A joint resolution terminating the national emergency declared to impose global tariffs.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

First, Mr. Speaker, let me thank the staff on the Rules Committee, both the majority and the minority staff, because they put up with an awful lot. The way this House is being run, the process and procedures, are absolutely awful.

Mr. Speaker, I would say that this is a clown show, but that would be an insult to actual working clowns who probably lost their healthcare in the big, ugly bill that Republicans passed, but whatever. This is not the way this House of Representatives should be run.

Out of the four appropriations bills before us, only one, the Defense bill, was given an amendment process, where the majority issued a call for amendments.

Overall, 9 out of the 12 appropriation bills this cycle did not receive any call for amendments. In other words, nobody was asked to offer amendments to participate in this process. They were told that their views and their opinions didn't matter.

Last week, Republicans made in order 2 out of 78 amendments submitted to the two-bill minibus that we considered. Again, neither of those amendments had a call for amendments prior. The week before, Republicans made zero amendments in order on a three-bill minibus out of 40 submitted. Only one of those bills had an amendment process prior.

Today, they are making 2 amendments in order out of the 164 amendments submitted to the final appropriation bills before us. They were submitted by Democrats and by Republicans, so 99 percent of those amendments that were offered have been blocked.

The Republicans went on last night about regular order, but they only solicited amendment ideas on 3 out of the 12 appropriation bills that fund our government. Give me a break. This is not the way this place is supposed to be run.

Again, I get it. They are worried about pleasing the rebels within the Republican Conference who always threaten to bring down a rule if they don't get what they want, so I assume that is what happened by making two Republican amendments in order today.

Here is another thing that I noticed in this bill. There is this creation of an ethanol domestic energy council, aimed at kind of buying off people from Iowa, I guess. In the rule, it says this council will be appointed by the Speaker of the House to develop legislative solutions to address the crisis facing our Nation's farmers and refiners.

I asked in the Rules Committee whether the Speaker would only appoint Republicans. The answer was that you can submit whatever you want to the Speaker. It is his decision, but we don't know. So, I don't know whether this is a bipartisan council or just a partisan council.

A question was asked in the Rules Committee: Will it only be Members of Congress on this council, or could members of industry or the energy companies be on this council? We were told that they think it is just Members of Congress, but we don't know.

I mean, I don't know. Those are pretty relevant questions, and this is kind of being tossed in here essentially to buy people's votes.

Here is the deal: To those Republicans who are being bought off by this creation of this new council, let me recall back in September when we were having a debate on whether to kind of extend the pause on Trump's terrible tariffs. All of a sudden, we were told that we had to pause the vote. We went on and on and on for a while, waiting and waiting and waiting, and then we were told that there would be a special trade working group established. The press reported that Congressman Adrian Smith, who is the head of the Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, would be the head of that working group, and they would address the issue of tariffs. They said it would be a thoughtful process.

Mr. Smith was before the Rules Committee the other day, and I asked him about this trade working group that apparently bought off Republican votes, Republicans who were concerned about the tariffs. I asked him who the Members are on this trade working group. He said that he talks to all Members. I asked who the Members are on this trade working group, and he didn't have an answer. Do you know why? They never appointed anybody to be on the trade working group.

I asked him how many hearings, gatherings, and meetings this trade working group has had. He couldn't answer that because they never had any meetings. I asked if there were any publications or reports that have been produced by this trade working group, and he couldn't answer that because there were none.

Now, we are being told--now, Republicans who are kind of concerned about the issue of ethanol are being told that we are going to create this council for you, this new working group for you, and you should be happy.

I am just going to say this, with all due respect to my Republican colleagues: Those of you who are bought off by this in order to vote for this rule, where I come from, we have a name for that, and that is ``cheap date'' because that is what this is. At the end of the day, nothing--nothing--will end up happening.

I am just going to say one other thing before I get into the substance of these bills. When I was the chairman of the Rules Committee, I made nearly half of all amendments in order. This Republican majority has blocked 80 percent. That means Democrats--and, by the way, a lot of Republicans, a majority of Republican amendments have been blocked. Let me say that one more time. A majority of Republican amendments have been blocked.

I don't know what is wrong with Members over there, but come on, a majority of Republican amendments have been blocked, and you continue to go along to get along. They are not just blocking us. They are blocking their own Members. There have been 106 closed rules so far in this Congress, more than Democrats had in the entire Congress the last time we were in charge.

Again, I know you have a slim majority, but here is another fact that you ought to let sink in: We have had the fewest votes on the floor in 35 years. I mean, that is what this Congress is all about.

Again, I would just say, as somebody who loves this institution, who believes in this institution--and I know many of my Republican colleagues feel the same way--I mean, things have to change.

This place has become an institution where trivial issues get debated passionately and important ones not at all. All the issues that I hear about in my townhalls--the high cost of healthcare, rising food prices, the high cost of utilities--we don't talk about those things here.

We are dealing with messaging bills. When it comes to anything of substance, like these appropriations bills, we are basically told to take it or leave it, that our views don't matter. Again, this is not just Democrats, but Republicans, as well.

Mr. Speaker, again, I am grateful for the hard work of the appropriators and their staffs. These bills are complicated, and the hours are brutal. In this political climate, getting anything done, let alone in a bipartisan way, is no small thing.

While no bill is perfect, I agree with the chairwoman that there are provisions in this package that would make a difference in people's lives, and I think, in some cases, in a positive way. The three-bill minibus--Labor-HHS-Education, Defense, and Transportation-HUD--rejects President Trump's proposed $163 billion in cuts. It continues funding for priorities like medical research, NIH, opioid response grants, childcare, and Head Start. It includes badly needed funding to hire more than 2,500 air traffic controllers.

Democrats blocked more than 40 poison-pill riders that Republicans tried to jam in on reproductive care, vaccines, sanctuary cities, and more. I thank Ranking Member DeLauro for holding the line and keeping that garbage out.

I want to talk about something bigger than the line items because, in my view, these bills are being written as if we are still operating under rules that, let's be honest, this current administration does not recognize. The President has shown over and over again that he won't follow the rules. He treats the law like a suggestion. He treats Congress like an obstacle. He treats the Constitution like it is optional.

When we respond with business as usual, that isn't responsible. It is naive. If we don't build in real guardrails, strong, enforceable guardrails, then we are not just funding programs, but we are handing over power. We are writing checks and crossing our fingers that an administration that is proud of breaking the rules will suddenly decide to behave.

Here is the perfect example: This three-bill minibus increases defense spending by more than $8 billion above the President's own budget request, yet it does nothing to rein in this administration's recent illegal military actions around the world, nothing that makes clear that Congress and not the President decides when America goes to war.

The same kind of blank-check governing is also present in the Homeland Security bill. Let's not mince words: ICE is out of control. We are watching Federal agents roll through communities like they are above the law: stopping people, harassing people, intimidating them, and, yes, shooting them.

That is not America. That is not freedom. It sure as hell is not what our parents and our grandparents fought for.

We have history in this country. We know exactly where ``show me your papers'' leads. We know what it looks like when a government decides that certain people don't belong and then builds an enforcement machine to terrorize them into submission.

Yet, here we are, being asked to hand DHS more money with nowhere near the due diligence or the ironclad accountability that this moment demands. Hell, Republicans already supercharged DHS with $75 billion in their big, ugly bill last year. Now, we are supposed to keep feeding the beast? I say hell no. I don't think ICE deserves a single cent more, which is why I am voting ``no.''

I will acknowledge the work that went into these bills. I will acknowledge some provisions that could help people, but I do not trust this President. I do not trust Trump's OMB. I do not trust this administration, which has made lawlessness a habit, to follow the intent of Congress just because we typed it into statutory language.

Call it Trump derangement syndrome, as some of my Republican friends have labeled it. I call it learning from experience. I call it paying attention. This is our last real leverage point. Once we fund it, once we sign the checks, the power shifts. With this President, that is terrifying because he is erratic and lawless.

We tried to put up guardrails. We offered amendments to rein him in. The Republicans all voted them down, every single one of them. They voted against accountability, and they voted against constraints. It is crazy. It tells you everything you need to know, Mr. Speaker. They would rather give him a blank check than do their job as a coequal branch.

Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' on this rule, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Mrs. Fletcher).

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

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentlewoman just listing off a bunch of criminals, and we don't take issue with arresting violent criminals. Violent criminals should not be on our streets no matter where they are born, and they should face justice. But the issue is that ICE is terrorizing communities and attacking people, including U.S. citizens.

In Minnesota, a U.S. citizen said ICE took him at gunpoint in his underwear, without a warrant, in front of his 4-year-old grandchild.

In another instance, a U.S. citizen went on his lunch break, and masked Federal agents detained him in a choke hold.

In Miami, Federal agents ripped a woman from her car as she screamed that she was a U.S. citizen.

ICE agents in Minnesota ate lunch in a small-town Mexican restaurant. When they were done enjoying their meal, they detained two workers who served them.

In California, a U.S. citizen on his way to work at a food bank pulled over to warn Federal agents that they should wrap up their stop of another individual before school-age children gathered for the bus. Moments later, an ICE officer shot him in the back.

In Chicago, ICE agents stormed an apartment complex by helicopter as families slept and deployed chemical agents near a public school.

Mr. Speaker, ICE is wreaking havoc on people all over this country, trampling over the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens at every turn. U.S. citizens across the country are carrying their passports out of fear of being detained without cause.

There are reports of Native Americans who are U.S. citizens being detained by ICE. Thirty-two people have died in ICE custody in 2025-- 32. It was ICE's deadliest year in over two decades.

In just the first 9 months of Trump's second term, over 170 U.S. citizens were detained by ICE, and nearly 20 were children. Two dozen were held without being able to call lawyers or their family. These citizens have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased, and shot by immigration agents.

Mr. Speaker, I can go on and on and on. Let me be clear. This is an out-of-control agency at war with communities around the country. They don't give a damn if you are a U.S. citizen. The silence on the other side of the aisle is outrageous, as if this is no big deal. Wait until it happens to you or a loved one.

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

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

I urge we defeat the previous question. If we do, I will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up S.J. Res. 88, which would allow for an up-or-down vote on whether to terminate President Trump's global tariffs.

Mr. Speaker, on April 2 of last year, President Trump announced he was opposing tariffs on virtually all countries, including our closest allies like the United Kingdom, the European Union, Japan, Norway, and Taiwan--the list goes on--based on a bogus national emergency.

He called it ``liberation day.'' Let me tell you that the only liberation my constituents have felt is money being liberated from their hard-earned paychecks because the price of basically everything has gone up since Donald Trump took office.

The price of beef has risen 16.4 percent over the last year. The price of coffee is up a whopping 19.8 percent. The price of lettuce is up 7.3 percent. Frozen fish is up 8.6 percent. In total, families paid $310 more for groceries during President Trump's first year in office compared to 2024.

It is now abundantly clear that President Trump broke his promise to lower costs on day one, in large part due to his cost-increasing tariffs. Although the President and his cronies claim that these tariffs are paid by foreign governments, in reality, it is the American people who pay the tariffs.

According to a newly published study, which analyzed $4 trillion in shipments over the past year, American consumers and importers paid 96 percent of the cost of tariffs, while foreign companies shouldered a measly 4 percent of the cost.

Last October, more than 2\1/2\ months ago, the Senate sent to the House on a bipartisan basis this joint resolution to terminate the global tariffs. In this House, our Republican majority has continued to block a simple up-or-down vote. They have basically endorsed the increase in the cost of living for average people.

Speaker Johnson promised his Members that he would create a working group to address the tariffs. We now know this tariff policy working group is a mirage. It doesn't exist. You got taken.

When I ask the Republican chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade about the working group, which he was supposedly in charge of, he said he didn't know who was on it or whether or not it had ever met.

Are you serious? Are you serious? Most Republicans, even the ones who oppose the tariffs in private, are continuing to go along to get along with this.

When are Republicans who know better going to stand up against this crazy tariff policy that is raising costs at home and destroying our alliances? It is never too late to do the right thing. By voting to defeat the previous question, we can finally have an up-or-down vote in this body on whether to terminate President Trump's disastrous global tariffs.

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

Mr. Speaker, to discuss our proposal, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Meeks), the ranking member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Johnson).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for raising an issue that he got a working group on--a working group that may meet or not meet, may have members or may not have members, and may do something or may not. Boy, wow, that is something.

Mr. Speaker, today, I recognize someone who has quietly made this place work day after day and vote after vote. Ray Salazar is leaving the House after more than 11 years of service to this institution and to the Democratic Caucus. I want to say plainly and on the record that we are thankful for his service.

Ray started here the way that a lot of great public servants start: by showing up, doing the work, and earning trust. From an internship with Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa, to Whip Hoyer's AmeriPAC, to becoming a special assistant to the Office of the Democratic Whip, Ray learned this place from the ground up.

Ray then served as floor assistant for Whip Hoyer, floor director for Leader Hoyer, and deputy floor director and senior adviser. Most recently, he has been floor director for the Democratic Whip, Katherine Clark, helping Members to navigate the toughest moments, the longest days, and the most important votes.

For the Rules Committee specifically, Members and staff relied on Ray for many, many years. Whether it was getting information about the floor at 1 o'clock in the morning or helping to solve tricky procedural problems, he has been a reliable and valued part of the Rules family.

He is a graduate of Hawaii Pacific University with a background in international relations, national security, and advanced military education focused on joint warfare. He understands the world. He understands the institutions. He understands that democracy runs on people who do the hard work, the unglamorous work.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ray for his professionalism, his steadiness, and his service. We will miss him on the floor, and we wish him nothing but success as he begins his next chapter.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, after all the time that we spend together, the gentlewoman can just call me Jim.

Mr. Speaker, let me close with this: Republicans are running this place like a clown show. Over and over again, House Republican leadership shuts down the amendment process. Over and over again, they limit debate. Over and over again, they tell Members to take it or leave it.

Mr. Speaker, 80 percent of all amendments were blocked. We had to have the Speaker up in the Rules Committee this morning because, apparently, the only way Republicans can get their amendments made in order around here is by blackmailing the Speaker and threatening to take down the rule.

Last night, we had Members showing up with serious amendments, amendments aimed at basic accountability, basic guardrails, basic limits on a lawless administration. The leadership's answer is no, one structured rule for the minibus making in order two Republican amendments. Homeland is a closed rule entirely--no accountability, no guardrails, no nothing.

That is not how the people's House is supposed to work, and it is especially dangerous right now because this is not a normal administration. This President has shown he will say one thing and then do another. He will assure Congress and then ignore Congress.

Now, we are supposed to pass funding bills without ironclad guardrails on what this administration can do with that money, whether it is foreign adventurism, whether it is some half-baked scheme about Greenland, or whether it is building out a domestic secret police force that treats human beings like trash.

Let's be honest. If you cannot trust an administration to follow the law, then you don't give them a blank check. That is exactly what this process risks doing.

I want to see this House do its job. I want Members on both sides to be able to offer amendments, to debate them, and to vote on them. I want to see real constraints to prevent taxpayer dollars from being used to violate rights, to trample the Constitution, or to fuel an agency like ICE that is behaving like it answers to nobody.

I urge my colleagues: Do not rubberstamp a process that shuns accountability. Don't enable an administration that ignores Congress. Don't

pretend that normal rules can contain abnormal lawlessness.

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

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

Mr. President, I was just checking the Congressional Record. You see, we have a tradition here in the Senate. The tradition is that what we say on the floor is printed and available the next day right at our desk. It is kind of an amazing thing. It goes back to the Congressional Record being the record of the proceedings in this body, and the timely printing of it is part of the history.

I wanted to check and see, based on the statements made by my friend and colleague the Senator from Wyoming, whether the Congressional Record printed yesterday contained the efforts of Democratic Senator Ben Lujan of New Mexico to fund the SNAP program.

Here it is. The page number is S7808 for the beginning of the debate by Senator Lujan, who came to the floor and wanted to make sure that we wouldn't have any gaps in coverage when it came to the SNAP or food stamp plan across America. You see, the reason he did it was that 42 million people--1 out of 8 people in our population--need help putting food on the table.

The SNAP program doesn't sound extremely generous--$6 a day. Imagine if you had to feed yourself with that amount of money each day, the sacrifices you would make.

So Senator Lujan came to the floor. Why was he taking on this responsibility? It is because he is the chairman--or the ranking member now of the subcommittee that funds the SNAP program. He came to the floor to make sure that there would be no gaps in coverage and that people would still get their paychecks starting November 1. I call them paychecks, but they are basically SNAP checks that are a credit for purchases at the store.

Do you know what happened when he came to the floor? There was an objection. The objection came from the Republican leader of the Senate.

The Republican leader of the Senate yesterday, on the floor, page S7808 and 7809--you can find it in the Congressional Record--was asked if he would approve Senator Lujan's effort to protect all the SNAP recipients across the United States, and he said no. He objected. He wanted us to pass another bill. But he had a chance, with Senator Lujan's request, to make sure that there would be no suffering of anybody across America because of the SNAP program, and on page S7808, Senator Thune said no.

Now we have the argument that was made by the Senator from Wyoming that one of the reasons that it cannot be done is it is illegal. Now, that is a real hoot, to use a technical term, as far as I am concerned.

So the Senator from Wyoming said it would be illegal in a government shutdown to feed 16 million kids, 8 million seniors, and 4 million people on disability during the shutdown. Well, the last record shutdown under President Trump, in his first term, went for 35 days, and he kept the SNAP program going.

Was he doing it illegally, I ask the Senator from Wyoming?

I think not.

In fact, the Trump administration, on their own website, acknowledged that they were going to make this payment under the SNAP plan even with the government shut down. They put that on their website, and we have copies of it.

Guess what happened to that assertion on their website. It disappeared. Just a few days ago, it disappeared. So a program they used under Trump's first administration, a program that they said they could follow again under this second Trump administration and second Trump shutdown, disappeared magically from the website.

So, across America, some 42 million people, 12 percent of our population, will not be able to put food on the table because of a decision by the Trump administration not to feed Americans. Of all the priorities, wouldn't you think that keeping our population--the poorest among us, the neediest among us--with food on the table would be the highest priority? Don't you think they could come up with the money for it?

Well, it seems like the President can come up with money for Argentina, when he said Argentina is in a terrible economic situation and he was going to send $20 billion of American tax dollars to Argentina--that was a week or two ago--and then find $20 billion in the private sector to also go to Argentina. There was plenty of money for Argentina but not enough money to pay for the SNAP program.

How can that be? And yet it is the reality.

We have 2 million recipients of SNAP in my home State of Illinois, and we know we can take care of them. The Trump administration is making the choice. They have the resources. They have the authority. They just don't have the political will to take care of the problem.

I was on a radio call-in show in Bloomington, IL, this morning, and we talked about the SNAP program. A lot of people really depend on it. A third of the recipients are kids, another third are disabled, and a third are seniors. They are needy people.

Long before the government shutdown, Congress sent the U.S. Department of Agriculture funds for this purpose. The U.S. Department of Agriculture used these funds, as I mentioned, in Trump's first shutdown, his first decision to not fund the government. In fact, a month ago, as I mentioned, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's shutdown plan said this is exactly what they would do: They would pay the SNAP benefits. And then, when it became public that they made that claim, that vanished from the website--just a matter of a few days ago. Why?

During this shutdown, the Trump administration did have the money for Argentina. The President seems to be able to find money for things that are important to him. Obviously, SNAP and the benefits are not important to the President.

Well, I have news for the President. Because of his decision on the SNAP plan, millions of Americans are going to have to struggle to feed their families--Americans paying a price for this decision by the President.

I recently heard from one of them: Michelle, from Hodgkins, IL. She had a message that goes beyond her letter to me--her email to me--and really is a message for all Americans. Here is what she said:

You are forgetting about the seniors that are age 60 to 65. I already cut down my meals to two a day. I really don't want to try to live on one meal. I take medicine, and I need to eat. My size shows that I have not been eating. I know for a fact many eat cereal for dinner. It is filling and cheap.

That is the plight facing poor people if the SNAP program is, in fact, shut down by President Trump.

Here is another message, from Martin in Macomb:

I am on SNAP due to a disability--epilepsy as well as some

others. I rely on SNAP as well as [Social Security] and

[Disability payments] to survive.

Martin, of Macomb, IL, went on to say:

Most of the people in my building rely on SNAP to pay for

food. I am worried about how I will be able to afford food on

November 1.

And, sadly, there are millions of other individuals who will suffer in silence because they receive this assistance but basically are concerned about the stigma that might be attached to them if they say anything publicly.

Meanwhile, for the past 6 weeks, Republican Members of the House of Representatives have been gone. I am not sure what they are doing. I hope they are home at least tending to their constituents, but they should be in Washington. If we would have passed Ben Ray Lujan's--the Democratic Senator's--proposal yesterday to fund the SNAP program, we would have needed action by the House of Representatives, but it is not here. And it hasn't been here for 6 weeks--6 weeks.

We need them. We need the President, when he comes home from his trip overseas, to make this a high priority. The House has not held a vote since September 19. President Trump is tearing down part of the White House to build a new, lavish $300 million ballroom. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem found $200 million during the shutdown to buy two luxury Gulfstream jets for her and her top staff. The Trump administration sees those efforts as priorities, but it will not send our most vulnerable American citizens $6 a day to afford to eat.

I suppose nobody should be surprised that is where we are. Under the President's leadership this summer, the Republican-led Congress passed their so-called Big Beautiful Bill, which made the biggest SNAP cuts in history. So the program that they are now refusing to fund at all was reduced dramatically to make it more difficult to pay out those payments--food stamp-type payments--to SNAP recipients under the Big Beautiful Bill, which I will refer to again in a moment. They made the biggest cuts in the history of the SNAP and Food Stamp Program, cutting the program by 20 percent, and now they are lamenting on the floor that they

just can't pay anything at all; it is illegal for them to pay anything at all.

We know that is not true.

President Trump has decided we can't wait any longer. He wants to stop SNAP funding on Saturday and hurt 42 million Americans to teach the Democrats a lesson--another example of cruelty to people who are vulnerable by this administration.

I appreciate the leadership of Ben Ray Lujan, my Senate colleague from New Mexico. He really believes this in his heart of hearts. If the Congressional Record, which I referred to earlier in my statement, can be referenced, you can read the words of Senator Lujan, which were touching because he does care about not just in New Mexico but across America what this is going to do.

I hope my Republican colleagues will allow us the opportunity to vote on Senator Lujan's bill today before we leave. Let's make sure that there is no gap in the program, and let's put away this argument that was just heard on the floor that somehow it is illegal to feed people.

This week, the Secretary of Agriculture appeared on CBS News to defend her Agency's refusal to fund SNAP. Here is what she said:

Look at [the President's] record standing behind the ag

community, rural communities. No one has done more than

President Trump to date for those communities in [her]

lifetime.

Well, after abandoning vulnerable families receiving SNAP and helping South American farmers over U.S. farmers, President Trump and his U.S. Department of Agriculture has certainly had an unprecedented effect on American communities but not for the reasons she thinks.

The bottom line as well is bad news for people who may not be receiving SNAP but are struggling to make payments for hospitalization insurance. The cost of living continues to go up under the Trump administration. And the issue which we are trying to drive home to our friends on the other side of the aisle is it should be a bipartisan concern, what is happening to health insurance premiums across America.

Take a look. If you are on an Affordable Care Act plan, you are going to see a dramatic increase. In Illinois and the city of Chicago, people who are under that plan, thousands of them, are going to see their health insurance premiums double--double. At a time when they are struggling to make grocery payments and electric utility payments, they are going to double. Why? Because the Big Beautiful Bill, the budget bill of President Trump, passed by all Republican votes--no Democratic votes--unfortunately, has eliminated the tax credits that were available to people in middle-income categories.

Who are these people, these faceless people? We will put a face on them. One out of every four farmers--one out of every four farm families in our country use the Affordable Care Act. Half of the people who own small businesses use it. They are the ones who are facing these heightened premiums.

What we are doing is begging the Republicans to correct the mistake they made in the Big Beautiful Bill; come forward with sensitivity not just to those receiving SNAP and food stamps but to the families who are struggling to make health insurance premium payments. These families need help. The cost of living goes up for them every single day, and this is going to be a hardship many of them can't endure.

Millions--literally, millions--of Americans will lose their health insurance because of the Big Beautiful Bill. We have a chance to correct it, and we should do it as soon as possible. It is time to sit down at the table as soon as the President gets over his jetlag and comes home--to sit down at the table immediately.

The Republican leaders have got to come back to Washington, from the House, and the Republican leaders in the Senate as well as Democratic leaders--on both sides. They are the only ones who can solve this.

I have been in Congress for a number of years. I think I have seen every major shutdown, and I have seen how they all end. There will be some triggering device that does it. I hope that, whatever it takes, we get it done and done quickly.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, it is hard to believe, even in a place like the Nation's Capital that seems so detached from the rest of the country--but it is hard to believe we have now reached the 30th day of this completely pointless, profoundly dumb government shutdown at the hands of Senate Democrats. Senate Democrats have now voted 13 times to keep the government shut down, blocking the continuing resolution that has been passed by the House of Representatives weeks ago. That is the key to unlock the door to this government shutdown.

We are nearing a full month of that shutdown, a shutdown in search of a rationale. My suggestion is, to our friends across the aisle, that they need to look in the mirror and listen to their own people. The American Federation of Government Employees, or AFGE, the largest union that represents Federal Government employees, called on Congress to ``Reopen the government immediately under a clean continuing resolution that allows continued debate on larger issues.''

That is exactly what we have asked for, time after time after time, but to no avail.

Families across America, including the 31 million-plus Texans that I have the privilege of representing, are continuing to deal with this uncertainty.

Now, it is true that many people are not directly affected by the government shutdown, but a lot of people are, including the very people who are here in this Chamber--our staff, government employees. But it is much bigger than that. It is not only the Federal employees' union; it is the military; it is our Border Patrol; it is TSA, the air traffic controllers. All of these people are working, because their jobs are deemed essential, without any pay.

One in six Americans live paycheck to paycheck. I haven't heard a single Senator on that side of the Chamber who said they are withholding their pay during the government shutdown, which leads me to conclude that they continue to get paid while they deny the same benefit to their own staff and the U.S. military and all the other Federal employees that I have mentioned. If that isn't hypocrisy, I don't know what is.

And now, at the first of the month, November 1, 42 million Americans who rely on SNAP, WIC, other nutrition assistance programs--food stamps--will stop receiving the benefits they rely on as a safety net to put food on the table. This includes 3.5 million of my constituents in Texas, 1.7 million of whom are children.

These are among the most vulnerable people in our country. Our Senate Democrat colleagues are literally taking food out of the mouths of hungry children because of their stubbornness. It is shameful.

I have been hearing from food banks in Texas who are writing in with their concerns, saying they will require a 50-percent increase in food supplies next month in order to keep up with the increased demand for people who aren't getting paid and people who are being denied this basic assistance.

Well, what is the rationale? I mentioned a moment ago that our Senate Democratic colleagues seem to be in search of a rationale for this profoundly idiotic and dumb shutdown. Well, the Senate Democratic leader, the fearless leader of our Senate Democrats, said to a news outlet:

Every day gets better for us.

Of course, that leads to the question, Who is ``us''? Not the 31 million Texans I represent; not the 800,000 Federal Government workers who are part of the union; not the children who depend on nutrition assistance to be able to eat.

Well, not to be outdone, House Democratic whip Katherine Clark recently said:

Of course there will be families that are going to suffer--

As if that is no big deal.

She said:

But it is one of the few leverage times we have.

So all of these Americans, our fellow citizens, who are being harmed by this shutdown are leverage, political leverage.

I was disappointed to even hear one of the Members on the other side who I look to as sort of a rare person of common sense among the crazed Democratic Party these days who said that

this shutdown would prove to be ``unpleasant'' but then reiterated that it would somehow give Democrats ``leverage.''

And now Democrats are trying to turn the tables and say it is Trump's fault. This is surreal.

The American people are the ones paying the price for the intransigence, the stubbornness, and the idiocy--that is what Chuck Schumer once called government shutdowns. He called it idiocy. The American people are paying for the idiocy of the Democrats who continue to vote against reopening the government. I have to wonder, what do they say to a mother who can't feed her own child because of their intransigence and their stubbornness? ``Sorry for the inconvenience; you are part of our leverage.''

We get paid--they get paid--not me, not people on this side of the aisle who have had their paychecks withheld in solidarity with the government employees who aren't getting paid. They get paid, and you can't feed your kids?

What do they say to the Federal worker, including members of our staff, people working here in the Senate, who wonder: Can I pay the utility bill? How about my rent or my mortgage payment? Can I buy gasoline for my car to take my child to school?

I guess their response is, well, you should expect some unpleasantness during this shutdown because you are part of our political leverage.

The best way in this disaster--this nightmare, really--for many Americans who are directly affected is for just five of our colleagues on the other side--just five--to vote with Republicans to reopen the government, to pass this continuing resolution that will take us at least to November 21. But we have burned so much of the time already because of the shutdown--it is the 30th of October. This continuing resolution would open the government until 3 weeks from now, and then what happens? Are we going to go through this movie again and again and again?

And then how about those Americans who depend on safe and timely air travel for their jobs, or maybe they just want to take some time off if they have some vacation plans. We can no longer depend on the timeliness, and I fear for the safety of our air traffic control system because so many air traffic controllers are overstressed and so many airports are understaffed that they are literally having to shut down some of the air traffic, and flights are being delayed. And I have no doubt--or at least I worry that public safety is being endangered.

Earlier this week, Austin Airport, where I live, issued a ground delay due to air traffic control staffing problems. The same day, over at Dallas-Fort Worth, one of the largest airports in the country, they experienced 413 flight delays and multiple flight cancellations due to staffing shortages.

Air traffic controllers--the people who keep these airplanes flying safely--will miss their first full paycheck this week. TSA screeners-- the people who are supposed to make sure that air travel is safe--are similarly working without pay.

One air traffic controller recently said:

The job is stressful enough as it is. [And] now you're

adding this factor of, ``Hey, when am I going to get my next

paycheck?''

They will miss their first one this week, but they don't know if they are going to get the next one because they don't know how long this profoundly stupid idea of a government shutdown is going to last.

One Transportation Security Administration worker said that ``morale is crumbling.''

You know, it is not just imposing a hardship on these innocent Americans. What does this say about America and our ability to work together to solve the Nation's problems? It is embarrassing. It should be embarrassing. In the world's greatest deliberative body--that is what the U.S. Senate is sometimes called--what a joke. What a joke Democrats have made of the world's greatest deliberative body when they have shut down the U.S. Senate and made it impossible for us to pass a simple, stopgap spending bill that would take us to November 21.

Well, I applaud the men and women who are continuing to go to work to keep the planes in the air and trains running on time even though they are not being paid, but it is entirely unfair, unjustified for Democrats to impose this burden on these individuals. They didn't do anything wrong.

This is only weeks before the holidays and holiday travel begin in earnest. If Senate Democrats don't let up soon, you might have to ditch your Thanksgiving visit with your friends and family. And then who knows how long this will go on--maybe Christmas. They will be responsible for families having to cut back on their celebrations during our holiday season--not just because of delayed air travel or canceled flights but because they can't afford it. If they are not getting paid, how are they going to buy the food items that we typically enjoy during holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas?

What will Senate Democrats tell parents who haven't been paid for an extended period of time when they have to tell their children ``Well, Santa isn't coming this year because your mom and dad haven't gotten paid; we don't have the money''?

Well, all this goes to show the utter callousness, the insensitivity, and the wrongheaded motivation behind this government shutdown, all so our friends on the other side can gain leverage. They don't have any leverage. It is on them.

The American people deserve better than for their elected officials to treat their livelihoods as political playthings, and that is what is happening.

So it is high time for our Democratic colleagues to come to their senses and vote to reopen the government. Is this going to go on forever? What is their endgame? They don't know. They can't say because they don't know. They know they have gotten themselves stuck in a supremely stupid idea, and they can't find their way out of it.

I can make a suggestion. Three of them have already voted for the House-passed continuing resolution to end this nonsense. We need five more. Are those five Democratic Senators going to continue to listen to the Democratic leader, the Senator from New York, who led them into this box canyon in the first place? He is worried about being thrown under the bus by a political opponent in the next Democratic primary election.

This is about retaining power, using innocent Americans as leverage, with no plan on how to exit this supremely dumb government shutdown.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, this weekend, Americans face a healthcare crisis unprecedented in modern times. Open enrollment begins in just 2 days, and Republicans have spent the entire shutdown with their heads in the sand--a shutdown they caused because they would not negotiate with Democrats.

Republicans are pretending that the ACA premium crisis does not exist. They should go ask families who are getting their insurance premium increases today, tomorrow, Saturday.

Republicans have brought Americans to the brink of financial disaster. They have ignored a growing catastrophe. We have demanded they act, and they have refused.

The shutdown is on them. The healthcare crisis is on them. And the American people will see so this weekend as the bills start coming in.

To show the breadth, depth, and severity of the ACA crisis, if the ACA enhanced premium tax credits expire, over 20 million Americans will see their premiums more than double on average. That is a 114-percent increase according to KFF. That is a fact.

Four million people on ACA plans will lose healthcare coverage entirely if these tax credits don't get extended. That is also a fact.

If these enhanced tax credits expire, the people hurt, by far, the most--the people hurt the most--will be working families, people who live paycheck to paycheck, small businesses owners, farmers, ranchers, and older Americans. They are all going to be sitting at their kitchen tables this Friday night or Sunday evening and saying: How the heck are we going to pay these bills? We can't afford $4,000 a year more for health insurance.

Do my kids get no healthcare? Do we have to lose the doctors who have been treating us for a long time? Do we have to travel 50 or 100 miles to go to a clinic or a hospital?

Are my parents going to be kicked out of their nursing home, and I will have no place to put them?

This is a fact. People are hurt badly--probably more than by any other healthcare crisis we have had.

Americans who work more than one job, and Americans who live in red States will all be hurt. That is a fact.

And here is another one: This crisis didn't come out of the blue. It is not that people are just learning about it. It is not that Senators are just learning about it this week.

Democrats have demanded that Republican leaders negotiate with us about this crisis since the summer. Republicans said no. They put together a partisan bill that did nothing to improve the healthcare crisis, that had no input from Democrats, and said: Take it or leave it.

Republicans had more than three chances this year to vote on extending these ACA premium tax credits--as far back as February. What did Republicans say? No, no, and no.

Today, Republicans still insist they will not move a muscle to fix ACA premiums until it is too late. They have spent the entire shutdown avoiding talking about healthcare. When that didn't work, they resorted to lying--just making up total lies--about who gets the healthcare and who doesn't.

As they trigger a healthcare crisis, they are also now triggering a hunger crisis. Trump is doing that by halting SNAP benefits and ordering his own Department of Agriculture to rip its own contingency plan.

The money is there--over $6 billion in emergency funds that could keep SNAP going--and Trump has said: Don't spend a dime. We want to use hungry people as hostages in this crisis.

Trump is a vindictive politician and a heartless man.

Meanwhile, here in the Senate, this is still Leader Thune's position on the ACA: Let's deal with this house fire later.

But the house is on fire. Republicans are living in a fantasy, pretending as if the issue will fix itself.

Starting November 1, so many Americans are going to have to make choices. Do they give up their healthcare? Do they have to take a plan that has many higher deductibles and copays, with different doctors and different hospitals, and watch their families suffer when they are sick?

That is what it reality looks like for people back home. Yet our Republican colleagues do nothing.

In Louisiana, the average 60-year-old couple, making $85,000 a year, in a middle-tier plan, will see their premiums increase by $25,700. That is right. How does that family come up with $25,000?

People in their fifties are looking for their retirement. What are they going to do?

In South Dakota, that same couple on the same plan would see an average increase of $26,000. In Florida, it is an annual increase of $27,000.

Republicans have brought the American people to the brink. Republicans have refused to do anything. They have sat on their hands and have stuck their heads in the sand. Now families--millions of families--from one end of America to the other--mostly, actually, in red States--face the specter of financial disaster because, when healthcare costs go up, more people lose coverage, more people get sick, and more people die. Republicans just don't seem to care.

China

Now, Mr. President, on the China deal, in the middle of the second longest government shutdown in American history, Donald Trump left the country and traveled all the way to Asia to meet President Xi. And what did he do? He bowed down to President Xi. China has called Donald Trump's bluff, and Donald Trump has folded, leaving American families and farmers and small businesses to deal with the wreckage from his blunders, from his erratic on-again, off-again tariff policies.

Americans beware: Trump will spend the next few days trying to spin the so-called agreement as a win for America, but that is total bull. Don't believe Trump. He has folded to China. Donald Trump caved to China in Busan. The so-called deal has left us no better off than we were before Donald Trump's trade war began. If anything, things are worse. Prices have gone up. China has agreed to nothing of substance that will improve trade between our nations.

On soybeans, this has been a total capitulation. Donald Trump's trade war has decimated soybean farmers in the United States, and, this year, he is saying: Isn't it great? They will buy half the soybeans--China will--that they bought last year.

So many farmers are suffering, and then so many other farmers are seeing that their Chinese customers to whom they sold soybeans are now making deals in Argentina and Brazil. And those are not 1-year deals. Those are going to be 3-, 4-, 5-year deals. So the customers that Americans had are not coming back.

China is still buying fewer soybeans this year from the United States than before China's trade war. How is that a win for soybean farmers?

Trump's delusion is unbelievable. He starts a trade war; creates a giant mess for businesses, consumers, and soybean farmers; and then he celebrates for trying to clean up the very mess he created in the first place.

Don't believe Trump. Trump has folded on China. Don't believe his BS. He has created the mess. Now he is trying to clean up the mess, and he says: Don't I deserve 17 pats on the back?

Americans have heard this old song and dance from China and Trump before. I have long pushed Presidents of both parties to take tougher action on China for its rapacious trade policies that have harmed American workers, American businesses. None--absolutely none--of the fundamental abuses by China are addressed in this agreement. Trump didn't even bother talking about China's abuses against American manufacturing.

He secured no clear actions from China to address their funneling of chemicals that fuels America's fentanyl crisis. In other words, he says we are doing something on fentanyl. There is nothing specific--a lot of lip service. And the fentanyl that China makes--those precursor chemicals that go to Mexico and then are made into fentanyl and are flooding across our borders? There is nothing specific, nothing real-- more bunk.

Maybe, most egregiously--and this one I know many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are furious about--he is the first President in decades to walk back export controls that are vital for our national security, essentially handing China vital chips necessary for technologies like AI.

Where are our China hawks from the Republican side? I hope they are going to speak up and decry this abdication. America is handing out-- Trump is handing out--American-made technology like it is Halloween candy but straight into the hands of our biggest rival.

In the past, China has been desperate to get this technology, but now they don't have to worry--Trump is just giving it away. With these chips that China now doesn't have and can't make themselves, China will dominate AI in a few years, and it will have severe consequences for America and for the world.

When it comes to chips, Donald Trump, it is not ``America First''; for you, it is ``China First'' so you can

have some picture that celebrates a so-called agreement that actually hurts us.

America will regret the move of sending these chips to China for generations. We will come in second on AI if this continues to happen. They will set the rules of the road, and America's greatness will diminish--all because Trump wanted to claim a false victory and brag that he got a deal with Xi.

The list of Trump's capitulations to China goes on and on and on. For months, Americans have been taking it on the chin, paying higher prices for everything from appliances to Halloween candy and Halloween costumes because of Trump's disastrous trade policy. Now, looking at this agreement, it only begs the question: What was it all for?

Trump had no strategy, no planning, no strategic decision making, and his bumbling has only emboldened President Xi, who must be laughing all the way back to Beijing. You flatter Trump with a few words, and he gives away things that America desperately needs.

When it matters most, when Trump comes face to face with autocrats and dictators, the American people know Donald Trump is all talk and no strength.

I yield the floor.

Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 1014 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 to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the rule and of the underlying legislation.

This morning, the Rules Committee met and produced a rule, House Resolution 1014, providing for consideration of H.R. 7147 and H.R. 7148.

The rule provides for consideration of H.R. 7148, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, under a structured rule with two amendments made in order.

The rule further provides that H.R. 7147, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026, will be considered under a closed rule.

The rule provides each bill 1 hour of general debate divided equally between the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations or their respective designees and one motion to recommit.

Additionally, in the engrossment of H.R. 7148 after final passage in the House, the text of H.R. 7006, the Financial Services and General Government and National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2026, and H.R. 7147 will

be added to the bill. The Clerk will redesignate the sections and be authorized to make technical and conforming changes.

Mr. Speaker, with consideration of this rule and its two underlying measures, the House stands firmly upon the 1-yard line. We are, indeed, ready to move forward and complete the appropriations process. We are ready to lock in the final components of our 12 fiscal year 2026 appropriations bills.

Additionally, we are ready to further cement our long-overdue return to regular order in this legislative body. It will be a welcome return, indeed, Mr. Speaker.

Here is the simplest of truths that all of us here understand and need to be reminded of regularly: There will never be such a thing as a perfect piece of legislation or a perfect package of bills.

Perfection is a phantom. Many may seek it with the best of intentions, but in the end, it is unattainable. That is just a fact of life that we must understand.

I can imagine that there are Members who want to see more within these measures, and there are some who want to see less. Both positions are to be expected, but here is the bottom line: We should never let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

The two appropriations measures under consideration here today, as well as the ones this body has passed previously, all bear the hallmarks of the America First agenda. They meet the priorities of the President and the priorities of the American people. They make sizeable contributions to America's strong posture of defense, our Nation's systems of infrastructure, national security, and research and innovation within health.

As Chairman Cole has noted multiple times over, this process has been Member-driven and deliberate, and I wholeheartedly agree with that. I will also add that this process and the monumental victories that we have achieved thus far signal a fundamental, positive change within this legislative body, a change we should take note of and celebrate.

Let's finish out this process and deliver this final tranche of appropriations bills across the finish line.

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

Mr. Speaker, this is the most targeted process in two decades. We got the Senate to do its job. I will stack this process up against that of the Democrats when they controlled the process and let the public decide.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Webster).

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

Mr. Speaker, Democrats continue to attack ICE agents in their operations.

Instead of debating the complexities of arrest or the nuances of reasonable suspicion, Democrats are instead attacking their authority, their dignity, and their work at large. That is beyond unfortunate as ICE agents are arresting some of the worst criminals imaginable.

During the first year of the Trump administration, ICE arrested 7,000 gang members from America's streets. This includes a criminal illegal alien from Venezuela, an active gang member. The perpetrator's rap sheet includes arrests for homicide, assault, cruelty toward children, domestic violence, and damaged property. He entered the U.S. in 2022 and was released by the Biden administration. ICE arrested him on February 28, 2025, and the Trump administration removed him on September 12, 2025.

ICE arrested a criminal illegal alien from Cambodia, a Crips gang member, who was convicted of homicide, robbery, and battery. He was released into the U.S. by the Biden administration. ICE arrested him on March 4, 2025, and removed him on April 2, 2025.

ICE also arrested a criminal illegal alien from Cuba and Bloods gang member, who was convicted for multiple homicides and burglary. ICE arrested him on October 27, 2025, and removed him on January 6, 2026.

Beyond gang members, ICE has arrested some of the worst perps imaginable, including a 20-year-old citizen of Guatemala who was filming a child being raped.

Mr. Speaker, despite all of this, ICE law enforcement is facing a 1,300 percent increase in assaults against them, a 3,200 percent increase in vehicle attacks, and an 8,000 percent increase in death threats.

If Democrats want to debate the new Supreme Court interpretations of reasonable suspicion, let's do it. If they want to debate the very authorities of ICE stretching back decades over both Republican and Democrat administrations, let's do that. If they want to have concrete debates about the authorities or changes of laws, let's do that. But we should not attack the operational decisions that are directed to one goal and one goal only: keeping Americans safe and upholding our immigration laws.

We enforce our immigration laws, or they are meaningless. We either grant ICE the mission of fulfilling its mandate, or we don't. We either give them the support they need to confront, stand face-to-face, and arrest the world's worst criminals, or we don't.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Edwards).

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

Mr. Speaker, President Trump has reset our standing in the global market after decades of failed and unfair trade deals put the American economy last.

Swift and decisive action has brought scores of countries to the negotiating table and numerous new trade deals including with the U.K., the EU, Japan, Australia, Korea, El Salvador, Vietnam, Guatemala, and Malaysia, just to name a few. These trade deals will help grow the economy, protect the American workers, and reassert our global standing.

Our friends have selective memory. Let's remember: When President Biden took office about 5 years ago, he left President Trump's tariffs from his first term largely in place. We didn't hear a peep from our colleagues then. In fact, many of them advocated for keeping those tariffs and embraced the Biden decision.

President Trump is simply doubling down on that successful approach. It seems the deciding factor for Democrats' newfound opposition is grounded in Trump derangement syndrome.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Nunn).

Mr. Speaker, I also thank Mr. Salazar for his work and, actually, all the staff who work so hard around this Capitol. We are very blessed.

Mr. Speaker, I understand that Mr.--I am going to say this in a second--Mr. McGovern is ready to close, and I am ready to close. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time, and I thank the gentleman from Worcester.

Mr. Speaker, for months, bipartisan, bicameral negotiations and collaboration have been underway. They have yielded consistent, consecutive appropriations products that deliver upon the Nation's highest priorities.

I applaud Chairman Cole and Ranking Member DeLauro, as well as other appropriators, and especially their staff, for the time they have invested in these 12 appropriations bills. It is time to get them across the finish line and stamp our seal of approval on them.

In a moment, I will offer an amendment to the rule that would repeal the Senate's Arctic Frost payout provision.

The House has previously considered this under suspension by a vote of 427-0. This vote reflects a bipartisan consensus.

I cannot overstate how wholly inappropriate it was that the Senate included this provision in the continuing resolution to reopen the government late last year. We must strike down this provision immediately. American taxpayers should not be on the hook for this inappropriate payout.

Mr. Speaker, it is time to bring this process to a close. It is time that we return this legislative body to regular order and move forward with our work. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the previous question and ``yes'' on the rule.

Amendment Offered by Ms. Foxx

Mr. Speaker, I offer an amendment to the resolution.

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