Jim McGovern

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. You have got to love these guys. I remind everybody, especially those who may be watching this on TV, that four out of the five bills that we are considering today are under completely closed rules, number one. Number two, I appreciate the gentleman expressing some concern about what happened on January 6. He said that some of them, you know, expressed their concern about the President's pardon publicly, so I just kind of Googled what my colleague from Virginia said to his local newspaper. He said that he has mixed feelings about President Trump pardoning those who were charged in connection with the January 6 attack on the Capitol. I don't know what ``mixed feelings'' means, but if my friend were genuinely outraged by what happened that day and by the pardoning of these people who violently attacked the police officers that were defending us that day, then I guess my question to the gentleman would be: Then why did you vote consistently against hanging a plaque honoring those police officers who protected our lives that day? Again, I find the silence on the other side of the aisle not only in regard to what happened in this Chamber on January 6--I find it particularly disturbing--but the silence in the aftermath of Donald Trump pardoning all of these criminals. Again, we have police officers who were severely wounded. Some ended up losing their lives. I mean, if you have objections and you have concerns, and even if you have mixed feelings, whatever that means, about the President pardoning all of these people, then does that mean that the gentleman will support our amendment that we are bringing up here that would prohibit the use of Federal funds to compensate individuals who were prosecuted for their involvement in the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021? I mean, I am not going to hold my breath, but I am willing to bet that virtually every Republican, if not every Republican, will vote against this amendment. Again, we get a lot of lectures about law and order from Republicans. Let's not forget, again, the leader of their party, the President of the United States, pardoned over 1,500 of his own supporters who violently attacked this building, including pardons for hundreds of convicted felons who violently and viciously beat law enforcement officers on January 6, sending many of them to the hospital with serious injuries. Donald Trump pardoned every single one of them. Many are repeat offenders who are now back in our communities because of the radical, far-right policies of this President and because of the acquiescence and the silence of the party that controls this Chamber. I mean, Matthew Huttle, a man with 12 prior criminal convictions, including a shocking case where he pled guilty to brutally hitting his 3-year-old son, leaving bruises all over his child's backside and neck, after he was pardoned by Donald Trump for the crimes he committed on January 6, went back to Indiana, where he was killed during a violent confrontation with law enforcement. He was a child abuser with a history of violence, who put law enforcement in danger again after he was pardoned by Donald Trump. Theodore Middendorf, accused of sexually assaulting a 7-year-old child--this guy pled guilty to this horrific crime in 2024, and he was sentenced to 19 years in prison. That wasn't all. He also pled guilty to destroying government property and using an American flagpole as a weapon during the Capitol riot. He was pardoned by Donald Trump. Peter Schwartz, a man with 30 prior criminal convictions, including abusing and assaulting his wife, biting her and repeatedly punching her, was convicted of attacking police officers on January 6 with pepper spray. He is another repeat offender pardoned by Donald Trump. Andrew Taake was arrested in 2016 for soliciting a minor online for sex, but his criminal history didn't stop there. He assaulted police officers with bear spray and a metal whip on January 6. He is another repeat offender pardoned by Donald Trump. Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are complicit in these crimes. I mean, thanks to these pardons, we have child sex predators and violent criminals back on our streets. We even have January 6 perpetrators who have been rearrested on new charges after being pardoned. Daniel Ball, a convicted felon because of his involvement in the Capitol insurrection, was pardoned by Trump on January 20, only to be rearrested 2 days later on gun charges. How dare you guys come down here and talk about law and order when you are complicit in these crimes? How dare you come down here and talk about supporting the police after you let out violent criminals who attacked law enforcement officers on January 6? I mean, I get it. We have different opinions on a lot of issues, but the one thing that should unite us is our praise and our respect for those who defended not only all of us who were here on January 6 but also defended our democracy. Because the guy in the White House doesn't want anybody to acknowledge that that was a terrible day, everybody just caved. Everybody caves on the other side. I don't have any mixed feelings about what Trump did. I think it was outrageous. I think most Americans that I talk to, and I think most Americans across this country, don't have mixed feelings. They think what happened that day was outrageous. These guys should not have been pardoned. Some of them should still be in jail. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. First of all, Mr. Speaker, let me apologize to the TV station that I called a newspaper. What a terrible sin. I appreciate the gentleman's clarity in reading that I have mixed feelings because some of the people deserve some of the time. Boy, that is really a strongly worded condemnation. I want to disagree with the gentleman on one thing he said, and that is somehow this is not on the agenda today. The gentleman just read off what the Republican agenda was and the votes that the Republicans want us to consider on the floor today. Mr. Speaker, I urge that we defeat the previous question. Our staff handed my friend's team the amendment that we want to vote on. The next vote that we have, by the way, will be on whether we would prohibit the use of Federal funds to compensate individuals who were prosecuted for their involvement in the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. I guess that is the next vote. So people are going to have to vote ``yes'' or ``no'' on that, and it is in front of us. I don't really understand why the gentleman would say that it is not in front of us. If he wants to support what we are trying to do here and make sure that the people who viciously attacked Capitol Police officers on that day on January 6 that threatened the lives of those who work here and who destroyed all of this property, that is well- documented, all of this is on video, I am happy to yield to the gentleman if he would like to endorse what we are trying to do so maybe we can agree on something. Okay, well, I guess I am not going to get that support. Again, Mr. Speaker, the next vote, again, I remind people, will be on whether or not we want to prohibit the use of Federal funds to compensate individuals who were prosecuted for their involvement in the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. The President is hinting that maybe he would be favorable to compensating some of these people who are responsible for the terrible crimes on that day. I find that sickening, quite frankly. He wants to give money to criminals, the people who attacked our democracy, who beat up our police officers, and yet he doesn't want to give money to our police officers, as I pointed out in the beginning. There is not a penny contained in any of these bills that actually help support our local police officers. Let me also bring us back to what I think this debate is all about. It is about priorities. This is another wasted week, and the debate is really about what Republicans are not doing and what they refuse to do. It is about their wasted time in the majority and their total failure to bring up legislation to help everyday people. People are begging us. They are begging us to do something about inflation. They are pleading with us to bring grocery prices down, to lower gas prices, to make life more affordable, and to stop the war and reverse the tariffs that are eating into their paychecks and killing their finances. What do Republicans prioritize week after week after week after week? It is billionaire tax breaks, loopholes for the rich and powerful, giveaways to the giant corporations, the price gougers, and the big donors who line their pockets with campaign cash. Listen to me, America: These guys promised to lower your prices on day one. It is year two for God's sake, and who are you going to believe, them or your empty wallet? Republicans have done nothing--nothing--to lower your costs. Their agenda does nothing to help everyday people. Their bills do nothing for working families. Their leader said so on TV yesterday. He doesn't even think about how his reckless, illegal, vanity war hurts your pocketbook. He thinks about his arch. He thinks about painting the reflecting pool. He thinks about his golf course on the Potomac River. He thinks about bailouts for foreign governments and corrupt, shady deals that enrich his inner circle. He thinks about his ballroom. Boy, does he bring that up every day. He wants $1 billion of your money for his tacky ballroom. However, when it comes to helping you, when it comes to helping your family, when it comes to the medical bills piling up on your kitchen table, and when it comes to figuring out how to keep your fridge full until your next paycheck, he told us the answer himself: He doesn't care, not even a little bit. Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on this rule, 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, last week in Massachusetts, I had the pleasure of speaking at the AMPL Institute's annual convening to learn about the latest research and hear directly from experts in the field of medically tailored meals. Based within Community Servings, the largest nonprofit provider of medically tailored meals in New England, the AMPL Institute combines pioneering research, policy work, and provider education aimed at transforming the healthcare system so that medically tailored nutrition becomes a universally accessible standard of care. The incredible work of Community Servings is what got me interested in, and now passionate about, expanding the reach of medically tailored meals. They are the reason I have introduced a bipartisan bill to pilot coverage of MTMs in traditional Medicare at hospitals across the country. Medically tailored meals have the power to transform lives. They improve health outcomes, support vulnerable patients, and strengthen the Food Is Medicine movement. It is time to pass my bipartisan bill, the Medically Tailored Home- Delivered Meals Program Act, to really advance the Food Is Medicine movement in this country.

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Minnesota for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, this rule is what happens when you try to make a deal by telling people what they want to hear. It is what happens when you come to an agreement by telling one group of people one thing and another group of people the total opposite. That is the situation that Speaker Johnson finds himself in. He can't keep his word to his own Members, can't manage his own Conference, can't figure out how to pass a bill, and apparently can't keep his stories straight between the two groups he was negotiating with. The incompetence takes my breath away. We are now wasting floor time to basically undo something Republicans did last week, to unattach an E15 bill from the farm bill after Republicans had us vote to attach an E15 bill to the farm bill. You can't make this stuff up. That is what this is all about: shady backroom deals falling apart because Republican leadership can't keep its word and just hoped that everything would somehow work out and nobody would notice anything. Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy used to do the same thing: promise everything to everyone, cut one side deal after another, and hope nobody noticed. How did that work out for him? Maybe, just maybe, there is a lesson here. If you are going to make a deal, make an honest deal. If you are going to write a bill, know what is in the bill. If you are going to promise your Members something, maybe don't come back 3 weeks later and say: Actually, never mind. I have to say I am a little surprised that some of my Republican colleagues from the Midwest are going along with this strategy because if you think separating E15 from the farm bill will help you get what you want, I have a degree from Trump University for you. This is not some brilliant legislative maneuver. It is a quick way to make sure the Senate never takes it up. The reason I know this is because the way the bill is written. The reason why this doesn't have much of a future is because--get this--this bill will cost over $2 billion, billion with a b, and none of it is offset. What happened to the deficit hawks? $2 billion, basically, that is just going to be added to the debt. It will be dead on arrival at the Senate, and again I think everyone knows that. If I represented a corn-producing State, I would not be thrilled that my leadership took one of my top priorities and pulled it out of a bill that possibly had a chance to move and said: Trust us. I don't know whether the gentlewoman read the rule because it sounded a little bit confused here, but here is the rule. It is one sentence. It doesn't talk about bringing E15 to the floor. It doesn't allow for there to be a debate or an amendment on an offset so that we don't add $2 billion to the credit card. It basically just is a rule that will detach E15 from the farm bill. That is it. I don't know. I wouldn't feel particularly comfortable if that is all that we were doing today, that that is all that the bill is accomplishing. What we have here is a majority that cannot manage its own Conference, cannot keep its promises, and cannot pass its own agenda without completely breaking into disarray. The American people see this. They see a Republican majority that spent weeks fighting with itself over the farm bill. They see a Republican majority that cannot decide whether E15 belongs in the farm bill, outside the farm bill, attached to the farm bill, detached from the farm bill, or shoehorned into something else. They see a Republican leadership that panders to the American people talking about lowering costs and inflation and then does none of it. Here is the thing. Republicans are bad at governing because they do not actually believe in governing. They believe in power for the sake of power. They believe in theatrics. They believe in blaming everybody else. When the time comes to do the basic work of this House, they fall apart. They block amendments. They shut down debate. They cut food assistance and healthcare, while protecting the rich and powerful. They fund Donald Trump's vanity projects, while families are getting crushed by the cost of groceries, rent, gas, and medicine. They know that their agenda is unpopular, and that is why they are not trying to earn people's votes anymore. They have given up on that. Instead of changing their agenda, they are changing the rules of democracy itself. Instead of earning votes, they are rigging maps. Instead of persuading people, they are silencing them. Instead of serving voters, they are choosing their voters. Just look at what is happening across this country. Donald Trump demanded that red States start gerrymandering so Republicans can cling to power in this House, and Republican politicians lined up to do it--the hell with democracy, the hell with what the people want. It is a very different story in States like Virginia where they actually had a vote on the new maps. People voted. Guess what. Voters approved a redistricting plan to fight back against the staggering Republican assault on our democracy. A narrow majority on the Virginia Supreme Court tossed it aside--an awful, awful decision in my view. Now, the United States Supreme Court has taken another wrecking ball to the Voting Rights Act, a law that for generations helped protect many communities from having their voices diluted and their powers stolen. Guess what, Mr. Speaker, we are not going back to the days of Jim Crow. Too many people have fought too hard for equal representation in this country. A party that is confident in its ideas does not need to make it harder for people to vote. A party that is proud of its record does not need to dilute people's representation. A party that knows how to govern does not spend its time making shady side deals and begging courts to save it from voters. But this Republican majority is not confident, not proud, and sure as hell not competent. Case in point: today's rule, a rule to undo just one more mess of their own making. Mr. Speaker, the American people deserve a hell of a lot better than this. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I think there is some confusion here. I have the rule. Maybe I have the wrong rule, I don't know, but the resolution says: ``Resolved, That section 11 of House Resolution 1224 shall have no force or effect.'' Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield to the gentlewoman if she could tell me where in this rule it says that we are bringing E15 to the floor. I am happy to yield to the gentlewoman to tell me where in this rule it says that.

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

Mr. McGOVERN. I reclaim my time, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the other rule we did, it makes it in order. It is already in order. It can be called up right this second, but in this, it basically doesn't make it in order. There is nothing here that says that this bill will be brought to the floor. This decoupling makes it more likely that the Senate could ignore it. It doesn't even guarantee that we are going to have a debate on the House floor on this, otherwise, it would say that specifically. The rule that we are voting on today does not bring E15 to the floor. If it did, it would say it. Again, this is a good education, I think, for my colleagues here. Read the rule because my friends on the other side don't always explain the rule correctly and here it is. It is one line, and it does not bring it up. What it does is, it decouples E15 from the farm bill, which makes it more likely that the Senate will kill it if it ever gets over there. Mr. 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 to read the rule again for my colleagues on the Republican side: ``Resolved, That section 11 of House Resolution 1224 shall have no force or effect.'' Just like Midwest House Republicans if they agree to this deal. Bottom line is, you fought to get this provision attached in the farm bill, and now we have a rule that basically detaches this issue from the farm bill. It doesn't even give us a pathway to bring it to the House floor. I am stunned by all of this. 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. 8698, the Lower Prices at the Pump Act, which would make it a Federal crime for oil companies and gas stations to price gouge the American people under cover of President Trump's illegal and misguided war in Iran. Mr. Speaker, today, the average price of gas across the United States increased to more than $4.50 per gallon. That is up from roughly $3 per gallon a year ago before Trump launched this disastrous war. What are Republicans doing about this price gouging? Nothing. Not a thing. They don't care if people are struggling to put gas in the tank. When asked just yesterday about the situation, the President said: ``I don't think about Americans' financial situation.'' However, 1 month before the 2024 elections, Donald Trump said: ``within 1 year, you are going to have electric bills and energy bills and gasoline for your cars is going to be 50 percent cheaper than it is right now.'' That is what Trump said. What a crock. What a crock. I need a neck brace for the whiplash here. If my Republican colleagues actually want to address the cost-of-living crisis, they will vote with Democrats to defeat the previous question, which would allow us to vote on legislation to bring down gas prices. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment into the Record, along with extraneous material, immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.

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

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I am just kind of amazed listening to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. Republicans fought tooth and nail to get this attached to the farm bill. I mean, they said this was like a huge, huge issue, and now, they are leading the charge to detach it from the farm bill. I mean, I don't get that. That means that if it gets sent over on its own to the Senate, and it is not going to have an offset, then it is not going anywhere, even if you can pass it in the House. I mean, it is a complete capitulation by midwestern House Republicans. I mean, it is stunning to me that my friends are caving like this. This whole E15 debacle is a great example, I think, of just how dysfunctional Congress has become under Republican rule. Year-round E15 was included in a bipartisan, end-of-year spending package back in 2024, a deal that was negotiated by none other than Speaker Johnson. That was 1\1/2\ years ago. Guess what happened. Elon Musk and President Trump blew up the deal. Musk tweeted about how much he hated the bill over 100 times and, over a 2-day span, threatened to fund primary challenges to anybody who voted for it. Then, later that second day, President Trump came out against the deal. Fast forward to this January, where Republicans in support of year- round E15 threatened to vote against their own party's agenda until they got an up-or-down vote on their proposal. They said that this issue was existential to the farmers they represent. Yet, in the end, they caved like they always do, and a deal was cut between midwestern Republicans and the leadership to create an E15 Rural Domestic Energy Council. They didn't get a solution. They got a do-nothing task force. At the time, Representative Miller-Meeks of Iowa said that the Council was created because Republicans ``failed in our primary duty to deliver immediate relief to rural America.'' The partisan task force failed to produce a bill by the February 15 deadline, breaking another promise. Months later, at the end of April, text mysteriously appeared from some back room in the Capitol. The text was filed by Representative Fischbach as an amendment to the farm bill. She even tried to sweeten the deal by adding billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded handouts to the oil industry, but that amendment was, once again, blocked by Republican leadership, and it never got a vote. Instead, Speaker Johnson told one group of Republicans that E15 will get its own vote and be added to the farm bill, while telling a different group of Republicans the exact opposite. Now, here we are, debating a bill to detach the E15 proposal from the farm bill after just passing a rule that combined the E15 proposal with the farm bill. I hope my midwestern Republican friends take note. They all got bamboozled. If this rule passes, E15 will be delinked from the farm bill and ignored by the Senate, and they will be back at square one. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, a couple of things I will say to my friends who are talking about how important E15 is. Supporting the rule makes it less likely that it is going to become law. I don't understand the way they think. In any event, the gentlewoman earlier chastised me for talking about other things besides this one-sentence rule. The reason why is because the Republican agenda sucks. It is awful. It doesn't address what real people are dealing with every day. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record the Trump administration's own analysis of rising food costs.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, the USDA's April 2026 Food Price Outlook makes it clear that prices are not down. They are up. They are way up. Food prices are up 2.7 percent from last year. Restaurant prices are up 3.8 percent. Beef and veal prices are up over 12 percent. In fact, the average cost of a pound of beef is more expensive than the Federal minimum wage. I mean, let that sink in. Veal prices are up. Fresh vegetables are up 7.5 percent. Nonalcoholic beverages are up 4.7 percent. Grocery prices, overall, have gone up around 2 percent. These are not Democratic talking points. These are the Trump administration's own numbers after 16 months of total Republican control in Washington. They control the House. They control the Senate. They control the White House. They passed tax breaks for those who are well-off and well-connected, billionaires and millionaires. At the same time, they cut SNAP by $200 billion. I hope they are proud of themselves. They imposed tariffs. They started the war that is driving up food and gas prices. The price of fertilizer is going through the roof. All they do is blame Biden, blame Democrats, and blame anyone, while they fail to find any solutions. They promised lower costs. What a crock. Their own USDA says that families are paying more because of their disastrous economic policies. We are going to continue talking about things that my Republican friends think are extraneous because these are real issues. These are real issues that everyday families are struggling with 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, again, the gentleman makes a strong case for his position. I don't know if he read the rule or not, but what he is doing with this rule is making it less likely that this will ever become law. The reason why this was going to be attached to the farm bill is because I think my Republican colleagues understood that that may be a vehicle that was moving but that the Senate would not consider this legislation on its own. Why is that? Well, according to the Congressional Budget Office, this measure would cost $2.27 billion, billion with a b, and none of this is offset. If this were a program to help feed hungry people or if it were to help people get healthcare, my Republican friends would be quoting CBO left and right, but not in this case. Some Republicans have a problem with the fact that this is $2.7 billion added to the debt. My friends know that just sent over on its own, it is going nowhere in the Senate. What we are doing today is Republicans are reversing their position. Again, Republicans insisted and fought to get this so that it would be attached to the farm bill, and now we have a rule that will unattach it to the farm bill. I don't know when the Speaker will bring this up for a vote, but I think everybody is pretty certain that the Senate isn't going to take it up, certainly not adding $2.7 billion to the debt. I don't understand the way my friends who claim to be champions for the farms in the Midwest--I don't understand why you flip-flopped on this issue, but you can explain that to your farmers. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. The gentleman just said the wheels of progress don't always turn quickly. Well, you guys are turning them backwards. Nobody has explained to me why my Republican friends are leading the charge to undo what they demanded be done in the first place. So this doesn't smell right. Mr. Speaker, let me just say on another issue that electric bills are up. Gas bills and prices are up. Grocery prices are still too high. Inflation is at the highest rate it has been in 3 years. And what is the President focused on? He is focused on a ballroom-- get this--a ballroom, a billion-dollar security request tied to his White House makeover. Even some Senate Republicans are saying they need more details. Good. I hope they actually mean what they say. They should because the American people deserve the details, too. They deserve to know why Republicans can always find money for Donald Trump's wide range of vanity projects around D.C. but somehow can't find money to lower the costs for average working families. Last year, Trump had his big birthday military parades. Tanks were in the streets. Troops were marching through Washington. It was a taxpayer-funded spectacle that the Army said cost tens of millions of dollars for a parade that just happened to fall on Donald Trump's birthday. Now he has a laundry list of renovation requests. He wants to repaint the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Meanwhile, preservationists are warning it could permanently damage a historic landmark. He wants to turn the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool bright blue like a swimming pool in Florida. A Federal contract for that project has been reported in the millions, and preservation groups are suing because they say the administration skipped required historic review. He wants a UFC fight on the White House lawn with a 4,500-seat arena built on the grounds of the White House. He wants race cars roaring down the streets of Washington in August. He wants a giant triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery, a 250-foot monument that veterans and historians are already fighting in court. He wants to turn humble, public golf courses in D.C. into championship-level resorts while also using some areas as a dumping ground for remnants of his historic East Wing. Mr. Speaker, none of this is serious or necessary. This is a rich guy decorating national buildings and monuments like they are one of his hotels and sticking taxpayers with the bill: enough money for the parade; enough money for the ballroom; enough for the blue reflecting pool, the UFC cage fight, race cars, the arch, and the golf courses. I say to my Republican colleagues: Stop funding the vanity tour, and let's get back to work to actually helping hardworking people in this country. 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, let's be honest why we are here. Republican leadership made promises they could not keep, and they are now back here asking the rest of us to help clean up their mess. That is the whole story. The longer this goes on, the more the American people lose faith not just in this Republican majority--I think they have lost faith in the Republican majority in this Congress--but in the basic idea that Congress can actually solve real problems. Again, nobody can explain to me why, after defending this program, we are here with the rule to basically make it more likely that this will never materialize. This will go nowhere in the Senate. Two-thirds of the American people say this country is headed in the wrong direction. And what do House Republicans do? They gutted healthcare so that billionaires can get another tax giveaway. They supported Trump's unpopular war, which has killed American servicemembers and driven up costs for everyday families. Know why gas prices are going up? Look no further than the illegal, risky and reckless war that this President has launched. Here is what is really frustrating: The majority in this Congress can't even bring itself to have a serious debate and vote on whether or not to authorize the use of military force in Iran. They step away. They don't want to get involved in that debate. On Trump's ballroom, Republicans want to spend a billion dollars, billion with a b, on his tacky, stupid, vanity ballroom. That is what they would rather do than lower your costs and fight inflation. It is insane, and it is outrageous. To my midwestern colleagues, again, who care about E15, I hope you got more than a handshake from your leadership, because once this gets separated from the farm bill, lots of luck. Then what do you say to your farmers? What do you say to the people who you promised that you would fix this? The bottom line is, we all know what is going on here. Again, the Senate is not going to take up an independent E15 bill. I stand corrected. Earlier I said that it costs $2.2 billion. It is actually $2.27 billion that it adds to the deficit and the debt. This place is no longer a serious place to get stuff done, to solve problems. The American people are hurting. They are suffering. I just did a townhall in Massachusetts, and all people wanted to talk about was how everything was more expensive. They were saying: What are you doing about the affordability crisis? To be honest, the legislation being brought to the floor today by the previous rule and even now is not going to do anything to help lower costs for anybody. That is sad because people are depending on us to help make their lives a little bit better, to help make their lives easier and more manageable. People are hurting, and my Republican friends are just doing nothing. Legislation that amounts to press releases are now, you know, making it more difficult to pass legislation that my Republican friends say will help their farmers. This is not the way government should be running. I close by urging my colleagues to get their act together. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the previous question, vote ``no'' on the rule, and let's get back to doing the actual work of the American people. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. McGOVERN

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

Mr. McGOVERN

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

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Chairman, I want to remind everybody what is happening. I did this last night, but I feel I have to do it again today. We are considering on the floor a 5-year farm bill that, quite frankly, does nothing for our farmers, screws over poor people, and maintains the nearly $200 billion in cuts to SNAP. It is going to make hunger worse in this country. It may not matter to my Republican colleagues, but it matters to many of us on this side of the aisle. I want to remind my friends that hundreds of amendments were offered, including many by Republican Members of Congress, and hundreds of those amendments were blocked by this Republican leadership. Republican amendments were blocked 70 percent of the time. That should bother everyone on the Republican side. Democratic amendments were blocked 90 percent of the time. Most of this bill was debated in the middle of the night. I was on the floor at midnight, 1 o'clock in the morning. This is what Republicans do. They bring important bills to the floor in the middle of the night. They are like vampires. I mean, they are afraid to talk about this stuff in the light of day. Here we are now wrapping this up at 9:45 a.m., but the majority of this bill was debated when everybody was asleep. This is crazy. This is a lousy process, and one of the things I have learned in my years here is that crappy processes give way to crappy pieces of legislation. In fact, the way this is written, if anyone bothers to read it, I mean, the word I would use to describe it, I can't use on the House floor because my words would be taken down. We need to do better here, and this is a chance for my Republican colleagues to stand with us and say ``no.'' Let's do this right. This is a big deal. This is an important bill, and the way it is written, it is insufficient to meet the needs of our farmers, and it is insufficient to deal with the rising hunger crisis in this country. I mean, for God's sake, let's legislate here, and let's not be afraid to have other people on both sides of the aisle be able to contribute. This is lousy. This is terrible. This process sucks. I am ashamed of what we are doing here today, and I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Another week, Mr. Speaker, another chance for this Republican majority to show the American people what they actually care about. Once again, sadly, it is not affordability. It is not lowering prices. It is not the issues that my constituents raise with me at townhalls back home. For 16 long, long months, Republicans have controlled the House, the Senate, and the White House. Republicans have been running the show for over a year now, and what have they done? Have they lowered prices? Not grocery prices; those are up. Not gas prices; those are up, too. Not healthcare costs; those are up, too. Not utilities or childcare; those are more expensive than ever. That is the problem with winning power, Mr. Speaker. At some point, the problems you complain about become your problems, and if you fail to fix them, then that failure is yours. That is where this Republican majority finds itself. You guys have failed to deliver big time. Donald Trump promised he would end the war in Ukraine. Not only did he fail to do that, he started a new one in Iran. Republicans promised they would lower prices on day one. We are now in year 2, and where are prices? They are not down. They are up, way up. Ground beef, vegetables, fruit, sugar, it is all up, according to Trump's own USDA. Whose fault is it? Democrats did not start the war with Iran that is driving up food and gas prices. Republicans did that. It wasn't Biden who put in place tariffs that are hurting American farmers and jacking up costs. Republicans did that. The left did not give massive tax breaks to billionaires paid for by stealing from the program working families use to buy groceries. Republicans did that. This administration and Republicans in Congress spent years claiming Democrats drove up prices and promising they would bring them down on day one. They failed. If you want to know why, look no further than the bills on the floor this week. It is a greatest hits album of MAGA extremism, corporate giveaways, and political theater: a culture war bill targeting trans kids; a budget resolution that moves Heaven and Earth to give even more money to ICE and CBP while FEMA, TSA, and the Coast Guard remain shut down because Speaker Johnson refuses to advance a bipartisan Senate agreement that would pass overwhelmingly if brought to the floor; a FISA bill that lets the government spy on Americans without proper warrant safeguards; and a farm bill that locks in long-term cuts to SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, after Trump's big, ugly bill stole nearly $200 billion from the program in order to give tax breaks to billionaires. We are talking about a food benefit that gives barely over $6 a day to some of the poorest people in this country, many working multiple jobs and still unable to make ends meet and many others who are seniors, who are veterans, who are children, and Americans with disabilities. That is the meager benefit you guys cut to give tax breaks to rich people. Give me a break. Let's not forget the provision in this farm bill that helps chemical companies dump toxic chemicals into our food system, poisoning farmworkers and polluting our air and water. Who the hell asked for that? Was it drafted in the Monsanto boardroom? Thankfully, a popular bipartisan amendment was made in order by the Committee on Agriculture to fix the provision. While I am glad that we will be able to take a vote on it and see where Members lie on this issue--my hope is that it passes--it still doesn't fix the rest of this awful, terrible bill. Costs are up. Corruption is up. Chaos is up, and you guys are screwing over poor people. This is beyond outrageous. It is immoral. It is sick. It is wrong. After huddling in back rooms and arguing among themselves, Republicans are now sending to the floor a year-round E15 bill--get this, Mr. Speaker--that adds billions of dollars to the deficit. They are doing it in a very clever way. Once the E15 bill passes, it gets combined with the farm bill before it gets sent to the Senate. Where are my Freedom Caucus friends? Do you even know that this provision is in the bill? Do you even know what is going on here? I mean, billions and billions of dollars are being added to the deficit. I thought you cared about the deficit, but apparently you don't. It is a reason to vote against this rule. If you don't know about it, then the leadership of this House pulled a fast one on you. Since the day Trump took office last year, the national debt has gone up $2.8 trillion. Full Republican control--full Republican control has added nearly $3 trillion to the debt, and now we are adding billions more with another Republican backroom deal. I mean, during our Agriculture Committee markup, Chairman Thompson said over and over and over again that we had an obligation to remain budget neutral. He said that that is why we couldn't do anything to address the horrible nutrition cuts, why we couldn't do anything to provide any more support for our farmers, and why we couldn't modernize our conservation programs. We can't do any of those things, but if it is for war or if it is for tax cuts for the rich or for this E15 bill, Republicans are more than happy to add to the debt. Gut it. Gut it. Mr. Speaker, people are struggling. They are working hard, and they are falling behind. If Republicans spent half as much time lowering costs as they spend passing nonbinding resolutions congratulating themselves, maybe we could actually get something done around here, but they can't help themselves. The billionaires say, jump, and the Speaker asks: How high? Monsanto says: Bail us out. Republicans ask: How much? Big Tech, Big Ag, and Big Oil, they all run wild. It is pathetic, Mr. Speaker--pathetic. The American people were promised lower costs. They were promised a Congress that would fight for them. They were lied to. Instead, they got extremism. They got a majority that wakes up every morning and asks how to make life easier for the rich and powerful. They got an administration and a Congress that covers up for Epstein-elite pedophiles instead of fighting for everyday people. Enough already. This is an awful rule. It blocks 7 of 10 Republican amendments. It blocks 7 of 10 Republican amendments, 8 out of 10 bipartisan amendments, and 9 out of 10 Democratic amendments. No Member of this House has had an amendment debated on the floor in nearly 100 days. Now that we do, here is what we get. In case it was not clear yet, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this rule, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, first, let me say to my colleague from Georgia: Keep bragging about gas prices and see how that works for you in November. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record an article titled: ``U.S. Gas Prices Hit Highest Level Since Beginning of War in Iran.''

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I will say to my friend, the distinguished chairwoman of the Rules Committee: We offered amendments because we haven't had a vote on an amendment in nearly 100 days. No Democrat and no Republican has been able to vote on an amendment in nearly 100 days. Mr. Van Orden, who is sitting there, had two amendments that were blocked. Mr. Neguse offered one of them last night, and every Republican voted against it. Some of the amendments that we offered, quite frankly, I support. The Biggs amendment on FISA, I support. That was really an interesting display of theater because we had the votes, but one of the Republicans, Mr. Griffith, every time we brought it up, conveniently got up and walked out of the room so he didn't have to cast a vote. We called it up several times, and he kept on walking out of the room. If you want to talk about theater, that really does deserve an Academy Award. There were a lot of other amendments, quite frankly, that we brought up that I support. By the way, we brought up amendments that I don't support, but just because I don't support them doesn't mean they don't deserve to be debated on the House floor. That is one of the problems with the Republican leadership right now in Congress. You don't believe that this place is a deliberative body. You believe it is kind of your way or the highway, and it is not just Democrats who are getting locked out. What is the percentage of Republicans? Republican amendments were blocked 70 percent of the time. Most of them were germane. Some of them weren't even particularly controversial in any way, shape, or form. They were blocked. Bipartisan amendments were blocked 80 percent of the time. I know you don't care about Democrats, but 90 percent of our amendments were blocked. I mean, 70 percent of your own party were denied amendments in the Rules Committee. Again, it has been nearly 100 days since we have had a debate on any amendment, Republican or Democratic amendment. Again, if that is how you all want this place to be run, have at it, but I would urge my Republican colleagues to take a stand now. Say ``no'' to this. Say ``no'' to this, and I guarantee you that it will change. Yet, going along to get along has resulted in even Republican Members being denied the right to offer their amendments. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. Craig), the distinguished ranking member of the Committee on Agriculture who has done an incredible job standing up for our farmers and for the most needy in this country.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Minnesota.