[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 142 (Wednesday, September 30, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H6727-H6730]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H. CON. RES. 79, DIRECTING THE CLERK OF
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO MAKE CORRECTIONS IN THE ENROLLMENT OF
H.R. 719, AND PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF THE SENATE AMENDMENT TO
THE HOUSE AMENDMENT TO THE SENATE AMENDMENT TO H.R. 719, TSA OFFICE OF
INSPECTION ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2015
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call
up House Resolution 448 and ask for its immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:
H. Res. 448
Resolved, That upon adoption of this resolution it shall be
in order to consider in the House the concurrent resolution
(H. Con. Res. 79) directing the Clerk of the House of
Representatives to make corrections in the enrollment of H.R.
719. All points of order against consideration of the
concurrent resolution are waived. The concurrent resolution
shall be considered as read. All points of order against
provisions in the concurrent resolution are waived. The
previous question shall be considered as ordered on the
concurrent resolution to adoption without intervening motion
or demand for division of the question except 20 minutes of
debate equally divided and controlled by the Majority Leader
and the Minority Leader or their respective designees.
Sec. 2. Upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in
order to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 719) to
require the Transportation Security Administration to conform
to existing Federal law and regulations regarding criminal
investigator positions, and for other purposes, with the
Senate amendment to the House amendment to the Senate
amendment thereto, and to consider in the House, without
intervention of any point of order, a motion offered by the
chair of the Committee on Appropriations or his designee that
the House concur in the Senate amendment to the House
amendment to the Senate amendment. The Senate amendment and
the motion shall be considered as read. The motion shall be
debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the
chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on
Appropriations. The previous question shall be considered as
ordered on the motion to adoption without intervening motion.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Oklahoma is recognized
for 1 hour.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the
customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Slaughter),
my
[[Page H6728]]
good friend, pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume.
During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the
purpose of debate only.
General Leave
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have
5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Oklahoma?
There was no objection.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, earlier today the Committee on Rules met and
reported a rule for consideration for both H. Con. Res. 79, directing
the Clerk of the House of Representatives to make corrections in the
enrollment of H.R. 719, and H.R. 719, the Continuing Appropriations Act
2016.
The rule provides for consideration of H. Con. Res. 79 under a closed
rule with 20 minutes of debate equally divided and controlled by the
majority leader and his designee and the minority leader or her
designee. In addition, the rule makes in order a motion offered by the
chair of the Committee on Appropriations that the House concur in the
Senate amendment to H.R. 719, with 60 minutes equally divided and
controlled by the chair and the ranking member of the Committee on
Appropriations.
Mr. Speaker, first, this resolution allows for consideration of H.
Con. Res. 79, which directs the Clerk of the House to include the text
of the Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2015 in the enrollment of H.R.
719. This would allow the House to again state its position in
opposition to the funding of Planned Parenthood as it has already done
by passage of both H.R. 3495 and H.R. 3134. In addition, Mr. Speaker,
the rule provides for consideration of the short-term continuing
resolution.
As a member of the Committee on Appropriations, I am always
disappointed when we are forced to consider continuing resolutions,
especially given the work this House has done in the appropriations
process this year.
{time} 1415
For the first time since 2009, the House Appropriations Committee was
able to complete all 12 appropriations bills, and complete them before
the August recess. Unfortunately, just as in years past, Senate
Democrats prevented consideration of any appropriations bills on the
floor of that body. This leads us to the unfortunate situation of
having to put forward a short-term CR to fund the government through
December 11.
This continuing resolution is simple. Most programs will continue
being funded at their FY15 levels; however, it does adjust certain
spending levels for critical needs, such as providing $700 million for
wildfire suppression activities in the West, and it extends several
programs that would otherwise lapse, like the collection of recreation
fees for public lands. In addition, it maintains the moratorium on
State and local jurisdictions' taxation of the Internet.
I hope that in the weeks and months ahead the House, the Senate, and
the President can come to an agreement on a path forward which ensures
we are not in this same place in December.
Some of my colleagues have stated publicly that they cannot support
this CR because it provides funding for Planned Parenthood. I want to
assure my colleagues that no funding for Planned Parenthood is included
in this legislation.
First, a majority of Planned Parenthood funding, about 90 percent,
comes through Medicaid and is not subject to appropriations. Of the
remaining 10 percent, the largest portion, roughly $28 million, is
funded through title X. These grant programs are competed for every
year and are awarded in April, long past the length of this continuing
resolution.
While I share the same disgust over the evidence seen in the
atrocious videos that are so widely known, I want to assure my
colleagues that no additional funds are provided for this organization
in this bill.
I am encouraged by the hard work of Chairman Rogers, Ranking Member
Lowey, and, of course, the Speaker, whose leadership has made all this
possible.
One of the preeminent responsibilities we are tasked with as Members
of Congress is to ensure that the government continues to function.
While a continuing resolution is not the ideal vehicle, the alternative
of a government shutdown is not what we have all been sent to
Washington to do.
I urge support of the rule and the underlying legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume, and I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time.
Mr. Speaker, when the House shut down in 2013, I happened to be on
the floor at midnight. Why, at this moment, eludes me. But I remember
when the clock struck midnight that I made the comment that the great
government of the United States of America was closed.
That 16-day exercise took $24 billion out of this economy at a time
when we were struggling, really, to get our economy back on track. That
money mostly came from mom-and-pop stores that were in Federal
buildings or in the national parks. The inconvenience to Federal
employees was enormous. They did get paid, but they were worried to
death whether they would be able to meet their mortgage payments or to
meet the college tuition payments. And yet so many people were
dispossessed, practically. Veterans came to Washington to visit their
memorials, only to find them closed.
I certainly concur with Mr. Cole. We do not want to see that again.
It was foolish then; it would be doubly foolish now. We are now on the
edge of what we are going to do because we couldn't get anything done.
I am obsessed today by what occurred last night on television. I want
to explain it to you, because I have said on this floor so many times--
mostly during the 54 times we voted to defund health care--that what
was going on here was a gigantic hoax.
I said just this morning at the Rules Committee that what we do has
only a passing resemblance to what we are supposed to do. And I want to
read a quote from what was said last night on Fox News by
Representative McCarthy, who is the presumptive new Speaker of the
House. He said:
What you are going to see is a conservative Speaker, that
takes a conservative Congress, that puts a strategy in place
to fight and win. And let me give you one example.
Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right?
But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select
committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are
dropping. No one would have known any of that happened had we
not fought and made that happen.
Sean Hannity responds:
I agree. I'll give you credit for that.
I tell you what that means, Mr. Speaker. It means that this was used
as a hoax. We concerned ourselves with that, and now we are going to
see another one of these special committees. The Benghazi Committee has
already spent $4.5 million, on top of all the money that was spent in
committees, to point out that there was nothing wrong in Benghazi.
And, once again, I was on the floor of the House for the rule talking
about setting up special committees for Benghazi, when I got a call
from the mother of one of the former Navy SEALs who had died in that
awful attack saying that her son had been a Navy SEAL, he knew his
risks, and would we please stop bringing this up over and over again.
We heard basically the same thing from the Ambassador's family, who
said that he knew the language. He liked to be out with the people. He
could not be confined behind a wall.
So what are we doing here today? More hoax? More money wasted?
Perhaps.
I told the chairman of the Rules Committee this morning that we would
be happy to give them the rule for the CR. We want a clean CR. We were
pleased as all get out when the Senate sent us a clean CR. But no, we
are not going to do that. We are going to pretend, as part of the CR
rule, that we are going to defund Planned Parenthood, which Mr. Cole
just pointed out has no money allocated to it directly in the Federal
budget.
So what we are going to defund is I don't know what. HHS? Who knows.
Maybe we will find out, maybe we won't. But they are doing this hoax
again simply to fool some of the people on their side who obviously
know
[[Page H6729]]
about it because it has been in every paper and on everybody's lips
that I have talked to that we were going to have to probably do that.
But putting that on the rule this morning meant that we cannot support
it. Perhaps you have the votes to do it by hoaxing people, but I don't
know.
We do know that that most conservative wing has harangued its
leadership enough to add that vote on the bill even though, as I point
out, we were very willing to give the votes on our side.
Now, the Senate had 78 majority votes to keep the Senate open and
Congress moving, but we will not do that because we want to try to
restrict a woman's access to health care. We do it all the time. We
have already had 14 votes. We did two or three this week.
What in the world is it that makes this majority want to take health
care away from people--54 times to kill health care, 14 times to kill
choice, which is constitutionally protected, I must add.
So across the country, our constituents must be thoroughly surprised
at what really is going on here. A lot of money is getting spent. It
takes $24 million a week to run the House of Representatives. And think
of the Benghazi Committees. If you recall, at both Armed Services and
Intelligence, their Republican chairs--and bless them for it--said
there is nothing there.
But we find out last night that the whole purpose of all of it was
never to do anything except to cause eternal grief to the families of
the four people who lost their lives and to destroy a Presidential
candidate. Could the Congress really stoop that low? I certainly hope
not. The facts belie my hope.
So we will be back here in December, December 11, actually, when I
suspect we will go through the same thing: Are we going to shut down
the government or are we going to try to do our job? We do the same
thing. We will have to put some things in to fool some people all the
time so that they will think they are voting for something entirely
different. Frankly, I am not going to try to explain why this is
happening, because the people that it is meant to appease obviously
know we are appeasing them. And it won't last, but it sure is
expensive.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I want to, first, point out a couple of areas where my friend and I
do disagree. We certainly disagree about the value of the Benghazi
Committee. Frankly, I think it has been conducted professionally and
seriously by Mr. Gowdy. I think we have already learned some things we
wouldn't have known, including the fact that the former Secretary of
State had a private server over which only she had access and control,
a very unusual arrangement. So I will just let the committee continue
its work and see where we end up at the end of the day.
I want to disagree with my friend, with all due respect, on Planned
Parenthood. That is just an area where we have a difference of opinion.
I don't think it is appropriate that they receive Federal funds. There
are plenty of other ways. We provide $3.5 billion to thousands of
public healthcare centers and community healthcare centers around the
United States. Those provide all these same services. That is
appropriate, and we should do that.
But I also want to agree with my friend. I agree very much with her
sentiments on a government shutdown. She is precisely right, in my
view, about what happened in the last government shutdown. It should
not have occurred. This is a sincere effort to make sure that doesn't
occur now. The Appropriations Committee is certainly doing everything
in its power to do that.
Obviously, we need the administration, the Senate, and the House
leadership to sit down and give us a framework. We are trying to buy
them that time. I think we are doing it in a very responsible way.
So, while my friend and I may have some disagreements in some areas,
on the functioning of the government we have absolutely no disagreement
whatsoever. I am pleased to be here working with her in those areas,
and I am hopeful that the President, the Speaker, the majority leader,
and the respective minority leaders can indeed come to a larger
agreement that would allow a normal appropriations process to take
place. First, an omnibus bill this year, and, hopefully, next year, an
actual complete appropriations process such as we haven't seen around
here in many, many, many years.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, we find ourselves in a precarious time. At midnight
tonight, the Government of the United States will close yet once again.
Mr. Cole and I certainly have strong agreement on that, and I am happy
for that. He is a true gentleman and a scholar here in Congress. But I
continue to say that it saddens me greatly, because all of us who were
wanting to vote for a clean CR, because of this rule, we will not have
an opportunity to do that.
I call for a ``no'' vote on the rule.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
I want to thank my friend again for also emphasizing the areas where
we agree, which is on the maintenance of the government. And while we
may have a difference over the rule, I would hope that my friend and
many of her colleagues on the CR that has been agreed to would look on
that favorably and would be able to support the CR, itself, as opposed
to the rule.
Mr. Speaker, passage of the CR is critical to prevent a government
shutdown and to demonstrate to the American people that Congress can
actually govern. The CR abides within the budget caps and does not
provide any additional funding for Planned Parenthood, as some have
claimed. In addition, the rule provides for consideration of an
enrollment correction bill that would again make the position of the
House clear in opposition to any additional funding for Planned
Parenthood.
I want to encourage my colleagues to support this rule and the
underlying legislation. And, frankly, I want to encourage those who are
now engaged in negotiations to arrive at a framework where the
appropriations process can actually go forward, where we can sit down
and seriously consider in a bipartisan way how best to fund the
government in the coming year, and where, hopefully, we can get an
agreement large enough that we can have a normal appropriations process
next year where we actually bring bills individually to this floor, as
we did 6 times, but actually do it for the full 12 that would be in
order. That is my hope. That is what I am going to be working toward. I
know my friend will be working in the same direction.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the
previous question on the resolution.
The previous question was ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the resolution.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, this 15-
minute vote on adoption of the resolution will be followed by a 5-
minute vote on the motion to suspend the rules and pass S. 2082.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 239,
nays 187, not voting 8, as follows:
[Roll No. 525]
YEAS--239
Abraham
Aderholt
Allen
Amash
Amodei
Babin
Barletta
Barr
Barton
Benishek
Bilirakis
Bishop (MI)
Bishop (UT)
Black
Blackburn
Blum
Bost
Boustany
Brat
Bridenstine
Brooks (AL)
Brooks (IN)
Buchanan
Buck
Bucshon
Burgess
Byrne
Calvert
Carter (GA)
Carter (TX)
Chabot
Chaffetz
Clawson (FL)
Coffman
Cole
Collins (GA)
Collins (NY)
Comstock
Conaway
Cook
Costello (PA)
Cramer
Crawford
Crenshaw
Curbelo (FL)
Davis, Rodney
Denham
Dent
DeSantis
DesJarlais
Diaz-Balart
Dold
Donovan
Duffy
Duncan (SC)
Duncan (TN)
Ellmers (NC)
Emmer (MN)
Farenthold
Fincher
Fitzpatrick
Fleischmann
Fleming
Flores
Forbes
Fortenberry
Foxx
Franks (AZ)
Frelinghuysen
Garrett
Gibbs
Gibson
Gohmert
Goodlatte
Gosar
Gowdy
Granger
Graves (GA)
Graves (LA)
Graves (MO)
Griffith
Grothman
Guinta
Guthrie
Hanna
Hardy
Harper
Harris
Hartzler
Heck (NV)
Hensarling
Herrera Beutler
Hice, Jody B.
Hill
Holding
Huizenga (MI)
[[Page H6730]]
Hultgren
Hunter
Hurd (TX)
Hurt (VA)
Issa
Jenkins (KS)
Jenkins (WV)
Johnson (OH)
Johnson, Sam
Jolly
Jordan
Joyce
Katko
Kelly (MS)
Kelly (PA)
King (IA)
King (NY)
Kinzinger (IL)
Kline
Knight
Labrador
LaHood
LaMalfa
Lamborn
Lance
Latta
LoBiondo
Long
Loudermilk
Love
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
Lummis
MacArthur
Marchant
Marino
McCarthy
McCaul
McClintock
McHenry
McKinley
McMorris Rodgers
McSally
Meadows
Meehan
Messer
Mica
Miller (FL)
Miller (MI)
Moolenaar
Mooney (WV)
Mullin
Mulvaney
Murphy (PA)
Neugebauer
Newhouse
Noem
Nugent
Nunes
Olson
Palazzo
Palmer
Paulsen
Pearce
Perry
Pittenger
Pitts
Poe (TX)
Poliquin
Pompeo
Posey
Price, Tom
Ratcliffe
Reed
Renacci
Ribble
Rice (SC)
Rigell
Roby
Roe (TN)
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rohrabacher
Rokita
Rooney (FL)
Ros-Lehtinen
Roskam
Ross
Rothfus
Rouzer
Royce
Russell
Ryan (WI)
Salmon
Sanford
Scalise
Schweikert
Scott, Austin
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Shimkus
Shuster
Simpson
Smith (MO)
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Stefanik
Stewart
Stivers
Stutzman
Thompson (PA)
Thornberry
Tiberi
Tipton
Trott
Turner
Upton
Valadao
Wagner
Walberg
Walden
Walker
Walorski
Walters, Mimi
Weber (TX)
Webster (FL)
Wenstrup
Westerman
Westmoreland
Whitfield
Williams
Wilson (SC)
Wittman
Womack
Woodall
Yoder
Yoho
Young (AK)
Young (IA)
Young (IN)
Zeldin
Zinke
NAYS--187
Adams
Aguilar
Ashford
Bass
Beatty
Becerra
Bera
Beyer
Bishop (GA)
Blumenauer
Bonamici
Boyle, Brendan F.
Brady (PA)
Brown (FL)
Brownley (CA)
Bustos
Butterfield
Capps
Capuano
Cardenas
Carney
Carson (IN)
Cartwright
Castor (FL)
Castro (TX)
Chu, Judy
Cicilline
Clark (MA)
Clarke (NY)
Clay
Cleaver
Clyburn
Cohen
Connolly
Conyers
Cooper
Costa
Courtney
Crowley
Cuellar
Cummings
Davis (CA)
Davis, Danny
DeFazio
DeGette
Delaney
DeLauro
DelBene
DeSaulnier
Deutch
Dingell
Doggett
Doyle, Michael F.
Duckworth
Edwards
Ellison
Engel
Eshoo
Esty
Farr
Fattah
Foster
Frankel (FL)
Fudge
Gabbard
Gallego
Garamendi
Graham
Grayson
Green, Al
Green, Gene
Grijalva
Gutierrez
Hahn
Hastings
Heck (WA)
Higgins
Himes
Hinojosa
Honda
Hoyer
Huelskamp
Huffman
Israel
Jackson Lee
Jeffries
Johnson, E. B.
Jones
Kaptur
Keating
Kennedy
Kildee
Kilmer
Kind
Kirkpatrick
Kuster
Langevin
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lawrence
Lee
Levin
Lewis
Lieu, Ted
Lipinski
Loebsack
Lofgren
Lowenthal
Lowey
Lujan Grisham (NM)
Lujan, Ben Ray (NM)
Lynch
Maloney, Carolyn
Maloney, Sean
Massie
Matsui
McCollum
McDermott
McGovern
McNerney
Meng
Moore
Moulton
Murphy (FL)
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Nolan
Norcross
O'Rourke
Pallone
Pascrell
Payne
Pelosi
Perlmutter
Peters
Peterson
Pingree
Pocan
Polis
Price (NC)
Quigley
Rangel
Rice (NY)
Richmond
Roybal-Allard
Ruiz
Ruppersberger
Rush
Sanchez, Linda T.
Sanchez, Loretta
Sarbanes
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schrader
Scott (VA)
Scott, David
Serrano
Sewell (AL)
Sherman
Sinema
Sires
Slaughter
Smith (WA)
Speier
Swalwell (CA)
Takai
Takano
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Titus
Tonko
Torres
Tsongas
Van Hollen
Vargas
Veasey
Vela
Velazquez
Visclosky
Walz
Wasserman Schultz
Waters, Maxine
Watson Coleman
Welch
Wilson (FL)
Yarmuth
NOT VOTING--8
Brady (TX)
Culberson
Hudson
Johnson (GA)
Kelly (IL)
Meeks
Reichert
Ryan (OH)
{time} 1500
Mr. SARBANES changed his vote from ``yea'' to ``nay.''
Mrs. GRANGER and Mr. WENSTRUP changed their vote from ``nay'' to
``yea.''
So the resolution was agreed to.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________