[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 79 (Wednesday, May 10, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H2183-H2194]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 2, SECURE THE BORDER ACT OF 2023;
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 1163, PROTECTING TAXPAYERS AND
VICTIMS OF UNEMPLOYMENT FRAUD ACT
Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call
up House Resolution 383 and ask for its immediate consideration.
[[Page H2184]]
The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:
H. Res. 383
Resolved, That upon adoption of this resolution it shall be
in order to consider in the House the bill (H.R. 2) to secure
the borders of the United States, and for other purposes. All
points of order against consideration of the bill are waived.
The bill shall be considered as read. All points of order
against provisions in the bill are waived. The previous
question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and on
any amendment thereto to final passage without intervening
motion except: (1) five hours of debate, with two hours
equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking
minority member of the Committee on Homeland Security or
their respective designees, two hours equally divided and
controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the
Committee on the Judiciary or their respective designees, and
one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and
ranking minority member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
or their respective designees; and (2) one motion to
recommit.
Sec. 2. Upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in
order to consider in the House the bill (H.R. 1163) to
provide incentives for States to recover fraudulently paid
Federal and State unemployment compensation, and for other
purposes. All points of order against consideration of the
bill are waived. The amendment in the nature of a substitute
recommended by the Committee on Ways and Means now printed in
the bill, modified by the amendment printed in the report of
the Committee on Rules accompanying this resolution, shall be
considered as adopted. The bill, as amended, shall be
considered as read. All points of order against provisions in
the bill, as amended, are waived. The previous question shall
be considered as ordered on the bill, as amended, and on any
further amendment thereto, to final passage without
intervening motion except: (1) one hour of debate equally
divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority
member of the Committee on Ways and Means or their respective
designees; and (2) one motion to recommit.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Texas is recognized for 1
hour.
Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the
customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms.
Scanlon), 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. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Texas?
There was no objection.
{time} 1615
Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, we have a crisis at our southern border that
has captured the attention of the American people but has fallen on
deaf ears among my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and, much
more importantly, the President and the administration at the other end
of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Just yesterday, I received a text from multiple law enforcement
officers along the southern border, whether it is with the Department
of Public Safety from Texas or whether it is with Border Patrol. For
example, this is a quote:
As of last night, the radios went crazy for west and south
Laredo, waves of folks, literally just group after group,
bum-rushing the border. The agents were spread thin as hell.
In my precinct, we are literally all doubled up because our
units are breaking down every other day. Ranchers are calling
every other day, stating there are folks on their property,
but we can't get there fast enough.
I hate to say this, but we are getting our rear-ends handed
to us. I used to have patterns, trends, and knew the dropoff,
pickup areas, but now it is an ``expletive'' free-for-all.
Approximately 600 bodies at the gate just half a mile east
from Yarbrough happening right now in El Paso.
I have hundreds of these texts right now flooding into my phone, like
every other Member of Congress, because what is happening is an abject
failure at the border. It is a humanitarian crisis for Americans and
for migrants.
Mr. Speaker, 5 million have been encountered at the southern border,
and 2 million have been released into the United States, incentivizing
more to come.
Over 1.5 million have evaded apprehension--i.e., got-aways evading
detection from Border Patrol since the beginning of this
administration.
Fentanyl is pouring into our communities. Border Patrol has seized
over 35,000 pounds of fentanyl. Just last Thursday morning, I met with
three fentanyl moms out of dozens of moms that I met with because their
children have died from fentanyl.
Eight children in the school district in the county in which I reside
southwest of Austin have died of fentanyl poisoning since last August.
Over 10 have had to be resuscitated, revived with Narcan.
Just last summer, 53 migrants were effectively cooked in a tractor-
trailer in the hot Texas heat in San Antonio, Texas.
Mr. Speaker, 856 dead migrant bodies were found along the Rio Grande,
in south Texas, and on ranches. Little girls are sold into the sex
trafficking trade, held in stash houses in Laredo, Brownsville, El
Paso, San Antonio, Houston, and throughout this country.
We know this to be true. It is documented to be true. Now, the
administration can't even keep up with the children that we have, with
85,000, according to The New York Times, not able to be contacted.
My colleagues just blindly wipe that away, saying: That is not true.
It was a phone call. They didn't get them. They must be with a family
member.
What Member of this body would treat their child that way? Oh, I
called and didn't get ahold of them. Oh, well.
We do that with 85,000 children. I guess that is not nearly as
effective as a photo op in white pantsuits sitting next to kids in
cages, allegedly, despite that those cages were created by the previous
administration specifically for the protection of children. Oh, no. It
doesn't look as good to have a photo op when you have 85,000 missing
children.
Tomorrow, title 42 expires. Now, for the average American, title 42,
they don't know what that is. What it is, is a part of our health code
that allows us to say that we are going to turn people away in the
middle of a pandemic.
Yet, the administration has been using that as effectively their only
means of managing the border, to the extent you can call it managing
the border.
In March, for example, there were approximately 200,000
apprehensions. We are going to blow right through that right now
because we are at 10,000, 11,000, 12,000 apprehensions a day.
When you add those 200,000 apprehensions, not even counting all the
parole, half of those are being turned away under title 42.
When title 42 expires tomorrow, more will come. There is an explosion
at the border. None will be turned away because this administration has
specifically chosen to ignore the law. This administration is refusing
to do their job to defend the border of the United States.
The least compassionate, the least Christian, the least empathetic
thing that a country could do is to allow human beings to be used as
political pawns by cartels for profit while Americans die by the
thousands, while migrants get raped, abused, and put in stash houses by
cartels for profit by the thousands, while migrants die along the
southern border by the hundreds, if not the thousands now, while our
own people get overrun on their own ranches.
I sat and met with ranch owners in south Texas who had run across the
dead body of a young woman, a mother with a baby, on their ranch.
Imagine the most powerful Nation in the history of the world thinking
it is compassionate to have a system that allows that. Yet, that is
precisely what we do.
Unfortunately, what my colleagues' response will be is, oh, we are
going to have to do something about our immigration system and future
flow in, figuring out what we are going to do to make sure that we
reform immigration.
Don't you know that if we had comprehensive immigration reform, this
would all just magically evaporate? That is completely not true.
The fact of the matter is, the starting point for any sensible border
and immigration plan is a secure border in which you actually enforce
the laws of the United States. Why? So people know what the rules are.
We allow 600,000 to 1 million, 1.2 million, depending on the year,
people to come into this country legally, as we should.
Yes, we need to reform our immigration system, but none of it matters
if
[[Page H2185]]
we are going to embrace lawlessness and wide-open borders and ignore
the rule of law to the detriment of people and to the detriment of the
very system that attracts people from around the world.
We should be exporting the rule of law rather than importing
lawlessness, fentanyl, death, and destruction. The legislation we have
before us would be a giant step toward ensuring that we can hold this
administration accountable to make sure that we secure our border,
protect our citizens, and protect migrants who seek to come here.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for
yielding the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Mr. Speaker, it is now after 4 o'clock in the afternoon. We were
scheduled to be on the floor today around noon, but when I came to the
floor prepared to debate this rule, we were told first to wait and then
that the House would recess so the Republicans could go back behind
closed doors to negotiate among themselves.
This is becoming a pattern in this Congress. For the second session
week in a row, the Rules Committee met far into the night and reported
out completely closed rules that allow no amendments on the floor.
Now, after Speaker McCarthy realized that he couldn't pass his own
bill, he spent all day negotiating in secret to twist people's arms to
get enough votes from his own party to get this bill or the rule passed
on the floor.
No one has seen what is coming out of the backroom deal today and
allegedly moving to the floor under this very rule.
This isn't how you run the people's House, although it is apparently
how the new House majority runs the people's House--backroom deals that
prioritize politics or policy over people.
Turning to the matters at hand, this rule moves two bills to the
floor. The first bill is H.R. 2, although, as mentioned, we still don't
know what the final version of that bill will be.
We should all be able to agree that immigration and border security
present vast and complex issues. Despite my colleagues' pronouncements
to the contrary, we all want a secure border that protects our national
security, but we also need to address the realities of migration, the
forces that are driving families, even young children, to flee their
homes, and the serious workforce shortages confronting businesses in
our country and elsewhere.
Given the complexities of these issues, they require comprehensive
and nuanced solutions. H.R. 2 is neither. It is a great example of the
old adage: For every complex problem, there is a solution that is
simple, clear, and wrong.
During my legal career, I spent decades working on immigration cases
and within our immigration system. I know it is underfunded and
dysfunctional and has been for many years. We also know that American
businesses, small and large, are asking for immigration reform so that
they can hire the healthcare, agricultural, research, and food service
workers they need.
Solving these issues is not simple, but I am extremely disappointed
that my Republican colleagues want to create more chaos by bringing an
extremist, cruel, and completely unworkable bill to the floor today.
The truth is, this isn't responsible or serious governance. Without
any real proposal, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle resort
to conspiracy theories, fact-free rhetoric, and political theater
designed to stoke fear and chaos to distract from their lack of real
solutions.
We have seen how the failed and inhumane immigration policies of the
prior administration weakened our economy, undermined our moral
standing in the world, inflicted unimaginable cruelty upon defenseless
migrant children, and did not make us any safer.
However, Republican extremists want to take us back there again. Once
more, they would rather fixate and waste American taxpayer dollars to
build a wall that the experts, including Customs and Border Patrol,
agree will not solve the issue.
I must call out the dishonesty of claiming that families seeking
legal asylum are a source of the very real scourge of fentanyl and
other dangerous drug trafficking. We know from Customs and Border
Patrol data that over 90 percent of fentanyl seizures occur at U.S.
ports of entry in trucks or cargo ships, not in areas that a border
wall might cover.
Despite this fact, the bill fails to provide needed resources at
ports of entry to fight fentanyl smuggling where it is actually
happening.
Just last month, House Republicans voted to cap nondefense
discretionary funding, which, according to DHS, would result in the
cutting of 2,400 Customs and Border Patrol officers and agents that do
this work fighting the scourge of fentanyl.
How can we begin to craft measures to address either the fentanyl
crisis or humanitarian issues at our border if our Republican
colleagues insist on starting from a place of misplaced blame and
misguided policies?
Additionally, this bill, or at least the most recent version of it
that we have seen, enacts a nationwide E-Verify system without
providing other reforms that give meaningful pathways for undocumented
workers to legalize their status, which employers across this country
are screaming for.
In doing so, this provision has the potential to wipe out half of our
agricultural workforce, cause huge disruptions in our Nation's food
system, allow a mass offshoring of jobs, and sink American farms from
California to Pennsylvania and throughout States across the Nation.
This isn't the first Congress in which Republicans have tried to move
forward on this E-Verify proposal. In every Congress, it faces
opposition from the small business community, civil liberties groups,
religious organizations, agricultural organizations and growers,
privacy advocates, libertarian think tanks, and immigration reform
groups because it fails to address our broken immigration system in a
meaningful way. This time around is no different.
H.R. 2 also bans Department of Homeland Security funding for critical
nonprofit and religious partners that provide shelter, food, legal
assistance, and other aid to vulnerable immigrants.
That means a faith-based NGO that helps an Afghan refugee to find
housing or gives support to a woman here on a U visa, a special status
set aside for victims of crimes, will no longer get assistance to do
that important work.
How can our Republican colleagues say this bill is only about border
security when it clearly and cruelly rips resources away from those in
the country legally, too?
When it comes to this bill, the immoral policies do not stop there.
This legislation puts children in harm's way--the very ones the other
side of the aisle claims they want to protect.
Children come or are brought to the U.S. because the conditions in
their home countries are so horrific, whether due to poverty, violence,
corruption, or climate change and how it is destroying their way of
life.
This is a situation that has been building for decades, and H.R. 2
does nothing to address it.
During my legal career, I represented many of those children, those
who were orphaned, those who were fleeing gang violence, starvation, or
abuse.
If we really want to protect child victims of trafficking or children
separated from their parents who arrive at our border, we don't limit
their access to representation, as this bill does. We give them the
tools to make the case that they are eligible to stay in this country,
which a child simply cannot do unless they have a qualified attorney
with them.
{time} 1630
Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I have seen up close how important
representation is to anyone trying to navigate our immigration system,
but especially kids.
When our colleagues say they want to send unaccompanied children home
to safety, they are turning a blind eye to reality. The reality for
most of these kids is there is no safe home. Their parents are dead or
otherwise unavailable, and country conditions are so dangerous that the
journey to our border is a safer alternative.
This bill would expose children to the very harms and exploitation my
Republican colleagues hollowly insist they want to prevent. In addition
to
[[Page H2186]]
limiting children's access to counsel, the bill allows them to be
jailed. It guts the protections of the Flores settlement agreement,
which has governed the conditions of children held in government
custody for 26 years.
In doing so, the bill upends a carefully crafted system to minimize
the detention of children due to the grave impact that it has on their
physical and mental health. The evidence is clear: No amount of
detention is safe for kids. Even a short period can cause long-term
harm like psychological trauma and mental health risks.
Despite knowing this, my Republican colleagues wrote a bill that
allows the long-term detention of minors who arrive in the U.S. and
that jails kids and their families indefinitely.
I want to describe for a moment a tragic situation this bill creates.
A mother and her child fleeing violence or starvation at home come to
America in search of safety and legal asylum. When she finds the ports
of entry are closed, which this bill would do, that mother takes her
child and crosses between them. She then follows the rules and applies
for asylum.
To be clear, she is not a risk for flight or violence. Even so, this
bill requires that she and her young child could be jailed for what
could be years if she is prosecuted for the misdemeanor of unlawful
entry, a result that is prohibited by current law and the Flores
litigation.
This legislation falsely states it is consistent with the Flores
decision; although, it is clear that it is not, and that the Court has
already ruled on that precise point.
If my colleagues want to come together and meaningfully work on
immigration reform, it can't start from a place of cruelty against the
most vulnerable. Instead, we need to recognize both the horrific
conditions that cause migrants to flee their homes and the meaningful
contributions that immigrants make to our country and, critically, we
must provide functioning pathways for people to enter the U.S.
lawfully.
Mr. Speaker, the second bill here is H.R. 1163. In addition to their
misguided immigration plan, today House Republicans are bringing up a
harmful bill that hinders antifraud programs, opens up new pathways to
fraud in unemployment insurance programs, and opens workers up to
surprise bills through no fault of their own.
My colleagues want to attack unemployment insurance, a benefit that
helped millions of Americans stay afloat during the depths of the
pandemic. Of course, it is important that we prevent fraud in our
public programs and instances of fraud in unemployment insurance
absolutely should be addressed and prosecuted.
In fact, just this morning, we learned that a Republican Member of
this Chamber was indicted in New York on charges that, among other
things, he allegedly stole public funds by fraudulently collecting
pandemic unemployment benefits.
I hope all my colleagues agree that stealing public funds, especially
during a global pandemic when so many working people lost their jobs
and needed the support to keep their families healthy and fed, is
unacceptable and absolutely should disqualify someone from serving in
the United States Congress.
However, although my colleagues across the aisle claim that they want
to fight fraud in unemployment insurance, their leadership continues to
welcome the votes of this alleged fraudster in order to push a deeply
unpopular and extremist agenda and they want to pass a bill that makes
it harder to catch the kind of cross-State fraud that their colleague
has allegedly committed by slashing $400 million in critical funding
for Department of Labor antifraud programs.
It opens up opportunities for fraud in UI programs by halting the
roll out of new identification verification systems and the legislation
allows States to send surprise bills to workers for accidental
overpayments of unemployment insurance benefits made during the
pandemic.
These overpayments were made to workers who did nothing wrong and did
not know they had been overpaid. These people spent their unemployment
insurance on necessities like food for themselves and their children.
They returned to work as soon as they could, but now Republicans, with
this bill, want to send these working people a bill and punish them for
an error that they didn't commit.
Ultimately, both of these proposals from my Republican colleagues are
unserious and unworkable. They will wreak harm on America's economy,
especially businesses unable to find workers to grow or even survive.
They will wreak harm on working families, law-abiding immigrants, and
terrified refugees who have the right to seek asylum at our borders.
These bills are political stunts to stir up extremist supporters, not
serious solutions to complex problems, problems that require
comprehensive and nuanced solutions. We are eager to work with
responsible legislators from any party on an immigration bill that
truly secures the border, protects Dreamers, and solves the workforce
challenges we are seeing from farms to pharmacies. Such a bill would
grow our economy, help our communities combat crime, and stem the flow
of illegal drugs into our country.
We firmly believe that we can reach an agreement that secures our
border and reforms our immigration system in a way that reflects
fundamental American values, and we are ready to work on that now. We
welcome assistance in that from the House majority.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, just a couple of points.
First of all, this tired talking point of 90 percent of narcotics
being captured at the ports of entry; well, of course, that is the only
place where we have Border Patrol. Because they are overwhelmed doing
processing, we don't have anybody patrolling the border between the
ports of entry. So, of course, you are collecting and finding a higher
percentage of narcotics at the ports of entry.
The second point, is this idea that this is treating kids inhumanely.
Let's be very clear that what we do in this policy is treat children
from other countries exactly as we treat them from Mexico and Canada
under current law.
More importantly, President Obama, that radical, MAGA extremist,
President Barack Obama asked for this fix in his bill.
Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman
from Texas (Mr. Burgess).
Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the rule and the
underlying bill, H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act of 2023.
For over 2 years, the Biden administration has continued to ignore
crisis after crisis. Just 2 weeks ago, the American people saw that
President Biden and the Democratic Party were just fine ignoring our
looming debt crisis.
Mr. Speaker, 2 weeks ago, House Republicans kept their promise. They
kept their promise to the American people and passed a responsible
solution to raising the country's debt ceiling.
Now this week, House Republicans are having to once again clean up
after this administration and their reckless policies that are hurting
the lives of Americans around the country, but especially in my home
State of Texas.
Our southern border is not secure. This administration does not have
operational control, and their claim that they have decreased
immigration by 90 percent is simply laughable.
President Biden's destructive policies and continued lies to the
American people have only worsened this deepening crisis.
My fellow Members and I have heard from law enforcement on the ground
that this country has gone from one of the safest and most secure
borders under the Trump administration, to an unsustainable
humanitarian crisis of epic proportions, and it is getting worse by the
hour.
With the expiration of title 42 tomorrow, it will be unfathomable of
what will be facing our friends on the Texas border.
This all happened within the first 24 hours of this administration.
President Biden sits in the White House and threatens to veto our bill,
calling for comprehensive immigration reform, while vulnerable migrants
crossing our southern border are raped, killed, or trafficked every
single day.
Along with all my fellow Republican Members, I want to see
comprehensive
[[Page H2187]]
immigration reform, but that cannot be done until this crisis on our
southern border is under control. H.R. 2 will do exactly that.
Mr. Speaker, this bill will finish the border wall, will provide
adequate funding for our Border Patrol agents, and ensure that the
migrants most vulnerable, the unaccompanied alien children, are taken
care of once they become this country's responsibility.
Mr. Speaker, this bill is just common sense. I urge my fellow Members
to support the underlying bill, and I urge support for the rule.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from
engaging in personalities toward the President.
Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I do find it a little hard to credit the
expressions of concern for the migrants who are crossing our border
when yet again, today, the Governor of Texas sent a busload of migrants
from the border after announcing he was providing free transportation
to them.
He refuses to tell the cities where they are headed, but the migrants
are on their way. So as has occurred multiple times over the last year,
people were dumped in Philadelphia at 6 o'clock in the morning. Thank
God that the weather has turned because when they were dumping them on
New Year's Eve, it was pretty darn cold. So please spare me the
crocodile tears for the humanitarian concerns when you are not willing
to help ease that process.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from New Mexico
(Ms. Leger Fernandez), a very distinguished member of the Rules
Committee.
Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I have been at the border. I have
seen the sadness and faint hope in the faces of the children seeking
asylum. Imagine the desperation a mother must feel sending a child
across a treacherous path to seek asylum in the United States.
It reminds me of another refugee, a mother who knew that if she did
not send her child away, he would surely be killed. She placed her baby
in a raft and sent him across the river.
It was the Nile River. The baby was Moses.
Mr. Speaker, the bill we are taking up today would take away
important asylum paths for children. I call upon my colleagues to
remember the story of Moses, to remember the humanity that must be a
guiding principle for the United States in our asylum laws.
Our immigration system is surely broken. H.R. 2, though, does not fix
it. Republicans, instead, are creating more chaos. Republicans are
creating more chaos at the border. Chaos, not humanity, appears to be
their guiding principle.
This bill destroys the asylum seekers, wrecks our agricultural
economy, and fails to address the flow of fentanyl into our
communities. H.R. 2 even punishes those heroic nonprofits who work to
serve the vulnerable asylum seekers.
Mr. Speaker, in the Rules Committee early this morning, I presented
amendments from members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus that would
increase security, keep fentanyl and other deadly drugs off our
streets, and protect military families.
Republicans voted against funding our fight against fentanyl. They
refused any amendments to be heard on the floor today that we would
have discussed last night.
Mr. Speaker, we do not have enough farmworkers to harvest our crops
or in New Mexico to grow our world-renowned green chile. The provisions
in this bill are bad for farmers, ranchers, and for our agricultural
economy.
Instead of destroying our agricultural economy, let's pass the Farm
Workforce Modernization Act. Instead of denying our students what they
need, let's pass the American Dream and Promise Act.
These bipartisan bills would grow our economy. Let's work together to
fix our immigration system.
Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I have to address, at least for a minute, this
disparaging commentary about the Governor of Texas busing migrants.
Well, I guess my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would like
to ignore the fact that the Democrat mayor of El Paso was teaming up
with Governor Abbott to do that. The Democrat mayor of El Paso was
teaming up with the Governor of Texas, Governor Abbott, to do just
that. Walk a mile in our shoes in the State of Texas where we have
hundreds of thousands of people pouring into our communities throughout
the State of Texas. Welcome to the party.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina
(Mr. Norman).
{time} 1645
Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Speaker, hearing my friends on the other side of the
aisle talk, you know, we really are in two different universes. We live
in two different universes.
The invasion that is happening at the border has not happened to this
country, nor any other country that has survived. For you to make the
claim of compassion, where is the compassion for the rapes that are
occurring along the border?
Where is your compassion for the farmers?
It took your Vice President--I don't think she has been to the
border. It took the President--I don't think he has been to the border
where the crossings were really occurring. He went for a photo op.
Mr. Speaker, this is a crisis that no country that has ever had this
type of invasion has been able to survive. America is at a crossroads,
and this administration is guilty of opening up the borders.
There is no point of entry. That is where most of the illegals are
coming that they can't track.
As my good friend from Texas, Congressman Roy, said last night at an
8-hour Rules Committee meeting, the fact is, you don't want border
security. You want everybody from every country to come into America.
It is not fair for the police. It is not fair for our farmers.
What about our schools that are being flooded? What about The
Salvation Army that is being flooded--will be flooded?
What about our hospitals? For anybody and everybody coming into this
country, it is not right.
Let's look at some of the figures. By the way, this is the strongest
immigration bill that has ever been put forward.
Just over last weekend, there were 26,000 apprehensions; over 7,000
got-aways; over 164 pounds of marijuana; 84 pounds of cocaine; 11
pounds of fentanyl; and three sex offenders. This is just what was
caught. What was missed?
We are on track to have over 6 to 10 million illegals in this country
that are taking advantage of our citizens, taking advantage of our
police force, and taking advantage of those who have lived in this
country.
Get the wall built, which this bill does, and at least have some type
of knowledge of who is coming.
I have been to the border, and it is a sad sight to see. I have seen
what is happening when they load the buses and distribute people all
over the country. What about those who have done it legally?
Last August, Biden formally ended President Trump's successful Remain
in Mexico program, and within Biden's first 100 days in office, he took
94 executive actions on immigration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the
gentleman from South Carolina.
Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Speaker, I will just end by saying this is un-
American. It is not fair. I don't know how we walk this back, but this
bill is something that will protect this country. It will help this
country, and it will stop what this President is implementing.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to direct their remarks
to the Chair.
Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I just have to push back a little bit on
this idea that somehow immigrants coming to this country are taking
advantage of our police and different parts of our society. I mean, the
Cato Institute, of all places, has recently published a study that
shows there is a net economic benefit for several generations when we
have immigrants come to this country.
Of course, there is also the continuing inaccurate characterization
of these folks coming here illegally when they are applying for asylum.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), the distinguished
[[Page H2188]]
ranking member of the Committee on Rules.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, we are about to debate H.R. 2, a horrible
immigration bill that betrays our values, hurts our farmers, and makes
it easier to put fentanyl on our streets.
We are told it was rewritten in a back room in the Speaker's office.
I have yet to see the rewrite. In fact, I haven't even heard a
description of what was changed. I will say, for the record, from a
process standpoint, this is as bad as it gets. My friends should be
ashamed of themselves.
But wait. There is even more. I wasn't planning to speak today, but I
have to point out the ridiculous hypocrisy of what is going on.
Republicans are here on the floor with straight faces acting like
unemployment insurance fraud is one of the top problems in America.
They ignore billionaires who pay no taxes, but they want us to believe
there is an unemployment insurance crime spree, and so here we are.
They are going after farmers and veterans. They are going after
workers and families that needed help during the pandemic while, at the
same time, a sitting member of the House Republican Conference was
indicted in Federal court this morning for unemployment fraud.
Let me repeat that. We have a Member of this body, a member of this
Republican Conference, a key swing vote on their debt ceiling bill, a
key swing vote to secure Kevin McCarthy's speakership who, this
morning, was in Federal custody for--let me quote this from the
indictment: ``Falsely claimed to have been unemployed'' while he was
making $120,000 a year.
I mean, is this a joke? George Santos allegedly stole almost $25,000
in unemployment benefits.
Here is the part that you can't make up. This is too absurd to be
true, but it is. Their bill defunds the program that catches people who
commit this kind of fraud.
I have a letter in front of me from the Department of Labor, which I
will insert into the Record, that says, their bill defunds the program
that helps them catch fraud.
Now, maybe that is why George Santos cosponsored it. Of course he
did. If this becomes law, maybe he would have gotten away with it. I
think we should rename this the George Anthony Devolder Santos
fraudster protection act.
What is that old horror movie saying? The call is coming from inside
the house. You are going after fraud, but the fraud is coming from
inside the Republican Conference. Deal with that.
Here is the bottom line: The modern GOP has become the party of
corruption and crime. It is all about power for them. They put their
own power above the people we represent.
Their frontrunner for President is a sexual abuser and has been
indicted for his illegal hush money payments to cover up his affair.
They won't denounce it.
Their key swing vote was in Federal custody for allegedly stealing
unemployment benefits and lying to Congress, and they won't kick him
out.
They want to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics, and they want to
make it easier for rich people to cheat on their taxes. Now they want
to pass a bill that would make it easier for George Santos to get away
with fraud.
Forget honor. Forget principles. Forget integrity. All they care
about is power at any cost. It is disgraceful, it is shameful, it is
wrong, and I urge a ``no'' vote on this rule and the underlying bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to direct their remarks
to the Chair.
Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. McGovern raised a few good points, but one in particular: We
haven't seen the bill that we are allegedly supposed to be considering
with this rule.
Last night, Mr. Norman, who just spoke, correctly criticized this
closed process. He said, ``That's a problem going forward, a huge
problem because that is not the process we think is fair to everyone.''
I would simply say to the gentleman that the process has only gotten
worse. Reportedly, there will be an amendment offered to this rule that
we haven't even seen yet. Although, I guess the fact is we may know why
we had to delay the hearing until this point; so that your Member could
return from New York.
I wonder when we are going to see the open and transparent process
that some of our Rules Committee colleagues have spoken so much about.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I would just remind my colleagues that it was
in December when we got a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill that was
4,000 pages long around 1 a.m., and then we voted on it the next day.
In that bill there was specific language that prohibited the Department
of Homeland Security from actually securing the homeland by securing
the border.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr.
Alford).
Mr. ALFORD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong support
for the rules package of H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act.
One year ago today I was on the border with Mexico to see firsthand
the deadly, chaotic crisis that this administration has created.
With a wink and a nod, this President has welcomed more than 6
million illegal aliens into our sovereign Nation. This is a human
trafficking nightmare with some 85,000 children unaccounted for
tonight, more than 100,000 of our fellow citizens have been murdered
from fentanyl. Drugs are manufactured in Communist China and smuggled
across our southern border, an open border that has opened business for
the Mexican cartels that are now operating on our side of the border.
All we hear from this administration is lies; lies that their
immigration policy is based on compassion. It is exploitation, not
compassion.
We hear lies that the border is not open and that it is secure.
We hear lies that the Border Patrol uses whips on illegals. Look, I
have been on a horse. I know the difference between a whip and a rein.
Just this past Monday, the White House came out with the biggest lie
of all: that illegal immigration is down more than 90 percent under
Biden.
At this very moment, there are more than 1 million people amassed
near our southern border ready for title 42 to expire and stream across
our border largely unchecked. This administration's solution is to send
1,500 troops, not to push them back, but to push pencils.
If this President and his Secretary of Homeland Security cannot find
the grit to secure the border, we must do it in this Chamber.
Ronald Reagan once said: ``A nation that cannot control its border is
not a nation.''
Today, like Colonel William Barrett Travis, we draw the line in the
sand. We will not lose our Nation. We will not surrender to the drug
cartels. We will not surrender to the lies of this administration, and
we will not surrender America.
Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I apologize to my colleagues across the
aisle. I didn't realize that I needed to delay my remarks until the
next round.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert into the Record a
letter from the Department of Labor, which states that H.R. 1163 would
hinder efforts to tackle unemployment insurance fraud, delay payments,
and undermine State efforts to modernize and protect the system from
fraud.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Pennsylvania?
There was no objection.
U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training
Administration,
Washington, DC, February 27, 2023.
Hon. Richard Neal,
Ranking Member, House Committee on Ways & Means, Washington
DC.
Dear Ranking Member Neal: Thank you for your questions
about proposed legislation coming before the Committee
regarding Unemployment Insurance (UI) fraud and overpayments.
The Biden-Harris Administration and the Committee have
shared goals of holding criminals accountable and combatting
fraud in the UI program, and the Department of Labor
(Department) will continue to both devote resources and take
additional actions in pursuit of taxpayer funds. Under the
Biden-Harris Administration, the Department has worked
diligently to maintain the integrity of the UI program and to
guard vital relief
[[Page H2189]]
dollars from fraud through varied efforts to direct, guide,
and support state agency efforts.
Specific to your request, Congress provided $2 billion to
the Department under Section 2118 of the CARES Act through
enactment of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) for the
goals of ``fraud prevention, equitable access, and timely
payment to eligible workers''. The Department continues to
invest the $2 billion in ARPA funds to detect and prevent
future fraud in state UI programs, modernize state IT
systems, and improve efficiency and accuracy of payments to
increase the overall integrity of the program. By June 2023,
at least $1.6 billion of these ARPA funds will have been made
available to states through prior and new grant opportunities
in service of these goals. These funds are vital to the
Department's efforts to pursue transformative improvements to
the UI program to help workers and combat fraud.
This ARPA funding is critical to helping all 50 states and
their governors (as well as the territories) address the
fraud and backlogs that emerged at the onset of the pandemic.
One fundamental reason that all states and territories were
so unprepared to handle the extraordinary crush of
unemployment claims that spiked at the onset of the pandemic
was record-low resources--in 2020, administrative funding
which supports core operations for the UI program was at its
lowest level in at least 30 years. This lack of long-term
investment in modernizing our 53 state and territory
unemployment systems was a major contributor to the degree of
fraud and crisis our unemployment system experienced in 2020.
The $2 billion ARPA investment in modernizing our state
unemployment systems to encourage fraud prevention, equity,
and timely payments is a critical step toward addressing what
went wrong and ensuring our nation's unemployment system is
better prepared going forward.
The Loss of Funding will Hinder Efforts to Tackle UI Fraud and Ensure
that Workers are Paid their Earned Unemployment Benefits On-Time and in
the Right Amounts
The proposed bill before the Committee includes a provision
which would repeal Section 2118 of the CARES Act, ending the
availability of funds Congress provided to the Department in
ARPA to fight fraud and promote equitable access. The
Department is deeply concerned that a move to repeal this
section will throttle essential, ongoing efforts to
strengthen and protect the UI program from fraud. The repeal
of Section 2118 will force the Department and our state
partners to halt work on critical technology modernization
projects geared towards program integrity now and in response
to future crises. All but three of 53 state and territorial
UI jurisdictions are currently participating in one or more
of the ARPA-funded initiatives. The Department will be
stopped from delivering hundreds of millions of dollars set
aside for Governors to step up the fight against unemployment
fraud and implement upgrades to the delivery of UI:
Tiger Teams: ARPA funding that supports teams of multi-
disciplinary experts, referred to as Tiger Teams, is helping
states assess challenges and make state-specific
recommendations for fraud prevention and detection, improving
customer experiences, access and equity, and operational
processes resulting in more timely delivery of benefits and
reductions in backlogs. Should the proposed legislation
proceed, the Department would be prevented from providing
continued consultative services to the 30 states already
participating in the project, or any additional states who
have expressed interest in participating in the project but
who have not yet begun their engagement. If funds are
rescinded, states would no longer be able to apply for and
receive Tiger Teams implementation grant funding to implement
actions related to their state-tailored recommendations. This
funding is projected to support critical Tiger Teams'
recommendations aimed at improving state UI program
integrity, including fraud prevention tools like identity
authentication, identity proofing, claim risk scoring, and
investigative case management.
Identity Verification: Next month DOL will announce another
$200 million to assist states with recovery of funds and the
implementation of required and recommended identity
verification standards to improve fraud prevention. The
Department is also investing ARPA funds to bring the General
Service Administration's Login.gov identity verification
services to state UI programs as a scalable solution to
protect against the growing challenge of identity fraud. If
these ARPA funds were repealed, the Department would have
little choice other than to halt the existing pilot of
Login.gov with the State of Arkansas and stop its expansion
to two additional states this spring who are already making
financial and operational commitments of state resources to
engage with the Department. Our plan to launch a new
nationwide in-person identity verification option with the
U.S. Postal Service would also face cancellation.
Fraud Prevention Grants: ARPA fraud prevention grants to
states are building effective identity verification systems
to fill the gaps in states' use of systems to prevent multi-
state fraud actors, like cross-matching through the National
UI Integrity Center's Integrity Data Hub (IDH), which is
operated by the National Association of State Workforce
Agencies (NASWA) and sponsored by the Department. States need
this grant funding to implement and enhance data analytics
tools that can flag suspicious claims, and to increase their
staff capacity to investigate and recover incorrect payments
made during the pandemic. If ARPA modernization funding is
repealed, Governors could lose unexpended funds from already
awarded grants.
Technology Modernization: By the end of June, the
Department is planning to announce $600 million in ARPA-
funded grants to states to modernize vulnerable state IT
systems that led to chronically high levels of improper
payments in the UI program before and after the COVID-19
pandemic. Such grants would help states upgrade their IT
systems, the majority of which, going into the pandemic, were
based on decades-old computer languages like COBOL. These
outdated state systems were quickly overwhelmed by the surge
of claims during the pandemic and unable to adjust to new
fraud threats. If Section 2118 is repealed, the Department
will not be able to fund states to implement new technologies
and workflows to screen out potentially fraudulent claims,
and to make needed improvements to customer experience like
programming websites for easy use on mobile phones. The
repeal would also end, or severely curtail, collaborative
projects between the Department, states, and other
stakeholders to create seamless solutions to reduce common
mistakes and improper payments, such as the conversion of
websites into plain language to assist workers in submitting
applications without errors.
Equity Grants: ARPA Equity grants are funding states'
efforts to improve equitable access to the UI system for
workers, including people in rural areas, with disabilities,
with low levels of literacy, and with language access
barriers. Forty-eight states have applied for this project
and awarded projects to date have included translating
documents into different languages, hiring community
navigators to explain UI benefits to vulnerable communities,
making websites accessible to people with disabilities,
addressing access barriers facing rural communities, and
placing in-person staff in American Job Centers to help clear
backlogs. These critical grant-funded projects which provide
enhancements for equitable access that improve payment
accuracy may not be able to be completed if the repeal of
Section 2118 leads to DOL having to claw back unexpended
funds; additionally, several states with pending
applications for funding won't access equity funding.
Department of Labor Modernization Capacity: Federal
staffing for the Employment and Training Administration and
technology modernization experts in the Office of
Unemployment Insurance Modernization, hired to implement
cross cutting projects and provide expert assistance to
states, would be severely curtailed. Data analysis and
research, including state gap analyses and cross-cutting IT
investments--like the State Equity Data Partnerships--may
also be curtailed or cancelled. Other cross-cutting supports
currently furnished to states, including fraud prevention and
equity training would similarly be at risk.
The Department appreciates the intent of this legislation
to accelerate the collection of fraudulent unemployment
payments and strengthen fraud prevention. For example, the
legislation would require a series of data cross-matches to
prevent fraud, including with the Integrity Data Hub and
Social Security Administration's prisoner databases that the
Department has actively promoted over the last two years.
Yet, the repeal of ARPA funding would directly undermine the
intent of this proposed legislation. The Department and
states must continue to have access to the funds Congress has
made available through Section 2118 of the CARES Act to
modernize, prepare, and strengthen state UI systems so the
program will not be left so vulnerable to fraud during the
next economic crisis. These problems developed over decades,
and additional time and resources are needed for change to
filter through the federal-state system.
Dwindling Administrative Funding Has Undermined State Efforts to
Modernize and Protect the System from Fraud
The need for ARPA funding is acute because Congress has
repeatedly underfunded the UI program. Before the pandemic,
the unemployment system was hamstrung by historically low
levels of administrative funding and the absence of any
dedicated funding stream for maintaining and enhancing the
information technology of systems that underpin state UI
operations. Indeed, administrative funding in 2020 was at its
lowest inflation adjusted level in at least 30 years. As the
onset of the pandemic caused tens of millions of people to
lose their jobs in a matter of weeks, state agencies were
unprepared for the extraordinary spike in the number of
claims to be processed and for the new fraudulent actors. As
claims volumes have returned to pre-pandemic levels, state
administrative funding for regular, non-pandemic UI
operations declined by more than 20 percent from FY 2021 to
FY 2022. As a result, states continue to struggle with
hiring, training, and retaining new staff responsible for
accurately adjudicating claims and ensuring only proper
payments are made. The Biden-Harris Administration FY23
budget requested a $209 million increase in grants to states
and an update to a decades' old funding formula that
underfunded states, and Congress appropriated $159 million of
this request for FY 2023.
[[Page H2190]]
These changes are a first step to addressing long-standing
weaknesses in the UI system by providing states with needed
resources to protect against fraud and to ensure equitable
access to benefits. However, even with this much needed yet
modest increase in funding, it only provides help in funding
the regular day-to-day operations. It does not provide
funding for investment in modernization of the UI system or
in fraud prevention solutions and services. The Department
has relied on the ARPA funds for these types of investments,
and they will be jeopardized with repeal of Section 2118.
Other Concerns of Note in the Proposed Legislation
Of concern is the draft provision to extend the time for
benefit offsets for overpayment collection for CARES Act
programs to 10 years. Current statutes allow states to pursue
a wide variety of overpayment collection activities in
addition to benefit offsets, such as wage garnishments and
tax return offsets. Extending benefit offsets to 10 years
would block access to unemployment benefits for Americans
during future national emergencies, including for individuals
whose CARES Act overpayment arose due to state agency errors.
This provision would undermine the stabilizing effect UI
benefits have on the U.S. economy during high unemployment
and would significantly worsen any economic downturn for the
next decade.
Also of concern is the proposal to allow states to retain
25 percent of any fraudulent overpayment recovered under
pandemic UI programs to use for further recovery efforts and
other administrative costs. We have concerns that retention
of one quarter of funds recovered is excessive and runs
contrary to the proposed legislation's intent to restore
misspent federal funds.
Similarly of concern is the proposal to allow states to
retain five percent of non-fraud overpayments in the regular
UI program to use for further recovery efforts and other
administrative costs. We have concerns that this provision
extended to non-fraud overpayments may incentivize states to
recover overpayments that are not the fault of individual
workers, and would otherwise have been eligible for waivers
out of concerns for equity and financial hardship.
End of ARPA Investments in UI Reform Would Squander Chance to Fix the
UI Systems
Since inheriting a system in crisis, the Department under
the Biden-Harris Administration has moved aggressively to
thwart fraudsters and recover fraudulently paid dollars--yet
there is still more to do. The Department has worked quickly
to allocate the $2 billion provided under Section 2118 of the
CARES Act to strengthen the UI system to ensure timeliness,
equity, and accuracy, including by preventing and detecting
fraud. The Department continues to work in close partnership
with all state workforce agencies to ensure these
improvements are effective and sustainable as part of a full
spending plan for the $2 billion that will produce the
greatest long-term positive impact. Taking away these funds
would deny governors around the country and the UI program a
once-in-a-generation chance to learn the lessons of the past
and take concerted action to fix systemic problems and
prevent fraud in the future.
In closing, we look forward to working with you and members
of the Committee on policies that support the Department's
ARPA investments to tackle UI fraud, while improving
timeliness and equitable access to benefits.
If you have additional questions, please contact the Office
of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs.
Sincerely,
Brent Parton,
Acting Assistant Secretary.
Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Mississippi (Mr. Thompson), the distinguished ranking member of the
Committee on Homeland Security.
Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition
to the closed rule and the underlying bill.
H.R. 2, the child deportation act, was developed in an extreme MAGA
echo chamber. Homeland Security Committee Republicans defeated all 43
amendments offered by Democrats to fix the bill's many flaws.
This closed rule goes a step further and blocks House consideration
of amendments like the one I filed adding 1,700 CBP officers at ports
of entry to process migrants, facilitate trade and tourism, and
interdict fentanyl.
More than 90 percent--as you have already heard--of hard drugs are
interdicted at ports of entry--this is information passed to us by
CBP--but Republicans refuse to make investments in the many ports of
entry workforce or technology.
Worse yet, the bill does nothing to address cartels and fentanyl
trafficking.
The rule doubles down on Donald Trump's border wall by blocking
consideration of an amendment filed by Representative Troy Carter to
protect landowners from eminent domain.
With new border wall segments likely to cost about $46 million per
mile, building 900 miles of wall could total billions.
Finally, this closed ruled blocks consideration of Representative
Robert Garcia's amendment to strike language that villainizes community
and religious organizations which provide basic necessities to
migrants.
H.R. 2 is written so poorly that it could force the American Red
Cross to verify each person's immigration status before offering help.
Can you imagine if groups have to say, ``Show us your papers''? That is
just cruel.
I urge a ``no'' vote on the rule and the underlying bill.
Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Virginia (Mr. Good).
Mr. GOOD of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Texas for
his leadership on this initiative and on this bill.
It is sad that we find ourselves today having to force the
administration to enforce the security of the United States border,
that we have to force the Department of Homeland Security to secure the
border.
What this bill will do is codify into law the effective policies
under the previous administration that left this President with a
secure border. What did this President have to do to maintain a secure
border? He did nothing but keep the policies in place that he
inherited.
We are currently averaging some 10,000 illegals per day invading the
country. What is the response from the Democrats on the other side in
this administration? We can do better.
We are having some 300,000 illegals invade the country on a monthly
basis. Think of the three largest football stadiums in the country,
that equivalency invading our border every day, invading our country.
Yet, we cannot get one Democrat vote, I predict, to vote to secure
our border, to protect our country's national security, our health
security, our economic security.
{time} 1700
This bill will build the wall. It will hire more border agents. It
will enhance technology to assist them. It will require transparency
and accountability from this derelict Department of Homeland Security.
It will enhance compensation for our Border Patrol. It will support
local law enforcement in their efforts to help secure the border.
The fact is, no country in the history of the world has been more
welcoming to migrants from all over the world, from all races, all
nationalities, all ethnicities, than the United States of America. We
support legal, lawful immigration, and that is why this country permits
a million legal migrants every year. But we must stand united against
illegal immigration, and this bill does just that.
Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an
amendment to the rule to provide for consideration of a resolution
which states that it is the House's responsibility to protect and
preserve Social Security and Medicare for our future generations and
reject any cuts to these essential programs.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my
amendment into the Record, along with any extraneous material,
immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Weber of Texas). Is there objection to
the request of the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania?
There was no objection.
Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, Social Security and Medicare are vital to
many of our constituents' economic and health security. Many of my
Republican friends across the aisle were calling for major cuts to
these critical programs but recently some have changed their tune.
If they truly believe in a new position, I am offering my friends the
opportunity to back it up with a vote in the people's House. This vote
will give Members the opportunity to reassure Americans that the House
won't eviscerate these foundational programs that our constituents rely
upon.
[[Page H2191]]
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr.
Magaziner) to discuss our proposal.
Mr. MAGAZINER. Mr. Speaker, Americans are counting on us to pass
real, comprehensive immigration reform. The bill being put forward by
our Republicans colleagues is a cruel and counterproductive measure
that will only make our immigration problems worse by restricting legal
immigration, criminalizing nonprofit organizations, putting children's
lives at risk, and increasing the workload of Border Patrol officers
without the support they need to do their jobs.
Let's send this flawed bill back to committee for further work and
instead pass H. Res. 178 to declare our sense that we are committed to
protecting Social Security and Medicare.
During the President's State of the Union Address, the American
people saw in real time as President Biden shamed our Republican
colleagues into backing off their plans to cut Social Security and
Medicare for now, but we know that there are many in their caucus that
are still scheming to cut these essential programs.
Last year, Democrats and President Biden passed a measure to allow
Medicare to negotiate with the drug companies to lower drug prices. We
should expand this program. Social Security and Medicare are vital
lifelines. We must protect them.
Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, this crisis has taken an unimaginable toll on the State
of Texas, my home State, and the citizens there as well as the migrants
seeking to come into this country. I get contacted every single day,
like my colleagues from Texas.
In 2022, more than 2,000 Texans died from fentanyl poisoning, a 500
percent increase from 2019. I have already talked about the 53 migrants
killed in a tractor-trailer in the Texas heat.
Texas has been forced to deal with it on their own, spending $4
billion of their own budget, $3 billion last cycle because we are
having to deal with a job the Federal Government is supposed to do. El
Paso, state of emergency; Laredo, state of emergency; Brownsville,
state of emergency; San Antonio, beefing up to try to deal with the
surge. We are dealing with it every single day in Texas.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas
(Ms. Van Duyne).
Ms. VAN DUYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill.
President's Biden's policies have caused a massive surge of 370,000
unaccompanied children to come to our southwest border since he took
office. Where is the outrage? Where are the tears?
According to an HHS whistleblower, the U.S. Government has become a
middleman in a large scale, multibillion-dollar child trafficking
operation run by bad actors seeking to profit off the lives of
children. Where is the outrage? Where are the tears?
We have seen from Members on the other side of the aisle that they
are claiming that this bill is going to somehow hurt children. Are they
reading the reports of minors as young as 9 who are being brought over
illegally and are working the midnight shift, the graveyard shift, in
meatpacking plants? Again, where are the tears? Where is the outrage?
H.R. 2 stops future surges and protects children by treating
unaccompanied children from Mexico and the rest of the world in the
same manner, enabling their safe return home to their families after
they are screened for indications of trafficking or a credible fear of
persecution.
I was on the city council for 6 years, and I was mayor for 6 years of
a city of about 250,000 people. I saw the cost of illegal immigration
firsthand at the local level. I saw the toll that it put on our local
cities and communities in housing, in schools, in crime, in resources.
I was lucky enough to be able to partner with Immigrations and
Customs Enforcement, and we saw at that time more illegal criminal
aliens that were deported from our city per capita from any other city
in the country. What did we see from that? Our crime dropped, and
people who lived in low-income areas, minority areas, were the ones who
benefited the most, because they were being targeted by that crime.
The American people did not vote for this chaos. They voted to have
control over our borders. What we have seen from this administration is
they continue to take every single tool out of the toolbox that is able
to actually secure our borders.
The American people sent us to D.C. to secure our borders and put an
end to the worst humanitarian crisis our Nation has ever seen. It is
absurd that we are even here today having to pass a bill to force this
administration to enforce the laws and do its most basic job, which is
to enforce our laws, secure our border, and protect our Nation.
Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
California (Mr. Correa).
Mr. CORREA. Mr. Speaker, to my colleague from Texas, I say that this
bill, this set of bills, criminalizes California's and the United
States' private sector.
Why do you make small businesses and large businesses criminals? We
have a 3.6 percent unemployment rate in this country. Every time I have
businesses in my office, they say: We need workers. We need more
immigrants. This is not what this set of bills is doing.
Let's start out by recognizing the reality that we are living in the
greatest country in the world, the strongest economy in the world. We
need workers, and these bills fail to recognize that reality.
Let's go back and work across the aisle. I say to my colleagues on
the other side, let's come up with comprehensive immigration reform and
a way to keep America as the greatest economy in the world. These bills
do not do that.
Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Oklahoma (Mr. Brecheen).
Mr. BRECHEEN. Mr. Speaker, title 42 expires tomorrow. As Republicans
are advancing the most conservative border bill ever, this
administration is going to usher in more chaos on the southern border.
It is going to be quite the contrast for the American people to
witness.
Border Patrol agents are already seeing a surge, 26,000 illegals
apprehended in a 72-hour period. This is on top of 5 million illegal
immigrants that have come into this Nation within a 2-year period. That
is more than the entire population of the State of Oklahoma, the State
which I represent.
House Republicans have a plan, and it is the bill before us, the
Secure the Border Act of 2023, which would resume wall construction.
That includes the 200-plus miles of wall that was fully funded by
Congress but shut down when President Biden, in contrast with the
Constitution, with his pen said: ``Not another foot.''
This bill is going to deploy more technology. It is going to increase
Border Patrol agents. It is going to end catch and release. Notice to
appear in front of a judge has become notice to disappear under this
administration.
Securing the border used to be a bipartisan issue. In fact, President
Biden supported the Secure Fence Act of 2006 when he was a United
States Senator. That bill included physical barriers; 150 miles of wall
built under the Obama administration. Here is what then-Senator Biden,
in his own words, said: ``Why I believe the fence is needed does not
have anything to do with immigration as much as drugs.''
Biden continued: ``And let me tell you something, folks, people are
driving across that border with tons, hear me, tons of everything from
byproducts for methamphetamine to cocaine to heroin and it is coming up
from corrupt Mexico.'' That was then-Senator Biden.
This statement is long before the fentanyl crisis, where 70,000
people from the United States died last year because of fentanyl
poisoning, the leading cause of death between ages 18 and 45. Biden's
own Border Patrol agents disagree with this administration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from
engaging in personalities toward the President.
Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time for
closing.
Mr. Speaker, since the aftermath of World War II, the United States
has championed its duty to uphold the international right to seek
asylum by providing those fleeing persecution with safe haven here in
America.
[[Page H2192]]
However, the Republican immigration plan in H.R. 2 and the rhetoric
we have heard about it today does nothing more than sow chaos, anger,
and fear about this important humanitarian system.
It puts the blame for our broken immigration system on the backs of
families and children fleeing poverty and violence, instead of
recognizing the complexity of the issues involving immigration and
border security and blaming Congress for failing to address our broken
system for decades.
It is clear that jailing families indefinitely or sending
unaccompanied children back to dangerous and exploitive situations and
refusing to provide working legal pathways to residents will not make
us any safer; neither will wasting American taxpayer dollars to build a
discredited and ineffective border wall, decimating our agricultural
sector, or defunding trusted nonprofit organizations that provide
support to immigrants.
These are not the comprehensive, multiprong solutions we need, the
kind of solutions that Democrats have been imploring our Republican
colleagues to come to the table on, solutions that secure our ports of
entry, expand legal pathways, and address the root causes of migration.
A long and impactful history of immigration is at the heart of our
American story. As such, we should meaningfully fix our immigration
system so it works better and can continue making our county stronger.
We shouldn't gut it or attempt to destroy it altogether. I want a
better future than that for the United States and all of those who call
it home.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose the previous question and
the rule, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
What we offer today through this rule will be legislation that will
strengthen our southern border, secure this country, protect Americans,
protect migrants, and ensure that our communities can be safe,
particularly along our southern border in States like Texas where the
Speaker pro tempore and I and many of our colleagues reside and other
friends of ours in Arizona, New Mexico, and California, that are
dealing with this every single day.
This bill is pretty simple. It strengthens and requires the
administration to enforce existing law and closes the asylum and
detention loopholes that have been exploited for years. It curbs
release into the interior, a massive pull factor, by requiring DHS to
detain, remove, or place in a safe third country, but in doing so
allows a path for migrants to be able to pursue asylum claims and just
simply follows current law to not be released into the United States.
Again, it is pretty straightforward.
It reimplements the asylum deals that were working and ends the bogus
asylum claims. It keeps families together while asylum claims are being
processed.
It protects unaccompanied children by reforming TVPRA, a request from
the Obama administration. It requires DHS to immediately resume border
wall construction, which President Biden has halted.
The fact is the American people are very well aware of the crisis at
the border that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle seem to
ignore.
I had some friends send me, while I was speaking here, the comment
section from The New York Times. I am not talking about Breitbart or
something. I am talking about The New York Times. Page after page after
page of citizens saying, for example: Though I have always voted
Democrat, my vote in the next Presidential election will go to
whichever candidate has the best, most seemingly effective plan for
securing our border. It is the most pressing issue for our country.
If only the President and my Democratic colleagues would agree.
{time} 1715
The fact of the matter is we have a devastating crisis that is
killing Americans and killing migrants. Right now, to be very clear,
our Border Patrol agents and law enforcement community along the
southern border are overwhelmed. They are crying out for help.
I had a man text me just a minute ago that works with Border Patrol
and DPS. He said:
We are in a Broken Arrow moment. We are overrun. We have no
place to go. We have a crisis.
This body needs to respond, and we need to take action as we speak.
Mr. Speaker, shortly, I will be offering an amendment to the rule.
The amendment is a very short, one-page modification that makes clear
that Congress will address, within 60 days, the dangerous cartels
confronting our country. It will add a sense of Congress to clarify
certain language involving agricultural issues relating to E-Verify.
amendment offered by mr. roy
Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I offer an amendment to the resolution.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the amendment.
The Clerk read as follows:
Strike the first section after the resolving clause and
insert the following:
``That upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in
order to consider in the House the bill (H.R. 2) to secure
the borders of the United States, and for other purposes. All
points of order against consideration of the bill are waived.
The amendment specified in section 3 of this resolution shall
be considered as adopted. The bill, as amended, shall be
considered as read. All points of order against provisions in
the bill, as amended, are waived. The previous question shall
be considered as ordered on the bill, as amended, and on any
further amendment thereto, to final passage without
intervening motion except: (1) five hours of debate, with two
hours equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking
minority member of the Committee on Homeland Security or
their respective designees, two hours equally divided and
controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the
Committee on the Judiciary or their respective designees, and
one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and
ranking minority member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
or their respective designees; and (2) one motion to
recommit.''
Add at the end the following:
``Sec. 3. The amendment referred to in the first section of
this resolution is as follows:
Amend section 123 of division A to read as follows:
SEC. 123. REPORT ON MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS.
Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of
this Act, Congress shall commission a report that contains
the following:
(1) A national strategy to address Mexican drug cartels,
and a determination regarding whether there should be a
designation established to address such cartels.
(2) Information relating to actions by such cartels that
causes harm to the United States.
In title VIII of division B, redesignate section 815 as
section 816.
In title VIII of division B, insert after section 814 the
following:
SEC. 815. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON FURTHER IMPLEMENTATION.
It is the sense of Congress that in implementing the E-
Verify Program, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall
ensure any adverse impact on the Nation's agricultural
workforce, operations, and food security are considered and
addressed.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Texas is recognized.
Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I urge support for the resolution, as amended.
The material previously referred to by Ms. Scanlon is as follows:
An Amendment to H. Res. 383 Offered By Ms. Scanlon of Pennsylvania
At the end of the resolution, add the following:
Sec. 3. Immediately upon adoption of this resolution, the
House shall proceed to the consideration in the House of the
resolution (H. Res. 178) affirming the House of
Representatives' commitment to protect and strengthen Social
Security and Medicare. The resolution shall be considered as
read. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on
the resolution and preamble to adoption without intervening
motion or demand for division of the question except one hour
of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and
ranking minority member of the Committee on Ways and Means or
their respective designees.
Sec. 4. Clause 1(c) of rule XIX shall not apply to the
consideration of H. Res. 178.
Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move
the previous question on the amendment and on the resolution.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on ordering the previous
question on the amendment and on the resolution.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 9 of rule XX, this 15-
minute vote on ordering the previous
[[Page H2193]]
question will be followed by 5-minute votes on:
Adoption of the amendment to the resolution, if ordered; and
Adoption of the resolution, if ordered.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 215,
nays 211, not voting 9, as follows:
[Roll No. 205]
YEAS--215
Aderholt
Alford
Allen
Amodei
Armstrong
Arrington
Babin
Bacon
Baird
Balderson
Banks
Barr
Bean (FL)
Bentz
Bergman
Bice
Biggs
Bilirakis
Bishop (NC)
Boebert
Bost
Brecheen
Buchanan
Buck
Bucshon
Burchett
Burgess
Burlison
Calvert
Cammack
Carey
Carl
Carter (GA)
Carter (TX)
Chavez-DeRemer
Ciscomani
Cline
Cloud
Clyde
Cole
Collins
Comer
Crane
Crawford
Crenshaw
Curtis
D'Esposito
Davidson
De La Cruz
DesJarlais
Diaz-Balart
Donalds
Duarte
Duncan
Dunn (FL)
Edwards
Ellzey
Emmer
Estes
Ezell
Fallon
Feenstra
Ferguson
Finstad
Fischbach
Fitzgerald
Fitzpatrick
Fleischmann
Flood
Foxx
Franklin, C. Scott
Fry
Fulcher
Gaetz
Gallagher
Garbarino
Garcia, Mike
Gimenez
Good (VA)
Gooden (TX)
Gosar
Granger
Graves (LA)
Graves (MO)
Green (TN)
Griffith
Grothman
Guest
Guthrie
Hageman
Harris
Harshbarger
Hern
Higgins (LA)
Hill
Hinson
Houchin
Hudson
Huizenga
Hunt
Issa
Jackson (TX)
James
Johnson (LA)
Johnson (OH)
Johnson (SD)
Jordan
Joyce (OH)
Joyce (PA)
Kean (NJ)
Kelly (MS)
Kelly (PA)
Kiggans (VA)
Kiley
Kim (CA)
Kustoff
LaHood
LaLota
LaMalfa
Lamborn
Langworthy
Latta
LaTurner
Lee (FL)
Lesko
Letlow
Loudermilk
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
Luna
Luttrell
Mace
Malliotakis
Mann
Mast
McCarthy
McCaul
McClain
McClintock
McCormick
McHenry
Meuser
Miller (IL)
Miller (OH)
Miller (WV)
Miller-Meeks
Mills
Molinaro
Moolenaar
Mooney
Moore (AL)
Moore (UT)
Moran
Murphy
Nehls
Newhouse
Norman
Nunn (IA)
Obernolte
Ogles
Owens
Palmer
Perry
Pfluger
Posey
Reschenthaler
Rodgers (WA)
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rose
Rosendale
Rouzer
Roy
Rutherford
Scalise
Schweikert
Scott, Austin
Self
Sessions
Simpson
Smith (MO)
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smucker
Spartz
Stauber
Steel
Stefanik
Steil
Steube
Stewart
Strong
Tenney
Thompson (PA)
Tiffany
Timmons
Turner
Valadao
Van Drew
Van Duyne
Van Orden
Wagner
Walberg
Waltz
Weber (TX)
Webster (FL)
Wenstrup
Westerman
Williams (NY)
Williams (TX)
Wilson (SC)
Wittman
Womack
Yakym
Zinke
NAYS--211
Adams
Aguilar
Allred
Balint
Barragan
Beatty
Bera
Beyer
Bishop (GA)
Blumenauer
Blunt Rochester
Bonamici
Bowman
Boyle (PA)
Brown
Brownley
Budzinski
Bush
Caraveo
Carbajal
Cardenas
Carson
Carter (LA)
Cartwright
Casar
Case
Casten
Castor (FL)
Castro (TX)
Cherfilus-McCormick
Chu
Cicilline
Clark (MA)
Clarke (NY)
Cleaver
Clyburn
Cohen
Connolly
Correa
Courtney
Craig
Crockett
Crow
Cuellar
Davids (KS)
Davis (IL)
Davis (NC)
Dean (PA)
DeGette
DeLauro
DelBene
Deluzio
DeSaulnier
Dingell
Doggett
Escobar
Eshoo
Espaillat
Evans
Fletcher
Foster
Foushee
Frankel, Lois
Frost
Gallego
Garamendi
Garcia (IL)
Garcia (TX)
Garcia, Robert
Golden (ME)
Goldman (NY)
Gomez
Gonzales, Tony
Gonzalez, Vicente
Gottheimer
Green, Al (TX)
Grijalva
Harder (CA)
Hayes
Higgins (NY)
Himes
Horsford
Houlahan
Hoyer
Hoyle (OR)
Huffman
Ivey
Jackson (IL)
Jackson (NC)
Jackson Lee
Jacobs
Jayapal
Jeffries
Johnson (GA)
Kamlager-Dove
Kaptur
Keating
Kelly (IL)
Khanna
Kildee
Kilmer
Kim (NJ)
Krishnamoorthi
Kuster
Landsman
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lee (CA)
Lee (NV)
Lee (PA)
Leger Fernandez
Levin
Lieu
Lofgren
Lynch
Magaziner
Manning
Matsui
McBath
McClellan
McCollum
McGarvey
McGovern
Meeks
Menendez
Meng
Mfume
Moore (WI)
Morelle
Moulton
Mrvan
Mullin
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Neguse
Nickel
Norcross
Ocasio-Cortez
Omar
Pallone
Panetta
Pappas
Pascrell
Payne
Pelosi
Peltola
Perez
Peters
Pettersen
Phillips
Pingree
Pocan
Porter
Pressley
Quigley
Ramirez
Raskin
Ross
Ruiz
Ruppersberger
Ryan
Salinas
Sanchez
Sarbanes
Scanlon
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schneider
Scholten
Schrier
Scott (VA)
Scott, David
Sewell
Sherman
Sherrill
Slotkin
Smith (WA)
Sorensen
Soto
Spanberger
Stansbury
Stanton
Stevens
Strickland
Swalwell
Sykes
Takano
Thanedar
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Titus
Tlaib
Tokuda
Tonko
Torres (CA)
Torres (NY)
Trahan
Trone
Underwood
Vargas
Vasquez
Veasey
Velazquez
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson Coleman
Wexton
Wild
Williams (GA)
Wilson (FL)
NOT VOTING--9
Auchincloss
Costa
Greene (GA)
Lawler
Massie
Moskowitz
Pence
Salazar
Santos
{time} 1750
Messrs. TAKANO, CUELLAR, Ms. STRICKLAND, Messrs. DAVIS of Illinois,
CLYBURN, Mses. PELOSI, JACKSON LEE, and Mr. LARSEN of Washington
changed their vote from ``yea'' to ``nay.''
So the previous question was ordered.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the amendment offered by
the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy).
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Recorded Vote
Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.
A recorded vote was ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. This is a 5-minute vote.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 236,
noes 190, not voting 9, as follows:
[Roll No. 206]
AYES--236
Aderholt
Alford
Allen
Amodei
Armstrong
Arrington
Babin
Bacon
Baird
Balderson
Banks
Barr
Bean (FL)
Bentz
Bergman
Bice
Biggs
Bilirakis
Bishop (NC)
Boebert
Bost
Brecheen
Buchanan
Buck
Bucshon
Burchett
Burgess
Burlison
Calvert
Cammack
Carey
Carl
Carter (GA)
Carter (TX)
Chavez-DeRemer
Ciscomani
Cline
Cloud
Clyde
Cole
Collins
Comer
Craig
Crane
Crawford
Crenshaw
Curtis
D'Esposito
Davidson
Davis (NC)
De La Cruz
Deluzio
DesJarlais
Diaz-Balart
Donalds
Duarte
Duncan
Edwards
Ellzey
Emmer
Estes
Ezell
Fallon
Feenstra
Ferguson
Finstad
Fischbach
Fitzgerald
Fitzpatrick
Fleischmann
Flood
Foxx
Franklin, C. Scott
Fry
Fulcher
Gaetz
Gallagher
Garbarino
Garcia, Mike
Gimenez
Good (VA)
Gooden (TX)
Gosar
Gottheimer
Granger
Graves (LA)
Graves (MO)
Green (TN)
Griffith
Grothman
Guest
Guthrie
Hageman
Harder (CA)
Harris
Harshbarger
Hern
Higgins (LA)
Hill
Hinson
Houchin
Houlahan
Hudson
Huizenga
Hunt
Issa
Jackson (TX)
James
Johnson (LA)
Johnson (OH)
Johnson (SD)
Jordan
Joyce (OH)
Joyce (PA)
Kaptur
Kean (NJ)
Kelly (MS)
Kelly (PA)
Kiggans (VA)
Kiley
Kim (CA)
Kustoff
LaHood
LaLota
LaMalfa
Lamborn
Langworthy
Latta
LaTurner
Lee (FL)
Lee (NV)
Lesko
Letlow
Levin
Loudermilk
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
Luna
Luttrell
Mace
Magaziner
Malliotakis
Mann
Mast
McCarthy
McCaul
McClain
McClintock
McCormick
McHenry
Meuser
Miller (IL)
Miller (OH)
Miller (WV)
Miller-Meeks
Mills
Molinaro
Moolenaar
Mooney
Moore (AL)
Moore (UT)
Moran
Murphy
Nehls
Newhouse
Norman
Nunn (IA)
Obernolte
Ogles
Owens
Palmer
Panetta
Peltola
Perez
Perry
Pfluger
Posey
Reschenthaler
Rodgers (WA)
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rose
Rosendale
Rouzer
Roy
Rutherford
Ryan
Salazar
Salinas
Scalise
Scholten
Schrier
Schweikert
Scott, Austin
Self
Sessions
Sherrill
Simpson
Slotkin
Smith (MO)
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smucker
Sorensen
Spanberger
Stauber
Steel
Stefanik
Steil
Steube
Stewart
Strong
Tenney
Thompson (PA)
Tiffany
Timmons
Turner
Valadao
Van Drew
Van Duyne
Van Orden
Wagner
Walberg
Waltz
Weber (TX)
Webster (FL)
Wenstrup
Westerman
Wild
Williams (NY)
Williams (TX)
Wilson (SC)
Wittman
Womack
Yakym
Zinke
NOES--190
Adams
Aguilar
Allred
Balint
Barragan
Beatty
Bera
Beyer
Bishop (GA)
Blumenauer
Blunt Rochester
Bonamici
Bowman
Boyle (PA)
Brown
Brownley
Budzinski
Bush
Caraveo
Carbajal
Cardenas
Carson
Carter (LA)
Cartwright
Casar
Case
Casten
Castor (FL)
Castro (TX)
Cherfilus-McCormick
Chu
Cicilline
[[Page H2194]]
Clark (MA)
Clarke (NY)
Cleaver
Clyburn
Cohen
Connolly
Correa
Courtney
Crockett
Crow
Cuellar
Davids (KS)
Davis (IL)
Dean (PA)
DeGette
DeLauro
DelBene
DeSaulnier
Dingell
Doggett
Escobar
Eshoo
Espaillat
Evans
Fletcher
Foster
Foushee
Frankel, Lois
Frost
Gallego
Garamendi
Garcia (IL)
Garcia (TX)
Garcia, Robert
Golden (ME)
Goldman (NY)
Gomez
Gonzales, Tony
Gonzalez, Vicente
Green, Al (TX)
Grijalva
Hayes
Higgins (NY)
Himes
Horsford
Hoyer
Hoyle (OR)
Huffman
Ivey
Jackson (IL)
Jackson (NC)
Jackson Lee
Jacobs
Jayapal
Jeffries
Johnson (GA)
Kamlager-Dove
Keating
Kelly (IL)
Khanna
Kildee
Kilmer
Kim (NJ)
Krishnamoorthi
Kuster
Landsman
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lee (CA)
Lee (PA)
Leger Fernandez
Lieu
Lofgren
Lynch
Manning
Matsui
McBath
McClellan
McCollum
McGarvey
McGovern
Meeks
Menendez
Meng
Mfume
Moore (WI)
Morelle
Moulton
Mrvan
Mullin
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Neguse
Nickel
Norcross
Ocasio-Cortez
Omar
Pallone
Pappas
Pascrell
Payne
Pelosi
Peters
Pettersen
Phillips
Pingree
Pocan
Porter
Pressley
Quigley
Ramirez
Raskin
Ross
Ruiz
Ruppersberger
Sanchez
Sarbanes
Scanlon
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schneider
Scott (VA)
Scott, David
Sewell
Sherman
Smith (WA)
Soto
Spartz
Stansbury
Stanton
Stevens
Strickland
Swalwell
Sykes
Takano
Thanedar
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Titus
Tlaib
Tokuda
Tonko
Torres (CA)
Torres (NY)
Trahan
Trone
Underwood
Vargas
Vasquez
Veasey
Velazquez
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson Coleman
Wexton
Williams (GA)
Wilson (FL)
NOT VOTING--9
Auchincloss
Costa
Dunn (FL)
Greene (GA)
Lawler
Massie
Moskowitz
Pence
Santos
____________________