Steny Hoyer

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Chair, I think we all understand that the Chair of the FTC is a controversial figure. I get that. To draw a piece of legislation this broadly, I think, misserves the role that the Congress established the Commission to pursue. We can certainly step in when there are abuses. This says any rule-- good rule, bad rule, no rule. None of the funds to implement, administer, or enforce any rule, not the rule that is necessarily under consideration that we have been discussing, but any rule. I think that is bad policy, and I think, as I have said, it is dangerous to the American worker and the American purchaser of goods. I think that we ought to hone in on the particular and not paint with such a broad brush that will cause harm to the ability of the agency to do what we set it up to do. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Chair, I thank my friend for yielding, and I thank the chairman for his comments. I understand what the gentleman, Mr. Gaetz, is saying. His ire is directed at people. The people will be transitory. People come and go. Members come and go from the Congress of the United States. What will not be transitory is the ability to have a critically important agency for us in the long-term to carry out its duty, which is, after all, to defend America, our Constitution, from enemies both foreign and domestic, and their duties have been changed to a significant degree since 9/11. What this structure that is proposed to be built is supposed to do is to accommodate the fact that the present building is falling down and is dangerous to those who work there, some of whom are clerical people not making any decisions with respect to policy. I would think the gentleman would be concerned about their safety, as am I, and as is the chairman, and the safety of those, frankly, who walk around the building. If the gentleman visited there, he is going to see netting around the building because the concrete is falling off the building. I would share, obviously, the chairman's view. I am not totally objective. They are going to build it somewhere in this region. I live in this region. I am supportive of this region. I think we shouldn't transfer ire against the people who are in positions in the FBI at this point in time. This building, when and if it is built, is going to be built sometime in the future and is absolutely essential. FBI Directors preceding the present FBI Director a number of times have said this is needed. Experts have said it is needed. The GSA says it is needed. I would hope that we would not, because of the temporary displeasure or ire or anger or stronger feeling, if you want to express it, of the present occupants or the actions they are taking, would not adversely reflect on the judgment as to whether or not a new capital facility for a critically important agency is necessary at this time. I would hope the gentleman would withdraw his amendment. I don't expect that to happen. If he doesn't withdraw it, I hope it is defeated.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Chair, I don't want any misinterpretation that I adopted the gentleman's premise as to the activities of the FBI. I disagree with that.

Mr. HOYER. Thank God for that. Let me say that in the concept of what we are doing, this is necessary, forgetting about any of the other issues. I understand what he is saying. I disagree with him, but I appreciate his position and why he is saying it. To be so, in my opinion, shortsighted that we delay further--this building has been delayed. The first request for new facilities was 2009, so we are now talking a decade-and-a-half essentially. That was my point, but I don't want to be confused that I adopt his premise on the FBI activities.

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman for yielding. This is America's subway. This is America's Metro. Millions of people from throughout this country come here and enjoy Metro's convenience while seeing the Federal Government, seeing their National Capital, and visiting all of us. That is why this is important to Congress, because it is America's subway. That is why, very frankly, Bill Lehman, many years ago, referred to it as America's subway and why the Federal Government would invest in its operations. I rise in strong opposition to this amendment. Obviously, a lot of people from my district ride Metro and come to work for the Federal Government, and thousands of Federal employees rely on it to get to their work serving the American people. Metro is especially crucial now when many of the Federal workers are returning to the office after the pandemic, which I heard in the Rules Committee we want them to do. I agree with that. Indeed, in just the last 2 months, Federal employee ridership has reached its highest point since the pandemic began. This is not just a local subway. This is the subway that all of our constituents use when they come to our city, the city of our Nation. We depend on Metro and Metro depends on us. That is why Congress pledged to invest $150 million in Metro capital improvements through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and why over the years we have invested in Metro's operations and well-being. We need to honor that historic commitment. This amendment would break that promise. This money is--I am sure one of my colleagues or maybe all of my colleagues have told--matched many times over, as you would expect, by the local governments, all the local governments, and Washington D.C., as I am sure its Representative, who does such an extraordinary job, Eleanor Holmes Norton, pointed out. I understand the author of this amendment wants to cut spending in many, many places. This is one that he has chosen, but I think it is a bad choice. I think that every Republican and every Democrat who invites his constituents or her constituents to come to Washington, who invites their employees to be here on time and for many hours of the day and night, to consider strongly opposing this amendment with an overwhelming vote, a bipartisan vote, because Metro has been a bipartisan effort. I have worked on Metro since I came here with Frank Wolf. Frank Wolf was a Republican from Virginia. We were essentially joined at the hip in fighting for Metro, not as a Republican Metro or Democratic Metro, but for the Nation's Metro. Reject this amendment. Keep our word and our investment in the subway that serves all of our citizens.

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. I will be quick, but hopefully pointed. If the Republicans had not put a poison pill on this bill, it would pass on suspension with over 400 votes, but they did not do that. Mr. Speaker, we must provide Israel with the resources it needs to protect itself and the Israelis, a mission that I absolutely support, and we must do it now. However, I rise in strong opposition to this legislation, the dangerous precedent it sets, and the unsettling message it sends. At any point, the majority could and should have put a bill on the floor providing crucial aid to Israel and Ukraine. The Israel bill alone would get over 400 votes, and support for Ukraine has consistently gotten 300 votes. The new Speaker chose neither. Instead, he has constructed a political gotcha bill. The majority tries to score political points at the expense of Jewish lives and the competence of both our allies and enemies in our resolve and reliability. They undermine the critical aid for Israel with their misguided attacks on the IRS, delaying this vital funding for our ally while adding $12.5 billion to the deficit. That is the exact opposite of what the offset claims to be its objective. How ironic. How perverse. The only thing this bill offsets is America's reputation and the world's greatest defender of democracy. It signals to Putin, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong-un, and other despotic regimes around the world that America may no longer be willing to pay the price of freedom. Such doubt is dangerous. It signals to our allies that our support is contingent, not on our shared values, but on partisan issues unrelated to this bill. Vote ``no'' for Israel, and for precedent.

Mr. HOYER. Will the gentleman yield for a colloquy?

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Scalise and I have been partners in being very, very strong supporters of Israel and making sure Israel has the funds it needs to be successful, sovereign, secure, and safe. We remain in that position. The reason I asked the gentleman to yield is I don't know what is going to happen to this legislation. I do know that the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee has said this legislation we are considering is dead upon arrival in the Senate. I don't know whether that is the case. I am no longer the leader, but I will tell my friend, the leader of the Republican Party, that if you would bring a bill to the floor tomorrow that has this $14.3 billion--I would like it to have Ukraine, but if it doesn't have Ukraine in it, I would like it to have humanitarian relief, but if it doesn't have humanitarian relief--I believe it would pass on suspension overwhelmingly with votes from your side and votes from this side. I would ask the gentleman to consider that alternative.

Mr. HOYER. Will the gentleman yield for a colloquy?

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman is very generous. The irony, as I pointed out, Mr. Speaker, is that in the pay-for that they have used, CBO scores that as a $12.5 billion increase in the debt, not a decrease. The reason for that is, it cuts $28 billion, essentially, that we would otherwise collect and that we spend $14 billion of that, so there is a net $12 billion plus remaining to add to the deficit. I understand and I agree with the gentleman that the debt is important. We need to deal with it. I agree with his observation that our defense officials see that as a clear and present danger to our country. We need to deal with it. I suggest respectfully to the gentleman that the offset does not accomplish that objective.

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. For millennia, the Jews of the world have been subject all over the world to prejudice, hate, and violence. Mr. Speaker, I have visited the Kfar Aza kibbutz over four times in the last 25 years. It was a place of community. On October 7, Hamas turned it into a place of slaughter. This brutal terrorist organization will pursue its genocidal, anti- Semitic mission to fight and kill Jews. That is their purpose. The Jewish State of Israel will cease to exist if their objectives are achieved. Hamas will not yield, and neither can we. As the resolution makes clear, we will stand by our ally Israel; have their back, Mr. Chairman. Dozens of American civilians have been killed, wounded, and held captive in this war. We have also seen the scourge of anti-Semitism here in America.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, we must follow this resolution with action. We must all vote for this resolution and speak with one voice; action that shows the world that America will defend its allies in Israel, in Ukraine, and around the world.

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Chair, the chairman has indicated he supports this en bloc amendment, and I support that, as well. I do not support the bill. I want to speak on the bill, and I rise today to speak against the majority's inability or unwillingness to govern--take your pick. Republicans have had 9 months to pass all their spending bills. They passed one. Now they are struggling to pass the rest 96 hours before the government shuts down. It is the theater of the absurd. They did not merely sit on their hands, they actively slowed down this process with manufactured debt- limit crises, an illegitimate impeachment inquiry, and the meaningless messaging bills that will never become law. Wasting our time with these pointless proposals is not just inept, irresponsible, and idiotic, it is dangerous. It is costly. It is unwarranted. This bill is supposed to be about Homeland Security. We can have a legitimate debate about that. Instead, however, this bill, this entire process makes our Nation less secure and for what? A laundry list of far-right poison pills that prevent Congress from addressing the challenges at hand. How much time is spent on these pointless, negative, and unacceptable provisions of these bills, other than what these bills actually are supposed to do? Do we want to pad the ego of some extreme rightwing Members or pay the border agents and servicemembers who protect America? Do we indulge in petulant tantrums or uphold our oath of office? Do we want to help the partisan fringe secure a segment on Newsmax or keep our government functioning for the people? A shutdown isn't a cudgel to score political points. It is a consequence of failed governance that should be avoided at all costs. Republicans, the majority of whom do not want this path to be followed, should say no.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Chair, I believe the majority of the Republicans don't want to go down this path, but I say to the majority of Republicans: Shut them up. Let's work in a bipartisan manner. We will have an overwhelming vote as we did with the debt limit. Over 300 of us voted to do the rational, necessary thing. We could do that again. How sad that we are not doing it. Republicans ought to have learned by now after shutting down the Federal Government for 81 days since 1995, costing the American people billions of dollars and the confidence of the American people and our allies abroad. I fear they are about to add to that shameful tally.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Chair, I urge Republicans to work with us to pass a clean continuing resolution just as Mitch McConnell and 26 Republicans did yesterday. Now, they haven't gotten it to us yet. There is one Republican holding it up. Stop holding America hostage. Start holding your members accountable. Govern as if Americans are depending upon us because they are.

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, the American people deserve to know why we are in this position. They need to know that less than 5 percent of the 435 Members of this body have put us in this position. The gentleman from Texas indicated how they did that. They have held the rest of us hostage unless the bill that they want is passed. They are taking hostage the American people. They are taking hostage Federal employees. They have taken hostage the Congress of the United States. What ought to happen is the over 300 of us--147 Republicans and 165 Democrats vote to compromise. I would call all of your attention to a 1998 speech in October by Newt Gingrich, he called it the ``Perfectionist Caucus'' speech. He made a deal with Clinton because Clinton was the President. As Newt Gingrich pointed out, we had a lot of Democrats in the House, a lot of Democrats in the Senate, and a lot of Republicans in the Senate, who he said, by the way, don't always agree with us. The American people expect us to make it work. How do we make it work? We make compromises. The 5 percent that shut down the Congress for a week did it because they didn't like the compromise, and they stomped their feet and they sent us home, which of course cost money because none of us took a salary cut. Nothing got done that week. Yeah, maybe it should be back in July, but it was shut down again just last week when they sent us home because less than 5 percent--in this case, a little more than 1 percent, of the Congress--1 percent of this body had a tantrum. They wouldn't vote for national security. They wouldn't vote for a rule that put a defense appropriation bill on the floor. Their bill, not our bill. Madam Speaker, the American public needs to know why their House is in the chaos of which the gentleman from Texas talked about is occurring at the border. We are going to be here for the next 4 or 5 days, maybe even longer, pretending that somehow we are compromising, and we are moving forward. That is not the case. We have had a small group take the House hostage, the American peoples' House hostage. We can talk about the numbers and disagree on the numbers.

Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I only have 30 seconds left to say some pretty substantive things, and I won't have the time to do it. Madam Speaker, Mr. and Mrs. America ought to know that when I was the majority leader we didn't shut down the government. When I was the majority leader on this side of the House, we passed every bill we wanted to pass because we are not a divided party, as the party that is now in the majority has so clearly demonstrated on a regular basis how divided they are. The Speaker made a deal. Keep the deal. Stop taking hostage the American people and their government.

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, when Vladimir Putin and his autocratic regime launched their brutal criminal invasion of Ukraine in February of last year, many people predicted that the Ukrainians would throw down their arms and surrender within days. Mr. Speaker, 18 months later, however, burnt-out husks of Russian tanks litter the Ukrainian countryside. Blue and gold flags fly proudly over Kyiv, Kherson, Lyman, and other towns held or liberated by Ukrainian forces. Russian soldiers surrender, desert, and dodge conscription in droves. Meanwhile, defenders of democracy stand firm with Ukrainian courage in their hearts and Western weapons in their hands. Ukrainians stand strong because Americans and Brits and Danes and Germans and French and other freedom-loving peoples around the world stand united behind them. That unity is crucial now more than ever as the warmongering dictators of the world--Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un, and Xi Jinping--have all come together. We are locked in a struggle between freedom and fascism, democracy and despotism, might and right. The war in Ukraine is that struggle manifest. President Zelenskyy returns to our Capitol this week, tomorrow, to remind us that the fate not only of this sovereign, democratic nation but of the free world hinges on this conflict. He recognizes that our international cooperation to preserve democracy depends on our cooperation here in the Congress of the United States. Democrats and Republicans have found consensus on the issue in the past, securing vital military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine. We must keep working in a bipartisan fashion to ensure that Ukrainians receive whatever tools and resources they need to succeed on the battlefield because only the great arsenal of democracy, as we said during World War II, can vanquish an axis of evil. I echo what President Truman said to the Congress in 1952 when trying to secure further aid for war-torn Europe. He said this: ``If through inaction we desert the cause of democracy, the democratic hope may be exterminated in broad areas of the Earth.'' We must not let that happen. President Truman called on Congress, as I urge you now, to add powerful momentum to the democratic counteroffensive, which inspires in the people of the world a sense of their own destiny as free men and women. We have built up that momentum steadily over the last year and a half. Imagine how much more it will grow in the months ahead if the free world maintains its resolve, if this Congress maintains its resolve. When President Zelenskyy arrives in our Capitol corridors tomorrow, he should not have to plead for more support. Instead, we ought to show him that we are committed to doing whatever it takes to ensure that action prevails over inaction, that democracy triumphs over autocracy, and that Ukraine emerges victorious over Russia. Like the martyrs who gave their lives on the Lexington Common in 1775 and Kyiv's Maidan in 2014, we will show the world that we will do everything to protect our democratic principles. If we are to defend democracy at home and around the world, if we are to defeat the despots, dictators, and dealers of destruction, then we, Ukraine, and the free world must stand as one. Our words supporting freedom will ring very hollow if not coupled with our actions to defend freedom, as President Kennedy said, ``here and around the world.'' Let us defend the democracy that we hold so dear.

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Mrs. Fletcher).

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Mrs. Trahan).

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Kelly), a member of the Regional Leadership Council.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her contribution to showing how investing in America has made a difference in rural America and made a healthier America. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Washington State (Mr. Kilmer).

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Washington State who has made such a difference in this Congress, making sure that people understand that we have invested in America and their lives are better. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Cardenas).

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for his observations with respect to investing in America, making a healthier America, healthier families, both from a physical health standpoint and a mental health standpoint. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Carter).

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Arizona (Mr. Schweikert) for his courtesy.