[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 196 (Monday, December 9, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H9351-H9352]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                SENATE SHOULD ACT ON HOUSE-PASSED BILLS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
New Mexico (Ms. Haaland) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. HAALAND. Mr. Speaker, I reflect on all that House Democrats have 
done for the people this year and how much harm the grim reaper of the 
Senate, Mitch McConnell, has done by purposefully stalling our 
legislative agenda.
  Our Democratic House majority has worked relentlessly for the people 
to

[[Page H9352]]

strengthen the health, economic security, and well-being of every 
family in every community, and we have made real progress.
  We ended the Trump government shutdown, which inflicted needless pain 
and chaos into the lives of our fellow Americans and New Mexicans whose 
paychecks, financial security, health, and well-being were held hostage 
by the President.
  We stood strong and prevailed for the American people and did not 
give him the immoral, illegal border wall.
  To improve the safety of our communities, we sent to the Senate 
commonsense, bipartisan gun violence prevention legislation that would 
make our children safer.
  As vice chair of the Democratic Women's Caucus, I am proud that we 
have worked to strengthen women's personal and financial security by 
passing a strong reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, the 
Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act, and the Paycheck Fairness Act to 
ensure equal pay for equal work.
  To bolster the paychecks and retirement security of working families, 
we passed the Raise the Wage Act to increase the Federal minimum wage 
to $15 an hour, giving a raise to 33 million Americans, including 20 
million women. We also passed the Butch Lewis Act to protect the 
pensions of more than 1 million workers and retirees.
  To live up to the promises that we made to our veterans, we have 
passed dozens of bipartisan bills, including fixes to end unjust and 
unfair taxes on military families; expanded benefits for blue water 
Navy Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange; and legislation to 
reduce barriers for women veterans to access the VA, including an 
antiharassment initiative.
  To address our climate crisis, we passed the Climate Action Now Act 
and multiple bills to protect our public lands for generations to come. 
I have introduced legislation myself to promote natural solutions to 
climate change, such as H.R. 4269, the Climate Stewardship Act, and for 
the adoption of clean energy, H.R. 5221, the 100% Clean Economy Act.
  I am especially proud to have led the bipartisan effort on House 
passage of the Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act to protect 
my ancestral homeland from oil and gas drilling.
  We have fought for those who have been the targets of hateful 
rhetoric and policies of this administration. We passed H.R. 6, the 
American Dream and Promise Act, to help Dreamers stay right here in the 
United States, their home, the only country they know.
  Democrats have taken a stand to end discrimination against LGBTQ 
Americans by passing the historic Equality Act, H.R. 5.
  To stand up for human rights, we passed bipartisan legislation to 
recognize the Armenian genocide as the atrocity that it was, hold 
Turkey accountable for attacking our Kurdish allies, reject the 
President's disastrous decisionmaking in Syria, and uphold America's 
commitment to human rights and the rule of law in Hong Kong.
  In light of the threats our democracy faces from foes foreign and 
domestic, we passed H.R. 1, the For the People Act; the SAFE Act; and 
the SHIELD Act to strengthen our elections and democracy and boost our 
defenses against foreign attacks on these systems. We passed H.R. 4, 
the Voting Rights Advancement Act, to protect the right of all 
Americans to participate in our democracy.
  The Democratic House has sent Senator McConnell more than 275 
bipartisan bills, yet he still refuses to take them up. The American 
people deserve and demand action, and we call on Senator McConnell to 
put our legislation up for a vote.
  I am proud to have worked alongside my colleagues in this House 
majority to move these important issues forward for the people.

                          ____________________