Debbie Lesko

Mrs. LESKO

Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mrs. LESKO

Mrs. LESKO. Mr. Speaker, first, before I talk about the bill at hand, I want to say just what an honor it has been serving with you on the Rules Committee, Mr. Woodall. You know, I didn't know Mr. Woodall, really, before I served on the Rules Committee with him, and I found him to be very witty, a very good debater as well. You do it in such a nice way. You really win the debates, but you do it with a smile, and you do it in a friendly way. I really appreciate the way you conduct yourself and how you actually win arguments, but you are very friendly about it. I don't know what your future holds, but I wish you all of the best. You are extremely talented, and it really is an honor to serve with you. Mr. Speaker, let me talk about the bill. I find it crazy, quite frankly, that the American people and small businesses are hurting, because of the COVID crisis, and they need COVID relief, and we are not concentrating on a bipartisan COVID relief stimulus package right now that will actually be signed into law. I find it just incredulous that, instead, my Democratic colleagues are focusing on legalizing marijuana nationwide. Sometimes I think that the world is turned upside down, when you have a State--I think Oregon--that bans plastic straws but legalizes cocaine and heroin. It is just insane to me and I think to a majority of my constituents, whether they be Republican, Independent, or Democrat, quite frankly. It is interesting to me--I sit on the Rules Committee and the Judiciary Committee--that on a lot of these tobacco bills that the Democrats have been promoting, it says, okay, we don't want flavored tobacco. But yet on marijuana, they don't seem to care about that. They don't care. In this bill, there is nothing about we shouldn't have flavored edibles or candies or brownies that would be enticing to children. As far as I know, that is not in this bill at all. Yet, we want to ban that with tobacco. This makes absolutely no sense to me and no sense, I think, to the American public. At a time when parents are trying to get their children back into school with an in-person option, because their children are falling so far behind because of the lockdowns of schools, here we are with a bill that will make it easier for these same children to get marijuana products. I am sorry. I just don't get it. I don't understand the motivation. I am absolutely opposed to this bill.

Mrs. LESKO

Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, I was not in attendance to vote on November 16, 2020. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 219, and YEA on Roll Call No. 220.

Mrs. LESKO

Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, let's be clear: I already said it, but we agree. We condemn QAnon, but we also ask the majority to condemn antifa. Why is the majority condemning one group and not the other group? That is the point. But let me go on to what my colleague, Representative Scanlon, said on H. Res. 1153. This was said in the Rules Committee last night, too, that all this resolution does is call for an investigation. That is inaccurate. This resolution goes beyond that. In fact, it says it right here, and I said it last night. It says: ``Whereas these allegations indicate a failure by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.'' So, if all it did was call for an investigation, fine, but that is not what it all does. It says: Whereas these allegations indicate a failure by ICE. Madam Speaker, you saw in the comments that Representative Scanlon gave that she was going after ICE. That is what this is about. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Austin Scott).

Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, yield myself such time as I may consume. Again, we are all for investigations. Two investigations are already going on; one by the office of Inspector General; one by DHS. I wrote a letter, along with Representative Chris Smith, to the DHS Secretary Chad Wolf last week, saying: Please investigate this, get back to us. The problem that I have with this resolution is that it also condemns ICE, just based on allegations that haven't even been investigated. The findings haven't been done yet. So how can you condemn an agency based on allegations that haven't even been proven yet? That is the point. That is what Mr. Scott was trying to say. There are opposing viewpoints. One side said this happened, another said it didn't. So last night, in addition, in Rules Committee, I said: Why don't we postpone this resolution until October 9? Give it a week. Let's go through committee and find out what is exactly going on. Let's have DHS come in. But, no, they opposed that, too. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins), my good friend.

Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia.

Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. If we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to immediately consider Small Business Committee Ranking Member Steve Chabot's H.R. 8265, to reopen the Paycheck Protection Program to America's 30 million small businesses. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment in the Record, along with extraneous material, immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.

Mrs. LESKO. This amendment would ensure our Nation's smallest and most vulnerable firms get the support they need by allowing an opportunity for a second PPP loan with specific funds set aside for small businesses with 10 or fewer employees, expand the list of eligible covered expenses, simplify the loan forgiveness process, and extend PPP through the end of 2020. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy).

Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Cloud) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Stauber) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Indiana (Mrs. Walorski) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Smucker) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Austin Scott) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Newhouse) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Kevin Hern) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Norman) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Johnson) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Babin) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Walker) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Baird) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Watkins) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Crawford) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.