[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 201 (Friday, December 23, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H10061-H10063]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      FUNDING THE U.S. GOVERNMENT

  (Mr. HOYER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, we are here today to fulfill one of Congress' 
most basic responsibilities: to fund our government and keep it working 
for the people.
  We are not doing that very well. It is the 23rd of December, the day 
before Christmas Eve. The weather is bad, Members--we will see how 
many--are here to fulfill their duty. This sweeping package is anything 
but garbage, as the previous speaker intoned.
  It is, in fact, the essence of supporting our national security, our 
domestic security, and the welfare of our people. That is not garbage.
  This sweeping package secures full-year appropriations for fiscal 
year 2023.
  In reality, Mr. Speaker, this bill should have been passed in 
September of this year.
  Why?
  Because the fiscal year ends on September 30, and fiscal year 2023 
begins on October 1 of this year.
  The Senate had not passed a single appropriation bill by the end of 
the last fiscal year to provide for the fiscal year in which we are now 
operating. That ought to be unacceptable for the 535 of us who have 
been sent here to represent the American people in a responsible way 
and in a way that reflects that we are adults seized with the 
responsibility that the American people expect us to meet. Today, too 
late--but never too late to do the right thing--we will meet that 
responsibility.

  I thank Chairwoman DeLauro, Ranking Member Granger, their colleagues 
and staff on the House Appropriations Committee, and the staff 
director, all who have worked round the clock to help us achieve an end 
which must be achieved every year. This does not come as a surprise to 
any of us that we have to fund the government of the United States of 
America.
  So I thank each and every member of the staff of the House 
Appropriations Committee.
  Indeed, I thank Mr. Leahy and Mr. Shelby, the chair and ranking 
member of the Appropriations Committee in the United States Senate. 
They wanted to get this job done. They wanted to get this job done in a 
timely fashion. But unfortunately, the United States Senate has become 
enamored with doing an omnibus at the last second. That ought to be a 
disappointment for every Member of this body and every American.
  As an appropriator myself, I know how much work the committee and the 
staff perform behind the scenes to keep our government operating, and I 
commend them all for advancing all 12 of the regular appropriation 
bills for fiscal year 2023 out of their committee in June of this 
year--in June--while our colleagues in the Senate had not passed any by 
September 30.
  We passed six of those bills through this House, Mr. Speaker. We sent 
them to the Senate, and they have not been taken up.
  Indeed, for the last 4 years, our House majority has passed 
legislation to fund almost all of the government by the end of summer. 
Only, Mr. Speaker, by fulfilling this most basic duty can Congress 
start to make progress on its other obligations to the American people.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, as you know and as my colleagues know, I am 
stepping down as the majority leader. But I am returning to the 
Appropriations Committee, and I pray that I will have some ability and 
can make some contribution to effecting a rational appropriations 
process which pursues regular order, and which understands that we 
ought to pass every appropriation bill through this House, every one, 
all 12, by the end of June, which accepts the premise in the United 
States Senate they ought to pass their appropriation bills by the end 
of June.
  Then we ought to spend July, August, and September in resolving the 
differences that exist between the Senate and the House on funding 
priorities. Then by September 30, we will have passed all of those 
bills and we will have avoided this funding by crisis and avoided this 
last-minute, Christmas Eve performance of our duties.
  Only by fulfilling this most basic duty can Congress start to make 
progress. We have a responsibility to address issues that undermine the 
strength and prosperity of American workers and families. That is why 
this omnibus includes measures to lower costs for Americans by 
expanding nutrition assistance programs, increasing

[[Page H10062]]

funding for childcare, making a greater investment in reducing monthly 
utility bills, and enhancing retirement savings.
  That, Mr. Speaker, is not garbage. That is critical action that this 
House has a responsibility and a duty to our country and to our 
constituents to perform, and we should have performed it in a timely 
fashion. But as I said earlier, it is never too late to do the right 
thing. This is simply not the right way to do it, but it must, should, 
and will be done today.
  From hurricanes to wildfires, natural disasters and the climate 
crisis are a growing threat to Americans across the country. 
Fortunately, this bill secures $38 billion in supplemental 
appropriations to help these communities rebuild after disasters and 
strengthen themselves against future ones.
  That is not garbage. That is essential action that this House and 
that the Senate and the President of the United States ought to 
perform. We ought to perform it in a timely fashion. But let me again 
repeat: it is never too late to do the right thing. And we will do that 
today.
  This omnibus also advances Congress' sacred obligation to uphold 
American democracy. I congratulate the Thompson-Cheney committee for 
the report that it has issued to protect and preserve our Constitution 
and our democracy and to call attention to the American public that one 
person--one person, albeit a President of the United States--was the 
reason that our democracy and our Constitution and the election of our 
President was put at risk. I congratulate the members of that 
commission for the extraordinary courage that they have shown standing 
up, telling the truth, and letting the American people know why January 
6 occurred and letting the American people know who was responsible--
one person--for that threat to our democracy, our Constitution, and the 
election, a peaceful regular order election of the President of the 
United States.
  This bill that we are going to consider includes provisions that 
reform the Electoral Count Act which we saw on that day of January 6 
were wanting, were unclear, and were used incorrectly to put at risk 
our democracy.
  The Electoral Count Act included in this bill will clarify, once and 
for all, that the Vice President's role in overseeing the count of 
electoral votes is purely ceremonial.
  Let us thank Vice President Pence who had the courage and the 
intellectual integrity to pursue that premise that his duties were 
ceremonial only. Indeed, this provision points out that no individual 
neither can nor ought to be able to overturn the will of the American 
people.
  This precaution, I tell my colleagues, will ensure that we never see 
a repeat of the shameful and malicious attack on our democracy on 
January 6 last year. Our obligation, Mr. Speaker, to uphold democracy 
and freedom also extends beyond our borders, especially to the people 
of Ukraine as they fight courageously and at great cost for their 
democracy and, indeed, for the democracy that exists in every nation 
that embraces democracy on this globe.

                              {time}  0930

  On Wednesday, President Zelenskyy made the perilous journey to speak 
with us about his country's struggle for freedom and democracy.
  Winston Churchill, as Speaker Pelosi pointed out, visited this 
Chamber shortly after that day of infamy in December of 1941. His 
Nation, like President Zelenskyy's, was under siege from the Nazis, and 
he came to speak to us of freedom. He came to speak to us of our 
critical role in helping to defend freedom.
  As John Kennedy said here and around the world, we are a beacon of 
freedom, a beacon of light; a city on the hill, a shining city, that 
Ronald Reagan referred to.
  We are a Nation to whom other nations look for helping them to 
protect their freedom, but in a much larger sense, the freedom of all 
freedom-embracing people of the world.
  That President Zelenskyy chose to come here to this Capitol on his 
first visit outside Ukraine since Russia's criminal invasion, risking 
his own life and safety, says as much about his personal courage as it 
does about our role in preserving democracy around the world.
  On 9/11, people who hated freedom, people who hated the symbol of 
freedom, flew three planes: one into the World Trade Center; one into 
the Pentagon; and one, Mr. Speaker, that I am convinced was designed to 
decapitate the dome of the Capitol, that symbol of democracy for all 
the world, that symbol of our democracy.
  They failed because of the courage of the passengers on the airliner 
designed to decapitate the Capitol and took it down and gave their own 
lives that that mission would not be completed as that plane crashed 
into a field in Pennsylvania.
  This bill invests in freedom. It invests in democracy. It invests in 
a world order based upon law and not based upon threats and military 
might.
  America has the power to provide Ukraine with the tools needed to 
defend its freedom. This legislation includes nearly $45 billion in 
additional aid to help Ukrainians in that critical, important, world-
saving effort.
  In his remarks on Wednesday, President Zelenskyy said that he needed 
our help, that he needed our support. He needed weapons with which to 
respond to Russia's criminal activities.
  Today's counteroffensive by those who defend democracy has already 
liberated the people of Kherson, Kharkiv, Lyman, and other places in 
the Donbas.
  Reporters ask me, Mr. Speaker: How much are you willing to spend to 
defend Ukraine?
  My response, Mr. Speaker: Whatever it takes.
  Freedom, as we know, is not free. Our Founding Fathers pledged their 
lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor against a great power, 
Great Britain, to give us freedom, to establish, as Lincoln pointed 
out, on the face of the Earth a ``government of the people, by the 
people, for the people,'' not a government of force, not a government 
of intimidation, not a government of military might, but of the people, 
for the people, and by the people.
  This bill reflects the American people's will to do just that. 
American aid allowed the Ukrainians to hold the line and push their 
invaders back.
  As President Zelenskyy made clear to us on Wednesday night, his 
country will need our continued support to bring an end to this war, 
which must come by way of a strategic defeat for Vladimir Putin, one of 
the great war criminals in the history of the world. This aid is an 
investment in the future of democracy and the safety of the free world.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill is a critically important piece of 
legislation, not only to keep our government funded and to keep our 
people being served, but also to show that the United States of 
America's government works.
  The vote last night, Mr. Speaker, in the United States Senate was 68-
29. Over two-thirds of the United States Senate stood and said that it 
is time to do our duty. They did it not because each and every one of 
those Senators thought that this bill was perfect. It is not.
  This bill should, as I said earlier, have been passed in one form or 
another to fund all the objects of our government spending by September 
30 of this year, but we must do it today--the earlier, the better.
  I ask all of my colleagues to join me in voting ``yes,'' showing the 
world that we will never remain idle in the face of those who believe 
they can terrorize civilians, devour territory, and commit war crimes 
with impunity.
  Vote ``yes'' to fulfill our duty to the American people and our 
Nation's founding principles.
  Vote ``yes'' to keep our government open and serving the people.
  Mr. Speaker, as I said, I will return to the Appropriations 
Committee, and I look forward to working with Ms. DeLauro; with the new 
chair of the committee; with Mrs. Murray, who is going to chair the 
committee in the United States Senate, Senator Murray; and with all of 
my Republican colleagues and Democratic colleagues to do our duty in a 
timely, effective fashion.
  I urge all of my colleagues, as you listen, as you sit in this 
Chamber, as you reflect upon your service in the Congress of the United 
States and to our constituents, that you make a pledge to yourself, to 
your people, and to your country that this coming year, we will do our 
work in a timely and responsible fashion. Vote for this critically 
essential piece of legislation.

[[Page H10063]]

  

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