[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 149 (Tuesday, September 24, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H5662-H5669]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 3334, SANCTIONING TYRANNICAL AND 
OPPRESSIVE PEOPLE WITHIN THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY ACT; PROVIDING FOR 
 CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 8205, KEEPING VIOLENT OFFENDERS OFF OUR STREETS 
  ACT; PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 8790, FIX OUR FORESTS ACT; 
 PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H. RES. 1469, ENSURING ACCOUNTABILITY 
 FOR KEY OFFICIALS IN THE BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION RESPONSIBLE FOR 
 DECISIONMAKING AND EXECUTION FAILURES THROUGHOUT THE WITHDRAWAL FROM 
                  AFGHANISTAN; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

  Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I 
call up House Resolution 1486 and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                              H. Res. 1486

       Resolved, That at any time after adoption of this 
     resolution the Speaker may, pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule 
     XVIII, declare the House resolved into the Committee of the 
     Whole House on the state of the Union for consideration of 
     the bill (H.R. 3334) to provide for the imposition of 
     sanctions on members of the National Communist Party Congress 
     of the People's Republic of China, and for other purposes. 
     The first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. All 
     points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. 
     General debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not 
     exceed one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair 
     and ranking minority member of the Committee on Foreign 
     Affairs or their respective designees. After general debate 
     the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-
     minute rule. The amendment in the nature of a substitute 
     recommended by the Committee on Foreign Affairs now printed 
     in the bill, modified by the amendment printed in part A of 
     the report of the Committee on Rules accompanying this 
     resolution, shall be considered as adopted in the House and 
     in the Committee of the Whole. The bill, as amended, shall be 
     considered as the original bill for the purpose of further 
     amendment under the five-minute rule and shall be considered 
     as read. All points of order against provisions in the bill, 
     as amended, are waived. No further amendment to the bill, as 
     amended, shall be in order except those printed in part B of 
     the report of the Committee on Rules. Each such further 
     amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the 
     report, may be offered only by a Member designated in the 
     report, shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for 
     the time specified in the report equally divided and 
     controlled by the proponent and an opponent, shall not be 
     subject to amendment, and shall not be subject to a demand 
     for division of the question in the House or in the Committee 
     of the Whole. All points of order against such further 
     amendments are waived. At the conclusion of consideration of 
     the bill for amendment the Committee shall rise and report 
     the bill, as amended, to the House with such further 
     amendments as may have been adopted. 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 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. 8205) to amend 
     the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 
     provide that Byrne grant funds may be used for public safety 
     report systems, and for other purposes. All points of order 
     against consideration of the bill are waived. In lieu of the 
     amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the 
     Committee on the Judiciary now printed in the bill, an 
     amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the 
     text of Rules Committee Print 118-51 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 the Judiciary or their respective 
     designees; and (2) one motion to recommit.
       Sec. 3.  At any time after adoption of this resolution the 
     Speaker may, pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule XVIII, declare 
     the House resolved into the Committee of the Whole House on 
     the state of the Union for consideration of the bill (H.R. 
     8790) to expedite under the National Environmental Policy Act 
     of 1969 and improve forest management activities on National 
     Forest System lands, on public lands under the jurisdiction 
     of the Bureau of Land Management, and on Tribal lands to 
     return resilience to overgrown, fire-prone forested lands, 
     and for other purposes. The first reading of the bill shall 
     be dispensed with. All points of order against consideration 
     of the bill are waived. General debate shall be confined to 
     the bill and shall not exceed one hour equally divided and 
     controlled by the chair and ranking minority

[[Page H5663]]

     member of the Committee on Natural Resources or their 
     respective designees. After general debate the bill shall be 
     considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. The 
     amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the 
     Committee on Natural Resources now printed in the bill, 
     modified by the amendment printed in part C of the report of 
     the Committee on Rules accompanying this resolution, shall be 
     considered as adopted in the House and in the Committee of 
     the Whole. The bill, as amended, shall be considered as the 
     original bill for the purpose of further amendment under the 
     five-minute rule and shall be considered as read. All points 
     of order against provisions in the bill, as amended, are 
     waived. No further amendment to the bill, as amended, shall 
     be in order except those printed in part D of the report of 
     the Committee on Rules. Each such further amendment may be 
     offered only in the order printed in the report, may be 
     offered only by a Member designated in the report, shall be 
     considered as read, shall be debatable for the time specified 
     in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent 
     and an opponent, shall not be subject to amendment, and shall 
     not be subject to a demand for division of the question in 
     the House or in the Committee of the Whole. All points of 
     order against such further amendments are waived. At the 
     conclusion of consideration of the bill for amendment the 
     Committee shall rise and report the bill, as amended, to the 
     House with such further amendments as may have been adopted. 
     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 one motion to 
     recommit.
       Sec. 4.  Upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in 
     order without intervention of any point of order to consider 
     in the House the resolution (H. Res. 1469) ensuring 
     accountability for key officials in the Biden-Harris 
     administration responsible for decisionmaking and execution 
     failures throughout the withdrawal from Afghanistan. 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 Foreign Affairs or their respective designees.
       Sec. 5.  Section 3(j) of House Resolution 5 is amended by 
     adding at the end the following new paragraph:
       ``(3) DEFINITION.--For purposes of this subsection, `non-
     governmental capacity' shall mean any capacity except 
     representing the executive branch of the United States 
     government.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Texas is recognized for 1 
hour.
  Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield 
the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
McGovern), 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.

                              {time}  1230


                             General Leave

  Mr. BURGESS. 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.


 Modification to Amendment No. 3 Printed in Part D of House Report 118-
                       705 Offered by Mr. Burgess

  Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that amendment 
No. 3 printed in Part D of House Report 118-705, to be offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Valadao) or a designee, be modified by 
the amendment I have placed at the desk.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the modification.
  The Clerk read as follows:

       Modify amendment number 3 printed in Part D of H. Rept. 
     118-705 to read as follows:
       ``At the end of Title III add the following:

     `SEC. 307 CONTAINER AERIAL FIREFIGHTING SYSTEM (CAFFS).

       `(a) Evaluation.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
     the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture and 
     the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the 
     National Interagency Aviation Committee and the Interagency 
     Airtanker Board, shall jointly conduct an evaluation of the 
     container aerial firefighting system to assess the use of 
     such system to mitigate and suppress wildfires.
       `(b) Report.--Not later than 120 days after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture and the 
     Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the National 
     Interagency Aviation Committee and the Interagency Airtanker 
     Board, shall jointly submit to the appropriate committees a 
     report that includes the results of the evaluation required 
     under subsection (a).
       `(c) Appropriate Committees Defined.--In this section, the 
     term ``appropriate committees'' means--(1) the Committees on 
     Agriculture and Natural Resources of the House of 
     Representatives; and (2) the Committees on Agriculture, 
     Nutrition, and Forestry and Energy and Natural Resources of 
     the Senate.' ''

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Texas?
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The amendment is modified.
  Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, last night, the House Committee on Rules 
met to report House Resolution 1486, providing for the consideration of 
four pieces of legislation.
  First, the rule provides for consideration of H. Res. 1469, 
condemning the Biden-Harris administration and individuals therein 
responsible for the military withdrawal of Afghanistan and subsequent 
evacuation. This will be considered under a closed rule, with 1 hour of 
debate equally divided by the chair and ranking minority member of the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs.
  Second, the rule provides for consideration of H.R. 3334, the STOP 
CCP Act, under a structured rule, with 1 hour of debate equally divided 
by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Foreign 
Affairs and provides one motion to recommit.
  Third, the rule provides for consideration of H.R. 8205, the Keeping 
Violent Offenders Off Our Streets Act, under a closed rule, with 1 hour 
of debate equally divided between the chair and the ranking minority 
member of the Committee on the Judiciary and provides for one motion to 
recommit.
  The rule also provides for consideration of H.R. 8790, the Fix Our 
Forests Act, under a structured rule, with 1 hour of debate equally 
divided between the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee 
on Natural Resources and provides one motion to recommit.
  Finally, the rule provides clarification in House rules regarding the 
regulations governing the availability of remote witness testimony.
  Madam Speaker, it has been over 3 years since the disastrous 
withdrawal from Afghanistan; 3 years since 13 members of our armed 
services fell on account of the Biden-Harris administration's rushed 
operation to fulfill a campaign promise; 3 years of not one single 
acknowledgment by the President, the Democratic nominee for President, 
the current Vice President, or anyone in the administration, for that 
matter, to acknowledge what happened in August 2021.
  For better or for worse, the American people saw this tragedy with 
their own eyes, as Afghan civilians clung to an airplane leaving Kabul 
airport, and the American people have been awaiting accountability from 
those responsible for a long time.
  Well, that wait ends this week when the House considers H. Res. 1469 
to condemn those in the Biden-Harris administration responsible for the 
events that led up to and unfolded in July and August of 2021.
  Despite the Biden-Harris administration's incessant stonewalling of 
proper congressional oversight and accountability, Chairman McCaul and 
the Foreign Affairs Committee have investigated the events surrounding 
and during the Afghanistan withdrawal. Their recently released report 
is as stunning as it is outrageous.
  The Biden-Harris administration ignored that the Taliban was not 
meeting its obligations under the Doha agreement. For example, the 
Taliban had yet to cut ties with al-Qaida by the time the evacuation 
started, something that the Biden-Harris administration knew.
  Secondly, the administration prioritized optics and political 
expediency over the safety of our servicemembers and civilian 
personnel. The Taliban had already entered Kabul before the evacuation 
of nonmilitary personnel began.
  Third, they failed to plan for the go-to-zero order appropriately, 
which led to the deadliest attack on U.S. military personnel in a 
decade.
  Fourth, the failures damaged America's credibility and standing in 
the world. I cannot stress enough the significance of these events. We 
abandoned our allies, leaving them to slaughter, and allowed terrorism 
once again to flourish in the area.
  Fifth, there was a concerted and deliberate misinformation campaign 
that

[[Page H5664]]

touched nearly every stage of the withdrawal.
  These failures have had a profound impact on our country, but not a 
single person in the Biden-Harris administration has yet been held 
accountable.
  Recruitment into our military has plummeted after the prospective 
servicemembers saw that they would basically be used as disposable 
chess pawns in a political promise.
  The Taliban has organized a de facto permanent regime built on 
torture, violence, and religious and political oppression. Without a 
United States presence in the area, counterterrorism operations have 
been hindered, and foreign adversaries like China have moved in to 
establish diplomatic relations with the regime.
  Most importantly, however, these events signaled weakness, 
emboldening China, Russia, and their proxies to become more aggressive 
with their geopolitical ambitions. China became emboldened to pursue 
its objectives with respect to Taiwan. Russian leaders saw an opening, 
and they invaded Ukraine, knowing that the United States was weak and 
could not be trusted, a shameful and disastrous series of events that 
our country is paying the price for currently and will continue to pay 
this price for decades.
  Afghanistan is not the only area where the Biden-Harris 
administration has shown weakness. This week, the House of 
Representatives will consider the STOP CCP Act, which will impose 
significant and punitive sanctions on individuals of the Chinese 
Communist Party.
  Madam Speaker, there is broad agreement in this body over the 
atrocities of the Chinese Communist Party. Where we seemingly don't 
agree is whether there should be consequences for these atrocities. Up 
to this point, the Biden-Harris administration has yet to impose any 
meaningful sanction on the Chinese Government officials for their 
political and religious oppression of their own people. The STOP CCP 
Act forces the administration to finally do so and speak loudly that 
oppression of God-given rights will be met with consequence.
  Speaking of consequences, the Keeping Violent Offenders Off Our 
Streets Act imposes strict regulations and penalties on charitable bond 
funds, whose funding has exploded in recent years as a result of the 
George Floyd protests in the summer of 2020. These funds, like the 
Minnesota Freedom Fund, bail out violent criminals who in many cases 
then go on to commit more crime. H.R. 8205 ensures that these funds are 
subject to penalties and licensing requirements to protect our 
communities and keep criminals where they belong, which is behind bars.

  The final bill provided under the rule, the Fix Our Forests Act, is 
bipartisan legislation that addresses the wildfire crisis across the 
country. Now, in classic fashion, the Biden-Harris administration and 
their allies in Congress spent billions of dollars to address the 
increase in wildfire occurrences and their severity without fixing the 
underlying problem: bureaucratic red tape and extreme environmental and 
serial litigators that prevent the correct management of forests.
  H.R. 8790 makes targeted, yet transformational, changes to the 
Federal agencies responsible for our forests to improve the way we 
manage our forests and ensure projects are not held up in the 
bureaucracy or in the courts.
  Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the rule and the 
underlying bills, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for 
yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Madam Speaker, since day one of this Congress, the Republican 
majority has been a complete and total disaster--failed speakerships, 
failed rules votes, failed bills, failure to address real problems, 
failure to pass real solutions, and failure to even send bills to the 
Senate. Today is more of the same, more failure from this dysfunctional 
Republican majority.
  Speaker Johnson promised he would get all 12 appropriations bills 
across the finish line before August. They couldn't even pass half of 
them. He tried to coax the MAGA extremists into voting for a continuing 
resolution by tacking on more election fraud conspiracies. That plan 
went down in flames.
  Here we are, a week before the government shuts down, and Republicans 
had to move on to a new plan. Despite the Rules Committee taking 
testimony from appropriators last night on the continuing resolution, 
there is no CR in this rule. I checked. I double checked. I made sure 
nothing was stuck to the pages. I looked under the table.
  What was the point of that exercise last night in the Rules Committee 
other than to once again demonstrate that this Republican majority 
cannot fulfill its most basic function, keeping the government open 
without help from Democrats?
  Let's be clear. Their majority is not a working majority. They don't 
have the votes without Democrats, so my friends are putting up a 
continuing resolution on suspension and, once again, they are asking 
Democrats to bail them out.
  Madam Speaker, when will the other side stop letting the MAGA 
extremists run this place?
  Look at the bills that are coming to the floor today: More MAGA 
messaging measures that will never, ever become law. It is pathetic. 
There is a bill that claims to be tough on China. Well, let me tell 
you, there are very few people who are as tough a critic as I am when 
it comes to China's human rights record. I think I am one of a handful, 
only a handful, of legislators in this body and the other body who have 
actually been sanctioned by China. I am not even allowed in the country 
nor is my family. Believe me when I say this is a stupid way to handle 
a complicated geopolitical challenge. We need to be smart on China. We 
need to pass bills that actually get results, not just pass bills that 
sound tough on paper, which is all this bill is.

                              {time}  1245

  Then, we have another no-good bill that Republicans claim will tackle 
crime, but we all know what this is really about. This bill's only 
purpose is to attack Vice President Harris.
  The former President keeps spinning the narrative on the campaign 
trail that crime is at an all-time high. He has trouble with facts.
  Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert into the Record an 
article: ``Murder and other violent crime dropped across the U.S. last 
year, FBI data shows.''
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Massachusetts?
  There was no objection.

                  [From NBC News, September 23, 2024]

 Murder and Other Violent Crime Dropped Across the U.S. Last Year, FBI 
                               Data Shows

                  (By Ryan J. Reilly and Ken Dilanian)

       Washington--Crime, including serious violent incidents like 
     murder and rape, dropped nationally from 2022 to 2023, 
     according to new data released by the FBI on Monday.
       Violent crime was down about 3 percent from 2022 to 2023, 
     and property crime took a similar drop of 2.4 percent, the 
     FBI reported in its annual ``Summary of Crime in the 
     Nation.'' The most serious crimes went down significantly: 
     murder and non-negligent manslaughter were down an estimated 
     11.6 percent--the largest single year decline in two 
     decades--while rape decreased by an estimated 9.4 percent.
       Preliminary numbers showed that 2024 crime numbers were 
     also dropping for the early part of this year, continuing a 
     trend of easing crime as the U.S. has come out of the 
     pandemic.
       Among property crimes, burglary decreased by an estimated 
     7.6 percent. Motor vehicle theft, however, was up by an 
     estimated 12.6 percent between 2022 and 2023. Recorded 
     incidents of shoplifting were also up: from 999,394 in 2022 
     to 1,149,336 in 2023, which is roughly the same level of 
     incidents reported in 2019, before the pandemic. (Store 
     closures and COVID-19 security measures likely decreased 
     shoplifting in 2020 and 2021, and may have affected 2022 
     incidents as well.)
       Public perception of crime is often out of step with the 
     facts, especially in the age of social media, ease of digital 
     communications between neighbors and doorbell cameras, when 
     Americans may be more aware of individual crimes than they 
     would have been in the past.
       But the violent crime rate dropped from 2022 to 2023, from 
     377.1 violent crimes per 100,000 people in 2022 to 363.8 
     violent crimes per 100,000 people in 2023, the new FBI data 
     shows.
       As part of his 2024 campaign, former President Donald Trump 
     has tried to spread the notion that the United States is 
     undergoing a crime wave, and he called the FBI's prior 
     numbers a ``fraud'' during his debate with

[[Page H5665]]

     Kamala Harris, saying that some cities weren't included. But 
     the FBI factors in the information gaps into their estimates. 
     The bureau noted that its 2023 data included full-year 
     numbers from ``every city agency covering a population of 
     1,000,000 or more inhabitants.''
       Overall, the FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System 
     (NIBRS) collected information from 700 additional agencies in 
     2023 compared to 2022. The total population covered by the 
     report is more than 315 million people, or 94.3 percent of 
     the country.
       President Joe Biden issued a statement saying the FBI 
     numbers confirm ``that Americans are safer than when we took 
     office,'' adding violent crime was near a 50-year low.
       ``None of this happened by accident. Vice President Harris 
     and I invested in public safety and took action to stop the 
     illegal flow of guns into our communities. Our American 
     Rescue Plan--which every Republican in Congress voted 
     against--helped deliver over $15 billion in public safety 
     funding that enabled over 1,000 state, city, and county 
     governments to avoid cuts to police budgets, invest in 
     community violence interventions, and take other essential 
     steps to keep communities safe,'' Biden said.

  Mr. McGOVERN. This report was released yesterday, by the way. The 
data shows that violent crime has dropped in recent years, but 
Republicans are ignoring these facts and choosing to push messaging 
bills like this one instead.
  It really is quite sad that that is kind of the state of affairs on 
the Republican side.
  Look, I get it. I get it. My Republican friends are afraid because 
Vice President Harris was a prosecutor who put felons in jail, and, 
well, I will just let everyone who is watching fill in the rest.
  Then, we have an absurd, nonbinding resolution that politicizes the 
U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Playing politics with this is 
disgusting.
  This is not about honoring our fallen soldiers. This is about 
politics at its worst.
  This bill didn't even go through regular order. It was introduced 5 
days ago and didn't go through committee.
  Republicans were so anxious to get this resolution to the floor 
before the election that they didn't even get Members' input. Was it 
written by the Trump campaign? I mean, give me a break.
  This is not the way we honor our fallen soldiers. We don't play 
politics with tragedies.
  Let me just state for the record, thanks to President Biden and Vice 
President Harris, for the first time in decades, the United States is 
not at war anywhere in this world.
  Finally, we have the Fix Our Forests Act. In my opinion, this is a 
pro-polluter bill that ignores the realities of climate change when it 
comes to wildfires.
  I will be opposing this bill because the so-called Fix Our Forests 
Act will not fix our forests. Instead, I think it would bypass critical 
environmental laws, cut out scientific input, and undermine our 
Nation's core environmental laws.
  Madam Speaker, look, here is the reality: Republicans have fumbled 
left and right over the last 2 years. They really have become the party 
of broken promises, wasting everybody's time and wasting taxpayer money 
on absurd messaging bills that are going nowhere.
  While we have real challenges in this country, this is the junk they 
bring to the floor. People want us to work together to get things done, 
and instead, this majority spends their time fighting amongst 
themselves and accomplishing absolutely nothing for the American 
people.
  It is simple, really. The other side wants to come down here and talk 
about anything other than their plans for the future because when they 
do that, people see how weird they are.
  They don't want to talk about Project 2025, their dystopian plan to 
take total control of our country, dismantle our system of checks and 
balances, and take away people's freedoms.
  They don't want to talk about how their draconian abortion bans are 
killing women and putting them at extreme risks.
  They don't want to talk about how 9 years after starting to run for 
President, Donald Trump still doesn't have an actual plan to provide 
better healthcare for the American people.
  They don't want to talk about how Donald Trump's big economic plan 
would result in average families spending an extra $4,000 per year--
$4,000 more per year that families would pay if his plans were enacted.
  They come down here and bring up some absurd messaging bills to avoid 
talking about how weird and unpopular their agenda is.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, before I go to the gentleman from New York, I do want 
to point out that, sadly, in January of this year, January 29, 2024, 
three U.S. soldiers were killed in Jordan. The three soldiers are 
Sergeant William Jerome Rivers of Carrollton, Georgia; Specialist 
Kennedy Ladon Sanders of Waycross, Georgia; and Specialist Breonna 
Alexsondria Moffett of Savannah, Georgia. All were assigned to the 
718th Engineer Company, 926th Engineer Battalion, Fort Moore, Georgia.
  Do not continue to repeat the lie that we have no soldiers standing 
in harm's way during the Biden administration. It was brought up during 
the debate by the Vice President. It was wrong then. It is wrong now.
  We have soldiers on the ground in Iran and Syria. Of course, there 
are soldiers deployed in the Continent of Africa. We can't forget 
everything that is happening right now with the Houthi rebels placing 
our servicemembers in danger.
  Do not make the mistake that the world is completely at peace under 
the beneficence of the current Biden administration.
  Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. 
Langworthy), a valuable member of the Rules Committee.
  Mr. LANGWORTHY. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of this 
rule, which will provide consideration for commonsense legislation that 
would hold accountable local leaders that are pushing an antipolice, 
pro-crime agenda on our States and cities.
  Madam Speaker, as the only New Yorker on this side of the aisle 
today, I can tell you that I have seen firsthand what happens when a 
Democrat-run State bows to the radical left and embraces the 
unaccountable system of charitable bail funds and institutes full-blown 
bail reform.
  Violent offenders are getting a free pass while law-abiding citizens 
are left to suffer. Look at the facts: In New York City, after bail 
reform, crime jumped 20 percent after they pushed for this in the name 
of social justice. Judges can't even set bail for crimes like petty 
larceny or grand larceny or burglary.
  Who pays the price? Innocent American families.
  Now, unfortunately, my home State of New York is just one of many 
Democrat-run States in jurisdictions around the country that have given 
criminals a get-out-of-jail-free card.
  What is worse is that these policies have the full backing of the 
Democratic Party, including their nominees, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. 
Harris, in particular, supported these radical bail funds, actively 
encouraging donations to bail out criminals, many of whom were charged 
with violent crimes. They are the faces of a party that have abandoned 
the safety of our communities in favor of appeasing a far-left mob.

  Democrats would have you believe that these policies are about 
helping lower-income communities, but let's be perfectly, honestly 
clear: These policies are hurting the very people they claim to 
protect.
  These multimillion-dollar bail funds, like the Minnesota Freedom Fund 
and The Bail Project, aren't helping. They are putting violent 
criminals, domestic abusers, and sexual predators right back on the 
street.
  Who suffers? Everyday Americans in cities like New York, Chicago, and 
San Francisco. These so-called reforms are nothing more than a betrayal 
of the people and a destruction of the rule of law in this country.
  Look no further than the facts. Groups like the Minnesota Freedom 
Fund bailed out individuals charged with violent crimes, including 
domestic violence and sexual assault, and Democrats are more than happy 
to just look the other way. They decided that protecting a radical base 
is more important than protecting the innocent victims.
  This is what the Biden-Harris administration and Democrats across 
this

[[Page H5666]]

country have stood for, policies that prioritize criminals over 
communities, chaos over safety, and special interests over the 
hardworking American people. They have abandoned our law enforcement. 
They have turned their backs on the very citizens they were elected to 
serve.
  I call on my colleagues across the aisle to listen to their 
constituents in their own Democrat-run States and cities who are 
absolutely fed up with rampant violent crime and fed up with the 
revolving door prison and jail system that Democrats and their bail 
funds have facilitated.
  They are sick and tired of watching their communities deteriorate and 
small businesses have to close due to crime skyrocketing.
  The least we can do, Madam Speaker, is ensure that these bail funds 
operate under some level of accountability and transparency.
  Madam Speaker, I strongly support this rule today and the underlying 
legislation.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, the gentleman from Texas says that the Biden 
administration is weak. I guess the gentleman and I have a different 
definition of what weakness looks like.
  It was Republicans, by the way, not Joe Biden, who held up aid for 
our allies for 9 months because their side buys into Kremlin 
propaganda. I think that is weak, quite frankly.
  It was a Republican President who went to North Korea and tried to 
get a brutal dictator to like him. He actually said they wrote each 
other love letters. He went there and groveled to Kim Jong Un. I don't 
think that that is a sign of strength. I think that is a sign of 
weakness.
  It is the Republican candidate for President who praises Putin on a 
regular basis, calls him Vladimir, loves Xi Jinping, says Viktor Orban 
is fantastic.
  Don't even lecture us about human rights when the majority can't 
bring itself to be critical of what the Republican standard-bearer says 
on a regular basis. That is not strength. That is pathetic. It makes us 
look weak.
  Meanwhile, after they wrecked our image on the world stage, it is 
President Joe Biden who has had to rebuild it. I don't call that 
weakness. I call that a sign of strength. Standing with our NATO 
allies, standing with the people of Ukraine as Russia drops bombs on 
them on a regular basis, that is not weakness. That is strength.
  The gentleman from New York, I mean, listening to him speak, one 
would think that we are living in 14th century Europe during the black 
plague.
  The fact is that we live in the best place in the world. There is no 
other place in the world I would rather live than in the United States 
of America, and it is the best time in history, quite frankly, for a 
whole bunch of reasons.
  Please don't put words in my mouth. I didn't say that none of our 
soldiers were in harm's way. I said we are living in a time when we 
were not at war with any country. That is what I said. I have to insist 
on accuracy when it comes to my words.
  We can do better, and we should work to improve the lives of the 
people we represent.
  Crime is down. The gentleman from New York who just spoke apparently 
wasn't here when I inserted the FBI report, but that is facts. Crime is 
down.
  The economy is strong and growing stronger.
  Science is improving our lives in new ways every single day. It is 
amazing.
  The Republican agenda of division and hate only takes us backward. 
Let's go forward. Let's work together on something, and maybe we can 
start today. Rather than politicizing the tragic deaths of American 
servicemen, maybe we can start the day today by actually helping our 
veterans, something that my Republican friends have a hard time trying 
to do.
  Madam Speaker, I urge that we defeat the previous question, and if we 
defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to 
include an additional $12 billion in the continuing resolution that our 
Nation's veterans need for their healthcare.
  Madam Speaker, let's remember how we got here. Republicans talked a 
big game all Congress about how they were going to return to regular 
order and pass 12 individual appropriation bills, but consistent with 
the theme of dysfunction for this Republican majority, they instead 
spent months fighting amongst themselves.
  What was the result? How many awful, partisan, go-nowhere 
appropriation bills were they actually able to pass? Madam Speaker, 5, 
5 out of 12, and they didn't even send the Homeland Security 
appropriations bill over to the Senate. Why? Because they threw a 
tantrum and refused to send their Homeland Security appropriations bill 
to the Senate unless their awful H.R. 2 border bill got signed into 
law.

  That is not how this works. They need to watch ``Schoolhouse Rock!'' 
Maybe they can learn something.
  Once again, Democrats are the adults in the room who are being asked 
to come in and clean up the Republican mess--in this case, to ensure 
that our basic responsibility of governing is met: Keeping the lights 
on.
  Now, the continuing resolution that we will consider later this week 
has some good pieces in it, and it will keep the American people's 
government open for another 3 months, but there is always room for 
improvement.
  That is why I am offering this amendment to provide an extra $12 
billion to maintain medical care for veterans, money that the 
Department of Veterans Affairs says that they will need. Our veterans 
deserve our support. It is our responsibility to provide the care that 
they have earned.
  Madam 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. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Massachusetts?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Deluzio) to discuss our proposal.

                              {time}  1300

  Mr. DeLUZIO. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me 
time.
  This country has a sacred obligation to America's veterans, to my 
fellow veterans. It is a promise that after we complete our service in 
uniform to this great Nation, our government will, in turn, deliver the 
care and benefits that we have earned.
  For too long, this promise has been broken for so many of my fellow 
veterans, and finally, we are making some progress.
  The Honoring our PACT Act and the Cost of War Toxic Exposure Fund 
have helped my fellow toxic-exposed veterans and their survivors get 
the healthcare and benefits they have long earned but only recently 
were offered.
  More veterans than ever are now receiving life-changing benefits. 
Over the last 2 years, VA has approved more than 1.2 million PACT Act 
claims, and the Veterans Health Administration is expected to serve 127 
million appointments by the end of this year. That is 7 million more 
than 2023.
  This growth in the number of claims and appointments has outpaced 
VA's initial estimates, causing the funding shortfall that the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) alluded to.
  I say it is about time that more of my fellow veterans receive the 
care they have earned. It is our sacred obligation here in this Chamber 
and this Congress to ensure our veterans are taken care of, and that 
includes paying for the cost of war.
  We have got to make sure the VA is fully staffed, it is modernized, 
and it is able to meet the needs of my fellow veterans.
  While there is no funding shortfall for this fiscal year, next year 
we expect the Veterans Health Administration to cross that red line 
around March of 2025. That is exactly why the now-failed Republican 6-
month CR proposal last week would have been a disaster.
  Since the current proposed CR goes until December, we have time to 
address this $12 billion shortfall, so we are submitting this amendment 
to appropriate $12 billion for the VA Cost of War Toxic Exposure Fund.
  Caring for veterans is part of the cost of war, and patriotic 
Americans expect us to pay for it.

[[Page H5667]]

  We cannot have veterans miss out on the hard-earned benefits they 
earned through their service, and we cannot send Americans off to war 
and then pinch pennies when the bill comes due, especially when 
billionaires and huge corporations don't pay their fair share in taxes 
in this country.
  House Democrats are committed to getting veterans the healthcare and 
the benefits that we are owed. That was the PACT Act's commitment, and 
we intend to keep that promise.
  I urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question so we can keep 
this country's obligation.
  Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes.
  First off, I do want to remind the House that the House passed $3 
billion in veterans funding last week and sent it over to the Senate. 
This gives us time to act on further veterans funding prior to the 
December 20 deadline that will be part of the continuing resolution 
that will pass later this week.
  The Military Construction-VA appropriations bill was, in fact, the 
first House-passed appropriations bill. Representative Carter from 
Texas led that subcommittee and passed that bill much earlier in the 
year. It has been sitting over in the Senate. It hasn't seen any 
activity. That bill actually could have been passed by both the House 
and the Senate and signed by the President of the United States.
  I am grateful that my counterpart, the ranking member of the 
committee, allowed you to see, Madam Speaker, what I live with on a 
daily basis, which is a severe case of Trump derangement syndrome. We 
see it on display in the Rules Committee almost continuously. You have 
heard a brief exposure of that today on the floor of the House.
  I apologize to the country that they had to put up with that, but, 
again, this is my life in the Rules Committee. Trump derangement 
syndrome is alive and well and put forth on virtually every argument 
that goes forth in the Rules Committee.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I would just say to the gentleman from Texas that I am sorry that I 
guess I hurt his feelings with some of the things I have said, but it 
is the truth, and I guess the truth hurts.
  Madam Speaker, earlier I said that this majority has turned the 
Republican Party into a circus of chaos, broken promises, and failures.
  Let's talk about that just a little bit more, shall we?
  Since last January, this majority wasted 26 entire days, nearly a 
month, on fighting with each other as they tried to elect a Speaker of 
the House. Madam Speaker, 5 days were spent electing Kevin McCarthy, 
who was then booted out of the speakership and ended up leaving office. 
Madam Speaker, 21 days were spent as the Republican Conference argued 
about who was next in line. We ended up with Speaker Johnson, and we 
went from a bad Speaker to an even worse one.
  That is nearly a month. That is nearly a month completely wasted on 
nothing more than bickering amongst themselves.
  I will also remind you, Madam Speaker, the House was held hostage for 
days in June of last year because a tiny, extreme faction of the 
Republican Conference chose to throw a fit over the debt deal 
negotiated by President Biden and Speaker McCarthy.
  Republicans struck down a rule on the floor for the first time in 
over two decades, holding the House floor schedule hostage all for 
camera time while MAGA threw a fit.
  Now, we have seen a total of seven failed rules in this Congress, 
seven. Hell, we have even seen Republicans vote down not just the rules 
but vote down their own bills because there are times even conservative 
Members have thought the MAGA weirdo bills are just too weird and too 
extreme.

  Get this, Madam Speaker, even when House Republicans manage to 
succeed, they fail to govern.
  We keep hearing them complain about the border.
  News flash, they passed the Department of Homeland Security funding 
bill 3 months ago, and they never sent it to the Senate. They put it in 
a filing cabinet and locked the door.
  What is this, hide and seek? They are passing bills and hiding them 
in the basement so they can complain about the border more and more and 
more instead of trying to fix it. Someone needs to show these guys 
``Schoolhouse Rock!'' I mean, we are talking about their number one 
priority, and they don't even send the bill over to the Senate.
  It just shows how fake all their outrage is about the border.
  I will leave you with this, Madam Speaker: Despite all the talk from 
this Republican majority that the 118th Congress would be the most open 
Congress ever, last night Republicans, again, broke their own record 
for the most closed Congress in the history of the country.
  In addition to being the most ineffective and dysfunctional Congress 
in history, it is now also the most closed. Republicans have advanced 
106--I am sorry. It is actually now 108. There are two more closed 
rules in the rule we are talking about today. Before they broke their 
record, their previous record was 103 closed rules when Paul Ryan was 
Speaker.
  That means that they broke their own record for the most closed 
Congress in history. They are going to be unbeatable when it comes to a 
closed Congress.
  Madam Speaker, it is more than about numbers. It is about what they 
represent.
  As of this week, Republicans have now blocked 5,822 amendments from 
debate. They have even blocked the majority of their own Members' 
amendments from coming to the floor from debate.
  It is ironic, the party that calls us snowflakes is afraid to even 
allow debate on the merits of these amendments.
  Every amendment they block is another idea that is prevented from a 
vote on the House floor.
  Now, let's look at some of the examples of what they thought was too 
crazy to bring to the floor.
  They blocked an amendment blocking smuggling of U.S. firearms across 
the Mexican border. They thought that was too radical to bring to the 
floor.
  They blocked an amendment protecting food for seniors participating 
in Meals on Wheels.
  They blocked an amendment providing postpartum mental health 
information to pregnant students. By the way, that was a Republican 
amendment.
  Look, we know Republicans have the majority. These amendments might 
lose, but a truly open and inclusive process that Republicans promised 
would let us debate these issues on the merits.
  It is all part of a pattern. They are afraid of debating because they 
don't want to engage on policy. For them this is all just a game. It is 
about trying to hold onto power for the sake of holding onto power.
  It is one broken promise after another from these guys. The truth is, 
Republicans have nothing, nothing, nothing to show for their time in 
power, just incompetence and chaos.
  That is why I think people will be rejecting them in November.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes.
  The rules brought forth today, two are closed, but in both instances, 
neither received an amendment in which to make in order. If there are 
no amendments, by definition, then it is a closed rule.
  I do want to point out that this majority has reported nearly twice 
the number of bills as the last Congress when the gentleman, the 
ranking member, was, in fact, the chairman of the committee. I would 
also like to point out that since there was a change in the chairman of 
the Rules Committee, all Rules Committee votes have passed on the 
floor. I hope that pattern continues today.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  The gentleman just put forward a straw man argument. The way it 
usually works is the Rules Committee sends out a notice asking for 
amendments that sets a deadline. It gives a week for our people to 
construct their ideas and send them to the Rules Committee.

[[Page H5668]]

  On this package, they never sent out a notice or a deadline. I mean, 
the reality is, I think everybody already knew what was coming.
  I am going to tell you, there is no defense for being the most closed 
Congress in the history of the United States. They fight amongst 
themselves and they basically work overtime to prevent thoughtful ideas 
from coming to the floor. They are good about debating trivial issues 
passionately, but they are not very good about debating important ones. 
Everything that they bring to the floor is not about moving the ball 
forward in terms of helping improve the quality of life for the 
American people. It is all about messaging and gotcha and division and 
pushing hate in this country. It just has to stop, and hopefully it 
will.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, may I inquire as to how many speakers 
the gentleman has remaining?
  Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, I am prepared to close after the 
gentleman closes.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, may I inquire as to the time remaining.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 8\1/2\ minutes remaining.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

  Madam Speaker, I have already spoken about why these messaging 
measures will do nothing to help Americans, what a complete disaster 
this dysfunctional Republican majority has been, and how their weird, 
unpopular agenda is wrong for this country.
  Now, I want to speak to you, Madam Speaker, and to the American 
people about the alternative, about what President Joe Biden, Vice 
President Kamala Harris, and Democrats here in Congress have 
accomplished and what we will continue to fight for in the years to 
come.
  Democrats delivered the American Rescue Plan, helping to end the 
COVID crisis and reopening our economy that was shut down under Donald 
Trump.
  Democrats delivered the CHIPS and Science Act, bringing jobs back 
from China and supply chains back from overseas.
  Democrats delivered the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a 
historic investment that will rebuild our infrastructure for 
generations and generations to come.
  Democrats delivered the bipartisan Honoring our PACT Act, expanding 
VA healthcare and benefits for millions and millions of veterans who 
have been exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances.
  Democrats delivered the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most 
significant piece of gun violence prevention legislation in nearly 30 
years.
  That is what leadership looks like. It looks like making this country 
better. It looks like imagining and doing big things. It looks like 
finding common ground across the aisle where and when we can. It looks 
like delivering real, concrete results for the people of this country.
  Democrats fight for lower prices. We fight to build an opportunity 
economy. We fight to protect our freedoms. We fight to ensure liberty 
and justice for every single American.
  We believe good policy can unite people. We want to bring people 
together and focus on what we have in common in this country because 
there is so much more that unites us than divides us.

                              {time}  1315

  Madam Speaker, people are fed up with this majority's dysfunction. 
They are fed up with Republican incompetence.
  What we Democrats, President Biden, and Vice President Harris offer 
is the opposite. Instead of division, Democrats offer unity. Instead of 
talking about the past and complaining, Democrats talk about the future 
and giving people hope. Instead of dysfunction, we will run this 
country like professionals and get stuff done to make America the best 
it can be.
  The choice this November is a consequential one, Madam Speaker, and 
we can continue down the same failed path of dysfunction and disarray, 
or we can fire this failed MAGA majority. We can let Republicans keep 
sowing anger and hate, or we can let Democrats bring some decency and 
dignity back to this place. We can let Republicans continue fighting 
with each other, or we can let Democrats fight on behalf of the 
American people.
  That is what is on the line this November, and the choice could not 
be more clear.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time I have 
remaining.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Texas has 14 minutes 
remaining.
  Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time on 
the Republican side.
  Madam Speaker, it is ironic that we keep hearing about unity. I heard 
the word ``unity'' I don't know how many times during the inaugural 
address of President Biden, yet it is virtually impossible for a 
Republican to get a telephone call answered from the head of any 
Federal agency.
  This has been the most walled-off administration that I have ever 
seen. I served in the Bush Presidency, the Obama Presidency, and the 
Trump Presidency, and I have never seen an administration that behaves 
in the way this administration does.
  The gentleman referenced the aid to the country of Ukraine. I voted 
for that aid package in June 2022. We didn't get a lot of information 
before the bill was brought to the floor. Then-Speaker Pelosi brought 
it rather hurriedly. It came to the Rules Committee in an emergency 
hearing, but what was happening in Ukraine seemed so horrific that any 
ability to help seemed important.
  Then I waited after that vote. I waited for the administration to 
come to talk to us about what the strategy is, where we are going, and 
what the plan is. Is there an exit strategy out there somewhere?
  Again, we had another vote last March, once again hoping that the 
administration would begin to behave differently and at least inform 
the Congress of what their plans were. I voted again for that aid 
package. I caught a lot of grief from my constituents back home for 
voting for that package. At the same time, once again, no information 
was forthcoming from the administration, no plan and no strategy.
  Madam Speaker, we had big meetings over in the auditorium in the 
Capitol Visitor Center just prior to the invasion of Ukraine. All the 
generals and Cabinet Secretaries were there. They told us that it was 
too late, that there was nothing we could do, and that Ukraine would 
fall in 3 days. They didn't.
  That is when the administration came back and started asking for 
these aid packages, but never once did they fill in the blanks of: this 
is what we plan to do, this is where we plan to go.
  Even today, the administration seems to be arguing with itself. Do we 
allow for Ukraine to use that aid in a more robust way to defend 
itself, or is it all just purely risk-averse defense spending that they 
will do?
  Again, we don't know. I would love to hear the administration give us 
a reason why it is important to continue to send American tax dollars 
because they have a plan for victory and a plan for ending the war.
  We heard a lot of discussion about the previous administration, the 
Trump administration, and the world was never more prosperous and at 
peace.
  Madam Speaker, do you remember the comment in early October last year 
when the statement was made by the administration that they have never 
seen the Middle East more quiet than it is today? Oh, my God, where are 
we now? Where are we now?
  Where are the plans of the administration? When are they going to 
come to talk to us about the correct way forward?
  We hear arguments internally, arguments with the administration 
arguing with itself. We heard the Vice President and the President 
basically arguing about the way forward with what to do with the 
problems in the Middle East, but, again, no one comes to us and lays 
out what the plan is going forward.
  Madam Speaker, I have never seen a world more dangerous than it is 
today. I feel as if we are living on a knife's

[[Page H5669]]

edge and that, at any point, one false move, one miscalculation by one 
individual, could lead the world into a confrontation and conflagration 
the likes of which the world has never seen before.
  We do need to be concerned about that. We do need the United States 
to lead. We need a strong leader in the United States, and I would 
argue that the prior President evidenced that type of strong 
leadership, and the world was a safer place. The world was a more 
prosperous place.
  Now, since the gentleman brought up the Inflation Reduction Act and 
the American Rescue Plan, these were the very matches that lit the fuse 
on inflation in this country in January 2021.
  Inflation was at 1.6 percent in December 2020. Then, a year later, 
where was it? It was going up toward 8 percent.
  The Secretary of the Treasury said she thought it would be 
transitory. The Chair of the Federal Reserve thought it would self-
correct. Then it didn't, and the American people suffered.
  Why weren't we concerned about the suffering of the American people 
in the last Congress when we continued to lay spending bill over 
spending bill, which the people could no longer afford?

  So, yes, it is tough. Now, we are having to dial some of that back, 
and it is not easy. Any time the Federal Government spends a dollar, it 
immediately creates a constituency, and it is difficult to dial those 
dollars back.
  We argue with ourselves here in the Congress about what the best path 
forward is, but at the same time, we have an obligation. We have an 
obligation to fund the government, which we will have an opportunity to 
do later this week.
  Madam Speaker, I do want to urge colleagues to support this rule. I 
do want to encourage colleagues to support the underlying legislation. 
I do want us to hold the Federal agencies accountable to the American 
people, solve critical issues for our constituents, and restore 
American strength on the world stage.
  I said in committee yesterday that these bills are about 
accountability to the governed, respect for law and order, strength on 
the world stage, and rightsizing Federal agencies. These are the core 
tenets of House Republicans. That is what we pledged to the American 
people, and it is what the American people expect from this body.
  Madam Speaker, I, again, urge my colleagues to support the rule and 
support the underlying legislation.
  The material previously referred to by Mr. McGovern is as follows:

 An Amendment to H. Res. 1486 Offered by Mr. McGovern of Massachusetts

       At the end of the resolution, add the following:
       Sec. 6. No motion to suspend the rules and pass H.R. 9747 
     shall be in order that does not provide that the bill is 
     considered as amended as follows.
       Sec. 7. The amendment referred to in section 6 is as 
     follows:
       ``Division A of H.R. 9747 is amended by inserting after 
     section 152 the following:
       Sec. 153. In addition to amounts otherwise available for 
     such purposes, there are appropriated, out of any money in 
     the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for investment in 
     the delivery of veterans' health care associated with 
     exposure to environmental hazards, the expenses incident to 
     the delivery of veterans' health care and benefits associated 
     with exposure to environmental hazards, and medical and other 
     research relating to exposure to environmental hazards, as 
     authorized by section 324 of title 38, United States Code, 
     $12,000,000,000, which shall remain available until September 
     30, 2029.''

  Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and 
I move the previous question on the resolution.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on ordering the previous 
question on the resolution.
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the ayes appeared to have it.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this question will be postponed.

                          ____________________