Liz Cheney

Ms. CHENEY

Ms. CHENEY. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.

Ms. CHENEY. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution 714, which provides for consideration of a single motion to concur in the Senate amendments to H.R. 695, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2018. Madam Speaker, we meet here today, 122 days into the current fiscal year. FY 2018 is one-third over, and yet the United States Congress has been unable to appropriate funds for the defense of our Nation. I ask my colleagues, Madam Speaker, to pause and let that sink in. The fiscal year is over 30 percent done, and we have been unable to appropriate the funds our military needs to defend the Nation. Madam Speaker, this is nothing new. The United States Congress has forced the U.S. military to operate like this under continuing resolutions for 9 of the last 10 years. The rule and the underlying bill that we are debating and voting on today, Madam Speaker, is a crucial step towards reversing this dangerous trend. This Defense Appropriations bill is a clean bill. It clears away all the politics. It clears away all the posturing. It clears away all the jargon and the process arguments. Madam Speaker, this is an up-or-down vote on the one issue that matters more than any other: providing for the common defense of our Republic. The question before this House today is whether we will do our constitutional duty and provide the funds for those who are putting their lives on the line for all of us. There is no other question, Madam Speaker. And for those who vote ``no,'' there will be no place to hide when history comes to ask why they failed to do their duty. Our military has been strangled for the last decade, Madam Speaker. Obama-era budget cuts are certainly to blame. The Obama administration's defense budgets were based on a set of dangerous policies and false assumptions: They assumed we could withdraw from the Middle East and the terrorists would stop fighting. They assumed we could talk North Korea out of their nuclear program with a policy of ``strategic patience.'' They assumed Russian and Chinese efforts to upend the global world order the United States built and sustained with our allies over 70 years were no threat to our national security. Perhaps worst of all, Madam Speaker, they assumed that paying billions of dollars to the regime in Tehran in exchange for unverifiable promises from the mullahs about their nuclear program would serve America's interests. Never before, Madam Speaker, has an American President been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many. But we in Congress must also accept some of the blame. While the previous administration was pursuing policies that aided our adversaries and harmed our national interests, the United States Congress adopted the Budget Control Act, a law that has proven devastating to the security of our Nation. Beginning with the Budget Control Act in 2011, the United States Congress imposed arbitrary spending caps on domestic and defense discretionary spending. We handcuffed the military, Madam Speaker. No longer could they ask: What are the threats, and what do we need to defend ourselves? Instead, our men and women in uniform were faced with arbitrary caps and, in 2013, sequestration. When the supercommittee that was established by the Budget Control Act failed to come to any agreement on cuts in mandatory spending-- mandatory spending being the real driver, Madam Speaker, of our national debt--sequestration kicked in. This was like taking a meat cleaver to every account in the defense budget at a time of war when our adversaries are gaining in strength, readiness, and capability every day. By every measure, Madam Speaker, the Budget Control Act has failed. Since its passage in 2011, the national debt has grown by nearly $4 trillion. Five years ago, the CBO estimated that the U.S. debt would reach 80 percent of GDP by 2029. Today, Madam Speaker, the CBO projects that will happen by 2022. The Budget Control Act has failed to do what it intended to do. Madam Speaker, we have got to acknowledge something else. The Budget Control Act created the concept on which our current budget negotiations are stalled. The idea, espoused especially by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, that we must have ``parity''--for every dollar we increase defense spending, they demand a dollar increase in domestic spending--is lunacy, Madam Speaker. We are the people's elected Representatives with the responsibility for stewardship over taxpayer dollars. We are responsible for appropriating funds for the Nation. Those funds should be appropriated based upon our determination of the needs and priorities, not based upon some arbitrary concept of parity. The dysfunction in this budget process is now so great, Madam Speaker, that, because of the BCA, we are in the process of actually spending more on programs we don't need. It is time to fully repeal the BCA. Madam Speaker, my colleague on the Rules Committee, Mr. McGovern, will no doubt shortly point out that Republicans control the House and the Senate and the White House. He is right, of course. But Mr. McGovern also knows that it takes 60 votes to pass anything in the Senate, which gives the Democrats and their leader, Chuck Schumer, power far beyond what they would otherwise enjoy to block action. Mr. Speaker, as you know, we have passed all 12 appropriations bills through this body, including this Defense Appropriations bill, only to have these bills languish in the Senate. Mr. Speaker, the defense of this Nation must no longer be held hostage to the rules of the United States Senate. If 60 United States Senators cannot be found to do what is right and fund our military, then, Mr. Speaker, that body has a constitutional obligation to change its rules and stop allowing a small minority to hold our military hostage for political reasons. The threat is real and the situation is dire, Mr. Speaker. Today, we have the smallest Army since before World War II, the smallest Navy since before World War I, and the smallest and oldest Air Force we have ever had. Only 5 of 58 brigade combat teams in the Army are ``ready to fight tonight.'' Funding for future readiness against competitors like Russia and China has been cut by over 70 percent in the last 10 years. As North Korea's missile program advances, the U.S. inventory of missile defense interceptors is dangerously low. Less than half of the Navy's aircraft can fly, due to maintenance and spare parts issues. Only 50 percent of the Air Force's combat forces are sufficiently ready for a highly contested fight against a peer adversary. Mr. Speaker, we are running out of bombs. Our supply of precision munitions has been depleted by budget cuts and increased operations. Fatal accidents are increasing. This is all happening, Mr. Speaker, as the global threat environment is more complex, more imminent, and more grave than at any time since World War II. Every day we fail to do our duty in this body, the risk to our troops increases, and it becomes easier for our adversaries to close the capabilities gap. Surely, Mr. Speaker, on this issue we can set politics aside and do what is right for our Republic, for our freedom, and for every man and woman standing watch on the front lines for all of us. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I urge support of this rule and the underlying bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate, as always, the candor of my colleague, Mr. McGovern. But, I have to say, I am having a hard time understanding why it is, when he is so clearly knowledgeable about the damage that CRs do to the military, we are, today, presenting an opportunity for this entire House to stop that process for this entire House to provide the kind of reliable, secure, sufficient funding that our troops need; yet, I would imagine, many colleagues on the other side of the aisle are going to vote ``no'' on that. I think it is important, though, to recognize some facts, Mr. Speaker: The first of those is, for all the talk about a budget agreement, it was the leadership on the other side of the aisle that refused to go to a meeting at the White House a couple of months ago and pulled out completely of the talks last year. It was also, with all due respect, Mr. Speaker, the leadership on the other side of the aisle, the Democrat leadership, that shut the government down 2 weeks ago. So it is awfully hard, I am sure, to be able to convince constituents back home that they really want to get this job done and get things moving when they continue to stop the process, to gum up the works, and even to shut down the government. Mr. Speaker, I know that every Member of this body cares deeply about the U.S. troops. And I know that every Member of this body wants what is right for this Nation. But there is a big difference between having the luxury of talking about support for the troops and actually voting for the funds they need to do their job. Talk does not buy equipment; talk does not get our planes back in the air; talk does not provide pay raises for our troops; talk does not provide the kind of protection our servicemen and -women need, the equipment that they need, to do their job; talk does not roll back Russia, or China, or Iran, or North Korea. For that, the Pentagon needs money. The only way that our military will get money is if we appropriate: if we break the cycle of continuing resolutions and pass this appropriations bill. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Byrne), my dear friend and colleague from the Rules Committee.

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Alabama.

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, we have seen now on display in this debate exactly the problem and, frankly, it is despicable, Mr. Speaker. We are in a situation where our colleagues on the other side of the aisle are holding hostage funding for our troops over the issue of illegal immigration. There is no other way to describe it. There is no other way to--I can't put it into words. The people who are watching, I am sure, have seen it on the floor right now. If my colleagues feel so strongly about support for the troops, there is a very easy answer. And that answer is to vote for this bill, to vote to support this appropriation, not to try to divert attention, not to try to talk about other issues, not to try to talk about the extent to which we haven't reached a deal. We have got a bill and we are putting it on the floor. It funds the troops. It ends the damage that has been done by the continuing resolutions. They ought to vote for it, we ought to pass it, and then our colleagues in the Senate should do the same. They cannot, at the same time, say that they support our troops, that they support resources for the troops, and then go through all of these contortions trying to explain why it is they are going to vote ``no'' on this issue. I would also just say, Mr. Speaker, the fact that the United States Senate right now is either incapable or unable of doing its constitutional duty does not absolve us in this House of the obligation to do ours, and that is to provide funding and resources for the U.S. military. It is absolutely a broken system. We are in a situation where I would ask my colleagues to think, as they are arguing on this floor, debating on this floor today, about the parents of men and women who are deployed, to think about what this debate must sound like to them, to think about trying to explain to them why it is when we have a bill that provides the funding the military needs, our colleagues on the other side of the aisle are going to vote ``no'' because of some budget process, some budget procedure, because of negotiations over DACA, because of any other reason under the sun they can imagine. Vote ``yes'' on this bill, vote ``yes'' for this rule, and then we can go on and deal with these other issues. But, Mr. Speaker, none of those other issues will matter. If we fail to do what is right for the military, none of those other issues will matter. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I think that if my colleague on the other side of the aisle spent more time focused on doing his job and less time on telling us to do ours, we would be in a lot better shape. I think the American people deserve to know what is going on in these budget negotiations. What is going on in these budget negotiations, Mr. Speaker, is that the leadership on the other side of the aisle continues to move the goalpost. They enjoy this political fight, this political dance. They enjoy the sense that they can hold us hostage, they can hold the troops hostage. They seem to not have any concern at all about the fact that we are now 30 percent of the way through the fiscal year and our troops have not been funded. So behind closed doors, what is going on is moving the goalpost; it is Lucy and the football. They want to continue playing these games. So I would suggest that my colleague on the other side of the aisle ought to turn his focus and attention on his own leadership and ask them to do their job. In the meantime, Mr. Speaker, we are in a position where we are today considering a bill that will fund the military. I applaud my colleague's efforts to try again and again and again to make the case that he believes in funding the military, he believes we ought to have a full year appropriation, he believes we have got to get out from under the CR, and, therefore, he is going to vote ``no'' on this bill. It takes, really, focus and attention and talent to be able to do that, so I applaud that effort, but the reality is the reality, Mr. Speaker. We are in a position today where we have the opportunity to vote to fund the troops, and we ought to do that. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, some things are complicated, but this one isn't. Our colleagues, if they are so concerned about the national security of this Nation, there is a very easy thing for them to do, and that is to vote for this Defense Appropriations bill. It is really important for us, as we are having this debate, to remember the facts; and the facts of the budget negotiations are that it was the Democrat leadership that walked away from the table and stalled the negotiations. It was the Democrat leadership, Mr. Speaker, that shut down the government. So the Republicans, right now, understanding and recognizing how crucial it is for us to get the Defense Department out from under these damaging continuing resolutions, to provide them with sufficient, secure funding, reliable funding, we are moving a clean Defense Appropriations bill. Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle can yell all they want about having us do our job, and, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that. Our job, our most important job, our job that is crucial and sacred above all others, is to provide funding and resources for the military of this Nation. That is what this bill does. That is why we are, today, presented with an opportunity to do the right thing. With this bill, with a vote in support of this rule, and a vote in support of the underlying bill, we can begin to reverse the damage of the last 7 years. It is time, Mr. Speaker, to stop with these political games. It is time to stop moving the goalposts. It is time to stop holding defense spending hostage to illegal immigration issues, holding defense spending hostage to increased domestic spending. It is time to stop. Our troops are on the front lines fighting and dying for us, and our actions in this body are putting them at greater risk. It is not, Mr. Speaker, as though we can sit here and fail to act, and we are just delaying. Our failure to act is putting our men and women in uniform at greater risk. Our failure to act is aiding our adversaries. I would urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, frankly, to look in the mirror and to recognize that they are the ones right now who hold the key, as do the Members of the United States Senate, to making sure that we get these resources to our men and women in uniform. I would say, once again, Mr. Speaker, if we fail to do this, if we fail to do our constitutional duty, nothing else we do matters. There are no other individuals in this Nation who are charged the way we are with providing for the common defense, and it is an individual duty and obligation of every single one of us. Mr. Speaker, I would like to call to mind the words spoken by Ronald Reagan 35 years ago. As we engage in the political theater that my colleague on the other side of the aisle mentioned in this House, it needs to stop, and we need to remember what is important. Ronald Reagan said: ``It is up to us in our time to choose, and choose wisely, between the hard but necessary task of preserving peace and freedom, and the temptation to ignore our duty and blindly hope for the best while the enemies of freedom grow stronger day by day.'' Mr. Speaker, it is truly up to us. It is an individual obligation on each Member of this body. Therefore, I urge adoption of both the rule and the Senate amendments to H.R. 695.

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

Ms. CHENEY

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to extend my congratulations to Ron and Kathleen McPhee on being selected as the Outstanding Volunteers of the Year by the Colorado-Wyoming chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. This outstanding accomplishment is a sign of their commitment to our community and to our great state. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society is a nation-wide non-profit with the goal of creating a world free of MS and providing resources for those suffering from it and their families. Ron and Kathleen have been supporting and participating in the organization as the Johnson County ambassadors for three years, inspired by their daughter, who has been fighting MS for 20 years. They have become particularly involved in the Bike MS Bighorn County Classic, where they recruit volunteers and serve lunch to participants. I thank them for their dedication and many contributions to the organization and to helping the many people suffering from MS across Wyoming and the country. Again, Mr. Speaker, I would like to extend my congratulations to Ron and Kathleen McPhee. They deserve to be extremely proud of this accomplishment.

Ms. CHENEY

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to extend my congratulations to Linda Weppner for receiving the Women's Leadership Award from the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce. Every year, the Cheyenne Women's Entrepreneur Roundtable recognizes a woman who exhibits outstanding leadership in their professions and service to others with the Women's Leadership Award. It recognizes those who go above and beyond for their businesses and for their community. Linda has made an excellent example for her family, friends, and residents across the state through her hard work, tenacity, and passion for her work and community. As the broker/owner of Century 21 Bell Real Estate, Linda enjoys helping people turn their dreams of owning a home into a reality. Her leadership and service to others is apparent through her involvement in real estate education, instructing aspiring realtors, and participating on multiple boards and organizations. She served as the president of the Cheyenne Board of Realtors and the Cheyenne Multiple Listing Service, and is currently a member of the board for the Wyoming Association of Realtors, the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce, and the Women's Civic League of Cheyenne, to name a few. Linda is committed to supporting her community in all aspects of her life and I thank her for her dedication and significant contributions. Again, Mr. Speaker, I would like to extend my congratulations to the 2017 recipient of the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce's Women's Leadership Award, Linda Weppner. She and her family deserve to be extremely proud of this accomplishment.

Ms. CHENEY

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I understand why our colleagues on the other side of the aisle are having a hard time keeping track of their arguments. We watched yesterday the distinguished minority whip stand up and say that we ought to do our work, and then move to adjourn. Mr. Speaker, we watched today, repeatedly, while our colleagues on the other side of the aisle claim that they believe in providing funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program, yet they voted against it. We have watched repeatedly, Mr. Speaker, our colleagues on the other side of the aisle go down the list of all of the damage that is being done by this shutdown, but they won't end the shutdown. We agree, the shutdown is absolutely unconscionable in these circumstances. Every time, Mr. Speaker, a Member on the other side of the aisle--who failed to vote for all 12 of those appropriations bills that we put on the floor and we passed through this House--stands up and talks about us doing our job needs to look in the mirror, Mr. Speaker, because we have done our job. In particular, Mr. Speaker, when it comes to the defense of this Nation, we have no higher obligation or sacred duty or responsibility in this House than to provide funding for our men and women in uniform. With all due respect, Mr. Speaker, when I hear my colleagues on the other side of the aisle say things like, ``Our military will be just fine under this shutdown,'' I would remind them that we have young men and women in uniform on the front lines right now, who are putting their lives on the line for all of us, and they are not getting paid because Chuck Schumer and the Democrats in the Senate are refusing to be in a position where they will let this government reopen. Now, I am sure that our colleagues don't want us to remember and remind the American people what they have done or what their leaders have said, but we will do it every single time until this absolutely unconscionable, complete dereliction of our duty stops. End this shutdown and fund our troops.

Ms. CHENEY

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 694 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. General Leave

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution 694, which provides a closed rule for consideration of H.R. 4712, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. This important bill ensures medical care and legal protection for abortion survivors, protects their mothers from prosecution, and holds abortion providers accountable. Mr. Speaker, this bill is not duplicative as some have suggested. It simply augments current law: the Born-Alive Infants Act and the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act, which the House passed in 2002 and 2003, respectively, with very strong bipartisan support. Current law includes, in the Federal definition of a person, infants who are born alive no matter the method of birth or the stage of their development. Current law, Mr. Speaker, also provides criminal penalties for physicians who provide partial-birth abortions. What current law does not provide, however, is enforceable protection for those children who are born alive after a failed abortion attempt and denied care, nor does it provide criminal penalties, Mr. Speaker, for those who perform or knowingly ignore these actions. Mr. Speaker, there are horrific stories of children born alive during abortions and are either gruesomely left for dead or deliberately killed once born. Even more, the abortion industry is fully aware of the risk of a child being born alive during an abortion, especially if the abortion occurs once the child is gestationally 18 to 20 weeks old or more, the age at which we know a child is able to survive if given the proper neonatal care. Take the story, Mr. Speaker, of Gianna Jessen, an abortion survivor who testified before the House Judiciary Committee in 2015. She said: ``Instead of dying, after 18 hours of being burned in my mother's womb, I was delivered alive in an abortion clinic in Los Angeles on April 6, 1977. My medical records state: `Born alive during saline abortion' at 6 a.m. ``Thankfully, the abortionist was not at work yet. Had he been there, he would have ended my life with strangulation, suffocation, or leaving me there to die. Instead, a nurse called an ambulance, and I was rushed to a hospital. Doctors did not expect me to live. ``I did. I was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy, which was caused by a lack of oxygen to my brain while I was surviving the abortion. I was never supposed to hold my head up or walk. I do.'' She concluded: ``If abortion is about women's rights, then what were mine?'' Some abortion providers, Mr. Speaker, are unwilling to respect the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, such as Priscilla Smith, who testified at a House Judiciary Committee hearing in 2015, saying that she didn't believe it would be a violation of the previous Born-Alive Infants Protection Act if a baby were killed outside the womb as long as the baby wasn't ``viable.'' Ms. Smith went on to assert some fetuses are never viable. She made these claims notwithstanding the fact, Mr. Speaker, that viability is not a factor, even under existing law, in determining whether an infant deserves protection under the law. The law protects infants born alive at any stage of development; and, therefore these abortion survivors are entitled to the same degree of care that would be received by any other babies of their age. The bill we are debating today, Mr. Speaker, would impose enforceable criminal penalties for clinics that do not treat survivors with proper medical care. There is, sadly, evidence that clinics fail to provide this care. Deborah Edge, a former abortion clinic employee, wrote an op-ed about her experience. She said: ``I was the doctor's right-hand person in the operating room, and just like those employees of Dr. Gosnell''--who we know was one of the most horrific abortionists to date, guilty of first degree murder in the cases of at least three babies--``I saw the abortionist puncture the soft spot in the baby's head or snip its neck if it was delivered alive.'' The abortion providers, Mr. Speaker, who neglect to provide appropriate professional care to these babies, or worse, who kill them once they are born, must be held accountable. Finally, I believe it is very important to note, to counter some of the things you will hear from the other side of the aisle, that this bill provides crucial protections for women. This bill protects women who seek abortions by prohibiting them from being prosecuted under the law. H.R. 4712 also empowers women. It allows them to sue abortionists who don't provide protection for aborted babies who are born alive. This is very important, Mr. Speaker. Take the case of a woman named Angela who went to a clinic in Orlando, Florida, when she was 23 weeks pregnant. Angela received pills to begin contractions to induce an abortion. After an hour of labor, Mr. Speaker, Angela delivered her baby, alive, into a toilet. Angela had her friend call 911 to request help to save her baby, but when the paramedics arrived on the scene, clinic staff reportedly turned them away. The fire department's incident report said they had no contact with the patient. After the death of her son, Rowan, Angela wrote the following: ``The very moment I saw my son was alive, nothing else in the whole world mattered but Rowan's safety . . . Only one thing mattered to me: getting Rowan help. I begged repeatedly.'' Tragically, the abortion clinic not only refused but also, apparently, sabotaged Angela's call for help. The bill that we are debating today, Mr. Speaker, would give women like Angela the ability to sue abortionists who do not comply with the law's requirements to give medical attention to children born alive like baby Rowan. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I urge support for this rule to allow consideration of H.R. 4712, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I compliment my colleague on the other side of the aisle, Mr. McGovern. We have the opportunity, Mr. Speaker, to spend a number of hours together up in the Rules Committee. It is always great to manage debates with Mr. McGovern on the other side of the aisle because you are left with, number one, no doubt about where he stands. But number two, a target-rich environment as well, Mr. Speaker. I would just say a couple of things. First of all, casting aspersions on this bill when my colleagues say this bill is nothing more than a political stunt or a political sound bite or a partisan talking point, I can't imagine, Mr. Speaker, that they really believe that describing legislation--they may disagree with the legislation--but for us to have to be on the floor of this body talking about babies who are born alive and who are killed at the hands of abortionists is far more than a political sound bite. I think Mr. McGovern, my colleague, was saying that we ought to be ashamed of ourselves. I would just say, Mr. Speaker, that is rhetoric that we don't need and rhetoric that is absolutely inaccurate in terms of describing the important efforts that we have underway here. I also would hope, Mr. Speaker, that our colleagues in the other body, in particular, the Democrats in the other body--Mr. Schumer and the others over there--were watching Mr. McGovern just now. If the issue really is, Let's get to work and let's get a deal done, that deal is in their hands. Mr. McGovern well knows that you have got to get 60 votes in the United States Senate to get a deal. We are in the position today where, of the long list of items Mr. McGovern mentioned, I would say he failed to mention the single most important obligation we have, which is to ensure that we get resources to our military. The reality of the situation we are facing today, at a moment when our Nation faces grave threats, at a moment where we are having servicemen and -women killed in training accidents--more killed in training accidents in the last year than were killed in combat in the last year--we in this body have failed to do our duty. The reality of this, for people to understand, is that the Democrats in the United States Senate are holding funding for defense hostage because they want amnesty for illegal immigrants. That, Mr. Speaker, is something that I think is absolutely indefensible. So I hope that Mr. McGovern's colleagues in the Senate were watching him, were listening to the concern he has about the sense of urgency with moving forward. Frankly, Mr. Speaker, we could have a deal today, if the Democrats would stop holding spending hostage, stop holding the resources our military needs hostage in order to grant amnesty for illegal immigrants. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn), my friend and colleague and the sponsor of this bill.

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Tennessee.

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), one of the strongest, most honorable and admirable defenders of life in this body, my friend.

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from New Jersey.

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Newhouse), my colleague on the Rules Committee.

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I understand why my colleague on the other side of the aisle doesn't want the President to be traveling to Pennsylvania. He doesn't want him to be traveling, I am sure, to any battleground States. It didn't work out very well for his party in 2016, when the President, very effectively, did just that all over the country. I would also say that it is brave for my colleague to read a tweet of the President here on the House floor. I think the last time that the two of us were here together, we discussed the fact that it was a tweet from the President that scared his leadership away from a crucial meeting at the White House to negotiate the budget cap deal, to negotiate exactly the deal that he is now so anxious to get done. I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, that work is underway. I can assure you that we could have a deal right now today if--and I will repeat it once again. I know my colleague is going to say that the Republicans control the Senate. But he knows, and I know, Mr. Speaker, that the rules of the Senate require 60 votes to get something done. That means today that if Chuck Schumer and the Democrats in the Senate are unwilling to agree to the cap deal, they are unwilling to provide the resources that we need to fund the military, the resources to make sure our men and women in uniform can defend the Nation, because they are holding out, and they are holding that hostage over amnesty. We could get it done today if they would be willing simply to come to the table and compromise and stop holding our troops hostage. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Mooney).

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, if my colleague from Massachusetts is so concerned about the government shutdown, about children's health, about providing relief for healthcare, then I assume that he will be voting ``yes'' for the CR that comes to the floor later today, which, in fact, does extend CHIP, which, in fact, does help to provide relief from the terrible medical device tax, and which will keep the government open. I think that, if he wants to make sure that his objectives are met, there is a simple solution to do that. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Lamborn).

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa).

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. King).

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Johnson).