PROTECT Our Kids Act

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Griffith) for yielding me the customary 30 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, it is December 2. The year is almost over. We are now only a few weeks away from new health insurance premiums skyrocketing. People's insurance bills are going to double, triple, and, in some cases, quadruple. I would think all of us would be on the floor here today addressing that, right?

We would think that, but we would be wrong because we have on the floor this week another embarrassingly pointless and irrelevant collection of bills that does absolutely nothing to help everyday people.

When Democrats first raised the alarm about healthcare premiums skyrocketing earlier this year, Speaker Mike Johnson said: Oh, don't worry. This is a policy debate for December.

Here we are in December, and Republicans are doing nothing, zero. Actually, they are doing less than nothing. They took an 8-week vacation funded by the taxpayers, while people panicked about how they were going to afford their insurance premiums starting January 1. Families are going to see their bills go up and up, in some cases by nearly $1,000 more a month.

Maybe that doesn't sound like a lot of money to Republicans because these guys might not get how much that means to regular people. I know how out of touch they are. They are building a fancy new ballroom at the White House with their billionaire donors. That is where their attention is. They eat caviar and drink fine wine at Mar-a-Lago while regular people suffer.

Maybe they don't understand how much $1,000 a month is to the people I represent. Guess what. It is a lot. For most hardworking people, this is a catastrophic amount of money that suddenly needs to be added to a monthly budget. It is more than what a lot of people earn during a week of work.

Republicans have known that this crisis was coming for some time. Yet, they still have no plan on healthcare. They say they have one. Where the hell is it? We are still waiting. Their only answer so far is: Good luck, folks. Hope you like choosing between health insurance and food.

Here is the kicker, Mr. Speaker. If this House voted today to stop premiums from exploding, it would pass. It would pass easily. Democrats would vote for it, and I know there is a chunk of Republicans who would vote for it, as well. The Republican leadership will not bring it up because they care more about tax breaks for billionaires than tax credits for working families. It is that simple.

Don't even get me started about the bills Republicans are bringing to the floor this week. There are two bills for small businesses. That sounds good, right? Do my colleagues know what those bills do? One of them creates a hotline that already exists. Wow, that is groundbreaking. Neither of them does anything about the number one issue that I hear from small businesses, and that is tariffs.

Every small business owner I talk to says the same thing: The tariffs are killing them. The tariffs are making prices skyrocket. The tariffs are slowing down business.

These guys don't care. They don't care. They just go along to get along. They don't want to tick Trump off.

I guess my question is: If Republicans want to help small businesses, why are they blocking a vote to overturn the tariffs? Why have they refused to let Congress vote on the tariffs for months and months, even though it is our responsibility? What is up with that? After all, it is our responsibility. It is our job. Are they afraid that if it comes to the floor for a vote, they will lose?

Then we get a bunch of bills about protecting public schools. Give me a break. My sisters are public school teachers. I talk to parents and students all the time. What do they tell me? We need to reduce class size, support teachers, and make schools safer. We need to fund education.

These guys are bringing up a bill about foreign infiltration in third grade math class. Are my Republican colleagues kidding me? Is that a joke?

They are so concerned about China funding our schools. Well, here is a novel idea. Why don't we have America fund our schools? Why isn't funding our schools a bigger priority in this Congress? There is a crazy idea for my Republican friends. If they really care about public education, let's be the wind at the backs of our teachers and our schools.

Of course, they have a bill to help the NCAA take advantage of student athletes because what this Congress desperately needed was another billionaire organization empowered to squeeze young people. It is more of the same. It is more of the same.

They give more to those with the most, while taking away from those with the least. It is sick. It is sick. It is immoral. It represents the opposite of what I believe we are here to do, which is to help people, but that is their entire governing philosophy.

Republicans want to use their power to reward the billionaires and special interest donors. They want an economy where those at the top get showered in tax break after tax break, while working people get left further and further behind.

Mr. Speaker, it is shameful that this is what we are doing this week. It is shameful. It is outrageous, and it is wrong. I urge every Member of this body to vote ``no'' on this Republican rule.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, let me just say that as the son of businessowners, I don't think the gentleman knows what he is talking about.

This is outrageous. I have the bills that we are considering here today, and the reason I am not spending much time talking about them is because they suck. They are awful. It is pathetic. One creates a hotline that already exists. Mr. Speaker, you can go online and call the hotline. They are just restating it. That is what we are doing here. There is nothing about the tariffs that are screwing over small businesses, nothing about the realities that small businesses are dealing with each and every day. My friends come up with these bills that are meaningless and that do nothing for anybody.

I am sorry that my Republican friends don't want to talk about the healthcare crisis. However, because of Republican inaction, millions and millions of people are going to see their healthcare bills skyrocket, and millions are going to probably go without healthcare. We have been warning my friends about this for months, and the Republicans have done nothing; not a damn thing. I don't know how they go home and face their constituents who are about to get screwed over with high healthcare premiums and bills and say: Oh, I know, I get it. People are going to lose their healthcare. My friends have been in charge all year, and they have done zero, nothing, not a damn thing.

So these bills that we are talking about today, I would encourage anybody who is viewing this on C-SPAN to google them and to look them up. It is pathetic. It is pathetic that this is what we are wasting our time doing. There is so much at stake. We have 2 weeks left to address the healthcare crisis, and my Republican friends have nothing, nothing that talks about that today.

The hotline already exists, by the way. You can google it. So you basically establish a hotline that already exists, Mr. Speaker. Boy, that is helping small businesses.

Yeah, but that is not a big problem, Mr. Speaker. The big problem is the high cost of healthcare and these tariffs which are just basically putting many of our businesses out of business.

So my friends come here and defend this garbage that we are doing. It is pathetic. It is pathetic.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Sykes).

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman wants to talk about the rule, so let's talk about the rule.

What is frustrating to me, I think many of us--not just Democrats, but a good chunk of Republicans--are at the end of our rope. The Republican leadership is running this House like an authoritarian dictatorship. It is their way or the highway.

There are six bills that are allowed to be considered under this rule. Every single one of them is completely closed. What does that mean? It means nobody can offer amendments. Democrats can't offer amendments. Republicans can't offer amendments. They didn't even ask for people to submit amendments. They like to say nobody offered amendments. Yeah, people did offer amendments.

The gentleman talks about the SCORE Act. A Republican came to the Rules Committee last night and offered five amendments. I think they were reasonable. I think they were reasonable enough to be debated and for us to vote on them. All five were blocked. They are blocking members of their own party. That is how they run this place.

A Democrat came up with an alternative, a good idea. You may not support it, but people like me thought it was a better way to approach this than the way the bill is written. That was blocked, too.

Everything is blocked. Everything is blocked. I think they are being blocked because my friends are afraid they might prevail.

By the way, all the players associations are against the SCORE Act the way it is currently written, every single one of them.

This year alone, Republicans have issued 86 closed rules. That puts them on track to obliterate their previous record of the most closed rules in a single Congress. That is 86 times that this Chamber was kept from even considering amendments to approve bills. There is no debate, no votes, nothing. That is what an authoritarian dictatorship is like.

Republicans have blocked nearly 8 out of every 10 amendments submitted to the Rules Committee. Get this: That is 2,700 amendments gone, tossed out by this leadership. They have blocked 60 percent of bipartisan amendments, most of their own party's amendments, and more than 90 percent of Democratic amendments.

Apparently, the only ideas welcome in this Congress are the ones written by special interests or the ones that Donald Trump personally signs off on.

We used to debate in this Chamber. We used to vote on amendments on the floor. Members had a voice. Legislation wasn't cooked up in the Speaker's office and rammed through with no chance to fix it.

Here we are. Republicans have made fewer amendments in order at this point in the year than any Congress going back a decade.

By decimating debate, House Republicans have turned themselves into a rubberstamp for Trump. They will fast-track giveaways to the wealthy and the well-connected, but they will block amendments that would protect care for millions or unrig our economy for working people.

The real scandal here is that we can do something to control the rising costs of healthcare. We have been begging--by the way, not just Democrats; some Republicans have, too--for them to at least put something on the floor that we can debate and vote on to help alleviate the terrible burden that is about to fall on millions and millions of families in this country. The answer is we can't do it. They won't do it. They won't do it.

You want to debate the rule? This rule is pathetic. Six completely closed rules on six completely different bills. Congress is supposed to work for the American people. I think my Republican colleagues have forgotten that.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Ms. Stansbury).

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

Mr. Speaker, that is a lot of words to defend the most closed Congress in history. I say that this place is starting to look like an authoritarian dictatorship because this is what happens in authoritarian countries. People don't get an opportunity to be able to offer amendments or change bills or change legislation. It is take it or leave it.

Mr. Speaker, people are silenced all the time, and the gentleman is trying to defend this process. Talk to the Republican Member who came to the Rules Committee and offered five amendments--all of them germane, all of them designed to improve the so-called SCORE Act--and he was denied not one, not two, but all five. Can't do it.

Mr. Speaker, I will say again that when the gentleman says that, oh, people didn't offer amendments to all of these bills, I think people are getting to understand what is going on here. My Republican friends don't even ask for amendments anymore. They don't give people time to write them. Everybody kind of knows that the system is rigged. It is take it or leave it.

People have had it. Every single Member here has ideas that maybe could improve some of this legislation, but the whole system is rigged in a way that you have to take it or leave it. This is not the way the House of Representatives should be run. There are a whole bunch of other issues that we should be dealing with.

Mr. Speaker, on Friday, The Washington Post reported an egregious abuse of power by the Secretary of Defense. Back in September, an order was reportedly carried out to eliminate all remaining survivors on a suspected drug trafficking boat sailing through the Caribbean.

Pete Hegseth, who now calls himself Secretary of War, issued an order to kill everybody who survived the first strike. Kill everybody.

Those are the alleged words from the leader of our Defense Department. Just to be clear, killing defenseless people, regardless of whether they had been engaged in armed conflict, is a war crime, plain and simple. The administration is trying to brainwash the American people into thinking that cruelty and murder and war crimes are normal.

Mr. Speaker, I have news for the Trump administration. This is not normal. Even if we were at war, attacking survivors of an airstrike, whether or not they pose a threat to the United States, is a war crime. It is unconscionable. It is an unconscionable act of aggression that violates the Department of Defense's own guidelines, U.S. law, and international norms and laws.

Even President Trump is trying to distance himself from this unlawful attack, saying that he ``wouldn't have wanted that, not a second strike.''

Let me be clear. Secretary Hegseth has blatantly carried out illegal acts of violence and, right now, he is trying to convince the American people that these actions are okay. Mr. Speaker, the American people know better, and they deserve better.

Mr. Speaker, in case anybody tuned in to the President's little press conference before we gathered here today, he said that the issue of affordability is a ``hoax.'' It is a ``scam,'' he said.

Really? Anybody who is watching these proceedings, do you really think that the issue of affordability is a ``scam''? Prices are higher than ever. People will be paying more for their healthcare because of the inaction of the Republicans in the House, the Senate, and this White House. They will be paying so much that many of them are going to drop their health insurance.

Mr. Speaker, he said that the issue of affordability is a ``scam,'' a ``hoax,'' and is not real. I mean, come on. Come on. I would urge my Republican colleagues to stand up for their constituents. Do the right thing. Say ``no'' to these closed processes that don't allow you--even you--to be able to offer amendments, and stand up for policies that are going to make life easier for all people in this country.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I have to tell you, I love my Republican friends. They just reach back. Now, we are going back to Obama.

What they don't tell you is that Donald Trump has been in public life as President for 4 years, and he has been around for 10 years now. Yet, he has no responsibility for anything. It is always somebody else's fault. Donald Trump never had a plan to make healthcare more affordable or accessible. He didn't care about any of that stuff.

I just want to point out, for the record, because I think it is important, that one-half of adults with the Affordable Care Act healthcare coverage are small business owners, small business employees, or self-employed people. We are talking about millions and millions of Americans. Many of them are going to see their healthcare costs rise so high that they are not going to be able to afford it. They will lose their healthcare. Many of them will have to choose between healthcare and paying their rent or mortgages and basically putting food on the table.

The idea that that is not an urgent issue, that we are not addressing that, that it is kind of an afterthought, and, instead, we have a rule here that brings up a bill that creates a hotline that already exists, I mean, I would say to my Republican friends: Are you serious? Really, is this serious legislating?

Again, despite Republicans spending years attacking the Affordable Care Act, it has gotten only more popular. Support for the ACA consistently polls at or above 60 percent. In September 2025, in fact, 64 percent of the people viewed the ACA favorably.

Maybe support for it is so overwhelming because the ACA extended coverage to millions and millions of Americans, and its provisions help everyone, including people who were previously insured and many who were never insured.

Currently, the Affordable Care Act stops health insurance companies from charging sick people more on premiums than healthy people. It keeps those same health insurance companies from denying coverage to pregnant women, people with preexisting medical conditions, or because of the person's medical history. It prohibits the health insurance industry from setting an annual or lifetime limit. It demands that insurance companies cover most preventative services. It gives States the flexibility to expand their Medicaid programs, which 40 States have done. It provides financial assistance to working people to make healthcare coverage more affordable. It allows young adults to stay on their parents' insurance plans until they are 26.

These are just some of the provisions within the ACA that make it so popular with the American people. These are provisions that literally have saved people's lives and livelihoods.

In addition, the last time Democrats were in control, we built on the progress we made in the ACA. We allowed Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices for the first time in history, saving both Medicare and the American people billions of dollars. We capped the cost of insulin at $35. We made signing up for healthcare coverage easier and more affordable. We lowered premiums by an average of $800 per person.

In over 4 years, nearly 12 million more Americans signed up for insurance in the ACA marketplace, bringing the total up to nearly 24 million in 2025.

Taken together, Democratic policies brought the uninsured rate to a record low.

Mr. Speaker, I don't know if we may have some other people coming in, so I will wait. I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to provide the consolidation of H.R. 6074, which would extend the Affordable Care Act enhanced premium--

Mr. Speaker, I am going to hold on. I am going to reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, this is a terrible bill, and I urge everybody to vote ``no.'' Again, this is an important topic. This is about whether or not people basically have their basic rights upheld and respected in this country.

We are in the midst of a healthcare crisis, a crisis that Republicans are refusing to address, and more than 20 million Americans who get their healthcare on the ACA exchanges are going to see their premiums skyrocket in less than a month.

There are only 12 legislative days left for this House to fix this problem before disaster strikes millions of American families. What are the Republicans focused on? They are focused on nonexistent foreign influence in kindergarten classes. You can't make this up.

It is not for lack of an opportunity to do the right thing. Over and over, Democrats have offered the Republican majority in the House and the Senate a lifeline to vote to extend these credits and to get out of their own way. In fact, we have given them 19 separate chances to vote to extend the ACA credits. They have voted ``no'' on each and every one.

This PQ vote today will be congressional Republicans' 20th opportunity to vote to prevent the health insurance costs of millions of Americans, their constituents, my constituents, from rising significantly.

It is past time for them to do the right thing. For the sake of millions of Americans and their healthcare, I urge my Republican colleagues to support this extension and to vote on the previous question.

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

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time I have remaining.

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

Mr. Speaker, make no mistake, this Republican majority is failing spectacularly, and the American people know it.

They have now had 12 months, a full year to do something, anything, to bring down prices, to lower costs, and to focus on housing, healthcare, food prices, or transportation. That is what I hear about when I talk to people back home. They want the government to focus on housing costs, healthcare, childcare, food, transportation. They want a Congress that makes it easier to buy a home, raise a family, and build a life. Instead, we get a bunch of absurd bills that nobody asked for.

Republicans want to bring up legislation addressing foreign influence in our kids' classrooms. How about they start addressing foreign influence in the Oval Office? How about Qatar gifting a new Air Force One to Trump? What was that in exchange for? How about the $20 billion Trump gave to his friend in Argentina? How about the lavish dinner he just held for the Saudi Prince who murdered a U.S. journalist?

No, no, no. Republicans don't want you to ask about that foreign interference. You need to worry about the Chinese Government getting involved with your kids' math class. That is what they say. Is this Republican majority for real? This is insane.

These guys have had a full year to do something for working families, to bring down food prices, to reduce healthcare costs for regular people, to take on corporate greed, and to lower everyday expenses. They have done nothing.

Instead, they have defended Trump's tariffs, passed tax cuts for billionaires, and protected the special interests while regular families are getting screwed. They have shoveled subsidies and giveaways to greedy CEOs while

families struggle to pay for groceries and rent.

Quite frankly, we don't share the same values. Democrats want a very different government. We want a government that stands up to corporate greed, a government that uplifts workers, powers consumers, and fights on the side of everyday people. We want a Congress that takes on special interests and doesn't reward them.

We believe in passing big, bold, consequential bills that make life better for everyday people, not creating hotlines that already exist and certainly not going on a taxpayer-funded vacation for 8 weeks like Republicans did in October and November.

The American people deserve so much better. They deserve leaders who fight for them, not a Republican majority that worships Donald Trump and rewards his wealthy friends.

I urge a ``no'' vote on this rule, Mr. Speaker. It is pathetic that we are here talking about this stuff and not talking about ways to keep the government open and to make sure that people can afford their healthcare and can afford other things.

There is too much attention being showered on those who are well-off and well-connected, those who are connected to this President, who give him gifts, and who write big checks to this administration. We have to put regular people first.

Mr. Speaker, I again urge a ``no'' vote on the rule, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 916 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), 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

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.

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

The Rules Committee met last night and reported out a rule providing for consideration of six measures: H.R. 4312, the SCORE Act; H.R. 1005, Combating the Lies of Authoritarians in School Systems Act; H.R. 1049, Transparency in Reporting of Adversarial Contributions to Education Act; H.R. 1069, the PROTECT Our Kids Act; H.R. 2965, Small Business Regulatory Reduction Act of 2025; and H.R. 4305, the DUMP Red Tape Act.

House Resolution 916 provides for consideration of H.R. 4312, the SCORE Act, under a closed rule. The rule provides 1 hour of general debate equally divided amongst and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Education and Workforce or their respective designees, and the chair and ranking member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce or their respective designees and provides for one motion to recommit.

The rule further provides for consideration of H.R. 1005, Combating the Lies of Authoritarians in School Systems Act; H.R. 1049, Transparency in Reporting of Adversarial Contributions to Education Act; and H.R. 1069, the PROTECT Our Kids Act, all under closed rules with 1 hour of general debate each, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Education and Workforce or their respective designees, and provides each one a motion to recommit.

Finally, the rule provides for consideration of H.R. 2965, the Small Business Regulatory Reduction Act of 2025, and H.R. 4305, the DUMP Red Tape Act, both under closed rules with 1 hour of general debate each, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Small Business or their respective designees, and provides each one a motion to recommit.

This rule deals with several critical issues. There are three bills that all came out of the Education and Workforce Committee that would combat efforts by the Chinese Communist Party who meddle in our schools and universities. These bills include H.R. 1005, the Combating the Lies of Authoritarians in School Systems Act, led by Representative Joyce of Ohio. The bill prohibits public elementary and secondary schools from participating in financial contracts with the People's Republic of China. Additionally, H.R. 1005 requires school systems that receive sizable funds of $10,000 or more from foreign sources to disclose their agreements to the Department of Education.

Another bill being considered under this rule is H.R. 1069, the PROTECT Our Kids Act, led by Representative Hern from Oklahoma. Under H.R. 1069, Federal funding would be barred for elementary and secondary schools that have a partnership with a cultural or language institute funded by the Chinese Government, including a Confucius Institute. It would also bar any school that directly operates a learning center supported by the Chinese Government that receives support from an individual or entity acting on behalf of the Chinese Government.

On the outside, these seem like harmless educational organizations that seek to teach students Chinese language and culture. However, they are often used as tools by the CCP to steal American knowledge and/or indoctrinate children with anti-American ideas.

Lastly, H.R. 1049, the Transparency in Reporting of Adversarial Contributions to Education Act, led by Representative Bean from Florida, empowers parents by giving them the right to know when a foreign government or foreign entity of concern, particularly the Chinese Communist party funds, influences, or provides curriculum for American students in public schools.

Upon written request, a parent is entitled to review any curriculum that was purchased by foreign entities for their children's classroom.

While I think we can agree that it can be beneficial to broaden our children's horizons with new ideas from across global cultures, we must ensure it is done properly without undue foreign influence.

There are also two Small Business Committee bills being considered under this rule. H.R. 2965, the Small Business Regulatory Reduction Act, led by Representative Van Duyne from Texas, would ensure that any agency action taken by the Small Business Administration does not increase compliance costs on small businesses. The agency meant to be the promoter of small businesses shouldn't add to the already crushing regulatory burden facing these businesses.

H.R. 4305, the DUMP Red Tape Act, is led by Representative Wied from Wisconsin. This bill creates a dedicated hotline so small businesses can report to the Small Business Administration on any overly burdensome and costly regulations they must deal with. I think we can agree that we should do everything we can to help protect our small businesses in this country.

Finally in this rule, we also will be considering H.R. 4312, the SCORE Act, led by Representative Bilirakis from Florida and the chairmen of each subcommittee that has jurisdiction over this issue: Energy and Commerce Committee, Education and Workforce Committee, and the Judiciary Committee.

Mr. Speaker, this bill affirms the right of student-athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness, or NIL. What the SCORE Act is trying to do is level the playing field for universities of all sizes and establish protections for student-athletes that all schools must abide by.

What we have gotten into is a race to the bottom with over 30 State laws and athletes jumping from team to team. The SCORE Act will make sure that universities that hit a certain threshold in athletics revenue are required to provide academic support, career counseling, and medical benefits.

As a longtime mediocre swimmer and a former swim coach, I am glad to see that the SCORE Act attempts to protect our Olympic sports. Under the bill, large universities must offer 14 to 16 different sports, which will ensure that non-revenue-producing sports are still supported. I personally hope this will include swimming, but the universities get to make that decision.

This bill would also protect athletes from unscrupulous agents. As I said before, the SCORE Act affirms the right of student athletes to make money by endorsing products and services. To protect the athlete, the SCORE Act caps agent fees at 5 percent of each contract's value.

The SCORE Act also allows for revenue sharing amongst student athletes. Under this bill, up to 22 percent of the average athletic revenue of the top 70 universities could be paid out to athletes by those universities.

The SCORE Act also requires NIL contracts to be examined to ensure that a contract is, in fact, payment for services rendered, as opposed to a payment to attend a certain institution. Without disclosure of NIL deals, there is a real possibility that the integrity

of competition could be called into question.

This bipartisan bill has received overwhelming support from schools and conferences across the country, including the NCAA. I believe this bill is the first step--not the last, the first step--in protecting college athletes and ensuring there is a national standard and an even playing field for universities across the country. Accordingly, I urge passage of this rule.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, isn't it amazing that we come here to talk about these six bills and a significant portion of the debate from the other side of the aisle deals with bills that we are not addressing? They talk about some of those, and then they make allegations, Mr. Speaker, that are just not accurate.

I remember hearing the phrase just a second ago: Well, what are they doing to help small businesses? How soon we forget, Mr. Speaker, that just last summer we passed the working families tax cuts bill with lots of help for people on Main Street in Abingdon, Virginia, and Marion, Virginia.

In every small town that I represent in the Ninth Congressional District, those businesses are benefiting from what we did because we made major adjustments for taxes that would have burdened our small businesses and made it more expensive for them to compete against the big companies. Actually, what we did was we kept everything that we already had that was going to expire.

Now, it is true, the big companies get some of these tax cuts too. However, Mr. Speaker, the people who really need them are the small businesses. The people who need those breaks are the mom-and-pop shops. The people who need those breaks are people like my son, who is 18, and who is now getting tips. He is working tables at Mac and Bob's Restaurant, and he is getting tips.

Guess what, Mr. Speaker?

He won't have to pay income taxes on that. Now, maybe he is at a point where his money wouldn't be high enough that he would pay those taxes anyway, but for those families who rely on that tip money as a part of their income, that is a huge benefit to American families.

So I find it surprising that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to focus on saying that we are not helping small businesses when every single small business person in the United States knows that we have been fighting for them and knows that we have been helping them.

They know that these bills today in this rule--that is all we are doing, Mr. Speaker, is a rule on six bills--relate to small businesses and that what we are doing today will help a little bit.

They challenge us and ask: What are we doing to help small business? This is after we did a huge benefit on a number of different issues for small businesses, for mom-and-pops, and for people out there working.

Whether they are working overtime jobs where they are able to take a tax credit for that as well, whether they are doing tips, or whether they are just trying to buy some new equipment and want to be able to write that off in the first year instead of having to amortize it over a number of years--as used to be the law and it is what my colleagues on the other side advocated for last summer--they will start paying that again so that they can't take that write-off. That hurts small business.

So I ask you, Mr. Speaker, just to consider that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle really don't understand small business or they wouldn't make such a comment.

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

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle may have been involved in small businesses. I was too, not just family, but I ran a small business for many, many years. People may not consider a solo practitioner of law a small business, but I tell you, Mr. Speaker, when you have to pay the light bill and you have to pay the salaries, you are a small business.

Further, I have also been involved for many years in a swimming pool that some years makes money but most years may show a little bit of a profit but it is there mainly because we want it to be a community pool. However, it is a corporation that makes money occasionally--even if only on paper--and that corporation has to buy equipment. Shockingly, Mr. Speaker, you need new kickboards. You need new diving boards, and you need new swim blocks.

What we did last summer helps all of those small businesses, and every one of them knows it. So to say that we haven't done anything on that is really a misnomer and a mistake.

I will tell you, Mr. Speaker, that it is true that the bill, the SCORE Act, does not solve all the ills that some may see out there, but it is a step in the right direction. That is why in my opening I said that this was a first step but not the last step in trying to solve problems that we have in our college athletics.

It is true that the big sports make lots of money, but the gymnasts of the world and the swimmers of the world don't bring in a lot of revenue. I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, that when I would be swimming in the pool, even in my prime, it was never considered mass appeal entertainment. Nobody would have paid to watch our swimming meets. Now, we had a good time swimming for Emory & Henry College, now University, but it was not bringing in great revenues to the college.

That is why this bill says that if you are going to be doing this, Mr. Speaker, then some of these revenues have to be spent to keep other sports going as well. We are trying to make sure that there is some recognition of the Olympic sports, and we are trying to make sure that there is recognition of other sports. That also means women's sports. Mr. Speaker, you have to have some abilities to take some of the money that you make off the revenue sports, as they are called, and use them for the other sports.

Now, if we want to continue with the Wild Wild West, as my friend, Gus Bilirakis, likes to say, then we do nothing and we defeat this rule. We do nothing, and it will continue to be a crazy arena out there where students aren't looked at, and particularly, Mr. Speaker, if you are not the top-billed students on the football team or on the basketball team. If you are a student athlete in any other way, then you are getting harmed by what is starting to happen and what is happening in our larger universities where everything is going to pay the top-named athletes who

come to your school next year. This starts us down that path.

Is it a perfect bill? I will not claim that. The rule makes it so that we get this first step moving down the pathway to try to resolve some of these issues.

I fully expect that we will have bills in the future that will deal with some of the other issues. We will find that when we do this, we probably have solved some problems, and we will discover additional problems. Sometimes when you get an answer to a question, it raises more questions. That is what this bill is supposed to do. It is supposed to start us down the path.

If we find that there are other issues that Congress needs to step in and deal with, then we can do so. We are not limited to taking action only in December 2025. That is why we have a legislative body that will consider if this bill does good.

I submit to you, Mr. Speaker, that the SCORE Act does good. Does it do perfectly? No. Does it solve everything that everybody might think of? No. Does it solve problems we have yet to think of? No.

It is a good start in an area where there is no guidance currently, where the NCAA has lost control of our college athletics completely, and where it is, in fact, a Wild Wild West where the vast majority of students, I submit, who are student athletes are being hurt and left behind.

We are trying to rectify it, to create a balance, so to speak. That is why, as a first step on this first-step bill, we need to pass the rule.

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

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

Wow. I am going to talk about the rule. That is what I am supposed to talk about.

I will cede to my colleague, the ranking member of the Rules Committee, that it is absolutely a fair point of debate to bring up the number of closed rules, but he does so without providing all the context.

When accounting for closed rules in the rules package, CRAs and bills that received no amendments--this is for this Congress--less than 35 percent of closed rules have been at the discretion of the Rules Committee.

I know the ranking member will also say there was no formal deadline or call for amendments. Don't be misled, Mr. Speaker. He knows all too well that when he was chairman of the committee, the committee did not always provide a formal amendment deadline every week when they ran the show, either.

Mr. Speaker, it is true that this rule has six closed measures. It should be

noted that amendments were only submitted on three of the six. This means that, of the six bills, only three were closed at the discretion of the committee.

My friend, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), may also recall that Members can submit amendments, and the Rules Committee may make them in order, whether there is a formal deadline to submit them or not. That is a practice that both Republicans and Democrats have employed.

Mr. Speaker, sometimes we get down here and we get all riled up. Been there, done that. I have been riled up myself before, but I find it fascinating from a historical context that my colleague said that when you have closed rules, this is what it looks like in an authoritarian dictatorship.

Mr. Speaker, I know that the words ``authoritarian dictatorship'' must poll well because my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are consistently throwing it out there. Here is what is so fascinating: In an authoritarian dictatorship, you don't get to claim that something that the majority is doing is like an authoritarian dictatorship because you would be banned from saying such things. You would not be allowed to say such things. You would not be allowed to have your time to debate the rule and then the bills. All of that would go by the wayside. That has not happened here.

Mr. Speaker, we can argue and, on some points, I might even agree with my colleague from Massachusetts. In the general running of the House floor, I might even be willing to go further than him on some issues because I would like to see us reform a lot of the things we do around here.

Mr. Speaker, we are nowhere near his so-called authoritarian dictatorship from a historical perspective. For those of us who study those movements throughout history, I would submit, Mr. Speaker, that to even say that is damaging to this great Republic, which is known throughout the world as the beacon of freedom and known as the United States of America.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Massachusetts and I agree on one thing in his comments: Killing defenseless people is wrong.

I don't know whether that happened or not, but, as he knows or ought to know, Mr. Speaker, both the Senate and the Armed Services Committee in the House are looking into these allegations. Again, let me unequivocally state that I agree: Killing of defenseless people is wrong.

Let's talk about affordability. I do agree that the affordability of healthcare is an issue. It is a complex issue. It is not in any of the bills that we are dealing with today, and that is his complaint, it is that there ought to be something in there.

Mr. Speaker, let me remind folks how we got here. We got here with a bill that came out of the Speaker's office, Speaker Pelosi's office, called the Affordable Care Act, ObamaCare. It was going to make everybody's world much better.

Mr. Speaker, it did take care of preexisting conditions. I wasn't here then. It is something that Republicans should have fixed. They should have fixed that. Other than that, it did not make healthcare affordable.

In fact, the biggest complaint that my colleagues have had throughout the course of the last few weeks about the enhanced premium tax credits was due to a temporary program that they said would end December of 2025, and now they claim nobody can afford it without this temporary program that was brought in because of COVID. Nobody can afford insurance in the exchanges. They have, in fact, admitted that healthcare costs and health insurance costs in this country are a problem because of ObamaCare.

Mr. Speaker, we have talked about everything. I have thought about maybe getting up here and giving a speech on the National D-day Memorial. People are talking about everything that has nothing to do with this rule. I believe that I have exhausted all of my comments that are directly related to the rule, so I am prepared to close at the appropriate time. If we keep bringing up new issues, I may feel compelled to respond.

Mr. Speaker, if we are just talking about the rule that deals with these six bills that we are considering this week, then I am prepared to close.

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

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time and am prepared to close.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to surprise you. I am actually going to talk about what we are supposed to talk about, and that would be the rule.

I am not going to talk about everything that is out there that I think ought to be changed in the world, and I am not going to say that if you don't do everything I want done that we shouldn't pass anything. If you vote this rule down, you are basically saying if you are not going to do what I want, you shouldn't do anything. I don't believe that is the way a legislative body ought to operate.

Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of this rule in order to bring more transparency and oversight into our children's schools, to ensure that our children are not being improperly influenced by foreign actors or that foreign actors aren't using contributions to our schools to benefit themselves.

One of our colleagues on the Education and Workforce Committee did a whole hearing on the Chinese Communist Party back in 2023, and part of what this bill is addressing are issues that were brought out at that time, one of which struck home.

Fairfax County's Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, which at one time was the number one high school in the United States of America, has apparently slipped to number five. I did some checking before I came here today. They received over $3 million from Chinese entities. In return, the top-ranked high school in the United States gave them all the techniques that we are using to teach our students to be better scientists, to be better in the technology field, to be better in mathematics, and to be able to compete better with the United States. It doesn't make any sense.

That is why some of these bills are great bills that make sure that we are reining that in, that we know about it, that the parents know about it, that the government knows about it. We should know if we are getting foreign money influence in our schools, our students, or maybe stealing our ideas.

These bills help our small businesses. On top of that, we take the first step, as I said in the beginning and in the debate, not the last step to bring integrity into the name, image, and likeness, NIL, process in college sports by setting up a Federal framework--not possibly 50; we already have 30--but a Federal framework to ensure that we have fairness across the board on college athletics.

Mr. Speaker, I urge the passage of this rule so that we can bring about these good policies and we can debate all the other things that ail the world another day.

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

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

I rise in opposition to H.R. 1069, the so-called PROTECT Our Kids Act. This bill would add a new stipulation that disqualifies public schools from receiving Federal funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act if the school receives contributions, materials, or other resources from China or an individual or entity acting directly or indirectly on behalf of the Government of the People's Republic of China.

The bill gives no guidance on what ``acting directly or indirectly on behalf of'' means or how you are supposed to know and how a parent's contribution to a school program should be evaluated, and really, are you supposed to scrutinize all parents' contributions or just those from parents of Chinese-American students?

H.R. 1069 would specifically prohibit Federal funding for any school that operates the program sponsored by the Confucius Institutes or Confucius classrooms. It is worth noting that although there may have been a lot of programs in the past, right now there may be as few as five Confucius Institutes in this country serving K-12 students. The provisions of this bill will have to be administered not by those five school systems, but every school district--15,000 school districts-- will have to administer the provisions of this bill.

As written, the bill would create significant administrative burdens to our schools and chill community investment in our children. For example, the bill would disqualify a school from receiving Federal funds by simply accepting donations from a Chinese immigrant if it turns out the immigrant is acting indirectly on behalf of the Government of the People's Republic of China. That is if you can find out.

The bill bestows upon the Secretary of Education the sole discretion of deciding if an individual is acting indirectly on behalf of the Chinese Government, the very department which the Trump administration is actively dismantling. Without any additional funding or dedicated help, schools would have to become investigators and determine if an individual who wanted to donate to the school or participate in parents' contributions could possibly be tied to the Chinese Government. The justified fear of losing critical Federal funds would almost assuredly lead schools to eye any well-meaning donations skeptically, sowing distrust in our neighbors.

Now note, there is no limit to this level of funding. It doesn't say contributions over $1,000 or over $10,000. It is any contribution. It must be said that there is no credible evidence to support the claims that China is exerting any inappropriate or undue influence over America's K-12 public schools. Even the report from the group Parents Defending Education, which makes these allegations, offers speculation rather than verifiable incidents or actual influence.

However, even if we are able to verify that China poses a credible threat to our K-12 schools, this bill, as written, does nothing to actually address any national security threats. Instead, it seeks to punish schools for accepting educational materials or participating in cultural exchange programs. Actually, our schools would be the victims of the undue foreign influence, but instead of deterring the bad actors, the bill seeks to punish the victim and, in effect, punish our students. The bill is, therefore, poorly written, poorly tailored, misdirected, and ultimately counterproductive and not a targeted national security measure.

Similar to H.R. 1005 and H.R. 1049, which we considered yesterday, H.R. 1069, if passed, would force school districts already facing shortages of teachers, counselors, and support staff to divert critical time and resources from instruction to completing bureaucratic paperwork. This is the very definition of an unfunded mandate. It imposes obligations on 15,000 school systems without offering any capacity or funding to meet that obligation.

Lastly, we have to note that the Trump administration is in the process of trying to abolish the Department of Education, with key responsibilities being shifted to other agencies. We are left with a chaotic patchwork of authority and no one apparently left to actually administer the provisions of this bill.

For those reasons, Mr. Speaker, I recommend a ``no'' vote on the bill and reserve the balance my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Georgia (Mrs. McBath).

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining.

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

Mr. Speaker, when you hear the title, PROTECT Our Kids Act, you wonder what this bill is all about. You might think it protects kids from guns, protects kids from bullying, or protects kids maybe from online predators; but no, this is from the foreign influence of China.

There is no credible evidence of any improper influence in K-12 schools, yet this is what the bill is about. It imposes sweeping penalties that do nothing to enhance national security. It only harms students. The apparent target of this legislation seems to be the maybe five school districts that have Confucius Institute programs, but it applies the provisions of the bill to 15,000 school systems in America.

All of this unfolds while the Trump administration works to dismantle the Department of Education, leaving critical responsibilities scattered throughout agencies. This bill wastes critical resources without any apparent benefit.

Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 916, I call up the bill (H.R. 1069) to prohibit the availability of Federal education funds for elementary and secondary schools that receive direct or indirect support from the Government of the People's Republic of China, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 1069.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1069. American classrooms are becoming battlegrounds for foreign influence. For years, my colleagues and I have sounded the alarm about adversaries exploiting our education system. Malign foreign entities like the Chinese Communist Party are working to undermine American values not just on college campuses but across our K-12 schools, as well. This is not only an attack on education and academic integrity, it is a threat to our national security.

Across U.S. colleges, the CCP established Confucius Institutes to push false narratives, whitewash history, and endear American students to the CCP while obscuring its brutal human rights abuses. However, these propaganda operations didn't stop at higher education. In K-12 schools, Confucius classrooms sprang up, aiming to shape the minds of our youngest learners.

At a 2023 Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education hearing, Defending Education highlighted a report exposing nearly two decades of CCP efforts to influence thousands of children. At one point, more than 500 schools hosted Confucius classrooms, many located on U.S. military bases. That is no coincidence. Those programs are a deliberate attempt to undermine American values and compromise our security.

That is why I proudly support H.R. 1069, the Promoting Responsible Oversight To Eliminate Communist Teachings for Our Kids, or the PROTECT Act, from Representative Kevin Hern and Representative Kevin Kiley. This legislation prohibits Federal funds from going to any school that also accepts funding from the Chinese Communist Party. It also sets a clear precedent: The U.S. will not allow a foreign regime to dictate what our children learn.

When schools accept CCP funding, they are effectively letting a totalitarian government decide their curriculum. In China, students are taught only what the Communist Party allows. America must never cede that authority. Confucius classrooms have never been reciprocated in China, where U.S.-style cultural exchanges on this scale are forbidden.

The CCP is not interested in genuine cultural exchange or open dialogue. Its goal is indoctrination, teaching students that China is benevolent, while erasing events like the Tiananmen Square massacre and ignoring the ongoing Uyghur genocide and other human rights abuses. By accepting CCP funding, schools shield students from the truth because the party does not want them to know it.

The PROTECT Act gives schools a clear choice: Federal funds or CCP funds, but not both. In the wake of years of learning loss and education decline, schools should focus on student achievement, not spreading foreign propaganda. Under the Trump administration's leadership, we are restoring focus to the education system, putting students first, and protecting them from authoritarian influences.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1069 to protect students, uphold American values, and safeguard our national security.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Hern), who is the commonsense bill sponsor as well as chair of the Republican Policy Committee.

Mr. Speaker, to my friend and colleague, I think she knows that I share her grief and cannot fathom the grief of the loss of her son, especially during the past 12 years.

Protecting kids is a multifaceted process. We are talking about just one aspect in our school systems today. That does not mean we disregard. We may have different approaches, but I certainly want my friend to know we hear her. I guess I will leave it there at this point.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Kiley), the bill's co-lead, as well as the chair of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Owens), who is vice chair of the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Kim), who is the chair of the Subcommittee on East Asia and Pacific on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

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

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1069, the PROTECT Our Kids Act, makes clear that schools receiving funding from the Chinese Communist Party will not receive Federal dollars.

For too long, schools have turned a blind eye to the CCP's demands for fear of losing CCP money. However, every dollar came with strings attached: lessons glorifying tyranny, rewriting history, and indoctrinating students instead of teaching American values.

Even more concerning, many of these schools were near U.S. military bases, raising risks of monitoring and surveillance of personnel. This is unacceptable.

To protect our students and our national security, we must pass the PROTECT Our Kids Act. It helps prevent foreign adversaries from exploiting our classrooms and promotes education grounded in truth, freedom, and American values.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member of the Committee on Education and Workforce for yielding time.

Mr. Speaker, I have to say, today, we are here considering a bill that is named the PROTECT Our Kids Act. I am going to speak and shift this conversation a little bit in the direction I think we really need to go.

This bill, the PROTECT Our Kids Act, does absolutely nothing to protect our kids. Just 5 days after three children and a 21-year-old were shot and killed in a mass shooting at a birthday party in Stockton, California, is a level of tone-deafness that I don't think I have seen during my 7 years here in Washington.

There are four families burying their children this week. There are four families burying their kids just like I had to when my son, Jordan, was murdered simply for playing loud music in his car.

Mr. Speaker, 8-year-old Journey Rose, 8-year-old Maya Lupian, and 14- year-old Amari Peterson will never get the experience that they deserve or the promise that this country offers. They will never get that chance--all because they went to a birthday party--and this Congress refuses to do anything about it time and time again. I don't know how many times I have to stand here on this floor to debate and talk about the number of children and people who are dying in this country.

We call this bill the PROTECT Our Kids Act? It does absolutely nothing. My Republican colleagues are deflecting over and over again against the real crimes against our children. Today, they want to bring to this floor a bill that will do absolutely nothing to protect our children.

The real way to protect kids is to keep them safe from unnecessary gun violence. That is what we should be doing at this time, but my Republican colleagues refuse to say anything about protecting children from unnecessary gun violence.

Over and over again, I cannot say how many times--I meet families every single day. I get alerts from my staff every single day of every mass murder and every tragedy in this country. It is overwhelming.

Excuse me, but if we are going to sit here and talk about protecting our kids, if my colleagues are really willing to do that, then they should bring up gun violence prevention legislation. They should bring up policy that really does the very thing that they are pretending to do through this bill: Protect our children.

There is no greater threat to our kids in school, at church, at their birthday parties, or at any other private or public space across this country than gun violence.

We took a very important step with the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. We did really good work, not just for Democratic children but for Republican children, as well, but we must do more to keep our children safe.

Shootings are the leading cause of death for children and teenagers in this country. Yes, my Republican colleagues have children and families who are dying by gun violence every single day, just like us here in the Democratic Party. We would never know that from this bill or when we are listening to our Republican colleagues.

For people like me, for people who have buried their son or their loved one, their daughter, their big sister, or their little brother before their time, we really know what is at stake. We cannot continue to play this game over and over again, fooling the American people by telling them that we are protecting their interests, protecting their families, and protecting their children with pieces of legislation like this that do absolutely nothing to protect our children.

Mr. Speaker, we know this cannot wait. I am just so sick and tired of the tone deafness. Every time we come to the floor, my Republican colleagues want to put forward a piece of legislation that fools the American people into believing that we are really working on their interests and on their behalf, when it really does not do that at all.

We know that the longer we do nothing, the more likely it is for someone else to have their family torn apart like I have or for someone else to attend a wake or a funeral instead of a wedding or a graduation ceremony. It doesn't have to be this way.

Mr. Speaker, I just--if we want to say it this way--celebrated the 12th anniversary of my son's murder. If my colleagues want to talk about protecting our kids, let's really do that and not this facade.

Mr. Speaker, unlike Columbine, Newtown, Las Vegas, Uvalde, Lewiston, and Stockton, your home does not have to be next.

Trust me, my colleagues. Every single one of us in this body has people dying every single day in our constituencies. We should use this time to really protect our kids and not just act like we are protecting them, while this Republican Congress does nothing about these tragedies at all.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage all of my colleagues to oppose this bill.