Andy Harris

Mr. HARRIS

Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Chair, the dangers in the world are immense. China and North Korea both, obviously, are nuclear and nonconventional weapons threats. We are looking at a war in Israel right now with the possibility that Iran could make a dirty bomb. There are nuclear threats. We need countermeasures. We need to spend money on countermeasures. Just as we are spending $880 billion on what I call kinetic defense, we need to spend money on nonkinetic defense. One of the things we need to do is fund Project BioShield because that is where we develop these countermeasures. Mr. Chair, I urge adoption of this amendment. It would take $59 million that HHS would transfer out of a $1.8 billion fund that they have unspent and use that money for countermeasures. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Chair, may I inquire how much time is remaining.

Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Chair, to pay for this, we take money from the NIH buildings and facilities. That is true. However, Mr. Chairman, you know that the way CBO works is that we had to take it from that fund because we expect that money to be replaced from the nonrecurring expense fund at HHS. The CBO won't score it as a savings, but they will score it as a savings if you take it from NIH. Mr. Chair, I get it. Nobody understands how CBO works. It makes no sense. Nevertheless, that money could be backfilled easily because, Mr. Chair, that nonrecurring expense fund at HHS is a slush fund with $1.8 billion in it unspent with moneys each year authorized in the bills to be rolled over to the next year, so there is $1.8 billion sitting at HHS. Mr. Chair, that money would be much better spent on countermeasures. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to offer an amendment to increase funding for Project BioShield from $820 million to $870 million, with the funds coming from taking money from the recurring expense fund for buildings and facilities at HHS. Mr. Chairman, medical countermeasures are important. We know that the chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats are real in this world and that there is no natural market incentive for private industry to invest in developing countermeasures despite their critical importance to national security. That is exactly why Congress authorized Project BioShield almost 20 years ago, in 2004, which incentivizes industry to invest in these products despite the fact that there is no natural market incentive. The program provides multiyear funding to support advanced research, clinical development, manufacturing, and procurement. BioShield responds to national security threats identified by the Department of Homeland Security's material threat determination process. According to the Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise, or PHEMCE, their multiyear budget, BARDA's Project BioShield would need $1.7 billion in fiscal year 2024 to develop and support the candidates in the smallpox, radiological, nuclear, broad- spectrum antimicrobials, Ebola, and chemical countermeasure portfolios. That is in contrast to the $820 million that is in the underlying bill. Again, the experts have said we need $1.7 billion. Additionally, last year, the House included report language in the fiscal year 2023 omnibus that asked BARDA to compile a procurement strategy for novel antimicrobials. BARDA then included this objective in their 5-year strategic plan, but it was, of course, way underfunded. This amendment would allow them to move forward with these activities to provide additional funding, which could be used for the procurement of new antimicrobials. Mr. Chair, I urge all Members to support this amendment, which would increase funding for Project BioShield to $870 million, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Chair, I rise today to offer amendment No. 5 included in the en bloc, to increase our investment in the health workforce and to decrease spending for the Office of the Secretary of HHS, who has driven this historic health workforce shortage. In December of 2020, Congress passed the No Surprises Act, which was the result of a yearslong effort to ban surprise medical bills in a way that both takes the patient out of the middle and sets up a fair process for the provider and payer to negotiate the resulting bill. Unfortunately, the administration has implemented the policy in such a way that has tilted the scales in favor of the big insurance companies at every possible turn. Historically, Medicare has reimbursed physicians for their services at a lower rate than private insurance, which is why many providers don't even accept Medicare. In fact, 42 percent of psychiatrists don't accept Medicare patients. Most providers rely on private insurance to keep their practices open. Now, due to the botched implementation of the No Surprises Act, private insurance companies are paying the same or less than Medicare, which, as we unfortunately predicted, is forcing doctors to close their practices and decreases access to patient care. Someone told me a long time ago, if you are losing money on every patient, you can't make up for it on volume. The fact of the matter is that the Secretary is not enforcing the No Surprises Act as written. Once an out-of-network bill is generated, we set up a 30-30-30-day timeline. The doctor and insurance company have 30 days to agree on a payment amount, or else either side can initiate the arbitration process. The arbiter has 30 days to determine the appropriate payment, and then the insurance company has 30 days to pay the provider. This timeline is simply not happening in a majority of cases. On average, it takes 236 days for a payment dispute to be resolved and paid. A recent survey found that after arbitration, 52 percent of the insurance companies aren't making payments at all. Unfortunately, the Secretary has implemented this policy poorly and without serious enforcement. As a result, doctors are leaving the workforce in droves. Forcing doctors to provide care for which they may never receive payment is unsustainable. Because the Secretary is perpetuating the healthcare workforce shortage, this amendment would decrease the Office of the Secretary of HHS and increase the top line of the HRSA Health Workforce accounts. Mr. Chair, I urge all Members to support this amendment, which would penalize the Secretary for driving the health workforce shortage.

Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. HARRIS

Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) for receiving its highest ranking for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) according to U.S. News & World Report. Under the leadership of UMES President, Dr. Heidi M. Anderson, U.S. News ranked UMES in the top 6 of public HBCUs, number 200 among all public colleges and universities, and number 14 among 78 HBCUs in their 2023-2024 report. UMES ranked two spots higher than last year's report and is the university highest ranking since U.S. News created its HBCU category in 2007. As the representative of Maryland's Eastern Shore, it is my distinct honor to recognize UMES for its remarkable achievement and I look forward to seeing the university continue to shape the minds of our Nation's future. Congratulations to UMES and Go Hawks.

Mr. HARRIS

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

Mr. HARRIS

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

Mr. HARRIS

Mr. HARRIS. Madam Chair, I move that the Committee do now rise.

Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman from Virginia for bringing this forth. Mr. Chair, look, I urge everyone just to read the Fifth Circuit Court opinion. The fact of the matter is, the Fifth Circuit Court said the FDA way overstepped their congressional fencing in on how they have to approve drugs. The bottom line is, it is not us saying this. It is the Fifth Circuit. Maybe this is one way to send a message that you actually ought to listen to the way Congress set up the safety and efficacy approval process. Maybe we need something like this so the FDA actually pays attention to how Congress told them they have to operate. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HARRIS. Madam Chair, I thank the gentlewoman from Florida for offering this amendment. My colleague across the aisle read verbatim from an executive order to analyze the effect of climate on migration. What we need is an executive order to examine the effect of an open border on migration into the United States, the effect in the large cities--New York, Chicago--and bankrupting this country. That is the executive order we need from the President, not these.

Mr. HARRIS. Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman from Missouri for putting forth this amendment. It is common sense. Able-bodied people ought to work. That is the bottom line. There are two things about this program. One is that my colleague on the other side of the aisle says you never know, the economy could get bad. Now, this is only a 1-year amendment. We are only discussing the next fiscal year. The President has said this is a great economy. I don't know what we are worried about. The President has said this economy is great. So don't worry about this amendment. It shouldn't be a problem. The other thing is that this is one of the greatest State scams in the country right now. States vie with each other as to who can get this waiver. Do you know what, Madam Chair? This is no cost to the State. We could solve this problem by just asking States to have a 20 percent copay. Do you think food stamps are a great deal or SNAP is a great deal? Great. The Federal Government pays 80, you pay 20, just like Medicaid. That means States will have skin in the game, and they won't go for these scams.

Mr. HARRIS. Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman from Texas for offering the amendment. It turns out in the wisdom of the committee we have already defunded the Civilian Climate Corps, but belts and suspenders is fine, I have no problem with that, because good-paying jobs shouldn't come from the government, they should come in the private sector. That is why we don't need the Civilian Climate Corps. Oh, that is right, it has the word ``climate'' in it, so you have to create something in the Department with the word ``climate'' and with the word ``equity'' and with the words ``diversity'' and ``inclusion''--the whole thing. We don't need it.

Mr. HARRIS. Madam Chair, I thank the gentlewoman from Colorado for offering this amendment. There is one thing the Federal Government should not do when it has a $2 trillion deficit, and that is do duplicative things in one department. There already is an Office of Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. There is no need for an Equity Commission. Oh, but that is right, we have got to get the word ``equity'' in there somewhere. I suggest maybe we should go back and just rename the Office of Civil Rights. It is cheaper, and with a $2 trillion deficit, that is probably what we ought to do.

Mr. HARRIS. Madam Chair, the Thrifty Food Plan, this is the official political appointee who decided that the SNAP benefits weren't high enough, so they devised a new food plan that was used as a vehicle to just increase the SNAP benefits. The bottom line is we are spending over $100 billion a year. We have a $2 trillion deficit. We should reevaluate that increase in the Thrifty Food Plan that has resulted in a double-digit increase in SNAP benefits. What this amendment does is sends a clear signal to the administration that this probably wasn't a well-thought-out idea.

Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman from Illinois for yielding time. This is a commonsense amendment. The bottom line is it is a myth to say that electric vehicles produce no CO2. Where do you think the electricity comes from when you plug it into the outlet? Most electricity in the United States is producing CO2. Secondly, why would we want the Federal Government to buy a vehicle, an expensive vehicle, that people don't even buy for themselves? We should run the Federal Government much more efficiently. These are not the most efficient purchases to make. We have a $2 trillion deficit.

Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Chair, I congratulate the Member from Florida for bringing a concrete idea to the floor on how to cut our $2 trillion Federal deficit. Once again, it is very easy to spend money. We could make a list of a thousand programs that are deserving programs, but the fact of the matter is we have to borrow every single cent to fund the programs in this agriculture bill, and our grandchildren have to pay it back. That is immoral.

Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for coming to the floor with a specific idea of how we stop the out-of- control Federal spending leading to a $2 trillion deficit and runaway inflation. That is the bottom line. There are plenty of ideas on how to spend more money, believe you me. There are plenty of ideas circulating around Washington. What we need are ideas on how to cut spending. Mr. Chair, I suggest that going after parts of the Federal Government that encourage high-cost energy, because that is what renewable energy is, it is all high cost. That is the fact of the matter. If we want to create low-cost energy, Mr. Chair, you know what we have to do, we have to extract our natural gas and burn our natural gas and then we can compete with China for the cost of energy. All that we are doing with programs like this that fund renewable energy is yielding unilateral disarmament to China on energy, and it doesn't belong in the agriculture department.

Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Chair, I congratulate the gentleman, because the gentleman brings an amendment to the floor that does something with the $2 trillion budget deficit. He is right, we have a $33 trillion debt. Our interest payments in a few years are going to be over $1 trillion-- more than Social Security, more than Medicare, more than Medicaid, more than food stamps, more than all of them. One fact check before I sit down. Now we heard it was FY 2007, so I guess the speechwriters can't make up their minds. Is it FY 2000, 2001, 2003? Now it is 2007. I would remind the Chair, the spending level in the 2007 bill was $17.8 billion, and that is almost $5 billion less than what we appropriate in this bill.

Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Chair, pursuant to House Resolution 723, I offer amendments en bloc.