Providing for Consideration of H.R. Prohibiting Voting By Noncitizens in District of Columbia Elections; Providing for Consideration of H.R. District of Columbia Federal Immigration Compliance Act of Providing for Consideration of H.R. Protecting Our Nation's Capital Emergency Act; and Providing for Consideration of S. Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. HOUCHIN. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 489 and ask for its immediate consideration.

The Clerk read the resolution, as follows: H. Res. 489

Resolved, That upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the House the bill (H.R. 884) to prohibit individuals who are not citizens of the United States from voting in elections in the District of Columbia and to repeal the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022. All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. The amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform now printed in the bill shall be considered as adopted. The bill, as amended, shall be considered as read. All points of order against provisions in the bill, as amended, are waived. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill, as amended, and on any further 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 Oversight and Government Reform or their respective designees; and (2) one motion to recommit.

Sec. 2. Upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the House the bill (H.R. 2056) to require the District of Columbia to comply with federal immigration laws. All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. The amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform now printed in the bill, modified by the amendment printed in the report of the Committee on Rules accompanying this resolution, shall be considered as adopted. The bill, as amended, shall be considered as read. All points of order against provisions in the bill, as amended, are waived. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill, as amended, and on any further 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 Oversight and Government Reform or their respective designees; and (2) one motion to recommit.

Sec. 3. Upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the House the bill (H.R. 2096) to restore the right to negotiate matters pertaining to the discipline of law enforcement officers of the District of Columbia through collective bargaining, to restore the statute of limitations for bringing disciplinary cases against members or civilian employees of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, and for other purposes. All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. The amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform now printed in the bill shall be considered as adopted. The bill, as amended, shall be considered as read. All points of order against provisions in the bill, as amended, are waived. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill, as amended, and on any further 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 Oversight and Government Reform or their respective designees; and (2) one motion to recommit.

Sec. 4. Upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the House the bill (S. 331) to amend the Controlled Substances Act with respect to the scheduling of fentanyl-related substances, 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 Energy and Commerce or their respective designees; and (2) one motion to commit.

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Moore of Utah.) The gentlewoman from Indiana is recognized for 1 hour.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. HOUCHIN. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. General Leave
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. HOUCHIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this rule and in support of the underlying legislation.

Last night, the Rules Committee met and produced a rule, House Resolution 489, providing for the House's consideration of several pieces of legislation.

House Resolution 489 provides for closed rules for S. 331, H.R. 884, H.R. 2056, and H.R. 2096.

The rule provides 1 hour of debate equally divided by the chair and ranking member for the Committee on Energy and Commerce, or their respective designees, for consideration of S. 331.

Additionally, the rule provides for 1 hour of debate each for H.R. 884, H.R. 2056, and H.R. 2096, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform or their respective designees.

Mr. Speaker, starting with S. 331, the HALT Fentanyl Act, important legislation that the House considered back in February when 98 Democrats supported it, this bill would permanently classify all fentanyl-related substances as illegal and give our law enforcement officers more tools to combat the crisis. The bill also ensures that medical professionals can research fentanyl-related substances so that we can better understand their effects on human health.

In 2023, more than 100,000 people nationwide, including 2,190 from my home State of Indiana, died from a drug overdose. National numbers from the same year indicate that approximately 75,000 people died an overdose death related to synthetic opioids. Fentanyl deaths account for as much as 77 percent of adolescent overdose deaths, and it is the leading cause of death in the 18- to 49-year-old age bracket.

We cannot stand by and do nothing while this scourge exists. The bottom line is that this overwhelmingly bipartisan bill is necessary to assist our law enforcement officers in combating fentanyl.

Mr. Speaker, I will transition to the issue of free and fair elections and H.R. 884.

In 2022, Washington, D.C., enacted a dangerous law: the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act, D.C. Act 24-640, which allows noncitizens, including illegal immigrants, foreign agents, and diplomats, to vote in local elections.

We should not allow foreign entities who are hostile to the United States to vote in our elections, period. We should not allow illegal immigrants to vote in our elections. This is a direct assault on the value of American citizenship, and it undermines the voices of lawful voters.

Worse, it is part of a broader effort by the left to chip away at Congress' constitutional authority over our Nation's Capital. The Constitution is clear: Congress has the power to legislate in all cases whatsoever concerning Washington, D.C. Under the Home Rule Act, we have the duty to review and reject laws that threaten the integrity of our elections and our constitutional system.

Even Mayor Bowser withheld her signature from those actions, and I thank her for that.

Of all places, we must not let the Nation's Capital become a model for illegal voting.

Additionally, this rule provides for H.R. 2096, the Protecting Our Nation's Capital Emergency Act.

In 2023, the D.C. Council passed the so-called Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act, a bill that singles out the Metropolitan Police Department, making it the only union in the District stripped of its ability to collectively bargain on disciplinary matters.

H.R. 2096 puts an end to this antipolice policy and restores fairness to the bargaining process for D.C.'s law enforcement officers.

Finally, this rule includes H.R. 2056, the District of Columbia Federal Immigration Compliance Act, which simply ensures that D.C. follows Federal immigration law. That is because no city, especially not our Capital, should get a free pass to ignore the laws of the land.

In 2019, D.C. Mayor Bowser approved the Sanctuary Values Amendment Act of 2019, which, according to the Mayor's Office, ``limits the District's cooperation with Federal immigration agencies, including by complying with detainer requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (``ICE'') absent a judicial warrant or order issued by a Federal judge or by providing to Federal immigration agencies information about when or where someone will be released.''

This is ludicrous. In other words, D.C. will make it harder for ICE to detain dangerous criminals and otherwise impede their ability to do their jobs.

Mr. Speaker, you can't make this stuff up. While my colleagues continue to double down on their America-last policies, House Republicans are charging forward and standing up for hardworking families and vulnerable Americans.

The legislation before us is common sense, pro-law enforcement, and necessary.

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to the consideration of these important pieces of legislation. I urge the passage of this rule, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have said this again and again. The rhetoric from our Democratic colleagues on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is just not true.

In fact, we are preserving benefits for those who need it most by preventing people who are illegal and ineligible from accessing Medicaid. We are also ensuring that able-bodied adults have a mandatory work requirement of just less than 20 hours per week. It includes the ability for participating in education, job search, and community engagement to all count toward that work requirement.

What we were trying to do in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is ensure that limited resources are protected for pregnant women, children, seniors, and individuals with disabilities. That is the truth.

With reference to the CBO, the CBO has been wrong again and again. It is on record as being wrong by more than $1 trillion. We cannot count on the CBO's score alone as a measure of how well or what savings this bill will have or not have.

In fact, the Democratic-led CBO has overestimated the cost of Trump's tax cuts, underestimated the cost of the Affordable Care Act, and overestimated the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act.

I will note something about this being political misdirection, as my colleague noted. He said that this is not an urgent crisis. Mr. Speaker, my colleagues may want to take a look at the lawlessness that is happening in California. That is not a crisis? I think it is, and it is certainly something that we don't want to see in our Nation's Capital, in Washington, D.C., which is exactly the type of thing that we are trying to prevent by passing this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, one of the things that my colleague mentioned was the people who are food insecure. I note something that we should be ashamed of is the inflationary policies of the Biden administration that drove up food costs leading to more people being food insecure.

I am glad to hear that my colleague on the other side of the aisle is interested in preserving healthcare for those who need it most. I hope that means he will vote for H.R. 1.

One of the things we heard just in the last few minutes is that children with cancer and the mother of a child with cancer will not be covered. That is just not true. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act protects benefits for those children.

Democrats are fighting to protect healthcare for 1.4 million illegal immigrants. They are fighting to protect billions of dollars in fraud, waste, and abuse.

The number that they keep referencing just keeps going up. It has been 13.7 million, 14 million, and now it is 16 million. That is just not true. Even The New York Times said that the numbers that the Democrats have been saying about people who will ``lose their healthcare'' is not true.

If you are illegal, if you are ineligible, if you are able-bodied and could work, those are the people that this bill will target.

Finally, I will say that, once again, taking it back to the issues at hand, we are here to do the important work of safeguarding our elections in the United States, supporting the police, and ensuring that local jurisdictions aren't obstructing immigration enforcement.

Similar bills on these topics have gained support from some Democrats. Instead of trying to belittle these issues or endlessly debate H.R. 1 at every possible turn, they can stop and reflect about their opposition to these commonsense bills, bills supported by the agenda that voters backed months ago.

Democrats just can't seem to help themselves. President Trump's multifaceted approach to immigration enforcement is working. Illegal border crossings are down 95 percent. Daily border encounters are down by 93 percent. Got-aways are down by 99 percent. Fentanyl flows are down 54 percent. Mr. Speaker, there were 2,000 ICE arrests every day recently. ICE is finally cleaning up the open-border policy of the Biden administration. Yes, they were open-border policies.

Mr. Speaker, I hope that our colleagues will support the underlying rule and the bills that we have considered before us today because we need to secure our elections and stand up for our police and the rule of law.

Mr. Speaker, fear-mongering is not a solution to the problems that we face today. If we are not going to find savings across all agencies by rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse, we are not going to safeguard these programs for the future.

Unfortunately, my colleagues are against rooting out even waste, fraud, and abuse. By doing so, they are not protecting the very programs they claim that they are fighting to protect.

Again, with the CBO, according to the White House press secretary, there hasn't been a single staffer in the entire Congressional Budget Office that has contributed to a Republican since the year 2000, but guess what? Many of the staffers within the CBO have contributed to Democratic candidates and politicians in every single cycle since.

Unfortunately, it is not an institution in our country that is bipartisan. It has become partisan and political, which is why conservatives and Republicans on our side are skeptical of the CBO and what they report.

My colleague referred to closed measures, so I just want to note that it is true, there have been 53 closed measures, but the number needs context. Twelve were in the rules package, which passed 2 weeks before the 119th Rules Committee even organized to begin meeting. An additional 21 measures were either CRAs or received no amendments, making them closed by definition, so only 17 measures have been closed by discretion of the committee.

Mr. Speaker, again, I would like to make the emphasis what it should be today, which is on safeguarding our elections, supporting local law enforcement, and trying to eliminate the deadly scourge of fentanyl across the United States.

Mr. Speaker, many of the entities that my colleague on the other side of the aisle mentioned do not account for growth. The growth measure is significant in reducing the deficit, and I believe that under President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, we will have record amounts of growth.

Our version of the bill only accounts for about 2.6 percent of growth. Some of these agencies are accounting for only 1.8 percent growth counting toward the calculations in this bill. If we are not accounting for robust growth, which I think we will get, then we will have an unclear picture, which is why I am leaning into OMB Director Russ Vought's assessment of the bill.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. HOUCHIN. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. HOUCHIN. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time I have remaining.

I have got just a couple of things I would like to note in my closing, and this is reasons why the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is the best chance in a generation to pass critical reforms that the American people voted for:

It delivers tax relief, the largest tax cut in American history, meaning an extra $5,000 in Americans' pockets with double-digit percent decrease to their tax bills.

It makes the Trump tax cuts permanent, preventing the largest tax increase ever.

It raises Americans' take-home pay by as much as $13,300 and wages by as much as $11,600.

It reverses the spending curse plaguing Washington, D.C.

The bill delivers the largest deficit reduction in nearly 30 years, with $1.6 trillion in mandatory savings, the largest single reduction in mandatory spending in our country's history.

It delivers no tax on tips and no tax on overtime.

It provides historic tax relief for seniors.

It finishes President Trump's border wall. It boosts Border Patrol and ICE agents on the front line, with the largest border security investment in history.

It increases the child tax credit to $2,500 per family.

It protects Medicaid for Americans who truly need it.

It implements popular work requirements for able-bodied Americans receiving taxpayer-funded benefits.

It eliminates hundreds of billions of dollars in green new scam tax credits. It reverses electric vehicle mandates that let radical climate activists set the standards in American energy.

It ends Biden's war on American energy.

It streamlines onerous permitting processes so America can get building again.

It refills the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to safeguard America's energy security.

It repeals and rescinds every green corporate welfare subsidy.

It stops illegal immigrants from receiving tax credits and tax remittances sent to foreign countries.

It supports small businesses by increasing the section 199A deduction to 23 percent.

It incentivizes made in America.

It creates new Trump savings accounts for newborns. It expands access to childcare for hardworking families.

It provides historic increases in funding for the U.S. Coast Guard.

It supports building new factories to grow domestic business operations.

It helps American farmers, producers, and ranchers compete and sell products in foreign markets.

It holds woke elitist universities accountable by increasing the endowment tax on large universities.

It protects hardworking taxpayers by canceling Biden's illegal and unfair student loan bailouts.

It ends taxpayer-funded gender transition procedures.

It is a once-in-a-generation chance to revolutionize our Nation's defense capabilities and protect the homeland against new threats by funding President Trump's Golden Dome.

It enhances the capacity of America's naval fleet.

It modernizes air traffic control.

It strengthens SNAP benefits.

It implements critical program integrity and cost-containment provisions in Medicaid to strengthen it for future generations.

It safeguards the Second Amendment by removing tax and registration requirements for firearm silencers and eliminating silencers from the National Firearms Act.

It provides critical disaster recovery funding to farmers, producers, and ranchers.

It provides funding to rebuild America's military.

It expands health savings accounts to give Americans greater choice and flexibility in how to spend their money.

It gives $10,000 bonuses annually over the next 4 years to Border Patrol and ICE agents on the front lines.

It incentivizes scholarships that empower American families and students to choose the education that best fits their needs.

It repeals Democrats' insane attack on the gig economy.

It reforms and streamlines the Federal student loan program to drive down tuition costs and simplify repayment plans.

It strengthens accountability for students and taxpayers on Federal student loans and implements critical reforms to Pell grants to make sure they prioritize students who truly need financial assistance while promoting completion.

It increases timber sales on Federal lands.

It authorizes the sale of expanded spectrum megahertz to strengthen rural broadband and secure America's technological dominance in AI and other emerging technology.

It creates permanent fees that illegal immigrants must pay for their applications so American taxpayers aren't saddled with covering these costs.

It protects family farmers.

It ends abusive financing practices in Medicaid by freezing provider taxes and prohibiting new provider taxes.

It reins in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and it rolls back harmful Biden-era regulations that increase costs and administrative burdens with limited flexibility for States.

Mr. Speaker, we are not here today to talk about the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. We are here today to talk about the many provisions that are important to the safety and security of the United States. We are talking about a rule that includes provisions to secure American elections, protect and support our police, and target the deadly scourge of fentanyl across the United States.

Despite what my colleagues on the left may say, that this is a distraction, we say it is necessary and that we can multitask by doing these things and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The American people understand the importance of immigration enforcement and the need to provide law enforcement with the tools necessary to stop the deadly flow of fentanyl. That is why 77 million Americans voted to end the Biden-Harris administration's reckless handling of the border and their disregard for the rule of law.

Today's measures crack down on fentanyl, safeguard our elections, and back the blue. It is about law, order, and protecting the American people.

I look forward to moving these bills out of the House this week, and I ask my colleagues to join me in voting ``yes'' on the previous question and ``yes'' on the rule.

The material previously referred to by Mr. McGovern is as follows:

An Amendment to H. Res. 489 Offered by Mr. McGovern of Massachusetts

At the end of the resolution, add the following:

Sec. 5. 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. 6. Clause 1(c) of rule XIX shall not apply to the consideration of H.R. 2753.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source