Providing For Consideration Of H.R. 2997, Agriculture, Rural Development, Food And Drug Administration, And Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010

Floor Speech

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Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Massachusetts for yielding me this time. While we often disagree on issues, it is clear that he is passionate about this issue.

Mr. Speaker, I come before you today deeply concerned about the closed rule we have before us. Throughout this appropriations season, the Democrat majority has taken unprecedented steps to silence both the minority and their own Democrat colleagues by offering all appropriations bills under closed rules. This has consistently eliminated the ability of Members to speak up for how their constituents believe their money should be spent.

But today marks a record in modern history. Today, the Democrat majority has gone even further by surpassing the number of restrictive rules ever offered during appropriations season in the House of Representatives.

Mr. Speaker, when Republicans were in the majority, the most regular appropriations bills considered under a restrictive rule in any single season was four in 1997 which was before my colleague, Mr. Dreier, was the chairman. Today, with the addition of this rule, the Democrat majority has exceeded that modern record.

After promising the American people during campaign season that this would be the most open and honest Congress in history, Speaker Pelosi has gone back on her word in the name of appropriations season by making this the most closed and restrictive Congress in history.

Instead of having their ideas heard, the American people are being silenced with Speaker Pelosi's justification that, We won the election, so we decide.

As my colleagues have expressed during the past four appropriations debates this season, bringing appropriations bills to the floor under a closed rule is unprecedented. It does an injustice to both Republicans and Democrats who want to have the opportunity to offer amendments and participate in debate with their colleagues over pressing issues of our time.

By choosing to operate in this way, the majority has cut off the minority and their own colleagues from having any input in the legislative process.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this rule.

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Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from New York for raising the issue of the plight of dairy farmers in particular. All across my district, we see farmers of all types going out of business, but particularly hard hit are the dairy farmers. And there is no tougher type of farming than dairy farming in this country. My husband and I have done a lot of farming in our lives. We've never had a lot of cows, but we both grew up milking cows. And believe me, that is the toughest work in the world. You've got to be there every day, all day, and these folks are really struggling to stay in business. And the sad part about it is that with the cap-and-tax bill that passed last week and so many of the other policies of this administration and this Congress, we are going headlong into putting a lot of our farmers out of business, particularly the dairy farmers.

Again, the implication here is that we ought not to be spending a lot of time talking about the problems that we're facing in this country and that agriculture is facing, that all of our citizens are facing. But the Democrats in charge want to limit what ideas can be debated on the floor and what constituents can be represented in this House.

Our constituents in both Republican districts and Democrat districts are struggling to make ends meet, are facing unemployment, and yet are being shut out of participating in a debate over how their hard-earned taxpayer dollars are being borrowed and spent by the Federal Government.

It is a mystery as to why the majority is blocking debate on such important legislation. What are they afraid of? Are they protecting their Members from tough votes? Are they afraid of the democratic process? It's hard to know why they're doing it.

The Speaker has gone back on her word about making this the most open process in the world. Is she afraid that the American people will disagree with her? Is she keeping other Democrats from having to make tough decisions on difficult votes? Is she afraid of the very principles upon which our country is founded? We are very concerned, again, with the direction in which this Congress is going as far as the rules are concerned.

During the Independence Day break, I was at home. I went to a lot of functions. I spoke to my constituents. I spoke to hundreds of them. They told me over and over and over again how concerned they are about the direction this country is going. They used the word ``frightened'' over and over again. I talked to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and they say they are hearing the very same things from their constituents at home. They are concerned about the amount of money that's being spent by this Congress, the policies that this administration is taking, and the direction in which they are moving.

We know that the Democrats have proposed spending $1.89 trillion of American taxpayer money for discretionary government programs in the 2010 fiscal year. When all appropriation spending is combined, the Democrats have increased nondefense, nonveteran discretionary spending by 85 percent over the last 2 fiscal years. With millions of jobs lost since the passage of the stimulus, the President said this morning ``there is nothing we would have done differently concerning the $787 billion spending bill.''

But that spending bill, which is really a trillion-dollar spending bill because of the cost of the bill, isn't creating the jobs Democrats promised. Even the Vice President said over the weekend this regarding the bill's poor returns: ``The truth is we and everyone else misread the economy.''

Well, no, not everyone else did that because Republicans all voted against the stimulus bill. You aren't going to hang that around our necks, Mr. Vice President.

House Democrats now want to spend another trillion dollars on a government-run health care bill after they have just crammed through a national energy tax.

At the same time, House Republicans are being denied the opportunity to offer cost-cutting amendments to save taxpayer money. Many Republican proposals could save billions in wasteful government spending and better prioritize how Washington spends taxpayer funds. But these ideas are being shut down. This is not the way to operate the greatest deliberative body in the world.

I am going again to suggest to my colleagues that they vote ``no'' on this rule because this is not the way we should be going.

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