Providing for consideration of the bill (S. 1301) to provide for the publication by the Secretary of Health and Human Services of physical activity recommendations for Americans.

Madam Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 688 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Madam Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only.

General Leave

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members be given 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.

Madam Speaker, today the Rules Committee met and reported a rule, House Resolution 688, providing for consideration of S. 1301 under a closed rule. The rule self-executes an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of Rules Committee Print 117-16, temporarily extending the public debt limit.

The rule provides one hour of debate, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Ways and Means or their respective designees. Finally, the rule provides one motion to commit.

Madam Speaker, having just sat through a Rules Committee meeting, it is a pleasant surprise that the Republicans have now rediscovered the issue of the debt. Wow.

Where the hell were you for the past 4 years?

Where was your concern when you all passed the tax cut bill for the wealthy and big corporations that CBO projected would add $1.9 trillion to the deficit? That is trillion with a T. And that is even after taking into account any effects from economic growth.

Give me a break.

Madam Speaker, the question before us today is this: Will the United States of America pay its bills?

I wish that were hyperbole.

We always have. The United States has never defaulted. Never, ever defaulted, not once.

But the actions of my friends on the other side have made the world seriously wonder about the full faith and credit of this Nation.

Raising the debt ceiling has traditionally been something that both parties have agreed to, no matter who controlled Congress or who sat in the White House.

I have been in Congress more than 20 years now. I voted to raise the debt ceiling when I was in the majority, and I voted to raise the debt ceiling when I was in the minority. I voted to raise it under Democratic Presidents and Republican Presidents, and I cast those votes even when I vehemently disagreed with our spending decisions.

I opposed the Republican tax cut for the wealthy and large corporations that passed under the last administration. I still think it is awful, awful, awful policy; but I still, nevertheless, voted to raise the debt ceiling under the prior administration because regardless whether we win or lose on policy here, defaulting on our debt would lead to economic catastrophe on a global scale.

Unemployment would rise; the stock market would crater; interest rates would skyrocket; imports would become more expensive; and inflation would increase.

We are not talking about a scenario that only impacts wealthy investors or large corporations. Every single American would be hurt, everyone with a pension or a retirement account, everyone with a small business, everyone with a car or home loan, and everyone who walks into a store, whether they are buying groceries or the latest

smartphone. Our country would be thrown into a recession virtually overnight.

This is the type of disaster that Republicans are flirting with here, Madam Speaker. They are not refusing to raise the debt ceiling to try to prevent President Biden's agenda in the future. This isn't about the bipartisan transportation bill or reconciliation bill, which we have yet to consider, because raising the debt ceiling only pays for the prior debts that we have already racked up. We are talking about the spending Republicans voted for under President Trump.

They ballooned the deficit, and now they are trying to wash their hands of the consequences. It is like going to a restaurant, eating a meal, and refusing to pay the tab when the waiter brings the bill. Only here, they risk bringing down the entire global economy.

All because of what? They are upset that their party doesn't control Congress. Give me a break. We are talking about people's livelihoods here.

Earlier this week, Senate Republicans filibustered a continuing resolution that would have lifted the debt ceiling. Every day Republicans waste playing political games brings us one day closer to a default, one day closer to catastrophe.

I have heard the Senate minority leader and others suggest that reconciliation is some kind of panacea that will allow us to raise the debt ceiling easily and in a partisan way. Well, let me remind them that there are challenges with that, and it will take time, time that we do not have.

Just yesterday, the Treasury Secretary said that we are likely to hit the debt limit on October 18, just days from now.

We have had a lot of fights on this floor. Congress has been a little dysfunctional from time to time. But let me repeat, the United States of America has never defaulted in its more than 200-year history. Not once.

Republicans are playing with fire here. We need cooler heads to prevail. The underlying bill is that chance. It is an opportunity to raise the debt ceiling in a clean way, the kind of approach that would have passed overwhelmingly on suspension a few years ago.

We need to get this done, Madam Speaker. We don't have a moment to spare. Economists estimate that defaulting on our debts even for just a few hours could cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade.

After all that we have done to bring our Nation through the COVID pandemic, that is a hit that we can't afford, Madam Speaker.

So, to my friends on the other side, I get it. You are not going to vote for this even though 97 percent of what is necessitating us to raise the debt ceiling was accumulated before President Biden even took office. Much of it was racked up under President Trump on your watch when you controlled the Congress.

Still, you are not going to vote to do the responsible thing here. That is crystal clear. But please get out of the way and tell all your friends in the Senate to get out of the way, too.

Let us pass this. Let us do the responsible thing.

We will do it with a Democratic majority in the House and the Senate. We are good at cleaning up your mess.

Let's pass this rule and the underlying legislation. Let's step back from the brink. Let's prevent an avoidable economic meltdown. And let's do what America has always done: pay its bills.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Let me say this, and let me preface my remarks by saying I love the gentleman from Oklahoma. He is one of my favorite people here in the Congress. But I would remind him that when the Republicans passed their expensive tax cut for the rich, for the very wealthy, for big corporations, they didn't work with us. They just shoved it through. As I mentioned earlier, CBO tells us that the addition to our debt is close to $2 trillion, and that is after taking into account any potential benefits from growth.

I didn't like that policy. I still don't like that policy. I think the rich already get enough, and I think big corporations get too much in this country. But nonetheless, my view did not prevail.

Then, when we had to vote on the debt ceiling, the issue was: Do we pay our bills?

Now, this is a quote from the distinguished Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Let me read it. He says: ``When the United States makes promises, it keeps them, which is why the House voted today to avoid the threat of a debt default.''

That was several years ago, but he is right. When the United States makes promises, it keeps them. I didn't think that was a partisan issue. I didn't think that that was controversial.

But, look, here we are in Washington. Everything is a political fight. I mean, that is the way this place seems to work nowadays. And I get it. I am not even asking Republicans to vote with us to raise the debt ceiling anymore. I mean, it is just a hopeless cause. They have made a political decision. I get it. So, we are not asking for your support. What we are asking for is for you to get out of the way.

In the Senate, Democrats are prepared to carry the burden and raise the debt ceiling to make sure we pay bills, 97 percent of which were accumulated before Joe Biden was President. We are still paying for the Trump tax cuts.

We will do it. We will clean up the mess. What we are asking for is for you to get out of the way. Yet, we have Senators now threatening to use the filibuster to try to derail this, to put one hurdle after another after another.

They said they wanted Democrats to bear the burden. Democrats will do it. We always do. We are good at cleaning up messes that are left for us by our Republican friends. But get out of the way. Get out of the way, and let us do what the American people expect us to do, and that is to pay our bills.

Let me say one other thing. Everybody keeps telling me--and I heard this on the Rules Committee, too--the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the reconciliation, unless I missed something, we haven't passed either one of them yet. I mean, hopefully, we will, but those are things we are going to do in the future.

By the way, on the reconciliation bill, we are doing something that my Republican friends refused to do on their tax cut bill, and that is we are paying for it. So, we understood the issue of the debt, I guess, long before they did. At least we are more consistent than my Republican friends are.

In any event, I would just again say to my friends, we are not even asking you to vote for this anymore because that is a hopeless cause at this point. We are just asking you to get out of the way so we can get this done.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, we are talking about whether or not the United States of America will pay its bills and not default. I mean, that is what this is about. And we could talk about this, but with all due respect to the gentlewoman from Iowa, if we want to solve this pandemic, it begins at home.

She represents a State where just maybe a little more than 50 percent are vaccinated.

Go home and tell your people to get vaccinated.

It is the unvaccinated in this country that are filling up our emergency rooms, that are allowing this disease to be able to mutate.

So there's that old saying, ``physician, heal thyself,'' and to hear this from a party that embraces the conspiracy theories that are out there that are discouraging people from getting vaccinated. But I would encourage the gentlewoman--we can talk about this at another time--but in the meantime, Iowa needs to do better, as well as many other States in this country.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett).

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, we are on the edge of default, on the edge of catastrophe, and this is the response from my Republican friends.

Madam Speaker, yes, I have nothing but the highest respect for the gentlewoman from Iowa, but I just pointed out that a little over 50 percent of her State is vaccinated. That is not good. And the gentlewoman from Tennessee who just spoke, her State is even worse-- something like 45 percent are fully vaccinated. That is dangerous for not only the people of Iowa and Tennessee, but for the people of this country.

Doctor after doctor after doctor have told us that this is spreading because of the lack of attention to getting people vaccinated in this country. So we need to do better.

What we are talking about here today is whether or not we are going to default, whether we are going to court a catastrophe.

Madam Speaker, I will say to the gentleman from Oklahoma, he went through a list of people who voted against raising the debt ceiling in the past. I am willing to bet that many of those were attached to policy items where there was an objection.

I don't recall Democrats threatening to filibuster--threatening to filibuster--raising the debt ceiling. And yet, that is what Republicans are doing, cheered on by Republicans in the House.

So, look, we are happy to clean up your mess. We are happy to do the right thing. All Democrats will vote for it in the House. I am not asking anymore for you to join us because it is a waste of my breath.

But what we are asking you to do is get out of the way so that something really horrible doesn't happen in this country.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I just want to point out for the record that in Texas only 51 percent of the population is fully vaccinated. That is better than Tennessee, but still that means half the population.

Madam Speaker, I yield 15 seconds to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess).

Madam Speaker, I merely point out that we have a lot of work to do in this country to be able to control the virus.

Madam Speaker, I also include in the Record a letter to Speaker Pelosi from Janet Yellen, who is the Secretary of the Treasury.

Department of the Treasury,

Washington, DC, September 28, 2021.

Hon. Nancy Pelosi,

Speaker, House of Representatives,

Washington, DC.

Dear Madam Speaker: I am writing to follow up on my

previous letters regarding the debt limit and to provide

additional information regarding the Department of the

Treasury's ability to continue to finance the operations of

the U.S. government.

In my September 8 letter, I explained that Treasury's cash

and extraordinary measures would most likely be exhausted

sometime during the month of October. Based on our most

recent information, including tax payments associated with

the September 15 deadline for third quarter estimated tax

payments for businesses and individuals, I am now able to

further refine that projection.

We now estimate that Treasury is likely to exhaust its

extraordinary measures if Congress has not acted to raise or

suspend the debt limit by October 18. At that point, we

expect Treasury would be left with very limited resources

that would be depleted quickly. It is uncertain whether we

could continue to meet all the nation's commitments after

that date. While this is our best estimate, the federal

government's cash flows are subject to unavoidable

variability. For example, the government's daily gross cash

flow (excluding financing) over the past year averages nearly

$50 billion per day and has exceeded $300 billion. As a

result, it is important to remember that estimates regarding

how long our remaining extraordinary measures and cash may

last can unpredictably shift forward or backward. This

uncertainty underscores the critical importance of not

waiting to raise or suspend the debt limit. The full faith

and credit of the United States should not be put at risk.

Furthermore, we know from previous debt limit impasses that

waiting until the last minute can cause serious harm to

business and consumer confidence, raise borrowing costs for

taxpayers, and negatively impact the credit rating of the

United States for years to come. Failure to act promptly

could also result in substantial disruptions to financial

markets, as heightened uncertainty can exacerbate volatility

and erode investor confidence.

I am also writing to notify you, pursuant to 5 U.S.C.

8348(1)(2), of my determination

that, by reason of the statutory debt limit, I will continue

to be unable to fully invest the portion of the Civil Service

Retirement and Disability Fund (CSRDF) not immediately

required to pay beneficiaries, and that a ``debt issuance

suspension period,'' previously determined to end on

September 30, 2021, will continue through October 18, 2021.

As a result, the Treasury Department will continue to suspend

additional investments of amounts credited to, and will

redeem an additional portion of the investment held by, the

CSRDF, as authorized by law.

In addition, because the Postal Accountability and

Enhancement Act of 2006 provides that investments in the

Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund (PSRHBF) shall be

made in the same manner as investments for the CSRDF, the

Treasury Department will also continue to suspend additional

investments of amounts credited to, and will redeem an

additional portion of the investments held by, the PSRHBF. By

law, the CSRDF and PSRHBF will be made whole once the debt

limit is increased or suspended. Federal retirees and

employees will be unaffected by these actions.

Again, I respectfully urge Congress to protect the full

faith and credit of the United States by acting as soon as

possible.

Sincerely,

Janet L. Yellen.

Madam Speaker, let me quote from the letter. It says: ``We know from previous debt limit impasses that waiting until the last minute can cause serious harm to business and consumer confidence, raise borrowing costs for taxpayers, and negatively impact the credit rating of the United States for years to come. Failure to act promptly could also result in substantial disruptions to financial markets, as heightened uncertainly can exacerbate volatility and erode investor confidence.''

We are not asking you to do anything more other than to just step out of the way. We will do the serious business of making sure that we don't default on our financial obligations.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I am.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, let me remind my colleagues that Mitch McConnell led three efforts to increase the debt limit under President Trump. He has voted over 30 times to increase the debt limit by over $20 trillion during his career.

He worked with President Obama in 2015, saying then: I made it very clear that after the November election we are certainly not going to shut down the government or default on the national debt. We will figure some way to handle that. What is different now? Not a thing. Nothing.

He did the right thing then. He is simply unwilling to do the right thing today. Instead, he is making up new precedent out of whole cloth, the impacts of which would be devastating.

So this is not just about Senator McConnell, every Republican in the House and Senate should do the right thing and raise the debt ceiling.

It has never been the responsibility of just one party to ensure that America pays its bills. And to pretend otherwise, is to blindly be following a policy that will send our economy off a cliff.

Madam Speaker, I just have to say to my Republican friends, stop doubling down on the insanity. At some point we all have to act like grownups around here and get the people's business done. Too many of my friends on the other side of the aisle continue to get on one knee and genuflect in front of the altar of Donald Trump and all the stuff that goes with that. Well, you know what, it is time that we all act like serious legislators.

We have a discussion on immigration and COVID testing, we ought to have that discussion in a different context, not on the debt ceiling bill.

I will again say to my colleagues, I don't even know how many Members of the Republican Conference are vaccinated. We have people who come here and fight against efforts to get everybody vaccinated, who fight against communities that want to encourage people to wear masks in order to protect the citizens of that community.

We are here to legislate. This bill will fulfill one of the most basic responsibilities Congress has; that is, to ensure that America pays its bills. We always have, Madam Speaker.

And, you know, to try to make this debate into a debate about reconciliation--by the way, which we want to pay for as much of it as possible so it won't add to the deficit and the debt. That is a future debate.

This is about paying all the bills that were accumulated; 97 percent of which was accumulated, not under Joe Biden, but under his predecessor. Stuff that my friends on the other side of the aisle voted for. And to turn this into a political football about what might happen down the road is really ridiculous. It is dangerous. It is reckless.

My friends have said that they want Democrats to basically carry these bills. Happy to do it. On our side nobody wants to default. On our side we all understand the consequences. Mark Zandi, an economist for Moody's, said that it would be such a catastrophe if we defaulted on our debt. He said it would impact generations and generations and generations into the future.

Every economist, no matter what their political affiliation may be, has said the same thing. So we have to do this.

And, again, to try to make this about something else is just trying to avoid dealing with reality. I would say to my colleagues, all we are asking for now--we are no longer asking for your vote--you know, that is a waste of time at this particular point. I have seen all the press releases. I have seen the talking points come out of the RCCC and the RNC. It is maddening to see how this issue can be so distorted. We are not asking for that anymore. You already decided to make this a political issue.

We are just asking you to get the hell out of the way and to allow us to keep this government running on track and not in default. That should not be a controversial issue. It should not be an issue that people walk away from. When you accumulate bills, you got to pay for them.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote for this rule so we can prevent a completely avoidable economic meltdown.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, today's debt ceiling issue is a political and economic crisis of the Democrats' own making. They have known for 2 years this day was coming. They never even bothered to draft a budget for the government, much less pass it, and never lifted a finger to start the bipartisan discussions on how to raise the debt ceiling while addressing America's exploding national debt.

They have insisted on one-party rule all year, from an unnecessary, wasteful $2 trillion COVID stimulus that didn't stimulate the economy or defeat the virus to a national takeover of State and local elections, bailouts of failing State and local governments, ignoring the humanitarian and security crisis at the southern border, and the disastrous surrender to the Taliban in Afghanistan.

House Democrats have made it clear: We are running the place. Just sit down and shut up.

The bottom line on the debt ceiling today: Democrats alone have set fire to America's house and are now demanding Republicans put it out for them.

I urged Treasury Secretary Yellen, who I respect and who has bipartisan credibility, to do what the congressional Democrats have not: engage with Republicans on a reasonable framework of financial stability for our Nation.

There is precedent. Secretary Mnuchin certainly set that, reaching out repeatedly to Democrat leadership on these issues.

Although it should be noted, given the strident blame game now by Speaker Pelosi on the debt ceiling, I remember February 2018 when she, Leader Hoyer, Whip Clyburn, and 116 other House Democrats voted to default on America's debt, shut down the government, and refuse disaster relief to devastated communities across America.

One of the Democrat leaders even said: ``Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House. The responsibility to govern rests squarely on their shoulders.''

Well, right now, the Democrats control the House, the Senate, and the White House. The responsibility to govern rests squarely on their shoulders.

I agree that Congress should not play political games with the debt ceiling or

ignore the danger of making permanent the temporary COVID relief with spending that will bankrupt our Nation in the future.

Democrats control everything--the House, the Senate, and the Presidency--and they can easily pass the debt ceiling by including it in their $3\1/2\ trillion tax hikes and welfare state expansion, which requires no Republican votes.

But rather than work together, what did Democrats do? As I noted, they rammed through a partisan, nearly $2 trillion so-called stimulus bill. This was unaccountable, partisan Washington spending that only made matters worse, especially rising inflation for working families.

For example, in that bill, Democrats undid a bipartisan agreement to protect taxpayers against the greatest theft of American tax dollars in our lifetime, which by now has lost up to $400 billion to fraud.

They even opened the door to greater fraud by replacing the Republican child tax credit that rewarded work with the cash-for-kids welfare check program with few safeguards.

Stopping fraud and taking care of tax dollars should be a bipartisan goal that would stretch the spending in the Federal Government. Instead, Democrats are demanding this tax and spending binge that will kill 3 million U.S. jobs, drive prices even higher, and impose the largest expansion to the welfare state in our lifetime.

I urge my Democrat colleagues: End the brinkmanship. We can achieve a bipartisan framework. Just look at the Republicans' repeated efforts.

In 2016, the House passed a Ways and Means bill called the Debt Management and Fiscal Responsibility Act, creating a system that would have allowed Congress to make informed decisions about the debt ceiling and consider changes before it became a crisis. Yet, the Obama administration opposed the bill.

Today, Democrats are hardly worried about new burdens as they put the IRS in charge of workers' paid family and medical leave, or hire 80,000 new IRS agents, or impose IRS bank surveillance on the personal and business accounts of Main Street and working families.

And Democrats won't take up a similar bill, the Debt Solution and Accountability Act, offered by Ways and Means Republican Representative Lloyd Smucker from Pennsylvania.

Democrats' alternatives these days to a bipartisan framework range from ridiculous to irresponsible.

One Democrat Congressman has proposed U.S. Treasury mint a trillion- dollar coin--a trillion-dollar coin. Why not a quadrillion-dollar coin?

This farfetched idea sounds about as brilliant as many Democrats' own calls to end the debt limit entirely, as the Speaker has sought.

I think Democrats' best answer to Washington's out-of-control spending is to spend more and to tear out the brakes.

Let's be honest. This is an economic and political crisis of the Democrats' own making. There isn't enough money in America to cover what Democrats want to spend, and Americans know it.

That is why President Biden has gone out of his way to sell his $3.5 trillion bill as not adding to the debt, saying the ``Build Back Better agenda costs zero dollars,'' a claim that ranks right up with: ``If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it.''

Unfortunately for him and for the taxpayers that will have to foot the bill, The Washington Post fact-checker found this claim misleading.

They said that it ``would take dubious gimmicks that will help disguise the true cost of President Biden's agenda.''

Again, considering Democrats have not had a single conversation about spending, stimulus, or the debt with us to date, I think they, by their behavior, have taken responsibility to pass this by themselves.

It is irresponsible to keep raising the debt limit, keep on spending without any framework, or any discussion about this explosion of America's debt.

We need to grow the economy, constrain our spending, work together, both parties together, to get our financial house back in order for our children and grandchildren.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I include in the Record this fact-check from The Washington Post about this claim we just heard, that 83 percent of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act went to the top 1 percent. They gave that false statement ``3 Pinocchios,'' calling it a ``zombie claim'' and ``galling.'' PolitiFact agreed, calling it ``misleading.''

[From the Washington Post]

The Pinocchio Six: Myths, Lies & Debunked Claims About Taxes

1. False: Biden: ``All of [GOP Tax Cuts] went to folks at

the top and corporations that pay no taxes.''

The Washington Post fact check gave this ``4 Pinocchios,''

saying this is ``simply wrong'' and ``clearly false.''

Three of every four dollars in the 2017 tax cuts went to

individuals, cutting taxes for the lowest-income Americans by

10% while cutting taxes for the top 1% by less than one-half

of 1%.

In the 2017 GOP tax reform, corporations effectively paid

for 85% of their tax cuts thanks to eliminating special tax

provisions and broadening the U.S. tax base.

2. Myth: ``The wealthy don't pay their `fair share.' ''

America has long had one of the most progressive tax codes

among developed nations, with higher-income people paying

higher tax rates, say the Organization for Economic

Cooperation & Development (OECD).

The top 1% pay 40% of all income taxes, and the top 10%

pays 70% of all income taxes, according to the Tax

Foundation.

After the GOP Tax Cuts, the rich pay a larger, not smaller,

share of income taxes.

3. False: ``83% of Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) tax cuts

went to top 1%.''

The Washington Post gave this false statement ``3

Pinocchios,'' calling it a ``zombie claim'' and ``galling.''

Politifact agreed, calling it ``misleading.''

4. False: ``Corporate tax receipts declined by 40% after

GOP Tax Cuts.''

Like government revenue that reached record levels in the

two years after GOP tax reform, corporate tax receipts are

higher and growing after TCJA, despite Democrats' claims.

Corporate tax revenues this year are $285 billion, 22%

higher than the Obama-Biden Admin's last year.

The Congressional Budget Office projects corporate tax

revenues under TCJA will increase to $379 billion in 2023--a

record high.

Biden's own budget scorers project U.S. corporate tax

revenues under TCJA will reach 1.63% of GDP by 2025, higher

than the 1.55% average in the decade before the GOP tax cuts.

5 Myth: ``55 profitable U.S. corporations paid no taxes

last year.''

This is an unverifiable claim by a far-left group (ITEP)

using flawed methodology. It is not based on actual tax

data--taxpayer data is private and most 2020 tax corporate

returns have yet to be filed.

This group confuses the difference between taxable income

and financial statement reports.

Similar reports that U.S. multinational corporations only

pay very low tax rates on their earnings overseas are flawed

either by double-counting, faulty methodology, or cherry-

picked data.

6. Myth: ``The Death Tax only impacts two of every 1,000

taxpayers who die.''

Relatively few estates pay the Death Tax, but many more

file estate tax returns, and millions of farms and other

family businesses are forced to waste precious time and money

to avoid a mistake that will result in a confiscatory tax

bill from the IRS.

The Death Tax crushes investment in workers & expanded

operations, harms growth & opportunity.

The Death Tax ranks as a devastatingly inefficient tax

since it raises a very small amount of revenue while placing

a very large burden on farms and other family businesses. In

fact, the Cato Institute says the Death Tax ``is anti-saving

and anti-investment,'' encourages ``wealthy folks to consume

their wealth before death,'' and does nothing for U.S. long-

term growth.

A growing number of women- and minority-owned businesses

are finding themselves subject to the Death Tax as they try

to build wealth for the first time and pass it on to the next

generation.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Nunes).

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from West Virginia (Mrs. Miller).

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith), the ranking Republican of the Budget Committee.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Estes).

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Smucker).

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from west Texas (Mr. Arrington).

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Smith), who is the ranking member of the tax policy subcommittee.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds, and I can't help but remember that, in February 2018, my colleague from Houston, Texas, voted to default on America's debt, to shut down the government, and to withhold disaster funding for Hurricane Harvey in our region.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

What a bunch of nonsense that we just heard. I respect the majority leader. I love his talk about courage and principle and language and all of that.

But what he didn't tell you was that in February of 2018, Speaker Pelosi, he, Whip Clyburn, 119 House Democrats, voted to shut down this government, to default on America's debt, and deny hurricane assistance to communities not just in Texas, but across the country. He played politics with America's debt. So did many Democrats that day.

While they lecture us about irresponsibility, here is what we do know. This is a dangerous, irresponsible charade. Democrats are desperate to blame the GOP for this when, in fact, they created this economic crisis.

For 2 years, our Democrat colleagues have known this day was coming and never even passed a budget. They didn't even try to pass a budget to deal with this. They never sat down with Republicans. They have rammed everything through this House this year.

Now, even though they have all of the votes they need, they are just playing political games, willing to shut down this government, willing to deny disaster aid, willing to harm our economy and working families so they don't have to raise this debt ceiling.

The truth is, they don't want to. They can. They don't want to. They are manufacturing this crisis. They have all the votes they need. They are willing to bring this economy to the brink. They have got all the votes they need. All they have to do is include it in reconciliation. They just don't want to. They just don't want to.

We could fact-check so much of what we heard today. We could spend the next 2 hours on this, and we could talk about all of the tax breaks for the billionaires and the wealthy in the new spending bill that is being brought to the floor. Trust me, this isn't just about past debts. This is about a green light to spend America deeper and deeper and deeper into debt.

To quote our Democrat leaders in 2018: ``Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House. The responsibility to govern rests squarely on their shoulders.''

Democrats control the House, the Senate, and the White House. This responsibility rests on their shoulders.

I will tell you, Madam Speaker, at the end of this debate, I intend to offer a motion to commit the bill to the Committee on Ways and Means and include a provision that would prohibit the IRS from implementing a bank surveillance scheme.

The reason I am doing this is because Democrats are leading a campaign to impose bank surveillance on your personal bank account and your business bank account. They are targeting families and farmers and America's small businesses.

They want to give the IRS unfettered access to individual and business bank accounts. It is an outrageous intrusion into the private lives of all Americans. And they want to do that because they think they can raise money to lift the SALT cap, to give tax breaks to millionaires, to create tax havens for billionaires against the very tax hikes that they are proposing. Penthouse occupants are cheering. The building janitor gets nothing.

This is why they don't want to take responsibility for lifting the debt ceiling, because they have huge plans to really harm middle-class Americans while giving huge tax breaks to their friends.

When Democrats want to sit down with Republicans and have a serious conversation about how we raise the debt ceiling, how we address the financial stability of this country, let me tell you, I am in, a lot of us are in. I am hopeful someday we can get to that because that is what our country deserves. I will oppose this debt ceiling.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include the text of my amendment in the Record immediately prior to the vote on the motion to commit.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I have a motion to commit at the desk.

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

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), my very good friend, the distinguished chairman of the Rules Committee, for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, today's rule covers a standalone bill that suspends the national debt limit through the end of 2022.

Today's item does not come out of a vacuum. Just last week, the Democratic majority in the House passed a continuing resolution to fund the government through early December. Unfortunately, that bill also included this same suspension of the debt ceiling through 2022. The inclusion of this item meant that not a single Republican in the House supported last week's bill, and not a single Republican in the Senate supported it either.

But today, not content with having run headlong into a brick wall once, the majority is now seeking to do the same thing again. As baseball player and philosopher Yogi Berra once said, today is truly deja vu all over again.

Madam Speaker, I don't know how much more clear Republicans can be on this topic. So long as the Democratic majority continues to insist on spending money hand over fist, Republicans will refuse to help them lift the debt ceiling.

This year alone, the majority has rammed through one partisan spending bill through reconciliation already. That bill spent $1.9 trillion, allegedly for COVID relief, but really about a laundry list of progressive policy priorities. And I remind my friends they were offered a compromise of many hundreds of billions of dollars, but that wasn't sufficient.

Today, the majority is neck-deep in negotiations on an even bigger partisan reconciliation bill, this one supposedly $3.5 trillion but, frankly, likely to run much higher than that. If passed, this one would mean Democrats have pushed through $5\1/2\ trillion of spending in 1 year, which is almost one-and-a-half times the amount of normal Federal spending. And that all comes on top of our regular discretionary and nondiscretionary spending.

Madam Speaker, Republicans have been very clear on this for months. So long as Democrats keep pushing these bloated spending measures, and so long as they continue to ram through partisan policies like those found in the Green New Deal, Republicans will not work with them to raise the debt limit.

Since the beginning of this year, Democrats have been pushing their policy agenda despite having the bare minimum of a majority in both the House and the Senate. The results have been shocking: more Big Government socialism, more spending, and higher taxes. They have been doing all this on their own, with only Democrats voting for these measures.

To be clear, this is the choice the majority has made. They have chosen to govern in a majority-rules fashion. They are pushing through bill after bill larded up with huge spending and more and more Big Government socialism all on their own. The majority also has the power to lift the debt ceiling all on their own, using a process they are quite familiar with, reconciliation.

Since they have chosen to ram the rest of their agenda through on their own, they also have the responsibility to lift the debt ceiling on their own. If they want to keep spending the people's money like this, then they alone must act and take responsibility.

Madam Speaker, my good friend alluded to the fact that he has repeatedly voted for debt ceiling increases in his capacity as a Member. I know that to be true, and I respect my friend. I have done that myself. I have voted under both Republicans and Democrats. But I do want to address this point about the debt limit.

The point was best summed up by Speaker Pelosi in her Dear Colleague letter Sunday night. ``The debt limit is a shared responsibility, and I urge Congress to come together . . . on a bipartisan basis, as it has in the past.'' Oh, really? I think we should look at the record and clear that up.

The last five times that Congress voted on raising the debt limit when Republicans controlled the White House, the Senate, and the House, President Biden, who was then in the Senate, didn't vote to raise it a single time. Majority Leader Schumer voted to raise it once out of five times. The Democratic leadership voted to raise it once out of five times.

So to somehow pretend that both sides have not on occasion used the debt ceiling to express their concerns or that everybody has rallied to the cause simply does not square with the facts.

Madam Speaker, I will make a bold prediction. I suspect the debt ceiling will at some point get raised, and I suspect it will be before we reach a deadline. And I share my friend's point that, indeed, that needs to happen.

However, when you launch a program as expensive and as expansive as the Democrats have, and you choose to do it on a partisan line way, then don't shirk the responsibility at the end of the day. Don't try to shift it to others. I think that is what is happening here.

One last point, Madam Speaker. We talk a lot about the Trump debt. I remind my friends they were in control the last 2 years of the Trump Presidency. I remind my friends that most of the debt was actually accumulated in that time. And I do remind my friends it was a bipartisan effort. The biggest part of that debt was COVID relief, which we agreed on, on both sides of the aisle and both supported, and we raised the debt ceiling for it.

So, when we work together, we can solve these problems. My friends have chosen not to work with us, and I think now they are going to have to bear the responsibility. I am sure they are up to the task.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, just to quickly respond to my friend, I remind him, his leadership didn't vote to raise the debt ceiling. I remind him four out of the last five times we had complete control. I remind him that the majority leader in the United States, Mr. Schumer, didn't vote for it four out of five times. And I remind him that then-Senator Biden didn't vote for it once.

So please, please, let's look at the facts here before we start saying how much Democrats have always bellied up to the bar to help us out. That is just simply not the case.

Madam Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up H.R. 1897 for immediate consideration. This bill is simple: Before the Biden administration can release any illegal immigrant from custody, the person must have a negative COVID-19 test.

Madam Speaker, the Biden administration's crisis at the southern border is not only a humanitarian and a security crisis, but it is also a public health crisis.

Just last week, Secretary Mayorkas admitted that 12,000 migrants in Del Rio, Texas, who were released by the Biden administration, were not tested for COVID-19 and were not subject to any vaccination or testing mandates. This stands in stark contrast with the CDC's continuing embrace of mask mandates, even for the vaccinated.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment in the Record, along with the extraneous material immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.

Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Iowa (Mrs. Miller-Meeks), my good friend and author of this bill, to further explain the amendment.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I am sure my friend from Massachusetts is not aware of this, but Mrs. Miller-Meeks has actually run multiple events for vaccines. She has vaccinated people herself. She has spent 24 years in public health in service to the country.

So I agree with you about the vaccine. Nobody in this body has done more to promote it and administer it than Mrs. Miller-Meeks.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Harshbarger), my very good friend, to speak more about the need to ensure illegal immigrants are tested for COVID-19 before being released.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, to my good friend from Massachusetts, if we want to deal with urgent matters, why don't we pass a clean CR and make sure the government doesn't shut down in 48 hours. That is urgent. And hopefully we will be able to get about that business shortly.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess), my very good friend and fellow Rules Committee member, classmate, member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, who has been a passionate advocate on this issue and who will speak more about the previous question.

Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas.

Madam Speaker, I just want to quickly inquire of my friend. I am prepared to close, if my friend is.

Madam Speaker, could I have a quick time check?

Madam Speaker, I can assure Members I won't use it all.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I just want to quickly point out to my friend who has cited a number of statistics on State vaccinations, and I agree with him. Everyone should be vaccinated. I spend a lot of time in my district urging people to do that. I know my good friend from Massachusetts does the same thing.

But with respect to the previous question, nobody is vaccinated that is coming across illegally. They are not tested, and they are not vaccinated. This is really a commonsense item. I am surprised, quite frankly, my friends have not accepted this in some earlier iteration. My friend, Dr. Burgess, mentioned he brought it up multiple times. This is actually something we should agree on.

Let's not just let anybody into our country that has not been tested. And if they are found unvaccinated, give them the vaccine. I think we can argue about immigration all day long. I don't know why in the world we argue about that particular issue at all. What my friend from Iowa is proposing is very much common sense.

Madam Speaker, the bill before us today is a deeply misguided bill. It makes in order one item, a standalone bill lifting the debt ceiling through the end of 2022.

Republicans have been very clear on their stance. So long as Democrats continue to spend, spend, spend on partisan reconciliation bills, Republicans will not act to help them lift the debt ceiling. The majority has been governing in a partisan manner since they took control earlier this year. That is their prerogative.

If they continue to insist on ramming their big government socialist agenda through Congress on narrow partisan votes, then it becomes their responsibility to lift the debt limit on their own.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the previous question and ``no'' on the rule, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 688, I call up the bill (S. 1301) to provide for the publication by the Secretary of Health and Human Services of physical activity recommendations for Americans, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous material on S. 1301.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, one of the essential duties of Congress is to preserve the full faith and credit of the United States. Today, we will once again take action to do precisely that.

A suspension of the debt ceiling will prevent us from defaulting on debt we already owe. This is not about new spending. It is about investments that this Congress has agreed to in the past and previously approved.

This is about what the American family does every day. They don't get to say: ``I am not going to make my credit card payment this month. I am not going to make my mortgage payment this month. Oh, maybe I won't make my car payment this month. And I won't honor the personal loan that I signed up for.''

Our vote today is not a novel exercise. Congress has addressed the debt limit 78 times since 1960 to prevent default, 29 times with a Democrat in the White House and 49 times with a Republican in the White House.

Ensuring that the government can finance its existing obligations is a responsibility that we share jointly in this Chamber. Regrettably, that apparently is not the case this time.

Our Democratic Caucus, with some hope and help, I believe, from the Republicans at the right moment, will meet the moment and prevent a devastating financial catastrophe. We will take the action necessary to protect businesses, workers, and families.

When Americans' jobs and retirement savings are on the line, we are going to make sure we do what is necessary to prevent disaster.

Madam Speaker, I encourage every Member to support this critical measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), Speaker of the House, for a firm rebuttal.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Thompson), a very capable member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer), whose work on infrastructure is a model for the Nation.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Danny K. Davis), a member of the Ways and Means Committee, a champion of the underserved.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Higgins), a very capable member of the Ways and Means Committee.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. DelBene), a member of the Ways and Means Committee, chief architect of the child credit expansion.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Chu), who is a very capable member of the Ways and Means Committee.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore), who is always the great champion of expanding the earned income tax credit.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Kildee), who is always a champion of the industrial heartland.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Brendan F. Boyle), who is a champion of very complicated issues relating to the debt ceiling.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Evans), who is a very capable gentleman. He is champion of all things Philadelphia, as well as quite knowledgeable about the debt ceiling.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Schneider), who is a member of the Ways and Means Committee and well-known for his midwestern values.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Panetta) again, a very knowledgeable member of the Ways and Means Committee.

Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Gomez), whose work on USMCA was outstanding.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), the very capable Congresswoman.

Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the majority leader, one of the most capable legislators I have known.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, we keep hearing from our colleagues that somehow we are asking them to cosign a loan. I am prepared here to vote to lift the debt ceiling. That is the responsible position.

We have heard a lot today from the other side about why Democrats should shoulder the responsibility of acting responsibly in terms of governance, but that is not how governing simply works.

We have been given great responsibility and privilege to serve this great country, and that responsibility means making hard decisions and putting the good of the Nation ahead of all else, including day-to-day politics.

So in my hand, Madam Speaker, I have a $1 bill. For anybody in this Chamber or who is watching or who has ever had a chance to travel this great country of ours, you know that wherever you go, you can redeem this dollar. The purchasing power of this dollar is well known to all.

But you know what is even more fascinating about this? No matter where you travel in the world, to any nook or cranny of this globe, you put the dollar on the table and they figure out how to redeem it. This argument today is about the full faith and credit of the United States of America. This is signed by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Treasurer of the United States of America. The basis of redemption is the trust that we might even have in strangers as it relates to the transaction of using this dollar to pay our bills.

We have always come together to pay our bills. In 2017, when the debt ceiling was reached, 183 Democrats, every Democrat present, voted to lift that limit, joining 133 Republicans.

Resist the ill-considered parts of the argument that have been offered today and vote for the responsible position to raise the debt ceiling based upon the full faith and credit of the dollar bill that we know is redeemed everywhere across the globe.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee for yielding. As you can tell, he is a good friend of mine, and he uses hyperbole in introducing me. I appreciate that.

The ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee just made a comment. I don't think anybody has clean hands on this issue. I tell the ranking member, I don't think anybody has clean hands. I don't know the exact voting pattern of the ranking member. I think he probably has been on both sides of this issue himself. I think I have been.

But I will tell the ranking member, if I am here when there is a Republican President--and I do not wish for that end, of course. But if I am here, I want to guarantee you that I will vote to lift the debt limit--guarantee you.

I said 3 years ago, I would never vote against raising the debt limit and keeping America's creditworthy status, never. In my view, it is intellectually dishonest to do so.

This is a phony issue, and anybody who is intellectually honest with themselves knows it is a phony issue because it has no relationship to what the debt is. The debt relates to when we cut revenues or spend money, not some arbitrary limit that we theoretically put on our debt. We ought to be honest with the American public because too many people demagogue about this issue.

Madam Speaker, on Monday, Senate Republicans voted against keeping the government open and paying the bills that our Nation has already incurred. That was not a reflection of responsible opposition in a democracy.

We talk about the loyal opposition. The loyal opposition ought not to be loyal to the majority, but they ought to be loyal to the country. Instead, their vote is a reckless and irrational action that signaled very clearly to the American people, the financial markets, and the international community that Republicans would choose to precipitate an economic catastrophe for American businesses and families to score political points against President Biden and Democrats. That is what is happening here today.

Three times over the past 4 years, House and Senate Republicans voted to suspend the debt limit when President Trump asked them to do so. I have no idea what President Trump is asking people to do at this point in time, but my experience is it is not the responsible thing.

Madam Speaker, when they asked Democrats for our help taking that needed step in order to prevent a catastrophic default, we joined with them to vote for it.

When Speaker Boehner could only get 78 of his colleagues to vote with him to maintain fiscal responsibility in this country, only 78--I guess 77 because he was the 78th--would follow. And how did those bills carry? Because we, in the minority, joined with Speaker Boehner.

When Speaker Ryan did the same thing, couldn't get the majority of his own colleagues to back him, we gave the necessary votes to pursue and to ensure fiscal responsibility. Why? Because it was the right thing to do, because it was the necessary and responsible thing to do.

Treasury Secretary Yellen told us yesterday that we will run out of extraordinary measures to forestall a default on October 18. That is fewer than 20 days from today.

Yet, we talk about partisanship, and we accuse others of not doing it one time or not doing it another time. This is the one time. This is our time. This is the time that the vote presents itself to us to keep America's creditworthy status and to prohibit a national and international crisis.

There is an urgency to our action, and we twiddle our partisan thumbs.

Leader McConnell, I am sure, has been quoted frequently. I haven't heard all the debate, but frequently. ``Let me make it perfectly clear. The country must never default. The debt ceiling will need to be raised.'' That is his quote.

Now, what he didn't add was: But I am not going to help. But I am going to ask my party to be irresponsible. But I am going to ask my party not to do what I say should never happen and allow the country to default.

I don't know how you rationalize that. I don't know how anybody with intellectual honesty rationalizes that, Madam Speaker, that you think we must never default, but by the way, I won't vote for it.

What does that mean? What kind of language is that? What kind of lack of principle is that?

In order to give him and his fellow Republicans one last opportunity to prevent a default at a time when our recovery from the pandemic is not yet complete and still quite fragile, today, we are considering a clean debt limit suspension, not a number, just a date, which is, by the way, what both Republicans and Democrats have used in the past.

The bill before us simply says the United States of America will pay its bills on time. What a radical proposition.

Yet, our Republican friends cannot summon the intention to do just that. If Senate Republicans still cannot be consistent with their own votes from the past 4 years, they can stand aside and, as Leader McConnell has suggested, vote for cloture to allow Democrats to pass the bill with 51 votes. At least do that. At least have the courage to allow others to display the courage of standing up and voting for what they know is absolutely essential and what they have said is absolutely essential.

But if you believe that the full faith and credit of our country is worth safeguarding, that our businesses and working families deserve to be spared unnecessary economic pain, then vote ``yes'' on both sides of the aisle.

This is not a partisan vote. This is an American vote. This is for our country. This is for our fiscal responsibility. This is for fiscal stability. This is for families.

Don't twiddle your thumbs and say it is a partisan vote. It is not.

A ``yes'' vote on this bill is not a victory for Democrats or for the President. It is the responsible thing to do and a victory for our country. Although we ought never to get to this place, we get to it all time, because we

play these silly, partisan, pedantic, weak, meritless arguments.

Everybody knows we have to do this. To sit there and say, ``Well, I am not going to do it'' is not fulfilling the oath to defend and protect this great Nation and this great democracy.