[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 130 (Thursday, July 27, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H4050-H4051]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

  (Mr. SCALISE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I rise for the purpose of making a 
scheduling announcement.
  Mr. Speaker, Members are advised that votes are no longer expected in 
the House tomorrow. We still have more work to do. Don't celebrate too 
early. Last votes for the week and the month are expected now at 
approximately 2:50 today. We will have one more vote series today and 
then we will be finished for the August work period.
  Mr. Speaker, I will remind the House that just this month, this House 
has completed the National Defense Authorization Act, the FAA 
Reauthorization Act, the Schools Not Shelter Act, and we just passed, 
of course, the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related 
Agencies Appropriations Act to make sure that we fully fund healthcare 
for our veterans, we support suicide prevention, and we also fund 
housing and other services for our men and women in uniform who keep us 
safe.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. 
Clark), the minority whip.
  Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the leader for 
yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I think we have very different definitions of success 
for the American people. As Democrats, we have been focused and have 
been successful in growing our economy by growing the middle class, 
lowering healthcare costs, making sure that we are addressing climate 
change, and having safer communities.
  Now the Republican Conference is saying they are sending us home for 
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[[Page H4051]]

weeks without funding the government?
  We have 1 bill out of 12 completed because extremists are holding 
your Conference hostage. That is not the full story. The extremists are 
holding the American people hostage.

                              {time}  1400

  We will have 12 days when we return to fund the government and to 
live up to the job the American people sent us here to do.
  This is a reckless march to a MAGA shutdown, and for what? In pursuit 
of a national abortion ban?
  Is that what we are doing here?
  The American people see through this. They know who is fighting for 
them and fighting for solutions.
  Your time is coming, Mr. Speaker. The American people are watching, 
and they are going to demand accountability.
  We should be staying here, completing these appropriation bills, 
stripping out the toxic, divisive, and bigoted riders that have been 
put on these bills and getting back to work for freedom, for our 
economy, and the American family.
  Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I would agree with the gentlewoman on one 
thing that she just said: The American people are watching. What the 
American people just watched is every single Democrat vote against 
funding veterans benefits--every single one.
  Nevertheless, thank goodness this Republican majority stuck together 
and put the votes on the board, $138 billion, so our veterans will get 
the benefits that they deserve and earned.
  If the Democrats are going to be extreme and walk away from that 
responsibility, we will be here standing to make the call, to make the 
tough votes, and to get that work done as the Appropriations Committee 
has done over and over again on bills that in committee Democrats have 
walked away from over and over again. So it is a little rich to 
complain about going home. We could stay here and watch you vote 
against every single other appropriations bill.
  We are going to continue the negotiations during the August recess to 
make sure we get back to funding the priorities of the Nation.
  By the way, Mr. Speaker, when I talk about funding the priorities of 
the Nation, let's talk about our Nation's defense, as we just funded 
our Nation's veterans.
  Let's get back to funding things that actually help our military 
focus on the threats from China, not teaching hatred of America from 
within. Yes, we defunded that.
  So, Mr. Speaker, we will continue to do our job through the next 
weeks and months. We invite all to come to work, as we have, to try to 
come to an agreement, not just to vote ``no,'' but to come to an 
agreement to solve these problems and to pass these bills. If both 
sides won't, we still will do that work.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. 
Clark).
  Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, we are going to continue to 
stand in this country for some basic principles that we are sent here 
for the American people, that we are sent here to defend their freedom, 
and that we are sent here to work an economy that isn't just for the 
wealthy and well connected but that is for the American family.
  That is the work we are doing. That is the basis of the great 
economic news coming out, and we are going to continue that fight.
  We hope that Republicans will say no to extremism, to hatred, and to 
bigotry that is put into these appropriation bills and say yes to 
solutions and fairness for the American people and to build an economy 
where they can see themselves.
  Funding our government is our basic job. The comments from the GOP 
Conference about how we could go into a MAGA shutdown and it wouldn't 
matter are outrageous. The last time we had a shutdown, it was $11 
billion out of this economy.
  Don't talk to us about standing for our veterans when the GOP was the 
one that has cut veterans housing, has cut their healthcare, and has 
said to our women, our Active-Duty military women, that it is okay to 
fight for freedom for our country, but we are going to take your 
freedom away. That is not okay.
  Mr. SCALISE. Once again, Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that the 
other side would talk about cutting healthcare benefits when we just 
had a bill to fund healthcare benefits to the tune of $138 billion, and 
every Democrat voted ``no.'' We passed the bill with Republican votes.
  We will continue to do our work. We will continue standing up to the 
extremists on the left who want to bring our country to a socialist 
direction with lies and misrepresentations. We heard it. They said that 
benefits would be cut. We just passed a bill that strengthened those 
benefits. They voted ``no,'' so maybe that means they wanted to cut 
those benefits.
  We didn't. We stood in the brink, and we voted to support our 
veterans.
  We are going to continue negotiations during this work period to keep 
working to get the job done and to work for the people who sent us 
here; not to work for the people who want to change this country to 
something that is unrecognizable in socialist nations.
  Let's stand up for America. Let's keep getting the job done. We have 
more work to do.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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