Steny Hoyer

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, the leader spoke in a very calm and reasoned way. I will do the same. As an aside, I will tell you the CHIP bill passed on November 3, over a month after its authorization expired. Mr. Speaker, the majority leader talks about coming to compromise. I went down to the White House. Mr. Durbin and I talked about whether we would go to the White House. We went to the White House out of respect for the Presidency, out of a hope that the discussions that we had at the White House would lead to resolution of a serious issue threatening hundreds of thousands, indeed, close to 2 million individuals who know America as their country and who 86 percent of Americans think ought to stay here in America. In that meeting, Mr. Speaker, the President of the United States said--and he said it on television. You don't have to take my word. There is a video record of what the President said. What he said is we would take care of the DACA issue, consistent, Mr. Speaker, with what Speaker Ryan said to that young woman when he said that the revocation of protections for Dreamers brought here as children will not be carried out. There was no parenthetical addition, if we do X, Y, Z, A, B, C, D, W. There was no parenthetical phrase. He said: We will not put you at risk, young woman, and those similarly situated. We have a bipartisan coalition on this floor, but the leader speaks about going into a room--if you want to have a pejorative, a back room, privately--to try to resolve issues not directly related to the DACA protectees. They are here. The President said they ought to stay here. And the President made a representation, Mr. Speaker, that if we passed a bill, he would sign it. But as the Senate considered a compromise piece of legislation, agreed to by Republican Senators and Democratic Senators, just a few hours before it was brought to the floor, the President said he would veto it. That was not what he said on television in the White House. He said that he would take the heat, if heat there is, and sign the bill that we sent down. Now we have a Speaker of the House and a majority leader of the Senate who say we won't send something down to the President unless he agrees to sign it, meaning that the House and Senate will not act independently of the President's imprimatur. How sad a position it is that the people's House and the United States Senate have subjugated themselves to the President of the United States. I presume, Mr. Speaker, that prolonging this discussion apparently will make no difference. But, Mr. Speaker, our side of the aisle represents just short of 50 percent, maybe 48 percent, of the American people. Mr. Speaker, we are saying let us consider. Let us have on this floor--not in a back room, not in somebody's office, not somewhere privately--on the House floor, the people's floor, let us vote. Let the American people see who raises their hand ``aye'' and ``nay'' on propositions that have been worked on in committee, the Goodlatte bill, and for months between Republicans and Democrats, bipartisan bills. Let the people speak through their Representatives. Don't bottle it up in somebody's office. Let the people's House work its will. Have the courage to pursue that which you said you would do and take the tough issues head-on, not duck them. Mr. Speaker, I would hope, on behalf of that 86 percent of the American people who support the Dreamers, and even more who support comprehensive background checks, that we have the ability to consider those bills and consider them next week. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, on Friday I attended the funeral of a hero. Prince George's County lost a dedicated Corporal last Wednesday, who was shot and killed while off duty but still doing his duty. Corporal Mujahid Ramzziddin, a fourteen-year veteran of the force, stepped in to protect a neighbor from an abusive spouse. As Chief Hank Stawinski said: `He saved her life by giving his own.' He is the thirtieth Prince George's County police officer to die in the line of duty. Corporal Ramzziddin's courage is an example of the kind of devotion to duty that our law enforcement officers in Prince George's County and across Maryland and the United States demonstrate each day they serve. At the funeral in Lanham, I joined state and county officials in comforting Corporal Ramzziddin's wife Tammi and his four children as they paid their final tributes to him and laid him to rest according to traditional Muslim rites. I was honored to present Tammi with a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol in memory of her husband, and I was deeply moved by the outpouring of support and love from the community to the Ramzziddin family. They are in my thoughts at this difficult time, as is Corporal Ramzziddin' s heroic example. Corporal Ramzziddin was not only a dedicated law enforcement officer; he was also a volunteer in the community. He served in several ways with the Nation's Mosque, including as a leader for its Boy Scout Troop 1517, on its safety and security committee, and with the men's group that engaged in neighborhood litter removal projects. Corporal Ramzziddin was a man of faith and service, a patriot and a hero to his community. It surprised no one who knew him that he gave his life while trying to protect someone else. I hope all of my colleagues in this House will join me in paying tribute to Corporal Mujahid Ramzziddin for his life of service and his ultimate sacrifice protecting the people of Prince George's County, Maryland.

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to this legislation. In 1990, President George H.W. Bush declared a long overdue ``independence day'' for people with disabilities as he signed the historic Americans with Disabilities Act into law. As the House sponsor of the ADA, I shared the President's optimism and hope that every man, woman, and child with a disability can now pass through once-closed doors into a bright new era of equality, independence, and freedom. I was proud to work across the aisle on the ADA and on the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, the only time the ADA has ever been amended. We brought together outside groups from a broad range of affiliations to create a framework for policy that would vastly improve accessibility and be agreeable to all. Unfortunately, people with disabilities still face stubborn barriers to full inclusion. In the last year, people with differing abilities have had to fight for access to healthcare and the services they need to live independently and with dignity. Now we have on the floor a bill that would undermine the central tenet of the ADA: the right of victims of discrimination to seek redress for exclusion. Requiring victims of discrimination to provide notice of a violation before bringing a lawsuit is an improper shift of the burden of compliance onto victims, one not required of any other group by any other civil rights law. Not a single civil rights law gives this kind of provision. As the Paralyzed Veterans of America wrote in its letter of opposition: ``Veterans with disabilities who honorably served their country should not bear the burden of ensuring that businesses in their communities are meeting their ADA obligations. Instead, it is the responsibility of businessowners and their associations to educate themselves about the law's requirements.'' Now, this law was passed some 27 years ago. There is no excuse for not knowing the obligations. Our laws do not require such notice for women, African Americans, Latinos, religious minorities, or any other groups protected against discrimination. I acknowledge that there are issues in States that have added compensatory damages to their State laws. There are no damages in this national ADA law, which was a compromise. A problem with State law, however, should be fixed at the State level and not with a retreat in the Federal law. Lawyers who file vexatious suits may well be in violation of their ethical obligations. Sadly, we are seeing that almost 28 years after its passage and decades of notice as to what is required, tax credits so that you can make changes necessary to make your place accessible, there are still those who have barriers to full accommodation for Americans with differing abilities, contrary to law. In fact, when we adopted the law, we didn't have it go into effect for 24 months--2 years--so that people could educate themselves on their responsibilities. People with differing abilities still have to fight day in and day out for the access and inclusion to which they should already be entitled under the law as businesses continue to dismiss their obligations. We have a colleague, Senator Tammy Duckworth. She was a helicopter pilot. Her legs were shot off. She now serves in the United States Senate. She is a disabled veteran and an American hero. She wrote the following in The Washington Post about this bill: ``This offensive legislation would segregate the disability community, making it the only protected class under civil rights law that must rely on `education'--rather than strong enforcement--to guarantee access to public spaces.'' I will be voting ``no'' on this legislation in the name of upholding the bedrock principles of civil rights law in this country and the integrity of the ADA that many of us worked together to enact on a bipartisan basis, an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis, 400 votes-plus, for this legislation. Let us not retreat this day. Let us not say to those with disabilities: You have got to wait 180 days. What if we said: If you are an African American and you try to go into a place of public accommodations and they wouldn't admit you, and you said, ``Well, I have got a complaint,'' and you had to wait 180 days to have that right redressed, that is not right. Let us not treat those with disabilities as second-rate citizens. Defeat this bill.

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, we have 4 legislative days before those protected by DACA will be at risk. The Speaker has said he was going to address this issue. He has not at this point in time. The Speaker said on 9/23/2010: We will advance major legislation one issue at a time. He said: We will not duck the tough issues. We will take them head- on. In that light, I urge the Speaker to put on the floor the three bills that are pending in this House: a clean Dream Act; the USA Act, sponsored by Representatives Aguilar and Hurd, a bipartisan bill; and a Republican bill, the Securing America's Future Act, sponsored by Representative Goodlatte. Madam Speaker, let the people's House speak. Let them vote. Put these three bills on the floor, and let the majority rule. That is democracy. Let democracy prevail in this House.

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy), my friend and the majority leader. (Mr. McCARTHY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for that information. Today, both Chambers have passed the CR that takes us to February 8. That leaves 17 calendar days. I was going to say it did 6\1/2\ legislative days, but the gentleman has now given up probably half a day, as I understand it, which is Wednesday of the retreat. So, essentially, Mr. Speaker, we have 6 days between now and February 8 in which we will be in session. That makes it incumbent upon us that we come together, cooperate with one another, compromise, and send legislation from here to the Senate that the Senate can agree to. I want to say, I did not know the gentleman was going to mention that, but I want to see the Defense Department fully funded. But I also want to see fully funded departments that take care of the health of our people, the education of our children, domestic law enforcement, and relations between ourselves and the rest of the world in the State Department, and so many other agencies of government that are in the nondefense part of the budget. Mr. Speaker, I would tell my friend that I would hope we would come to an agreement very, very shortly on the overall spending levels so that we can pass both defense and nondefense priority issues. And I would say to my friend, all we are asking for in that context, as the gentleman knows, is what we have done over the last 4 years as a result of agreements between Speaker Ryan and Senator Murray, so I would hope that we can proceed on that. Secondly, and there is so much to bring up, but the second thing I want to mention is, clearly, one of the issues that we have been so concerned about has been how we are going to treat the DREAMers in our country. As the gentleman knows my view, based upon polls that I have read, 85 percent of Americans essentially agree that we ought not send those young people, for the most part, out of the country away from their home to places they do not know, particularly when they are making such a positive contribution to our country. Now, while I said there were some 5\1/2\ days left between now and the 8th, there are 10\1/2\ days--actually, I guess, now, 9\1/2\ days in which to deal with the issue of the DREAMers. The gentleman and I, Senator Cornyn, and Senator Durbin have been working. I look forward to working on that, and I hope that we work on it every calendar day that we have available--we won't be in session, but we will work on that--so we can, in fact, come to an agreement so that those young people who the American people think ought to stay here and continue to be productive citizens, contributing individuals to our country, would be allowed to stay here, given a path to citizenship. I would hope that we could work toward that end. I yield to my friend.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for that information. I am hopeful that we can agree on the underlying issue which led to the necessity for a CR and the temporary closing of government. That is the underlying agreement on what budget numbers will be, what our caps will be, how much discretionary funding we will have to spend both on defense and nondefense. That is at the core. When you fail to do that, you fail to pass appropriation bills, and you, therefore, have to repair to CRs, which everybody on this floor agrees is bad fiscal policy and should not be the way we do business. Secondly, I appreciate the majority leader's leadership and engagement on the issue of solving the problem, or the challenge and the opportunity, I should say--not so much a problem, but an opportunity--of DREAMers. It is what the President, Mr. Speaker, asked us to do. Hopefully, we can, in fact, working in good faith with one another, get that done. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, it is important for us to understand why we are here. We are here because the Republican majority in the House and the Senate and the President of the United States have not funded the government. Secondly, we also are here because there are a number of issues on which I think there is agreement in both Houses that have not been brought to the floor irrespective of the majority's will. It appears, from what the Senate leader has said, that there is an agreement in the Senate, and, perhaps--and I think probably--we will move forward today to open up the government. But I hope my Republican colleagues do not misinterpret what is happening because the issues will not go away. Between now and February 8, if that is the date, we must resolve how we are going to fund the government--that is what has held us up--and we must bring to this floor a bill to protect people whom the President of the United States said we ought to protect. Let's do it. Let's do our work.

Mr. HOYER

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

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 3\1/2\ minutes. Mr. Speaker, as I said this morning, the reason why the government shut down is because the Republican majority has failed to fund the government. They have the majority of the House, the majority of the Senate, and the Presidency of the United States. And with all due respect to my friend, the majority leader, five previous shutdowns were purposefully perpetrated by my Republican friends; the last for 16 days. The continuing resolution on the floor today reflects that failure. It does not, 9 months after we should have been done, establish the level of spending for this fiscal year. It is 9 months late. As a result, another continuing resolution may be inevitable. And in this resolution, we will extend the harmful effects of another CR to both defense and nondefense agencies for another 17 days. That means that Congress will be more than 4 whole months into the fiscal year without a budget agreement. This is dangerous, Mr. Speaker, both to our military and to our civilian agencies, each of which require budget certainty. Before February 8, Republicans must work with Democrats to resolve the issues at hand. This means working together to lift the budget caps in accordance with the principle of parity, which Speaker Ryan agreed to over the past 4 years and should continue to today and in the future. It also means working in a bipartisan, bicameral way to address the status of DREAMers, now that President Trump created a crisis with his ending of the DACA program. Congress should act responsibly to allow these young people to stay, as more than 80 percent of Americans believe should be done. Mr. Speaker, it requires reauthorizing community health centers and other critical health programs essential to complement the passage of the CHIP reauthorization, which is included in this CR. We also have a responsibility to help those impacted by the devastating hurricanes in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands; those affected by the wilderness fires in California; and communities struggling to combat opioid abuse. Congress must not waste the next 17 days as it has the last 114. I will be voting ``no,'' Mr. Speaker, on this continuing resolution, not because I don't want to see it pass, but because it does not guarantee that Congress will address the issues that have been referenced. I pray that neither I nor Congress will be in this same position come February 8. I hope we will address in a positive manner the issues before us. I am now pleased, Mr. Speaker, to yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the minority leader. (Ms. PELOSI asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, we have 10\1/2\ days remaining before we have another crisis in funding our government. Those are legislative days. We have more calendar days. Let us try to use every one of those days to reach agreement on funding the government so we don't have another CR, which all of us believe is bad fiscal policy and substantive policy. Mr. Speaker, I urge us to come together so that we can avoid another crisis like this and address the issues that we know need to be addressed. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, we are in the second day of this Trump shutdown because Republicans won't take yes for an answer. Senator Schumer went to the White House and had a deal with President Trump until the Freedom Caucus vetoed it and forced the President to go back on his word again. Senator Schumer offered President Trump his border wall. Republicans said no. Senate Democrats offered short-term continuing resolutions to keep the government open. Republicans said no. Mr. Speaker, I offered a 4-day CR to keep the government open while we work on reaching a budget agreement that adheres to parity. Mr. Meadows objected, and the Republicans again said no. When, I ask, will Republicans take yes for an answer? I ask: Will the Republican leadership allow its Members to vote for a clean CR to reopen the government instead of giving its most extreme Freedom Caucus faction a veto in order to perpetuate the Trump shutdown? Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 4872, the End the Shutdown Act of 2018, a continuing resolution that would immediately reopen the government through Tuesday while negotiations continue on a budget agreement that adheres to parity and on other critical issues.

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, am I parliamentarily correct that a continuing resolution is not necessary if, in fact, an appropriations bill has been passed to fund the government?

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, am I correct?

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, the Trump travesty continues, as it has for the last 12 months. We have heard our colleagues on the other side of the aisle talk about the Children's Health Insurance Program. They are very concerned about its passage. Bring it to the floor. It will pass. And I guarantee you it will pass in the Senate. Your Speaker, our Speaker, said: ``We will advance major legislation one issue at a time.'' Mr. Speaker, that is not what the bill you put on this floor did. It is not what the bill that is on the Senate floor did. You are right. There is no controversy. Government should not be shutting down. It is the Trump confrontation and chaos that continues. That is why this government is shut down, and the American people are rightfully upset with every one of us; not just Republicans, not just Democrats. They are upset that their government is not working. Mr. Speaker, bring these issues one at a time to this floor, and some will pass and some will not. My time has expired, but the people's time is expiring. Let us do our work one issue at a time.

Mr. HOYER

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

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I am stretching the parliamentary inquiry, the nature of this, but did the Speaker hear Mr. Meadows objecting to my unanimous consent request?

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, let me say at the outset, we ought to both put sanctimony aside. Both sides are accusing one another of closing down the government. Mr. Speaker, you voted to close down the government, and then you voted against opening it up. Both sides have accused the other of doing what they have done. Now, the fact of the matter is, Mr. Speaker, we are here because we have not succeeded in passing the appropriations bills and sending them to the President. That is why we need a continuing resolution. My Republican friends are in charge of the House. My Republican friends are in charge of the Senate, and they are in charge of the White House. We have not passed a single appropriations bill. My view is, we have not done so because we have been unwilling to compromise. That is what this is about. It is about Republicans, frankly, being unwilling, in our opinion, to work together to get to agreement. We don't want this shutdown. Our Republican friends say they don't want the shutdown, and we have said from the beginning that we are ready to work across the aisle to prevent it. In fact, the Republicans have had four opportunities. One hundred percent of the Democrats voted for a 90-day CR to give us time to get to agreement on appropriations bills and a level of funding. Mr. Speaker, you know that. We have been talking about that for some time. We have not come to agreement. Therefore, we find ourselves here, notwithstanding the fact that we agree on a lot. We have asked to adhere to parity. Mr. Speaker, as you know, it is the process that you agreed with Senator Murray that we have followed for the last 4 years. All we are asking is, let's follow it again. That is why we are here, because we have not been able to get such an agreement. We have also asked that we be able to protect--at the request of the President of the United States--DREAMers, put something on the floor, as he said, and send it to him, and he would sign it. We want to reauthorize the CHIP program, the community health centers, and other health programs. We agree on that. The American public has got to be so distressed that they see this going on on this floor of the House. We want to provide disaster relief to those in Texas, those in Florida, those in Puerto Rico, those in the Virgin Islands, and, yes, those who have been subjected to fires in the West.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I urge my Republican colleagues who are in the majority and control the legislative process: end this shutdown. Use the authority you are asking for under this rule to bring to the floor the items on which we agree. Mr. Speaker, you have said you would do that, take the tough issues head-on one at a time. I admired that statement. I will tell my friend, the Speaker of the House, that I will admire even more the performance. Speaker Ryan said, in 2012: ``We will not duck the tough issues. We will not kick the can down the road. We will lead. We will not blame others . . . .'' Mr. Speaker, I ask you to do just that. Stop ignoring your responsibility as the majority party to keep the government open and serve the American people. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 4872, the End the Shutdown Act of 2018, a continuing resolution through Tuesday that would immediately reopen the government while negotiations continue on a budget agreement that adheres to parity, reauthorizing the Children's Health Insurance Program and other critical healthcare programs, addressing the issue of DREAMers as was requested by the President of the United States, and providing assistance to Americans impacted by natural disasters.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, if we had entertained my unanimous consent request, we could have accomplished all that the gentleman from Oregon, the chairman of the committee, just discussed. I will remind you that the reason Democrats voted against it was because you took the money for children's health out of children's health. You decreased the prevention trust fund by some $6 billion which had, in part, inoculation for children against disease. We thought robbing from Peter to pay Paul was not a good policy to pursue.

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. HOYER

Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.