Jim McGovern

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Minnesota for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, we heard last week that the Republican Party is newly focused on unity, toning down the rhetoric, and bringing people closer together. Wow, that is rich. I mean, I guess they mean only to unite people under their extreme agenda because the four funding bills we met on last night are part of the same unpopular, divisive, controversial, extreme MAGA agenda that they have been pushing since they came into the majority. None of this is serious. None of these bills are ever going to become law. All of the bills are aligned with the GOP's Project 2025, their dystopian plan to consolidate power in the Presidency and take total control over our country and our lives. If Trump and the Republicans win in November, they promise to gut the checks and balances that protect our freedoms. They promise to advance abortion bans in every State. They promise to give big corporations billions of dollars while increasing taxes for middle-class families. That is their plan for America. It is not about unity. It is about division. It is scary, quite frankly. These policies are centered around driving people further apart, not bringing them together. They even had to pull the Agriculture and Financial Services appropriations bills because they were too extreme. They didn't even know whether they had the votes within the Republican Conference to vote for these crummy bills. Just to reiterate, this rule only brings half of the bills we heard testimony on last night to the House floor because the other half were so controversial, so divisive, so partisan, again, that the Republican leadership wasn't even sure they had the votes within their own Conference. What is the point of wasting time at the Rules Committee if these bills aren't ready for the floor? I have never seen lawmakers work so hard and force institutional staff to spend so much time putting in such extensive effort to do absolutely nothing--nothing. This majority's superpower is wasting people's time. For the two bills that are included in this rule, they are just as unserious. Again, they will never, ever become law. This is an energy and water bill that raises energy costs and is full of more giveaways for big polluters and an interior and environment bill that is potentially even worse, gutting funding for national parks. Our national parks are like the only thing in this country that has a 100 percent approval rating, and they are attacking national parks. Give me a break. What they are doing, Mr. Speaker, is they are going after national parks while padding the pockets of big polluters. Follow the money. There are more culture war riders and more attacks on LGBTQ people. One of these bills has language to protect Confederate names of things. I mean, that is unifying, commemorating the traitors of the Civil War? Enough is enough. This is just an awful, awful rule. I urge my Republican colleagues to stop wasting people's time and vote ``no'' with us. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. The gentlewoman said that I was off topic in my opening speech. I have never been more on topic. I actually talked about the crummy bills that my Republican friends are bringing to the floor today. The gentlewoman in her opening speech talked about ag producers. They pulled the ag bill. It is so important that they pulled it because they don't have the votes to pass it. I will say, Mr. Speaker, my Republican friends are demonstrating to the country what the definition of incompetence is. They don't know how to run this place, and they can't pass appropriations bills. I am looking at FY 2024. They had the agriculture appropriations bill fail on the floor. They pulled three appropriations bills before final passage because they didn't have the votes to pass them. There were failed rules on appropriations measures. The defense rule last year failed twice. Two of the bills that we had testimony on at the Rules Committee, where Members actually filed amendments, were pulled because they can't even get support within their own Conference. That is the definition of incompetence. You talk about a campaign rally? The campaign rally is going to be later today in the Rules Committee when Republicans are going to call an emergency meeting to pass a resolution bashing Vice President Kamala Harris. Don't give me any lectures about campaign rallies because I have never seen a more politically motivated majority in my life. This is not the way this place is supposed to be run. None of these bills, including the two that my friends are bringing to the floor today, are serious. They are going nowhere. They will never become law. This is ridiculous, and it is a waste of time. It is pathetic. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Castor).

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. You hear lots of things on the House floor, but the gentlewoman from Minnesota just said something I am having a tough time following. She is blaming Senate Democrats for the failure of House Republicans in bringing their appropriations bills to the floor. Was it Senate Democrats' fault that the House agriculture appropriations bill was pulled, that Republicans pulled it? We had a hearing in the Rules Committee. People testified on amendments, and it is not here. Where is it? I don't know where it went. They pulled it. I gave the gentlewoman an opportunity yesterday to vote to bring the House ag appropriations bill to the floor as well as the financial services bill, the ones they wrote. They are lousy bills, but I figure let's bring them to the floor, we will amend it and have a debate. She voted no. All Republicans voted no. Then the gentlewoman comes to the floor and says, oh, it is the Senate Democrats. What? People are paying attention. We have got to be serious here. Getting our appropriations work done is one of the essential jobs that we have in the House of Representatives, and Republicans can't get it done. These bills are so polarizing, so awful, that they can't even get a majority of Republicans to vote for it. So she is blaming the Senate Democrats? Give me a break. I have heard everything. I have heard everything as an excuse why they can't get their work done. This is incompetence. This is pathetic. We need a majority in this House that puts the people first, that actually gets its work done, not someone who comes up here and points fingers at everybody as an excuse to not bring bills to the floor. We had two appropriations bills that we heard testimony on in the Rules Committee that were pulled, including the House ag appropriations bill that they wrote. They are in charge. I can't believe this. In any event, Mr. Speaker, I am going to urge that we defeat the previous question. If we do, I am going to offer an amendment to the rule to bring up H.R. 12, a bill that would ensure every American has full access to essential reproductive healthcare. Republicans continue to double down on ending access to abortion care, even going so far as to try to end access to IVF and assistive reproductive services. However, because it is so deeply unpopular and plain wrong, now they are trying to hide it. They don't like to mention it anymore. However, we still see their attacks every single day. We see the toxic riders that they attach to their bills banning abortion and contraception. We saw it last night in the Rules Committee with Mr. Rosendale putting forward his amendment to ban IVF. We saw it in the Appropriations Committee markup when Ranking Member DeLauro offered an amendment to protect IVF coverage in our Federal employee health benefits plan, and the Republicans on the committee voted ``no.'' They voted ``no.'' Thankfully, they pulled that bill from the floor because they don't even have the votes among their own Conference for this extreme, radical agenda. House Democrats are focused on protecting women, protecting patients, and protecting Americans' rights. H.R. 12 will keep fundamental healthcare services available across the country, and we must get this passed. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of the amendment in the Record, along with extraneous material, immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, to discuss our proposal, I proudly yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from the State of Washington (Ms. Jayapal).

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record an article from the BBC titled: ``Project 2025: A wish list for a Trump Presidency, explained.''

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, this article describes Project 2025 as a policy wish list for a second Trump term cooked up by some of Trump's closest allies at the far-right Heritage Foundation. It is a chilling window into what may await us come January should Donald Trump be elected President. The items on Project 2025's agenda are straight-up dystopian. They want to take complete control of the Department of Justice. They want to end the independence of all Federal agencies, and they want to take mifepristone off the market which would amount to a virtual nationwide abortion ban. They want to slash efforts to combat climate change, implement inhumane border policies, and fire thousands and thousands of government employees. I am just scratching the surface here, Mr. Speaker. You can read it for yourself. I hope people will Google it and read the documents for themselves. If that weren't horrifying enough, the architects of this atrocious Project 2025 are also threatening political violence to all those who oppose them. Just last week, Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation, said: ``The second American Revolution will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.'' Let that sink in. Mr. Speaker, Donald Trump literally incited an insurrection to stay in power. He claimed he would be a dictator on day one of his second term, and the Supreme Court just granted him full immunity for acts committed while in office. If anyone here is stupid enough to believe that he won't act on these threats, I will tell you, Mr. Speaker, it is hard to believe that anybody could be that gullible. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time, and I will close on our side. Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day, it is not just about the legislation here. It is about two competing visions for America. Democrats' record speaks for itself. We passed the largest infrastructure bill in a generation, and my Republican friends are falling over each other trying to take credit for infrastructure projects in their district that most of them voted against. We passed the largest climate change bill in world history. We brought jobs back from overseas. Inflation is coming down, job growth is solid, and we are working to guarantee that all Americans have an opportunity to succeed. We are fighting for workers. We want opportunity for kids, success for families, and dignity for our seniors. We support our veterans. We want democracy to be secure at home and around the world. We have a vision for a better future and an idea on how to get there. These Republican bills, once again, show the Republicans are more interested in division and taking us backwards. They have no ideas to make life better for Americans. They only have Donald Trump and Project 2025. That is it. That is it. Here we are debating appropriations bills. We were supposed to be having four on the floor today. Two of them were pulled after we had a hearing in the Rules Committee, after Members testified on amendments, after legislative staff spent hours and hours and hours drafting amendments for Democrats and Republicans, and after the Parliamentarians reviewed all these amendments to see whether they were germane or not. CBO did scores on all of them. All this work, and they pulled it. What a colossal waste of time, and the gentlewoman said: Well, it is the Senate Democrats. I just have trouble following that logic. I have trouble following that logic. It makes no sense. The bottom line is that these bad bills can't even get over the finish line. None of them are going to become law. We are wasting our time. The way this is supposed to work is we are supposed to work together, especially since it is a Democratic-controlled Senate and a Democrat in the White House, and you have a very slim margin here in the House for Republicans. We should be working together to construct bills that can actually pass and that will actually help people. Again, I had an amendment in the Rules Committee last night to bring two bills, the Financial Services appropriations bill and the Agriculture appropriations bill that we had testimony on, bring it to the floor. I think they are garbage bills the way they are written, but I had an amendment that made in order all of the amendments that were offered by Democrats and Republicans. We didn't protect any amendments from any points of order, and we could have had a debate and hopefully made these bills better. However, they were so bad that Republicans didn't even believe they could twist enough Republican arms to pass them. We wasted time, and they pulled them. I will say this about the bills that are being brought to the floor today. I want to give my friends who are watching a little insight into the way they think about fairness. Mr. Speaker, 123 Republican amendments are made in order, and 23 Democratic amendments. That is it. Perfectly good, germane amendments that should be in order were not made in order. That is their idea of fairness. It is a coming attraction of what will happen if their candidate wins the Presidency and they win the Senate. It is their way or the highway. Right now, their way can't even get enough votes within the majority party right now. They can't pass two of these bills, so they pulled them. I have to say, Mr. Speaker, we have to do better. This is not a serious Congress. This is not serious legislating. These appropriations bills are important because our farmers rely on them. That is why the Agriculture appropriations bill is important and the Financial Services bill is important. All these bills are important. We need to not just have ideological debates, we need to have bills come to the floor that can actually pass and work its way through the process and get signed into law. This is the failing of this majority. My friend from Minnesota can point the finger at the Senate, she can point the finger at Biden, and she can point the finger at Vice President Harris. I mean, they can point fingers all over the place. At the end of the day, unfortunately for America, they are in control of the House of Representatives, and they are doing a lousy job. They are doing a lousy job. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. McGOVERN

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

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I would like to highlight a report that came out last week from Oxfam on the destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure inside of Gaza by Israeli military operations. The Israeli military offensive has amounted to a total siege against the water infrastructure on which civilians rely. The report provides a detailed breakdown of the significant damage to water wells, storage reservoirs, desalination plants, and wastewater facilities. Oxfam's attempts to import critical supplies like water desalination units and repair materials have also been obstructed by Israeli restrictions. The impact on public health has been catastrophic, with reported cases of waterborne diseases skyrocketing. Mr. Speaker, the people of Gaza need a cease-fire now. They need a surge in humanitarian aid and an end to the obstruction of the supplies entering Gaza and for those supplies to be safely delivered to the people of Gaza. President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu have the power to make this happen. They can do it today.

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, last night during the debate on the Freedom Caucus-led inherent contempt resolution, Republicans once again tried to silence me. They wanted to take my words down. They wanted to prevent me from speaking on the House floor, not because I disparaged a Member but because I criticized their resolution. You heard that right. The freedom-loving Freedom Caucus wanted to silence me. They believe in free speech for themselves. They regularly attack President Biden and Democrats in a most personal and vicious manner, but because I told the truth about their resolution, they tried to forcibly silence me. It is chilling, it is scary, and it is frightening that Republicans are embracing authoritarian tactics to silence their critics. This is Congress, not the Kremlin, Mr. Speaker, but this is a pattern that connects them to authoritarian leaders like Putin. I will fight back. I love this institution and this country too much to allow Republicans to trample on our freedom.

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Goldman).

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, does the gentlewoman have any further speakers?

Mr. McGOVERN. I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, this is a stupid resolution. Republican leadership knows this is a stupid resolution. Their own Members know this is a stupid resolution, but they are beholden to the craziest MAGA members in their Conference. So, this is what we get: stupid resolutions on the floor because they are too chicken to stand up to the extremism in their own party. The Attorney General turned over the exact transcripts of the interviews that Republicans demanded, but that wasn't good enough because this isn't about a dispute over a recording. Let's be real. Republicans want to get these recordings because they think the RNC can use them in attack ads. This is Republicans weaponizing the government to go after their political opponents, and it is sick. The hypocrisy on the other side is stunning. It takes my breath away, Mr. Speaker. Jim Jordan, Andy Biggs, Scott Perry all ignored congressional subpoenas. I can go right down the list: former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, former Attorney General William Barr, former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino all were ordered to testify, and what did they do? They ran and hid, following the lead, by the way, of their corrupter in chief, Donald Trump, who ignored his own congressional subpoena. It is like a national pastime for Republicans--golf, fishing, and ignoring subpoenas. Now, they have the nerve to come down here and lecture anyone about the rule of law. Get lost. Get lost. Get out of here with this nonsense. Contrast what Republicans did with what Attorney General Garland is doing. Not only is he taking the subpoena seriously, he is doing his best to comply. He has legitimate concerns about releasing the tape after the transcript has already been made public. He is not ignoring it like they do on their side. In fact, he made the entire underlying report public. He made the transcript public. He allowed the special counsel to testify in public for hours to explain his investigation. He sent a detailed letter, supported by the facts, the law, and the precedent, detailing why he would not release the audio recording because our side respects the rule of law while the other side uses it as a phony talking point. By the way, not only is this resolution a BS political stunt, it is not even a good BS political stunt. This is a bad resolution that could do massive damage to this institution's standing. If they go down this road, Mr. Speaker, if this half-baked idea actually passes, this House will almost certainly lose, doing irreparable damage to our own constitutional authority. So, I guess, you can pat yourselves on the back. Well done. Not only have you cooked up * * * a plan that will undermine any future legitimate attempts to use all our tools if it comes to a contempt proceeding.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the offending words.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I say for the Record that this is the second time there has been an attempt to silence me by the freedom- loving Republican Conference. So much for the First Amendment. Mr. Speaker, I get it. They are desperate to distract from their failures. Their own Members are saying that they have done nothing, and clearly they have deserted the American people in deference to Trump. I get it. They want to distract from Project 2025.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I am trying to think of what I can say. I get it. They want to distract from Project 2025, distract from their own nationwide abortion bans, distract from their giveaways to big donors of special interests, and what do we get? We get unserious stuff like this on the floor. I say to the American people: You might not agree with Democrats on everything. You might not think we are perfect, but we are focused on our job. We are focused on fighting inflation, focused on getting prices down, focused on bringing jobs back from overseas, on standing up for democracy, and on protecting the freedom of our constituents. Contrast that with what Republicans are focused on: wasting more time on political stunts instead of working with us to get things done. It is as simple and as sad as that. Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on this resolution, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I am afraid to say anything now. I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Goldman).

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from New York.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I will note for the record that the gentlewoman from Florida can say whatever she wants about President Biden and the DOJ, but I can't say what I think about this resolution. Maybe that is the way it works in the Kremlin, but we are in the United States Congress, and we are supposed to be able to say what we believe and be able to express ourselves freely. That is the First Amendment. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, there were a lot of things that I have heard on the floor today that I find offensive, but I am not a snowflake, and I am not going to try to silence anybody. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I join with my colleagues in honoring Keith Stern and expressing gratitude for his service to this Congress and to our country. In between working for former Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard and then for Speaker Pelosi and Democratic Whip Clark, he worked with me first as a legislative assistant and then as my top person on the Rules Committee. Keith has an incredible knowledge of the legislative process. He knows how to get stuff over the finish line. He has made a real difference. As my colleagues know, ending hunger has been a top priority of mine. In 2022, the Biden administration convened a White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. It was only the second time a White House convened such a conference. The first one was held in 1969. Keith actually wrote the first bill back in 2010 directing the White House to bring together experts to craft a national plan to end hunger. I have learned an awful lot from Keith, and he has helped me achieve countless policies to help people here at home and around the world. I will always be grateful. A lot of Members of Congress and a lot of staff have also benefited from Keith's guidance, and I have talked to countless Members and staffers who say that he has served as a mentor to them, teaching them about procedure and how to use the legislative process to do good. There are people who began as interns on the Hill who never thought of making a career here but who did because of Keith. Keith is not only a great member of this congressional community; more importantly, he is a good person. He is decent, he is caring, and he respects this institution. I acknowledge his incredible family. I acknowledge his wife, Cara; and his incredible kids, Sandy and Colleen. They have all sacrificed a lot so that Keith can serve his country. I appreciate his many years of friendship. My wife, Lisa; and my kids, Molly and Patrick, adore him. They like him better than me. Keith, I am proud to know you. I feel privileged to be your friend, and I am confident you will do great things in the future.