Jim McGovern

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, we cannot ignore the suffering happening in Gaza. Children are dying of malnutrition. There is no food, no clean water, no medicine, and over 2 million people are starving in desperate need of help. The October 7 attack by Hamas against innocent Israeli civilians and the taking of hostages are horrific crimes, but I am horrified by Prime Minister Netanyahu's response. His government's actions against civilians in Gaza are intolerable and wrong. U.S. law says no aid shall be furnished under the Foreign Assistance Act or the Arms Export Control Act to any country that: `` . . . restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance.'' Mr. Speaker, I would say to President Biden that if the Netanyahu government continues to keep humanitarian aid from entering Gaza at the scale required to meet the needs of the people of Gaza, then you must, Mr. President, use the full leverage of U.S. law to get the trucks rolling again. The lives of millions are counting on you.

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, this place is no longer a serious place. My friends are turning the House of Representatives into a debate club. None of this is serious. The gentleman comes up and tries to claim there was regular order here, that the committee of jurisdiction actually did its job because half of the bill maybe was the subject of a hearing previously. Now my Republican friends are coming to the floor praising half regular order. I don't know. When I was in grade school, 50 percent was a failing grade. My friends are failing on regular order. If the gentleman was serious about this and my friends on the other side of the aisle wanted to get something passed, my colleagues would conduct themselves in a different manner and actually have regular order and invite Democrats to be able to offer ideas and try to work things out to see whether the majority could have a bill that actually had a chance of going anywhere in the Senate or being signed into law, but that is not what is happening. The gentleman comes here and starts reading the names of victims. I could sit here and read the names of the 21 victims in Uvalde who were murdered by a man with a gun. I could go right down the list and start naming all the children that were killed, all the mothers and fathers that were killed. The real challenge for this institution is to actually try to come together in a bipartisan way and solve problems and do something. I don't know how my friends could go home and claim that they are doing anything and be able to point to anything that ever makes it past the finish line. We are in a divided government. I wish we weren't. I wish Democrats were in control of the House, the Senate, and the White House, all at once. We would get a lot more done. When we were, we actually got some stuff done. However, that is not the reality, and so we have to deal with the reality. The reality is, if my colleagues want to get anything done, work has to be done in a bipartisan way, and my colleagues have to respect at least some semblance of regular order. That this bill had to be rushed to the floor with not a single hearing, with no markup, no amendments, no nothing, and the committee of jurisdiction never even had a chance to report it out, it is awful. Mr. Speaker, I urge that we defeat the previous question. If we do, I will 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, including abortion care. Since the wrongly decided Dobbs decision, every State across America has taken action on abortion in some way. Unfortunately, many Republican-led States, cheered on by Republican Members in this Chamber, have passed laws to either ban some or all abortion care. Republicans have made it crystal clear that banning abortion nationwide is their goal. Additionally, if trying to ban abortion care is not dangerous enough, extreme Republicans are now doubling down on their attacks on women's reproductive freedom by supporting a bill to ban IVF nationwide. That would criminalize reproductive healthcare. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment in the Record, along with any extraneous material, immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Brown) to discuss our proposal.

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Indiana for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, we are here today to debate a rule to bring two more MAGA messaging bills to the floor. H.R. 2799, which might as well be renamed the expanding access to fraud act, is yet another Republican attempt to help Wall Street and their friends at private equity firms, while undermining protections for retirees and other mom-and-pop investors. Republicans are just obsessed with helping their friends on Wall Street. It is pathological. They can't help themselves. They come to the floor and talk about helping regular people, but every single bill they pass is about helping the Big Oil companies, the Big Pharma companies, the hedge funds, and the lobbyists. Today is no exception. Today, Republicans are also bringing to the floor H.R. 7511, the Laken Riley Act. Let me be clear: What happened to Laken Riley is a terrible, terrible tragedy. A 22-year-old nursing student, who everyone says was a deeply compassionate person who spread joy everywhere she went, Laken had her whole life ahead of her. My own daughter is 22, and I can't even begin to imagine what this family is going through right now. My heart breaks for them, and they are in my prayers. This should have never happened, and there is no question that the person responsible for her death should go to jail for the rest of their lives. Madam Speaker, I have to say that I am appalled by my colleagues across the aisle who are using this horrible crime to score political points. It is really sick, to be honest. I think they ought to be ashamed of themselves, if they have any shame left. The bill that we are dealing with here today was referred to the Judiciary Committee. There was no hearing, no markup. The bill wasn't even reported out of the committee of jurisdiction. I mean, my Republican friends used to say they cared about regular order. Obviously, that is no longer the case. I mean, the members of the Judiciary Committee did not even have an opportunity to be able to refine this bill or amend this bill. They just rushed it to the floor because they wanted a quick press release. Let's call this out for what it is. We are here with this bill because Donald Trump demanded that MAGA extremists make the border their top issue ahead of the election. He wants Republicans to politicize the border at every turn, including politicizing this awful tragedy. He is calling the shots here, and he wants to use this as an opportunity to say that Democrats somehow support killers. What a nasty, rotten thing to do, especially after Republicans are the ones who killed a bipartisan border security deal. They killed the deal, the strongest, toughest border security bill that we have ever seen come before Congress, a bill that was negotiated by a very conservative Republican Senator from Oklahoma. Rather than try to find a solution and fix the problem, Donald Trump said to them: No, I just want the issue; do nothing. Now they have the nerve to come down here and lecture us. Give me a break. Meanwhile, Democrats are working to actually keep our country safe. Democrats want to fix our broken immigration system. Democrats want justice for victims, and we want real solutions that help make our communities safer from all criminals. We tried to work together with Republicans in a bipartisan way, and they have rejected our attempts every single time. By the way, Madam Speaker, I really wish our friends across the aisle would show this same passion for the lives lost to gun violence in our country every single day. Sixty people died and over 400 people were injured in Las Vegas. They were all real people: mothers, fathers, children, friends. Where was the Republican outrage then? Silence. Nineteen kids were shot dead in their classroom in Uvalde. Nothing from my Republican colleagues, nothing at all, no action at all. Twelve children die every day from gun violence. Where is the Republican legislation to save their lives? If you don't want to vote for that legislation, where is the Republican willingness to allow us to bring bills to the floor to deal with the epidemic of gun violence in this country? Nothing. The beauty of our job is that we are in a position where we can actually do something about these tragedies, Laken's and others. We could have worked together here to address this tragedy, just like we should work together to address the tragedy of gun violence. Unfortunately, Republicans only talk about crime and violence when it suits them. That is all it is: talk. To claim that this bill is being brought forward because Republicans care about securing the border, when they tanked one of the toughest bipartisan border bills ever, is a joke. It is a joke, Madam Speaker. Let's make something abundantly clear. This bill will do nothing to solve any of the problems at the border, not a thing. You know what this bill does? It says let's put more people in immigration detention, including those in the U.S. under a lawful status, like Dreamers and TPS recipients, but let's not allocate any more money to actually detain these people. You have got to love these people; they are unbelievable. Our border security already does not have the resources they need to detain everyone the law says they should detain. Why don't they have the resources to do it? Because Republicans have voted time and time again, multiple times, against providing the funding that they need. Now, the other side brings a bill to the floor not to fix a problem but to detain even more people with no new funding to do it. You can't make this stuff up. You really can't. These bills they are bringing to the floor, these speeches they are making about border and immigration--look at how they vote. Look at how they vote. They don't want to secure the border. They don't want to fix this issue. They want a campaign slogan for Donald Trump. That is all this is about. It has been their playbook since they took the majority last January, and it is a real shame. Again, we have the power to do something, to actually solve some of these problems. Rather than coming together in a bipartisan way--and that is what the Senate tried to do--my Republican friends in the House have rejected every single attempt to try to find common ground to bring something forward that can actually pass the House, the Senate, and be signed into law. They are not interested in solutions; they are interested in just complaining. How pathetic. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I have news for the gentleman from New York: Republicans now own this issue. Your inaction is one of the reasons why we are not making more progress on our border. The gentleman who just spoke was in the Rules Committee last night, bragging about the fact that Republicans increased border security funding in their homeland security bill last year. He was bragging about it. Congress 101 tells us that once you pass a bill in the House, you need to send it over to the Senate for them to consider it. The bottom line is, and maybe the gentleman has an answer to this: Why is your Homeland Security appropriations bill from last year still sitting in this House? Why was it never sent to the Senate? Again, I say to my friends who are watching here today: Look at their actions. Don't look at their words. Look at their actions. The gentlewoman from Indiana was talking about the negotiated bipartisan compromise in the Senate as if it was somehow a reflection of President Biden's priorities. Let me remind her that Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, said it was one of the toughest immigration border security bills that he has ever seen. Let me also remind her that the person who was the chief negotiator, Senator Lankford of Oklahoma, is the second most conservative Member of the Senate. You can't get any more conservative than he is. By the way, the man whom my friends are all so afraid of, Donald Trump, has said, when he endorsed Senator Lankford, that he is one of the toughest guys around on the border. This is all about not coming up with a solution. They come to the floor and complain. They complain and point fingers, but they will not work with us on a solution. It is mind-boggling to me. It is cynical. My friends are in charge of this place. They know that they are in charge of the House by only a small margin. They know that Democrats control the Senate by a small margin. They know we have a Democratic President in the White House. The gentlewoman says that this is not a ploy. What else would you call it when you bring a bill to the floor that bypasses the committee of jurisdiction and no amendments can be made in order? You bring it to the floor and know it is going nowhere in the Senate and know it will not become law. What do you call that? It is either a ploy or a total waste of time. We spend an awful lot of time doing nothing around here, yelling and screaming, but when it comes to actually solving problems, my friends don't want to do it. My friends, because of your inaction, because of the bills that you have blocked repeatedly, including a supplemental request by President Biden for an additional $13 billion for border security, your actions have resulted in our not being able to make more progress. So, my friends own this issue. You own the border security issue. You own the fentanyl issue. You own all of it. I think the American people are seeing through all of this. The idea that you would bring a bill like this to the floor to exploit a terrible tragedy, a bill that will do nothing and a bill that you know is going nowhere, is really, really sad. I have news for my Republican friends: If you want to get stuff done, you have to work with us. I get it. You are in charge. You will probably get more than I would like you to get, but the idea that somehow you are in control of everything and that this is a dictatorship--not yet. Not yet. I know that may be something we might have to deal with down the road, but not yet. Right now, we are still a deliberative body. This is still a democracy. If you want to get stuff done, then you have to work with us in a bipartisan way. Nonetheless, if this is all about show business and press releases, then fine. Have at it. Give more speeches, more complaints, but I am telling you, the American people are getting tired of it. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. Will the gentlewoman yield?

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I have to say facts are important things. There have been no hearings on this bill. There was no markup, and there was no vote to report the bill out of committee. That is a fact. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, in 2021, U.S. citizens made up 86 percent of convicted fentanyl drug traffickers, 10 times greater than convictions of illegal immigrants for the same offense. Also, over 90 percent of fentanyl seizures occur at legal crossing points or interior vehicle checkpoints, not on illegal migration routes, so U.S. citizens who are subject to less scrutiny when crossing legally are the best smugglers. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record an article from the Cato Institute entitled, ``Fentanyl is Smuggled for U.S. Citizens by U.S. Citizens, not Asylum Seekers.''

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I will say to my friend from Indiana, my Republican friends now own this issue. The majority had a chance to do something, and my friends on the other side chose to not do anything. My colleagues chose to follow the orders of Donald Trump. Let me read to you the quote from Oklahoma's own senior Senator, James Lankford, and he said this on FOX News. He said: ``Are we, as Republicans, going to have press conferences and complain the border is bad and then intentionally leave it open?'' That is exactly what House Republicans are doing, complain, complain, complain, and then say, no, no, no, we don't actually want to do anything about the border. We just want to complain. Again, let me read that one more time. This is Senator Lankford, the second most conservative Member of the United States Senate, who said: ``Are we, as Republicans, going to have press conferences and complain that the border is bad and then intentionally leave it open?'' That is exactly what House Republicans are doing, complain, complain, complain, and then they say, no, no, no, we don't actually want to do anything about the border. They just want to complain. Senator Tillis, hardly a progressive, who had been working on this deal, called on House Republicans as well, and he said: ``Don't pretend that the policy,'' meaning the policy they negotiated, ``isn't strong. If you want to admit you're just afraid to tell President Trump the truth, that's fine.'' But for you to take a look at this framework and say it is a half measure, you are not paying attention, or you are not telling the truth. Mr. Speaker, again, this issue now is wholly owned by my Republican friends, and every opportunity to try to do something, from rejecting President Biden's request for additional funding for border security to telling the Senate that any border security bill is dead on arrival, that is now with you, and so my friends on the other side own this. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, let me say two things. First of all, yelling doesn't solve the problem; and, two, nobody on this side of the aisle is glossing over this issue. I have just spent the last 30 minutes telling my colleagues how ridiculous the legislation my Republican friends are bringing to the floor is and complaining about the fact that, every chance my colleagues get to fix the problem, my friends on the other side choose not to. By the way, it wasn't my words that I was quoting. It was Republican Members of the Senate, impeccably conservative Senator Lankford, Senator McConnell, Senator Tillis. It was my Republican colleagues. I get it. My friend is now making it clear. It is either his way, or the highway. Well, that is not a good attitude to have when you are in a divided government, but if that is what it is, that is what it is. I remind my Republican colleagues when they keep on bringing up their vaunted H.R. 2--by the way, I will say to the gentlewoman from Indiana, I think that is more than two words--last week, Senator Cruz from Texas basically had an amendment to the CR to bring up H.R. 2, their bill, their solution. It got 32 votes--32 votes. That is less than a third of the Senate. I don't know about my colleagues, but I think that is a pretty good indication that H.R. 2 isn't going anywhere. It is dead. Therefore, maybe we ought to come together and figure out what we can do together. For the life of me, I don't understand why Republicans are reluctant to do that. This is not a debate club. It is not supposed to be a debate club. This is supposed to be a place where we solve problems and pass legislation to help protect and defend this country. Instead, all we get treated to are press release bills, MAGA bills, yelling and screaming and whatever, but never, never, never a solution. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time remaining.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, despite the very real domestic and global challenges facing our Nation, House Republicans have chosen to waste time on sham impeachments, silly censures, and extreme policies that will never become law, and the two bills that this rule would bring to the floor, they fall into that category. This is not serious legislating by any measure. Democrats have come to the table with real solutions on the border, real solutions on immigration, and instead what we get is garbage like this. I have said it before and I will say it again: Republicans own this issue. Their side owns this. They own the border. They own the fentanyl crisis. They own all of it because they repeatedly reject our attempts to work together. That is both on border security and nearly everything else that has been brought up in this Congress. Because of that, because Republicans absolutely refuse to work with House Democrats, the Democratic majority in the Senate or the Democratic-held White House, because House Republican leadership continues to bow down to the most fringe, MAGA Members of their ultraslim majority, this body no longer functions under regular order. In fact, we don't function. This is not functioning. The last bill to become law that came through the Rules Committee was 9 months ago. Let me repeat that: The last bill to become law that came through the Rules Committee was 9 months ago. House Republican leadership has lost six rule votes since January 2023, and every week there is a legitimate question of whether Republicans even have the votes to pass their own rules and bills. I have never seen such dysfunction. I have never seen such incompetence. House Democrats have rescued this failing House Republican majority at nearly every turn. Last year, House Democrats ensured that the U.S. didn't default on its debt. That was a big deal because if we didn't help, we would have defaulted on our debt. House Democrats have kept the government running, despite GOP leadership wasting time pursuing unrealistic draconian spending cuts. It has been our votes that have kept the lights on since September. We believe in governing. We believe that shutting the government down is a bad, terrible, awful idea. House Democrats have advocated time and time again for viable solutions that tackle the important issues the Americans most care about, but--and here is the sad thing--Republicans would rather play partisan politics like politicizing this horrific crime than do anything to actually keep our country safe. There is an opportunity here. The stars are aligned. Conservative Republicans are working with moderate and progressive Democrats and working with the President of the United States to try to come to some sort of a compromise that will make a difference, and the response by the House Republicans is forget about it, my way or the highway. No. Donald Trump says we need the issue. Don't ever come up with a solution. Don't solve problems. Let's just keep the issue. Let's keep the press releases coming. Let's continue to exploit tragedy after tragedy after tragedy. Enough. Again, this is not a debate club; this is the United States House of Representatives, and all of us, Democrats and Republicans, have an obligation to do our job, to make sure we keep the government running, to make sure we are solving problems. I plead with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to join with us and with the conservative Republicans in the Senate. Let's do something, but instead we have got this. How pathetic. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this rule, ``no'' on the previous question, and 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, as we work on fiscal year 2024 appropriation bills, I rise to highlight Federal investments that are improving food security in my home State of Massachusetts. This month, the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources distributed over $7 million in Federal funding to local anti-hunger programs like Growing Places in Leominster, the Amherst and Northampton Survival Centers, and Grow Food Northampton. As a part of this distribution, MDAR is awarding additional State- funded grants to organizations like Together We Eat in my hometown of Worcester to teach kids how to grow food using repurposed shipping containers, and to Just Roots, an incredible nonprofit community farm in Greenfield. I am grateful to the Healey-Driscoll Administration, Agriculture Commissioner Randle, and Deputy Commissioner Pitcoff for prioritizing food security in the Bay State. I am proud to advocate for robust funding for these grant programs, which are an example of how leveraging Federal and State dollars can support innovative work to improve food security. I urge my colleagues to join me so that we can continue fighting to end hunger now.

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to include in the Record an important article from consumer advocate, lawyer, and author Ralph Nader that celebrate the determination and courage of citizen activists like Nadia Milleron. Nadia's daughter, Samya Rose Stumo, tragically died in a plane crash when the defective Boeing 737 Max she was in, crashed in Ethiopia on March 10, 2019, killing all 156 people on board. Nadia was determined to fight for justice, and successfully pushed for action to ensure that the families of victims of such tragedies could collect punitive damages. Her story is an inspiration that should be read by all as a reminder that in our democracy, one person truly can make a difference. That Lady from New England Who Shamed Us All (Ralph Nader) The mass media is reluctant to recognize civic heroes unless they display physical bravely such as rushing into a burning building to save a child. The media also lavishes vast coverage on sports heroes and entertainers. Unnoticed by the mass media was how it came about that the Illinois legislature, overcome by corporate lobbyists, passed legislation allowing punitive damages for wrongful death disasters, and sent the bill to Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker who signed it last Friday. In the words of one state lawmaker, this effort started with ``that lady from New England who drove down here (to Springfield, Illinois) and shamed us all.'' That lady was my niece Nadia Milleron, who lost her daughter Samya Rose Stumo--an emerging leader in global health--to the defective Boeing 737 Max that crashed in Ethiopia on March 10, 2019, killing all 156 people on board. (Earlier on October 29, 2018, a similar also new Boeing 737 Max crashed off Indonesia's coast, killing all 189 passengers and crew.) Nadia was determined that families in the future who lost their loved ones to reckless corporate actions and crimes would not be told by Illinois courts that, were people rendered disabled, they could collect punitive damages--but not if their lives were taken. The cruel absurdity of this perverse rule that lets companies escape punitive damages under the law of torts (wrongful injuries) if their recklessness or greed kills their victims, but not if they injure them, was too much for Nadia to tolerate. Driven by her love of Samya and her determination to end this gross injustice, she spent months away from her Massachusetts home in 2022 getting appointments with every Illinois Assembly person--177 of them--to plead her case in person. None of the naysayers she encountered in the lobbying circles around the legislature deterred her, not even some plaintiff trial lawyers. By the sheer force of her legal and factual arguments, her moral authority and a few senior political advisors in Chicago, she laid the groundwork for action earlier last year. The Illinois Wrongful Death Act was championed by a young African-American state lawmaker, Rep. La Shawn K. Ford. Once it started moving through the Assembly (with little media attention) it gained momentum among the new Assembly leadership that carried through to the new leadership of the State Senate. Both legislative Houses are controlled by Democrats. Nadia came to this challenge in Illinois, where the Stumo family civil tort litigation against Boeing is pending, with experience in battling the giant Boeing corporation's power to get its way in Washington, DC. For months after Boeing's homicides in Ethiopia (See, September 16, 2020, News Release from the House Committee on Transportation), Nadia and her husband Mike (both non-practicing lawyers), with the help of their two articulate sons, and other relentless, bereaved families, worked the corridors and offices of Congress, pressing for public hearings and legislation. Their efforts, punctuated by public demonstrations, culminated in the passage of federal legislation to start the process of strengthening air safety regulations. The Stumos and their family network also focused on the derelict FAA which, over the years, had transformed itself from a supposed aviation safety regulator to a weak, consultant's role. The agency literally delegated regulatory decisions and inspections to deputized Boeing employees on the factory floor and in the design offices. Boeing and other aircraft manufacturers made sure that Congress did not object and indeed had Congress facilitate this delegation, including by keeping the FAA's regulatory budget and skilled staff too small to regulate directly and forcefully. Nonetheless, with astute and newsworthy press conferences and accurate responsiveness to media inquiries, the families pushed the FAA to be a little more hands-on and probing than it was up to 2019. When the punitive damage bill passed the Illinois legislature, Governor Pritzker had 60 days to either sign it or let it become law. He chose to sign it on August 12th without any ceremony, without having Nadia, the young Assemblyman Ford and other senior state lawmakers by his side. Had he made it an event, he would have memorably conveyed the key motivating belief in a democracy--that one person can make a difference! Citizen Nadia blazed the way, shaming the foot-dragging Illinois Trial Lawyers Association (ITLA) into jumping on the bandwagon in Springfield once the bill's momentum grew. On February 27, 2023, I wrote a letter to the President of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, Patrick A. Salvi II, wondering why the ITLA hadn't pushed this initiative over many past years and urged them to ``make the maximum effort to secure passage.'' Trial Lawyer Associations do not usually answer letters, but this one got through, with copies to other interested parties. (See the letter here). Our country, over time, has been helped immeasurably by outraged mothers (and fathers) turning their unabating mourning over the loss of their children into laser beam intensity behind health and safety laws to save other parents and children from similar tragedies. (Note e.g., Mothers Against Drunk Driving). These civic heroes defy all odds to challenge and prevail. The odds don't faze them; they have a higher calling to achieve. Unfortunately, neither Governor Pritzker nor the mass media seized this dramatic moment for exemplary recognition. The law, however, now is on the books to further more humane and deterrent purposes, thanks ``to that Lady from New England who shamed us all.''

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I would say to my Republican friends, enough with the lectures. I just spent the last hour listening to the debate on the previous rule where the Republicans basically were saying the Democrats had an obligation to fix what the Republicans screwed up to begin with, that we basically have to clean up their mess. I just heard the gentleman talk about our obligation to our allies as the basis for this crummy piece of legislation that we are now talking about. Really, to get a lecture from Republicans about our obligation to our allies while they are blocking aid to Ukraine as we speak? The Senate, with a 70-vote margin, passed in a bipartisan way aid, to provide essential aid to Ukraine so that Putin will not have a victory, will not invade Ukraine. When I hear my friend talk about an obligation to our allies, I urge him to ask his Speaker to please let the House work its will to bring this bill to the floor. Let us have a vote. What we are talking about here today is ridiculous. Mr. Speaker, this will be the fourth time this Congress that language either identical or nearly identical to this bill has been reported out of the Rules Committee. First, it passed as part of Republicans' destructive H.R. 1 energy package. Then, Republicans tried to pass it as a standalone bill but had to pull the rule for the bill from the floor because they didn't have the votes. The third time, the bill was put on the floor, but it failed to pass because the MAGA clown show threw a fit after not getting what they wanted. Here we are again, for the fourth time. I don't know if my Republican friends have looked at the calendar recently, but Groundhog Day was actually last week. Maybe they think this is Nick at Nite, and they want to start airing more reruns. This is Congress. This is Congress--Congress. The American people vote for us and pay us because they expect us to work together to get things done. The only real difference this fourth time around is that Republicans--and you really can't make this stuff up--Republicans blocked Democratic amendments that were made in order the last two times. The last two times this bill came through the committee, they made two Democratic amendments in order. Now, they have been blocked because this is a completely closed rule. Last night, I asked my colleagues across the aisle why. Why did you block two Democratic amendments that were germane and made in order the previous times we looked at this bill? Nobody could answer. My Republican friends kind of just looked at each other and shrugged. I am assuming it must have been a directive of the Speaker. Maybe Speaker Johnson decided that he doesn't even want to pretend to care about bipartisanship anymore, and that is why he told Republicans to block Democratic amendments that were made in order in previous rules. We are dealing with a completely closed rule. The worst part is that this whole circus is for a garbage LNG bill. Mr. Speaker, do you know who is happy about this Republican LNG bill? Big Oil CEOs, and fossil fuel tycoons. China is thrilled with what my Republican friends are doing today. Wall Street is applauding them. This bill is awful for hardworking families. It is awful for people who are worried about high energy prices. It is awful for our climate. The American people are worried about climate change. They say we need action. I don't know if my Republican colleagues got the memo, but climate change is real. Thankfully, President Biden is doing something about it. Republicans still can't answer another simple question from us. Why do they want to turn LNG into a Wild West that mimics the oil market? For people who are sick of OPEC and Russia fixing the prices that we pay at the pump every day like I am, just know that this bill makes it easier for that to happen with LNG. Republicans talk a big game on China. Their bill helps China and other adversaries who rely on American LNG imports. The truth is this is just another handout to the GOP's best friends. They want to make sure that Big Energy CEOs and corporations can pad their pockets while raising prices on all of us. Follow the money. Look who contributes to them. That tells you all you need to know about why we are dealing with this bill today. This entire week is just a master class in Republican incompetence. My friend across the aisle tells us routinely how crucial their bills are and how important they are, and then the bills are defeated not by Democrats but by Republicans. Republicans just wasted time debating a rule that would bring to the floor a 1-year, limited fix to the SALT problem that they created with their Trump tax scam. They caused the problem. Now, we are debating a rule that they didn't have the votes for last week, and it is likely to fail on the floor today. Last night, they impeached Secretary Mayorkas by one vote. They had to rush and redo that one before Tom Suozzi was sworn in. The Rules Committee is supposed to meet on a new FISA bill later today, our third attempt this Congress. Maybe this one will pass. Who knows? Everything we are doing this week is a rerun: another impeachment vote, the FISA bill, the SALT bill, and this LNG bill. This is all because Republican leadership keeps bringing half-baked ideas to the floor without knowing where their own Conference stands. It didn't work the first time or even the second or third time. I guess we have to do it again. Look at what is going on in this country. My Republican friends are barely hanging on to this majority by their fingernails. Mr. Speaker, you would think that Republicans would look at the results of last night's election and have a come to Jesus moment. The American people are rejecting Republican extremism. They are voting against Republicans' cynical move to tank the bipartisan border deal. I don't know if you looked at some of the exit polls and some of the commentary about people who were voting yesterday. People are puzzled why my Republican friends made such a big deal about the border crisis. Then, you have a bipartisan border deal that is negotiated in the Senate, and then the Speaker of the House says it will never see the light of day and that we don't need any legislation. People are seeing through this cynicism. People are against the sham impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas. What an offensive waste of time that was yesterday. I don't know, maybe MAGA-based donors are impressed by that kind of behavior, but it does nothing about anything at the border. It is more grandstanding. People are sick of that. Here is the deal. People actually want Republicans to work with Democrats to get stuff done. What a radical idea that, in Congress, people would try to work together to pass legislation to help improve the lives of the people we represent. That is not what this is today. That is not what we have been seeing the last several months. Mr. Speaker, I pointed this out the other day, but I think it is worth repeating. The Rules Committee is kind of the traffic cop of Congress. Almost every major piece of legislation that comes to the floor goes to the Rules Committee, certainly legislation of consequence. The last time the Rules Committee brought a bill to the House floor that actually became law, that passed the Senate and was signed by the President, was 9 months ago. All this time, bringing these messaging bills to the floor, the impeachment of Mayorkas, all this garbage that is being brought to the floor, none of it becomes law. Why are you here? Mr. Speaker, we are here today considering the same old bills over and over again because the Republican Party has nothing to offer but chaos, confusion, and disarray. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Pennsylvania just kind of regurgitated a whole bunch of statistics. I am not going to rebut every single one of them. He went through a whole litany of things that are wrong with our country. Here is a novel idea for Republicans: rather than just complain, maybe actually try and find some solutions. If all the things the gentleman says are problems that we need to deal with, then my suggestion is to get about the business of passing legislation in a divided Congress to fix them. This is the least productive Congress, I think, in decades or maybe even since the Great Depression. My friends have done nothing. They have done nothing. They come to the floor and they complain. This is not just a do- nothing Congress, this is a do-nothing Congress over and over and over again. We are doing reruns this week. We have dealt with this legislation. This is the fourth time we are dealing with it, and I predict we will probably deal with it a fifth, a sixth, a seventh, and an eighth time before the end of the year when, hopefully, your majority comes to an end. I don't want to be lectured about jobs from somebody who supported Donald Trump, who when he was President, had the worst jobs record since the Great Depression. I don't want to be lectured about blue- collar workers. I come from an area in Massachusetts where we actually stand proudly with our unions, something that my Republican colleagues fight against every single day in this Chamber. I will just give some friendly advice to the gentleman based on the results of last night's election, which my Republican friends were predicting a victory, but I am saying that the reason why you did not win last night is because people think that what you are doing is not the right thing. Your ideas are unpopular, and they are sick of the incompetence and the inaction. They are sick of the complaining and no solutions. You complain about the border. Democrats and Republicans work together in the Senate to come up with a bill. Maybe it is not everything you want, but it was negotiated by some pretty conservative, rightwing Republicans. Rather than bring it to the House floor so we can have a debate and a vote, the Speaker and Republican leadership says it is not allowed to be considered on the House floor. Again, the gentleman talks about national security. None of us can understand the game the Republicans are playing with Ukraine. How can you do this to the Ukrainian people, playing into the hands of Vladimir Putin? Are Republicans cheering a Putin victory against Ukraine? If so, that is sick. The Senate passed this in an overwhelmingly bipartisan manner, and the Speaker said it is dead on arrival. We can't even consider it here. I just want to also say, because I think it is important for the record, that last night in the Rules Committee, Ms. Scanlon of Pennsylvania offered an amendment to the rule to make in order amendment No. 2 to H.R. 7176, offered by Representative Houlahan, which requires the commission to deny applications with regard to covered foreign countries including China, North Korea, Russia, and Iran, as well as foreign entities owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of the government of those countries. Do you know what happened, Mr. Speaker? It was defeated 4-9. Mr. Burgess, Mr. Reschenthaler, Mrs. Fischbach, Mr. Massie, Mr. Norman, Mr. Roy, Mrs. Houchin, Mr. Langworthy, and Chairman Cole all voted ``no.'' They all voted against making that amendment in order, which would have made sure that none of these countries that I just mentioned would benefit in any way, shape, or form. Sometimes we come to the floor to debate these issues, and I am not quite sure whether we are dealing in reality or an alternate universe. The bottom line is, if the gentleman cared about the things he just said, why couldn't we make this amendment in order and have an up-or- down vote on it? Why was this such a radical idea? Why was this such a bad thing to do? Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Ryan), a great colleague.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Boy, that is a lot to try to wrap my head around, listening to the gentleman from Pennsylvania. This is not just reruns week in terms of legislation. It is reruns week in terms of talking points. The previous President, Mr. Trump, who my Republican friends are so enamored with, let me just remind you of some of what he was all about. He called President Xi brilliant. He said he got love letters from Kim Jong-un of North Korea, and then he said: ``We fell in love.'' Who says that? He says Prime Minister Orban is one of the strongest leaders in the world. He can't say enough nice things about Vladimir Putin. While he was President, Vladimir Putin was planning his invasion of Ukraine. The other day, Donald Trump said, do you know what? If NATO doesn't do what I want, then I don't care whether or not Putin invades them. Who says that? Biden has united the world against Putin's aggression in Ukraine. Rather than helping Ukraine stand up to Vladimir Putin, my friends on the other side of the aisle are basically giving him a gift. They are denying essential aid to help the Ukrainian people repel a violent and vicious attack by Vladimir Putin. What is wrong with this place, Mr. Speaker, that this is where we are? I don't know whether my friend from Pennsylvania supports the Ukrainian people in their struggle to prevent Russia from invading them or not. If he does, then he should join with us and say let's have a vote. I mean, they are literally down to bullets. Putin is ecstatic. Putin is thrilled that the Republican leadership in this Congress is holding up aid that will prevent Ukraine from being able to repel a Russian invasion. Putin is thrilled. Please, give me a break. Putin is a thug. He is a dictator. He is trying to re-create an old empire. The idea that people in this Chamber are sitting by and saying, okay, do whatever you want, I never ever thought we would ever get to this point, but here we are. We are debating a bill for the fourth time that is going nowhere, and my friends are pretending like it is some big deal. It is a nothing burger, yet we can't bring legislation to the floor to help the Ukrainian people. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. What the American people are sick of is all of this. I mean, the disingenuousness of what is being said here takes my breath away. The gentleman talks about the border. When conservative Republicans negotiated a bipartisan border deal, and Donald Trump said we would rather have it as an election issue than actually do anything, the Speaker decided to pull it. The same with our allies. The idea is that Vladimir Putin has viciously attacked Ukraine, and my Republican friends are standing by and cheering Putin on. I can't believe we are at the point we are at in this Congress. What the American people are sick of is this do-nothing Republican majority, and they can't wait, quite frankly, to replace this current regime, as evidenced by the election last night. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record an article from Newsweek titled: ``Chip Roy Furiously Tears Into Fellow Republicans.''

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Roy took to the floor and said: ``One thing. I want my Republican colleagues to give me one thing--one--that I can go campaign on and say we did. One. Anybody sitting in the complex, if you want to come down to the floor and come explain to me one material, meaningful, significant thing the Republican majority has done.'' Frankly, it seems like my fellow colleague on the Rules Committee and I agree on something: The Republican majority has been useless. It has done nothing unless you enjoy lurching from crisis to crisis or peddling sham impeachments. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN

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

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, up to 40 percent of the food produced in our country goes to waste. Food waste packs our landfills, increases harmful emissions that contribute to our climate crisis, and drives up costs for producers, manufacturers, and consumers alike. With 44 million of our fellow citizens struggling with food insecurity, it is clear we need a better nationwide strategy to divert food that is perfectly good to eat from landfills and to the plates of hungry families. I am grateful for the efforts of U.S. Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, and the Food and Drug Administration for their work in leading an interagency task force to tackle this very issue. Their work, coming out of the 2022 White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, has resulted in a comprehensive Draft National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics. The strategy, which I ask all of my colleagues to read, details how each and every one of us, from citizens to government agencies, can do our part to reduce food waste as we work to end hunger now.