Hakeem Jeffries

Mr. JEFFRIES

Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman, the ranking member of the House Administration Committee, for his tremendous leadership. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to this extreme MAGA Republican voter suppression bill. The right to vote is sacred. The right to vote is special. The right to vote is sacrosanct. The right to vote is central to the integrity of our democracy. It is the foundation of the principle of government of the people, by the people, and for the people. The problem is apparently my extreme MAGA Republican colleagues have concluded that, rather than trying to win a debate and the hearts and minds of the American people anchored in ideas, the majority has instead chosen a strategy to engage in voter suppression. There is no evidence that has been presented to suggest that undocumented individuals have been participating in Federal elections. Republicans who investigated these allegations on their own committee have been unable to document these allegations. It is unconstitutional. It is the state of the law that only citizens can vote in Federal elections. Only citizens can vote for the House of Representatives. Only citizens can vote for the United States Senate. Only citizens can vote for the Presidency of the United States. This extreme MAGA Republican voter suppression bill is not designed to solve any problem on behalf of the American people. It is designed to jam people up and prevent Americans from voting. The extreme MAGA Republican voter suppression bill will not allow Americans to vote who have a State-issued driver's license. The extreme MAGA Republican voter suppression bill will not allow Americans who are serving in the military to use their military ID while they are serving this country to vote. The extreme MAGA Republican voter suppression bill won't allow young people, college students who are attending State universities all across the land and who have been issued college IDs through their State colleges and universities, to vote. There is a big difference between the House Democratic view of free and fair elections, the peaceful transfer of power, and government of the people, by the people, and for the people, and the extreme MAGA Republican view. House Democrats want to make it easier to vote and harder to obtain weapons of war. Extreme MAGA Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier to deploy weapons of war. These are weapons, by the way, not used to hunt deer, but to hunt children in classrooms and other human beings. The extreme MAGA Republican voter suppression bill has given us an opportunity again to communicate with the American people on the difference between our values, House Democrats putting people over politics, focused on the things that matter, like lower costs, growing the middle class, ending price gouging, defending democracy, and fighting for reproductive freedom. We embrace having a debate with our extreme MAGA Republican colleagues about issues that matter. Why won't Republicans just take their issues to the American people? Why are my colleagues on the other side of the aisle trying to hide their plans that are connected to Trump's Project 2025 publicly, but then come to the House floor and bring this extreme MAGA Republican voter suppression bill that is part of the blueprint of Trump's Project 2025? The majority can't fool the American people. They are smarter than my colleagues think. Republicans don't want to have a real debate about issues because the extreme MAGA Republicans want to criminalize abortion care and impose a nationwide ban. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle are trying to hide that now from the American people, stripping it from their convention platform. We know what Republicans really want to do. The extreme MAGA Republicans put the Justices on the Supreme Court who detonated Roe v. Wade. That is Republicans' agenda. That is part of Trump's Project 2025. Republicans don't want to debate the issues. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to suppress the right to vote because Trump's Project 2025, which is part of the majority's platform, wants to detonate and destroy the Department of Education, which the American people don't support. Republicans don't really want to embrace the ability for young people of every race, of every part of America, including the heartland of America and rural America and Appalachia and suburban America, to get a high-quality public education. That is what Trump's Project 2025 is about. The majority doesn't want to have a discussion about that. My colleagues don't want that exposed to the American people, so we are on the floor right now with an extreme MAGA Republican voter suppression bill that does nothing because the law is already clear: Noncitizens cannot vote in Federal elections. We are going to continue to do everything we can to make sure that the American people can participate in free and fair elections, have the freedom to determine their own destiny by exercising their right to vote in an uncompromised and unfettered fashion, as opposed to engaging in this type of frivolous legislative activity, at best, perhaps designed as a cover already trying to set up an excuse for what may happen in November, just like what was done in advance of January 6.

Mr. JEFFRIES

Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, it has come to my attention that a so- called leader has made the factually inaccurate statement that Black folks were better off during Jim Crow. That is an outlandish, outrageous, and out-of-pocket observation. We were not better off when a young boy named Emmett Till could be brutally murdered without consequence because of Jim Crow. We were not better off when Black women could be sexually assaulted without consequence because of Jim Crow. We were not better off when people could be systematically lynched without consequence because of Jim Crow. We were not better off when children could be denied a high- quality education without consequence because of Jim Crow. We were not better off when people could be denied the right to vote without consequence because of Jim Crow. How dare you make such an ignorant observation. You better check yourself before you wreck yourself.

Mr. JEFFRIES

Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Chair, I thank the distinguished gentleman from the great State of New Jersey for yielding and for his tremendous leadership. Mr. Chair, the House of Representatives, of course, is the institution the Framers designed to be the closest to the American people. The first institution mentioned in the United States Constitution is the people's House, the place where President Abraham Lincoln declared that America is ``the last best hope of Earth,'' the place where FDR made clear the importance of defending democracy against the tyranny of Nazi fascism. It is the place where President Lyndon Baines Johnson talked about the importance of the Voting Rights Act and made clear to America that we shall overcome. The House of Representatives is a special place. Earlier today, I was told you need to get to the House floor to deal with a signature piece of legislation from the extreme MAGA Republicans in this 118th Congress. I wondered to myself, is it going to be about inflation, lower costs, housing affordability, public safety, dealing with the challenges at the border, Social Security, Medicare? What is it going to be about? It turns out the signature piece of legislation for the extreme MAGA Republicans this week, this month, this year is the Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act. This is what we are dealing with on this magical House floor, with all the challenges that the American people are confronting. Liberty for laundry, defending the dignity of dishwashers, fighting for freedom of refrigerators is what we are doing? You can't make it up. You can't make it up. As House Democrats, we are going to defend democracy. Extreme MAGA Republicans are working on defending the dignity of dishwashers. As House Democrats, we are going to protect and strengthen Social Security. Extreme MAGA Republicans apparently are interested in protecting gas stoves against phony accusations of oppression. House Democrats are going to defend reproductive freedom. Extreme MAGA Republicans are focused on the freedom for refrigerators. We believe in a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions, period, full stop. We believe in women's healthcare, in protecting the women of America against extreme MAGA Republican overreach. Instead of leaning into the protection of reproductive freedom, instead of trying to strengthen Social Security and Medicare, my Republican colleagues want to criminalize abortion care and impose a nationwide ban and then waste time on the House floor as it relates to the liberty of laundry. You can't make this up. Mr. Chair, I urge my Republican colleagues to partner with us. If they want to push back against overreach, then push back against the pro-Putin extreme overreach on their side of the aisle that doesn't want to defend democracy and freedom here and abroad. It is undermining it. We extend the hand of partnership, as we have repeatedly done, to solve real problems for the American people, but those problems have nothing to do with the dignity of dishwashers, the freedom of refrigerators, or the liberty of laundry. Let's get back to doing the real business of the American people. Vote ``no'' against this legislation.

Mr. JEFFRIES

Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentlewoman for yielding. It is with great sadness that we gather here today to honor the life and the leadership and legacy of Don Payne, Jr., but also celebrate that life, that leadership, and that legacy of our dear brother, who was a gentle giant; a kind, compassionate man; powerhouse in terms of his legislative capacity, though he didn't spend a lot of time promoting his accomplishments. He just let the work be done and speak for itself. However, that is work that was transformational. He stood up for the people that he represented in his beloved Brick City of Newark, his beloved State of New Jersey, and for people all across the country, particularly underrepresented communities in the area of healthcare. He was a champion in providing access and information and affordability to Black men and to other historically underrepresented communities suffering from disproportionate high rates of ailments, and that is a legacy that will be with us in this Congress, in this country, and, indeed, throughout the world for years and decades to come. It was my honor, along with Joyce Beatty and Robin Kelly and Steven Horsford and Marc Veasey, to come into Congress together with Donald Payne, Jr. He often made reference to the fact that he arrived a few months before us in a special election, so we affectionately called him the dean of the class of 2012. What a great dean he was, what a great man he was, what a great colleague and friend he was, and may he forever rest in power.

Mr. JEFFRIES

Mr. JEFFRIES. Madam Chair, I thank the distinguished gentlewoman from the great State of Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro) for yielding and for her extraordinary leadership throughout this process. I thank Speaker Emerita Pelosi and all of the members of the House Democratic Caucus for steadfastly standing behind America's national security priorities to get us to this point. Madam Chair, I rise today in strong support of the legislative package that is before the Congress. For months, the national security priorities of the American people have been obstructed by pro-Putin extremists determined to let Russia win. A bipartisan coalition of Democrats and Republicans has risen up to work together and ensure that we are getting the national security legislation important to the American people over the finish line. House Democrats have risen to the occasion. President Joe Biden has risen to the occasion. Traditional conservatives, led by Speaker Speaker Johnson, have risen to the occasion. We have a responsibility--not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans--to do what is necessary to defend democracy wherever it is at risk and the best interests of the free world. That is what this legislation represents. We have a responsibility to push back against tyranny, we have a responsibility to push back against totalitarianism, we have a responsibility to push back against terror, and we have a responsibility to stand with our democratic allies throughout the world. Israel is a democratic ally. Ukraine is a democratic ally. South Korea is a democratic ally. Taiwan is a democratic ally. Japan is a democratic ally. We have a responsibility to stand with our democratic allies throughout the world. We also have a responsibility to push back against our adversaries. Russia is not our friend. The Chinese Communist Party is not our friend. Iran is not our friend. We have a special relationship that exists between the United States and Israel. It is a relationship that is anchored in shared values and shared interests. Our commitment to Israel's security is ironclad. Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state and safe haven for the Jewish people, who have faced centuries of persecution throughout the years. The events of October 7 make clear that Hamas must be decisively defeated. For the good of Israel, for the good of the Palestinian people, for the good of peace in the Middle East, for the good of the free world, Hamas must be decisively defeated. At the same time, there are other urgent priorities. We must do everything possible to make sure that we are freeing the hostages so they can safely return to their families, and we must do everything possible to surge humanitarian assistance into Gaza so we can help out Palestinian civilians who are in harm's way through no fault of their own. We must surge in food, surge in medicine, surge in humanitarian assistance. That is what this package will help accomplish with more than $9 billion in humanitarian assistance. The events of October 7 and the suffering of Palestinian civilians in the theater of war are heartbreaking. Any person of good will should come to the conclusion that we have to find a way to achieve a just and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinian people. The only way for that to happen is for us to truly commit to a two- state solution when the moment presents itself, with a safe and secure Israel living side by side in peace and prosperity with a demilitarized Palestinian state that provides dignity and self-determination for the Palestinian people. Let us recommit to accomplishing that objective. The humanitarian assistance in this legislative package will also allow the United States to be there to support people who are suffering all across the world, including millions in Haiti and millions in the Sudan dealing with famine and starvation in a war-torn environment. This legislation, of course, will allow us to stand with our allies in the Indo-Pacific in the face of continued aggression from the Chinese Communist Party, to make sure that freedom and democracy and these values all across the world will continue to be triumphant. This legislation will allow us to support the bravery and the courage of the Ukrainian people, who, against all odds, continue to stand for what we, as Americans, believe in. In February of 2022, we were told that Ukraine would likely fall in a week and that Russian troops would be in Kyiv in a week, but the bravery, the courage, and the resilience of the Ukrainian people in the face of the most powerful military in Europe has proven to be consequential in partnership with American support and that of our NATO allies. However, the Ukrainian people have taught us something: That in the face of an incredible military apparatus that they were confronting, against all odds, that when a people believe in freedom or liberty or democracy, that can overcome even the mightiest of militaries. Therefore, we have seen them, despite the prediction that they would fall in a week, inflict more than 300,000 casualties on the Russian military; significant portions of the Russian navy wiped out in the Black Sea; more than half the territory that had initially been seized by the Russian military recaptured by Ukraine, against all odds. However, the pro-Putin obstruction that has stopped this national security legislation from advancing to the floor until this point risks all of the progress that has been made, which is why it is so essential for us to do what is necessary to stand with the Ukrainian people. Let me close with this observation. This is a moment to choose. We can choose democracy or autocracy. We can choose freedom or tyranny. We can choose truth or propaganda. We can choose Ukraine or Russia. We can choose Zelenskyy or Putin. We can choose a democratic ally or a sworn enemy. This is a time to choose. The American people have always stood on the side of democracy, freedom, and truth, which is why we must stand on the side of the Ukrainian people. We will stand with the Ukrainian people today. We will stand with the Ukrainian people tomorrow. We will stand with the Ukrainian people until victory is won. Announcement by the Acting Chair

Mr. JEFFRIES

Mr. JEFFRIES. Madam Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentlewoman from the great State of Connecticut for yielding, the Honorable Rosa DeLauro. I thank her for her extraordinary leadership throughout this process and getting us to this principled result. I thank all the appropriators for their extraordinary work, on the Democratic side and on the Republican side, as part of the effort to complete the fiscal year 2024 appropriations. This hasn't been a perfect process, but we should never let the perfect be the enemy of the good when it comes to solving problems on behalf of hardworking American taxpayers. This is a good result for the American people in terms of standing up for their health, their safety, their education, their national security protection, and, of course, above all else, their economic well-being, a bipartisan process leading to a bipartisan result that will hopefully lay a foundation for us to continue to do the work of the American people together. We have said from the very beginning of this Congress that, as Democrats, we will find bipartisan common ground with our Republican colleagues on any issue, whenever and wherever possible, as long as it will make life better for the American people. That is exactly what House Democrats continue to do. At the same time, we have said we will push back against extremism whenever necessary. We will always defend a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions. We will always defend the gorgeous mosaic of the American people and push back against unnecessary attacks against diversity, equity, and inclusion. These are American values. We will always fight to protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare. We will always put people over politics. We hope that that will continue, not just on the Democratic side but together to solve problems for the American people. As soon as we complete this work, let us turn to our national security priorities and make sure that we don't abandon the people of Ukraine in their hour of greatest need as they fight for principles like democracy, freedom, and truth, and push back against autocracy, tyranny, and propaganda. America should always stand on the side of principles like democracy, freedom, and truth, and that means standing with the people of Ukraine. I thank, once again, the appropriators for their leadership in concluding this process. I urge everybody to support this legislation. I hope that as we move forward in our promise to you and, more importantly, to the American people, who expect that in this Congress we should have more common sense and less chaos, more decency and less dysfunction, and more exceptionalism and less extremism, our promise to you is that we will do our best to put people over politics. We hope that you will do the same. Vote ``yes'' on this bill.

Mr. JEFFRIES

Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, let me first thank the distinguished gentleman from the great State of Mississippi for yielding, for his leadership, for his dignity, for his decency, for his continued defense of our democracy in the face of the extreme attacks coming from the other side of the aisle. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to this political stunt, this reckless Republican effort to impeach Secretary Mayorkas. Let's be clear: Secretary Mayorkas is a good man, a patriotic man, and a hardworking man doing the best he can under very difficult circumstances. That is not an impeachable offense. Extreme MAGA Republicans have produced no evidence that Secretary Mayorkas has engaged in a high crime or misdemeanor, no evidence that Secretary Mayorkas has engaged in an impeachable offense, and no evidence that Secretary Mayorkas has broken the law or violated the Constitution--not a shred of evidence, not a scintilla of evidence, nothing but extreme MAGA Republican chaos and confusion and the effort to avoid doing the hard work necessary to find common ground to actually address the challenges at the border. What do these impeachment articles have to do with the issue of addressing our broken immigration system? Nothing. What do these impeachment articles have to do with building a healthy economy for everyday Americans? Nothing. What do these impeachment articles have to do with addressing the inflationary challenges and affordability issues that the American people are experiencing day after day as we work to continue to emerge from a once-in-a-century pandemic that shut down the economy? Absolutely nothing. Extreme MAGA Republicans have spent this entire Congress not advancing any ideas, acting on any agenda, deciding to work together with us to solve problems for the American people. You have brought Articles of Impeachment that are not anchored in reality. You have brought Articles of Impeachment for one simple reason: Because you really want to impeach Joe Biden. That is what you were directed to do by the puppet master, the former President of the United States, Donald Trump. You really want to impeach Joe Biden, but you realize that that is politically unpopular, so you have brilliantly come up with, in your minds, plan B. Let's go after Secretary Mayorkas. No evidence that he engaged in wrongdoing, committed a crime, or violated the Constitution, but let's go after Secretary Mayorkas. Maybe that will satisfy the quest for revenge of the puppet master because when the puppet master, Donald Trump, says jump, extreme MAGA Republicans respond: How high? We just got evidence of that over the last few weeks because extreme MAGA Republicans have been lecturing America that we have to deal with the challenges at the border. We agree. A bipartisan process has been underway in the Senate for months to try to fix our broken immigration system, but as soon as Donald Trump says no, we actually don't want to do anything about the challenges at the border because, politically, that might not be good for us, you walked away from working together in a commonsense fashion to fix our broken immigration system. Instead, what you have to offer the American people is this sham impeachment, this political stunt, this waste of time. You will not fool the American people. You will actually be held accountable for your inaction and your affirmative leaning into doing things that don't advance progress in any way, shape, or form for the American people. No reasonable American can conclude that you are making life better for them with this sham impeachment, but you will live with this like a scarlet letter. It may succeed. It may not. Secretary Mayorkas should wear this like a badge of honor because it is worthless. It means nothing. It is fake. It is fraudulent. It is foolish. Mr. Speaker, I urge everybody to vote ``no,'' so we can get back to doing the real business of the American people.

Mr. JEFFRIES

Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I thank my distinguished colleague from the great State of Oregon, Representative Bonamici, for her tremendous advocacy and for yielding some time. I rise today in strong opposition to this reckless and regressive Republican effort to undermine women's healthcare. House Republicans have begun this year the same way that they ended last year, targeting women's reproductive freedom. The distinction between Democrats and extreme MAGA Republicans on the abortion care issue couldn't be any clearer. House Democrats believe in a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions. It is a decision that should be between a woman, her family, and her doctors, not extreme MAGA Republicans trying to intervene and indoctrinate and influence young women on college campuses all across America. We believe in a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions. What House Republicans want to do is to criminalize abortion care. House Republicans want to impose a nationwide abortion ban. House Republicans want to undermine reproductive freedom, and that is what the underlying bill that is on the floor right now is all about--nothing more, and nothing less. If the legislation that is under consideration was really about improving the opportunity for the children, the infants, the babies of America to live a healthy life, then extreme MAGA Republicans would join Democrats in our efforts to bring that about. House Democrats are trying to address the challenges around infant mortality in America. Extreme MAGA Republicans refuse to join us. House Republicans could be working to deal with the challenges around child poverty in America, but they refuse to join House Democrats in our efforts to go back to the transformative child tax credit that was part of the 2021 American Rescue Plan. House Democrats are working to deal with the problem of child hunger in America, but extreme MAGA Republicans are trying to cut nutritional assistance for children and families in our great country. How dare the Republicans come to the House floor to lecture America about healthy infants, healthy babies, healthy children, when they are doing everything in their power to do exactly the opposite. The notion that this bill has anything to do with transparency and providing information to young women on college campuses all across America is undermined by the fact that the Democratic amendments that were offered to provide a comprehensive set of information to women were consistently rejected. Extreme MAGA Republicans rejected any effort to make sure that young women on college campuses were provided information about the full range of reproductive healthcare. Extreme MAGA Republicans rejected the effort to provide the young women of America with information about the dangers of a miscarriage. Extreme MAGA Republicans rejected the efforts by House Democrats to make sure that the young women of America were provided information about contraceptives. Why? Because House Republicans have only one objective--a nationwide abortion ban. This legislation is part of that effort, and that is why, instead of the Congress dealing with issues related to the economy or housing or inflation or public safety or healthcare, House Republicans have us voting on bills to undermine a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions. I strongly urge everyone to reject this extreme piece of legislation and join us in trying to uplift women, children, and families in America. Our promise to the country is as follows: House Democrats will stand strongly behind reproductive freedom today; we will stand strongly behind reproductive freedom tomorrow; we will stand strongly behind a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions forever until we crush the extreme MAGA Republican effort to criminalize abortion care.

Mr. JEFFRIES

Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to this fake, fraudulent, and fictitious impeachment inquiry effort. We are here today on the House floor wasting time and taxpayer dollars on an illegitimate impeachment inquiry because Donald Trump, the puppet master, has directed extreme MAGA Republicans to launch a political hit job against President Joe Biden. There is no evidence that President Biden has engaged in an impeachable offense. There is no evidence that President Joe Biden has engaged in wrongdoing. There is no evidence that President Biden has broken the law. We know that President Joe Biden is a good, honorable, and decent man who dedicated his life to public service and to making a difference for the American people. The puppet master in chief, Donald Trump, has directed the sycophants to target Joe Biden as part of an effort to undermine President Biden's reelection. That is the pattern. That is the process. It reveals that our extreme MAGA Republican colleagues have done nothing--nothing whatsoever--when it comes to making a difference in the lives of everyday Americans. From the very beginning of this Congress, House Democrats have made it clear that we are ready, willing, and able to find common ground with our Republican colleagues in a bipartisan way on any issue. This do-nothing Republican Congress has chosen to do nothing to solve problems for hardworking American taxpayers--nothing on the economy, nothing on inflation, nothing on affordability, nothing on gun safety, nothing on trying to improve the quality of life of the American people. What we have seen from the very beginning of this do-nothing Republican Congress is chaos, dysfunction, and extremism being inflicted on the American people. When it comes to this fraudulent impeachment inquiry, more than 100,000 pages of documents have been produced and reviewed. Not a scintilla of evidence exists that President Biden has broken the law. It is interesting to me. I wonder how my colleagues in New York and California who were sent here to make life better for the American people explain this vote, which is not designed to improve the lives of the folks that we are privileged to serve but is a political hit job, a political stunt, political gamesmanship. The American people are tired of the partisanship, tired of the brinksmanship, tired of this effort to score political points on a partisan basis as opposed to actually making a difference. House Democrats will continue to put people over politics. We will continue to fight for lower costs, to grow the middle class, for safer communities, for reproductive freedom, to defend democracy, and to build an economy from the middle out and the bottom up as opposed to the top down. House Democrats remain committed to joining President Biden in advancing the ball for the American people, for the middle class, for low-income families, for working families, for all of those folks who aspire to be a part of the middle class, for young people, for older Americans, for our veterans. We plan to continue to build upon the progress that we have made under the leadership of President Biden on behalf of the American people. It is time for the extreme MAGA Republicans to join us or get out of the way.

Mr. JEFFRIES

Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to this fake, fraudulent, and fictitious censure resolution. The proceedings here on the floor of the House of Representatives have been a complete and total embarrassment. Extreme MAGA Republicans have stooped to a new low, and that is very difficult based on the events that have taken place under this Republican majority throughout this year. Jamaal Bowman has taken public responsibility for the fire alarm incident. He has apologized, explained the circumstances under which it occurred. He has been held publicly accountable by the D.C. Superior Court, paid a $1,000 fine, and the Ethics Committee, under a Republican chair, on a bipartisan basis here in this Congress made clear that no further action was required. It begs the question: Why is the author of this resolution and the extreme MAGA Republicans on the floor of the House wasting time and taxpayer resources trying to undermine the credibility of Jamaal Bowman? He is someone who is doing his best to serve his constituents, including in some of the poorest sections of the Bronx, and extreme MAGA Republicans have us on the floor with this sad and silly charade. Now, the extreme MAGA Republicans have said, including the author of this resolution, that this is about law and order. Give us a break. All you have done is demonstrate throughout the years, including on January 6 and thereafter, that you are not the party of law and order. Extreme MAGA Republicans are the party of lawlessness and disorder. As a matter of fact, the author of this resolution has endorsed Donald Trump, with multiple indictments. Someone who undertook a crime wave over and over and over again, proudly smirking now that she stands behind Donald Trump, and then wants to communicate to us that this is about law and order when you are the party of lawlessness and disorder. In fact, the author of this resolution voted to overturn the will of the American people on January 6, and then came back, like the majority of her extreme MAGA Republican colleagues after the violent insurrection, after the Capitol was overrun by a violent mob, after more than 100 Capitol Police officers were seriously injured, and then voted still, not for law and order, not for accountability, and not for the Constitution. You voted with the insurrectionists. Give us a break, lecturing us about the Constitution and law and order. Your own record suggests that is a phony argument. Nobody is buying it. The American people aren't buying it. We will make sure the people of Michigan won't buy it. It has been very interesting watching extreme MAGA Republicans in this debate acting like detectives on the House floor. Extreme MAGA Republicans pretending to be Perry Mason. Extreme MAGA Republicans pretending to be Matlock. Extreme MAGA Republicans pretending to be Cagney & Lacey, not even worthy of being held to the standard of Inspector Gadget and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. That is how embarrassing your display on the House floor has been. This is a serious matter. Your behavior on the House floor is a serious matter, and I have the floor. I have the floor. The behavior of the extreme MAGA Republicans censuring Member after Member after Member has brought disgrace to the institution, to the House of Representatives. This behavior has brought disgrace; not the underlying censure. There has been accountability in the ways that we have all described. The effort to weaponize the censure--what happened, Mr. Speaker, to civility? What happened to trying to foster an environment where we can solve problems on behalf of the American people? We don't take these arguments of civility seriously because the overwhelming majority of the extreme MAGA Republican Conference supports the violent insurrectionists and supports the insurrectionist- in-chief, twice impeached, under Federal indictment repeatedly for breaking the law and violating the Constitution. Here we are on the House floor because extreme MAGA Republicans have no plan. Extreme MAGA Republicans have no policies. Extreme MAGA Republicans have made no progress for hardworking American taxpayers on any issue, and so you are here to try to distract. We are not going to let it happen. We are not going to let extreme MAGA Republicans distract the people of Michigan, distract the people of New York, distract the people of America. We are on the House floor wasting time talking about fire alarms--not the economy, not inflation, not affordable housing, not lowering costs, not the gun violence epidemic that continues to claim the lives of our young people all across America. Extreme MAGA Republicans have us on the House floor talking about fire alarms. How silly is that under these circumstances? Social Security is under assault. Medicare is under assault. Reproductive freedom is under assault. The Affordable Care Act is under assault. Democracy itself is under assault, and extreme MAGA Republicans are wasting time on the House floor talking about fire alarms under these circumstances. They are embarrassing themselves. It is petty, it is pathetic, and it is petulant. Now, House Democrats have said from the very beginning of this Congress that we will find bipartisan common ground with our Republican colleagues on any issue whenever and wherever necessary in order to make life better for the American people on any issue, but we will push back against Republican extremism whenever necessary, and you have crossed a line once again. We will call out MAGA extremism in the loudest, strongest, most direct way possible. This extreme MAGA Republicans' do-nothing Republican Congress has done nothing to improve the lives of the American people all over the land. This do-nothing Republican Congress has failed to solve a single problem on behalf of hardworking American taxpayers. This do-nothing Republican Congress has failed to do a single thing to improve the quality of life of the American people. If extreme MAGA Republicans are going to continue to try to weaponize the censure as is being done on this floor right now, going after Democrats repeatedly week after week after week because you have nothing better to do, then I volunteer. Censure me next. That is how worthless your censure effort is. It has no credibility, no integrity, and no legitimacy. Republicans should censure me next. I will take that censure and I will wear it next week, next month, next year like a badge of honor. I will go home, sleep well, and say to myself, today was a good day.

Mr. JEFFRIES

Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Chair, I thank my distinguished colleague from the great State of Wisconsin for yielding time to me on this amendment and on the underlying bill. The question was just asked: Why do we have a White House Gender Policy Council? It is a pretty simple answer to that question. It is because here in America there are two contrasting visions as it relates to reproductive freedom. Democrats believe in a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions. Extreme MAGA Republicans have a very different view. Extreme MAGA Republicans want to criminalize abortion care. Extreme MAGA Republicans want to impose a nationwide ban. Extreme MAGA Republicans want us to live in a society where women have government mandated pregnancies. That is the dichotomy that we confront right now. Reproductive freedom is at issue all across America, and you are either on the right side of that issue, Mr. Chairman, or you are on the wrong side. We believe that my Republican colleagues continue to march us toward a nationwide abortion ban. Mr. Chairman, just look at the underlying legislation which, by its very definition, restricts hundreds of thousands of people here in the District of Columbia as it relates to reproductive freedom. Why is it in this bill? It is because there is a real policy difference. House Democrats support a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions. Period. Full stop. It is a choice that should be between a woman, her doctor, her faith, and her family, and not a bunch of extreme politicians. Nevertheless, that is the vision that is being offered to us by our friends on the other side. That is the reason why the White House has taken the step forward to make sure that they are protecting women all across America from efforts to try to criminalize abortion care. I wonder, Mr. Chairman, what lesson has been learned from the events of just this week? What lesson was learned in Ohio? What lesson was learned in Virginia? What lesson was learned in Kentucky, the deepest of red States? Why does this continue to happen? They jam an extreme rightwing ideology down the throats of the women of America. That is what we are against. That is why we oppose this amendment. That is one of the reasons why we oppose this underlying bill. Now, from the very beginning of this Congress, House Democrats have made it clear: We want to find common ground with our Republican colleagues on any issue whenever and wherever possible if it relates to making life better for everyday Americans. House Democrats are all about putting people over politics: fighting for things like lower costs, growing the middle class, and safer communities. These are things that will make a difference and solve problems in the lives of everyday Americans. Part of the challenge that we face is that the extreme MAGA Republican agenda continues to be focused on the wrong things. The extreme MAGA Republican agenda is focused on defaulting on America's debt, shutting down the government, crashing the economy, criminalizing reproductive freedom, cutting Social Security and Medicare, impeaching President Biden, and doing nothing to deal with affordability issues or improving the quality of life of everyday Americans. That is a shame. So, yes, we are going to continue to oppose Republican efforts to criminalize abortion care now, tomorrow, next month, next year, and forever until this effort to take away reproductive freedom is buried in the ground never to rise again.

Mr. JEFFRIES

Mr. JEFFRIES. Speaker Mike Johnson, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Whip Clark, Chairman Aguilar, all of my colleagues, and government on both sides of the aisle, it is an honor and a privilege to once again stand before you as House Democratic leader. From the very beginning of this Congress, House Democrats have made clear that we will find bipartisan common ground with our Republican colleagues whenever and wherever possible for the good of the American people, and House Democrats have repeatedly done just that. It was House Democrats who provided a majority of the votes necessary to avoid a catastrophic default on our debt that would have crashed the U.S. economy and triggered a job-killing recession. It was House Democrats who provided a majority of the votes necessary to avoid a government shutdown that would have hurt everyday Americans. It was House Democrats who provided a majority of the votes necessary to secure $16 billion in disaster assistance for Americans whose lives have been devastated by extreme weather events. From the very beginning of this Congress, House Democrats have been governing for the people. We continue to look forward to finding bipartisan common ground whenever and wherever possible. House Democrats will continue to partner with President Biden and Senate Democrats to put people over politics. House Democrats will continue to fight for lower costs, better-paying jobs, safer communities, and to build an economy from the middle out and the bottom up and not the top down. House Democrats will continue to push back against extremism in this Chamber and throughout the country. House Democrats will continue to protect Social Security, protect Medicare, protect Medicaid, protect our children, protect our climate, protect low-income families, protect working families, protect the middle class, protect organized labor, protect the LGBTQ community, protect our veterans, protect older Americans, protect the Affordable Care Act, protect the right to vote, protect the peaceful transfer of power, protect our democracy, and protect a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions. These are blue lines in the sand, and we will work hard to make sure that they are never crossed. We must also continue to stand by President Biden as he works to bring American hostages and Israeli hostages and international hostages held by Hamas back home. We must also stand by our friends on the international stage. We have no better friend in the Middle East than the State of Israel. Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish and democratic State. The special relationship between the United States and Israel is unbreakable. Our commitment to Israel's security is ironclad. Israel has a right to defend itself under the international rules of war against the brutal terror unleashed on its citizens by Hamas. Our ironclad commitment to Israel's security and the effort to defeat Hamas is not inconsistent with the goal of achieving a lasting and just peace between Israel and the Palestinian people. In many ways, it is a necessary ingredient because Hamas is not good for Israel. Hamas is not is good for America. Hamas is not good for the free world. Hamas is not good for the democratic aspirations of the Palestinian people. We must also support Ukraine in its courageous effort to defeat Russian aggression. There are only two paths in front of us: We can either stand up for Ukraine or bow down to Vladimir Putin. That is not a difficult choice. We must stand up for America's national security. We must stand up for democracy. We must stand up for freedom. We must stand up for truth. We must stand up for the Ukrainian people until victory is won. It is my expectation that in the next week or so the Senate will send over for consideration a bipartisan national security funding package for Israel, Ukraine, and our other allies throughout the free world that also includes humanitarian assistance for Palestinian civilians and others who may be in harm's way. The House of Representatives should take up these national security and humanitarian relief packages immediately in totality and without delay. The time for gamesmanship is over. The time for brinksmanship is over. The time for partisanship is over. It is time to get back to doing the business of the American people. Let me conclude with an observation about the state of our democracy. Joe Biden won the 2020 Presidential election. He is doing a great job under difficult circumstances, and no amount of election denialism will ever change that reality. Not now, not ever. Throughout the years, Presidents, from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama and Dwight Eisenhower to Lyndon Baines Johnson, have spoken to this Chamber and urged us to put aside partisan politics for the good of the American people. President Lincoln spoke to this Congress on December 1, 1862, in the middle of the Civil War, and noted that we in this institution had the power and bore the responsibility to save the Union. The stakes were high. As articulated by President Lincoln, we could either nobly save or meanly lose America as we know it; the last best hope on Earth. This is a turbulent time in the American journey, and we have but one charge to keep during this moment of great fragility. Our Union must be sustained. Our Union must be strengthened. Our Union must succeed. There are many throughout this country who are understandably alarmed at the turbulence of the moment, at the chaos, the dysfunction, and the extremism that has been unleashed in this Chamber from the very beginning of this Congress, but this too shall pass. Our country has often confronted adversity. The good news is we always find a way to make it to the other side. We faced adversity in the 1860s in the middle of the Civil War when the country was literally tearing itself apart. We faced adversity in October of 1929 when the stock market collapsed, plunging us into the Great Depression. We faced adversity in December of 1941 when a foreign power unexpectedly struck, plunging us into a world war with an evil empire of Nazi Germany. We faced adversity in the Deep South in the 1950s and 1960s when the country was struggling to reconcile the inherent contradictions between Jim Crow segregation and the glorious promises of the Constitution. We faced adversity on September 11, 2001, when the towers and the Pentagon were unexpectedly struck, killing thousands of lives in an instant. We faced adversity right here in the House of Representatives when, on January 6, 2021, a violent mob of insurrectionists, incited by some in this Chamber, overran the House floor as part of an effort to halt the peaceful transfer of power. Every time we faced adversity, the good news here in America is that we always overcome. That is the power of American exceptionalism. That is why America is the land of the free and the home of the brave. That is why I remain optimistic about the future of this country. That is why America is the last best hope on Earth. God bless you. God bless the House of Representatives. God bless the United States of America. It is now my solemn honor and responsibility to hand over the people's gavel here in the United States House of Representatives to a family man, a hardworking man, a Baptist man, a southern man, a son of a firefighter's household, the gentleman from the great State of Louisiana and the 56th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Honorable Mike Johnson.

Mr. JEFFRIES

Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro) for her leadership and all of my colleagues in government. I rise today to have a conversation with the American people, so strap in because this may take a little while. I want to talk about why we are here at this moment on the brink of a shutdown that was entirely avoidable and has been brought to us by the extreme MAGA Republicans, who have decided that rather than pursue the normal legislative process of trying to find common ground; not as Democrats or Independents or Republicans but as Americans. Rather than try to pursue policy achievements through the normal legislative process, they want to threaten the American people with a shutdown to try to drive their extreme agenda down the throats of the American people. Why are we here at this moment on the brink of a catastrophic shutdown that will hurt everyday Americans, hurt children, hurt families, hurt older Americans, hurt veterans, and hurt the economy? Why are we here at this moment when from the very beginning we have said that there is an opportunity to come together in a bipartisan way consistent with the spending agreement that House Republicans themselves negotiated? From the beginning of this process, we have said nothing more, nothing less--simply keep your word with respect to the agreement that you negotiated. Just so that the American people understand what we are talking about when we say simply that an agreement was negotiated, how did we get to this point? Well, heading into the 118th Congress, heading into this Congress, we said that we are willing to find common ground with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle whenever and wherever possible in the best interests of the American people and govern in a bipartisan way in the same way that we governed in the previous Congress where we passed bill after bill after bill to make life better for the American people. Many of those legislative efforts, whether it was the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act where we created millions of good-paying jobs for hardworking, everyday Americans to fix our crumbling bridges, roads, tunnels, our airports, our sewer and water systems, our mass transportation systems, it was bipartisan; largely Democratic in the House but bipartisan. We passed gun safety legislation for the first time in 30 years. Why? Because we believe that we should do something about the gun violence epidemic in the United States of America with the fierce urgency of now and not as some of my colleagues want to do--unleash weapons of war that are not used to hunt deer. They are used to hunt human beings and shred children. We worked in a bipartisan way to pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, to make progress for the American people. Then we worked on the Chips and Science Act that will bring domestic manufacturing jobs back home to the United States of America as opposed to our jobs moving in the other direction and to invest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to ensure that our young people have the skills to succeed in the 21st century economy and are competitive to continue to elevate American exceptionalism. That was done in a bipartisan way. Now, there were some areas where our Republican colleagues refused to do what was right, in our view, for the American people, and that is why in some instances, we needed to just act, to put people over politics. That is what we did with the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act. Our bipartisan track record continues. We stood up for the men and women who have served this country and who were exposed to burn pits or toxic substances or Agent Orange. Through the PACT Act under the leadership of Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Mark Takano, we stood up for our veterans to ensure that millions of them would get the healthcare that they deserve. We got the PACT Act over the finish line. Once again, it was bipartisan in nature. We understood that there were grave threats to our democracy because of what occurred with the former President of the United States of America who incited a violent insurrection and tried to potentially use some loopholes within the Electoral Count Act to effectively steal the election, undermine the principle of free and fair elections, halt the peaceful transfer of power. We formed a committee under the leadership of Chairman Bennie Thompson who did an incredible job of presenting the stakes to the American people. The January 6th Committee explored the consequences of what happens when one individual and people who blindly follow them could undermine the very fabric of our democracy. It is important to note that the January 6th Committee was also bipartisan in nature. It was bipartisan, and every single witness that was presented worked with the former President. There is still more that needs to be done in that regard, but one of the legislative results of the January 6th Committee's wonderful presentation and exploration was that we passed reform to the Electoral Count Act to strengthen the institution of our democracy as part of the principle that we will never again allow a single individual sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to try to undermine American democracy. We won't do it. That bill was bipartisan in nature. We also passed the American Rescue Plan at a moment of great crisis: The very beginning of the previous Congress, in the midst of a once-in- a-century pandemic that cost so many lives, so much pain, so much suffering, so much death. We moved decisively under the leadership of President Biden to pass the American Rescue Plan which put shots in arms, money in pockets, and kids back in school. We passed the Child Tax Credit as part of that that reduced child poverty in America by half. Not a single Republican would join us as part of the effort to make sure that the American Dream is alive and well in every single ZIP Code. We reduced poverty. These were things that were done for everyone, every single American, regardless of ZIP Code: Urban America, rural America, exurban America, suburban America, small-town America, the Heartland of America, Appalachia. We are committed to putting people over politics. That is what we were able to do with the American Rescue Plan and allowed the United States of America to emerge as the strongest economy of any advanced economy in the world. That wasn't a guarantee. We know we have more work to do. We know we have more work to do, and we want to get to work. Instead of getting to work on behalf of the American people, solving problems, joining and partnering with us in a manner that is designed to find common ground, extreme MAGA Republicans have been marching us to a dangerous government shutdown, which we will get to in a moment. We ended the previous Congress by passing the Inflation Reduction Act, striking a dramatic blow against the climate crisis, setting our planet on a sustainable trajectory forward, the largest investment in combating the climate crisis in the history of the world because we recognize that these extreme weather events will not go away on their own. America is leading, thanks to our Speaker Emerita and House Democrats and Senate Democrats and President Joe Biden. In that legislation, we also addressed the issue of healthcare affordability because we understand that the American people are dealing with grave challenges as it relates to their cost of living. In the Inflation Reduction Act, we began to address that in a serious way; strengthening the Affordable Care Act, lowering healthcare costs, and driving down the high price of lifesaving prescription drugs for millions of Americans. This included taking the price of insulin, which prior to the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, would cost the average American family about $4,000 a year, and we drove that down to $35 a month, and we are just getting started. That is the track record coming into this Congress as the American people are suffering from what has been characterized as a Republican civil war. Apparently, it is because a handful of the more extreme Members on the other side of the aisle have concluded that what is necessary is to try to hijack the institution, to jam their rightwing ideological views down the throats of the American people because they understand that otherwise, these extreme policies cannot be achieved throughout the normal legislative process. We are supposed to believe that the chaos, the dysfunction, the extremism is largely a result of the narrowness of the Republican majority. We had the same exact majority, extremely narrow on the other side of the aisle. Instead of chaos, dysfunction, and extremism, we got things done for the American people--the same exact majority under the leadership of Speaker Pelosi and Jim Clyburn and Steny Hoyer. That is the context coming into the moment that we are in right now; historic dysfunction that we have seen. We are on the brink of a government shutdown and at the eleventh hour, legislation is dropped on the American people. We are told that you have 5 or 10 minutes to evaluate legislation that is more than 70 pages long and expected simply to trust the word of our extreme MAGA Republican colleagues. The American people deserve better. They deserve better. We are working through evaluating that legislation on behalf of the American people. We have not had time to evaluate the bill that was dropped on the American people at the eleventh hour, immediately after what took place yesterday on the floor of the House where extreme MAGA Republicans put on the floor a continuing resolution that imposed 30 percent or more draconian cuts on the American people, including cutting the Social Security Administration by 30 percent, devastating Social Security and the ability of the administration to administer it on behalf of older Americans in this country. We need time to evaluate whether in this bill that was just dropped upon the American people at the eleventh hour, does it try to cut Social Security because that is what you tried to do yesterday. We need a little time to evaluate whether you are trying to slash public school funding. Why are we concerned about whether the Republican majority is trying to slash public school funding? Because you put forth a bill that did just that yesterday. It would devastate the ability of American children all across the country to be able to learn in a manner that gives them the best opportunity to succeed and pursue the American Dream. Some versions of the Republican spending bills would slash Title 1 funding, which goes to the most vulnerable children amongst us, by 80 percent; effectively shut down public education in many parts of this country. I think it is a reasonable thing for House Democrats on behalf of the American people to have time to evaluate what you are trying to do with public education in a bill that House Republicans dropped on the American people at the eleventh hour. We also are very concerned that from the very beginning of this Congress, Republicans had an objective to criminalize abortion care and to impose or march us toward a nationwide ban. We want the American people to understand that on this side of the aisle we don't believe that our colleagues on the Republican side should threaten a government shutdown as part of their effort to criminalize abortion care. That shouldn't happen. That should not happen. That is what Republicans are trying to do in a Defense bill that they just passed this week. We need an opportunity to evaluate the four corners of a bill that the Republican majority dropped on us at the eleventh hour, and what it does to reproductive freedom. I think that is what the American people would want us to do. Let us be clear to the American people, House Democrats believe in a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions. Period. Full stop. The Republican majority wants to undermine reproductive freedom. We are trying to evaluate a bill, dropped on the American people at the eleventh hour, whether anything in the four corners of this bill would undermine reproductive freedom. Earlier in the year, my Republican colleagues threatened to default on America's debt, which connects to the moment that we are in right now because it ultimately resulted in Republicans agreeing to top-line spending numbers. That is part of what has brought us to this moment. An agreement was reached in May to avoid any shutdown drama by setting top-line spending numbers at the insistence of House Republicans, who then went into the Oval Office with President Joe Biden, who was negotiating in good faith, and arrived at top-line spending numbers. The bill was presented on the House floor and more than 300 Members of Congress voted for it, including 149 Republicans, a majority in the Senate that was bipartisan in nature, it was sent to President Biden's desk and signed into law, setting top-line spending numbers as part of an effort to avoid a reckless government shutdown. It took less than a week for the Republican majority to break its word in the agreement that House Republicans themselves negotiated, which leads us to this moment right now. The nerve of even threatening a catastrophic default in and of itself highlights the extremism that has permeated this Chamber from the beginning of this Congress on January 3. The full faith and credit of the United States of America and protecting it is a constitutional responsibility that we all have. By the way, when Democrats were in the majority and someone was in the White House from the other side of the political aisle--someone who we strongly disagreed with, the former President--we raised the debt ceiling three times. There was no gamesmanship, no partisanship, and no showmanship. We raised it three times. That is simply what should have occurred this time around. As part of extracting policy changes that the American people don't support, we were threatened with defaulting on our debt for the first time in American history: it would have crashed the economy, sent the stock market spiraling downward, and triggering a job-killing recession. Under the leadership of President Biden, we reached an agreement to avoid a catastrophic default. In that agreement, we protected Social Security, protected Medicare, protected Medicaid, protected veterans, protected public education, protected public safety, protected our efforts to combat the climate crisis, and protected the American people. As part of that we reached top-line spending numbers that Republicans negotiated. Immediately, the Republicans then broke the agreement to bring us to this point. That is very unfortunate. All of this could have been avoided. We have a bill in the Senate that shortly would have ended the government shutdown. If in fact, as we have consistently asked for, this bipartisan spending agreement emerges from the Senate and makes its way over to the House, and if you put the bipartisan spending agreement emerging from the Senate on the floor of the House of Representatives and allow for an up or down vote, it will pass, and the extreme MAGA Republican shutdown would end. That is the way to proceed. Why can't my Republican colleagues commit to doing just that? Is this really a serious effort to end a government shutdown-- threat--when it is in the DNA of many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to shut down the government? It is not hyperbole. Let's just check the historic record. In the 1990s, the Republicans shut the government down twice when Bill Clinton was President. The ransom demand at the time was: We want to slash and burn Medicaid and end Medicare as the American people know it. Unless that were to happen, we were told by Republicans that they would shut down the government. That is exactly what happened twice in the 1990s in order to try to slash and burn Medicaid and adversely impact Medicare. It is in the DNA of House Republicans. How do we know that? In 2013, the American people were forced to deal with another reckless, dangerous government shutdown. For 14 days, House Republicans shut down the government. Why was the government shut down in 2013? Because the demand was made, inherently unreasonable, that President Obama should repeal the Affordable Care Act, a signature legislative accomplishment that has been a force for good in the United States of America. We declined politely to take away healthcare from millions of Americans. We declined politely to allow House Republicans to impose a situation in America where more than 100 million people would have lost their protection for pre-existing conditions. We declined to allow House Republicans to impose an age tax on older Americans, which would have dramatically increased healthcare costs. Because we have declined to do those things, House Republicans chose to shut the government down in 2013 for 14 days. It is in the House Republicans' DNA. In 2018 and 2019, we faced the longest government shutdown in American history, 35 days of devastation visited upon the American people, unnecessarily so. What was the extreme ransom demand at that particular point in time? The demand was to waste billions of dollars of taxpayer money on the former President's ineffective, medieval border wall, which, by the way, he said Mexico would pay for. The House majority at the time turned around and tried to stick the American taxpayer with a bill--an ineffective solution to the issues around immigration that we should necessarily confront. Because we declined, respectfully, to pay that ransom note and stick the American people with billions and billions of dollars for an ineffective border wall that the previous President promised Mexico would pay for, the Republicans shut the government down for 35 days. It is in their DNA. The interesting thing about that government shutdown is that while we had taken the majority in January of 2019, the government shutdown started in late December. In other words, the government shutdown started with a Republican in the White House and Republicans in the majority in the House and in the Senate. You shut yourselves down at that particular moment. It is in their DNA. That is the backdrop and context for how we arrived at this moment. After the district work period throughout the month of August, we came back to Congress ready, willing, and able to get things done for the American people, to find common ground, to put people over politics, which is what we are committed to doing every single day we are here in Washington. When we came back in September, that is what House Democrats were prepared to do. We were told that to the extent any illegitimate impeachment inquiry would be launched, it would be done only with a serious up or down vote on the floor of the House of Representatives. That is what we were told by House Republican leadership. That is not what happened. Instead of coming back to Washington in September, knowing we were faced with the possibility of an extreme MAGA Republican government shutdown, and being laser-focused on finding the common ground necessary to fund the government in a way that protects the health, the safety, and the economic well-being of the American people--instead of doing that, without a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives--House leadership announces an illegitimate impeachment inquiry. There was no evidence of wrongdoing. There was no evidence of an impeachable offense. There was no evidence that any high crimes or misdemeanors were committed by the President. There was no evidence that the President broke the law. How do we know this? The Republicans' own witnesses told the American people that 2 days ago in a hearing that House Republicans called. Mr. Speaker, for 3 weeks, instead of focusing on solving problems for hardworking American taxpayers, House Republicans launched an illegitimate impeachment inquiry when House Republican witnesses have now testified before the American people that no evidence exists to justify impeaching the current President. That is part of the context of why we are here: House Republicans wasting time doing the bidding of the former President, the insurrectionist-in-chief, who demanded an illegitimate impeachment inquiry be opened. As opposed to working together to find the common ground to meet the needs of the American people, they have been wasting time and taxpayer dollars on a reckless political stunt. That is why we are at the brink of the government shutting down right now. That was week one when we came back, the week of September 11. What happened in week two? Week two, the week of September 18, House Republicans, my colleagues, decided that they were going to try to jam extreme rightwing policies down the throats of the American people, strip away reproductive freedom, criminalize abortion care, bully the LGBTQ community, cut public education, cut public safety, cut affordable housing programs, cut the ability for veterans to receive the nutritional assistance that they needed. Week two they decided, the House majority, Mr. Chairman decided to go to the floor to pass bills that would do nothing to make life better for everyday Americans, do nothing to avoid a catastrophic government shutdown, do nothing to find common ground in a bipartisan way. During the week of September 18, a decision was made to try to jam extreme rightwing policies down the throats of the American people, and not a single bill was passed because House Republicans had an inability to get their act together with each other. Colorful words were used--I won't use them on the floor; they are in the public domain--as part of a Republican civil war, shooting at each other, fighting each other. Let me make something clear, House Democrats are here to fight for the American people, to fight for the American people. That is what we should be doing; Not fighting each other as part of a Republican civil war. Last week, time was wasted by our House Republican colleagues fighting each other in what has been described as a Republican civil war--colorful language used not by Democrats to describe what was taking place on the other side of the aisle, but used by House Republicans to describe each other. I won't call out any individual Members on the other side of the aisle, but former Members, including a former Speaker, Paul Ryan, a good man--I disagreed with him on a whole host of issues, but he believed in the institution--made the observation that House Republicans are dysfunctional and need to get their act together. That is Paul Ryan, former Speaker. That same sentiment was echoed by current House Republican Members. Last week, they wasted time fighting each other as opposed to finding the common ground necessary to reach a bipartisan spending agreement. The former chair, top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, Rosa DeLauro, has made clear from the very beginning she was ready to sit down and talk to her Republican counterpart anytime, anyplace, ready, willing, and able to find bipartisan common ground. However, we couldn't find a partner on the other side, and so we proceeded in conversation with Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans, and the Biden administration. They were all in alignment in a strongly bipartisan bill to avert a government shutdown earlier this week that passed in a motion procedurally to advance the legislation 77-19, strongly bipartisan. We were a part of those conversations thanks to Rosa DeLauro. That is a bill that would avoid a government shutdown and meet the needs of the American people in every single way and give us another 45 days or so to work through the normal appropriations process and reach common ground. However, instead of partnering with House Democrats, Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans, and the Biden administration, House Republicans decided to go it alone, fight a civil war, stand on an island on their own. So last week nothing happened on the floor of the House of Representatives. That brings us to this week. This week we returned earlier and had every opportunity. We continued to say, we want to partner with our Republican colleagues to find the common ground necessary to meet the needs of the American people and avoid a catastrophic government shutdown that will hurt everyday Americans, hurt children, hurt families, hurt the middle class, hurt all those who aspire to be part of the middle class, hurt working families, hurt veterans, hurt the poor, the sick, the afflicted, hurt the least, the lost, and the left- behind. We have said from the very beginning that we were ready, willing, and able to find the bipartisan common ground to meet the needs of the American people and avoid a catastrophic government shutdown. Instead, my Republican colleagues spent this week peddling more chaos, more dysfunction, and more extremism, trying to jam extreme rightwing policies down the throats of the American people, cutting Social Security, slashing public school funding, criminalizing abortion care, including in the Department of Defense bill that House Republicans advanced earlier this week, to restrict military servicewomen from being able to travel in order to seek reproductive healthcare and threatened a government shutdown unless the American people were to be forced to agree with a policy that they don't support. They spent this week doing things like that. Yesterday, a bill was brought to the House floor to cut spending by 30 percent or more in a manner that would do things like take food out of the mouths of women, infants, and children. We will never let that happen--not now, not ever, not in America. We will never let that happen. That is one of the extreme rightwing policies that my Republican colleagues spent this week threatening to do--threatening to do--taking us to the brink of a government shutdown. Now, from the very beginning, there was a clear path forward because a spending agreement was reached in May that everyone in this town agreed to abide by as a matter of law: House Democrats, House Republicans, Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans, and President Biden. Why, then, have we spent the last several weeks here in the House of Representatives trying to break that agreement and threaten a reckless government shutdown which, by the way, will have catastrophic consequences for the American people? We want the American people to know that we are going to do everything possible to stop extreme MAGA Republicans from shutting down the government. We are fighting on their behalf to put people over politics. That is why we are here. That is why we are making this fight. We want to do it in a bipartisan way, so we are in the process of evaluating the legislation that was dropped on the American people at the eleventh hour. Once we conclude that expeditious review of the four corners of the legislation, we can make a decision as to the best path forward, when we have said all week that the only path forward is a bipartisan one, is a bipartisan bill working its way through the Senate right now--Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans coming together to meet the needs of the American people. We are evaluating the four corners of the bill to see if it does what is necessary as part of our effort to fight for things like lower costs and better-paying jobs and safer communities, building a healthy economy for hardworking American taxpayers. Why? Because as House Democrats, we are committed to an economy that is built from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down--not the top down. Therefore, we are in the process now of evaluating whether there is anything in the four corners of this bill that would impose upon the American people the trickle-down economic scheme that has been such a disaster for the American middle class and for all those who aspire to be part of the middle class. I think the American people deserve an opportunity for their elected Representatives, Democrats and Republicans, to evaluate the legislation that is in front of us--that is the least that can be done--when we know that for decades House Republicans and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have imposed big tax cuts that benefit only the wealthiest amongst us and undermine the ability of the American people to truly pursue the American Dream. It was done most recently in 2017. The House Republican majority's signature legislative accomplishment was passing the GOP tax scam where 83 percent of the benefits went to the wealthiest 1 percent. If at the end of the day this is all about fiscal responsibility, we want our Republican colleagues to explain why, in a bill that benefited only a handful of Americans, did they stick the American people with $2 trillion worth of debt? Because the GOP tax scam was not paid for at all. House Republicans dropped a bill on the American people at the eleventh hour earlier today, and all we are simply saying is that we want time to evaluate whether there is anything within the four corners of that bill that would try to impose some trickle-down economic scheme. I have come to the conclusion over the years that trickle-down economics means only one thing for everyday Americans. You may get a trickle, but you are guaranteed to stay down. That is what trickle-down economics is all about. At the end of the day, we need to just evaluate where we are because House Republicans started this Congress by saying any bill that is brought before the people's House will be done so in a manner that allows for at least 72 hours of review. That was the House Republican policy, 72 hours of review. Like many other things that have been broken promises throughout this do-nothing Republican Congress, you promised the American people they would have 72 hours to review any bill brought before the American people. You dropped this bill at the eleventh hour today and gave the American people minutes to evaluate it. That is unacceptable. It is un- American. It is unreasonable. The American people deserve better. The American people deserve better because, at the end of the day, what we are endeavoring to do is to try to figure out where we are at on behalf of our quest to lift up the great American Dream for the middle class and all those who aspire to be part of the middle class, to do things that are pro-American, pro-worker, pro-labor union, pro- entrepreneurial, pro-small business, pro-job creation, consistent with our views that, in America, when you work hard and play by the rules, you should be able to provide a comfortable living for yourself and for your family, educate your children, purchase a home, and one day retire with grace and dignity. Is that too much to ask? That is what we are fighting for on behalf of the American people. All we want is time, just a handful of moments, to be able to evaluate. Is there anything within the bill that was dropped on the American people at the eleventh hour--notwithstanding the fact that the American people were promised 72 hours for any bill, let alone consequential legislation. We just want to be able to evaluate within the four corners of the agreement where things are at in terms of uplifting that basic American principle. As I mentioned at the very beginning of my remarks, House Democrats continue to stand ready to find common ground with our Republican colleagues whenever and wherever possible. However, we will oppose Republican extremism whenever necessary. We will oppose any efforts to cut Social Security and Medicare. We will oppose any efforts to slash public school funding. We will oppose any efforts to undermine American democracy. We will oppose any efforts to flood our communities with weapons of war. We will oppose any efforts to undermine the progress being made on the climate crisis. We will oppose any efforts to undermine the great American Dream. We will oppose any efforts to undercut public education. We will oppose any efforts to walk away from the people who keep us safe at our border and around the United States of America. We will oppose any efforts to undermine the ability of the middle class to continue to thrive in the United States of America. All we are doing is making sure that we can assess the four corners of the legislation that is before us, avoid a catastrophic government shutdown, put people over politics, and make sure that we can continue the great American Dream; that you don't undermine freedom, you don't undermine reproductive freedom, you don't undermine the things that are necessary for every single American to thrive in every ZIP Code throughout the land, in urban America, in rural America, in suburban America, in small-town America, in the heartland of America, in Appalachia. That is all we are doing. When we complete our review, we will come back to the floor. We will make a decision. As Democrats, we will continue to put people over politics and continue America's long, necessary, and majestic march toward a more perfect Union.

Mr. JEFFRIES

Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Chair, I thank my good friend, the distinguished gentleman from the great State of Texas and the all-American city of Laredo for yielding and for his continued leadership. I also have great respect for the distinguished gentleman from Ohio, the chair of the subcommittee, and of course the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee from Connecticut. At the beginning of this Congress, House Democrats made it clear that we are willing, ready, and able to find common ground with the other side of the aisle, our Republican colleagues, whenever and wherever possible, to make progress for everyday Americans, to build a healthy economy, to address cost-of-living issues that consume the American people that we were sent to Washington to work on, that President Biden has made progress on with House and Senate Democrats, but of course, there is still more work to be done. From the beginning of this Congress, House Democrats have made clear we are ready, willing, and able to find common ground with the other side of the aisle, to make progress for the American people, but we have also made it clear that we are going to fight extremism whenever necessary. We are headed toward an extreme MAGA Republican government shutdown in just a few days. Now, we can avoid it, because there is a bipartisan bill that is working its way through the Senate right now that will continue to fund the government in a way that makes sense for the American people, that would provide funding at the fiscal year 2023 levels for 6 weeks beginning on October 1st, to give us time for the appropriations process to run its course, to find an agreement to fund the government in a bipartisan way. It is a continuing resolution right now pending before the Senate, strongly bipartisan, that doesn't contain any of the extreme policy poison-pill riders that House Republicans have been trying to jam down the throats of the American people but have no part in any bipartisan agreement, particularly when we are faced with a possible government shutdown that will hurt the American people. It is a continuing resolution that also meets the needs of everyday Americans by providing robust funding for Americans who have been adversely impacted by extreme weather events all across America in blue States and in red States, because extreme weather events aren't partisan in nature, and we should be there for the people of Florida and California and Hawaii and Vermont and the Northeast and the Midwest and the Deep South, those everyday Americans who have been impacted by extreme weather events. That is what the bipartisan continuing resolution pending in the Senate will do, and it will allow the Ukrainian people to continue their brave, valiant, and courageous effort to push back against illegal Russian brutal, violent aggression. We have a bipartisan continuing resolution working its way through the Senate that meets the needs of the American people. It has input from those of us in this Chamber and that will pass if it reaches the floor of this Chamber and would avoid an extreme MAGA Republican shutdown. Just yesterday, a bipartisan group in the Senate voted, I believe, 77-19 to advance this bipartisan continuing resolution. It will reach the floor of the House in a few days. The question is: What will the House Republican majority do? There are only two paths forward: Allow that bipartisan continuing resolution that meets the needs of the American people to receive an up or down vote, and it will pass and we will avoid a shutdown, or refuse to allow that bill to receive an up or down vote and stick the American people with an extreme MAGA Republican government shutdown that will hurt children, hurt families, hurt seniors, hurt veterans, hurt everyday Americans, and hurt the economy. If we find ourselves dealing with an extreme MAGA Republican shutdown, what will it all be for? Well, this week is very revealing, because we are considering bills, including the one that is before us right now, that have zero chance of becoming law--zero chance--and they are filled with extreme policy poison pills relating to things like cutting Social Security; criminalizing abortion care; slashing public school funding; taking food out of the mouths of women, infants, and children; hurting the ability of veterans and seniors to make ends meet. That is why the government will shut down, because extreme MAGA Republicans have determined that it needs to try to jam rightwing ideology down the throats of the American people, and, if we don't pay that ransom note, you want to shut the government down. We know this playbook because we have seen it over and over again. We saw it in the 1990s under Newt Gingrich when the House Republican majority at the time shut the government down twice, demanding that we slash and burn Medicaid. Well, that government shutdown ended with an unconditional surrender, because the American people were unwilling to pay that ransom note to slash and burn Medicaid. The same thing happened in 2013 when the Tea Party forced a reluctant John Boehner to shut the government down for 14 days. What was the extreme ransom note demand at the time? That President Obama should repeal the Affordable Care Act, his signature legislative accomplishment. It ended the same way, an unconditional surrender, because the American people were unwilling to pay the extreme ransom note. Then, again, in 2018 into 2019, another government shutdown, longest in American history, 35 days. What was the extreme ransom note demand at the time? That the American taxpayer be forced to pay billions and billions of dollars to fund a medieval, ineffective border wall that Donald Trump wanted to make happen. That government shutdown ended exactly the same way after 35 days--unconditional surrender, because the American people were unwilling to pay that extreme ransom note. Why are we going through this exercise again when we know it is going to end the same way? Because the American people are not willing to pay a ransom note that will allow my extreme Republican colleagues to criminalize abortion care or to cut Social Security or to slash public school funding or to take food out of the mouths of women or infants or children. That is not a ransom note that will ever be paid. You have a bipartisan vehicle coming out of the Senate that will be before the House in a few days, and there is only one responsible course of action. House Democrats are prepared to support that bipartisan agreement so we can avoid a government shutdown that will hurt the American people, and the only question is: Will our Republican colleagues join us?

Mr. JEFFRIES

Mr. JEFFRIES. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend a faithful public servant of this great institution on the occasion of her retirement. For decades, our very own Joyce Hamlett has worked in this Chamber, dutifully upholding and protecting our traditions. On behalf of House Democrats, it is a distinct privilege to publicly honor her incredible career of service to the United States House of Representatives, 35 years of poise, professionalism, and particularity. In the early 1990s, after spending some time in the prior decade as a cafeteria worker, elevator operator, and doorkeeper, Joyce secured a position in Chamber security with the Sergeant at Arms, where she began to firmly enforce the rules of decorum on the House floor, emphasis on the word ``firmly.'' Upon arriving in Congress as a new Member, I quickly came to a conclusion: Don't mess with Joyce. As House Democratic leader, I came to the same conclusion: Don't mess with Joyce. In connection with her exemplary service with Chamber security, Joyce was elevated in 2007 to the position of Keeper of the Mace, as has been mentioned, the first Black woman to hold that role in the 234-year history of this great institution. Joyce's career in the House has spanned seven different Presidents, including Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama, as well as eight different Speakers, beginning with Jim Wright, including Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, and concluding with Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Throughout the years, Joyce has served in the Chamber with legendary Members, from John Lewis, the iconic civil rights hero and conscience of the Congress, to Don Young, the longest serving Republican Member of the House and an authentic frontier spirit who always told us what was on his mind. The American public may not have the opportunity to intimately get to know officers of the Capitol, like Joyce, who serve here each and every day, but thankfully we do. We know our work would be impossible without the diligence, dedication, and devotion of public servants like Joyce. Her deep-rooted faith in God and her sense of duty were instilled during her childhood while growing up in rural North Carolina, having been raised in a God-fearing church community by her loving grandfather. Joyce learned at an early age the importance of service and faithfulness. That faith has served the Members of this institution well throughout the years, including on September 11, when she helped Members evacuate in the midst of a terrorist attack heading our way, or on January 6, when a violent mob attacked the Capitol and tried to breach the Chamber. Joyce faithfully executed her role with the utmost care, helping to secure the House Chamber and ensuring the safety and protection of the Members and the congressional mace. When we reconvened on the House floor that night, it was Joyce, with the mace, who brought us back into session. As I close, we are grateful today that throughout the years, as the Scripture says, Joyce has been faithful over a few things: faithful to the Chamber, faithful to the Congress, faithful to the country, and faithful to the Constitution. She has been faithful over a few things. As Joyce prepares to go back home to North Carolina, I think we can confidently express the sentiment found in Matthew 25:23: Well done, thy good and faithful servant. Well done. Congratulations on your retirement. (Applause, the Members rising.)

Mr. JEFFRIES

Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman for yielding and for his leadership. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to this fake, phony, and fraudulent censure resolution brought against Adam Schiff, the distinguished gentleman from the great State of California. House Democrats will continue to put people over politics, to fight for lower costs, better-paying jobs, safer communities, defend democracy, fight for freedom, and build an economy that invests and grows the middle class. This is a do-nothing Republican-controlled Congress, that is why this censure resolution is on the floor today. Extreme MAGA Republicans have no vision, have no plan, and have no agenda to make life better for everyday Americans. House Democrats will continue to work for the people. Clearly, as this resolution demonstrates, extreme MAGA Republicans work for the twice-impeached, disgraced former President of the United States of America, the insurrectionist in chief, the extreme puppet master, who clearly ordered that this fake, phony, and fraudulent resolution be brought to the floor today after it failed last week. In fact, the supreme puppet master even threatened the other side of the aisle with primaries if they didn't bend the knee. When he says, ``bend the knee,'' extreme MAGA Republicans say, ``how high.'' Adam Schiff has done nothing wrong. Adam Schiff is a good man. Adam Schiff has served this country with distinction. Adam Schiff served this country well as a Federal prosecutor, fighting to keep communities safe. Adam Schiff served this country well as the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, investigating people without fear or favor, including those at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue because he believes in the Constitution and his oath of office. Adam Schiff served his country well as the lead impeachment manager during the first impeachment trial of the former President of the United States, prosecuting his corrupt abuse of power. Yes, Adam Schiff served this country well in the aftermath of the violent insurrection. He pushed back against the big lie told by the puppet master in chief and participated as a prominent member of the January 6th Committee to defend our democracy. Adam Schiff has done nothing wrong. He has worked hard to do right by the American people. The extreme MAGA Republicans have no vision, no agenda, and no plan to make life better for the American people, so we have this phony, fake, and fraudulent censure resolution. Adam Schiff will not be silenced. We will not be silenced. House Democrats will not be silenced today. We will not be silenced tomorrow. We will not be silenced next week. We will not be silenced next month. We will not be silenced next year. We will not be silenced this decade. We will not be silenced this century. You will never ever silence us. We will always do what is right. We will always fight for the Constitution, fight to defend democracy, fight for freedom, expose extremism, and continue America's long, necessary, and majestic march toward a more perfect Union. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' against this phony, fake, and fraudulent censure resolution.

Mr. JEFFRIES

Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to the extreme MAGA Republican effort to default on our debt, crash the economy, and trigger a job-killing recession. From the very beginning of this Congress, House Democrats have been focused on putting people over politics. Lower costs, better-paying jobs, safer communities, fighting for reproductive freedom, defending democracy, ensuring an economy that works for everyday Americans-- people over politics. We have made clear from the very beginning that we are willing to find common ground with the other side of the aisle for the good of the American people whenever and wherever possible. We have also made clear that we will fight extremism whenever necessary. So, we are here on the floor today because this default crisis is before the American people as a result of extreme MAGA Republicans making the political calculation that they will benefit in 2024 if they crash the economy, if America defaults, if we fail to pay our bills, if millions of people are made to suffer--not our words. Those are the words of former President Donald Trump, the words of the chairman of the Republican National Committee, the words of extreme MAGA Republicans at the very far right of their Conference. It is a political calculation that we are going to take hostages, the American people and the economy, and threaten to crash the economy, to hurt these hostages, if necessary, or extract painful cuts--painful cuts to our veterans; to disabled children on Medicaid; to people who rely on nutrition assistance, including our veterans; to children; to teachers; to public safety; and, of course, to our military families. These are the stakes that are before the American people. That is why House Democrats are here on the floor fighting. How we know that the other side of the aisle has made the determination that they are willing to default on our debt to crash the economy is because this default crisis is before the American people. On June 1, America may run out of the ability to pay our bills, and extreme MAGA Republicans have chosen to get out of town before sundown, to flee Washington, D.C., to risk a dangerous default in a crisis that they have created. These Republicans are going to say that Joe Biden refused to sit down with them. That is a fake narrative that they have continued to try to put into the public domain. They said that President Biden refused to talk for 97 days, a fake, false, fraudulent narrative. How do we know? The timeline is pretty clear. On February 1, President Biden sat down with the Speaker of the House. They had a conversation in the Oval Office. President Biden said that we will produce our budget on March 9 so that the American people know our values, know the types of investments that should be made for their health, their safety, and their economic well-being, and challenged the extreme MAGA Republicans to do the same thing. On March 9, President Biden produced his budget, a budget that will strengthen and protect Social Security, a budget that will build an economy from the middle out and the ground up, a budget that will cut the deficit by an additional $3 trillion on top of the $1.7 trillion that has already been cut by the Biden administration over the last 2 years. Then, we waited for Republicans to produce their budget. Early March, no budget. Mid-March, no budget. Late March, no budget. Early April, no Republican budget. Mid-April, no Republican budget. Then, on April 25, they didn't produce a budget, but they produced the default on America act--not a budget, a ransom note, threatening to hurt the well-being of the American people with draconian cuts. They introduced it on April 25. On April 26, they voted on it, and they passed it simply because George Santos, a serial fraudster, provided the deciding vote. This is who they are. Then, on April 27, they got out of town. Some of them were overseas for 10 days, and then as soon as they got into town, Tuesday, May 9, President Biden, on the first opportunity he had, reconvened all of us in the Oval Office. Mr. Speaker, that is the timeline. From the very beginning, Democrats have been willing to do two things: one, that America must pay our bills--period, full stop--in a manner consistent with what has been done under Democratic Presidents and Republican Presidents, including by House Democrats making sure we avoided a default three times under the previous administration, notwithstanding the fact we had strong policy disagreements. What Republicans were doing at the time included passing the 2017 GOP tax scam, where 83 percent of the benefits went to the wealthiest 1 percent, sticking us with an additional $2 trillion worth of debt. Why? To subsidize the lifestyles of the wealthy, the well off, and the well connected. We had strong policy disagreements about what was going on in the Trump administration, but we never threatened to default on our debt. That is the patriotic thing to do. We helped make sure we avoided a default three times, notwithstanding the fact that, in our country's 247-year history, 25 percent of the Nation's debt was racked up under the 4 years of the Trump administration. How dare Republicans lecture America about fiscal responsibility with that shameful record. Notwithstanding the fact that Republicans have racked up unprecedented amounts of debt to subsidize the rich, the richest amongst us, and big corporations, we never threatened a default. Yet, here we are, a few days from America being unable to pay our bills because you have made a political calculation that you will be successful in 2024 if you crash the economy. That is wrong. That is cruel. That is un-American. Republicans will be hurting veterans, hurting children, hurting seniors, hurting young people, hurting everyday Americans. That is why Democrats are here today in Washington, fighting hard against this unreasonable, manufactured default crisis. This is a default crisis that is manufactured MAGA madness. It is repugnant, reckless, and reprehensible. It is unacceptable, unconscionable, and it is un-American. That is why House Democrats have remained on the House floor fighting hard for everyday Americans. That is why we are here and will continue to fight for working families; continue to fight for middle-class folks; continue to fight for all those who aspire to be part of the middle class; continue to fight for young people; continue to fight for older Americans; continue to fight for veterans; continue to fight for military families; continue to fight for people in urban America, rural America, suburban America, small-town America, and the heartland of America; continue to fight for the people in Appalachia; continue to fight for the poor, the sick, and the afflicted; continue to fight for the least, the lost, and the left behind. House Democrats will continue to fight for everyday Americans to avoid a default, and we will not rest until victory is won.

Mr. JEFFRIES

Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, what is the Republican record? President Reagan came into office, and the first thing that he did was massive tax cuts for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well- connected, and explodes the deficit. President George W. Bush came into office, and in 2001 and 2003, massive tax cuts for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected; two failed wars; a deep recession; and explodes the deficit. President Trump came into office. The first thing he did in 2017 was massive tax cuts for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected; the GOP tax scam with 83 percent of the benefits going to the wealthiest 1 percent in America; and explodes the deficits. How dare you lecture America about fiscal responsibility when the record shows that Democrats are the party of job creation and reducing deficits, and Republicans are the party of tax cuts for the wealthy, the well-off, the well-connected, and exploding the deficits. We are not going to stand here and allow you to lecture us about fiscal responsibility. What this is is an effort to try to extract deep, painful cuts on everyday Americans. There is a process for America to pay its bills. It should be seamless. Then there is a budget process and an appropriations process. That is where we can have a conversation about future spending, future investments, and what the priorities should be. President Joe Biden produced a budget. His budget will actually protect and strengthen Social Security, build an economy that works for everyday Americans, and cut the deficit by $3 trillion. We have been asking for a Republican budget. Instead of giving us a budget, you have given us a ransom note. That is what the default on America act is, threatening a dangerous default. Pass it or else. That is not statesmanship. That is brinkmanship. It will cause grave harm to everyday Americans. The reckless extreme MAGA Republican dangerous default effort risks triggering a painful recession that will cost millions of good-paying jobs. This reckless Republican effort, this effort to lead us down a dangerous default, will risk crashing the stock market and put in jeopardy the retirement security of millions of older Americans. This reckless Republican effort to lead us down a dangerous default risks exploding costs for everyday Americans. That is what is in front of us right now. That is why we oppose this reckless effort to default on America. This bill is unacceptable; it is unreasonable; it is unworkable; it is unconscionable; and it is un-American. That is why we oppose it. That is why we are urging a ``no'' vote, and that is why we are asking you to come together not as Republicans but as Americans to do what has always been done and make sure America pays bills that have already been incurred and avoid a dangerous default.

Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Neal for his extraordinary leadership and continuing to work to elevate values that benefit everyday Americans. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to the extreme MAGA Republican default on America Act. This reckless Republican effort to lead us down the road of a dangerous default will hurt working families, hurt the middle class, hurt all those Americans who aspire to be part of the middle class, hurt young people, hurt seniors, hurt veterans, hurt the poor, the sick, and the afflicted. This will hurt people in urban America, rural America, exurban America, small-town America, in Appalachia, and in the heartland of America. It will hurt the least, the lost, and the left behind. The extreme MAGA Republican default on America act will hurt everyday Americans. Why? Because you want to jam your reckless, extreme ideology down the throats of the American people in a hostage-taking situation. Instead of producing a budget, which is what President Biden has done, you have produced a ransom note. The default on America act is a ransom note because effectively what you are saying is: Pass our extreme MAGA Republican bill or else America is going to default. Now, we have a responsibility here in the United States Congress to uphold the full faith and credit of the United States of America to make sure that, as a country, we pay our bills, bills that have already been incurred, and not default. That is what our responsibility is, not as Democrats or as Republicans, but as Americans. That is why, in the previous administration, Democrats three times worked with the Trump administration to avoid a default--no gamesmanship, no brinkmanship, no partisanship. We worked with the previous administration, with which we disagreed often, to make sure that America paid its bills, notwithstanding the fact that in our 247- year history, 25 percent of America's debt was accumulated during the 4 years of the Trump administration. We did our patriotic responsibility to make sure that America would not default on our debt. Now, with a different President in office, you want to play games. You want to flirt with a default and take us down this dangerous path. You claim it is all about fiscal responsibility. Give me a break. That is rhetoric. That is not what the record shows, as Mr. Neal articulated. This is not about fiscal responsibility. That is rhetoric. What the record shows is that Democrats are the party of job creation and fiscal responsibility, and Republicans have been the party of tax cuts for the wealthy, the well-off, the well-connected, and exploding deficits. Bill Clinton inherited deficits from the previous two administrations. Twenty million good-paying jobs were created during the 8 years of the Clinton Presidency, and he eliminated the deficit. In fact, he created a budget surplus. President Barack Obama inherited the Great Recession, fiscal irresponsibility. Fourteen million good-paying, private-sector jobs were created during the Presidency of Barack Obama, and he reduced the deficit by $1 trillion. He took it from $1.5 trillion to $500 billion. Democrats are the party of job creation and fiscal responsibility. Joe Biden inherited a mess. What did he do? In 2 years, more than 10 million jobs were created. Now that number is over 12 million. He reduced the deficit by $1.7 trillion. What is the Republican record? Why do you lecture us and lecture America about fiscal responsibility?

Mr. JEFFRIES

Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Chair, I thank the distinguished gentleman from the great Commonwealth of Virginia for yielding and for his leadership. Mr. Chair, I rise today in strong opposition to H.R. 5, legislation brought to us by the extreme MAGA Republicans that will put politics over parents. This legislation has nothing to do with parental involvement, parental engagement, or parental empowerment. It has everything to do with jamming the extreme MAGA Republican ideology down the throats of the children and the parents of the United States of America. Now, House Democrats believe that every single child should have access to a high-quality, first-rate education. House Democrats believe that every single child throughout America should learn reading, writing, and arithmetic at the highest level possible. House Democrats believe that every single child should be exposed to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics so that they have the skills to succeed in the 21st century economy. House Democrats believe that every single child in this great Nation should have the opportunity to robustly pursue the American Dream. House Democrats believe that the parents of this great country should have the opportunity to be involved intimately and engaged intimately in the education of their children. We take a back seat to no one on this issue. In fact, we put resources into making sure that parents have the opportunity to be fully involved and engaged in the education of their children. The other side of the aisle--the extreme MAGA Republicans--have, in fact, voted against legislative efforts to empower parents in our schools. It is a deeply personal issue for all of us. I am the father of two sons who were in public school every step of the way--kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school--and parental involvement and parental engagement is critically important. It was for their journey, for their success, and we want that for every single parent in America. What we don't want is the extreme MAGA Republicans trying to tell the parents of America how to educate their children, how to raise their children, what books their children can or cannot be exposed to on their educational journey. That is what the politics over parents bill is all about. Their educational agenda is pretty simple. They want to ban books. They want to bully the LGBTQ+ community. They want to bring guns into classrooms, kindergarten and above. That is their educational agenda. They want to ban books about history, ban books about the American journey, ban books about the Holocaust, ban books about slavery, ban books about the civil rights movement, ban books about the LGBTQ+ experience, ban books about the Native American experience, ban books about the Latino experience, ban books about the Asian-American experience, ban books about our collective journey as a great country, a gorgeous mosaic of people from all over the world who come here to pursue the American Dream. That is what makes American exceptionalism so phenomenally important to our collective success as a country, and they want to take that away from the parents of America. Because of what has happened in several States, they have already banned more than 2,500 books in America, the highest number in recorded history. What kind of books have they banned? Are these books dangerous to the education of our children? They are too numerous for any of us to go through during the time that we have allotted for this debate, but let's go through a few of them. They want to ban a book called ``Maus.'' It is about the horrors of the Holocaust, an egregious crime against humanity that we should never ever forget--6 million Jews exterminated. They want to ban ``Maus,'' a book about the Holocaust. What is so offensive in that book? Let me read a passage. ``They took from us our papers, our clothes, and our hair. We were cold, and we were afraid.'' Extreme MAGA Republicans don't want the children of America to learn about the Holocaust. What else do they want to ban? They want to ban the book called ``I am Martin Luther King, Jr.'' There is a Federal holiday in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., what he meant to the country, the civil rights movement, the march toward a more perfect Union, liberty and justice for all, equal protection under the law, and free and fair elections. They want to ban the book ``I am Martin Luther King, Jr.'' What is so offensive about this book? Let me read a passage. ``In my life, people tried to tell me I wasn't as good as they were, just because of the color of my skin. When someone hurts you like that, it can be tempting to hurt them back. You must refuse. When someone shows you hate, show them love. When someone shows you violence, show them kindness.'' That is the book that they want to ban, ``I am Martin Luther King, Jr.'' What else do they want to ban? They want to ban a book called ``Melissa,'' a book describing, in very personal terms, the experience of a trans girl beginning to understand her identity. What is so dangerous about that? I was taught in my religion, growing up in the Cornerstone Baptist Church, that we are all God's children. Shouldn't we learn about all of God's children? That is what my religion teaches me. What is so offensive about ``Melissa''? What is so offensive about this book? Let me read a passage. ``Her heart sank. She had genuinely started to believe that if people could see her onstage as Charlotte, maybe they would see that she was a girl offstage, too.'' Extreme MAGA Republicans don't want your child to learn about the LGBTQ+ experience in America. That is not a decision that extreme MAGA Republicans here in Congress should make. The parents of America should be able to make that determination. What else do the extreme MAGA Republicans want to ban? Now, I grew up in America, where we were taught that whenever you were trying to identify something with this great country, well, there is nothing more American than baseball and apple pie. I am sure if we searched hard enough, they want to ban something about apple pie, but today, we know they definitively have tried to ban a book about baseball, about Roberto Clemente, the first Latino baseball player to make it into the Hall of Fame. Why do they want to ban a book about Roberto Clemente? What are they trying to hide from you? Let me read a passage from this book. ``He had no money for a baseball bat, so he made one from a guava tree branch. His first glove he also made, from the cloth of a coffee bean sack. His first baseball field was muddy and crowded with palm trees.'' Isn't that part of what makes America such a great country, that you can aspire to be part of what you see in front of you? In this case, it was baseball for a young kid growing up in Puerto Rico--by the way, part of America--who decides that he wants to be part of this great American pastime. The extreme MAGA Republicans want to stop your children from learning about the Latino experience in America, even when it relates to baseball and Roberto Clemente. One last example--I could be up here all day. What else do they want to ban? They want to ban a book called ``The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,'' which is about a Native teenager's high school experience. What is more American than Native Americans? They don't want your children to learn about Native American history and experience in this country. What is so dangerous about this particular book? Let's see. It says: ``We Indians have lost everything. We lost our Native land; we lost our languages; we lost our songs and dances. We lost each other. We only know how to lose and be lost.'' That is part of the Native American experience in this country. That is part of reality. That is part of our journey. Extreme MAGA Republicans don't want the parents of this country to have the opportunity to decide for themselves whether the children of America should have an opportunity to learn about the Native American experience. They want to jam their extreme MAGA Republican ideology down the throats of the children and parents in America. That is unacceptable; that is unconscionable; and that is un- American. That is one of the reasons why we strongly oppose this legislation. We will fight against this legislation. We will fight against the banning of books and fight against the bullying of children from any community and certainly from the LGBTQ+ community. We are going to fight against your extreme MAGA Republican agenda that has no interest in dealing with the education of our children, empowering them, and offers up solutions like bringing guns into the classroom. We will fight against their efforts at banning books, bullying children, and taking away the freedom of parents to make decisions on their own today. We will fight against it tomorrow. We will fight against it forever and always stand with the parents and children of our great country. Vote ``no'' against H.R. 5.

Mr. JEFFRIES

Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the following statements from key individuals and organizations in support of the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act of 2023: President Joe Biden: ``A union is about working people having each other's backs, making sure you get the pay and benefits you deserve. That's how we rebuild the middle class. Employers aren't supposed to undermine that. The PRO Act will make sure your right to join one is protected. Pass it.'' Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi: ``The right of workers to organize is a basic right that improves working families' lives & strengthens our economy. Richard Trumka was a champion of this right. Proud to support the PRO Act named in his honor, which empowers workers to fight for fair wages, benefits & dignity.'' President Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO: ``The PRO Act is how we level the playing field. It is how we stop the intimidation, the lies. This is how we let workers, not wealthy corporations, decide for themselves if they want the power of a union.'' AFL-CIO: ``For too long, employers have been able to violate the NLRA with impunity, routinely denying working people our basic right to join with co-workers for fairness on the job. According to the Economic Policy lnstitute, more than 60 million workers wanted to join a union in 2022 but couldn't. As a result of this ongoing trend, the collective strength of workers to negotiate for better pay and benefits has eroded, and income inequality has reached levels we have not seen since the Great Depression. The PRO Act would restore the original intent of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) that gave working people a voice on the job so we can negotiate for higher wages. better benefits, a safe workplace and protection against discrimination.'' Communication Workers of America (CWA): ``The PRO Act, just reintroduced in the House & Senate, is the most significant piece of pro-worker legislation we've seen in decades. We're not going to stop fighting until we get it passed.'' AFSCME: ``Change begins with the Richard Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act. This vital piece of legislation would hold union busters accountable and allow thousands of working people to experience the union difference. It would give them the opportunity for a true voice on the job, leading to fairer wages and safer workplaces. In a country with rampant wealth and income inequality, unions are a proven solution. This isn't just about economic justice; this is about democracy. Workers deserve the freedom to form strong unions and to use their voices at work without fear. We urge Congress to pass the PRO Act swiftly.'' International Brotherhood of Teamsters: ``More workers are forming unions than ever before and yet, we continue to face challenges around income inequality and rising healthcare prices, I corporations take advantage of workers in the name of maximizing profits. American workers need the PRO Act to solidify the gains they have made and to fight back against systemic inequalities.'' United Steel Workers (USW): ``With some of the most significant labor reforms the country has seen in over eighty-eight years, the PRO Act targets loopholes in worker organizing laws. The legislation, should it become law, would help ensure companies fairly negotiate and are held accountable during the collective bargaining process. It also protects the achievements of newly organized workers by establishing a much needed process for first contract between companies and newly certified unions, allowing for mediation, and when necessary, binding arbitration. When workers choose to use systems set up by our government that allow for a voice at the job, they should work in a timely and efficient manner. The PRO Act will reestablish that pact between Government, employer, and worker.'' National Nurses United (NNU): ``Across the country, nurses have been subject to intimidation and retaliation from their employers because of their efforts to unionize. The PRO Act would provide critical protections for nurses who want to organize collectively and, in turn, would help improve patient care. The dire need for this legislation has been made all the clearer during this pandemic. Due to employer neglect, nurses have been forced to struggle together for the most basic safety protections at their hospitals and clinics. Union organizing has led to improvements in infectious disease protocols, staffing levels, workplace violence prevention programs, and safe patient handling programs, all of which directly improve patient care.'' American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE): ``With the re-introduction of the PRO Act, members of Congress face a choice. Legislators can stand with American workers whose legal rights are being trampled by private employers to the detriment of the nation. Or they can stand with the ultrawealthy elites whose status depends on the continued oppression and exploitation of working-class Americans.'' United Automobile Workers (UAW): ``For too long, employers have been able to violate the law with little consequence, routinely denying working people their basic right to join with coworkers and have a voice in the workplace. Time and time again, workers have fought for a union only to be met with coercion, retaliation, and intimidation by employers seeking to prevent workers from exercising their fundamental rights such as illegally firing workers, holding captive audience meetings, and threatening to close plants. The PRO Act would address these and other impediments. UAW urges Congress to pass the Richard L. Trumka PRO Act and send it to President Biden's desk for signature.'' House Labor Caucus: ``We are proud to support the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. This critical, bipartisan legislation will ensure all workers have the right to organize and collectively raise their voices for dignity and respect. The PRO Act would reverse decades of anti-union policies, strengthening the labor movement. It empowers workers to join a union, holds companies accountable for obstructing unionization efforts by creating enforceable penalties, and ensures free and fair union elections. This bill will help make sure every worker that wants to join a union can. Union membership is an essential pathway to the middle class and with the PRO Act, we can ensure every worker's rights are protected.'' Unemployed Workers United: ``Thanks to Rep. Bobby Scott and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick for standing with workers to introduce the PRO Act in Congress Standing up for working people is not a Democratic or Republican issue--it is an American issue.'' Laborers' International Union of North America (LiUNA): ``The PRO Act would empower millions of Americans by strengthening protections for workers who choose to join a union and bargain for higher wages, better benefits, and safer working conditions. Too often when workers join with co-workers to form a union. employers work against them in every way possible--from retaliation and dismissal to bad faith bargaining. The PRO Act will level the playing field for America's working men and women. LIUNA urges Congress to pass this important legislation.''

Mr. JEFFRIES

Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Chair, I thank the distinguished gentleman from the great State of Maryland for his tremendous leadership. I rise today in opposition to the amendment, as well as to the underlying bill, the so-called REIN ACT, which is not really designed to do anything meaningful in terms of addressing the economic concerns of the American people. That is consistent with the fact that over the last 2 months of this extreme MAGA Republican majority, they have been focused on doing anything but dealing with the real kitchen-table pocketbook concerns of the American people. Over the last year or so, all we heard was that this extreme MAGA Republican majority was going to try to address the economic concerns of everyday Americans. So we have been waiting and waiting and waiting for the big, grand Republican plan--waiting for it, notwithstanding the fact that President Biden's administration has done a tremendous job pulling us out of a once-in-a-century pandemic, and in partnership with Democrats through the American Rescue Plan, saved the economy from a deep recession, put shots in arms, money in pockets, kids back in school, invested in the infrastructure of this country, which will create millions of good-paying jobs; passed the CHIPS and Science Act to bring domestic manufacturing jobs back home to the United States of America; passed the Inflation Reduction Act to strike a dramatic blow against the climate crisis, set our planet on a sustainable trajectory forward; strengthened the Affordable Care Act, lower healthcare costs, drive down the high price of lifesaving prescription drugs for millions of Americans, including many on insulin, which will now be reduced to $35 a month. That is the economic record of this administration: 12 million good- paying jobs created over the last 2 years, record unemployment. Yes, we still have challenges that we need to address as we try to emerge from this inflationary environment that has afflicted the entire world. Oh, by the way, the United States' economy has emerged from COVID in a better position than any other developed country because of the Biden economic plan and the partnership with House Democrats and Senate Democrats. But we have been waiting and waiting and waiting for the grand Republican plan, and here it is, the so-called REIN IN Act. Three pages. Three pages. What does it call for? Reports. Reports. It is the grand Republican economic plan. Why? Because you have been focused on the wrong things. Now, House Democrats, we are going to continue to invest in the American people, invest in education and job training, invest in transportation and infrastructure, invest in research and development, invest in technology and innovation, invest in the creation and preservation of affordable housing, invest in the health, the safety, the economic well-being of the American people. That is our plan. We are going to continue to put people over politics. We get three pages calling for reports, the so-called REIN IN Act. Here is what we should be reining in. We should be reining in the extreme MAGA Republican effort to cut Social Security. We should rein in the extreme MAGA Republican effort to cut Medicare; rein in the extreme MAGA Republican effort to criminalize reproductive freedom and impose a nationwide ban; rein in the extreme MAGA Republican effort to crash the United States' economy and default on our debt for the first time in American history. We should be reining in your effort to hand over sensitive security footage from the January 6 violent insurrection to an avowed conspiracy theorist. That is what we should be reining in. A three-page plan calling for reports is not a serious effort to address the challenges facing the American people, but we will continue to be serious about putting people over politics, fighting for lower costs, fighting for better-paying jobs, fighting for safer communities, fighting for reproductive freedom, and defending our democracy at all costs.

Mr. JEFFRIES

Mr. JEFFRIES. Madam Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman from New York for yielding and all my colleagues for their continued leadership on this incredibly important issue. The 118th Congress has begun, and the differences between our side of the aisle and the other side of the aisle couldn't be any clearer. Let me, of course, reiterate that, as Democrats, we look forward to trying to find common ground whenever and wherever possible to solve issues of consequence on behalf of the American people, but we will oppose extremism whenever it rears its ugly head. Democrats have made clear that we are going to continue to work on issues like lowering costs, better-paying jobs, safer communities, defending democracy, protecting the public interest, ensuring economic opportunity in every single ZIP Code, and, yes, fighting for reproductive freedom. My Republican colleagues, you promised to come to Washington to fight for the American people but have spent a lot of time fighting each other on politics, power, and personality, not working on issues related to the public interest. That is what the last few days have indicated, an extreme MAGA Republican agenda. Now that you are getting into substance, on Monday, you passed a bill designed to allow the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected to cheat on their taxes, subsidize the lifestyles of the rich and shameless, benefit millionaires and billionaires, not working-class families, not middle-class families, not low-income families, not veterans, not everyday Americans, the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected. That was on Monday. Then, on Tuesday, you came to the floor and passed a select committee on insurrection protection, a committee that is clearly designed, in the words of some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, to obstruct justice as part of your evident desire, as many of you have said, to eventually defund the FBI. That was Tuesday. Now, on Wednesday, you come to the floor with nothing on inflation, nothing on quality-of-life issues for the American people, nothing even on public safety. You come to the floor as part of your march to criminalize abortion care, to impose a nationwide ban, to set into motion government-mandated pregnancies. That is the distinction for today. As Democrats, we believe in a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions, period, full stop, decisions that should be between a woman, her family, and her doctors, period, full stop. We believe in Roe v. Wade. Do you wonder about our position? That is it. The Women's Health Protection Act, that is it. Freedom to make your own reproductive healthcare decisions, that is it. As compared to a clear effort--that is what this bill is about today, a march toward criminalizing abortion care, a nationwide ban, government-mandated pregnancies, part of an extreme MAGA Republican agenda. So, yes, we continue to extend our hand of partnership if you truly want to work on quality-of-life issues, but we haven't seen it. We haven't seen it on Monday, we haven't seen it on Tuesday, and we are not seeing it today. Madam Speaker, we oppose this bill. We oppose an extreme MAGA- Republican agenda. Let's get back to the business of the American people.

Mr. JEFFRIES

Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership in shepherding this legislation forward. I rise today in strong support of the rule, as well as the underlying spending agreement. This spending agreement was the product of bipartisan negotiation with Democrats and Republicans in the Senate. I thank Speaker Pelosi, Chairwoman DeLauro, and all of the members of the House Democratic Caucus for their leadership in helping to make sure that this bill includes strong democratic priorities. This legislation invests in children and families; invests in education and job training; invests in the creation and preservation of affordable housing; invests in hardworking Americans and organized labor; invests in research and development; invests in transportation and infrastructure; invests in technology and innovation; and invests in the health, safety, and well-being of the American people. This legislation reflects Democratic values. Democrats in the new year will continue to fight for lower costs, better paying jobs, and safer communities, and Democrats will always put people over politics. Happy holidays and happy new year.

Mr. JEFFRIES

Mr. JEFFRIES. Madam Speaker, I support the Respect for Marriage Act, I respect freedom, liberty, and justice for all.