Transcripts For CSPAN U.S. House Of Representatives U.S. Hou

The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title. The clerk h. R. 8 37 a bill making continuing appropriations purposes. Nd for other. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from indiana, mr. Visclosky, and the gentleman from michigan, mr. Mole nar, will each control 20 minutes molnar, will each control 20 minutes. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from indiana. Mr. Visclosky i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h. R. 8337, currently under consideration. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. Mr. Visclosky madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. Obviously we are here to consider a continuing resolution to allow the federal government , h. R. Tinue its operations 8337. At the outset of my remarks, do i want to thank the staff of the Appropriations Committee for all of their diligent work in some very difficult negotiations to bring us to this moment. People tend not to appreciate their good work. This is a terrible way to govern the United States of america. I regret that i believe most of my colleagues here feel that a continuing resolution does no damage. It does serious damage to the agencies, to the budgeting process, to fiscal discipline. We should be having consideration today of 12 conference reports, eight days away from the beginning of the next fiscal year. The committee has completed consideration of all 12 appropriation bills. This body has passed 10 of them, unfortunately the other body has not acted as acted at all. This would take to us december 11. There are anomalies in this continuing resolution, the majority have been submitted and requested by the office of management and budget. Additionally there are other anomalies, where there were no government expenses to continue in 2020. For example, possible transition of cost. Additionally, authorization of legislation to continue programs which might expire on september 30, again, with the agreement of the authorizing committees. Some members are upset at this moment that items have not been included, but negotiations have taken place in good faith. We have an agreement and i would ask for this bodys support of the legislation. At this point i would reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from michigan. Mr. Moolenaar thank you, madam speaker. I appreciate the gentleman from indianas concerns about the process and i share those concerns as well. But as it goes, we are voting on this today and by passing this shortterm continuing resolution, we will provide critical support for farmers and ranchers, extend knewa Nutrition Program that has been a Nutrition Program that has been a lifeline during this pandemic. Ensure Critical Military operations continue. Support vital trans transportation programs by extending the fast act. Extend the National Flood insurance program. Ensure that there are no delays in the department of Veterans Affairs Electronic Health records system. And allow agencies experiencing operational challenges during the pandemic to finance funding to continue funding. So i think its important that we support this legislation and move forward and hopefully we will get to a better agreement as we continue negotiations and with that, i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from indiana. Mr. Visclosky madam speaker, i do have requests for time. But no one is here. So i would reserve the balance of my time at this moment. O you have any requests . Mr. Moolenaar continue to reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from indiana. Mr. Visclosky i see ms. Grange who are is the Ranking Member on the granger who is the Ranking Member on the full committee, might be seeking recognition. So i would reserve the balance of my time. Ms. Granger madam speaker, i rise the speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentlelady from texas will now control the time. The gentlelady is recognized. Ms. Granger madam speaker, i rise today in support of h. R. 8337, a shortterm continuing resolution through december 11. The coronavirus pandemic has impacted virtually every aspect of american life. During this unprecedented time, it is more critical than ever that the federal government remain open and functioning. By passing this shortterm c. R. , we will provide critical support for farmers and ranchers, extend a Nutrition Program that has been a lifeline during the pandemic for lowincome students who are out of school, ensure Critical Military operations continue, support Vital Transportation programs, extend the National Flood insurance program, ensure there are no delays in the department of Veterans Affairs Electronic Health records system, and allow agencies experiencing operational challenges during the pandemic to continue functioning. As an appropriator, it pains me to have to consider anything short of a fullyear appropriations bill for the next fiscal year. But i remain hopeful that passing this c. R. Will allow the government to continue operating and give the house and the senate time to work out our differences after the election. The alternative would have been an unnecessary and costly government shutdown. I think both sides agree that that would be devastating and disastrous for our economy, our national security, our veterans and our public health. I look forward to passing this bill today, moving it through the senate and sending it to the president s desk. Thank you, madam speaker. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady reserves the balance of her time. The gentleman from indiana. Mr. Visclosky madam speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from maryland, majority leader, mr. Hoyer. The speaker pro tempore the distinguished majority leader is recognized for one minute. Mr. Hoyer i thank the gentleman for yielding. I want to thank the ranking ember for her leadership and always trying to be responsible. I thank mr. Visclosky and the Appropriations Committee for their work. Madam speaker, i rise in support of this agreement between the two parties. And between the administration and the congress. And im hopeful that it will pass overwhelmingly. And i have a little statement here which ill submit. But, briefly, because we want to get this business done, briefly i want to say to the Appropriations Committee, congratulations. For doing your work. I know there was controversy. Everybody didnt support it. But we passed 10 of the 12 appropriation bills almost two months ago. Clearly sufficient time to have reached agreement and passed the appropriation bills. Not a c. R. A c. R. Is a recognition of failure. Failure to get our work done in a too manyly fashion. I re in a timely fashion. I regret. That i take some credit for pass i regret that. I take some credit for passing 10 bills last year and 12 this july. The staff worked hard, members worked hard. We got our bills done. A senate has not marked up single bill in committee. Theres no bill out of committee. Theres no bills on the floor. Which means in the senate the senate has essentially abandoned the appropriations process. Madam speaker, thats not the way the congress of the United States ought to work. Im for this. It was tough to get to. We have an agreement. Im hopeful that everybody here will vote for it so we do not shut down the house of representatives. Excuse me, the government of the United States, not just the ouse of representatives. That is, in my view, an. Nacceptable alternative ever and we reached an agreement today. A lot of to and froing. A lot of people wanted this, a lot of people wanted that. A lot of people didnt want this, a lot of people didnt want that. But we have an agreement. That will keep the government functioning for the people from now until december 11. And what, madam speaker, i would would, very one of us from now until, hopefully before december 11, thats a friday, were scheduled to break for christmas, and the holidays, im hopeful that everyone will put their Heads Together to get the appropriation process done and well probably do it in an omnibus, not single appropriation bills. Which is not a good way to do it either. When i joined the appropriations and mr. Viscloskys congressman that he worked for was on committee with me, we passed one bill at a time. The Senate Passed one bill at a time. And we came to conference and sat down together, the members of the defense committee, the members of the treasury Postal Committee and laborhealth committees, we came together individually and we worked out agreements between the two bodies. That is the way it ought to work. Its not working that way. In a world of alternatives, this is the best we have. So we need to take it. And keep the government funded. I look forward to working with members of the Appropriations Committee on both sides of the aisle to affect an omnibus that we can all be proud of. We wont all agree with all of it, but at least we can say, this is the work product of the peoples house and the United States senate. And pass it. And feel we have done our job for the people. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentlelady from texas. Ms. Granger i yield to mr. Davis of illinois for two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Davis thank you representative granger. The last thing the United States of America Needs right now in the midst of a pandemic is a lapse in government funding that was set to expire at the end of this month. We need to do better when it comes to bipartisan agreements. Im extremely disappointed it took us this long to get the c. C. C. , commodity credit corporation, replenished in this agreement and not held hostage by the majority. Our farmers, our producers in Middle America that dont know what the Market Conditions are going to be like when they harvest their crop they needed the certainty of knowing that the United States government was going to fully fund the Risk Management programs that we put in place in a bipartisan way. I also want to say thank you to those who are negotiating with Ranking Member granger for also including language that provides the usda with Waiver Authority that provides kids, our students work free meals. Thats something ive been working on over the last few weeks with my colleagues, congresswoman spanberger, congressman bacon, and congressman kosta. With this language we now give our schools, family, and School Nutrition professionals certainty throughout the Upcoming School year in the midst of a pandemic where many may not be able to get the hot meal theyve been used to getting during the Normal School year. I look forward to working with sonny perdue, secretary perdue and the usda to implement this important language. I urge a yes vote on this package and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from indiana. Mr. Visclosky i yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from ohio, chairwoman of the energy and water subcommittee, ms. Kaptur. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for wo minutes. Ms. Cap purr tur i thank the gentleman for yielding. It is with frustration that i rise in support of todays shortterm continuing resolution and urge my colleagues to do so as well. Once again we need a means to keep the lights on for the federal government. The American People need and deserve more from their collect i elected leaders. We are in the middle of an economic crisis and Global Pandemic when many are unsure they can keep their own lights on. This 11week extension put ours federal agencies on autopilot. They cant begin new programs or respond to shifting priorities. It handcuffs our ability to respond to americas twin crises. It blocks investments in national security, fails to assist schools struggling to safely educate americas youth, and it fails millions of families standing in long lines, desperate for food assistance, and leaves millions questions whether they even have a home tomorrow. Its a complete and total dereliction of duty for today and tomorrow. The lack of action from our Senate Colleagues from for the second year in a row who deepsixed their fiscal responsibility and leadership and brought us here today. Our senate friends have not even started the appropriation process, not a single bill was considered in their committee. But they have time for another judicial confirmationism commend chairwoman loweys leadership and Speaker Pelosi and majority leader hoyer for their prioritization and passage in the house of 10 of our 12 annual appropriations spending bills alling mored with the unknown and lack of president ial leadership in establishing a federal response to the covid pandemic the senate achieved nothing. Nothing. While Senate Republicans republican strategists are squeezed in rooms over there thinking about a Supreme Court nominee before election day, they ignore their top responsibility of Congress Funding responsibility. Our Senate Republican colleagues have 11 weeks to draft and pass 2 bills but not a single word on how they plan to achieve this monumental task. The energy and water portion of the continuing resolution contains commonsense, necessary extensions to keep certain programs operating for the next 11 weeks. I urge my colleagues to support the shortterm resolution and yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from texas. Ms. Granger i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from indiana. Mr. Visclosky i yield to the gentlewoman from florida, chairwoman they have military construction and Veterans Affair subcommittee, ms. Wasserman schultz. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. Ms. Wasserman schultz thank you, madam speaker. I thank the gentleman for rising. I rise to support passage of the continuing resolution but im frustrate wed find ourselves here yet again. Yet again the Democratic House did its job. We passed bills to fund most federal agencies in july. Its now september. The end of the fiscal year is in eight days. But leader mcconnell and the Republican Senate have not moved a single one of the 12 Appropriations Bills were supposed to pass every year. As an appropriations subcommittee chair i feel compelled to call out this gross dereliction of duty. A c. R. Is obviously not ideal. But the bill before us today keeps government functioning and includes fixes to facilitate Coronavirus Relief which we should have done completely separately and more significantly. The bill allows the Small Business administration to continue to process disaster loans char lifeline for many struggling Small Businesses. It allow feese ma access to f. Y. 2021 funding to allow them to respond to emergencies and natural disasters. Im particularly proud we crinest increased funding for the Veterans Health record modernization to support increased deployments of modernization planned sites ensuring the modernization remains on time and on budget. It prevents employees from being furloughed to allow the agency to continue doing its job, adjudicating video is as and citizenship even if that job is hindered by president trump. Democrats also worked hard all day today in order to secure 8 billion in sy vital funding for nutrition assistance. It is absurd that we even had to fight to get republicans to agree on an expansion on free meals for foodinsecure children. Lets be clear. The fact that we are passing a c. R. Without having passed an additional covid stimulus bill represents cruelty an gross incompetence of the highest order. In may the house passed the heroes act. We did our job. We need to keep the government open. But we also need additional covid relief for the American People. Thank you, i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from texas. Ms. Granger i reserve my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman reserves. Mr. Visclosky if the gentlewoman is prepared to yield back, we have no further requests for time on our side. Ms. Granger can you repeat that. Mr. Visclosky we have no further requests for time on our side if the gentlewoman would care to yield back, i would yield back as well. Ms. Granger we have no other speakers. Yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from texas, does the gentlelady yield back . The gentlelady from texas yields back. The gentleman from indiana. Mr. Visclosky i simply ask our colleagues to support the continuing resolution and i too would yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. T