[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 197 (Thursday, December 13, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H10184-H10189]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

  (Mr. HOYER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise for the purpose of inquiring of the 
majority leader the schedule for the week to come.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to say I yield to my friend, but maybe I had 
better say it at the end to see how pleasant we are. I yield to the 
majority leader.
  (Mr. McCARTHY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)

                              {time}  1115

  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I first want to begin by thanking my 
friend. Today could be our last scheduled colloquy together.
  Over the years, we have had many spirited debates on this floor. We 
have celebrated moments of cooperation, from tackling the opioid 
epidemic to fighting human trafficking to leveling tough sanctions on 
American adversaries. As my friend knows, most of what we do in this 
Chamber is bipartisan.
  A study by Quorum found that the 115th Congress enacted the highest 
percentage of bipartisan bills of any Congress in the last 20 years. 
That success could not have happened without a lot of working across 
the aisle to find common ground.
  Now, beyond legislation, I look forward to continuing to work with my 
friend on our shared passion for a more efficient, effective, and 
accountable government through events like Congressional Hackathon.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I want to join the 
leader. It is important for the public to understand that much goes on 
in which there is agreement. Much goes on in this House between staff 
and between Members that is a positive and bipartisan result for the 
American people and for our country.
  Obviously, the public sees mostly, and the reporters cover, 
television and print, mostly the confrontation because that is what is 
newsworthy. A headline saying everybody cooperated and got something 
done is apparently not a very saleable, marketable headline. But I 
thank the majority leader.
  And as the roles shift and I become the majority leader, I continue 
to intend to work with the majority leader and with the incoming whip 
on the Republican side to see if we can forge bipartisan agreements on 
critical issues that clearly the American people want addressed.
  I thank my friend, Mr. McCarthy, and tell him that I look forward to 
working with him, as we have in the past, and, hopefully, we can do so 
constructively on behalf of, not only the House of Representatives, but 
on behalf of our country.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding, and I 
thank him for those kind words.
  There are other things we also did on this floor. We have also 
mourned during times of grief, including our colloquy just 1 day after 
the shooting at the GOP baseball practice.
  Those moments of shared humanity reflect the very best that this 
House has to offer. And, yes, we have had our share of debates--debates 
over policy, over politics, and how to make the country better. But I 
have always known my friend to be a man of integrity and a fair and 
honest broker.
  And although his questions were rarely confined to the schedule for 
the week to come, I have actually grown to enjoy these colloquies. 
Because no matter the subject, these colloquies represent some of the 
last true debate that occurs in this Chamber. So while the transcripts 
of what we say one day will fade, I wish my friend well as he carries 
forward this rich legacy of debate on the basis of mutual respect in 
the people's House, and I know he will.
  Mr. Speaker, my friend knows I love metrics, so here are a few final 
stats. On average, our weekly colloquy this year has lasted 42\1/2\ 
minutes. I apologize to the House recordkeepers and to the Members 
trying to give 1-minute speeches like they are today. The shortest was 
8 minutes, and the longest lasted more than an hour.
  Mr. Speaker, today will likely be on the shorter end, because our 
schedule for next week remains fluid and subject to change. 
Conversations are currently ongoing between the House, Senate, and the 
White House. In the meantime, Members should be on standby and prepared 
to return to Washington for votes next week. We will provide advance 
notice ahead of any expected votes.
  As of today, I would estimate first votes for the week to occur at 
6:30 p.m. next Wednesday. I would encourage all Members to make the 
necessary arrangements to be here as we complete our work for the 115th 
Congress.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the majority leader for that 
information. I would reiterate what the majority leader has said 
because I believe this is accurate. There will be no votes before 
Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. next week--no votes prior to 6:30 p.m. next 
Wednesday, so that Members are advised that they need to be available. 
We need to be here Wednesday at 6:30, and we need to be available every 
day thereafter until we get this government on a solid footing.
  Is that accurate, Mr. Leader?
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. That is completely 
accurate. So we will have votes 6:30 Wednesday night, and we will 
finish our work to make sure our government continues to move forward.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, as he points out, these discussions are not 
just about the schedule for the short term. They are about, however, a 
schedule as to what policies we are going to address, when we are going 
to address them, and how we are going to address them.
  In that context, Mr. Speaker, the majority leader was, I think, 
rightfully proud of the fact that the committee had reported out all 12 
appropriations bills by the August break, and we had passed seven of 
those appropriations bills on the floor and sent them to the Senate.
  Sadly, however, Mr. Speaker, we are now 12 days before Christmas. 
There was a meeting at the White House about 48 hours ago, at which 
time there was a debate or discussion on TV, which the American people 
saw, and the President of the United States said: ``I will shut down 
the government, absolutely.'' And then he said: ``I am proud to shut 
down the government.''
  Mr. Speaker, shutting down the government is stupid. Shutting down 
the government is costly. Shutting down the government creates great 
uncertainty, not only among those who work

[[Page H10185]]

for the Federal Government, but everybody who relies on the daily 
activities of the Federal Government.
  We should not shut down the government. My side Mr. Speaker, has 
offered to the President of the United States, and to all of us, two 
alternatives. One is that we pass a CR for the balance of the year for 
all bills. We don't like that alternative, but at least it will provide 
some certainty for the next 8\1/2\ months until September 30.

  The second alternative, which I think is the much better alternative, 
and it comports with the leader's justifiable pride with dealing with 
the appropriation bills on this side--as I understand, there is only 
one disagreement of major proportion, and that is whether we build a 
wall. We think that is bad policy. The President thinks it is good 
policy. We are having an argument about that, and we don't agree. The 
Republicans control the House and they control the Senate. They could 
pass it. They haven't passed it. But we don't control that. That is out 
of our hands.
  And our suggestion was we have agreed on five of the bills that have 
been signed into law. About 76 percent of the government's 
discretionary funding has already been passed. We have about 25 percent 
left. That 25 percent is in seven bills. One is the Department of 
Homeland Security. It is clear that we do not have agreement on the 
Homeland Security appropriation bills, but on six, it is my 
understanding, Mr. Leader and Mr. Speaker, that we do have agreement, 
that the two appropriations committees have worked together, the 
leaders have worked together, and that we have agreement on those six 
bills.
  So our second alternative, the much preferred alternative is to pass 
those six bills as they have been agreed to, funding those agencies to 
which those bills apply between now and September 30, the end of the 
fiscal year, and do a CR for the balance of the year for Homeland 
Security, or, alternatively, do a CR on Homeland Security at some date 
next year. Neither of those alternatives apparently has been pursued by 
the majority party, Mr. Speaker, and the President, as I just quoted, 
says: ``I am proud to shut down the government.''
  Mr. Speaker, the leader has said he doesn't want to shut down 
government. The whip has said he doesn't want to shut down government. 
The minority leader in the Senate has said he doesn't want to shut down 
government. We don't want to shut down government.
  But we are at an impasse just about one issue, and we suggest we 
agree with 95 percent. Wouldn't that make sense for the American 
people, for us to pass the 95 percent on which we have reached 
agreement after hard work all year? And on that which we can't agree, 
agree that we can't agree and fight that another day?
  But here we are, 12 days before Christmas. And I would ask the 
majority leader: Do we have a plan? Mr. Leader, do we have a plan to 
fund the government on or before the 21st of this month so that we can 
do what all of us say we want to do, and, that is, keep the government 
operating on behalf of the American people?
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend, the majority leader.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for the question. I also 
thank my friend for coming back to where he originally was years ago. 
Earlier in this Congress, it was not his belief that shutting the 
government down was bad, and I am thankful that he learned that lesson, 
because I didn't think it was helpful when he shut the government down 
over immigration last time. Nobody did. America didn't, and we had to 
put it back to work.
  Now, my friend is correct that we have enacted 75 percent of the 
discretionary budget into law already. I think all Members should take 
pride in that, even if one side voted ``no'' the majority of times. 
That is because that is better than any Congress has been able to do in 
nearly 25 years. So, obviously, 25 percent remains.
  My friend is correct, there are 12 days left. We did not want to be 
here with 12 days left. Unfortunately, we had the passing of President 
Bush.
  Now, President Bush--there is a legacy to lead. He found a way to 
find compromise. My friend on the other side says there is six of the 
seven we agree with, but I can't compromise on the seventh. He says 
that the American public wants to make sure it stays open. Yeah, we do, 
too. The American public also wants to make sure we are safe.
  So I think, in the spirit of the season, of the time, we should come 
to an agreement, knowing that neither side will get everything that 
they want. One side wants nothing to happen. The other side wants a 
certain number. I think we can find common ground. I think we could get 
it all done next week, and it is really my intention and belief that we 
will have that vote on this floor, that we can find common ground, keep 
the government open--I am very thankful that he believes in that again, 
as we do, and that we finish the job the American public asks for. And 
when we finish that job, America is stronger, safer, and on a footing 
to make sure we continue to lead for the 21st century.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments. Let 
me observe with respect to the gentleman's comment about we did send 
five bills, 75 percent of government spending, discretionary spending 
to the President. The President signed it. But when he says it is the 
best in 25 years, I will remind him that when I was majority leader in 
2007, we passed all 12 bills through this House.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Not into law.
  Mr. HOYER. The gentleman is correct. We passed all 12 bills. We 
passed them one by one so that we can consider each one, and they went 
to the Senate.
  Unfortunately, the Senate didn't act in a fashion that I would hope. 
I will tell the gentleman, it is my intention, as majority leader, to 
pass all 12 bills.
  Mr. McCARTHY. One by one?
  Mr. HOYER. Not necessarily one by one. We like his process, perhaps. 
I hope he likes it as much as he liked it the first time when he got 
that process, because I may--I have learned from the majority leader's 
skill and judgment so that we----
  Mr. McCARTHY. I like your calendar.
  Mr. HOYER. We may pursue that process, and I know he is going to 
support it because it is his process that we are going to pursue, sort 
of like his schedule.

                              {time}  1130

  Mr. Speaker, we passed all 12 bills. We sent them to the Senate. 
Unfortunately, we didn't get them all done.
  But the fact of the matter is, this is a process called the 
legislative process, and I just talked at the outset about compromise 
and working together. We have six of those bills. It so happens we now 
package everything, and maybe we are going to do that in the future. 
But the fact of the matter is, we have agreement on six of the seven 
bills that remain to be signed by the President of the United States.
  The way this process works is, you have agreement on six separate 
bills. These are not the homeland security. That is where we have a 
disagreement. I understand that. We cannot pass homeland security right 
now. But we have agreement on six bills.
  Why shouldn't the plan be: We have agreement, in a bipartisan 
fashion; we can fund those six agencies. There will be no drama, and we 
will send it. Then we can do a CR on the homeland security, and we can 
argue about the wall.
  We can have hearings on the wall. We can have experts come here and 
say to them: How do we make sure America is secure? Because every 
Democrat wants to make sure the borders are secure, every Democrat. We 
want the border secure.
  There is a substantive disagreement. By the way, there are 
Republicans who disagree with the wall, as the gentleman surely knows, 
that it is not the best way to secure the border.
  By the way, I don't know why we need money for it. The Mexicans 
surely are going to pay for the wall. That is what the President said. 
The Mexicans were going to pay for the wall. Now he wants $5 billion to 
pay for technology we don't think works. So, as a result, we are 
holding hostage the six bills on which we have agreement.
  How frustrated the American people must be when they say: You know, 
they agree on six-sevenths of the bills, and they won't take yes for an 
answer.
  The response is: ``I am proud to shut down the government.''
  Mr. Leader, I would hope that we could send those six bills on which 
we have agreement. After hard work in

[[Page H10186]]

the Appropriations subcommittees, in the Appropriations Committee, both 
in the House and the Senate, and in communications between the two 
bodies, they have reached agreement. We ought to be happy about that. 
We ought to celebrate that. And we ought to send them to the President. 
There is no indication he would not sign those bills, as far as I know.
  Then, yes, we have a disagreement, and the American people have come 
here to have us debate that, have hearings on that, see what experts 
say on that. Frankly, if the wall is what your side wants, then I say 
to the leader, put a bill on the floor Wednesday night and pass the 
wall. You haven't done that.
  Mr. McCARTHY. You said Wednesday.
  Mr. HOYER. We haven't passed the homeland security bill through this 
House. It got out of committee; you didn't bring it to the floor. We 
haven't had a vote on it, so there is no consensus on that part of it.
  So, Mr. Speaker, let's pass those six bills. Let's have a plan that 
will work to preclude shutting down the people's government. I hope we 
can do that. I hope we can do it, come back Wednesday night, and I 
hope, Mr. Leader, you have a plan between now and Wednesday night to 
get us to the place where we can do what we have agreed upon, and 
agreed not to agree on something that we can't agree on, or pass it and 
send it to the President.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope we can do that. That is our responsibility. That 
is our duty, the duty to have a plan of how to make sure that 
government continues to operate, and a plan as to how we can have our 
Members and their families celebrate one of the highest holy days in 
Christendom.
  I yield to my friend.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding. I 
appreciate my friend's comment. I appreciate that he told us that 
people on his side of the aisle want to have border security.
  Then why don't we do the job? Why would we finish a year to settle 
for mediocrity?
  My friend also said that he had passed all the appropriations bills, 
but they never were enacted into law. The most ever done in the last 25 
years is what we did this Congress, because of the Senate and the 60 
votes. That is why you had Leader Schumer over there at the same time, 
because Democrats control whether we keep this government open or shut 
down. They have shown that power before, just as they have done earlier 
in this Congress.
  Now, my friend knows that he wants this country protected. I agree 
with him 100 percent. I do not challenge his belief on the protection 
of this country.
  I hope my friend also knows that, on that border, they catch, on 
average, 10 known terrorists a day.
  Homeland security is not like any other appropriations. It is not one 
we just set aside because we disagree with it. This country has known 
the damage of setting something aside and not paying attention to the 
warning signs. I think we are better than that.
  Yeah, it might be uncomfortable. We might have to work a little 
harder. We are going to stay here a little later than we all planned to 
be, but there were other circumstances that caused that.
  I think let's do all seven. Let's get them all done. Let's end on a 
high note. And it will probably make your job a little easier in the 
next Congress as well. You won't have to worry about it.
  But, in doing so, I think we are both going to have to do something. 
We are both going to have to look the American public in the eye, and 
we both made our arguments of what we wanted. But we are going to have 
to accept that you and I are not going to get 100 percent of what we 
want.
  I will make this pledge to you right now: I am willing to find some 
common ground. What that means is, the common ground is, we don't leave 
until we get this done.
  Now, your vote has been funding the wall. You voted for that before. 
I don't know if you have changed your position on that now. But what we 
are asking for is border security. That means more than just that.
  I think there is a window, and I think the American public expects it 
to get done. I would hate to leave and go home and say, oh, I finished 
the majority of everything, but that homeland security, that one that 
keeps our constituents safe, that one that looks around for whatever 
can happen to us in any part of this country, in so many places, we 
just did what we did last year.
  You know that harms the agency. You know that holds them back. And I 
can't look at somebody's face that maybe loses a loved one because 
something happens in the future because I wanted to leave, because I 
couldn't find compromise.
  Mr. Speaker, I will make that promise. I will find common ground, and 
I will take as long as it does inside any room to make that happen, 
that we do not leave this Congress without funding all and making sure 
homeland is not living under the same rules that they had before. When 
they know it is a changing society, it is also a changing place for 
those who want to do us harm.
  What a CR does is locks them in these continuing resolutions that 
they can't do something new, when they have found that new technology 
to protect us throughout the homeland.
  So I want to find common ground. I want to protect America. I want to 
make us safer, and I want to make us stronger. And I make that 
commitment to you, sir, that we can get it done.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the leader for his comments, but what is your plan 
to do that?
  We have been now here in this Congress, this year, for over 330 days, 
340 days. You haven't passed any plan on homeland security. You haven't 
brought it to the floor. It passed out of the committee. You have not 
brought it to the floor in 340 days.
  Here we are, with agreement on six bills, Mr. Leader. We have reached 
agreement. We have worked hard to get to that agreement.
  Now, yes, you have a faction of your caucus that has told you from 
time to time, ``my way or no way,'' even when you had agreement on six-
sevenths.
  Mr. Boehner had the same problem, and he decided he was going to 
leave here because he had the ``my way or no way,'' ``my way or the 
highway,'' ``my way or here's your hat and get out.''
  Mr. Leader, you have not told us a plan. We have been discussing this 
for, literally, all year, and we have a very significant, substantive 
disagreement. And you haven't brought it to the floor to press your 
view and send it to the Senate.
  I don't know why you haven't brought it to the floor. We haven't had 
any debate on the floor on this issue. We are prepared to debate that 
bill.
  But what we are not prepared to do is hold hostage six-sevenths of 
the appropriations bills that remain to be done, which we have agreed 
upon, worked on, and are ready to go. All you tell me is: We are 
prepared to do that, but we have got to pass all seven bills. If we 
don't get everything we want, we are not going to do it.
  I understand, because you have the President of the United States 
saying: ``I am proud to shut down the government.''
  What kind of irresponsibility is that?
  He wants the wall. I know he wants the wall. We are a democracy, 
however, not an autocracy, not a dictatorship. We are a democracy, and 
the wall has not passed this House. There is no agreement on the wall, 
and we think the wall is a bad strategy.
  There are more resources deployed to the South, the southern border, 
than at any time, I think--I haven't checked this exactly--in my 
service in the Congress of the United States. So it is not like we have 
not put a lot of Border Patrol, a lot of technology, a lot of fencing. 
We have supported substantial security at the border.
  Now the President wants more. I get that. But we are holding hostage 
six-sevenths of the appropriations bills, six out of seven, because the 
President is going to be proud to shut down the government.
  Now, I don't want to be too painful, but we had an election just a 
few weeks ago, and the President made it very clear he wanted to build 
that wall. He sent troops down to the border, at tens of millions of 
dollars' cost. Of course, under the law, they can't deal with law 
enforcement. And, yes, there were some people that came at the fence, 
and they were pushed back.
  But the fact of the matter is that there is border security. Can we 
make

[[Page H10187]]

it better? Yes. Do we want to make it better? Yes. Will we work with 
you to do that? Yes. But you are not going to get us to believe 
something is good that we don't think is good.
  You can pass it. The President can sign it. I get that. And we lose. 
But you haven't brought it to the floor. You don't have a plan to get 
that done, 330, I guess, 340 days into the year.
  So I am, Mr. Speaker, saying, why, when we have agreement--I say six-
sevenths. Very frankly, we have agreement on the homeland security bill 
except for the wall, one item, so, essentially, we have probably 99 
percent agreement. But it is my way or the highway, with no plan, as I 
understand it, to get us from where we are today, where we were 2 weeks 
ago, and where I am fearful that we will be on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., 
because we have no plan to get from where we are to where we need to 
be.
  We have offered two plans. You don't like either one of them. One was 
a CR for the rest of the year, for everything, for the remaining. We 
don't like that. That is not our plan, but it is one option, and we 
would support that if you bring that to the floor.
  The other option, of course, is to pass the six bills. We will vote 
for them, all of them. You can put them in a package. Then do a CR on 
the homeland security, and we will have further discussions about that, 
and we will see what the democratic process results in.

                              {time}  1145

  It hasn't passed the House. We are not for it. We are prepared to 
debate it. If it passes and the President signs it, it will be law and 
my friend will do it, but don't hold the rest of government hostage for 
something on which there is deep disagreement not only by us, but 
within my friend's own party.
  I implore my friend, on Wednesday at 6:30, bring those six bills to 
the floor. We will vote for them. Hopefully, his folks who worked to 
get them in place will vote for them. We will pass them, and we will 
avoid another stupid, as I said, shutdown of the government of the 
United States.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I respect my friend. I even follow my friend on 
Instagram. And today is Thursday, and I almost feel like he is throwing 
a Throwback Thursday up, because now he calls a shutdown stupid.
  But in this Congress, that is not what he did. In this Congress, he 
actually whipped to have a shutdown. I did think it was stupid then, 
and I think going into a shutdown is stupid now. That is why I want to 
solve the problem.
  Mr. Speaker, my friend says: Can we make the border better? Yes. He 
keeps talking about the wall. I just talk about security.
  When he described what is happening along the border, it was 
interesting, the words he chose. He said there were ``some people'' 
down there. I am sure the rest of America has watched what has gone on 
down there, gone on down there before it even got into Mexico, where 
they broke down their wall and came across, where they stormed and they 
threw things at our Border Patrol.
  I think the border could be more secure. I know my friend lives in 
Maryland, but to those of us who live in a border State, maybe we 
understand this a little differently.
  Now, I am the first one who believes in legal immigration. This has 
nothing to do with it. This is about keeping the country safe. And if 
two sides cannot sit down to solve a fundamental problem, it is bad for 
the country.
  There is a check and balance, as the gentleman well knows. There is a 
House; there is a Senate; and then there is an administration, a 
President, who either signs or vetoes a bill.
  The gentleman started the conversation earlier very proud of the fact 
that he passed all 12 bills. We have done that before, too. The test is 
really the final end, does it get all the way there?
  We are 75 percent there. Twenty-five percent should not stop us, and 
we should be able to get it done.
  But in the gentleman's quest of talking about passing all 12 bills, 
they didn't become law. Why? Because of the Senate and the 60 votes 
there.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, is the gentlemen aware we did not shut down 
government?
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, no, I am not. I was here. The gentleman 
shut down the government.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, not that year.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman voted. He whipped.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman is talking about here?
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, here, yes.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, in this session?
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, yes.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I am pointing out that when the gentleman 
says we didn't pass the appropriations bills, when I said we passed all 
12 through the House, we did not shut down government. We ultimately 
got to a resolution of the differences between us.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask the majority leader, what is his plan to do that?
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, my plan to do that is I need 60 votes in 
the Senate.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, everybody likes to talk 
about the Senate. What the gentleman has ignored is that I said the 
bill is in committee and in 340 days has not been brought to this 
floor. If that is the gentleman's policy, he has not brought it to the 
floor for consideration.
  By the way, when he talks about a broader issue of immigration, we 
agree with him. He has not brought a comprehensive immigration reform 
bill to the floor, either.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I do not want the gentleman to get more 
Pinocchios, because that is not true. We have brought two major 
immigration reform bills to this floor, and not one person on the other 
side of the aisle voted for either.
  My friend knows the hours that we have spent in our office discussing 
with everybody trying to come to an agreement, but we had two on this 
floor.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, did they pass those bills?
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, no, we did not.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, why not?
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, because between those two bills, the 
gentleman held all of his Members to vote ``no,'' the same way he did 
with taxes, the same way he did with children's health, the same way he 
did on many other elements.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, we didn't vote for it 
because we didn't like the bills. But the gentleman is in charge, and 
he has 240 Members. All he needed was 218.
  We didn't like his bill, so we did what we do when we don't like 
bills: we vote against them. But he has 240 people still on his side of 
the aisle, and he couldn't pass his bill because so many of his Members 
didn't like it. That is why his bill didn't pass.
  Mr. Speaker, what is the gentleman's plan, however, between now and 
6:30 p.m. on Wednesday to get us off this dime that we are stuck on and 
have been stuck on now for almost the entire year, 12 days from 
Christmas?

  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, he doesn't want to work with us. I guess the plan is to 
go back to what the motto of the gentleman had been earlier in this 
Congress.
  The gentleman says it is hard to pass bills here. What is 
interesting, in that same Quorum study, more bills have passed this 
House and this Congress than any in modern history. So, yes, we pass 
bills. We even do it when the gentleman's side tries to hold back.
  So when the children were worried about their health insurance and he 
held back, we did not. When we worried about growing the economy, when 
he held back, we did not. When he worried about trying to shut the 
government down, we kept moving forward.
  When we wanted to solve the immigration problem, yes, we had two 
different bills; yes, it takes 218; and, yes, we had more than the 225 
votes on either of those bills--you just had 218 on one. But there 
wasn't one on the other side, even though there were people on the 
other side of the aisle who would come to me and tell me they wanted to

[[Page H10188]]

vote for these bills but their own leadership twisted their arms and 
said they could not.
  Now, yes, were there struggles at times and do we have different 
factions within the Conference? Yes, we do. But if I were the 
gentleman, I would watch my words, because I am going to look forward 
to seeing how well he does with the new faction coming in on his side.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, me, too.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, it will be quite interesting to watch.
  I know my struggles. I hope the gentleman doesn't have the same 
struggles, but I will make this promise to the gentleman: When we 
agree, I will be there.
  We do not have differences because we have parties; we have parties 
because we have differences.
  The gentleman's challenge is he continues to bring up the wall. The 
question would be, then: Does border security work? Having a wall a 
part of that security, does it help?
  Coming from a State that borders Mexico, we put a wall, which the 
gentleman had voted for, down in San Diego. You know what the results 
were? A 92 percent drop in illegals coming across. We built a wall in 
Tucson, down 90 percent; El Paso, 95 percent.
  At one time, El Paso was one of the most dangerous cities in America. 
Now, today, it is one of the safest, and it has been able to live with 
that.
  Yuma, down 95 percent.
  So the question is: What is the plan? The plan and the hope, yes, we 
will take a bill up. But my hope was that, in the spirit of the season, 
it wouldn't be the gentleman's way or no way, that he would break from 
this tradition that Republicans have to pass everything on their own.
  Look, I put a bill in that I fully fund the wall at $25 billion. I 
know I am not going to get that. Am I going to run away and say, then, 
I am going to vote for nothing? No, because that is not the way our 
government works.
  You see, we have to have compromise because of the structure. And I 
don't want to have a plan where I am going to sit up here as majority 
leader and say, oh, I passed all the bills, but none of them became 
law.
  I want to make law. I want to solve the problem.
  Listen, this is not the time to continue to go through and argue. 
This is the time to solve the problems. Look, the campaign is over.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, what is the solution?
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, do you know what the solution is? Sit down 
with us and come to a compromise, not that it is his way or no way.
  Mr. Speaker, let me ask the gentleman a question.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, is the compromise we take the wall or we shut 
down the government? Is that the compromise?
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman has already voted for 
funding of the wall. So my question is: Democrats had to vote for it 
with 60, the gentleman voted for it on here to fund the wall. Is the 
gentleman now saying he does not want to fund any of the wall going 
forward?
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, is your answer to the question, yes, the 
wall, or we shut down government?
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, no. I am not one who shuts the government 
down. We went through that.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, the President to whom the gentleman is very 
close, he says so. The gentleman says so. The President says, and the 
gentleman heard the quote, he probably gets tired of hearing it, I am 
sure: I am proud, he says--I am proud, he says, to shut down the 
government. I will shut down the government. Absolutely, I will shut it 
down.
  That is what the President said just 2 days ago.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I thought that was the gentleman's quote 
from our Congress earlier.
  So I don't hold people to what they go through. I realize all the 
time we had these colloquies before, all the time I studied the history 
in here, the gentleman always said a shutdown was bad. I quoted back to 
him numerous times where he had told me that all the way through these. 
But when the day came in this Congress, he changed his ways. He thought 
a shutdown was right. I am thankful that he changed. That quote could 
have been his quote just in this Congress.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, what is he talking about? 
I voted against bills whose policies I did not agree with and that he 
said ``we will therefore shut down the government,'' because if we 
don't agree, he couldn't get the majority votes on his side, and he 
couldn't get 60 votes in the Senate--which the Republicans were very, 
very pleased with that when the Senate was controlled by Democrats. 
They loved having that 60-vote rule because what they said is it 
requires compromise. It requires coming together, having to get 60 
votes. It requires not saying, ``Do it our way or you don't do it.''

  The gentleman has not brought a bill, he has not brought a plan to 
this floor on how to get out of that. And, Mr. Speaker, the leader has 
not answered when I said, essentially when he says come together and 
have compromise, these are his bills. They are not our bills.
  We had to compromise. These didn't come out of Democratic 
subcommittees. They didn't come out of a Democratic committee, didn't 
come out of a Democratic Senate. These are bills that are his bills 
that we compromised on.
  We are prepared to vote for 99 percent--99 percent--of those seven 
bills, 99 percent. That is compromising, I think, a pretty far way.
  We don't agree with everything in those bills, but he is right, this 
is a collective body. We have all been elected. We all have one vote, 
and we have compromised on 99 percent.
  He is holding it up. He has no plan other than we take the wall or 
the President of the United States shuts down government. That is not 
the compromise that I heard him talking about we ought to have.
  Mr. Speaker, if that is the kind of compromise we are going to have 
between now and Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., we are not going to get there. 
We have compromised on 99 percent. Let's pass it. Let's move on.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend, then I am going to yield back.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I think we might be hitting our average for how long 
this colloquy goes.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I am afraid we are going to almost finish the 
rest of that hour.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, we should debate ideas; but if the idea 
is, ``What is your plan?'' it wasn't my plan that we had to do it 
alone. If we have to, we have proven we have done that before. He knows 
it will go on to the Senate.
  But if my friend has changed his belief, I don't hold it against him. 
He might have changed his belief. Or maybe his belief always was that 
we should have no border security. I don't know.
  My friend did acknowledge that there was a great number of people who 
were trying to get into our country and storming the gates. That is not 
all the bill. The bill is border security and homeland security.
  If the idea is it has to just be a CR or they can't deal with it, do 
you know what my plan has been all along? It is to work with the 
gentleman. But I am not hearing that he is even willing to work with 
us, that I am saying I am willing to.
  Compromise. He has already voted for part of border security to be a 
wall. He doesn't even want to sit down and discuss how much should that 
be, how much border security should we have.
  Is 10 terrorists a day coming across the border okay with the 
gentleman? Because it is not with me.
  Is 2,000 inadmissible people coming across? Is that okay with the 
gentleman? It is not with me. It takes away from those, like our own 
relatives, who come here legally.
  I was at a naturalization just a few months ago. I sat there inside 
this service. I watched individuals with such pride raising their hand. 
And do you know what I told them? George Washington is now their 
founding father; Abraham Lincoln was their liberator; Martin Luther 
King spoke of their dreams; and the flag that sits on the Moon is their 
flag today. And I want them to be safe.

[[Page H10189]]

  


                              {time}  1200

  And I don't know what those terrorists have planned when they come 
across the border, or when those people storm the gates. But I do know 
we have a responsibility--that I can't get everything I want--a 
responsibility that we find security, and that we protect our own 
border security at the same time.
  I think there is a window that we can do this. I don't want to do it 
alone. So my plan was to do it with the gentleman. If he is saying to 
me he can't, then I am going to have to change my plan, just as we had 
to do when it came to the children's health insurance. We were not 
going to let that lapse. Just as it happened when you were going to 
shut the government down over DACA; we weren't going to let that 
happen.
  We believe the government should stay open. So that is my plan. Will 
you join with us? Will you make sure that we don't shut down? Will you 
make sure that we make America stronger and safer for the future?
  I don't want to leave work for the gentleman to get done. He is 
excited about his majority. I want him to be successful. I may smile 
for the challenge that he is going to have with some people I see 
coming in, and I will be right over here to debate where we disagree; 
but when we agree, I will be right there with him, and I will find 
compromise in every part I can.
  I think this is a window to show--even to all those new freshmen, 
even to those who are leaving and these could be some of their last 
votes--that we did the very best with the moments that we had for the 
future of this country.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, what I hear is that the majority leader's 
plan is that we give up. Ninety-nine percent of the Homeland Security 
bill, I presume and believe, is directed at securing our borders. We 
have agreed with 99 percent of it, probably 99.9 percent of it. That is 
probably not true in dollar value.
  But the plan is for us to give up because 99 percent is not good 
enough for us to agree with. It has got to be 100 percent. If that is 
the plan, it is not going to work.
  The bill has not been brought to this floor, ever, this year. It is 
worthy of debate as to how we keep our borders most secure. As I have 
said, many Republicans, including, very frankly, the second ranking 
member of the Senate on the Republican side, have questions about the 
wall. He is from Texas. A lot of Texans think the wall doesn't make 
sense, Republicans and Democrats. Maybe not all, but some. But if the 
plan is we just give up after agreeing to 99 percent, that is no plan 
at all.
  Unless the gentleman wants to say more, I am going to yield back.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, in the spirit of the season, I have a 
little gift for the gentleman from Maryland. It comes from a little 
shop in my hometown, family-owned. They are excited about what we have 
been able to do this Congress. It is a little candy that might sweeten 
his spirit, and he might even be more likely to work with us to solve 
the problem.
  Merry Christmas.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the majority leader.
  I must say, Mr. Speaker, I have a serious suspicion--I trust the 
majority leader, but I believe that gift was probably purchased by 
Judy, his wonderful, beautiful wife.
  I yield back the balance of my time.

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