Providing for the Condemnation and Denouncement of Socialism in All its Forms, and for Other Purposes
Floor Speech
Mr. Speaker, as if we didn't waste enough time participating in yesterday's purely performative exercise at the Rules Committee, here we are again.
After zero floor activity for the last 5 weeks, House Republicans have brought to the floor a nonbinding resolution calling for enactment of the SAVE America Act.
I was recently asked by a constituent: ``What is a nonbinding resolution?'' And I effectively said: A nonbinding resolution is a statement of how Congress feels, but it does nothing.
So here we are taking up a nonbinding resolution of how we feel. And in an ironic twist that would be comical if it weren't so sinister, this resolution, this nonbinding feeling of Congress, stokes fears of a repressive totalitarian dictatorship while in the same breath affirms House Republicans' obsession with subverting Americans' right to vote-- the same House Republicans that have ceded entirely Congress' constitutional authority to one single person.
Absurd doesn't begin to describe this.
This resolution, this nonbinding resolution, asks the House to condemn government ownership of private industry, yet under Donald Trump's administration, the Federal Government has spent almost $28 billion of American money acquiring stakes in dozens of private companies--$28 billion.
Now, personally, I believe in capitalism, but if my Republican friends want to debate socialism, they should start with the shareholder in chief who sits in the Oval Office.
Mr. Speaker, after hearing from their own constituents about the affordability crisis in America and the corruption in this administration for the past 5 weeks, House Republicans are wasting time on a vote for a resolution condemning a political philosophy, a resolution which has already passed the House, and calling for the enactment of a bill aimed at making it harder for Americans to vote--a bill which I also note has already passed this House. This bill would make it harder for married women and veterans to vote, a bill that would essentially gut mail and online voter registration, a bill that would force States to hand out voter rolls to President Trump's Department of Homeland Security.
Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised we are here today because one thing is clear: As costs are skyrocketing for American consumers, Republicans are afraid to face their constituents at the ballot box. The White House and congressional Republicans have failed the American people, and the only remaining option is to try to keep Americans from voting at all.
They want bills like the SAVE America Act to disrupt election administration and keep millions of eligible voters away from the polls. The President has issued illegal executive orders to block ballot access for millions of Americans, including an unlawful attempt to weaponize the United States Postal Service and eviscerate vote-by- mail regimes in States across this country because the President says mail-in voting is fraudulent, even though the President himself voted twice in the last few weeks by mail.
This administration has defunded and gutted the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, CISA, and its support for election administrators. And of course, the President and his allies continue to actively spread mis- and disinformation about the integrity of our elections.
Maybe that is the point: to cause a lack of confidence in our election writ large and get people to question the very legitimacy of our long tradition of self-governance.
House Democrats will continue to fight back because, despite continued efforts by the President and his allies, our elections are safe and secure. State and local election administrators, both Democrats and Republicans, not the President, will continue to run elections in this country. States will do it. Local and State election administrators will do it, not the President of the United States.
The courts will continue to reject unlawful attempts by the Department of Justice to force States to turn over their voter rolls.
As of earlier this month, the Department of Justice's record in these cases now is 0 for 23. There were 23 cases brought in Federal court, and the Department of Justice has lost every single one of them in their effort to force States to turn over voter rolls.
House Democrats' objectives are straightforward. Every eligible American must have a meaningful opportunity to cast a ballot, and those ballots must be counted fairly and accurately. There is nothing more important in this moment than our collective efforts to ensure Americans are given every opportunity to render their verdict in November, and despite the best efforts of House Republicans, we are going to make sure that happens.
Mr. Speaker, in a recent poll, Congress was found to have a 15 percent approval rating. Mr. Speaker, 15 percent of the American people approve of the job Congress is doing today. Some might understandably think that number is low, but frankly, after participating in this absurd exercise, I am surprised it is that high.
With all due respect to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, would this entirely symbolic resolution Republicans are seeking to advance today do anything to lower gas prices? Would this pure messaging bill do anything to make your groceries less expensive? Would this resolution do anything to hold all the crooks in the White House accountable? The answer is simple. It would not.
Promises were made to the American people, but they have not been kept. The American people deserve better than this. I strongly urge my colleagues to reject this resolution.
When the gentleman began to speak and said this was a simple resolution on socialism, I thought perhaps he hadn't read his own resolution because it also creates incredible barriers to people registering to vote in America and engaging in self-government, which has been the whole point of this Republic for 250 years.
I am glad he did indicate, though, that this is also including efforts to make it harder for Americans to vote.
However, I would say this: I know this is so important that we pass this resolution, except I would also remind the body that we passed this resolution a year ago condemning socialism, so we are doing here just the same thing. I guess next week we will do it again and again and again, but we have already done this, and we have also passed the awful SAVE America Act several times here as well.
Rather than focusing on gas prices and the ill-advised illegal war in Iran, which has raised the price of groceries and gas, which has spent hundreds of billions of dollars not authorized by the Congress, we stand here talking about a resolution that has two parts, both of which have already passed. That is what we consider a critical measure to consider, a nonbinding resolution today on two things we have already done in the House, but I guess that passes for progress in some people's minds.
Tlaib).
I will just note that in the text of the resolution it talks about how socialist ideology necessitates the concentration of power, but the whereas is essentially any form of socialism. I am just sort of curious, as I read it, it denounces socialism in all of its forms.
I just ask the question of my colleagues. The current administration has entered into 39 announced deals, has invested $28 billion of American taxpayer money, and $8.9 billion of that was to purchase 433 million shares of Intel. We now have a 9.9 percent stake in Intel-- which sounds like socialism to me, the government control or ownership of the means of production--15 percent of MP Materials, 5 percent of Lithium Americas, and another 5 percent of its joint venture with General Motors.
Frankly, if it comes to government ownership of private industry, which it does, as a capitalist I said this, I actually voted on the resolution when it came before the House before, but I wonder: If the United States Government gets into the habit of purchasing shares and ownership of a chip manufacturer, Intel, does that mean when it comes to procurement that we are somehow compromised?
Can we choose another chip manufacturer to the disadvantage of American taxpayers because we are part-owners of the company that is competing for our business?
How will we regulate companies now where we have a vested interest in the profitability because the American taxpayers are part owners of that company?
I would have taken a little more care with the resolution because you would have to argue that perhaps the most socialist President in recent memory is Donald Trump because he is having American taxpayers own shares of private companies. I would think there would be a number of Members on my friends' side of the aisle that would have distress about such a measure taken by an American President.
I can imagine if Joe Biden was taking ownership of Intel how we would have heard people screaming about it, but they are oddly silent because the would-be dictator of America, the would-be king, has decided that he is going to invest American money in private companies.
I just would be curious to see what people's response is to that.
Mr. Speaker, I share with Chairman Steil many things we agree on. He is a good friend, but his suggestion that this is about the concentration of power--concentration of power? What we have seen in the last 2 years is the concentration of power at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue and a Congress that has done little to nothing about establishing our Article I prerogatives. When it comes to appropriations, when it comes to the impoundment of money, when it comes to the illegal activities in Iran, which has put hundreds of billions of dollars of American money spent over there, which has made us less secure, cost the lives of 18 Americans, that is a concentration of power.
We ought to talk about that. We should be having that conversation about Article I powers and reestablishing Congress' rightful role.
Mr. Speaker, if you want to talk about concentration of power, Republican Members, including my friend, have made clear the SAVE America Act would take effect immediately upon passage. With just 63 days before this election, this bill would upend elections in every State across this country.
Regarding concentration of power, Members of this body know that States begin mailing millions of ballots just 3 weeks from now, and yet, we would pass this concentration of power to put further power concentrated in the hands of one individual at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. How are these election administrators supposed to comply with this new Federal law should it take effect?
It is election malpractice, frankly. The committee heard months ago from an election director on the ground who called this effective date unworkable.
The purpose of this change, which is in this resolution, is clearly to throw election administration into disarray, because elections in chaos are easier to disrupt and subvert.
That is why President Trump unleashed an angry mob on the building on January 6, 2021, to create chaos, undermine confidence in our election system, and literally create a dangerous situation, all in service of overturning an election that he lost.
This change is irresponsible. It is the ultimate move to concentrate power in the hands of one individual.
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Mr. MORELLE.
Mr. Speaker, on this floor this afternoon, we should be debating legislation to lower gas prices. We should be debating legislation to lower the cost of groceries. We should be debating legislation to rein in the most corrupt administration in the history of this country.
That is what I heard when I went back home in Rochester and spent the last several weeks talking to people who are fearing for the futures of their families, who are fearing not being able to pay their medical bills, who fear not being able to pay their mortgage, who fear having to make tough decisions about childcare and putting food on the table.
Instead, we are debating a nonbinding resolution. It is a nonbinding resolution which they said gives the sense of Congress. We have already given the sense about socialism less than a year ago. It has already passed this body, but we keep doing it. I guess we will keep saying it because we have nothing else to do and because we are not prepared to address the rising costs of gas and groceries and the challenges that families are facing.
We are also calling for the enactment of a bill that has already passed the House. This is the important work this Congress is taking up today, passing a resolution that calls for the passing of a bill we have already passed and calling for the enactment of a resolution which we have already enacted.
By the way, that bill, the SAVE America Act, would restrict access to the ballot box for millions of Americans, in particular, women, rural voters, students, and people of color. The SAVE America Act would effectively end vote by mail in the United States. It would force States to surrender private voter information to the Department of Homeland Security. If enacted today, the SAVE America Act would instantly throw the upcoming midterm elections into chaos.
Mr. Speaker, House Democrats will continue to fight back because, despite the continued efforts by the President and his allies, our elections are safe. They are secure, and there is nothing more important in this moment than our collective efforts to ensure Americans are given every opportunity to render their verdict in November. House Democrats will make sure that happens, and I strongly urge my colleagues to oppose this resolution.
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