Providing for Consideration of H.R. 1255, Government Shutdown Prevention Act of 2011

Floor Speech

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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this closed rule and to the ridiculous, meaningless, and unconstitutional underlying legislation.

Today the Republican leadership has brought forward a bill that they call, without any apparent trace of irony, the Government Shutdown Prevention Act of 2011. This bill was introduced on Wednesday and rushed to the floor without the 72 hours of notice that the Republicans promised. Even though the bill was referred to four different committees, not a single hearing has been held, not a single markup has taken place. Where is the openness? Where is the fairness? This process is lousy.

This bill would not only have no practical effect, it's not even remotely constitutional. If my friends on the other side of the aisle want to put out a press release or issue a series of talking points, hey, it's a free country. But to waste the time of the House on something this ridiculous is an insult to the American people. We should be talking about jobs and the economy, not debating silliness that is supposed to appeal to the GOP's right-wing base. If my friends want to avert a government shutdown--and make no mistake, because of your intransigence, because of your insistence on cutting everything from Pell Grants to the National Institutes of Health, this is in your hands. This is in your hands. But if you want to avert a government shutdown, I have an idea. Pick up the phone. Send a note. Or, better yet, engage in meaningful negotiations with the Senate and the White House. Enough pontificating, enough polarization. Do your job.

My Republican colleagues like to talk a lot about the sanctity of the Constitution. They made a big display of reading the entire document on the floor of the House at the beginning of this Congress. Apparently they weren't paying very much attention. For the benefit of my Republican colleagues, let me read from article I, section 7:

``Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the President of the United States. If he approve he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it ..... ''

Instead, what this bill says is that if the Senate hasn't passed a continuing resolution by April 6, then H.R. 1 would be deemed as passed by the Senate, signed by the President, and enacted into law.

You have got to be kidding me, Madam Speaker. If this is the new standard that the Republicans are going to use, I have a few ideas of my own. I would like to introduce a bill that says that the House deems the Red Sox to have won the 2011 World Series. It wouldn't mean anything. It wouldn't be constitutional. But it sure would be popular in Massachusetts.

Madam Speaker, this would be laughable if it weren't so outrageous. I urge my colleagues to reject this closed rule and the underlying legislation, and I urge my Republican friends to go back to the negotiating table and negotiate in good faith with the other body.

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