Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, this is complete madness that the Democrats are trying to push through a deeming resolution to spend $1.5 trillion, and they have yet to even bring it up in the debate.

They want the American people to believe that what we are about to vote on on this floor right now is a bill that

is in Financial Services or a bill that is in Foreign Affairs. But yet they are trying to pass a resolution to bypass the budget process to spend $1.5 trillion.

The Democrats have been in power for almost 900 days, and they have yet to put a real budget on the floor of the House of Representatives, even though the Budget Control Act of 1974 clearly states the process.

What is it? What are you trying to hide? Why don't you want debate over $1.5 trillion of spending? Why are you hiding it from the American people? Why are you being so dishonest?

$1.5 trillion is a lot of money. Your President submitted a budget just 2 weeks ago, the latest budget in the history of the United States. Are you not wanting to debate it? Are you not wanting to discuss it? Because the Speaker said the budget is a statement of your values. Show us your values.

You don't want the American people to see your values because in the President's budget, the largest amount of spending in the history of this country, $69 trillion, you are putting $80 billion to hire 87,000 IRS auditors to go after the American people. The largest tax increases in the history of the United States. $55 trillion. Tax increases on low income, middle income, all incomes. It is the big lie.

But you know what? Across-the-board average increases on everything by at least a 16-percent increase except for things that deal with security: Our men and women in uniform, flatlining our national defense. Not one additional dollar could be found for border security when we are facing the Biden border crisis right now.

More people have illegally crossed the southern border since January 20 than the entire population of Kansas City, Missouri, and you all can't find one additional dollar? It is because you are divided within your party. You all are fighting to defund the police. You are fighting to defund our men and women in the Army, the National Guard, the Navy, the Air Force. Where are your priorities?

Madam Speaker, where are your party's priorities in defunding the police, defunding our military? Put this legislation on the floor. Don't try to put it in one sentence, one sentence in a rule.

We are 3\1/2\ months from a government shutdown, 3\1/2\ months. Let's pass a budget, a budget that was supposed to be passed by April 15, according to the law. April 15. Let's prevent this government shutdown.

But yet, Madam Speaker, your side is trying to hide $1.5 trillion.

Madam Speaker, I will just plead to the House Democrats, I will plead to you, Madam Speaker, please be transparent with the American people. We don't want a government shutdown.

But the fact that you won't even bring forth a budget to be debated, your President's budget, you will not bring it to the House floor because you don't want the American people to see exactly how you are trying to destroy the working class, to raise taxes on the low-income and the working class, to put 87,000 tax auditors to go after the working class.

The people see it. They see right through it. And history will definitely, definitely not read well for the House Democrats.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the South Iron Panthers of Annapolis who are the 2021 Missouri Class 1 Boys Basketball Champions.

The Panthers achieved a 25-4 record for their season and in the game for the top prize they beat Mound City 69-50. That gave South Iron their first state championship since 1965.

Coach Dusty Dinkins praised his team for their hard work and passion to play their best. Indeed, that dedication to excellence paid off on the court.

I offer my heartfelt congratulations to Coach Dinkins, Assistant Coaches Delbert Jackson, Jason McMurry and Jared Middleton, and their championship players Jermarco Burse, Jr., Jermarquis Burse, Drenin Dinkins, Kolton Dinkins, Jacob Leverett, Luke Lunyou, Champ McMurry, DJ Prater, Gabe Ruble, and Brock Wakefield.

It is my great privilege to recognize the South Iron High School Panthers as the Class I Missouri State Championship Boys Basketball team today before the United States House of Representatives.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the Arcadia Valley Tigers who are the 2020 Missouri Class 2 Girls Cross Country Team Champions.

The 2020 Tiger Cross Country team is the first in the history of Arcadia Valley to win the state championship title. In addition to the state title the Tigers were district champions with six girls being named all district including the Individual district champion, Erica Standefer.

Coach Don Barzowski praised his team for their hard work and dedication. Indeed, that dedication to excellence paid off on the track.

I offer my heartfelt congratulations to Coach Barzowski and Assistant Coach Paul Royer, and their championship athletes Erica Standefer, Trinity Russell, Ella Weber, Mary Tevis, Alyssa Glanzer, Avery Jones, Emma Dettmer and Natalie Stricklin.

It is my great privilege to recognize the Arcadia Valley Tigers as the Class 2 Missouri State Championship Girls Cross Country Team today before the United States House of Representatives

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

Madam Speaker, the legislation before us today is clearly a wiser course of action than that which my House Democrat colleagues pursued just a few weeks ago. As a reminder, despite House Republicans specifically raising the concern over the risk House Democrats were taking with the healthcare of America's seniors, our Democrat colleagues first dismissed the fact that their recently enacted $1.9 trillion bailout bill would lead to billions in cuts to Medicare. Then, after passing their bill, and after the President signed into law a plan that would lead to $36 billion in cuts to Medicare, Democrats suddenly felt compelled to acknowledge that fact.

Unfortunately, when they chose to act, Democrats chose a course of action that completely failed. I say chose that course of action because they could have protected America's seniors and offset the impact to the budget by adopting the Protect Seniors and Cut Waste Act put forward by House Republicans, which would:

Stop benefits and payments to prisoners and illegal immigrants; stop funds from the bailout bail for the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities; stop special handouts for Federal employees; and rescind billions in bailouts that go to State governments.

Our Democrat colleagues were unwilling to accept such a commonsense approach. They wanted to simply pretend $1.9 trillion in spending is not happening and erase the evidence.

Thankfully, the Senate, in a bipartisan vote of 90-2, agreed to the bill that is before us today--legislation that postpones the Budget Control Act's reduction in Medicare spending that is otherwise set to begin this month. It offsets and achieves those savings by extending future funding restraints an additional year.

It avoids a cut to Medicare that is smaller than that which is set to occur because of the Biden bailout bill, but it also does not simply shove under the

rug the cost of the debt-inducing actions taken by Washington Democrats thus far. They will have to deal with those actions and their spending.

In the meantime, we can and should act on the legislation before us to do what is prudent and possible to protect America's seniors.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I will just say that Republicans don't cut Medicare. In fact, the Biden bailout bill that was passed cut $36 billion a year in Medicare. Yet, the Senate Democrats have not done anything in regard to those Medicare cuts to seniors in the Biden bailout bill.

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

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

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the Ellington High School Lady Whippets who made school history March 12, 2021 when they became the Missouri Class 2 State Basketball Champions.

It's the school's first ever state basketball championship and it came in the Whippets' 63-56 come-from-behind win over the Wellington- Napoleon Tigers.

From the very beginning of the season, Coach David Burrows told his team he believed they could have a great year. They ended their season with a 23-5 record.

I offer my heartfelt congratulations to Coach Burrows, Assistant Coach Paula King and team members: Millie Barnett, Briley Bouma, Hiley Brewer, Holly Burrows, Megan Copeland, Laura Gore, Gretchen Hackworth, Abbi Harper, Kaylee King, Sadie Lloyd, Shemaine Lovell, Ellarae Morton, Lyndy Nash, and Dylan Price.

It is my great privilege to recognize the Ellington High School Whippets as the 2021 Class 2 Missouri State Championship Basketball team today before the United States House of Representatives.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Fellowship Free Will Baptist Church of Park Hills, Missouri on the occasion of their 75th anniversary.

The church was founded in 1946 when a group of about 50 believers gathered to worship at the old Buckley Store building. Roughly three months later Fellowship Church voted to purchase the property at 601 Buckley Street, where the sanctuary stands today. The purchase was made on August 12, 1946, and ground was broken just 14 days later.

In the heart of the mining community, a group of lead miners on strike, volunteered their manpower and resources to build the sanctuary. Only eight months later, the first service was held in the new church on Easter Sunday, April 17, 1949.

It has been the mission of Fellowship Free Will Baptist Church to help people find their greatest joy in Jesus by helping them to ``Know God, Grow in Truth, Connect in Community, and Serve Others.''

It is my great pleasure to honor Fellowship Free Will Baptist Church of Park Hills, Missouri on their 75th anniversary today, before the United States House of Representatives.

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

Mr. Speaker, this week, the President has been traveling across the country telling Americans how appreciative they should be that Washington Democrats are spending, or have spent, $1.9 trillion in borrowed dollars, money they are using to bail out States run by the President's political buddies and to reward devastating lockdowns that have destroyed hundreds of thousands of small businesses and kept kids out of schools; billions on policies that will reduce private-sector employment in this country; billions on foreign aid.

And out of all the money, less than 9 percent goes towards healthcare spending to crush the virus and to put vaccinations in people's arms.

The massive debt-inducing spending package also threatens billions in cuts to seniors on Medicare, including $36 billion starting next year. My guess is that the President is probably not going to be bragging to seniors he meets on the road that the bill he signed into law is cutting billions of dollars from their Medicare, just as I am sure he won't bother to mention that the economic recovery he wants to take credit for is already underway; that the economy is steadily projected to reach the level of real GDP growth we saw prior to the pandemic by the middle of this year; that we are on track this year, in fact, to have the largest economic growth in more than 15 years, all without one dime used from the nearly $2 trillion bailout package that the Democrats passed in the last week.

In other words, just as President Biden has desperately tried to take credit for the incredible, truly historic work President Trump did to ensure that we have vaccines going into the arms to save lives, he is trying to take credit for an economic recovery put in place by the policies signed into law by President Trump. Don't listen to the words. Watch his actions.

In fact, it was under President Trump's leadership that Operation Warp Speed delivered multiple vaccines in record time with planning to get those shots in the arms of the American people. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has spent an inordinate amount of time running afoul of fact checkers with their shameless rhetoric meant to dismiss the incredible work done by the previous administration.

Nevertheless, we are here today because Democrats want to fix one of the many problems caused by President Biden and the House Democrats in the $1.9 trillion bailout: Those cuts to Medicare. And they want to do so by erasing almost $2 trillion in spending from the Nation's books; pretending $2 trillion in spending is not going to happen.

That, of course, serves two purposes for our Democrat colleagues. First, it avoids the immediate cuts, which they caused and they chose to happen. Second, it gives them a clean slate on which they are reportedly already planning to add trillions more in spending in the months to come.

Given all of this, I would ask my colleagues to move forward with a much better approach, one that stops their Medicare cuts and does so in a more responsible way. Let's work together to protect seniors and to cut waste from their bailout bill that the American people clearly don't want, such as stopping billions in benefits and payments to prisoners and illegal immigrants--billions in payments to prisoners and illegal immigrants; stopping funds they recklessly jammed into the bailout for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities; stopping special handouts to Federal employees; rescinding billions in bailouts that go to State governments that do not need it, and reward their continued lockdowns.

Mr. Speaker, put people before politics. Put people before politics. Put seniors ahead of the Democrats' special interests and their political class. This is the responsible way to address the Medicare cuts caused by my Democrat colleagues. It is a far better approach than to simply pretend $1.9 trillion in spending is not happening. It is a far more honest approach given the fact that the President is traveling the country bragging about the same nearly $2 trillion in spending.

Mr. Speaker, $1.9 trillion, such a big number, is hard to put in proper perspective. But this year, when the American people pay their Federal income taxes, every single penny--every

single penny of their hard-earned money the IRS collects will total less than the cost of this $1.9 trillion bailout to their friends, donors, and political allies.

Let's do the responsible thing: Protect seniors by rolling back some of the most wasteful and wrong policies embedded in the Democrat's bailout bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Good).

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

Mr. Speaker, I just want to remind the gentleman from New Jersey that the folks in southeast Missouri, a family of four who makes less than $55,000 a year, under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act had zero in tax liability because of what the Republicans passed.

I don't think a family of four, who makes $55,000 or less, is considered the wealthy. But apparently maybe someone from New Jersey might think someone who makes $55,000 for a family of four is wealthy. It is surely not in southeast Missouri.

I also would like to point out that the gentleman from New Jersey did not help support in waiving this provision back in 2017.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Wenstrup).

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the body that the reason we are here today is because of the reckless behavior. All of these cuts on Medicare are because House Democrats forced through a nearly $2 trillion spending bill. The reason we have the paygo statutory provision is because President Obama signed it into law and House Democrats passed it. So the cuts are the result today of all the policies that Democrats have been doing since 2010.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Kelly), who is the newest member of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess), one of the leading doctors of the Republican Conference and a great member of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the gentlewoman from Illinois that actions speak louder than words, and that the Democrats did not help the folks in 2017, since the gentlewoman tried to point out the hypocrisy.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Arrington).

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

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

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

Mr. Speaker, my colleagues and I have introduced an alternative, a more responsible approach that protects our seniors and rolls back some of the most wasteful and absurd parts of the Democratic bailout bill.

I would encourage my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to put America's seniors ahead of their special interest allies. Join us in finding a solution that protects and respects America's seniors and the working class. We will offer such a solution as a motion to recommit. If adopted, it will instruct the Budget Committee to consider an amendment to make the sensible cuts in waste offered in H.R. 1999, the Protect Seniors and Cut Waste Act.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of this amendment in the Record immediately prior to the vote on the motion to recommit.

Mr. Speaker, let's put the healthcare of our seniors ahead of prisoners, illegal immigrants, and the political class.

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

Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, rewards the political class, not the working class; that should be the name of this bailout plan.

When our Democrat colleagues got together to describe how to proceed on additional COVID-19 spending, they could have done a number of things.

They should have followed the bipartisan precedent set over the past year and worked across the aisle. Instead, they chose a purely partisan process to jam through a radical agenda, putting the political class ahead of America's working class.

They could have looked at the data coming out of the Congressional Budget Office. Had they done so, they would have seen that, absent any new funding, the economy is projected to reach prepandemic levels of real GDP growth by the middle of this year. Further, they would have seen that without this bailout, America is already projected to see its largest GDP growth in 15 years. Instead, they ignored the data, just like they have ignored the science. And they now hope that their bailout plan gets credit for an economic recovery that CBO tells us is already underway.

They could have accounted for the approximately $1 trillion in COVID- 19 money Congress already appropriated in a bipartisan approach but which has not been spent yet. Instead, they ignored calls to provide an accurate and thorough accounting of unspent funds. Now, they are charging American taxpayers another $2 trillion.

They could have focused on timely and targeted relief to support those

that are most in need, to reopen schools in our communities and storefronts on Main Street, and to crush the virus and put shots in Americans' arms. Instead, less than 9 percent of this bailout goes to crushing the virus and dispensing vaccines. Only 5 percent of the K-12 education funding will be spent this year, even as Americans are told this money is needed to reopen their children's schools.

Of course, Democrat leaders are more than willing to spend hundreds of billions to bail out States, sending a disproportionate share of that money to those States run by their political buddies that will reward and incentivize further lockdowns.

Just look at how they changed the State funding formula. California, where revenues are, in fact, up, and they are sitting on a surplus of $10-plus billion, will now get billions more than they otherwise would have, a direct reward to the Speaker and Vice President's home State.

It was all so predictable, really. From the very beginning of this process, Republicans have been saying that this bailout was never about COVID relief but, rather, about Democrats trying to notch some wins for their political base, to appease their allies rather than help Americans.

Amazingly, Democrats are not even shy now about admitting that fact. The White House Chief of Staff has called this bill the ``most progressive domestic legislation in a generation.''

Leader Schumer, in the Senate, called it ``one of the most progressive pieces of legislation . . . in decades.''

We are here today, Mr. Speaker, because Democrats made a choice, a choice to put their own partisan political ambitions ahead of the needs of the working class, ahead of the needs of the American people. When our Democrat colleagues speak of unity, they mean keeping their party together, not pulling this country together.

That is why we have before us this wrong plan at the wrong time for so many wrong reasons.

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

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentlewoman from California. I will remind her that if this bill were enacted, her State's 6 million seniors would see a cut of Medicare of over $44 billion in the next 10 years.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock).

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Nevada. I will remind him that with this bill, if it is signed into law, his 500,000 seniors will face a $3 billion cut to Medicare. So his vote today will cost a $3 billion cut to the seniors of Nevada.

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

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from South Carolina, and I will remind him that if this bill becomes law, the 1 million seniors in his State will face a $7 billion cut over the next 10 years to Medicare.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter).

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from California, and I will remind him that his State has 27 percent of the homeless population in the United States. But under this bill, the CBO projects that precisely zero dollars of the $5 billion will be spent this year. Wrong plan at the wrong time for so many wrong reasons.

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to say that, under President Trump, we had the lowest poverty rate since 1959 in 2019. The lowest poverty rate since 1959 came under President Trump. Thank you to President Trump.

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

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentlewoman from Texas, and I will remind her that, while this legislation provides her State government with another $40 billion, it fails to include any language to ensure that the 5 million K-12 students in her State are back in open schools anytime soon, does nothing to open schools.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from New York, and I will remind him that, with passage of this bill, his State's 3 million seniors could see a cut to Medicare of $27 billion over the next 10 years.

I would also like to remind Mr. Jeffries that the CBO says that, without any additional stimulus, our economy later on in this year will be the highest GDP growth that we have seen in 15 years. So that help of extra government spending is not necessary to bail out your friends and allies who are in the Governor's mansion in New York or California.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Smucker).

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentlewoman from New York, and I would like to remind her that, in her home State, she has 16 percent--16 percent--of the country's homeless population in the United States; but under this bailout, the CBO projects that precisely zero dollars--zero dollars--of the $5 billion that is in this bill will go to help the homeless population this coming year.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy), the leader of the working class party.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise), the Republican whip.

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

Mr. Speaker, I just want to make sure. This Chamber may not have heard, but under the leadership of President Trump, in 2019, we hit the lowest poverty ever--lowest poverty. So thank you, President Trump.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from the great State of Colorado (Mrs. Boebert).

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Guest).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mr. Speaker, there is this popular phrase that our Speaker is known for that we must pass the bill before we know what is in it. Well, the other side also said that you must poll the bill before the American people know what is in it. After they figure out what is in this bill, they won't like it.

We have looked at this bill. We have read it.

Less than 9 percent of all funding of this bill goes for healthcare spending to crush the virus and to put vaccinations in the arms of Americans. More than 20 percent of this bill goes to policies that harm jobs and reduce employment, and $36 billion will be cut from Medicare just next year alone because of this bill. Over $360 billion will be cut from seniors in 10 years because of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, when the facts are polled, the American people will know that this is a progressive wish list forced down by the Democratic Party.

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

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

We are here today because Washington Democrats have gotten together and decided to use a global pandemic as an excuse to check a few items off their progressive wish list. They want to reward their political allies at the expense of America's working class.

If this bailout is about crushing the virus, then why does less than 9 percent actually go towards putting shots in people's arms?

If this bailout is about quickly reopening our schools, then why is less than 5 percent of the money for schools going to be spent this year?

If this bailout is about helping workers and families, then why does this plan continue to incentivize Governors to keep small businesses shut down?

Why does 25 percent of all spending go towards policies that will kill jobs and reduce hours worked?

Simply put, this is the wrong plan at the wrong time for all the wrong reasons. It is the wrong plan because Americans living on fixed incomes, including 31 million seniors who are on fixed Social Security, will be forced to pay more out of pocket to buy food, put clothes on their backs, and to keep the lights on. Seniors will now have to decide to turn on heat or pay for the needed medication.

It is the wrong time because Democratic economists and the Congressional Budget Office are warning that this spending isn't needed and that, by the middle of the year, our real GDP will have recovered and we will have our largest economic growth in 15 years.

It is the wrong time because when you combine this bill with the COVID-19 money that has already been enacted, the sum is more than the GDP of every country in the world except China and the United States, and $1 trillion of already enacted spending still remains.

So what is the reason for this bailout?

It is all about rewarding political allies and bailouts to blue States. Democrats even changed the funding formula to reward States that severely lock down their citizens and boarded up Main Street.

Using a pandemic to push things like the $15 Washington mandate, an expansion of ObamaCare, and billions on political payouts around this country is the real reason for this bailout.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to look beyond their agenda and think about the working class. They want the schools reopened, to be able to go back to work, vaccines to keep their families safe, and end to this pandemic. All of that can happen without this bailout plan if we focus on what the American people need and not what one political party desperately wants.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy), who will be the next Speaker of the House.

Mr. Speaker, I will remind the gentleman from New York, if this bill is enacted, his State's 3 million seniors will face a cut to Medicare of $27 billion over the next 10 years.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock).

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentlewoman from California. I would just like to point out that, out of her 6 million seniors, this bill will cut $44 billion from Medicare over the next 10 years--10 years.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter).

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Pennsylvania. I will remind him that if this bill were enacted, his State's 2.7 million seniors would face a $17 billion cut in Medicare over the next 10 years.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Iowa (Mrs. Hinson).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise).

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Comer).

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

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

Mr. Speaker, a recent letter from the Congressional Budget Office shows that if this bailout plan is enacted, the Medicare benefits for seniors will be cut by $36 million starting in fiscal year 2022 and every year for the next 10 years.

I include in the Record a letter that confirms the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 will cause billions of dollars of cuts to Medicare.

U.S. Congress,

Congressional Budget Office,

Washington, DC, February 25, 2021.

Re: Potential Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Effects of the American

Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

Hon. Kevin McCarthy,

Republican Leader, House of Representatives,

Washington, DC.

Dear Leader McCarthy: This letter responds to your request

for information about whether a sequestration (or

cancellation of budgetary resources) could be triggered in

accordance with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010

(PAYGO) if the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (as posted on

the website of the House Committee on Rules on February 19,

2021) was enacted. CBO estimates

that the legislation would increase deficits by $1.9 trillion

over the 2021-2031 period.

Under statutory PAYGO, the Office of Management and Budget

(OMB) is required to maintain 5- and 10-year scorecards that

report the estimated cumulative changes in revenues and

outlays generated by new legislation. If either scorecard

indicates a net increase in the deficit, OMB is required to

order a sequestration to eliminate the overage. The balance

used to determine the amount of a sequestration is not the

projected increase in the deficit for that particular year.

Rather, the PAYGO scorecards identify average annual effects

of legislation over the 5- and 10-year periods and assign

that average to each year in the period. Before an average is

calculated, any current-year effects are combined with those

for the budget year.

CBO has analyzed the implications of enacting the American

Rescue Plan, which, by CBO's estimate, would increase

deficits by $1.9 trillion (including current-year effects)

over both a 5-year period and a 10-year period, assuming that

no further legislation to offset that increase was enacted.

In accordance with the PAYGO law, OMB would record the

average annual deficit on its scorecard, showing deficit

increases of $381 billion per year for five years, if its

estimate of the act's effects was the same as CBO's. If the

bill was enacted before the end of the calendar year, that

amount would be added to the PAYGO scorecard, which currently

carries no balances for 2021 or any subsequent years.

Without enactment of subsequent legislation that would

offset the deficit increase, waive the recordation of the

bill's effects on the scorecard, or otherwise mitigate or

eliminate the statutory PAYGO requirements, OMB would be

required to issue a sequestration order within 15 days of the

end of the Congressional session to reduce spending in fiscal

year 2022 by $381 billion, CBO estimates. However, the PAYGO

law limits reductions in Medicare spending to four percentage

points (or an estimated $36 billion for that year), leaving

$345 billion to be sequestered from the remaining mandatory

accounts. Because the law entirely exempts many large

accounts, including low-income programs and Social Security,

in CBO's estimation, the annual resources available from

which OMB must draw would total between $80 billion and $90

billion--significantly less than the amount that would be

required to be sequestered.

Because the required reduction in spending would exceed the

estimated amount of available resources in each year over the

next 10 years, in the absence of further legislation, OMB

would be unable to fully implement the outlay reductions

required by the PAYGO law.

If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be

pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Avi Lerner.

Sincerely,

Phillip L. Swagel,

Director.

Mr. Speaker, House Republicans have filed hundreds and hundreds of amendments. All but two were voted down.

This is clearly a partisan plan that is the wrong plan at the wrong time for all the wrong reasons. If you take out the direct checks to Americans, almost half of all the money that is in this bill will not be spent until fiscal year 2022 or later. This is not imminent.

It is the wrong plan at the wrong time and, we know, for all the wrong reasons.

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

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

Madam Speaker, in Missouri, we have this phrase that says: You are all hat and no cattle. That is what this legislation is. It is all hat and no cattle.

We just had the Speaker speak right before me and said this piece of legislation is all about getting vaccines and shots in people's arms. Let me tell you, less than 10 percent of the money that is appropriated in this piece of legislation actually goes to vaccines and shots. It is 9 percent.

That is all hat and no cattle, what we say in Missouri. If you are actually wanting to make sure that Americans have shots and vaccinations, do your job, not the lip service. If we really want to help American people, we should focus on lifting the burden of government influence and interference on the lives and off of the backs of working-class Americans.

At a time of great division in this country, we ought to be conscious of the fact that how we govern in this body can serve to unite us, or it can divide us further.

The only thing that has been bipartisan this week is bipartisan opposition to the bill. Not one Republican voted for it, but Democrats voted against it.

One piece of this debate that is increasingly obvious and concerning to me is how our Democrat colleagues are pushing legislation that will rescue or reward their political allies in blue State capitals across this country. How else does one explain the billions in bailouts they have proposed for State governments that have locked down their local economies? They have told Main Street to board up and left families struggling even more to make ends meet.

We should be looking to help working-class families by reopening schools, ending small business lock-downs, and allowing Americans to get back to work.

Hardworking American families would also appreciate a White House that focuses more on job creation and economic opportunity instead of continuously issuing executive orders, firing American workers, and increasing the cost of living in this country.

One truly disturbing part of the resolution before us today is that this resolution repeals the supermajority waiver requirement for unfunded mandates, making it easier for the Senate to impose mandates on our States and local communities on a partisan basis, now with only a simple majority waiver required.

This paves the way for Democrats to enact sweeping policies that will make the cost of living more expensive, and it will give Washington bureaucrats power over the American people and harm the working class.

Under this resolution, Democrats with a mere 51 votes could force States to provide healthcare to illegal immigrants under Medicaid. They could also take away States' ability to ensure Federal carbon mandates don't kill jobs and devastate local economies.

Ironically, the same folks who want to bail out State governments today to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars will be able under the new rules to stick States with costly massive unfunded mandates for the long term. It makes zero sense.

House Democrats are driving full speed ahead toward radical policies that will kill jobs and hurt the working class. It is past time to put politics aside and focus on the real needs of all Americans.

Madam Speaker, I stand ready to work with my colleagues on policies that will support the American working class.

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

Mr. Speaker, the so-called budget before us ``squanders the opportunity to start this new Congress working together to address the concerns and priorities of the American people in a constructive and bipartisan manner.''

Mr. Speaker, those are not my words. That is what was said at this very same moment in 2017 by my colleague across the aisle who is now chairman of this committee. You see, he found the very same process they are starting today to be so objectionable, so one-sided, so partisan, such an abuse of power, that he spoke in opposition for an hour to the very same thing the House Democrats are doing now.

The truth is, I look forward to the time my colleague on the other side and I can actually formalize our committee, welcome our members, organize, and develop an oversight plan for the new administration, but that has yet to happen.

But here we are on the floor with a bill already; a so-called budget resolution; a resolution which, in reality, isn't any sort of budget. It is simply a mechanism for the Democrat leaders to enact a radical agenda rejected by Americans this fall. They know it. It was rejected because their caucus is much smaller now today than it was before the election.

So why are they doing this?

While five different COVID stimulus packages were negotiated and ultimately signed into law on a bipartisan basis over the last year, they apparently now need a more one-sided approach, one which is much more partisan and bends the rules to radicalize this Congress and the policies it produces. Quite the opposite of the speech we all heard from out in front of this building 2 weeks ago today.

The power of our example, isn't that what we were told?

Well, what is the example here?

That the unification, the bipartisanship, and work-together attitude that the President called for were just empty words for the House majority. Though I suppose with this partisan process, our House Democrat colleagues are, in a sense, following the example of President Biden from his first days in office.

President Biden has spent his first few days signing one executive order after another and pushing policies that will destroy American jobs, make our country less secure, and raise the cost of living for American families. I will just name a few:

Canceling the Keystone XL pipeline directly eliminates an estimated 11,000 jobs, including 8,000 union jobs.

Enacting a 60-day moratorium on new mining, oil and gas leasing, and permitting on Federal lands will cause severe damage to America's economy and energy independence, and will result in the loss of over 100,000 jobs.

Mr. Speaker, 100,000 Americans are fired by the stroke of a pen.

Returning the U.S. to the failed Paris Agreement of 2015 will reduce U.S. competitiveness in manufacturing and next-generation technologies, as industries move to China.

Terminating a national emergency declaration which immediately stops all wall construction at the Southern border leaves American taxpayers with an incomplete government project and the loss of thousands of jobs.

Mr. Speaker, thousands of Americans are, once again, fired, again, by the stroke of the President's pen. That is a powerful example by the President of how to make life harder for the working class and to weaken America.

Again, I come back to: Why is this happening today?

I think the American people deserve to know, and the answer is simple: Democrats in Washington are setting up a partisan process to have the Vice President cast the decisive vote in the Senate on an array of radical policies.

At worst, their plans are to try and use this pandemic to seize more government control of your life; to grow government power over your healthcare choices; to place new rules, mandates, and regulations on your small businesses; and to grant citizenship to millions here illegally.

At best, their plan is to actually award hundreds of billions of dollars to the very same State governments which are shutting down our schools, telling restaurants they can't open, and keeping families locked inside. They want to bail out their political allies who are telling small businesses they can't open, who are blocking Americans from going into their houses of worship, and who are ruining more families by the day.

America is suffering right now, but they are suffering because of the choices, the mandates, and the lockdowns being put in place by government. We all know the quote from President Ronald Reagan: ``The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: `I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.' ''

Well, I think there are about 3,800 more families who have loved ones in New York nursing homes, who would agree with that statement right now.

Government harm has gone on long enough. It needs to stop, yet we are setting up a process today to give hundreds of billions more to those very same State governments. The numbers

don't lie. Adding in the President's $2 trillion proposal from earlier this month, we will have spent $6 trillion in less than 1 year in so- called COVID-19-related stimulus. That is larger than the GDP of every country on Earth other than the U.S. and China. It is the equivalent of $17,000 per every American and $70,000 per household.

Do families really feel like they have gotten $70,000 out of their government in the last year?

No way.

What is worse is we have now crossed over. Government policies are now making the crisis worse, resulting in millions of needless deaths. Suicide rates among adults and children are way up. The U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research, just this past month, said that, over the next 15 years, more than 890,000 Americans could die as a direct result of the unemployment caused by COVID-related lockdowns.

Here was the headline in The New York Times last week: ``Surge of Student Suicides Pushes Las Vegas Schools to Reopen.''

Lockdowns, mandates, closures, virtual: It is unrealistic, not sustainable, and not the way.

Under remote virtual learning, students are not getting the instruction they need, especially those who may not have access to reliable broadband. Not to mention the mental health and emotional development needs that are not being met.

If we want to support families and communities, let's follow the science and let's reopen our schools. Our country is about giving Americans the power of information and letting them decide what is best for their family and for their loved ones, not government telling them: Stay indoors; don't see your family; and I am going to destroy your job, small business, and everything you have spent your life building.

So here we are, setting new precedent under the Democrat-controlled House. In more than 30 years, Congress has never voted on a House- originated budget that has not first gone through committee.

For what?

To bail out the very governments who are the ones costing families everything right now.

Is this how the Democrats intend to govern: to put Government ahead of the people?

I remind my friends that the power of the majority is a fleeting thing, and the American people are watching.

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

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Massachusetts. I will remind him that the government there in his State has already received $7.5 billion in bailouts and, under this plan, would receive an additional $7 billion. During the lockdown there in his State, more than 2,500 small businesses have been closed and the death rate has been more than the top five in the Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from the great State of Colorado (Mrs. Boebert), who understands what it is like to run a small business and the burdens that government places on them.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cline), who proudly represents their Sixth District, a wonderful new addition to the Budget Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from New York. I will remind him that his State government has already received $28.5 billion in bail-out money and, under this proposal, would receive $20.5 billion under the plan; while that very same government has enacted some of the strongest lockdown policies in the Nation, resulting in the closure of more than 6,500 small businesses in the State of New York, with an unemployment rate currently at 8.2 percent. And the State of New York also has the second highest COVID- related deaths per capita in the Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Obernolte), an entrepreneur from California, a leader in his State legislature on budgetary issues, and a new member of the Budget Committee.

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to respond to the gentleman from Oregon saying that this is unprecedented. What is unprecedented is that this is the first time that a budget resolution that originated in the House bypassed the Budget Committee.

Reconciliation has been used numerous times, but this is the first time in the history of this country that the Democrats bypassed the Budget Committee in a budget resolution that originated in the House. The people are watching, Mr. Speaker.

I also appreciate the gentleman from Oregon. I will remind him that his State government has already received $4.5 billion in bailouts, and they will receive another $4.5 billion in bailouts while their State has locked down small businesses, costing more than 1,000 small businesses to close their doors.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter), a true defender of commonsense, conservative values and a good friend.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentlewoman from Texas. I will remind her, as we debate how to improve the economy, the administration's hostility to the energy industry, as demonstrated by his executive orders, threatens at least 120,000 jobs in the State of Texas.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Feenstra). As a freshman, he has already shown leadership as a true defender of conservative principles.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Pennsylvania. I will remind him that his State government has already received $14 billion in bailouts. They will receive another $13.5 under this plan while that very same State government has enacted lockdown policies, causing the closure of more than 3,000 of their small businesses.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Donalds), a great addition to the Budget Committee and a true leader.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Virginia. I will remind him that his State government has already received $6.5 billion in bailout money, and they will receive another $9 billion under this plan while that very same government has enacted lockdown policies directly leading to the closure of more than 2,000 small businesses.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from the great Commonwealth of Virginia (Mr. Good), who already is a leader in this conference.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentleman from Virginia.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from California. I will remind him that his State government, yes, indeed, has already received $43 billion in taxpayer bailouts and will receive another $42 billion in taxpayer bailouts if this bill passes.

But let's talk about California. This is the State that has some of the most stringent lockdowns in the entire country. In fact, their lockdowns are so significant that more than 16,500 small businesses will never open their doors again. That is government that believes that it is okay to deny you to go to your house of worship and to eat out in an outdoor restaurant, but you can go to a strip club or get a tattoo. That is California.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from the great State of Georgia (Mrs. Greene), a small businessowner who proudly represents the people of the 14th Congressional District.

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

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from New Jersey, and I wanted to remind the Chamber that his State government has already received $9.5 billion worth of taxpayer bailouts and under this proposal, would receive an additional $9.5 billion under this plan, while that very same government has enacted lockdown policies directly leading to the closure of more than 3,000 small businesses.

And that State, very sadly, actually has the highest per capita death rate of all States in the United States.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Arrington), who represents the 19th Congressional District and has been an active participant in the budget process for as long as I have known him, a true defender of fiscal responsibility.

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to highlight that just in the last couple of days, the Congressional Budget Office released a report that, in fact, the economy will strengthen, grow, and recover without any additional stimulus dollars by the middle of 2021. You are looking at in just 5 to 6 months, the Congressional Budget Office said that the economy will recover without one single penny being spent of stimulus money.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock), a leader on the Budget Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentlewoman's comments, and the best way to help her constituents and to help those small businesses in the State of New York is to stop the lockdowns.

Mr. Speaker, we have more than $1 trillion that is lingering out there that has been appropriated to help these small businesses, to help healthcare professionals, to help with vaccinations. They are still hurting, but the money is still there.

Mr. Speaker, what is happening so bad in the State of New York is that they are not using science. They are using arbitrary items that have shut down more than 6,500 small businesses in the State of New York. Open up the State of New York so small businesses can operate and grow.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Banks), a distinguished Navy veteran, our leader on the Republican Study Committee, and a rising podcast star.

Mr. Speaker, the last 2 weeks, working-class Americans have faced a great target on their backs from the new President. By the stroke of a pen--47 different executive orders and actions--he has fired hundreds of thousands of American workers.

Mr. Speaker, by the stroke of a pen, in the last 2 weeks, the sitting President has fired hundreds of thousands of American workers who are wondering where their next paycheck will come from, who are wondering how they are going to pay their mortgage, who are wondering how they are going to survive in South Dakota, North Dakota, Texas, Wyoming, Colorado.

Just because this President was trying to unify his liberal base, he fired hundreds of thousands of American workers. It is war on the working class.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Iowa (Mrs. Hinson), a distinguished journalist.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Michigan, and I will remind him that his State government has already received $10 billion in taxpayer bailouts and will receive another $10.5 under this plan.

However, if President Biden wouldn't have done 1 of his 47 executive orders, his State would have received another $230 million. But the President shortchanged the State of Michigan by $230 million because of one of his 47 strokes of the pen in the last 2 weeks. So, I think the gentleman would be a little upset with his President for that action.

Also, because of the lockdowns, the State of Michigan has lost more than 3,500 small businesses. Such a shame.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Jacobs), a great addition to the Budget Committee.

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Nevada for his comments and how we are eager to work in a bipartisan approach in this package. That is why we are kind of frustrated, because our committee has not even organized so that we could even have a discussion on a bipartisan approach.

Instead, the majority's side decided to force through this reconciliation without even going through the Budget Committee because they have not even organized.

So, I would love to work with them, but you have already closed the door. Hopefully, you will reopen it so we can discuss this, and I would love to work with him.

Also, in my State, in my congressional district, we have operated under what I believe are the best processes in fighting COVID, not locking down and shutting the doors on your small businesses.

We have some of the lowest unemployment rates in the State of Missouri, thanks to the leadership of Governor Parson. Also, we have the lowest death rates of COVID in our State, thanks to the leadership of Governor Mike Parson.

I wish the States of Nevada, California, and New York, and a lot of other States, would open up and stop the lockdowns and follow the science. Then, there wouldn't be bailout pieces of legislation to go to the States that have made the wrong choices.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Indiana (Mrs. Spartz), a true patriot.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Texas, but I would like to remind this Chamber again that the administration's hostility to the energy industry has demonstrated by just the stroke of a pen his executive actions have threatened at least 120,000 jobs in the State of Texas.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from the great State of Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman), who is a veteran of the Budget Committee, whom I am glad to have back.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy), who is a true defender of conservative principles.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mr. Speaker, if this Chamber really cared about helping the working class, we would first call on the schools to reopen immediately; end the small business lockdowns so Americans can get back to work; and stop the President's job-killing executive orders, which are firing hundreds of thousands of Americans.

I stand ready, with my colleagues, on policies that will help support the working class. I look for the opportunity that we actually come into the Budget Committee, where we can work together and help the working class.

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding, and we are thrilled that he is on the Budget Committee.

The rule puts in motion a process to spend trillions of dollars on a progressive wish list, all under the appearance of pandemic relief. And for what?

We know all five of the last COVID-related pieces of legislation were done on a bipartisan basis. In the last few days, we have seen a framework from 10 Republican Senators laid out to get to a solution.

The fact that we are moving forward with this process just goes to show that yesterday's White House meeting was just a photo-op for the President.

Sadly, the Democrat majority seems to want to go a partisan route in both the House and Senate because they know there is not a bipartisan consensus in this country for the socialist policies they want to include, giveaways to their base, the far left and the coastal elite.

Just look at what is being discussed by Democrats on how they plan to use the budgeting process known as reconciliation, a mechanism traditionally used to control spending and address the debt. They now talk openly about granting mass amnesty; growing the control government has over your healthcare; adding new burdens, rules, and costs on the very small businesses that they have shut down; and bailing out their political allies whose policies destroyed local economies.

All of this they want to somehow hide from the American people with the label of essential items for pandemic relief.

And the rule we are debating right now rewards this process. It is the first step in allowing Washington Democrats to jam this radical agenda through Congress at lightning speed.

I ask the Chair, where was the rush to help American families when the Speaker was holding up support for direct aid to working-class families all spring, all summer, and all fall, eventually dropping her price tag and objections only after the first Tuesday in November? The first Tuesday in November happens to be election day.

I have always kept one motto in my heart as I approach this job: Put people before politics. Unfortunately, what we are seeing from the Democrats is the exact opposite; it is all politics.

In more than 30 years, a budget has not originated in the House that has not first gone through the committee process. This is truly a first. The Budget Committee has yet to even meet, to organize, to set our rules, and to ratify an agenda of oversight of the new administration.

So why are we standing here right now? Why are we moving ahead like this when the President, in his inaugural address, called for unity and spoke about the power of our example? The answer is simple: So that Democrat leaders can spend more on a bunch of programs, ideas, and systems, which they have dreamed about throwing taxpayer money at since they took control of this Chamber 2 years ago.

Mr. Speaker, I will close with this. The Democrats talk about unification, the need to unify as a Congress and work together, the need to unify as a country and learn to respect one another again for the good of America. But when their actions don't match their words, the value of every word they say from that point forward becomes meaningless.

The actions of the Democrat majority, to start a process which will only end in more divisive partisanship, is the exact opposite of what our country is asking for right now.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Hofherr family on the 50th anniversary of St. James Winery. Since James and Patricia Hofherr first opened their business in 1970, St. James Winery has rejuvenated the local Italian wine culture in the St. James area. The Hofherr's chose this area because of its deep heritage of grape growing and winemaking. This tradition dates to 1898 when local Italian immigrants established the first vineyards in the region. With such productive Missouri soil and favorable weather patterns for grape growing, this Mid-Missouri location was nothing shy of an excellent choice to begin St. James Winery.

In the first year, the winery produced 3,000 cases of wine, and 50 years later, it produces nearly 250,000 cases each year. St. James Winery now has five vineyards, totaling 185 acres, and the winery sees almost 125,000 visitors annually. Located along Old Route 66, St. James Winery brings tourists from all over the world to Mid-Missouri. The winery is also one of the most awarded wineries in the entire United States.

Today, St. James Winery is being operated by the second generation of the Hofherr family and will see the third generation joining in the summer of 2021. For 50 years of excellent service to people across this nation, as well as across the world, it is my honor to congratulate St. James Winery.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate my dear friend, Blake Hurst, on his recent retirement as president of the Missouri Farm Bureau. Blake was first elected as the 14th president of Missouri Farm Bureau on December 7, 2010. His prior service with the organization included being a district board member on the Missouri state board for eight years and serving seven years as Missouri Farm Bureau vice president. Blake, and his wife Julie, raise corn and soybeans in Northwest Missouri and they also operate a wholesale greenhouse business. They are blessed with 3 children and 6 grandchildren.

Looking back on Blake's years of service, what particularly stands out is his resolve in leading the entire Missouri Farm Bureau organization in responding to and working through claims from the catastrophic tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri, on the evening of Sunday, May 22, 2011. Blake and the whole Missouri Farm Bureau organization showed great courage during that difficult time.

Founded in 1915, Missouri was the first state Farm Bureau in America, and during Blake's tenure Missouri Farm Bureau celebrated 100 years as an organization. Other accomplishments that Blake can be proud of include helping with the passage of Missouri's Freedom to Farm, the final rule defining Waters of the United States, and the passage of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Blake even showcased his skilled dancing maneuvers in a video supporting the USMCA.

Blake is well-respected by rural communities and agricultural leaders in the state of Missouri. Blake is also a freelance writer. His work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The American, Weekly Standard, Wilson's Quarterly, Reader's Digest, Today's Farmer and the Show Me magazine of Missouri Farm Bureau. Mr. Hurst has excelled at telling the story of agriculture in America, and he has excelled in fighting to conserve the rural way of life. I am proud to call Blake my friend and I think it's safe to say his time at Missouri Farm Bureau will serve as a legacy for generations to come.

Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, we will amend the rule to immediately bring up the bill establishing a bipartisan national commission on the domestic terror attack of the United States Capitol.

This has been a devastating week for our Nation. Just last week, we stood right here in this very Chamber while a violent mob laid siege to the seat of American democracy. It is vital we get the facts on what went wrong last week, why the security apparatus failed, and how we can ensure it never--it never--happens again.

Mr. Speaker, less than 50 feet from where we stand in this room, a young lady lost her life through those doors--through those doors. I was in this Chamber when those gunshots rang. That is real stuff. That should never happen in the people's House.

For the first time, can the House Democrats and the Speaker of the House put the people before politics?

Please put the people before politics. At a time when our Nation is more divided than ever before, let's put people before politics.

President Trump will be leaving in 7 days. Let's try to heal this Nation. Let's listen to the American people. This is the people's House. Let's operate for the people.

This country is hurting. The people are hurting. Our colleagues are hurting.

This is a reckless impeachment. This will only bring up the hate and fire more than ever before.

Have a conscience. Put the people before politics. Unify this country.