Jim McGovern

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Madam Speaker, my friend from Pennsylvania talked about his good friend, some CEO of some LNG corporation that he is worried about. You know what? I am more worried about the consumers in this country who will see their energy costs rise, potentially, if this bill were ever to become law. I will make two quick points. This bill is going nowhere because it is written in such a way that it will not get bipartisan support in the House or in the Senate, and it certainly will not make it to the President's desk and will not be signed into law. For the fourth time, I will say that this bill is going nowhere, and this is a colossal waste of time. The second point I make is this Congress is doing nothing not only on energy, but it is doing nothing on everything that matters to the American people. My Republican friends have spent more time electing a Speaker and then replacing a Speaker and on useless, baseless impeachments than they have on actually legislating. Here is a radical idea. We get elected to Congress. We should work together to try to pass legislation that becomes law, that will improve the quality of life for the people we represent. That is something that is foreign to my friends on the other side of the aisle. Madam Speaker, it has become a familiar pattern by now. We have a looming government shutdown. We have urgent issues at home that require congressional action. We have pressing national security challenges and wars abroad, and Republicans are wasting time on impeachment stunts, silly censures, and MAGA messaging bills. I mean, look. They have us here debating the same bill for the fourth time. We can pass it 4 times or 400 times. It doesn't matter because it is not written in a way that can become law in a divided government. My friends won't admit that on the floor, but we all know it is true. Meanwhile, the Senate is sending us bipartisan bills that Speaker Johnson refuses to bring to the floor. The Speaker doesn't seem to think that his job is to solve problems, but rather, he thinks his job is to block bipartisan solutions. We had a bipartisan immigration solution. It was blocked. Well, guess what? My Republican friends now own the issue. You are responsible, solely now, for what is going on at the border. You are responsible for the fentanyl crisis in this country. We had a bipartisan bill that was passed in the Senate to help aid our allies in Ukraine and in Israel. The Republican leadership is blocking it, can't even get a vote. You are responsible. Madam Speaker, my friends on the other side are responsible for basically setting the world afire right now, creating all this insecurity and potentially giving Vladimir Putin a free pass to go in and invade Ukraine. I never thought we would be at this point. The bottom line is this: Democrats want to work together with Republicans to get things done. They seem to be able to do that in the Senate. I never thought I would ever say anything nice about the Senate, but they are working in a bipartisan way. That is why President Biden had us sit down and negotiate a bipartisan border deal. That is why Democrats work with Republicans in the Senate to come up with a bipartisan deal to address our national security challenges. The Speaker of the House says: The House should work its will. Then the Republicans refuse to bring bipartisan bills up for a vote on the floor because they are afraid of MAGA, they are afraid of Trump, and they are afraid that these bills will pass. Having a campaign issue seems more important than solving a problem. It didn't work for my friends last night. This idea that my friends have about not solving problems, that somehow that is good for their election chances didn't seem to pan out last night. What Republicans need to realize is that they control one-half of one branch of government and only barely. They are not dictators--at least not yet. They have a two-seat majority in the House--two seats--because the American people voted against extremism last night. This bill that we are talking about here today, the infomercials that are being delivered on the floor, they are going nowhere. The reason why my friends keep losing is they keep following the most extreme Members of their Conference. People don't want the solutions that Marjorie Taylor Greene brings before Congress. They don't want a deranged former President who has been indicted more times than he has been elected to be calling the shots here. They want leaders that have vision, not petulant children that have nothing to offer but division. Madam Speaker, my Republican friends lost last night for the same reason I believe you will lose in November. You have nothing to offer, nothing at all, but division, chaos, and incompetence. This is just a continuation of that. What is happening here is we are debating trivial issues passionately, but important ones, not at all. There are important issues that we need to deal with and to debate and to legislate on right now that affect the people of this country, that affect people all over the world, and we are doing this--bringing back a bill for the fourth time, a bill that we all know is going nowhere because it has been written so poorly and in such a partisan fashion. If my friends want to be serious about governing, you are going to have to learn to work with us. It is that simple. Take ``yes'' for an answer and work with us for the good of the American people. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. McGOVERN

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

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina, the gentlewoman from California, and the gentleman from New Jersey, who just spoke, not just for their support for this bill but for their leadership on human rights in general. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 533, the Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act. I thank my co-lead, Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman McCaul, and Ranking Member Meeks for their work to bring this bill to the floor today. This is important. It has been more than 60 years since the People's Republic of China forced His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama into exile and took control of Tibet against the will of its people. The dispute between the Chinese and the Tibetans over Tibet's status and governance has persisted ever since, in spite of the willingness of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people to resolve Tibet's status and governance through dialogue. With dialogue blocked, the PRC has continued its unceasing efforts to erode Tibetan history, Tibetan language, Tibetan culture, and Tibetan religion. A few years ago, I was on a delegation with Speaker Pelosi. We went to Tibet and saw firsthand the PRC's repression against the people of Tibet, essentially trying to erase the Tibetans as a people. This bill that we are discussing here today seeks to end that by explicitly recognizing that the Tibetan people are a people with a distinct religious, cultural, and historical identity; by reminding all concerned that peoples, and not least the Tibetan people, have a right to self-determination under international human rights law; and by requiring the U.S. Government to actively counter the PRC's propaganda about Tibet, like the false claim that Tibet has been part of China since ancient times, a position that the United States has never accepted. There is no basis for such a claim. Through these measures, we hope to kick-start dialogue between Tibet and China, in keeping with longstanding U.S. policy. Madam Speaker, any one of us reading the news these days knows that the world is awash in conflict. At the heart of most, if not all of those conflicts, lies the systematic denial or violation of a people's human rights. The decades-old dispute between Tibet and China started as an armed conflict of invasion, resistance, and insurgency. In the long run, the only guarantee against the resumption of large-scale violence is for the PRC to fully respect the human rights and dignity of the Tibetan people. A vote for this bill is a vote to recognize the rights of the Tibetan people and a vote to insist on resolving the dispute between Tibet and the People's Republic of China peacefully, in accordance with international law, through dialogue, and without preconditions. There is still an opportunity to do this, but time is running out. Again, I urge my colleagues to support this bill because it is about standing up for human rights. It is about standing up for the Tibetan people, a people who have been repressed for far too long. Madam Speaker, I thank all my colleagues for their support.

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for Texas for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. This impeachment resolution was supposed to be our second rule of the day. We had an emergency meeting last week in the Rules Committee about fixing SALT. Everybody hurry up, it is an emergency. Better do it right away so we can vote quickly. Then--get this--last night a change was made to pull their emergency bill from the schedule. It was such an emergency that Republicans decided it is not an emergency at all. Not only did their bill not even fix the problem that they, themselves, created, it is not even going to come to the floor now because of their inability to govern. This majority is so incompetent, they couldn't even manufacture a fake vote to pretend New York Republicans are good at legislating. We wasted hours last Thursday at the Rules Committee debating a rule that has now been pulled from consideration--and for what? Will the gentleman from Texas tell us next that he is glad he had to sit through a hearing on a rule his leadership can't even bring up because they are so bad at governing? This Republican-led House is an unmitigated disaster. I would say it is a clown show, but that would be a disservice to actual working clowns. That brings us to the second emergency rule. Mr. Speaker, impeachment is one of the most solemn, serious, somber things that we can do in this body. It is not something that ought to get thrown around lightly or invoked when you disagree with someone or you don't like their policies or you think they are doing a bad job. It is something that should happen after a grave constitutional offense has been committed, a crime against the Republic. The Founders in Article I reserve it only for treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. Consequently, today, I am very confused because our Republican colleagues have presented zero evidence for impeachment. This could be the first time in American history an impeachment will go to the floor of the United States House of Representatives with no evidence, no proof, no elements of a crime, nothing at all. You don't have to take my word for it. Listen to the lead Republican for immigration policy, our colleague, Tom McClintock. He says: ``The problem is they [the Articles] fail to identify an impeachable crime that Mayorkas has committed. In effect, they stretch and distort the Constitution in order to hold the administration accountable. . . .'' Another Republican, Ken Buck, says: Secretary Mayorkas did not commit an impeachable offense and is not guilty of high crimes or misdemeanors. These are not my words. These are your fellow colleagues, Mr. Speaker, openly admitting that these vague, unprecedented Articles of Impeachment trivialize this process and make a total mockery of this institution. What does this impeachment have to do with fixing our challenges at the border? Nothing at all. They say this is about securing the border, and their plan to secure the border is to impeach the guy responsible for securing the border and replace him with--now wait for this, wait for it--they aren't sure. The chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security couldn't tell us during our Rules Committee meeting who will replace Secretary Mayorkas if he were removed. I mean, you can't make this stuff up. For months and months and months, Republicans have said that they would shut down the government, they would default on our debt, refuse to do anything unless we passed a border bill. Well, good news. Senate Republicans worked out a border bill, and the person who negotiated it for Republicans, Senator Lankford, was someone Donald Trump endorsed. Donald Trump said that Senator Lankford is ``strong on the border.'' Therefore, I am shocked by the Republican rejection of Senator Lankford's bill. Before we even saw what was in it, before the ink was even dry on the discussion draft, Donald Trump came out, and he ordered them to kill it. He ordered them to do nothing to fix our broken immigration system. They would rather let chaos prevail than work with Democrats to have a conversation about a path forward. Here is the truth, Mr. Speaker. Republicans simply do not want to participate in government. They want to create chaos. They want to create confusion, and they want to create a campaign issue for Donald Trump going into the next election. They are not interested in solving problems. They only want to gain power. That is the real dereliction of duty here: House Republicans' refusal to address our challenges at the border because Donald Trump told them he wants a crisis so he can help his campaign, so he can hide from his crimes. Well, they own this now. Republicans own this now. They own the border. They own the fentanyl crisis. They own it all because they refuse to behave like adults. They are acting like spoiled, rotten children who got what they want and still can't take ``yes'' for an answer, but they own all of this now. If anyone needs more proof than that, look no further than the sponsor of this resolution--Marjorie Taylor Greene, a MAGA extremist who amplifies Holocaust deniers, who said 9/11 was a hoax, who says wildfires are started by Jewish space lasers. That is the legislative and intellectual force behind this impeachment resolution. In fact, if it passes, she is going to be an impeachment manager on the floor of the United States Senate. God help us. It is just more proof that this is fraudulent, unconstitutional garbage, but Donald Trump wants another fraudulent impeachment, another distraction from his own legal troubles, another excuse to kill a bipartisan border deal instead of working across the aisle to get something done. Here we are, because Trump calls the shots around here. He directed Speaker Johnson and extreme MAGA Republicans not to work with Democrats to address challenges at the border. One thing we know, Republicans work for Trump, not for the voters. They worship and they work for Donald Trump, who doesn't care about anybody but himself. They are frightened to death of the former President. Mr. Speaker, Secretary Mayorkas is a good man, a decent man, someone who is trying to do his job despite the fact that Republicans refuse to give him the tools needed to do what they are asking him to do. He is an honorable public servant who respects law enforcement and takes seriously his oath of office and his obligation to uphold and enforce the law. In smearing his good name, Republicans are only impeaching themselves and showing that all their rhetoric about the border has been nothing more than a bunch of BS. 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 Texas just took almost 10 minutes--10 minutes of my life which I will never get back--and still didn't get it right, which is basically that this move to impeach Secretary Mayorkas is a sham. There is no basis for this. Just because you don't like the guy or disagree with the policies of this administration is not a reason--it is not a high crime and misdemeanor. It is not a reason to move forward on impeachment. I am listening to the gentleman and also my colleague from Texas. Republicans are really good about complaining about things, talking about what the problems are. We agree with some of the things that have been highlighted, that they are problems. What my Republican friends are not really good at is actually solving a problem or getting to yes on anything. The gentleman from Texas said: Oh, we are asked to consider a Senate bill that the Senate hasn't acted on. Wait a minute. The Speaker of this House of Representatives has already said he will not have a vote in this House, no matter what happens in the United States Senate. Donald Trump, the guy you are all afraid of, has been making calls saying: You better not do this. You better not do this. The author of this Senate bill--again, I haven't read it all--there is lots of stuff in it that gives me heartburn, from what I can tell, but the guy who wrote it was a Senator from Oklahoma who Donald Trump says is strong on the border. I will repeat what I said before: What we are doing today does nothing to help anything at the border--not a thing, not one thing. Any opportunity to do something requires working in a bipartisan way to move a bill forward, which apparently my Republican friends here in the House do not want to do. That is a shame, but here is the deal: You now own this. This is a problem that you are maintaining, that you have deliberately decided that you will own, because you will do nothing. You are blocking any attempt for any kind of legislation to come to this floor that has a chance of passing in a bipartisan way and getting signed into law. You are doing it. Even the Border Patrol union has endorsed what the Senate is doing. I haven't read the whole thing yet. I bet you none of you have either. Even before the ink was dry on the draft copy, Trump gave you the orders to kill it, and that is where we are. Complaining about a problem, I get it. Maybe it used to be good politics, but here is what I am predicting. The American people are watching. They are now seeing how this works. If we want a bill, if we want to work in a bipartisan way, there is a bipartisan coalition that developed in the Senate, led by a very conservative Republican Senator, and they come up with a bill. As soon as they do: No, we don't want to solve the problem. We want to continue the problem for political purposes. So now you own all of this. You own all of this.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Ms. Leger Fernandez), a member of the Rules Committee.

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

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas to ask this question: Does he agree or disagree that to change enforcement we must change the law? Does he agree that we need to change the law if we are going to change enforcement?

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I am using Dr. Burgess' words from 6/18/2018 when he said: We know that to change enforcement we must change the law. Then he went on to talk about immigration bills that we might consider in Congress, and he talked about the importance of legislation, and this is how democracy works. So the bottom line is, Republicans are really good about complaining but they are not so good at legislating. They are not so good at getting things done. When things begin to move in the direction where we may get something done, then they back away and they say no. They can't get to yes on anything. That is not leadership. That is not governing. That is, frankly, incompetence. When Trump was President my friends were saying one thing, and now that Biden is President, they are saying another thing. Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is if we are going to get something done, we need to come together in a bipartisan way. That is what has begun to happen over in the Senate. For the life of me, I do not understand why the Speaker of the House of Representatives, why my colleagues on the Republican side, one after another after another do not want to do anything. Well, you know what, if you do not want to do anything, that means you are satisfied with the status quo and you own this problem. This is a problem of your creation because we are trying to fix it and we are trying to work in a bipartisan way. Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, 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 a central reproductive healthcare, including abortion care. Far too many States have enacted laws to either ban some or all abortions, which many Republicans have declared numerous times is their goal. 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 Florida (Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick) to discuss that proposal.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, again, the gentleman from Texas confuses me because not too long ago--and I will use one of his quotes--he said: ``President Trump has presented a clear path forward; however, he cannot solve this crisis alone.'' Those are the gentleman's words. Congress must stand ready to put partisan politics aside and pass meaningful solutions, but now all of a sudden Joe Biden can do it alone? I mean, when Trump was President, he needed Congress, according to the gentleman, to give him the ability to be able to do what he wants on the border. Now, all of a sudden, it is a different story because it is a different President. Mr. Speaker, let me also address something that the other gentleman from Texas mentioned in his 10 minutes of remarks when he said something about this isn't about politics. I would point out that in April of 2023, Chairman Green, who is the chair of the Homeland Security Committee, promised Republican donors that he would produce an impeachment case against Secretary Mayorkas-- before donors. According to a recording of Chairman Green's remarks to campaign contributors, he said: ``On April 19, next week, get the popcorn-- Alejandro Mayorkas comes before our committee, and it's going to be fun.'' Chairman Green also said: ``That'll really be just the beginning for him.'' The chairman said those things 2 months prior to the committee formally announcing its so-called investigation--2 months prior, Mr. Speaker. He already promised his Republican donors that he would deliver impeachment charges. To be clear, this entire impeachment process has had a predetermined outcome. This has nothing to do with a legitimate case for impeachment, but it has everything to do with Republicans' mission to distract, deflect, and exact revenge for President Biden winning the 2022 election. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record the New York Times article titled: ``Key Republican Tells Donors He Will Pursue Impeachment of Mayorkas.''

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, one of the things that I am very distressed about is that many of my Republican colleagues who are upset that Donald Trump lost the last election and they were not able to overturn the free and fair results of that election, they are upset that they didn't get their way, and they weren't able to overturn the results. So now this is kind of a continuation of that effort to deny the legitimate results of the election. This in many respects is a continuation of what happened here on January 6, and it really is sad. There is another election coming up in November. I predict that my friends will understand better then that their policy of obstruction, impeachment, distraction, and not wanting to solve problems, I think they will realize that when people go to the ballot box, that is not what they want. The American people want us to work together to get something done. We have a serious situation at the border. We are trying to provide President Biden with the tools to be able to act. Just as my friend said that Donald Trump needed the legislative tools to be able to get what he wanted to get done--and unfortunately, notwithstanding some very impressive bipartisan cooperation in the Senate--my friends here have decided to reject everything; anything that might solve the problem; anything that might ease the situation at the border; anything that might help our Border Patrol agents, anything that will do anything to be able to solve this problem they are against. It is pathetic that that is the state that we are in right now. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, it is clear that this is not about Secretary Mayorkas or a high crime and misdemeanor. It is about a policy disagreement with President Biden. Again, it is interesting to point out that when Trump was President, he couldn't do things because Congress didn't give him the tools. Biden is asking for more tools, and my Republican friends don't want to do anything. Mr. Speaker, I have a memo here, released today on the arguments regarding impeaching Secretary Mayorkas, offered by the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, Mr. McClintock. In listening to my friends on the other side of the aisle, surely you would assume that the chairman of the Immigration Subcommittee, the lead Republican on immigration issues, would conclude in his memo that this impeachment is necessary and warranted. But, no, you would be wrong. In fact, he concludes the exact opposite, and Mr. McClintock has said he will vote ``no'' on impeaching the Secretary. Now, I would ask unanimous consent to put the entire memo into the Record, but it is so exhaustive in its analysis of how this impeachment is a bunch of garbage, that the memo exceeds the page limit for the Congressional Record. Let me just read a quick excerpt instead. He writes: ``The problem is that they fail to identify an impeachable crime that Mayorkas has committed. In effect, they stretch and distort the Constitution in order to hold the administration accountable. . . .'' ``Stretch and distort'': Those are the words of the Republican chairman of the Immigration Subcommittee. Mr. Speaker, again, I thank my colleague from California, who came to the well and basically called it as he sees it. He told the truth. We need some more truth around here. This is a sham. This is a dangerous precedent to go down. To impeach somebody because of a policy disagreement, I tell you, this is not what we should be doing. I am hoping that there are Republicans on the other side of the aisle who still believe in the Constitution and in this institution and who will reject this. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, Michael Chertoff, the former Republican- appointed Homeland Security Secretary, the first-ever Homeland Security Secretary, has also come out in support of Secretary Mayorkas. He said: ``I can say with confidence that, for all the investigating that the House Committee on Homeland Security has done, they have failed to put forth evidence that meets the bar.'' He went on to say: ``I don't agree with every policy decision the Biden administration has made. There are aspects of immigration strategy that are worthy of debate. But House Republicans are ducking difficult policy work and hard-fought compromise. Impeachment is a diversion from fixing our broken immigration laws and giving DHS the resources needed to secure the border.'' Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert in the Record an opinion piece written by Michael Chertoff and published by the Wall Street Journal titled: ``Don't Impeach Alejandro Mayorkas.''

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

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time for closing. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert in the Record an editorial piece from the Wall Street Journal titled: ``Impeaching Mayorkas Achieves Nothing.''

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, everything we have heard from the other side has confirmed that this impeachment is a predetermined political stunt. Again, this is the first time in American history an impeachment could go to the floor of the United States House of Representatives with no evidence, no proof, no elements of a crime, nothing at all. Not my words, Mr. Speaker. It is your own colleagues who say that. Here are a few more quotes. Jonathan Turley, a top Republican legal adviser, says: ``There is also no current evidence that he [meaning Secretary Mayorkas] is corrupt or committed an impeachable offense.'' Donald Trump's own impeachment defense lawyer, Alan Dershowitz: ``I urge principled Republicans who care about the Constitution to oppose those in their party who are seeking to impeach and remove Mayorkas based on nonconstitutional accusations.'' Republican leaders told their donors behind closed doors that they were going to impeach Mayorkas before they even began their sham investigation. They raise money off of this. They promised Marjorie Taylor Greene last year that they were going to impeach, no matter what, in order to help Donald Trump, to distract from his legal troubles and their own incompetence. I get why they need to change the subject. Trump was the worst President in my lifetime, probably in history. He tried to overturn the election results when he lost. He said he wants to be a dictator ``on day one'' and he invokes Adolph Hitler, saying: Immigrants poison the blood of our country. He had the worst jobs record since the Great Depression. He told everyone to drink bleach and take horse medicine during COVID. He has been indicted more times than elected and is currently in trial for 91 felony charges. That is after being ordered to pay $83 million after a jury of his peers decided he was a rapist. That is the leader of the Republican Party. That is who this impeachment is about, Donald Trump; not Secretary Mayorkas, a good, honorable, decent man. Donald Trump is a corrupt, dishonorable, disgraceful man. This is all about helping Republicans rile up MAGA voters and distracting from their inability to govern and address the critical issues facing our country. Instead of legislating, they are being led by Marjorie Taylor Greene and the extreme MAGA chock-full-of-nuts caucus to pursue this baseless, extreme, and harmful impeachment charade that distracts from actually securing the border. Do we have a problem at the border? Absolutely. Democrats and President Biden want real, comprehensive solutions to fix it, but the MAGA extremists have shown no interest in working with House Democrats to address the challenges facing the American people. What we need is Republicans to stop playing political games. That is the exact opposite of what is happening here, the exact opposite of this cynical, reckless, impeachment stunt. We are going to continue, as Democrats, to put people over politics, to fight for issues that matter, to try to lower costs, grow our economy, and, yes, to secure our border. If Republicans decide they want to join us as partners in government to solve these challenges, we welcome that. If they don't, there is an election coming up in November. I would say history is going to judge this Republican majority, but I don't think we need to wait for that. The voters are going to judge us all in November, and I think people are going to look at this fraudulent impeachment and they are going to look at Republicans' lack of accomplishments and they are going to vote them out because of their incompetence, their extremism, and their refusal to work with Democrats to address the challenges our country faces, including the border. As I said before, this entire impeachment stunt is an absurd, cynical exercise in extremism. I strongly urge a ``no'' vote on this rule and a ``no'' vote on the underlying resolution. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to thank Mr. McClintock for his statement. I don't normally agree with very much of what Mr. McClintock says, but I want to publicly thank him for being honest. If we are being honest with one another, we would not be bringing this impeachment resolution of Secretary Mayorkas forward. This is a sham. This is a joke. It has no basis within the Constitution. This is a political ploy. For the purpose of this 1-minute speech, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock) for his honesty. We need more honesty around here.

Mr. McGOVERN

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

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire from the gentleman how many more speakers he has?

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, here is the difference between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats want to work to get things done. We want to work with Republicans in a bipartisan way to fix our problems at the border. Republicans, well, let me just use their own words. Last night in the Rules Committee, we heard from the other side that we aren't going to fix the border crisis with laws. I mean, that is what was said in the Rules Committee last night. I mean, what the hell are we even doing here then? Why even pass any laws at all? Why try to fix any problems? Republicans say that Joe Biden and Democrats are single-handedly responsible for the crisis at the border. That is just not true. That is just not true. It is simply not true. Look at the facts. Democrats voted to increase border funding by 17 percent. Democrats provided $65 million for 300 new Border Patrol agents, $60 million for 125 new personnel at points of entry, and $230 million for technology, like autonomous surveillance towers. Republicans--Republicans--voted ``no'' every single time. Why? It is simple. Because Trump calls the shots around here, and Trump wants a crisis at the border. Somehow he thinks it helps him politically. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of courage on the other side of the aisle in this House to stand up to the bully and to do what is right. In fact, we have our House leadership standing up and saying no to a deal that the most conservative Republicans in the other Chamber are saying is a good deal, is a tough deal. And they are saying no. Why? Because all of a sudden, Trump doesn't want it. How pathetic. How pathetic. What a cynical, rotten thing to do. This is a serious problem that requires a serious solution, but they don't want to solve it. They don't want any action to secure the border. That is their strategy for November. Well, guess what, it is going to look a lot less strategic when they lose the next election because the American people see through their BS and vote them out of office. I mean, we have an opportunity here to potentially do something that will actually address the problems at the border: something meaningful, not messaging bills that are going nowhere, not talking points, not press conferences where people have meltdowns, but actually do something meaningful. All they can say is no, no, because Trump doesn't want us to do it. You know, I don't know how we progress here. I am hoping that there are some sensible Republicans who will stand up to Trump and stand up to their leadership who seems to have caved on trying to work together. I point out, again, that we have a divided government. I wish the Democrats were in control of everything. I am sure my Republican friends wished the Republicans were in control of everything. But the fact of the matter is, they are not, and they continue to act like they are, but when they behave that way nothing gets done. So the way this is supposed to work is that we work across the aisle, we try to come up with some areas of commonality, and we move forward, and we work with the Senate, and we work with the White House. That is what the Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats are doing right now. I mean, Mr. Speaker, I say to my Republican friends: You are not in control of everything. You don't have a dictatorship--at least yet. I know that is what the former President would like, but that is not what we have right now. If we want to get something done, we are going to have to compromise. We are going to have to give and take. We have to listen to each other. We have to try to move something forward. For the life of me, I can't understand why we are wasting so much time coming to the floor with stuff that is going nowhere that serves no purpose, other than to get people all riled up and maybe continue to appeal to the worst instincts in people: hate, racism, and bigotry. Enough. Enough. Mr. Speaker, if they want to solve the problem, then we are willing to work with them. If they don't, then please go away. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, let me set a couple of things straight. The border is not open. Now, maybe some people think it is because my Republican colleagues every day for the last 2 years have come to the floor screaming, ``The border is open. The border is open. The border is open.'' However, the border is not open, and that is just a fact. Today, there are approximately 38,000 people in immigration detention, which is 4,000 more than what DHS is funded for and roughly what the Trump administration averaged in fiscal year 2018. The Biden administration has also significantly increased removals in ways that many on our side of the aisle are concerned violates due process. Since the end of title 42 last year, the Biden administration has removed or returned to Mexico close to 500,000 individuals. The total is nearly equivalent to the number of people removed in all of fiscal year 2019 under the Trump administration. Please, please, stop making things up and stop claiming the border is open. It is not. Do we have a problem at the border? Absolutely. Absolutely, we do. However, listening to the gentleman, he seems to have no solutions. I mean, I think he thinks this is Beetlejuice, if you say ``crisis'' three times, the problem goes away. No; you have to take some action. You have to work to try to address the issue. Democrats and President Biden want to find real, comprehensive solutions to fix it. What we need is Republicans to stop playing political games, and that is the exact opposite of what is happening here and what has been happening under this Republican-controlled House of Representatives. It is shameful. I know that because we called their bluff. Democrats said, yeah, we care about border security, too. Let's get to work. Now Republicans tell us that they would rather wait until after the election. They don't actually want the thing they have been talking about for the last year. It is all a big lie. It is all a big lie. Why? Why would they want to wait? Why don't they want to work with us to fix the border right now? I think we all know the answer. Trump called--the guy they all worship, the guy they are all frightened to death of. He called, and he is demanding that they do nothing. No action at all on the border, that is what he said because he wants to campaign on it. I mean, what the hell is wrong with them? The Senate is working on a bipartisan border security bill, and Republicans tell us here in the House that they don't care what is in it. They will oppose it no matter what. From what I hear, I am not sure that I can even support the bill they are working on over in the Senate. It has things in it that cause me a lot of angst, but Republicans are sure that they are against it because Trump told them to be against it. That is because, at the end of the day, all he wants is to be able to scare people by demonizing immigrants and whipping up hate and fear and appealing to racism and bigotry. It is disgusting. It is that simple. I mean, I am not surprised. This is the guy who says: ``Immigrants poison the blood of America,'' echoing the words of Adolf Hitler. We can't get anyone on the other side of the aisle to try to disassociate themselves with those remarks. That is who the Republicans listen to. That is who is calling the shots here. Trump says no action on border security, period. Please, spare us the outrage and indignation. It is all theatrics. It is all for show, all so you can go on FOX News and blame President Biden for something that they refuse to fix. Republicans tried to cut Customs and Border Protection personnel. They rejected President Biden's request for $106 billion in funding to fix this problem, and they have consistently voted against funding for border security. You can't make this stuff up. They say we don't need more money. We just need a President who follows the law. We hear that again and again. We heard that last night in the Rules Committee. I hope that they are not implying that the former President--a rapist who was just ordered by a jury to pay $83 million for defaming his victim--follows the law. He has been indicted 4 times with 91 felony counts. I mean, this guy has been indicted more times than he has been elected. Give me a break. That is who is calling the shots around here? It is shameful. The bottom line is that they simply do not want to fix the border crisis. House Democrats, Senate Democrats, President Biden--hell, even Senate Republicans, some of the most conservative Republicans in the Senate, have been working together in a bipartisan way to solve this country's problems. We acknowledge we need to address our problems at the border, provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, fix our broken immigration system, and address the root causes of migration. What does the extreme MAGA clown show in this House care about? Not fixing the border. They care about Trump, about bending over backwards for his campaign and turning this place into a circus. What a shame. What a waste of time. What an embarrassment. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, to illustrate the point that I made earlier that my Republican friends are not serious about governing or about getting anything done, I point out to people in this Chamber maybe something that they don't really know. I have served on the Rules Committee for a long time, and the Rules Committee used to be a place where people showed up to try to get things done, where we would discuss big and pressing issues facing the country, and where we would debate how each side thought these problems should be solved. We would pass consequential legislation to improve the lives of Americans. It has been difficult to be on the Rules Committee lately to just deal with messaging bills--bills that don't do anything, that don't mean anything, that don't help anybody, and that don't solve any problems. This is a Judiciary Committee bill that we are dealing with right now. I ask this question of my colleagues here in the House: Do you know how many bills the Judiciary Committee has brought before the Rules Committee that have become law in the last year? The answer to that question is zero. Zero. It seems like the Judiciary Committee is up in the Rules Committee every other day. Not a single Judiciary Committee bill that has come before the Rules Committee that has come to this floor has become law. That is absurd. Now, you may say I am cherry-picking, but do you know the last time the Rules Committee met on a bill that actually was brought to the floor that got signed into law? Eight months ago. That is when we met on the Fiscal Responsibility Act. Even that moved forward because Democrats came to the rescue and voted for the rule to avoid a debt ceiling disaster. That is 8 months, more than half of our time in this Congress, wasted on messaging bills. At this point, I am not sure if that is a bug or a feature for this Republican majority, but what is clear is this: None of these bills that we are talking about here today will address our border challenges. None of these bills that we are dealing with today are going to ever become law. Republicans don't really care because they don't want to do anything real to solve problems at the border. The economy is getting better. Their presumptive nominee for President is ethically challenged. He has more legal problems than--I don't even want to compare him to anybody. We have never seen anything like this before. He was just ordered to pay $83 million for defaming a woman who he sexually abused, and this is just the beginning. They are not interested in solving problems or governing. What they are interested in is trying to hold on to a campaign issue. I am tired of it, the American people are tired of it, and frankly, it is just sad. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, imagine not having access to the food that you need to keep yourself or your child healthy. For the 2,000 infants every year who are diagnosed with an inherited metabolic disorder, that nightmare is a reality. It is why I introduced the bipartisan Medical Nutrition Equity Act with my friend, Representative John Rutherford, to require all public and private insurance to cover medically necessary nutrition for these individuals. Tomorrow, advocates who have been trying to get this bill passed for almost two decades will be here on the Hill. Here are just a few of their stories: Caroline was born with PKU and requires a strict regimen of low protein foods and medical formula. Zola was born with PKU, and her family has fought to get insurance coverage for formula that costs $75 per can. Caleb has a condition called EoE. He and his family fought for access to the formula he needed to grow up healthy, and now he is a college athlete. Mr. Speaker, no one should have to struggle accessing lifesaving foods. Let's pass the MNEA as we work to end hunger now. Let's also remember that food is medicine.