Providing for Consideration of H.R. 2638, Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act 2009
Floor Speech
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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, technically, this point of order is about whether or not to consider this rule, and ultimately the underlying bill. And in reality, it's about trying to block this bill without any opportunity for debate and without any opportunity for an up-or-down vote on keeping the government running, providing hurricane and other disaster assistance and other critical items. So I think that that is just wrong. And I hope that my colleagues will vote ``yes'' so we can consider this important legislation on its merits and not kill it on a procedural motion.
We need to move forward with this legislation. We need to keep this government running. Those who oppose this bill can vote against final passage, but we need to move forward. So I would urge my colleagues to not allow a purely procedural tactic to kill this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I just want to associate myself with the remarks of the chairman of the Appropriations Committee.
I should point out that all of the earmarks are made public. They are on the Rules Committee Web site. They are available in the Appropriations Committee. I should also point out that we have instituted reforms so that what happened when the Republicans were in control, for example, when they air-dropped a provision to provide blanket immunity to drug companies and inserted it into a defense bill after everything had been closed cannot happen.
I will also say that I think Members of this Congress should have the right to advocate for their districts and make decisions as to how money should be allocated. It is our responsibility as the legislative branch to have a role in where that money goes versus bureaucrats who work with the White House.
I will also say that there are a lot of Republicans who have applied for and received earmarks. They have gone through this process where they had to fill out forms and vet it through the committee. I know a lot of Republicans, including some of my Republican colleagues on the Rules Committee, have earmarks on this bill because it's public. And I actually trust them to be advocates for their district.
So, I would point out to my colleagues that things are very different from how they were when the Republicans were in control of this House. There is more sunshine. There is more accountability. I would urge my colleagues to vote "yes'' on the motion to consider.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, H. Res. 1488 provides for consideration of the Senate amendment to H.R. 2638, the Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2009.
The rule makes in order a motion by the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations to concur in the Senate amendment with a House amendment. The rule provides 1 hour of debate on the motion, equally divided and controlled by the Committee on Appropriations.
The House amendment inserts language for continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2009, making emergency supplemental appropriations and covering three regular fiscal year 2009 appropriations bills, each in a separate division.
Division A provides continuing appropriations for all agencies and activities that would be covered by the regular fiscal year 2009 appropriations bills until enactment of the applicable regular appropriations bill or until March 6, 2009, whichever occurs first. Emergency FY09 appropriations for LIHEAP and advanced technology vehicle manufacturing loans are also included.
Division B provides $22.9 billion in emergency supplemental appropriations for relief and recovery from hurricanes, floods, and other natural disasters.
Division C provides $487.7 billion in FY09 funding for the Department of Defense.
Division D provides $40 billion in FY09 funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
Division E provides $72.9 billion in FY09 funding for Military Construction and Veterans Affairs.
Mr. Speaker, let me begin with the good news, a fact that my friends on the other side of the aisle cannot refute. This is the last time that we will have to deal with Bush's budget priorities. After 8 years of President Bush's fiscal mismanagement, we will soon vote on the final Bush appropriations bill.
Eight years ago, George Bush became the 43rd President of the United States. Are the American people better off after 8 years of George Bush? The answer is a clear and resounding no. His administration and the then Republican-controlled Congress inherited a $5.6 trillion budget surplus from President Clinton, and they turned that into about a $3.2 trillion deficit and have left us with a national debt that stands at $9.8 trillion. That is the biggest debt we have had in the history of the United States of America.
Because of George Bush, we are stuck in a quagmire in Iraq. Because of George Bush, more people are living in poverty and more people are going hungry than they were 8 years ago. And because of this President and his administration, we have the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Just 40 days from the election and 117 days until the next president is inaugurated, President Bush is asking for a $700 billion blank check to fix the mess on Wall Street that he and his allies helped create.
Thankfully, this continuing resolution will keep the government up and running until March 6 of 2009 and hopefully, at that time, we will have a President with a very different set of priorities.
The process getting here hasn't been perfect. I am disappointed that we weren't able to consider all of the appropriations bills here in the House under regular order. But my Republican colleagues share much of the blame for this inaction. Every time the Republicans had an opportunity to act like statesmen and do the business of the American people, they decided to do the opposite, to play partisan games in attempts to score political points. Instead of acting like honest brokers, they decided to demagog these bills until there was no ability for the House to act on them.
We should all remember last year when the Republicans tried to filibuster the Agriculture appropriations bill by offering silly amendment after silly amendment, cutting a program by $50,000, then $75,000 and then $100,000. And we should all remember earlier this year when the Republicans attempted to kill the Labor-HHS appropriations bill by replacing it in committee with the Interior bill. So when my friends on the other side of the aisle complain about the lack of regular order, I would suggest they take a good, long look in the mirror.
And this bill isn't perfect. Because of the intransigence by the White House, there are a lot of programs that I care deeply about that are underfunded. But this is the best product we could hope for under these circumstances. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, David Obey, and his incredible staff, there are some bright spots in this bill.
First and foremost are the increases in LIHEAP and WIC. This bill fully funds LIHEAP, something the Republicans never did, and increases funding for the WIC program by $1 billion over 2008. At a time when energy and food prices are skyrocketing, we cannot and will not ignore the plight of Americans who are struggling to heat their homes or put food on the table. I am also pleased the bill includes $23.5 million more for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program. This increase will prevent 70,000 low-income women, infants, children and seniors from losing access to food.
I am also pleased that there is a $2.5 billion increase in Pell Grants. Unfortunately, this will not restore Pell Grants to the original purchasing power, but it is a good start that will prevent potential cuts in student aid that could come during the school year.
Another critical component of this continuing resolution is the disaster aid package. Earlier this year, Iowa and the Midwest were hit with disastrous floods. Wildfires have caused major damage in the West. And this hurricane season has already been deadly and costly with Hurricanes Gustav and Ike causing major damage in the gulf coast States. This continuing resolution includes almost $23 billion to address these natural disasters. Funding will be directed to FEMA, the Community Development Block Grants Program, the Army Corps of Engineers, and several other important disaster recovery efforts that will help these ravaged areas across our Nation. I am also pleased that there is $100 million to help Haiti recover from Ike and other hurricanes, and another $100 million for international food aid to provide emergency food assistance.
In addition, the fiscal year 2009 Defense, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security appropriations bills are all included in this continuing resolution. There is no higher priority than providing funding for our military and for the men and women who defend our Nation.
Finally, let me comment on what is not in this bill. Unfortunately, and at the insistence of the White House, there is no economic stimulus package, no new money for food stamps, unemployment insurance or Medicaid. There is no new money for transportation projects to help jumpstart our ailing economy, and there is no ban on offshore drilling.
Mr. Speaker, I simply cannot understand how this President and his Republican partners in the House and Senate can ask for a $700 billion blank check for Wall Street, but oppose $50 billion to help people afford to put food on the table or to make ends meet while they look for a job in this ailing economy or prevent States from cutting health care benefits to people on Medicaid.
Republicans like to say that people have to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. Well, it's hard to do that if you can't afford any boots. During these tough economic times, it is critical that we help all Americans, not just the fat cats on Wall Street. Yet as Katrina and this economic crisis here have shown, the Republican Party has no interest in helping the people who need it most.
Again, Mr. Speaker, the good news is that this is the last time that we will have to deal with this President and his budgetary priorities. Help, I believe, is on the way. With a new administration and more Democrats in Congress, we will be able to finally act on these priorities of the American people.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. McGOVERN. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, let me just rise to associate myself with the remarks of my colleague from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) on the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. Colombia continues to be the most dangerous place in the world to be a member of a union. It is number 2 in the number of internally displaced people, the largest number of internally displaced people, second in the world. And extrajudicial killings by security forces are on the rise.
So if we're going to have a trade agreement, and human rights matters, then I don't think it's too much to ask the Colombian security forces to stop killing and targeting its workers.
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Mr. McGOVERN. I would also disagree that a Colombia Free Trade agreement is going to help create more jobs in Ohio or Massachusetts or anywhere else for that matter.
Mr. Speaker, I also, going back to what the gentleman from Washington State had talked about earlier, he mentioned stuffing in unvetted earmarks. I've been going through the bill here, and I found that the ranking Republican member of the Rules Committee has a number of earmarks, too. You may want to check with him whether or not he vetted them and whether they went through the proper process. I assume they did, because I would not expect anything less from him. But I want to point out again that as you go through this bill, you see a number of earmarks that are attributed directly to the Republicans.
Mr. Speaker, at this time I would like to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey).
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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds.
I would just say that the American people can see what earmarks exist in this bill and who is responsible for those earmarks because it is open. What the gentleman is complaining about is he can't play politics with some of the earmarks on the floor today.
The other thing is, I will restate what the chairman of the Appropriations Committee said. The reason why the Defense appropriations bill is in this continuing resolution is because of the request of the Republican administration.
Having said that, Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Harman).
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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of the time.
Mr. Speaker, it's important that we pass this continuing resolution for a number of reasons. One is it contains money for LIHEAP. With the high cost of energy, we need to make sure that people have the emergency assistance so they can heat their homes, so they don't have to choose between heating their homes and their medication, or heating their homes and food.
We need to support this bill because it has money to help combat hunger--which unfortunately, under this administration's watch, has gotten worse in this country. There are people in the United States who are hungry, and that is something that every one of us should be ashamed of.
We need to pass this bill because it contains money for disaster relief. We have had hurricanes in Florida and Texas. We have had floods in Iowa. People are in need of assistance from the Federal Government to help rebuild. Why anybody would want to hold that up is beyond me.
We need to support this bill because it supports our troops. And we need to support this bill because it supports our veterans. We have a lot of talk around here about how we have to support our troops and veterans, and yet here we have an effort to try to block a bill that will do just that.
Mr. Speaker, this bill is about keeping the government running. And I gotta tell you, I, for one, am glad that this bill will take us into March because hopefully in March we will have a different leadership in the White House; we will be moving in a vastly different direction than the one this President and his Republican allies in this Congress have taken us over the last 8 years. We are in a fiscal mess. Our economy is on the verge of collapse as a result of the incompetence and the inability of this administration to lead us in the right direction.
Enough. Enough.
It is time for us to move forward. It is time for us to get this work done. I would urge a "yes'' vote on the previous question and a "yes'' vote on the rule.
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