Tom Cole

Mr. COLE

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield to the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Katko) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield to the distinguished gentleman from South Dakota (Mr. Johnson) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Wagner) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzpatrick) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I am prepared to close and will yield back the balance of my time at the conclusion of my remarks. Madam Speaker, we don't think the House bill is a better bill. We don't think reducing the amount the Senate gave to the military by $124 million is a good idea. We don't think reducing the amount of money that is going to Border Patrol, which is one of the areas that is a problem, by $89 million is a good idea. We don't think a lot of this effort to micromanage a crisis that is thousands of miles away from us by this body here has good suggestions. We want some flexibility. We think the Senate bill does take care of the needs on the border in terms of unaccompanied minors who have crossed over into our territory. So we just don't think this does it, and we think this prolongs the process. We have a bipartisan bill--a perfect bill? No. Is our bill a perfect bill? No. As a matter of fact, we like the Senate bill on our side better than this bill. Regardless, that one can pass. That one can pass on this floor. That one can be signed into law. This one that my friends are embarking on, they think it is an improvement. I will just tell them, politically, not passing the Senate, not likely to be signed by the President. So if we want to get help there immediately, we have a way to do it in the Senate bill. We think this leads us to a political dead-end. Madam Speaker, I would press for my motion, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the great State of Tennessee (Mr. David P. Roe), my very good friend, for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Granger) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I am puzzled as well. I am puzzled why this wasn't dealt with 8 weeks ago when the administration asked. I am puzzled why, for 16 times when we tried to bring this matter up on the floor, our friends in the majority rejected that. Now we are in a hurry. Well, if we are in a hurry, the way to act is to take the vehicle that has actually passed the United States Senate in an overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion and send it to the President of the United States. That is not what my friends want to do. They want to prolong the debate. They have prolonged it for 2 months, for 8 weeks, by not taking the matter up. They are prolonging it today by not taking what has already been passed and moving along. So, obviously, we oppose this rule, and we want to move on. We will be happy to work with them to move on the Senate legislation. I think it would pass in an overwhelmingly bipartisan way; the President would sign it; and that aid would begin flowing. What my friends are proposing is quite the opposite. It is a prolonged back-and-forth with the United States Senate. I have deep respect for the institution, but what is going to come out of here is going to be partisan; what came out of there is bipartisan. What is going to come out of here won't be signed by the President; what has come out of the United States Senate will be. So if they are in a hurry to get the money moving, that is the way we should proceed. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield to the distinguished gentlewoman from Indiana (Mrs. Brooks), my good friend, for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield to the distinguished gentleman from Washington (Mr. Newhouse), my very good friend, for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the great State of Tennessee (Mr. Fleischmann), my very good friend, for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining?

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the great State of Ohio (Mr. Gibbs), my very good friend, for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the Speaker personally for taking control of a difficult situation. So, Madam Speaker, just to resume my point, we have a vehicle. It could literally pass on this floor in less than an hour. It could head to the President. It satisfies almost all--not all, but almost all--of my friends' concerns. I would just ask them, in all seriousness, to just consider political reality here and let's get this done and get these resources to where they are needed. We can do that. We can do it in a bipartisan fashion. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, pursuant to section 426 of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, I make a point of order against consideration of the rule, House Resolution 466. Section 426 of the Budget Act specifically states that the Rules Committee may not waive the point of order prescribed in section 425 of that same act. House Resolution 466 makes in order a motion ``without intervention of any point of order.'' Therefore, I make a point of order, pursuant to section 426 of the Congressional Budget Act, that this rule may not be considered.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I don't doubt my friend's sincerity and compassion and concern for these young people for one minute. I know him well as a person and value him as a friend. Although, I must say, this would have been much nicer 8 weeks ago when the administration first asked for it. While my friend lays out some of the changes in the House bill, he neglected to mention that the House bill cuts the administration's request for reimbursement to the military by $124 million. It cuts the administration's request for money to the Border Patrol, which is probably where the most difficult part is, by, I think, $89 million. So we have substantive disagreements. Again, we have a bill that has passed overwhelmingly. Many of the items my friends want to add have already been considered by the Senate and rejected by the Senate. So it seems to me, when we have a bipartisan product that has got substantial support on both sides and that the White House has signaled it would accept, that is the way we should go. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Womack), my good friend and the ranking Republican member of the Committee on the Budget.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, the bill before us today provides no CBO cost estimate, so we literally have no idea as to whether or not there are additional unfunded mandates being imposed on the States. We do know that the States are already having to use their scarce resources to deal with this border crisis, and the legislation before us today does nothing to alleviate that. Indeed, my colleague from Texas (Mr. Burgess) made that very point and offered an amendment, which was rejected by the committee, to consider reimbursing the State of Texas over $800 million for their expenses. Those same kinds of expenses--probably not to that magnitude--have been undertaken by other States. Madam Speaker, we don't think that we should proceed until we have that information and the House has a chance to consider that. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, actually, on that, we have a great deal in common with one another. We, too, think we ought to address this matter quickly. As I am sure my friend recalls, we have tried on 16 different occasions over the last 8 weeks to bring legislation that would alleviate this problem to the floor. Our friends rejected that every single time. We also have a bill that has been passed by the Senate 84-7: a bill where 35 Democrats--about three-quarters of the number of Democrats-- supported, a bill that we know would solve, a bill that if we would bring to this floor we can pass immediately and it would go to the President's desk; it wouldn't have to go back to the Senate. So my friends, by not accepting an overwhelmingly bipartisan bill by the Senate and simply moving it on, are the ones who are actually imposing a delay here. What they have got in front of us that we will consider later today, if they are successful, frankly, is something we know the Senate is unlikely to accept. I have not heard from the President, but given the scope of the changes inside the bill, these are all changes that, in some cases, failed yesterday in the Senate--reductions in spending for the military and for the Border Patrol--that the administration has already signaled they will reject. There is a simple solution here. We could simply take the Senate bill up that has passed 84-7--overwhelming support on both sides of the aisle--get that bill down to the President, and the money could start flowing immediately. If we proceed as my friends want to proceed, we are simply going to be playing ping-pong back and forth. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Woodall), my very good friend and distinguished member of the Rules Committee.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield to the distinguished gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx), my very good friend, for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield to my good friend from the great State of Ohio, (Mr. Balderson) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the great State of Maryland (Mr. Harris), my very good friend, for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the great State of Kansas (Mr. Estes), my very good friend, for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from the great State of West Virginia (Mrs. Miller), my good friend, for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.