Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 5376) to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of S. Con. Res. 14; and for other purposes.

Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for his great leadership.

This bill is about people; people who are working, people who need help. It is about people; the American people.

I am very happy that this bill really focuses on the needs of people in Texas. In Texas, people are paying $9,428 for a toddler, but we are now going to provide them with childcare for 3- and 4-year olds, and free childcare. We are going to provide it for 2 million-plus children in the State of Texas. We are, in essence, going to make sure that these children are learning.

You want to ask about inflation? That is corporate greed. Everyone knows when corporations raise the price of goods, there is inflation. But economists know that that is not going to exist because we are putting money in the pockets of working men and women, giving them a child tax cut.

We are also providing students to be able to go to community college, HBCUs, 4-year colleges with $550 in Pell Grants. That is what this bill is about, helping people; helping people with their childcare, helping people go to school.

It is also about making sure that the hungry children in Texas are able to eat. 1,642,000 students will be able to receive food. That is what this is about; putting money where people are having the need.

And yes, making sure that uninsured people, 766,000 in Texas without any insurance, suffering through the pandemic, now have insurance.

And we know that there has been an increase in violence; $2.5 billion in preventing violence.

This is about people; people who will have housing. It is about people. Vote for the Build Back Better Act. I thank President Biden.

Madam Speaker, as a senior member of the Committees on the Judiciary, on Homeland Security, and on the Budget, I rise in strong support of the Build Back Better Act (RCP 117-18, H.R. 5376), and am proud to have this opportunity to explain why this $1.75 billion package, conceived and advanced by President Biden and House Democrats, makes visionary and transformative investments to change for the better the health, well-being, and financial security of America's workers and families.

Today we are completing the job we began with the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework, which I witnessed President Biden sign on the South Lawn of the White House.

To put it all in perspective, Madam Speaker, we have before us a once in a century opportunity to make gigantic progress in making ours a more perfect union, and to do it in a single bound with enactment of the Build Back Better Act, the most transformative legislation passed by this Congress since the Great Society and the New Deal.

I would urge my Republican colleagues to heed the words of Republican Governor Jim Justice of West Virginia who said colorfully earlier this year:

``At this point in time in this nation, we need to go big. We need to quit counting the egg-sucking legs on the cows and count the cows and just move. And move forward and move right now.''

The same sentiment was expressed more eloquently by Abraham Lincoln in 1862 when he memorably wrote:

``The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.''

Madam Speaker, I am especially excited to support this bill because it directly impacts the members of my community and will improve the lives of Texans everywhere.

The Build Back Better Act will bring down costs that have held back families in Texas for decades by cutting taxes and making child care, home care, education, health care, and housing more affordable.

These investments will provide new learning opportunities for children, help parents, and especially working parents, make ends meet, and position the economy for stronger growth for years to come.

The Build Back Better Act will create good-paying jobs for residents of Texas, combating climate change, giving our kids cleaner air and water, and making America the leader in global innovation and 21st century manufacturing.

Specifically, Madam Speaker, the Build Back Better Act delivers the largest investment in child care and early education in history by providing access to affordable child care.

Child care is a major strain for families in Texas, where the average annual cost of a child care center for a toddler is $9,428, meaning that a Texas family with two young children would on average spend 21 percent of their income on child care for one year.

The lack of affordable options also makes it difficult for parents, and especially mothers, to

remain in their jobs, contributing to the 26.1 percent gender gap in workforce participation between mothers and fathers in Texas.

The Build Back Better Act will enable Texas to provide access to child care for 2,011,503 young children (ages 0-5) per year from families earning under 2.5 times the Texas median income (about $205,204 for a family of 4), and ensure these families pay no more than 7 percent of their income on high-quality child care.

The Build Back Better Act will provide universal, high-quality, free preschool for every 3- and 4-year old in America.

In contrast, today, only 24 percent of the 775,102 3- and 4-year-olds in Texas have access to publicly-funded preschool, and it costs about $8,600 per year for those who cannot access a publicly-funded program.

The Build Back Better Act will enable Texas to expand access to free, high-quality preschool to more than 588,286 additional 3- and 4-year- olds per year and increase the quality of preschool for children who are already enrolled.

Parents will be able to send their children to the preschool setting of their choice--from public schools to child care providers to Head Start--leading to lifelong educational benefits, allowing more parents to go back to work, and building a stronger foundation for Texas's future economic competitiveness.

The Build Back Better Act cuts taxes and reduces some of the largest expenses for workers and families, like education, health care, and housing.

Madam Speaker, the average cost of a 2-year degree in Texas is $2,885 per year, and $11,096 per year for a 4-year degree, straining many student budgets.

To help unlock the opportunities of an education beyond high school, the Build Back Better Act will increase maximum Pell Grant awards by $550 for students at public and private non-profit institutions, supporting the 486,377 students in Texas who rely on Pell grants.

The Build Back Better Act will also invest in Texas's 112 minority- serving institutions and the students they serve, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs).

Madam Speaker, of the world's biggest economies, the United States is second to last in investing in workforce development, and funding for federal job training programs has dropped by almost half since 2001.

The Build Back Better Act invests in training programs that will prepare Texas's workers for high-quality jobs in fast-growing sectors like public health, child care, manufacturing, IT, and clean energy. Fifty-nine public community colleges in Texas will have the opportunity to benefit from grants to develop and deliver innovative training programs and expand proven ones.

Madam Speaker, 18 percent of children in Texas live in food insecure households, harming their long-term health and ability to succeed in school.

The Build Back Better Act will ensure that the nutritional needs of Texas's children are met by expanding access to free school meals to an additional 1,642,000 students during the school year and providing 3,631,226 students with resources to purchase food over the summer.

When it comes to housing costs, more than 1.7 million renters in Texas are rent burdened, meaning they spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent, while homeownership remains out of reach for many families.

The Build Back Better Act expands rental assistance for Texas renters, while also increasing the supply of high-quality housing through the construction and rehabilitation of over 1 million affordable housing units nationwide.

The Build Back Better Act addresses the capital needs of the entire public housing stock in America, and it includes one of the largest investments in down payment assistance in history, enabling more first- generation homebuyers to purchase their first home.

Madam Speaker, access to affordable quality health care should be a right, not a privilege, and residents of Texas facing illness should never have to worry about how they are going to pay for treatment.

The Build Back Better Act will close the Medicaid coverage gap to help millions of Americans gain health insurance, extend through 2025 the American Rescue Plan's health insurance premium reductions for those who buy coverage on their own, and help older Americans access affordable hearing care by expanding Medicare.

In Texas, that means 1,554,000 uninsured people will gain coverage, including the 771,000 who fell into the Medicaid coverage gap, and 1,066,400 will on average save hundreds of dollars per year.

In addition, the Build Back Better Act will support maternal health and invest in national preparedness for future pandemics.

Finally, the Build Back Better Act will expand access to home- and community-based care to more of Texas's senior citizens and disabled citizens and improve the quality and wages of caregiving jobs.

Madam Speaker, the federal budget is an expression of the nation's values and the investments made to Build America Back Better are a clear declaration of congressional Democrats' commitment to ensuring that our government, our economy, and our systems work For The People.

These long-overdue investments in America's future will be felt in every corner of the country and across every sector of American life, building on the success of the American Rescue Plan, accommodating historic infrastructure investments in the legislative pipeline, and addressing longstanding deficits in our communities by ending an era of chronic underinvestment so we can emerge from our current crises a stronger, more equitable nation.

Madam Speaker, the bipartisan action we took in February 2021 when we passed the American Rescue Plan was a giant step in the right direction, but it was a targeted response to the immediate and urgent public health and economic crises; it was not a long-term solution to many of the pressing challenges facing our nation that have built up over decades of disinvestment in our nation and its people in every region and sector of the country.

We simply can no longer afford the costs of neglect and inaction; the time to act is now.

The Build Back Better Act makes the transformative investments that we need to continue growing our economy, lower costs for working families, and position the United States as a global leader in innovation and the jobs of the future.

This $1.75 trillion gross investment will build on the successes of the American Rescue Plan and set our nation on a path of fiscal responsibility and broadly shared prosperity for generations to come.

The Build Back Better Act will provide resources to improve our education, health, and child care systems, invest in clean energy and sustainability, address the housing crisis, and more; all while setting America up to compete and win in the decades ahead.

The Build Back Better Act is paid for by ensuring that the wealthy and big corporations are paying their fair share and Americans making less than $400,000 a year will not see their taxes increase by a penny.

Let me repeat that: No American making less than $400,000 a year will not see their taxes increase by a penny.

In sum, Madam Speaker, the investments made by the Build Back Better Act will expand opportunity for all and build an economy powered by shared prosperity and inclusive growth, and I would like to go into a little more detail about the specific ways this bill will help the people of Texas.

Contrary to what my friends on the other side of the aisle will say, the Build Back Better Act will cut taxes for Texas families and workers, not increase them.

Prior to the pandemic, 15 percent of children under the age of 18 in Texas lived in poverty.

The Build Back Better Act will bolster financial security and spur economic growth in Texas by reducing taxes on the middle class and those striving to break into it.

Specifically, the Build Back Better Act extends Child Tax Credit (CTC) increases of $300/month per child under 6 or $250/month per child ages 6 to 17, which will continue the largest one-year reduction in child poverty in history.

And critically, the agreement includes permanent refundability for the Child Tax Credit, meaning that the neediest families will continue to receive the full Child Tax Credit over the long-run.

The Build Back Better Act will also provide a tax cut of up to $1,500 in tax cuts for more than 1.5 million low-wage workers in Texas by extending the American Rescue Plan's Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) expansion.

The Build Back Better Act will address the existential threat Texans face due to climate change by making the largest investment into our country's green future in American history.

From 2010 to 2020, Texas experienced 67 extreme weather events, costing up to $200 billion in damages.

The Build Back Better Act will set the United States on course to meet its climate targets--a 50-52 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels by 2030--in a way that creates good-paying union jobs, grows domestic industries, and advances environmental justice.

The Build Back Better Act represents the largest ever single investment in a clean energy economy--across buildings, transportation, industry, electricity, agriculture, and climate smart practices in our lands and waters.

And the Build Back Better Act will create a new Civilian Climate Corps that will enlist a diverse generation of Texans in conserving our public lands, bolstering community resilience, and addressing the changing climate, all while putting good-paying union jobs within reach.

In clean energy and in other sectors, the Build Back Better Act will also strengthen domestic manufacturing and supply chains for

critical goods, benefiting American businesses, workers, consumers, and communities.

The Build Back Better Act will deliver meaningful outcomes for Black communities and help build an America in which all can thrive.

Black families are feeling the strain of the high costs of child care and are two times more likely than white parents to have to quit, turn down, or make a major change in their job due to child care disruptions.

Only 26.8 percent of Black 3- and 4-year old children are enrolled in publicly-funded preschool, while the average cost of preschool for those without access to publicly-funded programs is $8,600.

Under the Build Back Better Act, the vast majority of working Black families of four earning less than $300,000 will pay no more than 7 percent of their income on child care for children under 6.

This will expand access to the 9 out of 10 families with young children across the country who are working, looking for work, participating in an education or training program, or taking care of a serious health condition, and who are making up to 2.5 times their state's median income.

This means most families will cut their child care spending by more than half--for example, for two Black parents earning $100,000 per year, the Build Back Better Act will produce more than $5,000 in annual child care savings.

The Build Back Better Act also offers access to free preschool for all 3- and 4-year old children, providing Black parents access to high quality programs in the setting of their choice--from public schools to child care providers to Head Start.

The Build Back Better Act will also reduce the cost of home-based care for the hundreds of thousands of older Black adults and Black people with disabilities who need it and are unable to access it.

And investment in home care will raise wages for home care workers, 28 percent of whom are Black.

Almost 3.9 million Black people were uninsured in 2019 and even with the Affordable Care Act's premium subsidies, coverage under the ACA was too expensive for many families, and over 570,000 Black people fell into the Medicaid ``coverage gap'' and were locked out of coverage because their state refused to expand Medicaid.

The Build Back Better Act closes the Medicaid coverage gap while I also lowering health care costs for those buying coverage through the ACA by extending the American Rescue Plan's lower premiums, which could save 360,000 Black people an average of $50 per person per month.

With these changes, more than one in three uninsured Black people could gain coverage.

The Build Back Better Act also adds hearing coverage, including for the more than 5.8 million Black people on Medicare.

And, the Build Back Better Act will make an historic investment in maternal health, including for Black women, who die from complications related to pregnancy at three times the rate of white women.

Madam Speaker, about 30 percent of Black renters pay over half their income In rent.

The Build Back Better Act enables the construction, rehabilitation, and improvement of more than 1 million affordable homes, boosting housing supply and reducing price pressures for renters and homeowners and will make investments to improve the safety, energy efficiency, and quality of existing public housing, where nearly half of residents are Black.

It also expands the availability of housing choice vouchers to hundreds of thousands more families, including the nearly half of current voucher holders who are Black.

The Build Back Better Act will remove lead-based paint from housing units, which disproportionately affects Black children and provides grants for resident-led community development projects in neighborhoods that have faced systemic disinvestment.

The Build Back Better Act will ensure that the nutritional needs of Black children are met by expanding access to free school meals during the school year and providing students with resources to purchase food over the summer.

Madam Speaker, about 22.1 percent of Black people fall below the poverty line, struggling to pay expenses like food, rent, health care, and transportation for their families.

The Build Back Better Act extends the Child Tax Credit, providing a major tax cut to nearly 3 million Black people and cutting the Black poverty rate by 34.3 percent, which will help the 85 percent of Black women who are either sole or co-breadwinners for their families.

The Build Back Better Act permanently extends the American Rescue Plan's increase to the Earned-Income Tax Credit from $543 to $1,502, which will benefit roughly 2.8 million Black low-wage workers, including cashiers, cooks, delivery drivers, food preparation workers, and child care providers.

The Build Back Better Act increases the maximum Pell Grant by $550 per year for students enrolled in public and private, non-profit colleges and make an historic investment in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), as well as Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and minority-serving institutions (MSIs).

Through high-quality training programs, career and technical education pathways, and Registered Apprenticeships, President Biden's Build Back Better Act will invest in training programs that will prepare millions of Black workers for high-quality jobs in growing sectors.

The toll of gun violence overwhelmingly falls on Black Americans and other people of color.

For example, Black men make up 6 percent of the population but represent more than 50 percent of gun homicide victims.

That's why the Build Back Better Act provides $2.5 billion to support evidence-based community violence intervention programs shown to reduce violence.

These programs are effective because they leverage trusted messengers who work directly with individuals most likely to commit gun violence, intervene in conflicts, and connect people to social, health and wellness, and employment services to reduce the likelihood of violence.

Madam Speaker, no one is better prepared or more experienced to lead the American renaissance that will be produced by the investments made by the Build Back Better Act than President Biden, the architect of the American Rescue Plan and who as Vice President during the Obama Administration oversaw the implementation of the Recovery Act, which saved millions of jobs and rescued our economy from the Great Recession the nation inherited from a previous Republican administration.

And let us not forget that President Obama also placed his confidence in his vice president to oversee the rescue of the automotive industry, which he did so well that the American car industry fully recovered its status as the world leader.

Madam Speaker, let me briefly highlight some of the key investments made by the transformative Build Back Better Act that benefit all Americans.

The Build Back Better Act will provide two years of free pre-K and two years of free community college to ensure every student has the tools, resources, and opportunity to succeed in life.

It will also invest in our teachers and institutions that serve minority students and provide funding to give school buildings long- overdue infrastructure updates.

People lead happier, healthier, and more productive lives when they have had access to high-quality education and that is why the Build Back Better Act makes necessary investments to increase quality education by four years for all students at no cost to hard-working families.

The Build Back Better Act expands access to affordable, high quality education beyond high school, which is increasingly important for economic growth and competitiveness in the 21st century.

Specifically, the Build Back Better Act will increase the maximum Pell Grant by $550 for more the more than 5 million students enrolled in public and private, non-profit colleges and expand access to DREAMers.

It will also make historic investments in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and minority-serving institutions (MSIs) to build capacity, modernize research infrastructure, and provide financial aid to low-income students.

The Build Back Better Act will help more people access quality training that leads to good, union, and middle-class jobs and will enable community colleges to train hundreds of thousands of students, create sector-based training opportunity with in-demand training for at least hundreds of thousands of workers, and invest in proven approaches like Registered Apprenticeships and programs to support underserved communities.

The Build Back Better Act will increase the Labor Department's annual spending on workforce development by 50 percent for each of the next 5 years.

The Build Back Better Act expands access to quality, affordable health care by strengthening the Medicare, Medicaid, and Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace programs that millions of Americans already rely on.

It includes a major new expansion of Medicare benefits, adding a hearing benefit to the program for the very first time.

Only 30 percent of seniors over the age of 70 who could benefit from hearing aids have ever used them.

The Build Back Better Act strengthens the Affordable Care Act and reduces premiums for 9 million Americans who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace by an average of $600 per person per year.

Just for example, a family of four earning $80,000 per year would save nearly $3,000

per year (or $246 per month) on health insurance premiums and experts predict that more than 3 million people who would otherwise be uninsured will gain health. insurance.

The Build Back Better Act closes the Medicaid coverage gap, leading 4 million uninsured people to gain coverage.

The Build Back Better Act will deliver health care coverage through Affordable Care Act premium tax credits to up to 4 million uninsured people in states that have locked them out of Medicaid.

A 40-year old in the coverage gap would have to pay $450 per month for benchmark coverage--more than half of their income in many cases but thanks to the Build Back Better Act individuals would pay $0 premiums, finally making health care affordable and accessible.

The Build Back Better Act strengthens the ACA by extending the enhanced Marketplace subsidies that were included in the American Rescue Plan.

It also provides an affordable coverage option for the more than two million Americans living in states that have not expanded Medicaid under the ACA and do not earn enough to qualify for Marketplace subsidies.

When the Build Back Better Act is fully implemented, soon gone will be the terrible old days when too many Americans are forced to choose between medical care and putting food on the table or affording other necessities.

Madam Speaker, approximately 3.9 million Black people were uninsured in 2019 before President Biden took office and even with the Affordable Care Act's premium subsidies, coverage under the ACA was too expensive for many families, and over 570,000 Black people fell into the Medicaid ``coverage gap'' and were locked out of coverage because their state refused to expand Medicaid.

Madam Speaker, nearly 1 in 4 Americans struggle to afford prescription drugs but Medicare is currently prohibited from negotiating prescription drug prices to get the best deal for American seniors.

That changes with the historic Build Back Better Act, which authorizes Medicare negotiation of drug prices for high-cost prescription drugs, including drugs seniors get at the pharmacy counter (through Medicare Part D), and drugs that are administered in a doctor's office (through Medicare Part B).

Under the Build Back Better Act, drugs become eligible for negotiation once they have been on the market for a fixed number of years (9 years for small molecule drugs and 12 years for biologics) and Medicare will negotiate up to 10 drugs per year during 2023, increasing to up to 20 drugs per year.

The Build Back Better Act imposes a tax penalty if drug companies increase their prices faster than inflation, which should end the shameful days where drug companies could raise their prices with impunity.

Perhaps most important, the Build Back Better Act directly lower out- of-pocket costs for seniors by capping the amount seniors pay for their drugs under Medicare Part D at $2,000, a substantial reduction from the more than $6,000 that seniors pay today on average.

The Build Back Better Act will also lower insulin prices so that no American with diabetes pays more than $35 per month for needed insulin.

Madam Speaker, the cost of preschool in the United States exceeds $8,600 per year on average, and for as long as we can remember, child care prices in the United States have risen faster than family incomes, yet the United States still invests 28 times less than its competitors on helping families afford high-quality care for toddlers.

The Build Back Better Act supports families in need of child care by providing access to safe, reliable, and high-quality care delivered by a well-trained child care workforce.

The Build Back Better Act will provide universal and free preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds.

This is the largest expansion of universal and free education since states and communities across the country established public high school 100 years ago.

This is important because our nation is strongest when everyone can join the workforce and contribute to the economy.

That is why this investment is vital to so many millions of-- especially women--who are often forced to choose between working to support their family or caring for their family.

The Build Back Better Act will ensure that the vast majority of working American families of four earning less than $300,000 per year will pay no more than 7 percent of their income on child care for children under 6.

Under the Build Back Better Act, parents who are working, looking for work, participating in an education or training program, and who are making under 2.5 times their states median income will receive support to cover the cost of quality care based on a sliding scale, capped at 7 percent of their income.

The Build Back Better Act will help states expand access to high quality, affordable child care to about 20 million children per year-- covering 9 out of 10 families across the country with young children.

For two parents with one toddler earning $100,000 per year, the Build Back Better Act will produce more than $5,000 in child care savings per year.

In addition, the Build Back Better Act promotes nutrition security to support children's health and help children reach their full potential by investing in nutrition security year-round.

The legislation will expand free school meals to 8.7 million children during the school year and provide a $65 per child per month benefit to the families of 29 million children to purchase food during the summer.

The Build Back Better Act will deliver affordable, high-quality care for older Americans and people with disabilities in their homes, while supporting the workers who provide this care.

Right now, there are hundreds of thousands of older Americans and Americans with disabilities on waiting lists for home care services or struggling to afford the care they need, including more than 800,000 who are on state Medicaid waiting lists.

A family paying for home care costs out of pocket currently pays around $5,800 per year for just four hours of home care per week.

The Build Back Better Act will permanently improve Medicaid coverage for home care services for seniors and people with disabilities, making the most transformative investment in access to home care in 40 years, when these services were first authorized for Medicaid.

The Build Back Better Act will improve the quality of caregiving jobs, which will, in turn, help to improve the quality of care provided to beneficiaries.

In the area of housing, the Build Back Better Act makes investments to ensure that Americans have access to safe and affordable housing by providing resources to increase housing vouchers and funding for tribal housing.

It also supports investments in programs that will help address our nation's housing crisis by increasing the supply of affordable homes for those in need and investing in historically underserved communities and those that have been previously left behind.

Specifically, the Build Back Better Act makes the single largest and most comprehensive investment in affordable housing in history and will enable the construction, rehabilitation, and improvement of more than 1 million affordable homes, boosting housing supply and reducing price pressures for renters and homeowners.

It will address the capital needs of the public housing stock in big cities and rural communities all across America and ensure it is not only safe and habitable but healthier and more energy efficient as well.

It will make a historic investment in rental assistance, expanding vouchers to hundreds of thousands of additional families.

And, perhaps even more importantly, the Build Back Better Act includes one of the largest investments in down payment assistance in history, enabling hundreds of thousands of first-generation home buyers to purchase their first home and build wealth.

In short, Madam Speaker, this legislation will create more equitable communities, through investing in community-led redevelopments projects in historically under-resourced neighborhoods and removing lead paint from hundreds of thousands of homes, as well as by incentivizing state and local zoning reforms that enable more families to reside in higher opportunity neighborhoods.

The Build Back Better Act will spur and empower comprehensive action to build an equitable clean energy economy with historic investments to transform and modernize the electricity sector, lower energy costs for

Americans, improve air quality and public health, create good-paying jobs, and strengthen U.S. competitiveness--all while putting our country on the pathway to 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2035.

The Build Back Better Act extends and expands clean energy tax credits and supports clean electricity performance payments so utilities can accelerate progress toward a clean electric grid at no added cost to consumers.

The Build Back Better Act invests in clean energy, efficiency, electrification, and climate justice through grants, consumer rebates, and federal procurement of clean power and sustainable materials, and by incentivizing private sector development and investment.

Another exciting aspect of the Build Back Better Act, Madam Speaker, is that it will drive economic opportunities, environmental conservation, and climate resilience--especially in underserved and disadvantaged communities--including through a new Civilian Climate Corps.

Madam Speaker, the Build Back Better Act includes a $100 billion investment to reform our broken immigration system--and does it consistent with the Senate's reconciliation rules--as well as to reduce backlogs, expand legal representation, and make the asylum system and border processing more efficient and humane.

Madam Speaker, immigrants eligible for such protection are an integral part of Texas's social fabric.

Texas is home to 386,300 immigrants who are eligible for protection, 112,000 of whom reside in Harris County.

These individuals live with 845,300 family members and among those family members, 178,700 are U.S.-born citizen children.

These persons in Texas who are eligible for protection under the bill arrived in the United States at the average age of 8 and on average have lived in the United States since 1996.

They own 43,500 homes in Texas and pay $340,500,000 in annual mortgage payments and contribute $2,234,800,000 in federal taxes and $1,265,200,000 in state and local taxes each year.

Annually, these households generate $10,519,000,000 in spending power in Texas and help power the national economy.

The expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) enacted in the American Rescue Plan has already benefited nearly 66 million children, put money in the pockets of millions of hard-working parents and guardians, and is expected to help cut child poverty by more than half.

The Build Back Better Act not only extends this meaningful tax cut, but it also extends the expanded Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the expanded Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, which help families make ends meet and put food on the table, reduce child poverty, and lessen the burden on hard-working Americans so they can provide a better future for America's children.

Madam Speaker, I urge all Members to join me in voting to pass H.R. 5376, the transformative, life-changing Build Back Better Act.

Madam Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 774 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Madam Speaker, I claim the time in opposition.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Madam Speaker, let me first begin by suggesting, and I say this seriously, that the gentleman from Missouri take a chill pill. We ought to be able to discuss serious matters without getting hysterical and yelling and screaming all the time. The American people expect us to debate serious issues seriously.

First of all, let me just say, this is another tactic to try to derail an effort to help reduce premiums for more than 9 million Americans, lower prescription drug costs, ensure that seniors never pay more than $2,000 a year for their drugs under Medicare part D.

This is an effort by my Republican friends to derail a bill that would lower insulin prices; it offers access to universal and free preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds, which would save American families an average of $8,600 per year per child. That is what they are fighting against here.

This effort by my Republican friends is an attempt to derail a bill that would support the construction of affordable homes, boost our housing supply, deliver much-needed rental and downpayment assistance to our constituents; it would enhance and expand home energy and efficiency tax credits; it would bolster our domestic supply chains; creates thousands of new good-paying jobs right here in the United States of America; it would make historic investments in coastal restoration, forest management, and soil conservation; provides resources to reduce emissions and support our farmers; it creates a diverse new workforce for the establishment of the Civilian Climate Corps, which will conserve our land and improve resilience.

Now, my friends on the other side of the aisle were talking about the cost. They are worried about the cost. Boy, it is nice that they finally worry about the cost of things. They rammed through a tax cut bill for the wealthy, for billionaires, for big corporations, and they never paid for it. It added $2 trillion to our debt. Where were they then?

But here is the good news, Madam Speaker. This bill is fully paid for. The Joint Committee on Taxation and the White House has provided much of the detail. I appreciate the fact that my friends would rather shout than debate, but the American people expect a debate, expect a conversation.

When people, by the way, come to the Rules Committee, they get as much time as they want to be able to speak, and we welcome the diversity of opinion.

Madam Speaker, we also know that the Build Back Better bill will not become law without a CBO score. It will not go through the Senate without a CBO score. That will be coming, and my friends know that.

So the bottom line is, this is a red herring. They are not concerned about a CBO score. They are not concerned about cost, they never have been in the past on any of their legislative priorities that benefit the well-off and the well-connected. The idea that somehow they are fighting for the middle class or those struggling to get in the middle class; give me a break. People know the record of my Republican friends, they know the priorities of the Republican Congress, they know the priorities of the previous occupant of the White House.

Nobody buys that this is about protecting the middle class because most of my friends on the other side of the aisle never gave a damn about the middle class or those struggling to get into the middle class.

So this is an effort to try to basically derail or stall or obstruct all the things that I mentioned. Madam Speaker, there is no merit to what my friends are complaining about here today, but they will complain, and they have a right to do so. We will grin and bear it. At the end of the day we will deliver for the American people.

We have two major pieces of legislation that we want to get enacted into law: one is the Build Back Better initiative, which I just talked about all the priorities in it; the other is the infrastructure bill that was bipartisan over in the Senate, and maybe we will see if it is bipartisan over here, I hope so. It is about investing in our roads and our bridges and our water and our sewer facilities, and giving America basically a facelift because we have neglected our infrastructure for too long.

And here is the difference. When they were in charge, when the previous occupant of the White House was in charge, we got infrastructure weeks and infrastructure months and infrastructure press releases, but no money, no resources to help build one single infrastructure project. That is going to change with this majority and this President.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to reject what my friends are peddling here today and vote ``yes'' on the question of consideration.

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

Madam Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess), 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, yesterday the Committee on Rules reported a rule, House Resolution 774. The rule provides for the consideration of H.R. 5376, the Build Back Better Act, under a closed rule. The rule provides 2 hours of debate equally divided among and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Budget and the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Ways and Means. The rule self-executes a manager's amendment from Chairman Yarmuth and provides one motion to recommit.

Finally, the rule extends recess instructions, suspension authority, and same day authority through December 3.

Madam Speaker, when Franklin Roosevelt stood before the American people in Chicago, Illinois, and accepted the Democratic nomination for President nearly 90 years ago, he promised them a New Deal, one built on equality

and fairness. That work is bigger than a single President or a single era, and it continues to this day.

All these years later, this Congress is working to fulfill that promise. We will be considering a bill that will transform the lives of most people in this country for the better.

The Build Back Better Act will help Americans access stronger and more affordable healthcare, better family care, and will set up a stronger response to the climate crisis. It will lower prescription drug costs, capping the cost of insulin at $35. It will establish paid family and medical leave and provide universal and free pre-K.

Madam Speaker, I have talked to so many of my constituents who are sick and tired of working hard but falling behind. All they want is a country and a Congress that looks out for their interest and puts their needs first. That is what the policies contained in this bill will do.

These are the kind of priorities that make me proud to be a Democrat. They are the kind of advancements that the American people have been demanding for decades.

The Build Back Better Act finally turns the page on four decades of failed trickle-down economics. It invests in the people who built this country; in our workers, the middle class, and everyone fighting hard to get there. And at a time when the wealth gap between the richest and the poorest families in this country has more than doubled, this bill will stem the rising tide of income inequality by asking those at the very top to pay what they owe, to pay their fair share. It is bold. It is consequential. And it will transform the lives of so many Americans.

By expanding the child tax credit, more than 35 million families with children will see their taxes go down.

Older Americans and those with disabilities will also see expanded access to home care as part of this bill. People working two or three jobs to make ends meet--17 million of them--will have hope for a better future with access to an education that extends beyond high school.

Parents of three- and four-year-old kids can breathe a sigh of relief as they gain access to universal pre-K, meaning that they can go to work safe in the knowledge that their kids are learning while they are earning.

Nine million Americans will save money on their premiums through changes to the Affordable Care Act, and folks in States that have been cut out of healthcare--four million of them--will finally get healthcare because this bill closes the Medicaid coverage gap.

By making the biggest investment ever to combat climate change, the Build Back Better Act will advance environmental justice and give more communities a fighting chance to respond to this crisis. There are resources here to cut pollution, grow small businesses, improve care for our veterans.

This bill accomplishes all of this while being fully paid for. It finally demands that the largest corporations and the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share. And importantly, it keeps the President's promise not to raise taxes on those making under $400,000, not even one single penny.

This is a seismic shift after my colleagues on the other side of the aisle exploded the deficit to give tax cuts to the rich and the well- off.

And let me just say to all those Republicans who have been urging action on the COVID-caused supply chain issues, you should join us and support this bill because there are provisions here to bolster our supply chain and prepare for the next pandemic and future supply chain issues.

Madam Speaker, I will put the values contained in this bill against the priorities of my colleagues on the other side any day of the week.

It is about damn time that the wealthy were asked to pay their fair share. It is about damn time that workers and small businesses get a tax break. And it is about damn time that we focus on the middle class for a change.

My Republican friends may stand here today and complain about the process, but the truth is 13 committees of jurisdiction have spent more than 165 hours marking up this legislation. They considered more than 850 amendments. And all that was before the Committee on Rules did its work. Before the Committee on Rules met, not once, but twice, and talked about this bill--even before it was final.

The committees have done their work. Members in this Congress, in this House and all across the Capitol have debated this bill over and over and over again.

The American people are demanding action. Now is the time. Time for us to make real the promises of the New Deal. Time for us to put our government back on the side of working people in this country. And time for us to deliver the agenda that the American people voted for last November.

Madam Speaker, I thank Members on both sides of the aisle, and especially staff. I know that this has been a long day and a long week. We have our differences, but I thank all of my colleagues for their patience.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Morelle), a member of the Rules Committee.

Madam Speaker, I am not going to spend any time debating my friend from Oklahoma. We have spent 12 hours in the Rules Committee debating. But I do want to say that I have genuine admiration for him as well as for Dr. Burgess, Mrs. Fischbach, and Mr. Reschenthaler. We have strong disagreements, but I respect their service to this Congress and to this country.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott), who is the distinguished chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor.

Madam Speaker, I am proud to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters), who is the distinguished chairwoman from the Committee on Financial Services.

Madam Speaker, I am proud to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone), the distinguished chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Madam Speaker, I am proud to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), the distinguished chairwoman for the Committee on Appropriations.

Madam Speaker, in a moment I will ask to amend the rule to correct a clerical error in the Rules Committee report. The amendment reinserts the text of the manager's amendment posted on our website yesterday which was inadvertently omitted from the copy of the report filed today. This is purely a clerical fix.

Amendment Offered by Mr. McGovern

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the pending resolution with an amendment that I have placed at the desk.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank Dr. Burgess and Ranking Member Cole for their courtesy.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler), the distinguished chairman on the Judiciary Committee.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson), the distinguished chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio), the chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

Madam Speaker, I include in the Record a November 4 Vox article titled, ``This May Finally Be the Year Congress Lets Medicare Negotiate Drug Prices.''

[Nov. 4, 2021]

Vox: This May Finally Be the Year Congress Lets Medicare Negotiate Drug

Prices

(By Dylan Scott)

Democrats in Congress have managed to revive a prescription

drug reform proposal that would allow the party to finally

deliver on a campaign promise they've been making for 15

years: letting Medicare negotiate drug prices and lowering

drug costs for patients.

The breakthrough was the result of negotiations with a few

moderate members of the Democratic conference who were uneasy

with an earlier version. That version was briefly dropped

from the Build Back Better Act, Democrats' wide-ranging

social spending bill.

Nothing can be considered final until both the House and

the Senate pass the legislation, but the new draft of the

Medicare drug negotiations proposal appears to make some

concessions to centrists who share the drug industry's

concerns about the effect of price controls on medical

innovation.

Still, the new plan would also be a rare loss for the

pharmaceutical industry, which fervently opposes every

version of such a proposal and has lobbied aggressively to

stop it.

Under the revised plan, the maximum price Medicare would

pay would be 75 percent of what commercial US insurers pay on

average for drugs that have been on the market between 9 and

12 years, with the maximum decreasing the longer the drug has

been available. Democrats had originally set a maximum price

of 120 percent of the average of what other wealthy nations

pay for the same drug. The change should lead to drug makers

losing less revenue, the goal of moderates, though no CBO

score is yet available.

Fewer drugs would also be subject to negotiation. Under the

new plan, the government would start by negotiating the cost

of 10 drugs in 2025, before gradually ramping up to 20 after

a few years. Under the original plan, the government would

have negotiated the price of 25 drugs immediately and that

number would have eventually increased to 50.

The plan now also includes a moratorium on negotiations for

drugs that have been on the market for less than 9 years (for

small-molecule drugs) or 12 years (for biologics). Drug

companies would be penalized for price hikes that are higher

than inflation under

the new proposal, a holdover from prior versions of the plan.

Overall, the new plan would save the government about half

as much money ($250 billion, by the White House's estimates)

as the original plan ($450 billion). That has forced Dems to

cut down their health care spending plans, for example, by

nixing a progressive proposal to add dental and vision

benefits to Medicare. Nevertheless, Democrats can take the

savings from their new drug pricing plan and use it to lower

drug costs for seniors.

The Build Back Better Act would set a hard cap on how much

seniors who enrolled in Medicare's prescription drug benefit

pay for prescription drugs: $2,000 out of pocket annually. It

would also require private Part D plans to cover more of the

cost of expensive drugs, which experts say may motivate those

plans to try to extract lower prices from drug makers on

medications not included in the new government-led

negotiations.

The new proposal also adds a provision that requires all

insurers to cover insulin, so patients pay only $35 a month

of their own money for the medication.

Democrats have finally built sufficient momentum to approve

Medicare negotiations for the first time. They have wanted to

do this since at least 2003, when Medicare Part D was first

created. While the party still has a long way to go on

figuring out what comes next in its health care agenda, this

was one priority they knew they wanted to get done.

And with the moment of truth upon us, it looks like they

will.

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

With the Build Back Better bill, we are on the verge of finally allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, which will bring down the cost substantially for consumers.

This has been decades in the making and is overwhelmingly supported by the American people. There is even a provision that caps insulin costs in this bill to just $35 a month. This is a big deal for so many of our constituents.

We are making history here today. This bill will transform people's lives for the better.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Johnson), the distinguished chairwoman of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the distinguished majority leader.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Khanna), my friend.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the distinguished Speaker of the House.

Madam Speaker, I am prepared to close.

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

Madam Speaker, I don't know what my Republican friends find so offensive about making historic investments in healthcare and family care and combating climate change. Maybe we just have different values. Maybe they are just angry that we are investing not in the wealthy as they did, not in large corporations as they did, but in our workers, and in the middle-class families all across the Nation.

I am proud that we are finally allowing drug prices to be negotiated, proud that we are establishing universal free pre-K. I am proud that we are making the biggest expansion in healthcare coverage in a decade; proud that we are making the most transformative investments in caregiving in American history; and I am proud that we are making the biggest investments to combat climate change ever.

I didn't run for office to help the well connected or just to hold the title. I came here to actually get something done for workers, for students, and for the next generation so we are not saddling them with a planet whose climate is out of control. I ran for office to pass big, bold, transformative legislation like this.

This is the agenda the American people voted for in November. They demanded a clean break from the Republicans. They entrusted a Democratic Congress and a Democratic White House to use their power to change people's lives for the better. Today, we are delivering.

I know it took a while to get to this point, some ups and downs, and I know this isn't everybody's idea of a great and wonderful and fun Friday night, but it is testament to this President, to the Speaker, and to the Democrats on both sides of the Capitol.

We are on the doorstep of delivering once-in-a-generation legislation that builds on the New Deal and the promise that President Roosevelt made over 80 years ago. I urge all of my colleagues to seize this chance to vote for this rule and the underlying legislation so that the American people can truly have a fair shot in the 21st century.

The system, as it exists, is still rigged against workers, against too many families, against too many who are struggling in our country. Let us change that reality. Let us pass the infrastructure bill, the BIF bill, and then let us pass the Build Back Better bill and let's transform this country for the better. I am proud to be here today to advocate for this legislation.

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

Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for his great leadership in bringing this important legislation to the floor, a rule of the House, to expand opportunity for so many people in our country, to protect our planet for future generations, to do so with great equity in a way that builds back better for women.

Madam Speaker, thanks to the tireless work of so many in the House Democratic Caucus, all of our Members, our chairs of the committees of jurisdiction, the members of those committees worked so hard bringing their years of experience, knowledge, and judgment on how we would go forward to fulfill the President's vision.

President Biden has a big vision for America and for our future, a vision that has equity in it so that we are building with fairness for all in our country to participate in the increased prosperity of our Nation.

We thank the President for his great leadership, the vision that he has put forth, the knowledge of all of his years in the Congress, and as Vice President, in terms of legislation, and his respect for all of our Members, paying so much attention to their concerns and, more especially, to how we can work together to meet the needs of the American people. This is build back better with women, build back better for the people.

It will be one of the most significant legislative undertakings that any of us has ever been part of. And I say that with great proprietary attitude toward the Affordable Care Act, which was transformative and historic. This is even bigger than that. In fact, it strengthens the Affordable Care Act.

So if you are talking about how we want to have immediate and enduring difference for the workers and families, creating jobs, securing middle class tax cuts, lowering costs for families, and making the wealthiest pay their fair share, all while contributing to reducing the national debt--making everyone pay their fair share.

Did I hear a laugh over there? Did I hear a laugh from those who added $2 trillion in tax cuts for the richest people in America, 83 percent of it going to the top 1 percent?

This is paid for. And more than paid for.

In terms of jobs, together with the also historic bipartisan infrastructure bill, it will create an estimated 2 million jobs each year, 20 million jobs into the next decade. And that is just immediately to this legislation, not talking about what it will generate as many more women are in the workplace. If you look at any piece of the bill, it would be extraordinary.

Madam Speaker, if we came to the floor and just talked about protecting our planet for our children, it is always about the children, the green aspects of this bill are for the children and their future. It is about creating good-paying jobs. It is about, again, a generational challenge that we have. It is about healthcare, the air our children breathe, the water they drink, an atmosphere in which they can thrive. It is about jobs--again, good-paying, green jobs, making America preeminent in the world in the new green technologies and sharing that information with other nations and underdeveloped countries, so that they can succeed as well.

It is also about security. National security experts come to us and say that we must treat this as a security issue. Years ago, when I was still on the Intelligence Committee itself--I am still ex-officio--but then in the committee, we were even seeing the need for using our technology and our knowledge in terms of protecting our country, recognizing the assault on our planet that the climate crisis would be.

And why? Because as you know, with rising sea levels, encroachment of deserts, drying up of rivers, the great rivers of Asia, all of the things that are happening, the thermal management of the planet, the list goes on and on, all of this has created, in many ways, drought, famine, floods, violent storms of record proportion.

So the experts say that the competition for habitat and resources that this causes can increase conflict. Migrations and the rest can cause conflict. We must anticipate that as a security concern, as it is already.

And then when we talk about health for the children, jobs for their families, security for our country, we also recognize that this is a moral issue for us all. If you believe, as do I, that this beautiful planet is God's creation, then we have a responsibility to be good stewards.

But even if you don't share that religious belief, we all agree that we owe it to our children--I would hope we all agree--that we owe it to our children to pass this planet on to them and future generations in a responsible way.

So even if this bill were just about that, it would be historic in its proportion and its transformative nature, and worthy of just voting for that. But it isn't about just that. We will make historic progress to universal healthcare coverage in America, strengthening the ACA to make coverage more affordable for those who buy insurance on their own. It also contains the Medicare hearing benefit, making a major difference for seniors.

As you probably know, Madam Speaker, I know you do, but there are some States that would not expand Medicaid. This is a great disadvantage to children, not only children but seniors who depend on Medicaid for long-term healthcare and the rest. In this legislation we expand not just Medicaid but the Affordable Care Act to draw those people into the plan at practically no cost to them, except their participation in an appropriate way.

Build Back Better contains historic Medicare prescription drug negotiation. For the very first time, the Secretary of Health and Human Services would have the power to negotiate lower prices for some of the most expensive medicines our seniors use.

What is in the bill is a compromise. I have, for a generation, been fighting for this important provision, for the Secretary to negotiate for lower prices, really since, on this floor, we passed Medicare part D, which was a real giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry. This now reins that in.

Under this agreement, when people go to the pharmacy, instead of paying hundreds and hundreds of dollars for their insulin, their bill will be capped at just $35 a month. Think of what the difference that makes in people's lives and how important insulin is to them.

In total, the most that any senior would be allowed to pay for their medications in Medicare part D per year is $2,000 and not one penny more. Big Pharma's outrageous price hikes above inflation will be halted, not only for seniors, but for all Americans. That is remarkable. That was one of the strong points of this agreement. There we are with healthcare.

Under the green framework, we talked about climate. Under the health, we talked about the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, et cetera, and the prescription drug benefit. Now we are talking about Build Back Better.

There is a hashtag: Care can't wait. Indeed, it can't, and help is on the way. In terms of family care, Build Back Better is the most transformative initiative in children and caregivers in generations. For decades, hardworking families have been struggling under a system that stacks the deck against them. A situation made even worse by the COVID pandemic. And that COVID pandemic sort of pulled back the veil on how hard it was for people to deal with many of these challenges.

Our legislation, the Build Back Better, builds back better because it saves most families more than half of their spending on childcare; delivers free pre-K for every 3- and 4-year-old in America. Just on those two scores, parents earning, children learning. It is possible because of childcare and the universal pre-K; giving more than 35 million families a major tax cut by extending the expanded Biden child tax credit; putting money in the pockets of families with children; expand access to high-quality home care for older Americans and Americans living with disabilities.

Madam Speaker, even some of my colleagues in this body on both sides of the aisle have frequently told me that they spend more time caring for their parents when they are sick than they did when their children were small and they were sick because their parents are older and more in need of that attention.

Well, this not only provides the high-quality care for older Americans and Americans with disabilities, it also recognizes the value of those people who are providing that care, treating them with respect and with proper pay.

Then we make a significant contribution to workforce development. If we are going to build back better, even in this bill, the bipartisan infrastructure framework, it is important to have people be trained for the jobs; and not only in construction, but in home healthcare and in other ways.

In doing so, it was very important to President Biden and to all of us, but this was a must for him in every aspect of the legislation, to advance equity and opportunity with investments in maternal care, nutrition, housing, and more. That equity is part of what is happening in the infrastructure bill and here. We must have equity. We cannot perpetuate disparities in income and living conditions and the rest, and to do so with respect for work, honoring work, and to do so in a way that has equity.

We have included permanent universal paid family and medical leave, which is a pillar of our work for families. I hope that this will stay in the bill.

We must get children learning, parents earning, as I mentioned, in a way that assures women can follow a career path as they meet their family needs. Just think of the liberation that this is, that women will be able to go to work, follow their career path, help provide for their families--maybe they are a single parent--provide for their families, all the while knowing that their children, or if it happens to be a parent, are well cared for. I am very excited about what it does in that regard.

Again, I talked about the climate, and I won't go back into it, except to say that with all that we want to do in the climate sector, we have to meet our goals. If we are going to be true to any promise to our children, grandchildren, or future generations, Build Back Better will enable us to do so by cutting greenhouse gas pollution by over a gigaton, helping meet the President's vision to cut pollution in half by 2030, and protecting our children's health. It will drive forward the clean energy economy, creating good-paying jobs and lowing families' energy costs. It will advance environmental justice, back to that equity issue, as it will educate a workforce for the future and advance housing initiatives that are resilient and green.

The Build Back Better is fully paid for and reduces the national debt. According to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, this legislation is fully paid for with its tax increase provisions in the bill raising $1.5 trillion over 10 years, not including the additional savings from the prescription drug pricing and the IRS tax enforcement.

Further analyses, based on CBO estimates, show that the legislation reduces the deficit by over $36 billion over the next 10 years--are you ready for this, Madam Speaker--then by at least $2 trillion over the second decade.

As it reduces the debt and grows the economy, Build Back Better will not increase inflation, according to experts. As 17 Nobel Prize-winning economists recently wrote: ``Because this agenda invests in long-term economic capacity and will enhance the ability of more Americans to participate productively in the economy, it will ease longer term inflationary pressures.''

Inflation is very important. We must pay attention to it. That is why it is so essential to pay for the legislation. But I am a pay-as-you-go person. I always want to be able to pay for and offset any new investments that we have, so this legislation is consistent with that.

President John F. Kennedy once said that to govern is to choose. To craft and pass this bill, choices had to be made. We see it is big; it is transformative; and it is historic, so it will be challenging. Different Members will have different views of how we go about prioritizing and the rest.

In this very Chamber, when people come here, I love to tell them about the history of this Chamber. This is a chamber that abolished slavery, a chamber that declared war in World War II and before. It is a historic chamber, a place that we all must treat with great respect. And we will enhance the luster of this institution if we pass this historic, transformative legislation.

No piece of legislation contains everything, and once we pass Build Back Better, more work will remain to strengthen the financial security of America's working families, to improve families' healthcare, to protect the planet, and more. But we cannot and will not miss the opportunity to build back better for women, for children, and for the people.

The Build Back Better agenda creates more jobs, secures more major tax cuts for the middle class, and lowers costs to families while making the wealthiest pay their fair share. It is not punitive; it is fair share.

It is an agenda for workers, for families, for children, for the planet, and, as I said, for women. The passage of this rule will take a strong step in achieving this goal.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the rule. I do so with, again, special congratulations and gratitude to the distinguished chair of the Rules Committee, Mr. McGovern; the distinguished chair of the Budget Committee, Mr. Yarmuth; and so many of the chairs that you have heard from here this evening: Mr. Richie Neal from Ways and Means, so important in all of this; Frank Pallone of the Energy and Commerce Committee; and Bobby Scott in terms of the Education and Labor Committee--these are three really important committees in the legislation--and housing, Maxine Waters and her contribution in that regard; Mr. Grijalva, in terms of climate issues, from the Natural Resources Committee. The list goes on and on.

It is a list that is really a gallery of heroes, of people who have brought their knowledge, their experience, their judgment, and their legislative skill to bear to get the job done for the people.

We do all of this in such a way that it has equity.

We thank the President of the United States for his extraordinary leadership, his encyclopedic knowledge of what is in the legislation because he has been working on these issues so long, affording the opportunity it will provide for families, children, dads, and moms who need to have help at home and to do so in a way that treats people with respect, respect for their work, respect for their families, and respect for their future.

Madam Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote on the legislation.

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

Madam Speaker, this is an absolute disgrace. It is beyond belief how terrible this moment is. It is embarrassing to the people of the United States what is going on.

We have seen three versions of this bill written behind closed doors in Speaker Pelosi's office. As we stand here this second--as we stand here, Madam Speaker, this second--they are rewriting a fourth version of the bill in Speaker Pelosi's office.

We will be recessing shortly, sometime during this debate, so the Rules Committee can present a fourth version of a 2,000-page bill. Once again, in this House, Speaker Pelosi is trying to pass a bill before anyone knows what is in it, so then the American people can read it after it has been passed.

Let me tell you, Madam Speaker, I will tell you what is in the version of the bill right now. It is the worst piece of legislation that I have seen in my entire life of public service. It is transformational. It will completely change America as we know it, all at the expense of working-class families.

They call it the Build Back Better bill. Let me tell you what those three b's stand for: bankrupts the economy; benefits the wealthy; and builds the Washington machine.

We are standing here because this is a budget bill. It originated in the Budget Committee. Speaker Pelosi said that a budget is a statement of your values. Well, let's see the Democratic Party's values by what is in their bill.

Of this 2,100-page bill, it bankrupts the economy. They will try to tell you that the bill is less than $2 trillion. They will try to tell you that a $4.5 trillion spending bill will cost zero. Well, the American people are not stupid. You don't spend $4.5 trillion and it costs zero. That is one of their talking points.

Even Senator Manchin, a Democrat Senator from West Virginia, says that this bill creates shell games.

We know there are all kinds of budget gimmicks to try to make it look like it only spends $1.5 trillion. In fact, it spends $4.5 trillion. Even The New York Times agrees that it spends a whole lot more money than what the Democrats are saying.

It is also not only the largest spending bill in the history of this United States; it is the largest tax increase in the history of the United States. It increases taxes on working-class families of all income levels, all at a time when we are facing record inflation.

Since Joe Biden has taken office, inflation is over 7 percent. In my home State, inflation is over 8 percent.

Madam Speaker, the folks on the other side of the aisle will say that inflation is just a high-class problem. They will say that it is only transitory. But I can tell you, the people of Missouri and the people across this country care about those increasing prices in the supermarket, not the prices in the stock market.

This bill only punishes Main Street while rewarding Wall Street, and you should be ashamed of what is going on in this bill, Madam Speaker. This bill benefits the wealthy beyond belief.

The Democrats always say that they are the party of the working class. Well, in fact, the 10 most wealthy congressional districts in this body are all held by liberal Democrats. In fact, Wall Street spent more than $70 million to defeat Donald Trump and to elect Joe Biden. Why are they doing this bill? They are doing this bill to reward their political friends, their constituents, their allies, their donors.

The second largest program in this bill is a tax cut for millionaires, $250 billion for a tax cut for millionaires. A millionaire family will get $25,900 in a tax break in this bill, but a middle-class family will get $20.

They are just rewarding their friends.

But, Madam Speaker, do you know what?

Those millionaires also get $12,500 to buy luxury electric cars.

Guess what, Madam Speaker?

Those millionaires also get government taxpayer-paid family leave. The list goes on and on about the benefits to the wealthy. This body should be ashamed of what is about to happen.

The third B, it builds the Washington bureaucracy. This bill creates more than 150 new Federal programs.

It is all about control. This bill is about controlling every aspect of Americans' lives whether it is their paychecks, whether it is their healthcare decisions, or whether it is their kids' education. I would think that the Democrats, after seeing what happened a few weeks ago in Virginia, New Jersey, and all across this country, would know that the American people are fed up with government control. In fact, over the weekend, a poll said 60 percent of Americans believe that Joe Biden and the Democrats are expanding government control beyond belief.

If we want to protect working-class families, if we want to protect our freedoms, and if we want to save America, we have to kill this bill.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the good gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock).

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Feenstra).

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

Madam Speaker, I would like to read a quote of a Senator who happens to be the budget chair on the other side of the aisle. He is quoted, ``You can't be a political party that talks about demanding the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes and then end up with a bill that gives large tax breaks to many millionaires.

``You can't do that. The hypocrisy is too strong. It's bad policy, it's bad politics.''

Madam Speaker, I agree with Senator Bernie Sanders. In this bill the hypocrisy is way too strong.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the great gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Rouzer).

Madam Speaker, only in this Chamber will you hear people say that if you spend trillions more dollars it will only make inflation go down. The American people aren't that stupid.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the fine gentleman from New York (Mr. Garbarino).

Madam Speaker, as the gentlewoman from Texas says, this helps a lot of people, especially if you are a millionaire. That is why it is the second largest provision in this bill. It is tax breaks for millionaires.

In fact, Senator Tester from Montana is quoted, he is ``not a big fan because I think it gives tax breaks to the wrong people: rich people.'' That is a Democrat Senator from Montana.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the fine gentleman from New York (Mr. Jacobs).

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the comments of the gentleman from New York, but I would just like to point out, in his home State, a family of four with two children under six, in just over a year, will face more than a $3,200 tax increase. But yet, a millionaire in his State, for the next 10 years, will receive a tax break of over $25,000 a year.

Madam Speaker, I am happy to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the fine gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter).

Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Georgia.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from the great State of North Carolina (Ms. Foxx).

Madam Speaker, I am happy to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Colorado (Mrs. Boebert). She is someone who is a warrior, a fighter for conservatism and, apparently, even the Budget chairman is threatened by her.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman).

Madam Speaker, as the gentlewoman from California said, there is $150 billion in this program for housing assistance. What is unfortunate, which she didn't share, is that it also allows felons of domestic violence to get those grants, which is unacceptable.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cline).

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

I would like to read a quote from the Democrat Congressman from Maine, talking about the huge tax break for the millionaires. He says: ``The fact that more people and organizations on the Democratic side aren't up in arms about this is wild.''

I am surprised with a lot of my colleagues on the other side who want to help working-class Americans, who instead are going to be supporting a bill that helps wealthy Americans.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Good).

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

Madam Speaker, I include in the Record a document from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget that shows the true cost of the bill is over $4 trillion.

[From the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Nov. 5, 2021]

House Build Back Better Bills Are Built on Shaky Foundation

The House is slated to vote today on two parts of the

President's Build Back Better agenda--the bipartisan

infrastructure bill (https://www.crfb.org/blogs/ infrastructure-plan-will-add-400-billion-deficit-cbo-finds)

and a reconciliation bill addressing climate change, child

care, health care. and other priorities.

The following is a statement from Maya MacGuineas,

president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget:

A fiscally responsible Build Back Better agenda should be

fully paid for, gimmick-free, well-targeted based on the

country's needs, and enacted in the context of a broader

budget. While policymakers should be commended for their

efforts to scale back costs and include real offsets, these

bills still fall far short of those goals.

While President Biden and Members of Congress pledged their

agenda would not add to the debt, it is likely that both

bills would increase the deficit based on official estimates.

The bipartisan infrastructure bill--negotiated by Democrats

and Republicans--will add roughly $400 billion (https:// www.crfb.org/blogs/infrastructure-plan-will-add-400-billion- deficit-cbo-finds) to the debt over the next decade. While we

still don't know the true fiscal impact of the reconciliation

legislation, it is likely that it will add modestly to the

deficit as well. No one should vote for this bill prior to

seeing a CBO score.

The bills are also riddled with gimmicks. The bipartisan

infrastructure bill claims it is fully paid for by taking

credit for saving (https://www.crfb.org/blogs/whats- bipartisan-infrastructure-investment-and-jobs-act) that had

nothing to do with the bill itself. The reconciliation bill

keeps its official cost down through arbitrary expirations--

the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit expansions

after one year, Affordable Care Act expansions after 3 and 4

years, and child care and pre-K after six years. If these and

other sunset policies are extended without offsets, it would

cost an additional $2 to $2.5 trillion through the end of the

decade.

And then there's the last-minute addition of a SALT cap

increase, which will deliver a huge tax cut to very high

earners (https://www.crfb.org/blogs/72500-salt-cap-costly- and-regressive) at a cost of nearly $300 billion over the

first five years. The proposed SALT cap increase would cost

more than the bill's Child Tax Credit, health coverage

expansions, housing initiatives, or education funding, and

roughly 98 percent of the benefit would go to those making

six figures. This is egregious in light of the objectives of

the bill. This tax cut would be offset on paper with a

sleight of hand where policymakers extend the SALT cap beyond

2026 but leave other accompanying parts of the TCJA for

future lawmakers to extend.

All of this is being considered in the context of near-

record levels of debt, trust funds years away from

insolvency, and an unsustainable fiscal situation that few in

either party are even trying to address. Given the current

budget outlook, we should ideally be pursuing long-term

deficit reduction, rather than limiting deficit increases.

And we should be doing it in the context of an actual

detailed budget for the nation.

Washington's credibility is on the line, and we need to get

this right. Rather than rush through irresponsible

legislation before it has even been scored, the House should

fix the flaws in the current bills to ensure the Build Back

Better agenda--both reconciliation and infrastructure--is

honestly accounted for and truly paid for.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentlewoman from Illinois, and I remind her that government spending is already helping fuel an inflation fire that is on pace to raise prices at the fastest rate in 40 years. In her home State of Illinois, food prices currently are up 8 percent, clothing is up 9 percent, and gasoline prices are up 62 percent.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Madam Speaker, I will point out that since Joe Biden became President on January 20, the policies that he enacted by executive order in his first week in office have created an incredibly awful border crisis.

Unfortunately, 1.4 million people have illegally crossed the southern border since Joe Biden has taken office. And what does this legislation do?

This legislation will only make it worse by providing over $100 billion in this legislation for backdoor amnesty.

This bill also provides roughly $45,000 of benefits to illegals over U.S. citizens. That is unacceptable. The American people are opposed to that, and they are not liking it.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Malliotakis).

Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from New York.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I hear all the time in this Chamber people say it is for the children or it is for the kids. What hogwash from the other side to say that this bill helps the children with the child tax credit.

Your child tax credit is for 1 year, but your tax break for millionaires is for 10?

You are spending $250 billion in tax breaks for millionaires and $130 billion for 1 year for families.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Less than one-third of this budget bill is scored. Less than one- third. But what we do know is that it will not be fully paid for, and over the next 5 years it will add roughly $800 billion to debt. We do know that.

This bill only bankrupts the economy. It benefits your wealthy political friends, allies, and donors, and it only builds the Washington machine.

If working-class Americans are considered millionaires, then this bill is helping them because it is all about the millionaires.

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

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman, the chairman of the House Committee on Rules for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, you have to ask, What in the world have people been thinking today?

Congress--which doesn't enjoy a high approval rating in general--the Democratic leadership and Speaker have shown such disrespect and disdain for every Member on both sides of the aisle that it will be very, very difficult to repair that damage.

Now, exactly 12 hours late, we are considering a rule that provides for the consideration of a so-called Build Back Better Act. The final text of the bill, of course, does not have an opinion from the Congressional Budget Office, and the final text of the bill has been difficult to obtain, but now, there for all to see but none to read, it certainly does not provide for the American people.

So let's just briefly recap the series of events: in an emergency August session, the House deemed passed on a procedural vote the budget resolution--not a real vote, a procedural vote--setting the top line reconciliation levels. In September, the 13 committees of jurisdiction did markup their portions. The Budget Committee held a markup on a Saturday night on a zoom call without a score from the Congressional Budget Office.

Speaker Pelosi, Democratic Senators, and the White House then engaged in a new round of negotiations, guaranteeing that after over a month of work--very partisan work--this bill would become wholly new legislation before heading to the House floor.

With only a few hours' notice, the Rules Committee met last week on rushed reconciliation text that did not include language for every title. In the middle of this hearing, Speaker Pelosi decided to abruptly end testimony as her hastily crafted agreement completely collapsed.

We were then called back on Wednesday of this week to restart consideration on even newer text with very little time to review. I wish I could tell you everything that is in this bill, but we really haven't had the time. I guess we will have to follow the lead of Speaker Pelosi at another time when she said we will have to pass the bill to find out what is in it.

This is the most expensive piece of legislation in the history of the United States House of Representatives. The spending in this bill is five times America's annual defense budget, seven times the cost of the interstate highway system, five times annual Medicare spending, and more than the gross domestic products of Canada and Mexico combined. If enacted, new spending will be more than the total combined annual wages of the American people. Think about that for a minute. If you tax the American people every single dollar they earn, you still would not be paying for this bill, but Democrats seem unconcerned with this discrepancy.

This bill includes a Methane Emissions Reduction Program. Methane is a pollutant if released into the atmosphere, but it is also a valuable commodity in the form of natural gas; it heats homes, it runs our plants that generate electricity. Domestic energy protection has skyrocketed over the past few decades, and yet at the same time methane emissions in the United

States of America have fallen 15 percent over that timeframe.

Instead of building on this progress and welcoming the innovation, this provision would provide millions of taxpayer dollars to create a new natural gas tax, increasing the cost of residential natural gas by up to 34 percent.

During the Rules Committee meeting, I submitted an amendment that would strike this methane language and instead provide incentives to build the infrastructure necessary to get this valuable product to consumers.

Stranded gas in the Permian basin could be shipped to major population centers in the eastern part of the the country, or shipped overseas, but we couldn't find the necessary money to do that in a $5 trillion bill.

This package also provided billions of dollars to roll out electric vehicles and electric vehicle infrastructure--basically toys for rich people. There are also subsidies for electric vehicles manufactured using union labor. Ironically, these pro-labor provisions could put thousands of nonunion auto workers out of a job. The subsidies would also breach international trade agreements. I submitted an amendment to remove this language, but it too was not considered.

This bill contemplates an expansive drug pricing provision. This proposal claims to protect research and development, yet the Secretary still has the ability to set the price of any new drug at any level the Secretary wishes, even zero. There is no judicial review of arbitrary decisions.

Additionally, disagreeing with the prices set by the Secretary will result in a 95 percent excise tax. Under this bill, the government will be the deciding factor determining which drugs and which cures can come to market and be available to the American people.

I am specifically concerned about funding for some of the disproportionate share hospitals being cut from 100 percent of what is expected to be provided to 87 percent; and it will prohibit nonexpansion States from implementing uncompensated care pools, who provide healthcare to the uninsured and underinsured.

When the American Rescue Plan was signed into law, it included a vast expansion of the Affordable Care Act premium subsidies. While these subsidies were intended to be temporary, this bill will provide a cliff that people will fall off in 2025, and premiums having risen during that time, people will be left in the lurch. It is bad that this has very shortsighted, very punitive policy on some of the poorest people in the country, and it hurts the very people we should be trying to help.

Additionally, the American Rescue Plan eliminated the eligible income cap for the Affordable Care Act premium subsidies, permitting those with very high incomes to qualify. Experts estimate this will cost $34 billion over the next 2 years and incentivize businesses to stop offering group health insurance. So 190 million Americans could be in jeopardy of losing their healthcare coverage. Remember that one, If you like your insurance, you can keep it?

I am also concerned that during last night's Rules Committee meeting not one chairman or ranking member could tell me when I asked, All of these new gifts that are being given by this bill, in addition to the ACA credit, the paid time off, do any of these new benefits require American citizenship? Absolute silence from every chairman and ranking member because the answer is no. These benefits will be available to people who cannot provide proof or show that they are citizens of this country.

The magnitude of the changes contemplated in this reconciliation package require the full input of Congress, not just a few privileged in a secret room somewhere; like we have seen all afternoon.

Madam Speaker, I urge opposition to the rule, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole), the ranking member of the House Committee on Rules.

Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Oklahoma.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Mrs. Fischbach), who is a valuable member of the Rules Committee.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy), the designated conscience of the Conference.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Reschenthaler), a valuable member of the Rules Committee.

Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Pfluger), one of the newest members of the Texas delegation from out in west Texas, the Permian Basin.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Oklahoma (Mrs. Bice).

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Meuser).

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

If we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to immediately consider the Illegal Immigrant Payoff Prohibition Act, introduced by Mr. McClintock. This bill will prevent the Attorney General from making settlement payments to individuals and families who have entered the country illegally for claims arising out of the illegal entry.

Madam Speaker, we have a crisis along our southern border, and this will only incentivize further unauthorized immigration, overwhelm our border officials, and expose additional immigrants to danger.

Madam 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.

Madam Speaker, to explain the amendment, I now yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock), my good friend.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise), a member of the Republican leadership and a valuable member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

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

Madam Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time remains on our side?

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Madam Speaker, a couple of things come to mind. We are told that, by 2050, the United States will no longer have carbon emissions and that, over that same 30 years, energy requirements in this country, energy consumption, are going to increase 50 to 60 percent. Those two facts do not match up.

It is strange that in this massive bill we have in front of us--$4 trillion, $5 trillion, $6 trillion, who knows--there is not one word and not $1 for nuclear energy, for advanced nuclear energy, for new nuclear technologies and reprocessing of spent fuel. You cannot produce 50 to 60 percent more energy with windmills and solar panels. China can't produce enough solar panels for you to keep up with that kind of energy demand in a zero-carbon future.

We have heard a lot this evening. In fact, the previous speaker recalled President Kennedy. His was the first inaugural I remember, back in elementary school, and he exhorted us, he exhorted the people of our generation: Ask not what your country can do for you.

Yet, we find ourselves here tonight with this behemoth of a bill that is going to spend our children's and children's children's inheritance as far as the eye can see.

This bill was finalized by just a couple of you in some secret room someplace in this Capitol behind closed doors with no input from Members, Members who represent literally one-half of the country. No one seemed to pay attention to when the voters spoke earlier this week and said: We don't want Big Government, and we don't want this creeping socialism that we are seeing.

Yet, the response of this House was to double down on that and jam through this massive bill.

This bill, we are told, is a messaging bill for House Democrats. I will say the Senate is going to rewrite it. I submit you will not like what the Senate rewrites and sends back to you. But I will tell you this: You will not have the opportunity to change anything. Once it comes back from the Senate, it will be a straight up-or-down vote. You will not be able to change one syllable of your bill, and it will become law with whatever the Senate puts in it.

There is nothing here but a partisan social spending scam that is meant to bolster Democrat prospects. Unfortunately, your prospects really took a hit last Tuesday night.

This bill will fundamentally change life in America for every citizen, and not in a good way. The magnitude of the changes contemplated in this massive reconciliation bill should require the full input of Congress.

This should call on us and our various generations to be transformational. Instead, we have watched all afternoon while we are mired in the transactional. You can't be transformational if you are mired in the transactional.

Madam Speaker, vote against this rule, vote against this bill, and vote against the infrastructure bill. Let's do the right thing for the people.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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