Providing for Consideration of Senate Amendment to H.R. Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2026

Floor Speech

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 873 and ask for its immediate consideration.

The Clerk read the resolution, as follows: H. Res. 873

Resolved, That upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 5371) making continuing appropriations and extensions for fiscal year 2026, and for other purposes, with the Senate amendment thereto, and to consider in the House, without intervention of any point of order, a motion offered by the chair of the Committee on Appropriations or his designee that the House concur in the Senate amendment. The Senate amendment and the motion shall be considered as read. The motion shall be debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations or their respective designees. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the motion to its adoption without intervening motion.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the ranking member, 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
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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, last night, the Rules Committee met and reported a rule providing for the consideration of the motion to concur in the Senate amendment to H.R. 5371, the Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026, and I am happy to say that it will end the government shutdown.

The rule provides 1 hour of debate on the motion equally divided and controlled by the chair and the ranking member of the Committee on Appropriations, or their designees.

I rise in support of this rule and the underlying legislation. This bill delivers on our commitment to the American people by finally reopening the government. It delivers on the promises that we have made to our veterans, our farmers, and our taxpayers.

Let's be honest: This government shutdown was completely avoidable. On September 19, House Republicans passed a continuing resolution that funded critical services and would have given us time to negotiate long-term solutions. It was a yes vote to keep the government open and to pay our troops, air traffic controllers, and Federal employees.

Every Democrat but one voted no. Every Democrat but one voted to shut the government down. This is not opinion, and this is not messaging like Democrats keep trying to spin it. It is a fact that anyone can check the vote record. Democrats voted against a nonpartisan, clean CR free of poison pills that would have continued Biden-level funding and kept the government open for negotiations.

Democrats chose politics over people. They refused to support a commonsense measure, and American families paid the price.

This bill restores stability to our national nutritional programs, which were put under unnecessary strain during the shutdown. It will fund WIC and SNAP, ensuring that low-income mothers and their babies have access to healthy and nutritious foods.

These programs should not have been used as a bargaining chip during the shutdown. Republicans are stepping up to protect Americans and ensure these programs remain stable and funded. That is what responsible governance looks like.

There are three appropriations bills included in the CR, put here to jump-start our appropriations process.

H.R. 5371 delivers for rural America. It provides funding for the Farm Service Agency to support our Nation's farmers and ranchers. It invests in rural development programs, including funding affordable housing rental assistance for low-income families and seniors in rural communities. These investments strengthen our local economies and ensure that rural communities are not left behind.

For our troops, this bill demonstrates our dedication to veteran medical care, including funding for mental health, telehealth services, homelessness programs, caregiver programs, opioid misuse prevention and treatment, medical research, healthcare tailored to our female veterans, rural healthcare initiatives, and construction for new VA hospitals and veteran cemeteries.

We are also funding veteran disability programs, education benefits, and employment training. Funds will be invested in military family housing projects to support those who support our troops and in projects to improve quality of life for our servicemembers, including hospitals and schools.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5371 is what governing with a purpose looks like. If Democrats had joined us in September to pass a commonsense continuing resolution, we could have avoided this Democrat shutdown altogether, but they chose reckless posturing over responsibility. Now, Republicans are stepping up to restore stability and reopen the government for the people.

I stand in support of this bill, and I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5371 and stay focused on what matters: serving the American people.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, there is so much to unpack and to object to in the ranking member's opening statement, but I just want to comment on one of the issues.

I find the statement that Republicans were on vacation laughable. The idea that Republicans were on vacation during the shutdown is just simply false. It is false. Many of us were in Washington or in our districts meeting with constituents, advancing local priorities, and staying fully engaged with our constituents and our work.

Our dedication to serving the American people didn't pause during the shutdown, whether in D.C. or back at home, which, for the record, I was in both places and many, many of my Republican colleagues were, too. We were doing the work we were elected to do.

The real story here is not about the absence. It is about the commitment, and for Republicans, we never wavered.

If the Democrats cared so much about working, they would not have shut the government down.

Foxx), the esteemed chairwoman of the Committee on Rules.

Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, the American farmer needs this bill to pass. The American soldier needs this bill to pass. Our air traffic controllers need this bill to pass. The men and women who protect us here in this Capitol and all Federal law enforcement need this bill to pass.

Mr. Speaker, I am one of those who represent a lot of Federal employees, and they have been without a check for a long time. This is very simple. It is very simple. It is way past time to open the government up. There are going to be a lot of excuses about could have, should have, would have, and that we need to take this provision or that provision out, or Democrats are going to vote to keep the government shut down.

Mr. Speaker, the vote today is straight up or straight down. You vote to open the government up today, or you vote to keep it closed. That is all there is to it.

As for the provision that has been mentioned a few times about the Senate language, I have introduced a piece of legislation already to repeal the Senate language, and I am hopeful that we will have a vote on that as soon as we get back.

Mr. Speaker, I never said that this bill was perfect. Not everyone agrees with the provision, and our colleague from Georgia (Mr. Austin Scott) just mentioned that he is already addressing it. What we do agree on is that it is critically important to get the government open, and that is why we are here today.

Mr. Speaker, it is getting our Federal employees paid and getting our troops paid. It is getting SNAP back on track and getting our airports back to full capacity. Once this happens, we can tackle the issues. We can get back to really doing the things for the American people and not using their suffering as leverage like Democratic Whip Clark is willing to do.

Democrats have spent weeks performing political theater by refusing to open government, and they continue to perform that political theater. We need to prioritize the reopening of the government and stop the suffering that the Democrats want to use as leverage.

The ranking member mentioned the discharge petition, and he is very proud that it has 218 signatures, but not that long ago today we had a unanimous consent request that would have moved that resolution along over to the Senate, and I believe the Democrats objected to it.

It seems more like a political stunt than it does that they actually wanted to have that resolution moved along because if they had not objected, it would have gone on its way, and they would have accomplished what they wanted to do.

I don't see their real desire to have the resolution passed. I see it more, like I said, as a political stunt, and it certainly is actually a moot point, given that the Oversight Committee is already releasing many of those files. As a matter of fact, I believe they have done tens of thousands of them, but I believe this morning they did another 20,000 files, so they are being released, and this all seems for naught.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, I would point out to some of my colleagues that the Democrat government shutdown stopped the SNAP benefits. If they were very concerned about making sure that people had their nutritional assistance, they wouldn't have shut down the government. That is what caused it.

Mr. Speaker, I want to address the healthcare issues the Democrats continue to bring up. They act like this had anything to do with the premiums of everyone in the country. We are talking about the Affordable Care Act COVID-era subsidies. This is not what is affecting other people's premiums, other than those folks who qualify for those COVID-era premium subsidies. That is it. They continue to make it sound like this is responsible for every kind of increase that people are seeing.

The Affordable Care Act's original subsidies will remain in place. So that is the original subsidies, ensuring that millions still qualify for the income-based tax credit and capping out-of-pocket costs relative to income.

It is the COVID era. I can't say that enough. It is the COVID-era subsidies that are in question here, and premium increases are actually driven by multiple factors, including medical inflation, provider consolidation, and rising drug costs. However to actually reduce premiums, that is what we must address. We must have comprehensive discussions about that, not just political theater and sound bites. We have to actually sit down and have those discussions, and that is what getting the government back open will do.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

As we wrap up this debate, I want to take a moment to cut through the noise from our colleagues on the left. Instead of focusing on the legislation before us, they are resorting to fear tactics and tossing out false claims about what this shutdown is really about.

The CR would have kept the government open to continue and finish the appropriations process. Yet the Democrats refused and instead chose to shut down the government.

My colleague mentions values. Democrats claim that our values are different. Democratic Whip Clark said: ``Of course there will be families that are going to suffer . . . but it is one of the few leverage times we have.''

So if those are the values they are talking about, I don't share those values.

Mr. Speaker, I won't make the American people suffer, whether it be their SNAP payments, whether it be keeping air traffic controllers paid, or whether it is paying our troops. Making the American people suffer are not the values that I share.

For the record, Republicans did not cause this shutdown, and we have not been on vacation. I have been splitting my time between D.C. and the District, as I mentioned before, meeting with constituents in both, meeting with Federal agencies, and hosting a teletownhall. I know how hard my Republican colleagues have been working for their constituents and the American people.

It was the Democrats who shut down the government when they refused to support a clean CR that would have kept the lights on and protected critical services, and now it is the Democrats who continue to shift the blame.

Now, getting back to the issue at hand, let's talk about what this bill actually does.

H.R. 5371 restores the funding for SNAP and WIC. It reimburses the contingency reserves to make sure that programs remain stable and reliable. Actually, President Trump moved $300 million of tariff revenue to fund WIC during the shutdown. Republicans are the ones protecting food security and not playing games with it.

This bill also delivers for our farmers and ranchers and for rural development. It invests in the communities that feed this country and keep the economy strong. It supports our troops and Federal workers. It ensures our servicemembers and their families have the support they need, and it honors the promises we have made to those who have served.

Yes, it reopens the government, restores stability, and resumes regular order.

So let's be honest about what a ``yes'' vote means. A ``yes'' vote is a vote for veterans care. A ``yes'' vote is a vote for SNAP and WIC. A ``yes'' vote is a vote for $700,000 for a fire engine in Ranking Member McGovern's district and $1 million for the Navajo Nation Division of Community Development in Representative Leger Fernandez's district. A ``yes'' vote is for farmers. A ``yes'' vote is for our troops and for Federal workers, and, yes, it is for reopening the government.

A ``no'' vote is a vote against all of that, including the development of a wastewater treatment facility in Mr. Neguse's district, and $1.5 million in watershed conservation in Representative Clark's district. It is a vote against Federal workers. It is a vote against healthcare. It is a vote against feeding hungry children, and it is a vote against common sense.

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

An Amendment to H. Res. 873 Offered by Mr. McGovern of Massachusetts

Strike all after the resolving clause and insert the following:

That upon adoptipon of this resolution it shall be in order to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 5371) making continuing appropriations and extensions for fiscal year 2026, and for other purposes, with the Senate amendment thereto, and to consider in the House, without intervention of any point of order, a motion offered by the chair of the Committee on Appropriations or his designee that the House concur in the Senate amendment with the amendment specified in section 2 of this resolution. The Senate amendment and the motion shall be considered as read. The motion shall be debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations or their respective designees. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the motion to its adoption without intervening motion.

Sec. 2. The amendment referred to in section 1 is as follows:

Page 217, beginning on line 6, strike section 213.
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