Virginia Foxx

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, my heart is heavy for the family and friends of Watauga County Sheriff's Deputy William Mast, Jr., who gave his life in the line of duty on July 26. In his 23 short years, Deputy Mast made an imprint on the communities he served and called home. He was a graduate of Watauga High School and a member of Bibleway Baptist Church. He cherished the North Carolina way of life--hunting, fishing, off-roading, and riding horses in our beautiful country. The thoughts and prayers of thousands remain with his beloved wife, Paige, their unborn child, William, his parents, Angela Wall and William Mast, Sr., his extended family, and the entire Watauga County Sheriff's Office. May each be comforted and find peace in the midst of this tragedy. And may we be faithful to remember that the safety we experience in our communities is maintained, in part, because people like Deputy Mast volunteer to place themselves in harm's way for our protection. For that caliber of service and sacrifice, we are grateful.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. The President's policies have failed and are making the economy worse. Since President Obama took office, we've seen a 52 percent increase in completed regulations deemed ``economically significant,'' which means they cost the economy at least $100 million a year. We can't create a fair system for job creators when the government keeps changing the rules. We can't help the job seeker by punishing the job creator with more government red tape. How can someone who believes that small business owners didn't even build their own businesses understand the effects of red tape? He can't. That is why House Republicans passed the Red Tape Reduction and Small Business Job Creation Act--a combination of pro-growth bills aimed at cutting red tape to make it easier for small businesses to create more jobs. In order to grow more jobs for the American people, we need to shrink the amount of red tape coming from Washington.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3803, the D.C. Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. I fear for the conscience of our Nation because the termination of unborn children, for any reason, is tolerated in some parts of our country throughout pregnancy--even though scientific conclusions show infants feel pain by at least 20 weeks gestation. That literally means a baby at the halfway point of a pregnancy will experience pain during the violence of a dismemberment abortion, the most common second-trimester abortion, wherein a steel tool severs limbs from the infant and its skull is crushed. Mr. Speaker, such procedures are horrific, and in terms of pain, like torture to their infant subjects. As a country, we should leave this practice behind. That is why I'm a cosponsor of this legislation to prohibit elective abortions in D.C. past 20 weeks. I urge my colleagues to stand with me for the most vulnerable among us and vote in favor of H.R. 3803.

Ms. FOXX

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

Ms. FOXX. With that, Mr. Speaker, I move to amend the resolution with the amendment I have placed at the desk.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. We're faced here today with trying to correct a couple of very minor errors that have occurred. But my colleague wants us to violate the Constitution by bringing forth a bill from the Senate which the Constitution clearly says is the responsibility of the House, and legislation related to taxes must begin in the House, so I find it a little unsettling that our colleagues have urged us to take up a bill that they know would violate the Constitution. All we're dealing with here are, again, some very minor clerical errors. Mistakes happen. As silly and as embarrassing they are, but adults take responsibility for their mistakes, and that's what we're doing here. At the end of the day, we'll still pass a bill to cut down on a bloated bureaucracy and to allow small businesses to flourish. Amendment Offered by Ms. Foxx

Ms. FOXX. I will continue to reserve, Mr. Speaker, the balance of my time.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I would like to inquire of my colleague if he believes that his side, in keeping with the theme of Shakespeare, has extracted their pound of flesh this morning? If so, we are ready to close.

Ms. FOXX. That does not exist, Mr. Speaker.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I just have to point out to my colleague across the aisle that he has added a whole act to this comedy of errors, a whole act. I know that my colleague in his orientation must have learned the difference between bills and resolutions. Even though our staff attempted to help him and his staff understand this and save an embarrassment, we are not dealing with a House bill; we're dealing with House Resolution 783, which my colleague said does not exist. It is a resolution, House resolution. That is different, Mr. Speaker, from a House bill, which is an H.R., has an H.R. number. So, unfortunately, again my colleague has compounded the situation. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take my colleague's offer--I hope he will fulfill his comment that they won't object to our getting this matter straight and moving on this morning so that we can get to the other business of the House. And with that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker----

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I think by having the Reading Clerk read this, we can see, as I said before, that, unfortunately, it appears that the mistakes have gone over to the other side of the aisle. As the gentleman would see, he was quoting the wrong resolution. We are dealing with changes to House Resolution 783.

Ms. FOXX. I believe, again, that the gentleman is referencing the wrong bill. We are dealing with House Resolution 741 at this point, and I believe the gentleman is on the wrong bill.

Ms. FOXX. I believe that the Murphy's law that was operating on our side of the aisle has skipped over, and the gentleman is referencing the wrong bill.

Ms. FOXX. To quote Rules Committee Chairman Dreier, ``We are here playing out the 21st century version of the great Shakespearean play `Much Ado About Nothing.''' House Resolution 741 provides for the adoption of the amendment referred to in the resolution which would correct the technical error in H.R. 4078, the Red Tape Reduction and Small Business Job Creation Act. It's very unfortunate that I must present this rule to the House today. The reason we are here is due to a typographical error. This innocent mistake could have been quickly and easily corrected through a unanimous consent agreement, but, tragically, the Democrat minority could not resist this opportunity to attempt to score political points. Not a day goes by that I don't hear from constituents disheartened by the rigid partisanship emanating from Washington, D.C. This week, we had an opportunity to demonstrate the kind of cooperation the American people are craving without in any way compromising our principles. It's a shame that the Democrats missed this opportunity, choosing, instead, to force this exercise in futility, tying up this House unnecessarily. There's not much more that needs to be said on this issue at this point, Mr. Speaker, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. FOXX. I will reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. FOXX. For the purpose of debate only, Mr. Speaker, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Polis), 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. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my unanimous consent request.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, we are all human beings. How ironic it is that our colleagues were here just a few minutes ago on the floor discussing the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado. That was as great an example of what great human beings and how bipartisan we can be in this Chamber. It's as great a bipartisan effort as I've seen in a long time. We know what to do as caring human beings, what to say in such situations. It's such a great example of how this body can operate. That group was given 40 minutes to talk about a great tragedy. Now we're engaging in a gotcha situation over an insignificant issue for which we take the responsibility. I'm frankly embarrassed that the tenor of the conversation is going in this direction after the wonderful bipartisan effort we just saw on this floor. A mistake was made, and then in attempting to correct the mistake, an extraordinarily minor other mistake was made. I would appeal to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to say: We are human beings. We know how to forgive mistakes. Neither of these mistakes was made by a Member. We're quite willing to overlook mistakes like this in the past. I think in the spirit of comity, in the spirit that was established on this floor this morning, we should move on, get to the work that the American people sent us here for, and understand, as was quoted this morning by one of our colleagues, ``our time is very precious.'' Don't waste it by playing gotcha games. Think about what we discussed earlier. Mr. Polis and I will debate this rule, and we'll do it in a spirit of comity. That's the way I think we should be operating. Yes, we made a mistake. Yes, a second mistake was made. We acknowledge that. We accept it. Now we'd like to get on to the people's work.

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

Ms. FOXX. Then in preparing the correction for that, inadvertently two numbers were reversed in the number for the resolution. I don't have a Latin quote from Murphy's law, but I would say that it appears as though, in the attempt to make one correction, unfortunately, another mistake was made. It was purely clerical errors, no nefarious intent. We would like to move on in as expeditious a fashion as we possibly can because we know we and our colleagues are looking forward to a weekend of work at home, and we would like to move along and get this accomplished so we can get to the important work, the underlying bill.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, if I might respond to the gentleman from Massachusetts, I appreciate his asking the question because it gives us an opportunity to do a mea culpa. That's my ability to quote Latin this morning in response to the gentleman from Massachusetts. Yes, there was a very minor error in the rule that was passed the day before yesterday, which was that two letters--the letter ``U'' and the letter ``N''--were left off of one word.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be amended by the amendment I have placed at the desk.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 741 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 9 a.m. tomorrow.