billionaires, and criminals, all using the power of the Federal Government to enrich themselves at the expense of the American people and to punish their political opponents.

Last week was President Trump's 100th day in office, a customary benchmark by which we measure the successes and failures of a new President's term. I think it is safe to say that Trump's first 100 days have been a disaster. His tariff policies are likely to cause a recession. Millions of people have seen their retirement savings evaporate. Families don't know if they are going to be able to afford basic goods, much less Christmas dolls. Businesses, big and small, are paralyzed by uncertainty and reducing their spending, and many small businesses may not survive.

To add insult to injury, when faced with these facts, the President says: Deal with it. Those are the President's own words. The tariffs will be painful, but it is a price that must be paid; but paid by whom? It won't be Trump or the billionaires in his Cabinet or at his golf clubs. No, it is going to be real people, people who work for a living, who will have to pay the price for his ill-conceived trade war. It is not going to be guys like Bessent and Lutnick, who have multimillion- dollar mansions and fly on private planes. They will be just fine.

However, for working parents, according to Trump, maybe the kids will have 2 dolls instead of 30. I don't know who has 30 dolls. Maybe the moms who live in my district will have to pay more for the stroller they use to transport their kids to daycare and doctors and the grocery store. So much for the guy who said he was going to bring down prices on day one.

It is worth noting that just yesterday in our Rules markup, our Republican colleagues voted, once again, to keep the Trump tariffs in place. Over a month ago, they rigged the rules of the House to prevent Congress from voting to end the Trump tariffs. They literally voted to stop time, to say that for the purposes of protecting the Trump tariffs, there is only one day between now and the end of September in order to prevent anyone from being able to force a vote on whether to end Trump's tariffs. They are dragging down our economy and American families with it.

That is just the terrible Trump tariffs. In these first 100 days, the administration has cut services at Social Security, fired medical staff at VA hospitals, and withheld aid to food banks, children's health programs, and community violence prevention efforts. They have waged a political war against universities and scientific research, and illegally froze over $400 billion in congressionally appropriated funds, including billions of dollars to FEMA, to everyone from local firefighters to States that have been affected by natural disasters.

This White House has issued hundreds of controversial executive orders, many of which courts have deemed illegal or unconstitutional. Every day this administration is disappearing hundreds of people, sending them to faraway detention centers without any due process, due process that would expose mistakes and lies about some people who are not criminals and, in some cases, are even citizens and, therefore, should not be deported.

The damage that is being caused right now by this administration to our communities, to our international standing, to our national security and national fabric, will take years to unwind. Eager to do their part and contribute to the chaos, House Republicans continue to find novel ways to bring this Chamber to new lows.

This week, Republicans are putting forward two bills, one that is pretty much a redundant effort to counter Confucius Institutes and another to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

The second bill may be the dumbest bill brought to the floor during the 6 years I have served in Congress. With all of the important work this Congress should be tackling, the Speaker and House Republicans have chosen to indulge the President in a whim that the American public does not support.

Frankly, if I had to vote on a bill like this, I would find it deeply embarrassing. I know my Republican colleagues are smart people. They are not dumb, so I have to think that they share this embarrassment, unless they are members of a cult, a cult of personality based around a dear leader who they are required to obey or risk retribution, and upon whom they bestow endless compliments and praise in order to seek personal favors.

It doesn't matter how much damage he causes, how much money he wastes, how many lives and families he hurts. It doesn't matter if he causes a recession. It doesn't matter if he encourages influence peddling and grift with a Trump coin, or his Gulf of America merch, or if he gives insider stock tips before taking executive action. House Republicans seem to always do what Trump says.

If he wants to do something as dumb as rename the Gulf of Mexico, Republicans apparently will fall in line. We will watch them twist themselves into pretzels to come up with increasingly convoluted rationales for the President's actions. Today will surely be a master class in delusion.

Further adding to the chaos, this month, House Republicans are expected to finish drafting the text of the reconciliation bill through which they are planning to cut healthcare benefits to seniors, children, and people with disabilities and cut nutrition assistance to the poor in order to pay for a huge tax giveaway to billionaires and big business.

Despite more than 40 years of empirical evidence showing that Republican trickle-down economics are a resounding failure, Republicans are nonetheless pushing ahead with their party orthodoxy. We have more than enough evidence that trickle-down economics does not work. It doesn't help the middle class. It doesn't create jobs. It doesn't increase business investment, and it doesn't grow the economy.

What these policies actually do is allow companies and their shareholders to pocket more profits at the expense of everyone else. It is because of trickle-down economics that we now have some of the most extreme income inequality in this country in our Nation's history.

To pay for this giveaway to the rich, Republicans are going to take away healthcare benefits and food assistance and cut critical Federal investments in our local communities, our democracy, the environment, and our national security, all so millionaires and billionaires can get an extra buck. It is horrifying, immoral, and un-American.

Unlike many of my Republican colleagues, I have participated in multiple townhalls this year to hear from my constituents. One message that I hear consistently is that people are scared. These are good, honest, hardworking Americans who in one way or another have been forced to rely on Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP, WIC, Head Start, Social Security, or LIHEAP in order to make ends meet for their families, and they are rightfully scared that Republicans are planning to gut those programs.

We will surely hear all kinds of mental gymnastics from our colleagues about how millionaires really need that extra tax cut or how cutting Medicaid won't really lead to a loss of coverage or service. We will hear tortured arguments from Republicans to hide what they are really doing.

When you take a step back and look at everything that is happening, this White House, in concert with Elon Musk and congressional Republicans, have put the country on a dark and troubling path, a fear- based path. It is leading us to a place that has more in common with Stalin's Russia than the free society envisioned by our Founding Fathers. It is heartbreaking to see the lengths to which some people will go to destroy the ideas and institutions that for decades have made this country great.

Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I would just remind my colleagues that Donald Trump was elected President of the United States. While we are yet to put many of his policies into law, where the Democrats left us was with an interest payment of $2.6 billion a day.

If you took 100 percent of the money from the people that are billionaires in this country, you probably couldn't pay the interest on the national debt for a year.

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Ms. SCANLON. Johnson).

In January when House and Senate Republicans punted once again on passing a budget and instead passed a continuing resolution, they forgot to include the funding to operate the District of Columbia.

The Senate moved to rectify that mistake and has passed a bill to fix it, and the President has said that he will sign that bill. The Mayor of D.C. has repeatedly spoken to House Republicans about the urgency of fixing the city's budget. The clock is ticking, and if the fix isn't passed, D.C. will have to lay off hundreds of teachers and police officers and curtail critical services in the District.

While this is going on, House Republicans are instead using floor time to prioritize removing the longfin smelt from the endangered species list, to rename the Gulf of Mexico, and to do other, frankly, stupid messaging bills like those we are considering today.

The Speaker may claim that it is just a matter of schedule, but once again, clearly, the gulf in America is between what Americans--the people who live in D.C. and most of the country--think is important and what House Republicans are willing to do.

Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I would remind you that the Chinese Communist Party is no longer an economic adversary. They are an enemy. They have been very creative in the way they have embedded themselves into the university systems in this country. This rule gives us a vote on kicking them the rest of the way out of this country. I think, Mr. Speaker, that that is going to pass in a very bipartisan manner.

With all of the antics, yelling, screaming, and pointing of fingers, I just remind you, there is a very serious piece of legislation to deal with the Chinese Communist Party in this rule that I believe will pass in very much a bipartisan manner.

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Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up H.R. 2753, the Hands Off Medicaid and SNAP Act, which will prevent the Republican budget from cutting Medicaid or SNAP benefits.

Mr. Speaker, this week the House is voting to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. I am not joking. This is what House Republicans are spending their time doing publicly. However, privately, behind closed doors, according to reports, Republican leadership is meeting with vulnerable, moderate Republicans to try to sell them on trading devastating cuts to Medicaid for tax cuts for billionaires.

Under their plan, they have to cut $880 billion from Medicaid and $230 billion from food assistance just to make the math work for their disastrous reconciliation bill. Mr. Speaker, what is worse is they continue to argue that they aren't doing that, but the math doesn't lie. They can't reach the levels of billionaire tax cuts they want without gutting vital programs like Medicaid and SNAP, programs that the most vulnerable in our country rely upon.

Republicans are publicly claiming that they won't make those cuts, so today I will give them a chance to prove that to the American people by putting their money where their mouths are and voting to ensure those devastating cuts can't move forward in this House.

Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on the previous question. The country deserves better leadership, leadership focused on the common good and public service rather than culture wars and private profit.

The United States faces enormous challenges, and the American people want Congress to act on their behalf. They want us to lower the cost of groceries, rent, and healthcare. They don't want Congress wasting time on performance, on pointless legislation like the bills we are debating today.

The American people want real solutions. They want their elected officials to collaborate, to govern with decency and discipline in ways that benefit the American people, not deep-pocketed donors. They don't want politicians who chase headlines or who try to flatter the whims of erratic leaders with insane ideas like renaming the Gulf of Mexico, invading Greenland, annexing Canada, or reinstituting Alcatraz.

While many Americans are struggling just to get by, the last thing they want is a Republican tax bill that guts their healthcare and denies food and housing to children and seniors so that millionaires can pay less in taxes. It is obscene.

If Republicans carry out their stated plans, it will be one of the largest government handouts in American history, paid for by those who can least afford it and delivered to those who need it least. Talk about corporate welfare.

While the rich will get their tax cut, working families will be stuck footing the bill for Trump's tariffs. It is not too late for Republicans to change course. I pray that enough of them find the courage to push back against this plan, to listen to their constituents, and to do the right thing.

We don't need to slash Medicaid and SNAP, and we can move forward with a sensible tax bill that invests in families and the middle class, not just billionaires and the Fortune 500. I urge my colleagues to vote down this resolution, reject these unserious bills, and join us in the business of governing for the public good, the common good.

Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia.

Mr. Speaker, we have heard a lot over the last few minutes about the $2.6 billion a day interest payment that the Democrats, under Joe Biden's lead, left the United States citizens with. Now we hear their demand that we allow the current tax rates to expire, thereby raising taxes on virtually every American citizen.

It is very convenient that they say billionaires. Now, they have acknowledged millionaires, but just factually speaking, if the tax rates are allowed to expire, virtually every American that works would receive a tax increase. We as Republicans are committed to stopping that.

Today, and this week, the House has the ability to advance two pieces of legislation under this rule:

H.R. 276, the Gulf of America Act, which simply reflects the Gulf's importance to our country, the United States of America, and H.R. 881, the DHS restrictions on Confucius Institutes and Chinese Entities of Concern Act which puts our national security first and bans eligibility for DHS funding from an institution with a relationship to a Confucius Institute, Thousand Talents Program, or Chinese entities of concern until such relationship is terminated.

Mr. Speaker, the Chinese Communist Party is our enemy. That is a decision that they have made. I urge my colleagues to join me in voting ``yes'' on the previous question and ``yes'' on the rule.

The material previously referred to by Ms. Scanlon is as follows: An Amendment to H. Res. 377 Offered by Ms. Scanlon of Pennsylvania

At the end of the resolution, add the following:

Sec. 3. Immediately upon adoption of this resolution, the House shall proceed to the consideration in the House of the bill (H.R. 2753) to amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to provide for a point of order against reconciliation measures that cut benefits for Medicaid or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and for other purposes. All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. The bill shall be considered as read. All points of order against provisions in the bill are waived. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and on any amendment thereto, to final passage without intervening motion except: (1) one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Rules or their respective designees; and (2) one motion to recommit.

Sec. 4. Clause 1(c) of rule XIX shall not apply to the consideration of H.R. 2753.

Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia.

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Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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