Floor Statements

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

Mr. Speaker, this Congress is an absolute mess. The gentlewoman from North Carolina says that our rhetoric doesn't carry a bit of substance.

But let me begin by asking a question of the American people, a very simple question: Are you better off today than you were 1\1/2\ years ago?

It has been 18 months since Donald Trump returned to the White House. Republicans have controlled every lever of power in Washington for over 1\1/2\ years. They control the House. They control the Senate. They control the White House. They even control the Supreme Court.

That is the one simple question to me that matters more than anything else that we will debate today. In fact, it is the only thing that matters, really. Is it easier to fill up your gas tank? Are your rent bills more affordable? Are your groceries cheaper? Have your prescription medicine costs gone down? Does your paycheck go further?

In short, Mr. Speaker, has life gotten easier for anybody over these last 18 months, or has it gotten harder? I think most people, including most Republicans, if they are being honest with themselves, know the answer.

They don't need a politician or a fancy economics degree to say that things are not better. They are not better. In fact, they will tell you that things are worse--much, much worse.

They see it every time they tap their credit card at the gas station. They see it every time they check out at a grocery store. They see it every month when their rent is due, when their electric bill comes in, and when the pharmacist says that their kids' medicine is more expensive. They see it when their paycheck just doesn't go as far as it used to.

This is the Republican economy. These are their prices, and it is their policies that have failed America miserably.

Donald Trump and Republicans promised they would use their power to lower costs on day one. Well, it is year two, and costs are not lower, which by any definition would make that a broken promise.

Mr. Speaker, why are prices up? Why is life harder? Why are things worse off now? The reason is simple: It is because instead of working with Democrats to fight for everyday people, Republicans have made one decision after another to help the rich and the powerful and, basically, hurt everybody else.

I have example after example. Are things better off because of Trump's tariffs, Mr. Speaker? The tariffs the New York Federal Reserve says are almost exclusively paid by American consumers, American farmers, American manufacturers, and American companies, does that make anybody better off?

I don't think most people would say that tariffs have made their lives better. I would say that the tariffs have made their lives worse, more expensive, more difficult.

What about the war in Iran--a new, endless, illegal war, another one of Donald Trump's broken promises? Does anyone think that has made life better for the American people?

Maybe it has made life better for defense contractors. Maybe it has for the crazy neocon warmongers who get a kick out of another war, but not for everyday people.

We have spent probably well over $100 billion on this illegal and reckless war. That is $100 billion. That is not helping make sure that Americans don't go hungry. That is not lowering healthcare costs, lowering people's rents, or lowering gas prices. It is on this crazy war, a war of choice that the President had no plan for.

He doesn't know what the hell he is going to do next. This is nuts. In fact, we are now 5 months into a war that these guys said would only last a couple of weeks. They have declared victory like six times, yet the Strait of Hormuz is still closed. More American troops, sadly, were killed this weekend. Gas prices are back above $4 a gallon. Inflation continues to skyrocket.

Does anybody think that has made life better for most Americans? There has been 5 months of war in the Middle East. I can go right down the line.

Republicans promised better healthcare. Instead, they passed a law that takes hundreds of billions of dollars out of Medicaid and leaves millions more people uninsured. How the hell does that make anybody's life better?

Republicans promised lower taxes, except they chose another tax giveaway for those at the very top, and they pat themselves on the back for the pennies they gave to everyone else. Has that made life better for people?

After 18 months of higher costs, more inflation, new wars, costly tariffs, and stunning, stunning corruption, now they are bringing us a continuing resolution that kicks the can down the road.

They are bringing us a pathetic excuse of a stock trading ban that fails to address the much larger culture of corruption and self-dealing coming out of the White House, and they are bringing us a budget framework authorizing $73 billion for Trump's illegal Iran war, $12 billion as a Band-Aid to help farmers that their policies continue to hurt, and another $10 billion to rig the November elections.

That is nearly $100 billion in new spending with no offsets, meaning this bill could very well increase the debt by over $100 billion. Whatever happened to the old-fashioned Republicans who wanted to pay for things, who didn't want to increase the deficit or the debt? I guess that is a thing of the past.

Not one thing in this reconciliation bill, by the way--not a single damned thing--will be about affordability. Not one thing will lower prices. That is called being out of touch, Mr. Speaker.

There will be time to debate their crummy bills on the floor this week, but this hour is about priorities, and Republicans have their priorities all out of whack. Their agenda has only made things better for those at the top, for the Mar-a-Lago members and CEOs with private jets, the donor class and the corporate special interests. Things are better for them, but for the rest of America, their agenda has been a disaster.

The policies of this Republican Congress are a dumpster fire for everyday people, a total disaster. Their tariffs are crushing people. Their war is driving up costs. Their toxic environmental policies are filling our air with smoke and our food with parasites, and Americans are dying in the Middle East for their war.

Again, Mr. Speaker, when I go back home and I ask people if they are better off than they were 18 months ago, they don't even answer. They laugh because it is such a ridiculous question. It is so obvious that all of us are worse off because of this Republican majority and because of this administration,

which cares only about not hurting the President's fragile feelings and delicate ego.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am a little confused. The gentleman who just spoke maybe doesn't know this, but the government funding deadline isn't for months away, and he is scolding us as if it is now.

I am going to tell you what the crisis is right now. It is that people can't afford to live.

The gentlewoman from North Carolina said that our priority is about national security and national defense. I have news for her. National security means more than the number of bombs we have.

It also means healthcare for people. It means whether people can afford food, whether they can afford rent, whether they can afford to put gas in the tank of their car or pay their everyday bills, and whether they have a good job that allows them to support their family. Those are all sources of our national defense and our national security.

I will just say one other thing. I don't know how the hell our national defense and national security are served when the President takes us into an illegal, risky war in the Middle East, a war of choice, that he has no plan for.

Our troops are being put into harm's way, and this President has no plan about how to conduct this war or what the heck he is doing there. That is not national security.

Mr. Speaker, I urge that we defeat the previous question. If we do that, I will offer an amendment to the rule to make in order an amendment to H.R. 7008 consisting of the text of H.R. 6731, the Restore Trust in Government Act.

This bill is the Democratic proposal for a more comprehensive and robust stock trading ban than is found in the Republican plan. It is one which also includes the President of the United States and the Vice President.

There is a level of corruption that we have never ever seen in the White House. What is the response from our Republican colleagues? Silence. They are scared of the guy in the White House. They won't challenge this corruption, so he makes billions and billions of dollars while hardworking Americans struggle.

Mr. Speaker, in the first year of his term, President Trump cashed in to the tune of more than $2 billion--billion with a b.

In 2025 alone, the President completed over 21,000 stock trades. His investment accounts grew by over $850 million. He tweets out glowing endorsements of companies after he buys their stocks. Now, he is considering having people pay to get early access to his social media posts so they can cash in, too.

We need to ensure that people can trust their government to work for them and not enrich himself. This means banning stock ownership by Members and by this President.

That is what the Democratic proposal will do. Let the House decide and make this amendment in order. That is all we are asking, is to allow us to have this debate. You can vote however you want.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent 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, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Jayapal) to discuss our proposal.

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

Mr. Speaker, I just want to respond to the gentlewoman. I am just a little confused. I thought I heard her say that we already have laws to deal with stock insider trading. If that is the case, then why are we doing a bill to ban stock insider trading?

I mean, the bottom line is we are doing it because it is a problem, and our objection is the fact that they are basically excluding somebody who is violating the law in our face right now, blatantly, who is in the White House, who is making countless millions, if not billions, of dollars on some really shady deals. Quite frankly, it makes Richard Nixon look like a Boy Scout.

I mean, the deal is the American people are sick of it. They want us to clean up Washington. That includes Congress, and that includes the executive branch.

I just also would like to kind of highlight kind of the absurdity of all the stuff. We have six different bills that we are talking about here today, but I want to read a tweet from a Republican, Tom Massie.

He says: ``The House will pass a $12 billion bailout for farmers suffering from high fuel & fertilizer prices caused by the Iran war, expensive equipment & parts caused by tariffs, and lower sales prices for commodities due to trade disputes with China. But the GOP is fighting communism!''

The Republican leadership had a big press conference earlier today. It was all about communism, but I have to say to Mr. Massie, I don't think I have heard truer words spoken by a Republican Member of Congress. I really appreciate that, the truth, the accuracy of what the situation is.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Olszewski).

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

Mr. Speaker, you know, one of the frustrating things about kind of where we are in terms of political debate in this country is that issues that really matter to regular people are being ignored or being shoved aside because, quite frankly, Republicans don't want to do anything about it.

They know that their agenda is unpopular. They know that people are struggling with the issue of affordability. They know that people are having a tough time paying their rent, filling up their gas tanks, affording healthcare costs--I can go on and on and on--buying food, and they don't want to talk about that. They know that the American people kind of are sick and tired of what they are doing here, and so they are trying to divert attention.

I just want to address something that happened this morning, and that is the Republican leadership in this House held this wackadoodle press conference. I have never quite seen anything like it, trying to divert attention away from issues of affordability and get people to look someplace else.

Basically, the Republican Party's new favorite talking point is calling Democrats Communists. I mean, oh, my God, Mr. Speaker, I mean, really? Really? Communists? Did we accidentally step into a time machine?

I get it. I get it. They don't want to talk about the real issues, the bread-and-butter issues. They don't want to talk about affordability. I guess my question is, is Joe McCarthy back from the dead? It sounds like that is who wrote all the garbage coming from Republicans about communism. These guys dust off the same, tired, old talking points every time they are backed into a corner.

Every time a new poll comes out saying that their economic agenda sucks, what they do is they change the subject. They try to divert attention. It is pathetic. But, fine, if they want to play that game, let's play that game.

Let's talk about the Republican Party, a party that worships one man above the Constitution in a cult of personality, a party that demonizes immigrants and says they poison the blood of our country, a party that calls the free press the enemy of the people and sics the Justice Department on journalists they don't like.

It is a party that says their political opponents are internal enemies and calls them ``the enemy within.'' It is a party that is okay with invading our allies, including other democracies, and it is a party that punishes their political opponents.

It is a party that has deployed troops on our own streets, that wants to use the American military on the American people. It is a party that believes any unhinged lie, fantasy, and conspiracy theory as long as it comes from one man.

It is a party that tries to lock up Members of Congress for exercising their free speech rights. It is a party that has tried to violently overthrow the results of a free and fair election in the United States of America.

It is a party that, in fact, pardoned everyone who invaded this building on January 6, 2021, and tried to throw out the votes of millions of Americans because the President couldn't accept a loss.

How dare that party lecture anyone.

How dare they talk about communism when their own party has totally lost touch not just with the founding ideals of this country but lost touch with reality itself?

If we are going to start assigning political labels based on conduct, then let's call things by their proper names. The Republican Party has become the party of fascism, full stop. They have become a party of far-right fascists who are hell-bent on destroying our country and our way of life. Every single time they call us Communists, it is nothing more than a projection of their own radicalization. They don't want to talk about that, and they definitely don't want to talk about their higher grocery prices or skyrocketing gas prices or higher inflation or the cost of healthcare or their new endless illegal war that has now cost over $100 billion.

Instead, they scream and they yell because they have nothing else left to offer.

This would be funny, Mr. Speaker, if it weren't so pathetic and so unhinged.

Mr. Speaker, Democrats are patriots who love this country enough to fight for it. We are fighting to make it easier for people to afford groceries. We are fighting to try to make it easier for people to afford rent, prescription drugs, and healthcare. We will not be lectured by a fascist Republican Party that offers the American people nothing but lies, fear, endless culture wars, and tax breaks for billionaires.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to return to the question I asked at the start of this debate: Are Americans better off than they were 18 months ago?

Think about the family sitting at the kitchen table tonight. The rent is due. The electric bill is higher, and groceries cost more. The gas tank is on empty. A prescription is waiting at the pharmacy. Somebody is trying to figure out which bill they can put off for 1 more week.

That family does not need a lecture about how great Donald Trump is. They know what life costs, and they know it costs more--much, much more--than it did 18 months ago.

Eighteen months is long enough to judge a majority by its choices. There is a lot packed into this rule, a budget resolution, a continuing resolution, a Defense bill, a disability bill, a banking bill, a bill on Congressional stock trading, and a bill to rig the elections. I could go on and on and on.

Republicans could not--could not--find a single provision for us to consider today about lowering the cost of housing, or lowering the cost of food, or lowering the cost of medicine or healthcare or electricity.

There is nothing--nothing in anything we are going to be considering does any of that or focuses on any of those issues. They have time to weaken bank oversight. They have time to combine a watered-down stock trading bill with new restrictions on voting. They have time to bring back bills that failed weeks ago. They have time to protect the President, bail out powerful special interests, and finance another endless war.

However, helping working people somehow never makes the cut. It never makes the cut.

Mr. Speaker, these bills are not just stacks of paper. They are statements on our values. They tell people who matter, who gets hurt, who gets helped, and who are expected to fend for themselves.

The answer from MAGA has been painfully clear, Mr. Speaker: The greedy get protected. The well-connected get rewarded, and everyone else gets told: Sorry, maybe next time.

Again, I ask: Are Americans better off?

The answer is ``no.''

Do the measures in this rule lower their costs, improve their healthcare, make them safer, or give them greater peace of mind?

The answer is absolutely ``no.'' Nothing does that.

We will hear talks about socialism and communism and all this other stuff to get people to not focus in on the fact that they are getting screwed over.

The American people deserve more than excuses. They deserve more than distractions. They deserve more than another blank check for the people on top from this failed Republican majority. They deserve a government that is on their side. They deserve a government that is on their side, and that is not what they are getting here.

Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on this rule.

We have to do better. We have to do better. The American people are hurting, and my friends on the other side of the aisle behave like everything is just fine and nobody is noticing.

Go and do in-person townhalls in your districts, I would say to all my colleagues who are listening, and you will get an earful. People have had it. They are fed up with the corruption in Washington. They are fed up with the policies that reward the well-off and well- connected. They are tired of getting screwed over.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, when schools are closed for the summer, far too many kids in America go hungry because they don't have access to nutritious breakfasts or lunches.

That is where the incredible Summer Eats program comes in. Funded by USDA and in partnership with States, local schools, and community organizations, Summer Eats provides free, nutritious summer meals to kids across the country.

Last week, I joined Project Bread on a visit to Summer Eats programs in Leominster and Turners Falls, two communities in my district. I was able to talk with young children and teens who told me they loved the meals and enjoyed the ability to spend time with their friends while school was out of session.

I thank the Spanish American Center and the Gill-Montague School District for sponsoring these successful sites.

Mr. Speaker, even with important programs like Summer Eats, 14 million kids in the United States of America, the richest country in the history of the world, are food insecure. We have

to reject Republican cuts to nutrition programs and invest more in programs like Summer Eats, which help to improve health and end hunger now.

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

Mr. Speaker, to all my friends on the other side who have held this floor hostage for weeks on end, let me save them the suspense: Nothing changes with this rule.

There is nothing in this rule that forces the Senate to take up the awful SAVE America Act. Nothing. The majority is simply attaching the SAVE America Act on to an unrelated State Department funding bill and sending it across the Capitol. The Senate can and will strip it right back out. Everybody here knows that.

The fact of the matter is that the SAVE Act is never going to become law because even Republicans know it is a disaster that will make it more difficult, if not impossible, for American citizens to vote.

What Republicans are doing here with this procedural move is not some master strategy. It is merely political theater, designed to settle another Republican family feud. If that is enough to flip Members who have held up business for weeks, boy, they are cheap dates.

What this rule does is bring to the floor four bills.

The first would make daylight saving time permanent. Look, everybody has an opinion about changing the clocks. I actually support this bill, but for folks getting crushed by rent, groceries, utility bills, and healthcare costs, is this really the best the majority can do? Is this really the most pressing issue before the American people at this moment?

Then, there are three bills Republicans tried to bring up weeks ago, before their own chaos brought the House to a standstill.

One is the Department of State funding bill that cuts funding for American diplomacy and foreign assistance.

Another would block the use of a merchant code for gun stores, making it harder to flag suspicious purchasing patterns.

Then, there is the so-called Take Care of America's Veterans Act. That title is doing a lot of work. That bill expands some benefits by putting the disability compensation of future veterans on the chopping block, particularly veterans suffering from tinnitus and sleep apnea.

In other words--get this--Republicans want disabled veterans to pick up the tab for other veterans' benefits. That is just plain wrong. How hard is it to understand that we shouldn't rob Private Peter to pay Sergeant Paul?

The Veterans of Foreign Wars agrees. They were in the Committee on Rules last night. The VFW strongly opposes this bill on behalf of the veterans it represents, and it published a political cartoon to protest the cuts. What did the Republican chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs do? He and other Republican Members sent a letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs, asking the agency to review the VFW's accreditation. That accreditation is what allows the VFW to represent veterans before the VA and help them navigate the benefits system.

Disagree with the cartoon, fine, say so, but do not use the Federal Government to threaten the VFW's ability to help hundreds of thousands of vets. That sure as hell looks like retaliation to me.

Veterans fought for the right to speak their minds. They should not be threatened by their own government for exercising it, but this is what happens when a majority becomes completely consumed by its own dysfunction.

Meanwhile, Americans are working hard. They are doing everything they have been told that they are supposed to do. Yet, somehow, they can't get ahead. What is this Republican majority doing about any of it? Next to nothing.

One of the bipartisan things that we actually did do to try and bring down housing costs, Donald Trump refused to sign it. He let it become law without his signature because he was angry that the Senate had not passed his voter suppression bill.

I mean, imagine that. Think about how screwed up all of that is. Families cannot afford to buy a home, rents keep climbing, and the President of the United States used a bipartisan housing bill as leverage in his fight over election lies.

That tells us everything we need to know about this party's priorities. They will move heaven and Earth to protect Donald Trump's political power, but when it comes to making life more affordable for regular people, suddenly, they can't find the time. They can't be bothered.

Republicans control the House. They control the Senate. They control the White House. They control the Supreme Court. They still can barely keep the House floor open long enough to do the people's work.

Mr. Speaker, the American people deserve a hell of a lot better than this chaos, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, let me just respond to the gentleman by saying that whatever good is in this veterans bill is offset by the bad. Basically, they are saying we are providing veterans' benefits by cutting other veterans' benefits. I mean, this is a shell game.

That is why the VFW is furious, why they are pissed over this bill, why they have told their membership to contact Members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, to oppose it.

If this were a tax cut for billionaires, my Republican friends don't care about an offset. If it is an illegal war in Iran, they don't care about offsets. When it comes to providing veterans' benefits, all of a sudden, we have to find offsets. Those offsets that they have found to pay for this are by cutting other veterans' benefits. That is unconscionable. That is wrong, and everybody should vote ``no'' on that bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Dean).

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

Mr. Speaker, I ask that we defeat the previous question. If we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to allow the House to take an up-or-down vote on an amendment to H.R. 8595, sponsored by Representative Schrier, which would reverse the cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that were imposed by the Trump administration that could have prevented the ongoing outbreak of cyclospora, a parasite that has already infected thousands of Americans.

Last year, the Trump administration began illegally defunding Federal health and science agencies, firing scientists and researchers, and cutting programs that keep us healthy and safe.

One of the programs that Trump cut was called FoodNet, and it helped Federal and State public officials monitor and prevent outbreaks for eight different foodborne illnesses, including cyclospora. Yet, after Trump and his DOGE goons got their hands on this lifesaving program, the government stopped monitoring cyclospora.

That was stupid. It was dumb. Our country is now experiencing a full- blown outbreak of, you guessed it, cyclospora.

For the sake of everyone's health, I urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question so we can reverse these dangerous cuts.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent 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, to discuss our proposal, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Schrier).

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

If there were people watching these proceedings and listening to my Republican friends, they may conclude that they sound a little defensive because they are, and they should be, especially on these veterans issues.

The bottom line is that the VFW, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, strongly opposes the disability benefit cuts that are included in the proposed Take Care of America's Veterans Act.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record the entire statement of the VFW and their strong, strong opposition to these cuts.

Mr. Speaker, I trust the VFW more than I trust the Republican millionaires' club that basically populate the United States Congress on their side in this Chamber. The VFW is saying we can do these benefits without punishing other veterans.

I find it amusing because the gentlewoman says we need to find offsets. Well, she voted basically to increase the debt by $4.7 trillion in the big, ugly bill, adding $4.7 trillion to the debt.

Included in that, by the way, is $70 billion, again, unpaid for, for ICE and CBP. Again, they have no problem with doing that. They have no problem with tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires and now America's trillionaire, and no problem with tax cuts for them that are not paid for, but when it comes to providing veterans' benefits, all of a sudden they have a problem?

By the way, just for the record, there is a discharge petition that has been filed to basically bring the Major Richard Star Act to the floor without cutting other benefits for veterans. Every Democrat is on that, every Democrat. We can bring this to the floor. We can have this debate. We can vote on providing veterans additional benefits without cutting other veterans' benefits. That is the choice.

When I hear these speeches about, oh, we really are doing all that we can, and we are on the side of veterans, again, the VFW opposes this strongly. They showed up in the Rules Committee, filled up the Rules Committee hearing room yesterday to show their protest, their outrage, over what Republicans were doing.

Republicans don't have to do this. Republicans could provide veterans with the benefits they need without robbing other benefits that veterans need. It is that simple.

This is outrageous. This is outrageous what is going on, and people should not be fooled.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Scanlon), a distinguished member of the Rules Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania.

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

I am glad the gentlewoman decided to go down this pathway because it is not only the Veterans of Foreign Wars that oppose this, but the Disabled American Veterans, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the Hispanic Veterans Leadership Alliance, the Black Veterans Project, Reserve Organization of America, Veterans Education Success, Student Veterans of America, Marine Corps League, Marine Corps Reserve Association, Minority Veterans of America, Common Defense, Vet Voice Foundation, National Security Leaders for America, Swords to Plowshares, The Chamberlain Network, Unite for Veterans Coalition, Veterans for Common Sense, Veterans for Responsible Leadership. I could go on and on and on.

The gentlewoman began by mentioning The American Legion. She may not know this, but as we speak, The American Legion in Texas, representing one of the largest memberships of The American Legion, has come out against this bill and is urging The American Legion nationally to now follow its lead and come out against this bill.

The bottom line is, the more veterans' organizations know that they are getting screwed, the more and more they are coming out against this bill. They are in favor of the Major Richard Star bill, which would provide and expand veterans' benefits without taking away other veterans' benefits. It is that simple.

This is a bad bill and, quite frankly, the more people realize what is in this bill, the more they realize the cuts in this bill that will adversely affect the veterans' community, the more and more people will come out against this.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Landsman).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio.

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time remaining.

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

Mr. Speaker, this debate has made one thing very clear. Republicans are not the victims of this chaos. They are the perpetrators of this chaos. There is only one party that controls this floor and all three branches of government. Republicans set the agenda. Republicans write these awful rules. Republicans control the schedule, and Republicans have chosen to spend week after week fighting with one another while regular working people are getting squeezed.

News flash to my Republican colleagues: The American people know the difference between working and pretending to work. They know that passing the same voter suppression bill again and again will not lower their rent. They know that stapling the SAVE Act onto yet another piece of legislation will not bring down the price of groceries. They know that threatening the VFW will not improve veterans' care. They know that changing or not changing the clocks will not change what is in their bank account.

Mr. Speaker, if Democrats were in the majority, we would begin every day with one simple question: How do we make life more affordable for working people in this country?

We would work to build more housing. We would work to lower rents and stop giant Wall Street firms from bidding families out of the market.

We would take on corporate consolidation and price gouging that are driving up the cost of food.

We would lower health insurance premiums and prescription drug prices instead of ripping coverage away to pay for more billionaire tax breaks.

We would make childcare more affordable. We would lower utility bills and end these stupid tariff taxes that show up in the price of nearly everything that people buy.

In addition, we would stay here and we would keep working until the job was done.

Now, I am not saying that every problem would be solved overnight, but we would put real solutions on this floor. We would allow debate. I mean, we don't debate anything anymore. Most of the bills that come to this floor are completely closed, where nobody can offer an amendment, take it or leave it.

I mean, you know, and when something did not pass, we would keep trying. We would keep trying until we got it right, until we helped people in this country. I mean, that is our job. That's what we are supposed to do.

When it comes to veterans, Democrats would fund the benefits that these veterans earned. We would not pit one generation of disabled veterans against another, and that is what my Republican colleagues are doing.

It is really not only frustrating; it is unconscionable. That should not be a partisan statement, by the way, in terms of helping our veterans. That is basic decency.

The American people deserve a Congress that is focused on affordability, not on Donald Trump's long list of petty grievances and attempts to rehash old conspiracy theories from 6 years ago. They deserve a majority that understands that power is not about controlling the floor. It is about using the floor to help people, to improve the quality of life for the people that we represent.

Republicans have had their chance. They blew it. They have wasted it.

I urge my colleagues, vote ``no'' on the previous question. Vote ``no'' on this rule. Let us end the chaos and get back to work for the American people.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, WIC provides pregnant and postpartum moms and their babies with healthy food. It increases nutrition, reduces premature births, and improves access to healthcare for moms and babies.

That is why, Mr. Speaker, I find it unconscionable that Republicans in this Chamber passed a bill earlier this month that slashes funding for the program by $200 million. The bill takes away money for nutritious fruits and vegetables and would force WIC providers to turn away eligible families for the first time in 30 years.

Then, 1 week later, Republicans gave $70 billion to make a slush fund for ICE and CBP. When it comes to giving $200 million, that is less than 0.1 percent of that number, to hungry kids, Republicans said that we ran out of money.

What the hell is wrong with these people, Mr. Speaker?

I thought they wanted to make America healthy again. You can't be healthy if you are hungry, Mr. Speaker, and the Republican Agriculture appropriations bill will make hunger worse.

I will fight tooth and nail for the Senate to restore the fruit and vegetable voucher and reverse these cuts to WIC. Let's work together to actually make America healthy and end hunger now.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding me the customary time, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, let me begin by asking: Do Republicans even have the votes to pass this rule? Because, if not, what on Earth are we doing here? Wasting more time?

Even your own Members are fed up, Mr. Speaker--every week wondering if someone is going to throw a fit; if Donald Trump is going to post something crazy and blow everything up; if Mike Johnson is going to bring something to the floor when he doesn't have the votes. The chaos and the dysfunction around here is unhinged.

We wasted hours and hours at the Rules Committee last week debating

and voting on a rule that never came to the floor. And for what? Because Congress passed a bipartisan housing affordability bill, and the President had a temper tantrum, refused to sign it, and derailed everything? I mean, really? And why? Because he is still busy trying to fraudulently claim that the 2020 election was stolen, and now he wants to use that as an excuse to try to rig the midterms.

Let me remind my colleagues: This is the United States of America. It is still the United States of America. We are not China, or Russia, or some two-bit dictatorship.

This is insane what is going on here. Families cannot afford rent. Folks are priced out of buying a house. Donald Trump is asked about the bipartisan housing bill yesterday, and he says: `` . . . it's so unimportant . . . `' he says: `` . . . it's so unimportant . . . `' then he says: ``I made a lot of money with housing.''

The American people are not asking whether Donald Trump made a lot of money in housing. They are asking why they cannot afford it. They are asking why his economy sucks, why their prices are going up, and nobody in this Republican administration seems to give a damn.

So, now, we are back with another rule. Maybe it passes. Maybe it doesn't. Who knows anymore. This rule includes a National Defense Authorization bill with a trillion--that is with a t--dollar price tag.

I should tell my colleagues that we already spend more on our military than the next six countries combined. It is an astronomical amount. Over another trillion dollars on our military budget? Boy, that is so wild and extravagant, even Dr. Strangelove would be impressed.

Now, Mr. Speaker, let me get this straight: Republicans want to give Donald Trump over a trillion dollars for the Pentagon? Donald Trump who started an illegal war? Donald Trump who got 13 American servicemembers killed because he started a war to distract from the Epstein files? That is who they want to give a trillion dollars to? I mean, get real.

The State and Foreign Operations bill is a mess, too. It guts all the programs that actually prevent crises before they explode. When the next war, famine, pandemic, or global breakdown knocks on our door, just remember it was Republicans who set the stage, just like they did when they cut funding for screwworm protection.

There is the Social Security disability bill that hands more authority to an administration already targeting programs that working people rely on.

Then, we get to this Republican self-esteem exercise, yet another nonbinding resolution, praising Republicans for the big, ugly bill.

Mr. Speaker, I have a secret for you. I checked with my staff. Not a single person has called my office saying: Congressman, I think Republicans should spend time congratulating themselves on a bill they passed last year that took away my healthcare and is directly responsible for raising my bills. I haven't got a single call about that.

What exactly is it that my Republican friends are congratulating themselves for anyway? You passed the big, ugly bill a year ago. Since then, gas prices have gone up. Grocery prices have gone up. There is a new war in the Middle East. Healthcare is more expensive, and fewer people have it. Child hunger has gone up. The tariffs are crushing farmers and driving up costs.

That is what you guys are doing a victory lap over? Really? I mean, really? Never have we seen so much inequality between the rich and the poor in this country. Regular people are getting screwed while the top 0.001 percent saw their incomes go up by--get this--$20 million last year.

You guys could not be more out of touch if you tried, Mr. Speaker.

There might be hours of floor debate on these crummy bills this week, but right now we are here to talk about the Republicans' agenda, their plan for the week. The truth is that their bills are just more of the same old status quo nonsense that people back home are sick and tired of.

The Republican agenda is a nightmare for this country. The American people are in an economic crisis right now. They are getting screwed by the policies of this administration. Their wallets and their pocketbooks are getting cleaned out by this President and this majority's billionaire-forced agenda.

Then, they turn on C-SPAN today--and God help them if they do--and what do they see Republicans bringing to the floor? Not a bill to help deal with rising inflation and economic uncertainty--no, no, no. Their focus this week is a resolution to congratulate themselves on a bill that they already passed last year. In case they haven't noticed, for most people, things have gotten worse since then, not better.

People are looking to this place and wondering whether anybody at all on the Republican side has any idea what their life is actually like. They believe that this Republican majority is just out of touch, out of sync with where regular people are. If people look at these awful, lousy bills, the answer is obviously no.

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

Boy, that was a good retort.

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 strike the section adding the SAVE America Act to the NDAA during engrossment.

Mr. Speaker, let me be clear. I think the SAVE Act is an awful bill. It is not about election security. It is about relitigating Donald Trump's loss in 2020--and he did lose. He lost big. It will make it harder for American citizens to vote if this SAVE Act ever becomes law.

Here is another thing that is clear to everyone, or should be. This little maneuver by the Speaker is a nothing burger. It is a shell game. It is the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain pretending to do magic. Here is the truth: The SAVE Act will not become law. Even if this rule manages to pass, the Senate will not pass an NDAA with the SAVE Act included. They have already said that, and Leader Thune, 5 days ago, already filed cloture on the Senate's own version of the NDAA without the SAVE Act.

At the end of the day, it is very simple. Republicans are using procedural tricks to try to make it harder for people to vote because they can't win elections the old-fashioned way. They can't win them fair and square. It is offensive. In the case of this MIRV scheme, it is downright stupid.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent 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, to discuss our proposal, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Alabama (Ms. Sewell), the sponsor of this amendment.

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

Mr. Speaker, I remind the gentleman and others that we already spend more than six of our nearest competitors in terms of military spending combined. We are talking about $1.5 trillion--trillion with a t--going to the defense budget this year.

I have to tell you that I really think we ought to have a debate in this Congress about the definition of national security, and I think it ought to include things like healthcare. My Republican friends cut $1 trillion from healthcare. People are losing their healthcare left and right, but if you don't have healthcare, you don't feel very secure.

The definition of national security also ought to include the quality of education we provide our young people.

It ought to include things like ending hunger in this country. We are the richest country in the history of the world, and we have 48 million Americans who don't know where their next meal is going to come from.

It ought to include housing and whether people can afford housing. We have an affordability crisis right now that we tried to address in a bipartisan way, but Donald Trump had a meltdown.

It ought to include supporting our veterans and cleaning up our environment.

It ought to include things like investing in our workforce.

All of those things are sources of our national strength that are getting shortchanged here, so forgive us if we are not getting excited about this massive increase in military spending at a time when the average American is getting screwed.

Enough. Enough.

When you go back to your districts and you talk to people in coffee shops, they are not worried about whether we are spending $900 billion or $1.5 trillion on our military spending, most of which goes to defense contractors. What they are worried about is whether they can afford their groceries, whether they can afford their rent, and whether they can afford the gas for their car.

Those are things that are real. Whether they can send their kids to college, all of those things matter.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Magaziner).

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

Mr. Speaker, I have to admit I was taken a little bit aback by the gentleman's statement earlier when he said the economy is doing ``pretty good.'' I think those are his exact words.

I am kind of stunned by that because inflation is up. The price of groceries is up. The price of gas is up. The price of housing is up. The price of everything is up. People, by every poll that has been conducted, whether it is on the left, on the right, or in the center, say the same thing: People are not satisfied with this economy. They do not think it is pretty good, no matter what their party affiliation is. They do not think it is good.

Now, maybe if you are Republican in the House of Representatives and you hang around with the Mar-a-Lago class, maybe they think it is pretty good. I mean, Elon Musk is now the first trillionaire. I guess he thinks it is pretty good.

If you are the average worker, whether it is in Massachusetts or Georgia or California or South Dakota, you don't share that view because it isn't. Things are actually pretty bad. Things are pretty bad.

The gentleman said that poor kids are not losing their SNAP benefits. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record an article titled: ``Over 700,000 Poor Kids Across 12 States Have Lost Food Aid Under Trump-GOP Budget Law.''

Mr. Speaker, this article appeared in May 2026. That number is now estimated not at 700,000 but at 800,000 in this country.

Think about it. The economy is doing pretty good, and in this country that we live in right now, the United States of America, we have close to 50 million Americans who don't know where their next meal is going to come from, who are hungry. I don't think they think the economy is pretty good. In fact, the majority of these people are working families. They are working harder than ever, but because everything is going up, they can't afford groceries.

Go to any grocery store in this country, and you will see people actually putting groceries back on the shelves because their paychecks don't stretch as far as they used to because prices are going up.

By the way, it is not just the big, ugly bill. It is the President's stupid tariff policy, which is raising prices all across this country, and the war in Iran that--I don't even know if he knows what the hell he is doing. It just goes on and on and on. Again, we are spending countless dollars on this war, again, which is resulting in energy prices going through the roof.

No, people do not think the economy is pretty good. They do not. I suspect that that is what is behind this effort by Republicans to try to rig the midterm elections, because they know that the American people are not happy with where things are.

It is not just Democrats, not just independents, but a whole bunch of Republicans. A whole bunch of Republicans are also dissatisfied.

I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to go to coffee shops, to go to diners, to go to grocery stores, and to go to VFW halls in their districts and listen to what people are saying. They are not happy. They are very concerned about the state of the economy. They are not confident that things are going to get better.

They do not think that the person running this country right now has any clue about what the reality is for working families. He lives in a different sphere altogether. He is worried about reflecting pools, building monuments in his honor, and redoing the East Wing that he said would cost nothing but is going to cost us billions when it is all said and done--cost the taxpayers billions. That is what he is consumed about.

They want a Congress and a government that cares about them.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I am not yet prepared to close, but I do want to remind the gentleman that it was the Republicans that put into this rule a bill to congratulate yourselves on the big, ugly bill, and it was the gentleman who said that people think this economy is doing pretty good, and I take issue with that.

There are people who are losing their healthcare. Republicans like to pretend that their big, ugly bill, which cut Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act by more than $1 trillion, didn't actually hurt anyone. I mean, there are lots of real stories of people being hurt.

Kathy and Jeffrey Many, who live in Brandon, Vermont, are owners of a garage door installation repair business. They said that their premium was jumping up from $625 a month to nearly $2,670 per month, and the cheapest alternative they could find was still nearly $2,000. Kathy and Jeffrey ended up dropping their coverage. The economy is not working good for them.

Eric and Lisa Frankenfeld, a chiropractor and his wife, who live in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, said their premium was set to skyrocket to $1,928 per month, up from $340 per month, so they decided to go without coverage this year. Lisa said: We are healthcare providers who cannot afford benefits. Oh, the irony.

Katelin Provost, a 37-year-old single mom and social worker from Henderson, Nevada, saw her premium jump from $85 to $750 a month. She said she would likely drop her own coverage in order to keep insurance for her 4-year-old daughter.

I mean, these are real-life stories. I can go on and on and on and read them here. The economy is not pretty good for them. The economy is lousy for them, and there is nothing that is in this rule that we will consider that will help any of them.

In fact, there is nothing that this Republican Congress has done to help any of them. Instead, you have made their lives worse. The economy is not doing pretty good. The idea that you are going to congratulate yourselves on the passage of the big, ugly bill, well, I just have a difference of opinion.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, it is rich to be lectured about healthcare from my Republican friends. Let me tell you what Democrats did with the Affordable Care Act. By passing it, it stopped health insurance companies from charging sick people more premiums than healthy people. It kept health insurance companies from denying coverage to pregnant women and people with preexisting conditions. It demanded insurance companies cover more preventive services. It allows young adults to stay on their parents' insurance until they are age 26. I could go on and on and on.

What did my Republican friends do? They cut $1 trillion from healthcare. By the way, I should remind the gentleman that Republicans control the House, Republicans control the Senate, Republicans control the White House, and healthcare prices are going through the roof under your watch.

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

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time remaining.

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

Mr. Speaker, I could go on and on about healthcare all day. I just urge those who are in the gallery and those who are watching, I mean, look at your own healthcare bills, look at your own healthcare coverage now after nearly 2 years of Republican control of the government. The bottom line is: People are losing their healthcare benefits. In this country, that is unconscionable.

Mr. Speaker, I have served here a long time, and I have seen majorities struggle before. I have seen close votes. I have seen disagreements. This is something else entirely. This is a majority that cannot function unless Donald Trump is lucid and in a good mood, and even then it is a coin flip.

I mean, Americans need cheaper housing. They need a raise. They need healthcare that doesn't break the bank. They need a government that lowers prices and brings down inflation and protects them. Instead, what they are getting is a Republican administration that raises prices, increases inflation, and protects the Epstein pedophiles.

Republicans promised they would lower prices on day one. It is now year two. They have been in complete and total control for almost 18 months. They run Washington.

If you go home and ask people in small towns, in big cities, in suburbs, in rural communities, and in States across this country how things are going with Trump and Republicans in charge, they will tell you the truth, which is that things are getting worse because Trump's economy sucks.

He swore he would end inflation--end it. Those are his words, not mine. He said he would end wars. He is starting them. He promised gas would be cheap. The national average is nearly $4 a gallon.

The only people who are doing great right now are the billionaires, and now a trillionaire, and the greedy corporations that helped Republicans get elected because that is whom they work for.

I think people are sick and tired of it. They are sick of watching Congress lurch from crisis to crisis. They are sick of Republicans spending more time managing their own egos than lowering anybody's bills.

Let me just end with this. As we celebrate our country's 250th birthday this weekend, we have so, so much to be proud of as Americans. We have so much to celebrate and be thankful for. Each new generation that has fought to expand the circle of our democracy and make real the promise of our founding has brought us closer to the dream of a more perfect Union. That is what makes America great.

I am looking forward to spending this Fourth of July with families and friends back up in Massachusetts, the birthplace of America, where our citizens came together to overthrow the most powerful army in the world and establish a government of, by, and for the people.

However, the truth is that right now too many people feel as if this country is run by, of, and for the powerful, the wealthy, and the well- connected.

Do you know what, Mr. Speaker?

They are right. People see the corruption, the greed, the self- dealing, and the self-enrichment of this President's family and his crooked administration, and they are fed up with it. I believe that patriotism means calling your country to a higher standard. Patriotism means telling the truth, Mr. Speaker, and the truth is that Americans are hurting, costs are too high, and our democracy and freedoms are under assault by an out-of-control, lawless administration run by a President who thinks he is a king.

Republicans are either too busy pledging allegiance to Trump to notice or too distracted fighting with each other to care.

We can do better than this, we should do better than this, and we must do better than this. Reject this rule. Stop acting like a cult. Let's bring back bills that actually help people, and, for God's sake, let's start acting like America.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, we have given Republicans several chances to defeat the previous question so we can kill Trump's insurrectionist slush fund. They have refused time and time again. We are giving them another chance. Let's defeat the previous question so we can consider Ranking Member Raskin's amendment to prevent taxpayer dollars from being used as a payout for anyone who assaulted a police officer on January 6.

Trump wants to turn convicted cop beaters into MAGA millionaires. It is disgusting. These aren't people who supposedly got caught up in the crowd and somehow found themselves in the Capitol. They are people who assaulted police officers, seriously injuring many of them. They pled guilty or were convicted. Donald Trump not only pardoned them, but now he wants to give them your taxpayer money, America.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to corruption coming out of this administration: a super pardon for Trump and his family, bribes to pardon well-connected fraudsters, crypto schemes, pump-and-dump stock purchases, weaponizing the Department of Justice to go after his political opponents and a sexual assault survivor, handing out massive contracts to his wealthy friends, appointing unqualified lackeys to important National Security and Department of Justice jobs, and the list goes on and on and on.

Mr. Speaker, I am ashamed at what Republicans have done to this House of Representatives. We are not debating issues on affordability. We are not debating lowering gas prices, controlling healthcare costs, or anything that matters to people. Instead, they have turned the Committee on Rules into the Protect Donald Trump Committee.

Last night in the Committee on Rules, I offered three amendments to go after this slush fund, $1.8 billion. I offered three amendments, and every single Republican, including the gentleman from New York, voted ``no.'' They voted ``no'' to allow us on the House floor to have a debate and to vote on this matter.

This is a pattern that Republicans have. Remember the Epstein files? Do you know how we ended up getting a vote on the Epstein files? It wasn't because Republicans wanted one. Democrats offered a gazillion amendments in the Committee on Rules to bring a bill to the floor to release the Epstein files, and the gentleman from New York and every Republican on the Committee on Rules voted ``no.''

It wasn't until we had a discharge petition and we forced a vote that all the sudden Republicans saw the light, and they came down here, and they voted with us. It wasn't until we had a supermajority where the President couldn't veto it that the President signed it into law, but here we are, the President still isn't releasing the files, and there is silence from the other side.

People are sick and tired of this President's corruption and his lying. They are sick and tired of Republicans going along to get along. We are talking about $1.8 billion going to cop beaters. I hope my Republican friends will vote with us and defeat the previous question and do the right thing for a change.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) for yielding me the customary time, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, this bill, effectively, lets the majority bring a bill from the Rules Committee straight to the floor in the same day, which would not normally be in order.

Mr. Speaker, what could be such an emergency that Republicans need to pass a special rule to give themselves the authority to jam through at lightning speed? Could it be affordability? No, nothing on affordability.

Could it be lower gas prices or ending the war in Iran? No, nothing there.

Could it be a bill to bring down housing or healthcare costs? Nope. Guess again.

They are passing a special rule to help them jam through billions of dollars more for ICE and CBP, what amounts to yet another blank check for agencies that have violated court orders, terrorized communities, killed American citizens in cold blood, and operated with virtually no accountability.

These agencies already got a massive payday in Trump's big, ugly bill. In fact--and get this--they have more money than they know what to do with. They still have $100 billion--billion with a b--sitting in the bank that they haven't spent yet. These are lawless agencies already flush with cash. For some reason, now Republicans are rushing to give them even more?

I mean, around here, that is what has become an emergency. It is not the cost of groceries and not the cost of gas. No. The emergency is that Donald Trump's immigration policies might have to wait for another blank check.

I mean, give me a damned break. This majority moves at lightning speed when Trump wants something. They move at lightning speed when billionaires want another tax cut. They move at lightning speed when corporate donors want another giveaway. Yet, when regular people need help, suddenly everything is impossible. Can't do it.

When families needed affordable healthcare, Republicans went home. When people demanded that the Epstein files be released, Republicans stalled, they delayed, and they obstructed. That continues.

When working people asked Congress to do something about Trump's tariffs that are driving up prices, Republicans blocked the vote. When we tried to force a debate on Trump's illegal war, Republicans tried to shut that down, too.

That is the pattern, Mr. Speaker. That is the pattern. When Trump says jump, they ask how high. Yet, when the American people ask for affordability, this place grinds to a halt.

This is about priorities, Mr. Speaker. Republicans want to hand tens of billions of dollars to lawless agencies that already have tens of billions of dollars, but they cannot find the same urgency for a mom trying to afford groceries, for a senior rationing medication, or for a family trying to keep a roof over their heads. Isn't that something?

Well, I think this is a rotten, lousy, immoral thing to jam through with same-day authority. I urge a ``no'' vote, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

It is hard to take this debate seriously. As I said, and I will say it again, and my Republican colleagues know this, you gave them a whole bunch of money in the big, ugly bill that you all celebrate.

In fact, they still have $100 billion that they haven't spent, $100 billion,

that is billion with a b. You just debated the Agriculture appropriations bill to cut WIC by $200 million. ICE and CBP still have $100 billion, and here we are with a bill to give them another $70 billion? I mean, there are countries in the world whose military budgets don't even equal what you have given ICE and CBP.

I mean, the priorities around this place are all screwed up. I mean, you talk about America First. Well, this is America last. This is America last. You are cutting programs that help feed pregnant mothers and their kids. You are cutting programs that make sure people don't go hungry and have enough to eat and enough access to nutrition. You are cutting programs that help working people. You are cutting programs that cut healthcare. Here we are, giving an additional $70 billion to agencies that already have $100 billion that they haven't spent.

Mr. Speaker, I would just simply say, my Republican friends, when you talk about America First, you are putting America last.

Your constituents are hurting. They are suffering right now. Prices have never been higher. Gas is through the roof. The cost of groceries is through the roof. The cost of everything is through the roof.

Inflation is up, and you can blame Joe Biden. He hasn't been President for a year and a half. That is the usual bs excuse we hear all the time.

The bottom line is, you are intentionally doing this. You are taking money away from people in need in this country, and you are giving it to agencies that have violated the law, that have killed American citizens, and that have not been held accountable. This is outrageous.

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

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

What we just heard is the same tired, old set of grievances and talking points that Republicans bring out here all the time because they don't have any solutions to any of the challenges.

It is the same old playbook: Prices are up, blame immigrants. Gas is up, blame immigrants. Trump starts an illegal war in Iran, blame immigrants. Greedy healthcare companies rip off people and overcharge people for their basic healthcare, let's blame immigrants. Grocery prices are up, blame immigrants.

This party has no solutions to any of the problems. It is just blame immigrants, blame Joe Biden, blame somebody else. They don't want to take any responsibility.

Here is the deal: The agencies that we are talking about have $100 billion that they have not spent--$100 billion. What could you do with $100 billion? You can help a lot of people in this country get through this lousy Trump economy, but, no, $100 billion is not enough. We have a bill to bring another $70 billion to these agencies--$170 billion.

I mean, this is crazy, Mr. Speaker. What the hell is wrong with these people, Mr. Speaker, that this is where their priorities are, putting more money into agencies that do not obey the law, that have killed American citizens, that have basically set up concentration camps in some of our States in which immigrants are being mistreated?

We have American citizens who are being picked up and detained by ICE. We all agree that if people commit crimes--I don't care whether they are an undocumented immigrant or a legal citizen. If you commit a crime, you ought to be held accountable. Nobody disagrees with that.

That is not what this is about. This is about pouring billions and billions of dollars into agencies that already have more than enough.

Where is the compassion? Where is the outrage when my friends bring an appropriations bill to the floor to cut $200 million from WIC? I mean, not a word, not a word. I mean, where is the concern about the fact that people cannot afford their groceries? Nothing. Or that people can't afford to fill up their cars with gas? Nothing. Nothing.

Blame immigrants, and then, for good measure, throw in Joe Biden. I mean, that is what we hear all the time.

Again, these agencies have $100 billion already, and we are cutting programs that help provide people with nutrition and housing. We are cutting programs to help communities rebuild their infrastructure. We are cutting moneys and programs that help people with protecting open- space land.

I should say, they are cutting, not we. We are opposing those cuts, Mr. Speaker, because we think they are immoral, and we think they are outrageous.

But here we are, moving Heaven and Earth, again, not to bring a bill to the floor to help lower costs for anybody, but bringing a bill to the floor beyond the normal process to give agencies that have $100 billion, $70 billion more. I mean, really? I mean, this is outrageous.

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

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

If we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up H.R. 8914, which prohibits the use of taxpayer money to create a slush fund to compensate January 6 rioters, MAGA sycophants, senior government officials, and members of the President or Vice President's family.

Mr. Speaker, following President Trump's settlement of his bogus lawsuit against his own IRS, he tried to commandeer nearly $1.8 billion in taxpayer funds to bankroll a slush fund for January 6 insurrectionists and other aggrieved MAGA loyalists.

After the obvious outcry at this ludicrous use of taxpayer dollars, Acting Attorney General Blanche said yesterday they weren't moving forward with this fund. Then later, the same day,

President Trump, when asked if the fund was dead or just on hold, said: ``I don't know. I don't know.''

I don't know? Really?

He also said: ``I love it. I think it's so important.''

So it is now clear that the only way to end this corrupt scheme--and it is a corrupt scheme--for good is for Congress to act.

And as the newly free-to-speak-his-mind Senate Whip Senator Cornyn said: ``The way to ensure the Trump retribution fund is more than mostly dead would be for Congress to put a stake through it.'' That is Republican Senator John Cornyn.

That is exactly what I am offering every Member of this House today, a chance to vote on if they want to kill this slush fund for good or not.

Do my Republican colleagues want millions of dollars to go to the January 6 rioters? I mean, I was here that day. Many of my Republican colleagues were here that day. I was in the Speaker's chair that day. I was the last person off the House floor. I saw those maniacs beating up cops. I will never, ever forget it.

And the fact that they have been pardoned by this President is outrageous. But the idea that they would be financially rewarded? Oh, my God, what is wrong with this place?

So with the vote we are calling for here right now, we can end this slush fund once and for all. And maybe we could take that money and put it toward issues to deal with the affordability crisis, maybe to make law-abiding Americans' lives a little bit easier.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent 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, this debate boils down to priorities. Republicans have shown that they are willing to move mountains when they want to. They can move mountains for Donald Trump. They can move mountains for billionaires. They can move mountains for corporate donors. And today, they are moving mountains to spend $70 billion more on ICE and CBP.

But for regular people, they are doing nothing. They have done nothing, and they are doing nothing. Families are getting crushed by grocery prices. Workers can't afford rent. Parents are struggling to pay for childcare. Seniors are worried about healthcare. Kids are hungry. Republicans don't care. That is the story of this majority. They have all of the urgency in the world for the worst priorities and no urgency at all for people who actually need help.

They will rush to fund agencies that separate families, that violate rights and bow down to Donald Trump's illegal orders; but they refuse to lift a finger to ease the burdens on working people. It is everything and anything for those at the top, and to hell with everyone else.

So vote ``no'' on this rule. Vote ``no'' on this blank check. These agencies already have $100 billion--$100 billion, billion with a b. They don't need an additional $70 billion. I would urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote ``no'' on these rotten priorities. Let's get back to work and do the work that the people actually sent us here to do. Let's try to do things that actually improve people's lives, not screw them over.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker. I rise today to honor Rabbi Aviva Fellman, an extraordinary spiritual leader and a beloved member of our Worcester community, as she completes her 12th year leading Congregation Beth Israel.

Rabbi Fellman arrived at Congregation Beth Israel in 2014, bringing with her a passion for teaching, and a profound commitment to building a Jewish community rooted in faith, learning, inclusion, scholarship, and justice.

During her time as Rabbi, she has led countless members of her congregation through some of the most meaningful moments in their lives. She has helped so many young people grow not only in their faith, but in their understanding of what it means to live a life of purpose, responsibility, and moral courage.

Under Rabbi Fellman's rabbinic leadership, Congregation Beth Israel has continued to be a place where people are welcomed, valued, and seen. She has worked tirelessly to break down barriers, expand inclusion, and ensure that religious spaces reflect the dignity and humanity of all God's children

But Rabbi Fellman's leadership extends far beyond the walls of Congregation Beth Israel. She is an important part of Worcester's vibrant civic and interfaith community. She mentors students through the Hillels at local schools. She regularly teaches adult courses through the community WISE program. She serves on the executive board of Worcester Interfaith. And she has been active in local efforts to end homelessness, confront racism, and address inequality in our community.

Mr. Speaker, Rabbi Fellman is an inspirational community leader, but I am also proud to call her a dear friend and mentor. On many occasions, I have turned to her for advice and guidance on difficult moral questions, and I have always been grateful for her thoughtfulness, her honesty, her integrity, and her steady sense of what is right. She does not simply teach her faith. She lives it. And all of us are better off because of her wisdom, humility, and a deep concern for social justice.

Rabbi Fellman is an incredible community leader and a person of deep faith and deep conviction. She remains intellectually curious, devoted to her faith, and committed every day to growing as a rabbi, a teacher, and a servant leader.

I congratulate Rabbi Fellman on her Bat Mitzvah year of service to Congregation Beth Israel. I look forward to all that she will continue to do for her congregation, for the Worcester community, and for all those who are fortunate enough to learn from her example.

On behalf of the United States Congress and the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I am proud to celebrate Rabbi Aviva Fellman's inspiring achievements, and I pray for her continued success at Congregation Beth Israel.

Madam Speaker, last week, I joined my colleague Congressman Bill Keating in New Bedford, Massachusetts, for the eighth stop on my End Hunger Now Massachusetts tour.

We started the day at the PACE Community Food Center, an incredible model of a food pantry, where clients can choose their own groceries and get advice from nutritionists on staff. There is dignity in food choice, even when you are poor--especially when you are poor.

We then toured the new culinary center of the New Bedford Public Schools. It is a modern, state-of-the-art kitchen, where healthy and tasty school meals are prepared daily for more than 13,000 students in and around the city.

I thank everyone who joined us on our visits, including PACE Executive Director Pam Kuechler, Jennifer Ferland and Cathy Henriques from the culinary center, New Bedford School Superintendent Andrew O'Leary, New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell, and Eos Foundation President Andrea Silbert, among others.

Madam Speaker, what I saw in New Bedford is a shining example of what dedicated people working together can do to thoughtfully, yet boldly, end hunger now.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from Indiana for yielding me the customary time, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, Republicans with a straight face come to this floor and pretend that these bills are about fraud, waste, and abuse.

What a crock that is.

I mean, you want to talk about fraud, Mr. Speaker? Let's talk about fraud. Let's talk about a President who had to pay $25 million after students got defrauded by Trump University.

Let's talk about how Trump and his family have made more than $4 billion since he became President through crypto schemes, corrupt foreign deals, self-dealing government contracts, shady real estate transactions, and pump-and-dump stock schemes.

Let's talk about the sweetheart deals, the pardons, the loopholes, the contracts, the favors, the corrupt giveaways that seem to follow this administration everywhere it goes.

If my Republican friends want to come down here and lecture America about waste, fraud, and abuse, then they should answer a very simple question: Do they support the deal that gives Donald Trump and his family blanket immunity from Federal investigation or prosecution?

Do they support what amounts to be an unlimited stack of get-out-of- jail-free cards for tax crimes, insider trading, bribes, kickbacks, sweetheart contracts, or any other crimes that could be investigated by the Federal Government?

Is their answer yes or no?

I mean, I am outraged by this, and I think it is corrupt as hell. I think the American people deserve to know why Republicans are so obsessed with attacking poor people but suddenly lose their voice when Donald Trump uses the Federal Government like his own personal protection racket.

That is not what Republicans want to talk about. Their idea of cracking down on fraud is simple: Go after people with the least so they can give more to those at the top. Go after poor families. Go after hungry kids. Go after students trying to get an education. Go after parents trying to afford childcare. Go after pregnant women who need help buying food.

That is what these bills do. That is what these bills do. So let's go through them one by one.

Their TANF bill does not help one struggling family. It gives the Trump administration more power to make the safety net harder to use and easier to weaponize.

Their childcare bill does not bring down the cost of childcare by one penny, not one. It just adds more red tape and more paperwork.

Their student aid bill does not help students. It gives more power to a Department of Education Secretary who has shown zero interest in helping students. It lets them freeze aid based on a barely tested system. And by the way, CBO says it saves taxpayers nothing, zero.

Then we have the agriculture funding bill, and this one is especially rotten. I serve on the Agriculture Committee. I represent farmers. I represent rural communities. I have spent my career fighting hunger, so I know what this bill does.

It hurts farmers. It hurts rural America, and it is a disaster for hungry families.

At the exact moment when families are getting crushed at the grocery store because Trump's economy sucks, Republicans are making it harder for them to buy food.

At the exact moment when farmers are getting squeezed by Trump's tariffs and Trump's war, Republicans are gutting the programs that support them.

At the exact moment when inflation is up and we should be talking about bringing prices down, Republicans are screwing over middle America.

Republicans promised prices would come down on day one. Do you remember that? Well, here we are a year and a half in, and everything is up. Groceries are up. Energy costs are up. Inflation is up.

Their answer to pregnant women paying higher grocery costs is to cut WIC by $200 million, to take nutrition help away from pregnant women and little kids. Who asked for that? Who asked for you to cut one of the most basic, effective, profamily programs that we have? WIC helps pregnant women stay healthy. It helps babies grow. It helps new moms. It helps them buy milk and eggs and vegetables and formula and healthy food, and Republicans want to gut it.

By the way, they want to totally decimate the fruit and veggie voucher, which since 2007 has helped make sure moms of newborns can afford to eat healthy food.

Mr. Speaker, why would you eliminate that? At a time when fruits and veggies are getting more expensive,

why would you slash a benefit to help prevent postpartum moms from being malnourished because they can't afford healthy food?

I mean, Republicans can always find money for another illegal war. They can always find money for billionaire tax breaks. They can always find money for corporate giveaways. But fruits and veggies for a pregnant or postpartum mom, formula for a baby, food for toddlers, then they have a problem?

What the hell is wrong with these people, Mr. Speaker?

I thought they wanted to Make America Healthy Again. I do, too, but here is the problem, Mr. Speaker: You can't say that you care about children's health while cutting the program that makes sure kids can eat healthy. You can't say that you care about wellness while voting for a bill that will malnourish our communities.

This bill does not stop there. It weakens support for Food for Peace, a program that feeds people facing famine around the world. It is a program that buys from American farmers. It is a program that shows the world that America can still do something decent and humane.

Why cut that? Whom does that help?

What kind of people look at hungry kids here at home, struggling farmers, and rural towns begging for investment and say: Sorry, we need the money for billionaires, for slush funds, for White House renovations, and for an illegal war?

I will ask again: What the hell is wrong with them?

Mr. Speaker, their entire agenda is about supporting those at the very top, the Mar-a-Lago class, and the hell with everyone else.

This rule deserves a ``no'' vote, and this cruel, upside-down agenda deserves to be rejected.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to respond to the gentlewoman's comments about WIC. It is really hard for me to believe that I am hearing Republicans speak in the way they are.

Let me begin with a basic lesson in economics. First of all, Mr. Speaker, USDA's April 2026 Food Price Outlook makes it clear that prices are not down, they are up. They are skyrocketing. Food prices are up 2.7 percent from last year. Restaurant prices are up 3.8 percent. Beef and veal prices are up over 12 percent. Fresh vegetables are up 7.5 percent. Nonalcoholic beverages are up 4.7 percent, and grocery prices, overall, have gone way up.

These are not my talking points. These are not Democratic talking points. These are the Trump administration's own numbers. After 16 months of total Republican control of Washington, of everything, you control the House, you control the Senate, and you control the White House, these guys passed tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires. They imposed the tariffs which are one of the reasons why food prices are going up. They started a war that is driving up food and gas prices.

While they tried to put a good face on all of this, the bottom line is they are at fault here.

Pregnant moms' groceries are going up. The food that they need for themselves and for their babies are not going down. They are going up.

By the way, hunger, I should point out to the gentlewoman, is getting worse in this country. It is getting worse. Mr. Speaker, 48 million Americans are food insecure, including 14 million kids. That is what Republican economic policies have done. It is a national catastrophe, and this Republican Congress is doing everything it can to make hunger even worse.

Let me just say this: WIC helps pregnant women. It helps postpartum moms and babies eat nutritious food. It used to be bipartisan. Even the MAHA report talked about the health benefits of the program, and WIC participation has been steadily increasing.

Now, to the gentlewoman's point, there was a slight dip in participation thanks to the Republican government shutdown. If my friends did their homework and did their research and cared about facts, then they would know that. However, the National WIC Association, the voice of 12,000 service providers across the country, have scientific modeling that tells us that participation is expected to continue climbing.

It makes sense. It makes sense given the fact that food prices are going through the roof. People can't afford their basic necessities. We have been in situations in the past where WIC almost ran out of money. Providers, States, and families were scrambling. New moms were worried that their toddlers wouldn't have access to food. I don't think it is a radical idea to want to make sure that the program is fully funded.

This is also something the gentlewoman hasn't responded to, can somebody explain to me why Republicans are cutting the fruit and vegetable benefit that used to be in this bill? What sense does that make?

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I will respond to the gentlewoman with regard to her last comment. Rather than respond substantively to a single thing that I said about Republicans cutting the WIC program, Women, Infants, and Children, that is in the name of the program, rather than responding to why Republicans are cutting the food and veggie program, she responds with a dig at trans people, and that is the Republican Conference in a nutshell. It really is.

We want to fight hunger. They want to fight culture wars. That is the difference here. This bill is an attack on the most vulnerable people in this country. For the life of me, I just don't understand where they are coming from. Their arguments just take my breath away. They waste time on culture wars, but they don't give a damn about the fact that there are 48 million people in this country who are hungry, that there are millions and millions of children in this country who are hungry.

I am telling you, by cutting these programs, you are not saving any money. You are creating more problems. If programs like WIC get cut and other nutrition programs get cut, then people can look forward to a life with a whole myriad of healthcare problems that are going to be very costly. You guys are something else.

Mr. Speaker, I urge that we defeat the previous question. If we do, I am going to offer an amendment to the rule to bring up H.R. 8914, which prohibits the use of taxpayer money to create a slush fund to compensate January 6 rioters, MAGA sycophants, senior government officials, and members of the President or Vice President's family.

Mr. Speaker, following President Trump's settlement of his bogus lawsuit against his own IRS, he tried to commandeer nearly $1.8 billion in taxpayer funds to bankroll a slush fund for the January 6 insurrectionists and other aggrieved MAGA loyalists.

After the obvious outcry at this ludicrous use of taxpayer dollars, Acting Attorney General Blanche said yesterday that they weren't moving forward with the fund.

Mr. Speaker, that isn't good enough.

Why? Because no one believes them. I wouldn't trust the Acting Attorney General to tell me the correct time. Even the people who stand to benefit from their roles on January 6 don't believe them.

Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys who was convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role on January 6, told a reporter: ``This isn't an abandonment. . . . I believe even if this fund is killed in courts or at a congressional level, the President will find a way.''

Senator Lindsey Graham, who earlier this year already tried to get millions of taxpayer dollars as payment for the government lawfully subpoenaing his cell phone data, said of Acting Attorney General Blanche's reversal on the fund: ``While I appreciate Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's statement . . . I am still of the firm belief that there are many victims.'' He then went on to argue for the formation of a new taxpayer fund. Just replace the paused corrupt fund with a new corrupt fund. That is what the Republicans are arguing. You can't make this stuff up.

Mr. Speaker, it is clear that this corrupt fund is not dead, no matter what the Acting Attorney General says. The only way to ensure that this self-dealing taxpayer funded payoff for cop beaters doesn't move forward is to do what the newly free-to-speak-his-mind Senate Republican Whip, Senator Cornyn, said: ``The way to ensure the Trump retribution fund is more than mostly dead would be for Congress to put a stake through it.''

That is exactly what I am offering every Member of this House today: a chance to vote on if they want to kill this slush fund for good or not.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent 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, to discuss our proposal, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Arizona (Ms. Ansari).

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

Mr. Speaker, it is hard to listen to all this. Food prices are going through the roof, and my Republican friends are arguing that we need to reduce a benefit or cut back on a fruit and veggie voucher. Really?

Mr. Speaker, I will get to another matter. I had just talked about the corrupt January 6 payoff fund and taxpayer money going to people that beat cops. That is sick. It is disgusting.

Now let me talk about the other half of the corrupt deal that I mentioned.

Yesterday, the Acting Attorney General of the United States said that the fund was not going forward. I guess we are just supposed to take his word on that. But he also indicated that the other nefarious part of the deal is still going forward.

Tucked into this agreement that Trump hopes you will not notice is a get-out-of-jail-free card for him and his entire family.

I mean, it is right here. Donald Trump, with the help of his personal criminal defense attorney turned Acting Attorney General Blanche, has drafted a separate agreement granting himself, his family, and his businesses full immunity from any violations of Federal law, criminal, civil, or administrative.

Even if this corrupt settlement fund is killed--which I hope we will vote to kill it--the President, negotiating with his own administration, secured a settlement agreement that grants him, his family, and their businesses full immunity. It is unprecedented. It is stunning, and a brazen level of corruption in self-dealing.

For my Republican colleagues who are upset about the fund, are you not equally upset by this attempt to put himself above the law? This amounts to granting himself a super pardon. It means he and his family are free to do any activity they please without the possibility of legal consequences.

Now, let me just read a bit of what this agreement says. The entire Federal Government is: forever barred and precluded from prosecuting or pursuing any pending claims, whether presently known or unknown, against Trump, his family members, and businesses, or collecting any taxes, fines, or other payments due to the U.S. government.

Now, Mr. Speaker, do you realize what this means? It means the Trumps and their businesses are not only shielded from enforcement of any taxes that they might have dodged, or enforcement of any fines or payments they may owe to the government, but from any and all consequences for violating any Federal crimes or civil law. That means that Trump and his family get an unlimited number of get-out-of-jail- free cards for any civil or criminal violations that could be investigated and prosecuted by the Federal Government.

Now, here are a couple of examples of what Trump could be shielding himself from: one, any liability for insider trading or prediction markets, like Kalshi or Polymarket, that Donald Trump Jr. or any other Trump may be involved with; any bribes or kickbacks paid by Jared Kushner, or any other Trump family member, to the Saudi royal family; any allegations of sexual assault by Donald Trump revealed in the Epstein files, he is protected on that; any secret, no-bid contracts Donald Trump Jr., or any other Trump, steered toward companies he has invested in, hundreds of individual stock trades by Trump or any of his family members or businesses that look like insider trading; and the $100 million comprehensive tax audit that Trump has been fighting since 2010.

If this settlement fund was bad, then this is even worse. Every American should know what the President is trying to do, which is trying to put himself above the law.

I remind my Republican colleagues--and I will remind everybody who is paying attention to this--Donald Trump is the President. He is not a king. He is not above the law. Every Member of Congress has a duty to stand up and denounce this corrupt scheme.

We are talking about fraud here today. What do you call this? What do you call this? The silence by my Republican colleagues, the going along to get along that my Republican colleagues demonstrate each and every day on this kind of garbage, that is complicity. That is complicity, and it is wrong.

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

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

Oh my God, Mr. Speaker, I don't even know how to respond to all of that.

First of all, let me just set the record straight. The gentlewoman said neither myself or anybody on the Democratic side was critical when Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter. That is just not true. I have an article here that says: ``Rep. Jim McGovern Criticizes Hunter Biden Pardon, Disappointed President Didn't Honor Pledge.''

So what she just said is just factually incorrect.

Secondly, Mr. Speaker, I am listening to the gentlewoman defend the corruption in the White House, and it is stunning to me. I feel like maybe Todd Blanche wrote those talking points, because that is what I would expect to hear from the Acting Attorney General.

For the record, let's just set the record straight. Remember, Donald Trump sued a government that he runs for $10 billion for leaking information when he was in charge of the same government, with the leaked documents being tax returns, by the way, that every single modern President has released on their own. He promised he would release them. He didn't release them. He won't release them. Why? That is a good question. But every other President not only released them, but we expected them to. Again, what he is complaining about happened under his watch.

The gentlewoman also said that Trump lost a lot of money.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record an excerpt from an article in The New Yorker titled: ``Trump's Profiteering Hits $4 Billion.''

He has made billions since he has been in the White House. I don't know what the hell she is talking about.

Mr. Speaker, I also ask unanimous consent to include in the Record an article from Forbes titled: ``Here Are Donald Trump's 10 Best Stock Trades of 2026.''

Boy, I wonder what that is all about.

Mr. Speaker, when we talk about fraud and corruption, Donald Trump has pardoned or issued commutations for 21 people convicted of healthcare fraud at the same time that my Republican friends voted for giving tax breaks to billionaires.

Philip Esformes, convicted of a $1.3 billion Medicare fraud scheme, one of the largest healthcare fraud schemes charged by the Department of Justice, Donald Trump pardoned him.

Judith Negron, convicted of orchestrating $205 million in terms of a Medicare fraud scheme involving assisted living facilities, she has been pardoned.

Jon Michael Harder, convicted of defrauding people of $120 million in investments through his senior housing and assisted living facilities, he has been pardoned.

I can go right down the list of all of these people that have been pardoned.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record all of the rich and connected fraudsters that have been pardoned by this President.

Mr. Speaker, this is the most absurdly corrupt and morally bankrupt administration in our history. To hear my Republican friends defend what is happening, to defend the fraud and the corruption that is right out in the open, is pathetic.

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

Mr. Speaker, I was hoping the gentlewoman would respond to some of my concerns, or maybe engage in debate, or give me some hope that Republicans actually are upset about what is happening right now with all the corruption and the fraud.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, this is not complicated. People are hurting. They are hurting because of Trump's inflation. They are hurting because of Trump's tariffs. They are hurting because of Trump's illegal war. They are hurting because of Trump's failed economic policies that are driving costs up and up and up.

Instead of doing something--anything--to help bring down costs, they are doubling down on the cruelty. They are literally going after pregnant moms and newborns. Literally, they are taking food out of the mouths of hungry kids.

What kind of mean, rotten, awful people do things like that? I can't believe it. It takes my breath away, Mr. Speaker.

They talk about fraud. They talk about waste. They talk about abuse. What a bunch of baloney.

Why don't they start with the billionaires writing their own tax breaks into the tax code.

Why don't they start with giant corporations ripping people off.

Why don't they start with the sweetheart deals, the no-bid contracts, the tax loopholes, or the people cashing in on the chaos.

Why don't they start with the blanket immunity for Donald Trump and his family with the possibility of tax crimes, insider trading, bribes, kickbacks, contracts for companies that Trump's family maybe invested in or anything else that Federal law enforcement might have a reason to investigate.

No, no. Republicans here in Washington, they go after hungry kids. They demonize poor people. They go after pregnant moms. They go after the families struggling to survive.

Mr. Speaker, this is wrong. It is morally bankrupt, and people see it.

They see Republicans talk about health while cutting nutrition.

They see Republicans talk about the deficit while handing out favors to the rich.

They see the grift, and they are sick of it. They are sick and tired of it.

They see that Democrats actually believe in something different. Maybe my Republican friends think we are radical. I don't think it is radical to believe people should be able to afford a decent life. I don't think it is radical to believe parents should be able to afford formula. I don't think it is radical to believe that no child in America, the richest country in the history of the world, should go hungry.

What I think is radical is that the far right, radical MAGA extremists who run this place can find endless money for wars, for billionaires, and for corporate tax giveaways while they steal from new moms and kids who are struggling to eat.

Mr. Speaker, I don't know what is going on in this Chamber, but where is our humanity? Where is our commitment to helping uplift people who are struggling? I say to my Republican colleagues: Where is your heart?

People are looking to us for help during these very difficult economic times, and what they are getting is all the garbage that my friends are bringing to the floor, stuff that does nothing to improve anybody's life.

You want to talk about fraud and you want to talk about corruption? I just gave you a boatload of facts and figures for you to go after.

Instead, when it comes to the Trump White House: Oh, hands off. We are

going to give him immunity, not only for past activity but for anything he does in the future.

Again, nobody, no citizen gets that kind of treatment. Again, he is the President, not the king, and people in this Chamber have to start recognizing that fact. Nobody in this country, even the President of the United States, is above the law.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, as the ranking member of the Rules Committee, what just unfolded in this House makes me sad for this institution.

It is never okay to attack the integrity or character of another Member on the floor. These are serious issues that we are debating here today, and they deserve serious debate. I understand that people have different points of view, but we need to uphold the decorum and the decency of this Chamber. We need to do better.

The fact of the matter is that many of us who are here today are here because we are deeply concerned that Lebanon is suffering a humanitarian crisis. It may seem far away. It may not be in the news every day, but it matters.

Mr. Speaker, 1.3 million human beings have been displaced across Lebanon. That is nearly double the population of my district in Massachusetts.

More than 200 Lebanese kids have been killed--children--children. There were just over 200 kids enrolled at Burncoat Street Preparatory School, where I went to school in Worcester.

I get it. The world is chaotic and a dangerous place, but if we don't stand up for the principles of basic human rights, then as a country, we stand for nothing. There just doesn't seem to be any concern about civilian casualties, wherever they occur.

I oppose violent attacks against people of Lebanon, civilians of Lebanon, against civilians in Israel, against civilians in Gaza. I mean, I detest violence. We all should. We should be leading efforts for peace, not contributing to war and civil unrest.

We ought not to be writing blank checks, one after another, to Mr. Netanyahu, and he is using these funds for these strikes in Lebanon. We bear some of the responsibility for this suffering.

Don't we owe the Lebanese people every ounce of effort we can to end the hostilities? Don't we owe the American people our commitment not to use their hard-earned money in the service of war crimes? Where is our humanity?

The United States gives Netanyahu billions of dollars in military aid every year. Our militaries share intelligence. Reports suggest President Trump has green-lit specific Israeli strikes in Lebanon.

Our support empowers and prolongs the displacement, the occupation, and the bombing of civilians. We cannot look away. If we do not take a stand now, it will forever be a stain on our conscience and our country.

I am tired of all of these endless wars. I am tired of all of the money that we divert from our people here at home, sending it halfway around the world to support conflicts and to support tyrants and dictators who don't care about human rights. It undermines our stability, and it undermines our national security.

Human rights watchers called on allies of the warring parties to pressure them to abide by the laws of war and protect civilians. We must answer that call.

This is a serious matter. This is about basic, fundamental human rights.