Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to share the story of Noah Joyce-Anderson from Chicopee, Massachusetts.

Noah is a Black, trans veteran who served as a specialist in the U.S. Army Reserve from 2010 to 2015. In January of this year, Noah traveled to Minneapolis to assist protesters standing up to ICE's enforcement operations as a medic.

While at a protest outside the Whipple Building on January 30, 2026, Noah and a fellow veteran were tackled to the ground. Noah was charged with obstruction of legal process, with the bail set at $500. During booking, a clerk told Noah that there were no charges, and they would likely remain in custody through the weekend.

While in custody, Noah received only one of their nine daily medications. They were placed on suicide watch, given a soiled mattress, and put in unsanitary conditions. Previously, they had been left naked for an indeterminate period of time. A veterans group posted bail a day later, and Noah was able to walk free.

Noah is still struggling with a head injury and is being treated for back pain, muscle spasms, and post-concussive symptoms. Noah is also still unsure of the status of the charges. Hennepin County has not even confirmed whether Noah will be charged with a crime.

Noah is a veteran who went to Minneapolis to help protect peaceful protesters. I commend Noah for having the courage to do what is right, and I share Noah's story to shine a light on some of the realities of this administration's cruel immigration enforcement. I also recognize the selfless actions of those who are standing up for what is right.

Despite the violence so many in our communities have experienced, they have shown up. They are doing the good and decent thing and supporting our neighbors, whether they are down the block or across the country.

I thank all veterans, including Noah, for their service and also for standing on the right side of history and honoring the oath that they took to the Constitution. As so many of them have said, Madam Speaker, there is nothing more American than standing up for your neighbors.

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to say to the American people: If you woke up this morning not knowing who to blame for this shutdown, you will go to bed tonight with no doubt. It is House Republicans and Speaker Johnson. I mean, what the hell are you guys doing? This is nuts.

This is not complicated, Mr. Speaker. There is a bill right now, passed unanimously by the Republican-controlled Senate, to end this shutdown. It is a bill to fund FEMA, TSA, the Coast Guard, and other lawful agencies in DHS. That bill was unanimously passed and was orchestrated by Republicans who control the United States Congress. You control the House, you control the Senate, and you control the White House. You control everything.

Republican Leader John Thune was the one who wrote it, scheduled it, offered it. The Republican was presiding over the Senate floor when the bill came up. Not a single Senator, including not a single Republican Senator, objected to moving this bill forward--not a single one.

That bill was sent to us today. What did Speaker Mike Johnson do? He said no. He said let's keep those airport lines long. He said let's not pay TSA or FEMA or the Coast Guard or CISA. Why? Because he would rather bow down to a handful of batshit crazy, rightwing lunatics who don't care about who they hurt. They are demanding even more money for ICE, an agency that already has a $75 billion slush fund--$75 billion. My God, that is more money than almost every nation on Earth spends on their entire military budget per year.

In what world does ICE need more money? Why would we give more money to an agency that a Federal judge says has violated more judicial orders this year than ``some Federal agencies have violated in their entire existence''?

We have seen ICE and CBP agents break into homes without warrants. I thought you guys cared about civil liberties. We have seen them arresting and detaining American citizens and publicly executing people on the street. None of you are moved by that?

Why the hell would we give them more money without real reforms? All we are saying is that we should fund agencies that actually protect the public and keep this country running.

The Senate passed a bill that does just that. It is ready for House floor action. We could end this shutdown for good tonight if Speaker Johnson would just put it on the floor. There is no question that it would pass with massive, sweeping bipartisan support. I have talked to so many of you who told me you support what the Republican Senate did.

Speaker Johnson refuses to do that. I swear, he is actually doing everything, and I mean everything, in his power to prevent reopening DHS tonight.

Republican leadership has even gone so far as to change the very definition of ``time'' itself. They had to rig the rules to pretend today is tomorrow so they could jam this garbage CR through faster and then get out of town.

This CR, Mr. Speaker, is a nonstarter. It is dead on arrival in the Senate. Even some House Republicans have already acknowledged that this plan, to quote them, is stupid. You know it is dead on arrival in the Senate.

Speaker Johnson needs to grow a freaking spine, and we need some adult leadership in this House.

Mr. Speaker, put the Senate bill on the floor. Let us pass it with a large majority of House votes. Let us end this Republican shutdown now.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Let us just restate for the record that ICE and CBP have billions and billions and billions and billions of dollars, years of funding. You can't bring yourself to help feed hungry children or make childcare more affordable or healthcare more affordable, but you have no problem with giving ICE, an agency that cannot follow the law, billions and billions of dollars. Shame on you. Your priorities are all screwed up.

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

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

First, Mr. Speaker, this bill does not defund ICE. There is like a gazillion dollars in the big, ugly bill, so that is just a lie.

The gentleman talked about what happened in this Chamber. I will tell you something that happened in this Chamber. The President of the United States sent an angry mob here to attack our democracy, and that gentleman said that it was a normal tourist visit. I won't ever forget that.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries), the Democratic leader, a real leader.

Mr. Speaker, I just would like to respond by saying the American people know what is going on with the Republicans, and I trust their wisdom. That is why Republicans are the most unpopular party in the country, and the President's popularity has never been lower. They can't afford you. You don't know how to govern.

In fact, if the American people could, they would sue the Republicans for malpractice.

Everything is going up. Gas prices are up. Housing is up. Groceries are up. Everything is up. They can't afford you.

Enough of this. Enough of this.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Clark), our Democratic whip.

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

Mr. Speaker, let me just say I disagree with the true leader of the Republican Party, who I thought was Mike Johnson, but apparently, the gentlewoman corrected us; it is not. But let me just say the issue for us--first of all, let me say: ICE is being funded. Stop the BS. Stop the misinformation that somehow ICE is not being funded. Mr. Speaker, $85 billion, that is what they have.

That is what they have. The normal budget is $10 billion a year. It is $85 billion. Only Republicans would say that somehow that is not enough and that they are being defunded.

I will tell you the reason why we have concerns and are demanding reforms. It is because ICE is terrorizing communities and attacking people, including U.S. citizens. You should care about that.

A U.S. citizen went on his lunch break, and masked Federal agents detained him in a choke hold. Federal agents ripped a woman from her car as she screamed that she was a U.S. citizen. ICE agents in Minnesota ate lunch in a small-town Mexican restaurant. When they were done enjoying the meal, they detained the workers who served them.

In California, a U.S. citizen on his way to work at a food bank pulled over to warn Federal agents that they should wrap up their stop of another individual before school-age children gathered for the bus. Moments later, an ICE officer shot him in the back. You said nothing about that.

In Chicago, ICE agents stormed an apartment complex by helicopters as families slept and deployed chemical agents near a public school-- nothing from your side.

In Minnesota, ICE agents shot and killed Renee Good, a U.S. citizen, after she complied with agents' orders to move her vehicle away from the protest.

In Minnesota, two ICE agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, a U.S. citizen and a nurse, as he was exercising his constitutional rights.

Mr. Speaker, ICE is wreaking havoc on people all across this country, trampling over their constitutional rights. There was a time when you cared about the Constitution. U.S. citizens across this country are carrying their passports out of fear of being detained without cause. There are reports of Native Americans who are U.S. citizens being detained by ICE.

Thirty-two people died in ICE custody in 2025. It was ICE's deadliest year in two decades. In just the first 9 months of Trump's second term, over 170 U.S. citizens--U.S. citizens--were detained by ICE. Nearly 20 were children. Two dozen were held without being able to call a lawyer or their families.

Citizens are being dragged, tackled, beaten, and tased.

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

Mr. Speaker, I would suggest to the gentleman that he check with his staff. ICE has $85 billion.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Neguse), who is a distinguished member of the Rules Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Colorado.

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

Mr. Speaker, after listening to the gentleman, I didn't know that Senate Republicans voted to open the southern border. I mean, Ted Cruz voted to open the southern border? Boy, that is something. I don't know.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to urge that we defeat the previous question. If we do, I will offer an amendment to the rule to adopt the Senate amendment to H.R. 7147, the bipartisan compromise bill that the Senate unanimously passed this morning to fund all law-abiding agencies under the Department of Homeland Security.

This bipartisan--I know that is a tough word for some of you--but this bipartisan solution would make sure that TSA employees are paid, FEMA employees are paid, cybersecurity employees are paid, and our Coast Guard is paid.

If Speaker Johnson would just put the damn bill on the floor of the House for an up-or-down vote, we all know it would pass. That is what this motion does. It simply allows for a vote to adopt the compromise bill that just passed unanimously through the Republican-led Senate instead of a vote on this Republican, partisan, 2-month, crappy CR bill that we know will not become law.

Now is the time to stand up against far-right extremism and take the deal. Let's have a vote on the Senate bill.

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 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, to discuss our proposal.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Connecticut.

Mr. Speaker, I would just say to the gentleman from North Carolina, his two Republican Senators, Messrs. Tillis and Budd, didn't seem to have a problem. Maybe he should call them.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Stanton).

Mr. Speaker, I want everybody to know the gentleman from West Virginia was saying ``hell no'' to paying TSA workers, FEMA workers, Coast Guard workers, and CISA workers. Shame on you.

By the way, if you have some complaints about this bill, the gentleman from West Virginia should write his two Senators, Justice and Capito, because they voted for this.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Torres).

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I know the gentleman has a tough primary, but let me say, for the record, that none of us are hiding behind the big, ugly bill. We would not vote for a bill that cut Medicaid by a trillion dollars or cut SNAP by $200 billion. We certainly wouldn't vote for a bill that would provide multiyear funding for ICE.

That is just the reality. You did that, and so there is funding for ICE. I will just say to the gentleman that if he has a problem with this bill, he should check with Senator Cornyn, who is in the Republican leadership, and Senator Cruz who, by the way, I think you worked for.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green).

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

Mr. Speaker, this debate has not changed the basic facts one bit. There is a bill that can pass the House. There is a bill that can become law. There is a bill that can end this shutdown. Speaker Johnson is refusing to bring it to the floor. That is the whole story.

Republicans can dress this up however they want. They can hold all the conference calls they want. They can play all the procedural games that they want. None of it changes the truth. This shutdown is continuing because the Republican Speaker of the House is too weak to stand up to the extremists running his conference.

While Republicans can't seem to face reality in Washington, people all over the country are living with the consequences: The TSA agent worried about rent; the Coast Guard spouse trying to stretch a paycheck that is not coming; the FEMA worker left hanging; the family stuck in chaos at the airport because this Republican Congress cannot do its job.

Now, let me be clear that those people are not pawns in some power struggle. They are not leverage. They are the people that we are supposed to serve, and, still, Republicans are failing them.

This CR isn't some serious answer. It is not. It is a joke. It is a joke. It is a plan to provide cover for a Speaker who knows exactly what needs to be done but does not have the guts to do it.

We all know the Senate bill is the exit ramp. So take it. Take it. Bring it up, pass it, and end this mess. That is what responsible people would do. That is what a real Speaker would do. That is what leadership is all about.

Tonight, if this shutdown continues, the American people should remember this moment. They should remember that the solution was sitting right here, ready to go, ready for a vote, and ready to pass. One man, Speaker Mike Johnson, said no.

Republicans, you own this. You own every delayed flight, every missed paycheck, every family under stress, and every hour of avoidable pain. This is a Republican shutdown. How dare you do this to the American people. People are tired of being jerked around. People are tired of being screwed over by your policies that favor the Epstein class at the expense of working people. Here we have a chance to help pay Federal workers, to keep our government running and Homeland Security, and you say no. You say no.

In the Senate it was a unanimous vote. Every Republican Senator went along with it. Not a single one of them objected. Even the most conservative right wing Senator did not object to it. Yet, that is not enough for you. That is not enough for you. Shame on you. Shame on this institution for not rising to the moment.

Mr. Speaker, I urge defeat of the previous question, and I urge a defeat of this rule. This is a lousy process. Shame on Republicans.

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, teen hunger is an often overlooked problem, and this Congress must be doing more to help teens access the nutritious food that they need to succeed.

That starts by talking directly with them. Recently, I joined my friend, Representative Jake Auchincloss, on a visit to the Boys and Girls Club of Metro South as part of my statewide End Hunger Now tour. There, under the leadership of CEO Derek Hime, we toured the Blue Spoon Community Kitchen where meals are prepared for families in need, and we visited the freight farm, which teaches the community about healthy eating and local food.

The highlight of our visit was the time we got to spend with the teen ambassadors. They are amazing young people who shared with us how important the Boys and Girls Club is to their health and well-being.

Mr. Speaker, I urge every Member of Congress to take some time during the upcoming recess to visit with youth leaders in their communities. Learn from them about how we can improve their food security and end hunger now.

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

Oh, my God, Mr. Speaker, it is pretty unbelievable that this is what House Republicans are spending time on right now. Wow. I mean, every time I think they can't do any worse, my Republican friends always defy expectations.

People are standing in long lines at airports. Flights are delayed. Travelers are confused, and they are frustrated. TSA officers are stretched thin, exhausted, being jerked around because Republicans cannot govern responsibly even though they control everything.

Now, let me set the record straight from the outset. Democrats are ready

to fund the people and agencies that actually protect the public: TSA, FEMA, and the Coast Guard. We agree they need full funding, and I think there are more than a few Republicans who would join with us in that.

Just last night in the Rules Committee, two Republican Members, including the gentlewoman from Indiana, voted with Democrats on a motion to fund the TSA. I thank her for doing that, but that vote failed because Republicans voted against making it in order. Clearly, there has to be some bipartisan appetite to try to get this thing resolved.

I mean, take for instance Senate Majority Leader John Thune, the Republican who offered a deal to fund the Department outside of ICE which, by the way, already has years of funding due to the Republicans' big, ugly bill. You know the big, ugly bill, the bill that gave millionaires and billionaires tax cuts, that cut SNAP by $200 billion, that cut Medicaid by a trillion dollars. They actually snuck in more funding for ICE and CBP in that.

The Republican-manufactured crisis could have been over, but that deal was shot down by Trump who said, in Republican Senator John Kennedy's words: ``No deals with the Democrats.'' He continued: ``It would have worked. We could have had TSA paid by the end of the week, but the President said, `no deal'.''

What is wrong with him? What is going on here? Let's be clear about what happened over the past few days. The Republican President tanked a deal offered by the Republican Senate Majority Leader to get us out of this crisis. This is the worst kind of politics, and it is why people are sick and tired of this Republican Congress.

TSA agents continue to go unpaid, and FEMA and the Coast Guard continue to go without funding, all because President Trump decided to throw another temper tantrum. But Democrats are not in charge. Republicans control the House. I wish they didn't, but they do. Republicans control the Senate. I wish they didn't, but they do. Republicans control the White House. It is a disaster for America that a Republican controls the White House, but it is the reality.

If they wanted to solve this, they could solve it.

Now Trump is causing further chaos by sending ICE into airports. ICE agents are not trained to do TSA's job. Sending immigration agents into airports does not fix a staffing crisis. It makes things more chaotic, more intimidating, more ridiculous.

Passing the same DHS bill today--for a third time--is a gigantic waste of time. Now, there is a clear solution to this crisis, but it means my Republican colleagues need to stand up to Trump for once in their lives.

In addition to failing to fund the Department of Homeland Security, this rule does a whole lot of nothing when it comes to helping regular people. It includes a nonbinding resolution to say that Congress supports DHS. Boy, that is just what TSA agents want, a nonbinding resolution to say: Hi, how you doing? I mean, that will pay the bills. Give me a break.

Also included are a bill about a single port in Mexico and another bill about graffiti in D.C. I mean, are you kidding me? Are they serious when they bring this stuff to the floor? I hate to tell you, but costs are up and anxiety is up. The country is in trouble, and the President's recklessness abroad is making an already difficult economic picture even more dangerous for working families here at home.

Donald Trump has dragged this country into another stupid, illegal war in the Middle East, and there is no doubt about it, working people are going to pay the price. Gas prices are already up $1 a gallon because of this nonsense. For what? For what?

Yesterday, Trump was bragging that we ``won.'' We won what? Reuters reported at the same time that his administration was preparing to send thousands more U.S. troops into the region. I mean, that is not a strategy. That is not strength. That is a President pretending the war is over while taking steps to drag us in deeper.

Let's not forget the dishonesty here. Last Friday, Trump acted like further bombing might be held off because substantial talks were happening. Talks with whom? Iran has denied there were direct negotiations. They say talks hadn't even begun.

Once again, this administration says whatever it thinks the markets want to hear, whatever it thinks the public wants to hear, and the truth comes later, if it comes at all.

That is what is so infuriating about all of this. These guys, they don't care that regular people are hurting. They don't care that families are barely keeping their heads above water. They don't care that parents are worried about prices or that military families are worried about where their sons and daughters are being sent and why. These guys don't care that TSA officers have been left hanging while Republicans play games with basic funding.

Let me say this as clearly as I possibly can: Republicans own this. They own this. They have the power of agenda-setting. They could fix this in a nanosecond. If they put a bill on the floor today to fund TSA or FEMA or any of the law-abiding agencies, it would pass the House and it would pass the Senate. But that is not what the House leadership is doing. It is a choice, and Republicans own it.

I do want to just say one other thing, Mr. Speaker. I mean, when the gentlewoman and other Republicans talk about how much they care about our Federal workforce, I have got to tell you, it rings hollow. Where on Earth have Republicans been for the past year and a half when Donald Trump has repeatedly gone after hardworking Federal employees? Where have they been?

Trump has said Federal workers are ``destroying this country.'' He called them ``crooked'' and ``dishonest.'' Russell Vought, Trump's own Director of Management and Budget, said he wanted Federal workers ``to be traumatically affected. When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work, because they are increasingly viewed as the villains.'' That is this administration.

Where have my Republicans been defending Federal workers? These are hardworking Americans, Mr. Speaker. They help ensure that we have clean water. They help our veterans get healthcare. They help older adults access the Social Security benefits that they have earned. They help small businesses thrive. They have been treated like garbage by this administration, and nobody on the other side bothers to stand up for these Federal workers.

On day one of this administration, Trump and his DOGE goons laid out their plan to tear apart our Federal workforce. They went on a witch hunt, carrying out mass terminations across government and cruelly forcing longtime, upstanding Federal employees out of their jobs.

Republicans in this Chamber cheered that on, even though it caused harm to everyday Americans, people that they represented. Where was everybody? Where the hell were they all?

Where were my Republican colleagues--and this is rich--when Kristi Noem said she was going to get rid of FEMA, abolish FEMA? They are on the floor today saying we have got to pay our FEMA workers. Where were they when Kristi Noem was saying we should abolish the entire agency? How about when Trump abruptly fired 400 DHS employees at the beginning of 2025? Where were they all? Where have they been as Trump is tearing apart the U.S. Department of Agriculture, shuttering offices, forcing longtime staff out of their jobs to the detriment of our farmers, hungry families, and food supply?

I mean, House Republicans are supporting this nonsense, this theater that we are dealing with here today on the House floor.

Let me be clear: I want TSA workers to get their paychecks. I want FEMA fully operational. That is why I have been on record for weeks trying to reopen these agencies. That is why Democrats have continuously forced votes on reopening all of these lawful agencies and departments.

Please, don't pretend that Republicans have always been on the side of Federal workers. Trump has made their lives unbearable through the chaos he has inflicted upon them, and Republicans in this Chamber haven't done a damn thing to stop him.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I feel like my head is about to explode with all this nonsense that is being thrown out here.

Let's just state for the record that ICE has years of funding because of the big, ugly bill, tens of billions of dollars that they put in that bill, again, the bill that gave millionaires and billionaires tax cuts and that screwed over poor people by cutting SNAP by $200 billion. They cut Medicaid by a trillion dollars in that bill where they snuck in tens of billions of dollars.

The gentleman doesn't respond. He left. That is fine. I get it, but that is just the reality. I don't know what the hell he is talking about.

To the extent that maybe there was an informal agreement on how to proceed, there might have been, but that was before ICE murdered U.S. citizens, before they murdered U.S. citizens.

I am sorry that people on the other side don't think that that is outrageous or terrible or awful, but we do. We do, our constituents do, and I know your constituents do.

Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up H.R. 7481, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2026, sponsored by Ranking Member DeLauro, a bill which only funds law-abiding agencies under the Department of Homeland Security and not the unlawful actions of ICE and

Mr. Speaker, to discuss our proposal, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee and the sponsor of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Connecticut.

I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro).

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

Mr. Speaker, as you know, we want disaster relief more than anybody. We have been fighting for that. We have been fighting to protect FEMA.

Again, where were the Republicans when Kristi Noem and this administration were leading the effort to actually eliminate FEMA and get rid of everybody? I mean, where were you?

The gentlewoman says we need to fund unlawful agencies like ICE and CBP to protect American citizens? I mean, are you kidding me? I mean, was that real? I can't believe I heard that.

ICE has gassed schools. It has detained off-duty police officers. It shot and murdered two American citizens. I mean, that is your idea of protecting the American people?

ICE right now has more money in their bank account than most of the world's militaries spend in a year. I will say that one more time: ICE already has more money in their bank account than most of the world's militaries spend in a year. Yet, they are asking that we give them more.

The reforms that the gentlewoman talks about, give me a break. I mean, we have raised issues about masks. We believe that you ought to have judicial warrants before you break down somebody's door. We believe that ICE agents ought to identify themselves and the agencies that they are with. We don't believe you should be able to deport U.S. citizens. We want those written into the law. I don't think any of those ideas are radical.

Yet, the gentlewoman talks about reforms? I mean, come on.

Again, we have an opportunity right now to fund all of the lawful agencies. Your beloved ICE and CBP unfortunately still have tens of billions of dollars that you guys gave them in the big, ugly bill. They still have money.

We can fund everything right now, and we can support our TSA agents and FEMA, the Coast Guard, and everybody that we believe we all say we want to help. We can do that right this second, and, yet, that is not happening.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, the gentlewoman just admitted the sad reality that ICE and CBP have billions of dollars already. I guess it doesn't bother her that two Americans were killed and murdered or that we have seen the excesses of ICE and CBP time and time again breaking into people's homes without judicial warrants. I am sorry that the gentlewoman feels that it is somehow a radical idea to ask somebody who may detain you who they are and who they are with. I don't know why that is such a radical idea.

What we are saying is: Why do you want to give them billions of dollars more? ICE already has more money than most countries spend on their militaries in a year, and you want to give them more money?

Here is the deal. What we are doing here in the House is a joke. I mean, it is embarrassing. I am embarrassed for this House and for this institution because my friends know full well that this is not going to pass in the Senate.

They know how we get to ``yes,'' and that is to exempt ICE and CBP from this bill. Everything else gets funded. If you want Democratic votes, that is what you need to do.

Mr. Speaker, Republicans control everything. They control the House, the Senate, and the White House. I love it. They are in control of everything, and they blame everything on Democrats, on somebody else. They take no responsibility.

I am really surprised that the gentlewoman hasn't blamed Joe Biden yet in her speech, which my Republican friends always do. I think they will go back to Bill Clinton in the not-too-distant future because they always find people to blame, but they take no responsibility.

If you are in charge, you have the responsibility not only to set the agenda but also to lead. That is what the American people are asking for: some leadership, some truth, and some honesty. We are not getting any of that.

Mr. Speaker, I will talk about something different right now. I realize that I may sound like a broken record talking each week about the dysfunction of this Republican-led Congress, but, unfortunately, for you and for my colleagues across the aisle and for the American people, it just seems to be getting worse and worse as this Republican majority keeps setting one terrible precedent after another.

Mr. Speaker, this rule that we are talking about right now blocks privileged floor consideration of resolutions of inquiry for the rest of the Congress. Why? It is because they don't want Democrats to have any tools to shine the light on the corruption of this lawless administration.

I know one thing. I don't want to hear any complaining from Republicans the next time we are in charge if this privilege that they are killing today never comes back.

Last fall, Republicans gave us the longest government funding lapse in American history. This week, they have managed to give us the second longest lapse, as well. What an accomplishment.

Last year, this Republican-led Congress held the fewest votes in the first session of Congress in decades. Republicans wonder why nearly 70 percent of the American people don't trust Congress. Give me a break. This place is not working for them.

Last night, I offered a motion to add a bill, cosponsored by the gentlewoman from Indiana (Mrs. Houchin), to pay the TSA. While she supported my motion, her Republican colleagues voted that motion down. We can't even debate or vote on that on the floor today.

The gentlewoman's support of this rule, despite that embarrassment, I think, is yet another piece of evidence that rank-and-file Republicans have given up all of their power. This rule contains another four closed rules, which means no amendments can be offered, bringing their total to a new all-time record of 125 closed rules this Congress.

By the way, it is not just Democratic amendments that get rejected. It is the majority of Republican amendments that get rejected.

Mr. Speaker, that is more than 85 percent of all rules brought to the House floor: no amendments, no debate, no real democracy. In fact, Rules Committee Republicans have not allowed a single amendment to be debated on the House floor in more than 2 months, but rank-and-file Republicans keep voting for the rules that block their own amendments. I don't get that, but anyway.

Republicans have not allowed a single Democratic amendment in 3\1/2\ months, and it has been more than 6 months since the last bipartisan amendment was debated on the floor.

Let's stop pretending that this is the people's House because it is certainly not functioning like the people's House. Republicans are ruining this Chamber, turning it into a rubberstamp for whatever Donald Trump wants whenever he wants it. Their vision for this body is the Russian Duma, a legislative body in name only. That is disgraceful. That is dangerous. Frankly, it is a threat to our democracy.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record an article from MS NOW titled: ``It's already a record-setting Congress-- for all the wrong reasons.''

Mr. Speaker, the final thing I am going to say before I reserve is that the amendment that Ms. DeLauro just talked about was blocked in the Rules Committee last night, as well.

I just say to my Republican colleagues that if they don't want to support a bill that funds only the lawful agencies within DHS, that is fine. They can vote ``no'' on it, but they won't even allow it to be brought up as an amendment. They won't even allow us to have a debate and to deliberate on it. They blocked it.

If they are so right on all of this, then they shouldn't be afraid to allow other points of view to be brought to the floor. That is what this place is supposed to be about. We are supposed to be a deliberative body, and my Republican colleagues are ruining that. They are ruining that.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I know that I have a little bit of a Massachusetts accent, and so sometimes I may be hard to understand for the gentlewoman. I didn't say that ICE agents raided schools. I said that they gassed students. They gassed schools.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record a news story titled: ``Witnesses say agents arrest Minneapolis school staff, tear gas students; DHS claims no tear gas was used.''

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

Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day, this is what it comes down to: The American people need help, and this Republican majority has nothing to offer them.

People are worried about affording groceries. They are worried about gas prices. They are worried about what this war means for their family budgets, their jobs, their kids, and their future.

Military families are worried about their loved ones being sent into danger with no clear mission and no clear plan.

TSA officers have been forced to live with uncertainty while doing one of the toughest jobs in public service. Even Republican Senator John Kennedy admitted on FOX News that we could have TSA paid by the end of the week, but President Donald Trump has said no deal.

Instead of fixing problems, Republicans waste time. They recycle the same old bills. They posture. They distract. They try to change the subject, and, yes, cruelty is part of it, too. When people are hurting, and leaders see the pain and still choose chaos and still choose stunts like this, still choose political games over actually helping anybody, that is not just incompetence. It is callousness, and it is cruelty.

One day, Trump says one thing. The next day, his administration does the opposite--more troops, more escalation, more confusion--and regular people are left to absorb the consequences.

They do not care that this war could send the cost of living even higher. They don't care that supply chains are getting hit. They don't care that their farmers are getting screwed over. They do not care that working families are one more price spike away from disaster. The American people want to stop being jerked around.

The reality is that Republicans do not care. If they cared, we would be debating bills to lower costs; we would be demanding answers about this war; we would make sure that we paid people who keep this country safe; and they would be acting with urgency and seriousness.

That is not what we are getting. Instead, we are getting a Republican majority that is deeply incompetent, deeply unserious, and far too comfortable with making ordinary people pay the price for its failures.

The American people deserve better, and I think I understand why Republicans are working overtime to make it harder for people to vote before November. I understand the SAVE Act because the State legislative district that includes Mar-a-Lago flipped blue last night.

The American people are sick of this. They are not going to put up with this.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the previous question and on this rule. 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, a key ingredient for making America healthy is better access to cooking classes to teach people how to prepare nutritious meals.

As part of my End Hunger Now tour across Massachusetts, I joined my friend Representative Seth Moulton on a visit to the Phoenix Food Hub at Greater Lynn Senior Services. We participated in cooking classes where we learned how to make carrot muffins.

We talked with the CEO of Lynn Senior Services, Kathy Burns, and clients of the food hub who shared how important these classes are to their ability to eat nutritiously. We heard firsthand how Trump's reckless cuts to SNAP and other nutrition programs such as SNAP education, which was eliminated in the big, ugly bill, are making it even harder for them to put nutritious food on the table for their families.

Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is that Republicans are taking away money for food and tools to help improve nutrition. If we want to make America healthy again and end hunger now, Congress must reverse these cuts now.

Mr. Speaker, happy St. Patrick's Day to everybody. I thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina, the distinguished chairwoman of the Rules Committee, for whom I have much admiration and respect, for yielding me the customary 30 minutes.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, what on Earth are we doing here? Yesterday, the President of the United States spent an hour at lunch talking about the Kennedy Center--you know, the place he slapped his name on before basically running it into the ground.

Today, the Congress of the United States is spending an hour debating messaging bills that totally ignore the realities of what is going on in people's everyday lives.

Does anyone on the other side of the aisle realize that the United States of America is at war right now? Does anyone in the Republican Conference want to acknowledge that costs are up, corruption is running rampant, and everyday people are getting screwed?

They promised lower costs on day one. That is what Donald Trump promised. Guess what. Gas is up, thanks to the war in Iran. Groceries are up, thanks to the tariffs. Rent is up. Childcare is up. Healthcare is up, with millions of Americans paying double and triple for their health insurance and over a million losing it altogether because of Republican inaction.

Do Republicans plan to do anything about any of that? No.

This is what they did instead. They jammed through a big, ugly bill to help billionaires. They defend Trump's tariffs that are raising costs on working people. They continue to cover up for the predators in the Epstein files. Now, they are backing another illegal war in the Middle East that is costing over a billion dollars a day in taxpayer money.

But they are not talking about any of that. They keep bringing distraction after distraction to the House floor, bills meant to waste time, divide people, and shift the blame from billionaires onto immigrants. That is their whole playbook.

Don't look over here at Epstein elites and billionaire corporations who are ripping us off, breaking the law, and getting away with it. No, no, no. Blame the immigrants. Blame trans kids. Blame Joe Biden. Blame everybody but the President and his billionaire buddies. It is getting old, and I, for one, am sick and tired of it.

This President and my friends on the other side, who are refusing to rein him in because they are all afraid of him, are burning a billion dollars a day of American taxpayer money on a war halfway around the world. That is $1 billion a day. Let me repeat that: $1 billion a day.

There is no more money to help seniors heat their homes. They say we don't have it. There is no money to help kids get healthy breakfasts in school. There is no money to restore SNAP benefits to help seniors and veterans afford groceries. There is no more money to help working families breathe easier or sleep better at night.

I am just sick and tired of this, Mr. Speaker. There is always money for war. There is always money for another tax break for multimillionaires, billionaires, and giant corporations. There is always time to debate silly bills that try to shift the blame onto immigrants and trans kids, but there is never the time or the money to address the real and pressing issues that the American people are begging Republicans to help them with.

This is an embarrassing debate. This is an embarrassing moment for this Congress. While everybody in this country is in an uproar over rising costs, people are begging us to address that issue, to lower costs, and to help make their lives easier. While that is what is on the minds of the American people, Republicans can't bring themselves to bring legislation to the floor to address those issues. It really is sad. It really is sad.

Again, I think that my friends are going to realize come the midterm elections that people have had enough of this. But really people can't wait until the next election. People need us to address these concerns now.

This is an embarrassing debate, I urge a ``no'' vote, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am just going to respond to the gentlewoman because she wants me to address some of the underlying bills. One of them, H.R. 4638, is the so-called BOWOW Act of 2025. We are debating something and saying that it should be illegal when it already is illegal. It is kind of redundant.

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a noncitizen who is convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude is subject to removal. In 2018, the Board of Immigration Appeals found that the crime of animal fighting is a crime involving moral turpitude because there is a clear intent to harm an animal.

Let me read to you how this bill we are talking about came to be. On June 24, 2025, canine detective and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Beagle Brigadier Freddie and his handler were inspecting baggage from Cairo, Egypt. Beagle Brigadier Freddie's job is to sniff out prohibited agriculture products at the border that could threaten vital agricultural industries.

Beagle Brigadier Freddie alerted to one of the suitcases being transported by Hamed Ramadan Bayoumy Aly Marie, an Egyptian national. As Beagle Brigadier Freddie continued his investigation, his handler began questioning Mr. Marie who abruptly and violently kicked the canine detective. The kick was of such force that it launched Beagle Brigadier Freddie, a 25-pound beagle, off the ground. After examination by a veterinarian, it was determined that Beagle Brigadier Freddie suffered contusions on his right ribs following the attack.

Mr. Marie was taken into custody and charged with harming animals used in law enforcement under the law. He pleaded guilty. He was ordered to pay Freddie's vet bill, and he was deported back to Egypt. That is the law.

What the hell are we doing here? I mean, we are repeating what was already in the law.

I guess the difference would be if the bill that the gentlewoman is advocating actually became law, then Mr. Marie would escape any kind of financial responsibility of paying Freddie's vet bill. I don't think we want that. But this was a deportable act, and this gentleman was deported.

When I say that this is a distraction, this is what I am talking about. Again, we are spending a billion dollars a day, my friends, on this war in Iran, and nobody knows what the hell is going on.

Gas prices are through the roof. The cost of everything is going up. We are here on the floor basically trying to bring bills that restate current law?

I would even say that in this case it weakens current law.

I have got to tell you, Mr. Speaker, I think things are screwed up around here when our focus is on the stuff that we are bringing to the floor today and not on trying to lower the costs for the American people.

Life is hard. I don't know whether my friends go home and talk to their constituents or do townhalls or do town meetings, but if they do, they are hearing what I am hearing: Life is too damn expensive.

People want us to address the high costs, and we are not doing that. We are not doing that, and Republicans refuse to bring legislation to the floor to address that issue. Instead, we do this.

Mr. Speaker, I am a huge animal rights advocate, and so I want people who abuse animals to be deported. I don't have any problem with that, but that is the law. We are bringing this to the floor, and we are not doing a damn thing about addressing the high costs that Americans are facing each and every day. Something is wrong with this place.

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

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Let me read for my colleagues a statement from the national director of the National Economic Council, Mr. Hassett, who works for President Trump.

This is his quote: ``If the war were to be extended, it wouldn't really disrupt the U.S. economy very much at all. It would hurt consumers, and we'd have to think about what we'd have to do about that, but that's really the last of our concerns right now.''

This is from Trump's top economic adviser. This is a direct quote from him.

He says that hurting consumers is the last of our concerns right now.

This guy should be fired. This is outrageous. We all should be worried about consumers. Those are our constituents. When prices are going up, people cannot make ends meet. They can't afford their rent, they can't afford their healthcare, and they can't afford their groceries.

Madam Speaker, they can't afford a damn thing, and this is what Trump's top economic adviser says: The consumers are really the last of our concerns right now?

Does anything outrage my Republican colleagues?

Can anybody in the Trump administration say anything that might give them pause and that might cause them concern?

This is outrageous. Three out of four Americans say that groceries are so expensive that they have been forced to cut down on other spending.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record an article from Fortune titled: ``Three in four Americans say groceries are so expensive they've been forced to cut down on other spending.''

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert in the Record an article from CBS8 titled: ``National average gas prices now nearly 90 cents higher than one month ago.''

Madam Speaker, I hate to tell my Republican friends this, but here is a news flash: The American people are struggling. They are desperately looking for us to take action to make their lives easier, to help them be able to afford groceries, to be able to afford gas prices, and to be able to afford to support their families.

While we are spending $1 billion a day on a reckless and illegal war in Iran and the President with no end in sight has money for that, my friends on the other side can't bring themselves to bring legislation to the floor that will address the high cost of living.

Madam Speaker, when you have people in the administration saying that consumers are the last of their concerns, I mean like, I am just like every time I think this administration can't say something that will shock me even more, they do. This is one of the more outrageous comments coming from one of the President's top advisers.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

I just want to say the gentlewoman is doing exactly what I predicted she would do: blaming immigrants so that people who are watching this debate don't focus in on the fact that prices are going through the roof and everything is more expensive than ever.

She said that Trump is doing better than Biden in terms of gas prices. Well, when Biden left office, the average gallon of gas was $3.11. It is now close to $3.80. It is creeping up to nearly $4. I mean, that is just the reality. People can google that. Don't take my word for it. You can google it.

The other fact is that, if I remember correctly, Donald Trump said that when he became President, he and Republicans would lower costs on day one and everything would go down. What a crock. Everything has gone up. Everything has skyrocketed. Gas, rent, the price of food-- everything has gone way up.

I am going to read this again because I can't get this out of my head that somebody in this administration would say this out loud. Again, this is what the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Kevin Hassett, said: If the war ``were to be extended, it wouldn't really disrupt the U.S. economy very much at all. It would hurt consumers, and we would have to think about . . . what we would have to do about that, but that is really the last of our concerns right now. . . .''

This is one of the President's top economic advisers telling the American consumer: The hell with you. You don't matter. You are at the bottom of our list.

That tells you everything you need to know.

I heard the gentlewoman's 1-minute speech before we got into this debate, when she kind of defended the tax cuts for the rich and basically said that we have a spending problem in this country.

Okay, we have a spending problem. We are spending a billion dollars a day on a reckless, illegal war in Iran, and nobody on the other side seems to give a damn about that. We don't have money to help make sure that we can lower energy costs for senior citizens. We don't have money to make sure our kids get nutritious breakfasts and lunches in schools. We don't have money for anything, for childcare, eldercare, our veterans, or our healthcare in general.

We are told we don't have the money, but no debate and no concern about a billion dollars a day on Iran? Come on. I mean, enough is enough.

The focus of Congress, the focus of government, should be about helping people, not screwing them over, not hurting them. The focus of our government should not be about enriching the rich, protecting the Epstein class, the people who are well-off and well-connected and who have tons of money.

The focus ought to be on how to lift up working families in this country. That is what Democrats have been fighting for. That is what we stand for. There is a difference here.

Again, going back to Kevin Hassett, his comment today. He says the quiet part out loud. The consumers, according to him, are the last of our concerns right now.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Madam Speaker, I am almost at a loss for words. I don't even know how to respond to that. That gets like five Pinocchios. I don't know what the gentlewoman is talking about. She talked about the debt and reducing the debt. My friend, who I respect and enjoy working with, voted for a reconciliation bill that added nearly $5 trillion to the debt.

Let me say that one more time: It added nearly $5 trillion to the debt. Most of that additional cost to the debt were in the form of tax cuts for multimillionaires and billionaires.

She talks about the Republicans trying to cut fraud, waste, and abuse. They cut programs like SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, to help senior citizens and veterans and low-income families be able to put food on the table, a benefit, by the way, that is on average about $2 per person per meal. That is what SNAP is.

They cut money for child nutrition programs. They cut money for school nutrition programs. They cut money for environmental protection, for infrastructure. I go right down the list, economic development for our farmers, everything.

They had Elon Musk come in with DOGE, and they claim they saved all this money. Guess what. All of the cuts that they made, by the way, I think we are going to pay for down the road because they are going to add costs in a whole bunch of other ways. All of that so-called savings has just been eliminated by what has been spent on the war in Iran, a billion dollars a day. We are at $22, $23 billion already on that war.

We are not anywhere near done. They tell you that we can't deal with the fact that we have so many senior citizens in this country who can't afford to put food on the table. We can't do anything about that. Then they say nothing about the billion dollars a day on an illegal and reckless war in Iran.

For the record, I will include the CBO score, that is the Congressional Budget Office, on their reconciliation bill in the Record because I want the Record to reflect that what I am saying here is backed up by facts. This is a nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Both Democrats and Republicans rely on the CBO for scores on how much things are going to cost.

This is crazy that we are having this debate, all the while the cost of living for every person in this country, who is not a multimillionaire or billionaire who is not part of the Epstein class, is going through the roof.

By the way, when you talk about taxes on people, what my friend didn't mention was the tariffs. That is a tax on every American. That is a tax on every American. We are now told that these tariffs are costing the average citizen of this country an additional $1,700 per person per year. I don't know who is asking for this stuff, but it is certainly not the people that I talk to.

Madam Speaker, I am going to urge that we defeat the previous question. If we do, I will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up H.R. 7481, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act 2026, sponsored by Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, a bill which only funds law-abiding agencies under the Department of Homeland Security and not the unlawful actions of ICE and CBP.

Madam Speaker, House Republicans are trying to use President Trump's illegal war in Iran as pretext to force Congress to fund ICE and CBP without any reforms, even though these agencies are harassing, detaining, beating, and killing American citizens. This is a cheap trick to score political points, and we are not buying it. I don't think anybody in the country is buying it.

You can't make this up. The President's own National Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, who Trump himself appointed and basically every single Republican in the Senate voted to confirm this guy, resigned this morning stating that he cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran and that ``Iran posed no imminent threat to our Nation.''

Also, Republicans already funded ICE and CBP in their big, ugly bill so why are they holding up funding for TSA, the Coast Guard, and FEMA? Republicans should allow a vote to fund the law-abiding components of DHS while negotiations on critical reforms to ICE and CBP continue.

Madam 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.

Madam Speaker, to discuss our proposal, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee and the sponsor of this bill.

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

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

Madam Speaker, nobody disagrees that we should have a secure border. That is not the debate.

Where there is disagreement and, quite frankly, where there is outrage is when we have a Federal agency that goes into our communities and kills American citizens. This is not at the border but in our heartland. That is where we believe there is a line that has been crossed. We are outraged over that.

I am sorry that my friends on the other side are not. They control the House. They control the Senate. They control the White House. They are in charge. If they want our votes, we are not going to vote to continue to fund agencies and departments within agencies that are rogue, where there is no accountability and where there is no transparency. We are not going to do that.

We support TSA, the Coast Guard, and FEMA. We will vote to support them, but don't ask us to fund agencies that do harm to our constituents.

By the way, is there any end to what my Republican colleagues want for CBP and for ICE? They have got money in the big, ugly bill for them, billions and billions of dollars for them. I don't understand what the deal is.

In any event, for whatever reason, they have a problem with TSA. They have a problem with FEMA. They have a problem with the Coast Guard. I don't understand why. We don't. We support them.

Madam Speaker, the pattern here is obvious. It is broken promises, higher costs, more war, more hate, alternative facts, and unbelievable corruption. That is what is happening in this country right now because of Republican leadership.

Republicans said they would fight for ordinary people. Instead, they helped billionaires. They said they would keep us out of war. Instead, they dragged us into another one. Madam Speaker, 13 American troops are dead. Over 140 are wounded. Our Nation is, once again, sending $1 billion a day over to the Middle East on another reckless, illegal war of choice.

They said they would tell the truth. Instead, they protect the Epstein elites and peddle distraction after distraction after distraction, hoping it will all go away.

At the center of it all is a President so hollow, so unwell, and so morally lost that he is fundraising off of dead American troops. I can't believe I am saying that sentence out loud.

The President of the United States went to a dignified transfer of remains ceremony. He refused to take off his ball cap. Then he took a photo of himself standing behind an American servicemember in a casket coming home from war in the Middle East. He slapped it on a fundraising email, asking people to donate money to his campaign. Let me say that again.

The President used a dead American servicemember as a photo op for his campaign fundraising. When he was asked about it yesterday, he said he saw nothing wrong with that.

Can anyone imagine if Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, or Joe Biden had done that? My Republican colleagues' heads would explode. That is what happened after Joe Biden checked his watch during one of these ceremonies. Yet, there was not a word after this disrespectful President dishonored our troops in the most outrageous way by using them as a prop for his own personal benefit.

I challenge any Republican, any single one, to come down here and defend this. Come down here and explain to their constituents why the leader of their party is fundraising off of dead American servicemembers.

I think it is one of the most disrespectful, inappropriate, awful things I have ever, ever seen in all my time in Congress. I doubt a single Republican will have the guts to say it was wrong.

The American people deserve a hell of a lot better than this chaos and cruelty. They deserve better than this President. They deserve better than this Republican majority. They deserve elected officials who care about them and who want to fight to lower the cost of living, who want to make their lives better and easier and more manageable. That is not what is happening here.

With all that is going on--$1 billion a day on a reckless illegal war in Iran, gas prices creeping up to nearly $4 a gallon, and the price of groceries going up because of these stupid tariffs that my friends don't want to deal with--I can go on and on and on about how the Republican policies are making life more miserable for average Americans. With all that is going on, they can't be bothered to come down here.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, nobody is defending the Ayatollah. There is no love lost for a brutal government that sponsors terror and murders their people.

Iran has been doing this for decades. Everybody knows that. So my question is this: Why wasn't Donald Trump in favor of regime change until this weekend? Why did he campaign on swearing he would never send American kids to fight and die in the Middle East?

Republicans can't answer because they were against war with Iran until exactly the second Donald Trump decided to go to war. Now, they are all running around sounding like neocon lunatics.

America can't take this level of gaslighting.

I went to the classified briefing. There was no imminent threat, I guess unless Republicans want to redefine the word ``imminent'' to mean stretching back 47 years.

This whole thing is just so transparently built on lies. Republicans went from imminent threat to regime change to nukes back to imminent threat in the last 24 hours.

I will tell you what this is, Mr. Speaker. This is Iraq 2.0. I still remember the lies about WMDs. I voted against that war, too. At least George Bush had the decency to lie to people's faces.

By the way, no congressional vote can legitimize this because there was no imminent threat. There was no U.N. Security Council resolution. This war is illegal, no matter what you want to call it.

It is not Donald Trump's kids that will have to fight and die for their draft-dodging dad. It is not the children of the billionaire Epstein class. It is working-class kids who are going to put their lives on the line.

Shame on Republicans. I am sick of this bs. We are spending billions of dollars a day on a war, and we can't even get Republicans to join us to expand healthcare in America.

How the hell is this America First? You guys broke your top campaign promise. Good luck with that. I hope the defense contractor money was worth it. Shame on you all. The mask is off. You are all just a bunch of pathetic neocon warmongers.

Mr. Speaker, as part of my statewide End Hunger Now

tour, I recently visited Growing Places in Gardner, Massachusetts, with my friend Representative Lori Trahan.

Under the incredible leadership of Ayn Yeagle, Growing Places is building a regional food system in north central Massachusetts. By utilizing its new commercial kitchen to clean, chop, and dehydrate local produce, the food center is helping farmers bring their fruits and vegetables to market while also expanding access to nutritious food across our region.

Lori and I heard directly from community members that Growing Places is helping them eat more nutritiously, particularly amid sky-high food prices caused by Trump's awful economy.

That is why it is hard to understand why the Trump administration has slashed local food programs that make local food more accessible.

Mr. Speaker, if we want to make food more affordable, if we want to support our farmers, if we want to make the lives of working families easier, it is time to reverse the devastating cuts to SNAP and reinstate local food programs that help to end hunger now.

Mr. Speaker, I recently had the pleasure of visiting Refettorio Harlem, an incredible nonprofit restaurant and food pantry in New York City.

Refettorio Harlem is housed in the historic Emanuel AME Church and is run by Free Food Harlem. With incredible partners like Food for Soul, 2 nights a week, chefs transform perfectly good but unused food into multicourse fine dining dishes, served free of charge to anyone in need.

On Wednesday and Friday evenings, Refettorio is bustling with community and conversation as neighbors come together for a shared meal and a welcoming space.

During my visit, I tasted a delicious bowl of zero waste ramen with glazed chicken and bok choy, perfect for a cold winter day.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Jill, Matt, and Bob, and everyone at Refettorio for taking a few minutes during meal prep to show me around.

Refettorio Harlem is a spectacular example of what is possible when dedicated, like-minded people come together to not only fight hunger but also combat food waste. We need to uplift more innovative models like Refettorio Harlem to end hunger now.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, you have to love these Republicans. I mean, they have no problems with subsidies for Big Oil, Big Tech, Big Ag, or big tax cuts for multimillionaires and billionaires. Yet, when it comes to helping consumers afford electric water heaters or stoves, all of a sudden, they have a big problem.

I just don't get it. I mean, that is where their attention is, on going after consumers, making life more difficult for everyday working families.

Mr. Speaker, tonight is the State of the Union, and I am sure that the President is going to come here and paint a very rosy picture, indeed. He is going to say that the economy is great and that tariffs are working. He is ending wars, not starting them. He is going to spew all kinds of nonsense.

Mr. Speaker, the problem is that the facts are the facts. The fact is that his economy sucks.

I just spent the last week at grocery stores, senior centers, and townhalls. I went to food pantries and Boys and Girls Clubs across Massachusetts. I spoke with people who are working hard and getting crushed.

They are paying more for food, more for rent, more for utilities, and more for healthcare. They are struggling, and they are watching Donald Trump pump the rich with more tax breaks and more giveaways to the billionaire Epstein class while the rest of America struggles just to get by.

With all of that going on, with families begging for relief, this is what Republicans bring to the House floor today: more bills about appliances. This Republican majority has brought up more than a dozen appliance bills. The lobbyists for the appliance manufacturers sure must be getting paid well.

The worst part of these bills is that these bills would actually raise utility costs for consumers. Who asked for that? I mean, one of these bills is H.R. 4626, the Home Appliance Protection and Affordability Act. That is not the original name of the bill, though. No. The original name is the Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act.

Republicans changed the name to slap the word ``affordability'' on there, but they didn't change a single word of the actual bill. All of this is slapping on a word to pretend that they are doing something. It is window dressing masquerading as an attempt to help real people because Trump and the Republicans know that their economy sucks.

They know that the public perception is that all they care about is helping Wall Street to get richer and helping billionaire CEOs rip people off because, to be honest with you, Mr. Speaker, that is all they seem to care about.

Guess what. These bills are worse than doing nothing. They would make utility costs go up. I mean, Republicans are trying to gut popular energy and cost-saving programs at the Department of Energy. They would lower efficiency standards and prevent consumers from choosing the best products for their households.

Mr. Speaker, last night in the Rules Committee, I was chastised by the gentleman from Virginia, who was upset with me because I was asking questions that he said were too hard. He said that the witness wasn't prepared and that I was cross-examining him. He said that my questions weren't fair.

Mr. Speaker, let me explain for the gentleman why I asked so many questions last night. It is because this House has been turned into a place where you can hardly ask questions at all.

This majority locks down the process, shuts out amendments, shuts down debate, and then acts offended when somebody tries to get a straight answer about what the hell is going on around here.

This rule that we are debating today officially breaks the record. This is now the most closed Congress ever--ever, in the history of the United States of America.

Mr. Speaker, 117 times in this Congress, Republicans have advanced bills to the floor with no amendments allowed, including today. They just broke the record for the whole Congress, and we are barely halfway through.

Mr. Speaker, that is insane. More than 8 out of 10 times when we consider legislation under this majority, Republicans lock down the floor and allow zero amendments--zero. That is stunning.

Mr. Speaker, that is a stunning, stunning break from normal.

Speaker Johnson promised transparency and more debate, but the numbers tell a different story. Under Speaker Johnson, the Rules Committee has helped to block 82 percent of all amendments this Congress--82 percent. That is over 3,300 amendments blocked so far in just over a year, including 95 percent of Democratic amendments, 57 percent of Republican amendments, and even 63 percent of bipartisan amendments. Think of that. When a Democrat and a Republican decide to work together to improve a bill, they are told no.

Mr. Speaker, that is the exact opposite of what the people in this country are asking for.

Republicans blocked votes on tariffs. We had to move Heaven and Earth. We had to finally force a vote after months and months of getting blocked.

Republicans blocked votes on releasing the Epstein files. I mean, they sent us home early because they didn't want the Rules Committee to take another vote on whether or not to release the Epstein files. We had to use a discharge petition. That is unprecedented. We had to go around the Speaker of the House simply to get a vote.

Right on brand, Republicans blocked votes on thousands and thousands of amendments designed to make bills better. Under this Republican majority, the Rules Committee has basically become a place where democracy goes to die.

Mr. Speaker, what is this all about? What is this all about? It is all about turning Congress into a giant rubberstamp for you know who: Donald Trump. Nobody in the House of Representatives is allowed to change a comma unless Donald Trump gives Mike Johnson permission. It is embarrassing. It is embarrassing, and it is a stain on this institution.

Clearly, the Speaker of the House thinks that he works for the White House and not for the American people. He has diminished Congress and turned his position into a pathetic echo of what it used to be. Shame on him, and shame on Republicans who go along to get along, even though their amendments are blocked and their voices continue to be silenced by their own leadership.

This is now the most closed Congress in the history of the United States of America, and it is happening right here, right now, in real time, because Republicans want to protect Donald Trump by blocking votes instead of doing the job that they were elected to do. It is pathetic.

Mr. Speaker, this economy is a mess. Look at the polls. There is like a 30 percent approval rating for this President. People are hurting. They want us to be on the floor legislating. They want us to be deliberating. They want us to be finding solutions, and that means voting on amendments to try to get this economy on the right track. Instead, we are shut out. Everybody is shut out because they are all too afraid of the guy in the White House.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I am really at a loss for words. I am just trying to contain myself because I have never heard such nonsense in my life. The gentleman speaks about Thomas Jefferson. He is looking at us right up here, and he is rolling over in his grave right now at the way this House is being run. My friend should be ashamed of it. They should be ashamed of it.

He is talking about the amendments that were offered in the Committee on Rules last night were dilatory. Let me read one of them. It says: ``This act, and the amendments made by this act, shall not take effect until the date on which the Secretary of Energy publishes a certification that the implementation of this act would not result in increased costs for homeowners and renters.''

What the hell is dilatory about that?

The yada, yada, yada that the gentleman is talking about is affordability.

The gentleman can say as many times as he wants, and my Republican friends can say as many times as they want, that somehow this economy is great and doing much better. That doesn't make it so. Look at the polls. The majority of the American people think that they are driving this economy into a ditch.

People told me this last week when I was going throughout my district: What the hell is going on in Washington? Because all the Congress and this President seem to care about are the well-off and the well-connected, the Epstein class, if you will, the people who have lots of money, the big corporations. They get protected. They get tax breaks. They get all the benefits. The rest of the people in this country get screwed. They are sick of it. That is why they are losing so miserably in the polls. People have had it.

To come onto this floor and defend not only this lousy economy, but to defend this rotten process, I have got to say, I have heard a lot. This is indefensible. Again, if they don't like the amendments that are being brought to the Committee on Rules, vote against them when they come to the floor. If they don't want to debate, then stay in their office; but let the rest of us be able to debate.

Now, they have crossed the line. This is the most closed Congress in the history of the United States of America, and all they can say is: Well, we have an obligation to block amendments to the Committee on Rules I guess that we don't like, that are inconvenient.

I don't know what the hell is wrong with saying to the Secretary of Energy: If these bills add costs to average consumers, then we shouldn't move forward with them. That is all. If the Secretary of Energy says: Oh, they won't, then they can move forward with them.

That is what the gentleman is calling dilatory. I mean, God Almighty, what is going on around here? People are disgusted with what is happening here in Washington, and they have a right to be disgusted.

Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up H.R. 7615, the RELIEF Act, to force the Trump administration to give back the money it illegally stole through its unconstitutional tariff scheme.

Mr. Speaker, since the beginning of last year, President Trump has declared a series of bogus emergencies as a pretext to pickpocket more than $165 billion from American consumers and businesses of all sizes, including small businesses, family-owned businesses, farmers, and everyday citizens. In response, several small businesses sued the President, arguing that the President does not have the power to arbitrarily tax American businesses and consumers without an act of Congress.

Last Friday the Supreme Court finally--finally--ruled that a large portion of the President's tariffs are unconstitutional. While, as Chief Justice Roberts wrote in his majority opinion that the power to impose tariffs is supposed to be controlled by Congress, Speaker Johnson and the vast majority of congressional Republicans have continued to rubberstamp President Trump's disastrous tariffs, even though they know that they are raising the prices of groceries, housing, and other everyday goods.

In response to the Court's decision, President Trump lashed out at the Justices who ruled against him, even the ones he himself appointed, saying they are: ``unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution,'' ``swayed by foreign interests,'' and ``an embarrassment to their families.''

Who the hell speaks like this? What other President talked like this? It is shocking that anyone can defend these shameful words by this President.

Department of Justice lawyers, in briefs filed during the case, promised more than once to repay the tariffs if they lost. We have that in writing. I am happy to share it with the gentleman and any of my Republican colleagues. They stated: ``If tariffs imposed on plaintiffs during these appeals are ultimately held unlawful, then the government will issue refunds to plaintiffs, including any post-judgment interest that accrues.'' That is the Justice Department's own legal brief.

Well, Mr. Speaker, the Trump administration lost. They lost big time. Now the President is trying hard to break yet another promise.

Get this, when he was asked about the refunds, do you know what the President said? He said, ``. . . We will end up being in court for the next 5 years.'' Again, not trying to help average consumers or small businesses. We are going to stay in court so you don't get anything. You don't get a refund.

However, if the Republicans were to join with Democrats to defeat the previous question, we will offer an up-or-down vote to require the Trump administration to pay out tariff refunds that he owes in the next 90 days. Voting with us is a vote to ensure that President Trump follows through on earlier promises to give back the stolen money.

The main issue that Americans are struggling with is the affordability crisis. People cannot afford food. They cannot afford rent. They cannot afford utility bills, and the basics. Tariffs are one of the primary causes of these rising prices.

Republicans are always willing to bend over backward to give tax breaks to their multimillionaire and -billionaire donors, but when we talk about helping regular people, Republicans are

nowhere to be found. It is never too late to do the right thing.

I urge my colleagues to work with Democrats to ensure that the money that was illegally stolen is returned, that in the future we return the money directly into the pockets of working families who have had to pay more for everything because of these damn tariffs.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Horsford), the sponsor of this bill, to discuss our proposal.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Nevada.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Nevada.

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

Mr. Speaker, I can hardly believe my ears. The gentleman said that he wants to legislate. He could have fooled me, because as far as I can tell, the gentleman has voted for virtually every single, if not every single, closed rule that has come out of the Rules Committee. There were 117 closed rules he voted for in the Committee and on the floor. There were 117 closed rules, no amendments allowed at all, no amendments, and a lot of them were germane.

Now we are hearing that, oh, well, you know, we are just trying to manage this House better. My Republican friends now regularly do not even call for amendments. They basically let everybody know that whatever you submit, we are going to turn away and we are going to block because we don't want any amendments at all.

Really?

Is that the process that my friends are defending?

I think I just heard the gentleman say for several minutes a lot of words basically trying to justify why the American people don't deserve a refund as a result of Trump's illegal tariffs. Okay. If that is their position, fine. I actually think the American people deserve a refund. They deserve a check. Small businesses deserve a check from this President's illegal tariffs. That is what the Supreme Court has said. They are illegal.

The gentleman has talked a lot about appliances as if that is what is on everybody's mind. I don't know about his district, but when I do townhalls, the first words out of my constituents' mouths are not showerheads or water heaters or stoves. They are worried about prices rising all across the board.

They also want us to talk about real, serious challenges that we are faced with here, not just issues of affordability. That is because right now, right as we gather here today talking about appliances, President Trump is ramping up toward a strike against Iran, a war.

Reports say that his national security team is telling him that the U.S. military could be ready to hit Iran within days, and they are openly talking about a massive, weeks-long campaign.

Why?

They are suddenly claiming that Iran is a mere week away from having the material to make a nuclear bomb.

It sounds like what happened last year if you remember, Mr. Speaker. In June of 2025, Trump said that Iran was weeks away from getting a nuke.

What happened?

The administration proceeded to bomb Iran.

The White House spent the entirety of last summer telling the world that Iran's nuclear facilities had been obliterated in a strike that the U.S. conducted. Those aren't my words. Those are the words of this administration. They said ``obliterated'' over and over and over again--obliterated. It is still up on their website.

So which is it?

If Iran's nuclear facilities were obliterated, then why are we sprinting toward another war based on false claims about weapons of mass destruction?

They weren't obliterated. If that was all political spin to make their strike sound more successful than it actually was, then why should anyone trust the judgment of the people now pushing us toward escalation?

This is how disasters start, not with a clear plan, not with honesty, but with a President who thinks foreign policy is a reality show and human lives are props.

Let's be clear about what is at stake: Americans in uniform, American families, a region that could explode, an economy in which working people are already struggling to survive, and where a wider war could set energy prices soaring and make life even more expensive for everybody back home.

Congress is not a rubberstamp. It should not be a rubberstamp. The Constitution does not give one man the power to drag this country into another war on a whim.

De-escalate. Get serious about diplomacy. Tell the truth. If the President thinks he needs a war, then he can come to the people's House, and he can make his case out in the open where the American people can see, hear, and judge it. Then, let's wait to let us vote on it, because it is Congress, after all, who decides where and when to go to war. It is not the President; it is Congress that is to decide that.

Again, given what is potentially about to happen, you would think that we would want to have that debate here, Mr. Speaker. I don't care which side, maybe even if you want to go to war with Iran, Mr. Speaker, you would think you would want to have that debate to convince the American people that it is the right thing to do. Mr. Speaker, you would think you would want to go on record as voting for that war. I think it is a terrible mistake, but I would think if you felt the opposite, Mr. Speaker, you would want to be transparent and open about it.

Guess what. Nothing.

We are debating phony bills on appliances, on stupid stuff, when people are hurting every day because they can't afford the basics.

We are on the verge of going to war, and this is what we are doing? This is what we are doing, appliances?

Give me a break.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close because I assume the gentleman has no further speakers on his side.

Mr. Speaker, what we are really voting on here is not just a rule. It is whether the House of Representatives

is going to act like a real legislature or whether it is going to keep acting like it works for Donald Trump.

Closed rules have become the norm around here. As I said earlier, 3,300 amendments have been blocked, and many of them have been germane. In fact, most of them have been germane. It has just become a habit for the gentleman and other Republicans on the Rules Committee to vote ``no.'' They vote ``no.''

I don't want to hear an argument about germaneness because when amendments are germane--again, most of those that have been offered have been germane--up to 3,300 amendments have been blocked. That is what is happening here.

We are getting lectures and lectures and lectures about legislating, and the bottom line is that this Republican majority basically has thrown the rule book out. To hell with Jefferson. To hell with this institution. To hell with the Constitution. We are just going to shut everything down. That is what we are doing here.

If the gentleman or anybody on the other side thinks that appliances are the most important thing in the world, fine. They can bring them to the floor. But let us offer amendments and respect us and, by the way, other Republicans who want you to bring more important matters to the floor. Whether it is votes on war and peace or votes on affordability or votes on the tariffs, we ought to have those debates on the floor. They are always blocked. We can't talk about those things. It is so disappointing and so sad, Mr. Speaker.

The bottom line is, it is not just Democratic amendments, but Republican amendments, bipartisan amendments. Anything that might force a real debate or real vote is blocked.

The message that it sends is simple: The leadership doesn't want accountability. They want control, total control.

That is why the exchange with my colleague from Virginia that we had last night is so important. If Republicans are mad because Members are asking hard questions or we are talking about issues that may not be necessarily relevant to the bills we are talking about, it is because we don't have any other chance to do so.

I get it. My Republican friends don't want scrutiny. They don't want daylight. They want us to sit down, shut up, and vote for Trump. Guess what. We are not going to do that. We are not going to do that.

The bills before us today are a perfect example of what happens when you silence regular people and empower those at the top. Working families are getting squeezed by Trump's economic mess. Costs are up. People can feel it every time they swipe a card at the grocery store or open their checkbook to pay a utility bill.

Instead of bringing serious cost-of-living relief to the floor-- housing, healthcare, childcare, prescription drugs, cracking down on price gouging--Republicans bring bills like this so that we can pretend that we are doing something when we are not.

That is the scam: Protect the people at the top. Stage a few votes for press releases. Then lie to the American people and tell them that the economy is going great.

The people I represent are not buying this bs. They are asking us to take on the folks rigging the economy against them. They are asking for a House that debates and approves legislation, not one that takes orders and acts like a rubber stamp for the White House. They are asking for real relief from Donald Trump's awful economy, which is making life harder for regular families.

Mr. Speaker, we have a President who wants to be king, and unfortunately, we have Republicans in this House who bow down to him. We have officials in this administration who have compared the House of Representatives and Congress to the Russian Duma, a legislative body in name only, a body that just rubberstamps whatever the Russian leader, whatever Putin, says.

I don't want to be the Russian Duma. I want to adhere to the ideals of Thomas Jefferson. We ought to be debating. We ought to have amendments made in order. We ought to legislate. We ought to behave like we are the United States House of Representatives, and we are not.

It is so disappointing. The precedents that are being set here are so disappointing. It is depressing what has happened to this House.

I say to my colleagues: vote against this rule. Another two closed rules, that is what we are getting here. No amendments at all, nothing, two closed rules, take it or leave it.

We have to do better. I am so disappointed with my Republican colleagues who go along to get along, who are so afraid of being punished by the bully in the White House, who are so afraid of even changing a comma in a bill because there might be retribution.

We are all elected by the people of this country. We ought to start acting like it. We ought to start fighting back. We ought to start legislating and deliberating. We ought to restore some dignity to the House of Representatives.

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, this morning I am honored to have my dear friend, Father Jonathan Slavinskas, pastor of St. Bernard's Church of Our Lady of Providence Parish in my hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts, give today's opening prayer.

Father Jonathan, as he is known by his parishioners, is a true force of good in the Lincoln Street area. He is always a welcoming and friendly face who is known for buying pizza for the neighborhood kids or opening up the gym for pickup basketball games.

He is also the chaplain for both the Worcester Police Department and the Worcester Fire Department. He cares deeply about our immigrant community.

Day in and day out, Father Jonathan lives out his Catholic faith in big and small ways. He shows up for his community and is always there for his people, especially when they are going through rough times.

Father Jonathan has long been a cherished friend of the entire McGovern family, especially of my daughter, Molly, who sadly passed away last April. Lisa and I will forever be grateful to him.

Mr. Speaker, with a friendly smile and a touch of humor, Father Jonathan goes out of his way to make those around him welcome both in the church and in the neighborhood. We should all be inspired by his remarkable example.