[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 191 (Wednesday, November 12, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H4595-H4609]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF SENATE AMENDMENT TO H.R. 5371, 
           CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS AND EXTENSIONS ACT, 2026

  Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, 
I call up House Resolution 873 and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                              H. Res. 873

       Resolved, That upon adoption of this resolution it shall be 
     in order to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 
     5371) making continuing appropriations and extensions for 
     fiscal year 2026, and for other purposes, with the Senate 
     amendment thereto, and to consider in the House, without 
     intervention of any point of order, a motion offered by the 
     chair of the Committee on Appropriations or his designee that 
     the House concur in the Senate amendment. The Senate 
     amendment and the motion shall be considered as read. The 
     motion shall be debatable for one hour equally divided and 
     controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the 
     Committee on Appropriations or their respective designees. 
     The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the 
     motion to its adoption without intervening motion.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from Minnesota is recognized 
for 1 hour.
  Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield 
the customary 30 minutes to the ranking member, 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.


                             General Leave

  Mrs. FISCHBACH. 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 
gentlewoman from Minnesota?
  There was no objection.
  Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, last night, the Rules Committee met and 
reported a rule providing for the consideration of the motion to concur 
in the Senate amendment to H.R. 5371, the Continuing Appropriations, 
Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans 
Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026, and I am happy to say that it will 
end the government shutdown.
  The rule provides 1 hour of debate on the motion equally divided and 
controlled by the chair and the ranking member of the Committee on 
Appropriations, or their designees.
  I rise in support of this rule and the underlying legislation. This 
bill delivers on our commitment to the American people by finally 
reopening the government. It delivers on the promises that we have made 
to our veterans, our farmers, and our taxpayers.
  Let's be honest: This government shutdown was completely avoidable. 
On September 19, House Republicans passed a continuing resolution that 
funded critical services and would have given us time to negotiate 
long-term solutions. It was a yes vote to keep the government open and 
to pay our troops, air traffic controllers, and Federal employees.
  Every Democrat but one voted no. Every Democrat but one voted to shut 
the government down. This is not opinion, and this is not messaging 
like Democrats keep trying to spin it. It is a fact that anyone can 
check the vote record. Democrats voted against a nonpartisan, clean CR 
free of poison pills that would have continued Biden-level funding and 
kept the government open for negotiations.
  Democrats chose politics over people. They refused to support a 
commonsense measure, and American families paid the price.
  This bill restores stability to our national nutritional programs, 
which were put under unnecessary strain during the shutdown. It will 
fund WIC and SNAP, ensuring that low-income mothers and their babies 
have access to healthy and nutritious foods.
  These programs should not have been used as a bargaining chip during 
the shutdown. Republicans are stepping up to protect Americans and 
ensure these programs remain stable and funded. That is what 
responsible governance looks like.
  There are three appropriations bills included in the CR, put here to 
jump-start our appropriations process.
  H.R. 5371 delivers for rural America. It provides funding for the 
Farm Service Agency to support our Nation's farmers and ranchers. It 
invests in rural development programs, including funding affordable 
housing rental assistance for low-income families and seniors in rural 
communities. These investments strengthen our local economies and 
ensure that rural communities are not left behind.

                              {time}  1640

  For our troops, this bill demonstrates our dedication to veteran 
medical care, including funding for

[[Page H4596]]

mental health, telehealth services, homelessness programs, caregiver 
programs, opioid misuse prevention and treatment, medical research, 
healthcare tailored to our female veterans, rural healthcare 
initiatives, and construction for new VA hospitals and veteran 
cemeteries.
  We are also funding veteran disability programs, education benefits, 
and employment training. Funds will be invested in military family 
housing projects to support those who support our troops and in 
projects to improve quality of life for our servicemembers, including 
hospitals and schools.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5371 is what governing with a purpose looks like. 
If Democrats had joined us in September to pass a commonsense 
continuing resolution, we could have avoided this Democrat shutdown 
altogether, but they chose reckless posturing over responsibility. Now, 
Republicans are stepping up to restore stability and reopen the 
government for the people.
  I stand in support of this bill, and I urge my colleagues to support 
H.R. 5371 and stay focused on what matters: serving the American 
people.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Minnesota 
(Mrs. Fischbach) for yielding me the customary time, and I yield myself 
such time as I may consume.
  It is great to see you all, Mr. Speaker. We have been looking for you 
guys everywhere. Where the hell have you been?
  Imagine my shock when I found out that you guys went home. 
Republicans have been on 8 weeks of taxpayer-funded paid vacation. Why 
did Republicans do it? They did it because Democrats had the audacity 
to ask them to try to lower people's healthcare costs.
  While they sat on their couch for 8 weeks, we were working. We 
listened to people who told us their health insurance premiums are 
doubling and tripling. We heard from people who don't understand why 
you guys moved at the speed of light to give tax breaks to billionaires 
but won't lift a damn finger to extend the tax credits that help ensure 
people's health insurance premiums don't skyrocket.
  This CR, this dirty CR, which does nothing to solve the healthcare 
crisis, is one of the most immoral, unethical, evil things that I have 
ever seen happen in all of my time in Congress. It is just part of a 
larger pattern of indifference from Republicans that we have seen time 
after time after time.
  When the billionaire class needed another tax cut, when they wanted 
to funnel money to the people who write their campaign checks, boy, did 
Republicans deliver. They rammed through their awful, big, ugly bill in 
a nanosecond. What the hell is wrong with them?
  While regular people are struggling to pay bills, Donald Trump's net 
worth has gone up by $3 billion since he became President.
  People's health insurance premiums are doubling and tripling, but 
Republicans say there is no affordability crisis, even as their tariffs 
are costing people an extra 1,200 bucks per year.
  Regular people can't afford the rent, and Republicans are letting 
Trump gild his bathroom and build a ballroom to host the rich and 
powerful elites who own the GOP.
  These guys are bailing out Argentina. They are giving $40 billion to 
an entirely different country rather than helping the 42 million 
Americans who can't afford to put food on the table.
  Here is the clincher, Mr. Speaker: Buried in this CR is a corrupt 
kickback for eight Republican Senators, a million-dollar payday funded 
by taxpayers taken straight from the Treasury and deposited directly 
into their pockets.
  What the hell is wrong with this place?
  They promised to put America first. The only thing you guys put first 
is yourselves, yourselves and the rich and powerful people who pull 
your strings behind the scenes.
  These people don't care. They don't have to call the insurance 
company because their claim was denied. They don't buy their own 
groceries. If you have a private jet, an offshore bank account, and an 
invite to Mar-a-Lago, go ahead and support your Republican 
Representative. If you are a regular person who feels like you are 
getting screwed over, and if you are fed up with the status quo here in 
Washington that only works for those at the top, this majority is not 
fighting for you--but we are.
  Democrats are on your side, and we will fight with you every step of 
the way against the corruption, the lies, and the BS coming out of this 
administration. We will not back this so-called deal. It is not a real 
solution, and it is certainly not a clean CR. This CR leaves families 
twisting in the wind with zero guarantee there will ever, ever be a 
vote to extend tax credits to help everyday people pay for their 
healthcare.
  I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this rule and ``no'' on the 
underlying legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, there is so much to unpack and to object 
to in the ranking member's opening statement, but I just want to 
comment on one of the issues.
  I find the statement that Republicans were on vacation laughable. The 
idea that Republicans were on vacation during the shutdown is just 
simply false. It is false. Many of us were in Washington or in our 
districts meeting with constituents, advancing local priorities, and 
staying fully engaged with our constituents and our work.
  Our dedication to serving the American people didn't pause during the 
shutdown, whether in D.C. or back at home, which, for the record, I was 
in both places and many, many of my Republican colleagues were, too. We 
were doing the work we were elected to do.
  The real story here is not about the absence. It is about the 
commitment, and for Republicans, we never wavered.

  If the Democrats cared so much about working, they would not have 
shut the government down.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from North Carolina 
(Ms. Foxx), the esteemed chairwoman of the Committee on Rules.
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, psychologists have a word for the things the Democrats 
accuse us of: ``projection.''
  Mr. Speaker, I sure hope you did not watch all 7 hours of the 
Democrat group therapy session last night in the Rules Committee, but 
if you did, you saw what a clown show it was.
  It was a crisp 40 degrees outside when we adjourned at around 1:30 
a.m. this morning, but with the amount of hot air being spewed by 
Democrats in the committee room for 7 straight hours, you would have 
thought we were in the dead of summer.
  Mr. Speaker, at this point, I don't think Democrats really agree on 
anything. Last night and into the early hours of this morning, they 
showed everyone that they couldn't even agree on what they were angry 
about. They went off on so many tangents that it would have been a 
miracle if they arrived at a single, coherent thought at any point 
during our meeting.
  The American people will see the exact same thing play out from them 
during this debate and during general debate on the floor later today.
  Apparently, the only thing Democrats can agree on is that the 
government needs to stay shut down and that the American people need to 
suffer even more than they have already made them suffer.
  We heard from Democrats repeatedly about the millions of people they 
believe are going to be affected when their own temporary COVID credits 
sunset at the end of this year--their own temporary COVID credits.
  Did we hear anything about the millions of Americans who got walloped 
by Democrats when they shut the government down?
  Did we hear an apology from Democrats to the American people for 
deliberately misleading them over 40 days?
  Did we hear an admission that the only reason they shut down the 
government is to cover up for a catastrophic policy failure that they 
concocted and set an end date on?
  No, we didn't hear one of those things, not one.
  Mr. Speaker, I am not surprised. This is the kind of behavior that 
Americans have come to expect from Democrats. Has anyone ever noticed 
how Democrats have developed such a visceral reaction when confronted 
about their abdication of responsibility?
  They shut the government down, and the moment you call attention to 
their own actions, all they do is obfuscate and start shrieking about 
unrelated things.

[[Page H4597]]

  Scientists should study this at length and try to come up with a 
cure. It is a serious affliction, as was evidenced numerous times over 
in our Rules Committee meeting.
  It is well past time to reopen the government and end the Democrat-
concocted nightmare that Americans have been living through for over 40 
straight days.
  The CR before us will end that nightmare. It will get this 
legislative body and the entire Nation moving once more.
  Democrats should grow a spine and accept responsibility for their own 
failures. I urge a ``yes'' vote on the rule.

                              {time}  1650

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, you have to love the Republicans. The gentlewoman from 
Minnesota says that they weren't on vacation. I want to remind her that 
they haven't voted for 8 weeks, and most people define ``vacation'' as 
you don't have to show up to work and you get paid.
  That is exactly what Republicans did. They didn't show up to work, 
and they got paid. It was a paid vacation.
  Mr. Speaker, I now yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. 
Johnson).
  Ms. JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to this bill. I am a 
``hell no'' vote on any legislation that strips healthcare away from 
millions of Texans.
  In my district, nearly 100,000 of my constituents rely on the 
Affordable Care Act's tax credits to pay for their coverage. Without 
these lifesaving credits, many of them will go without healthcare at 
all.
  Every day during this shutdown, my office has heard from thousands of 
families across my district saying: For the love of God, save my 
healthcare.
  Tucked away in this bill is a brazen payoff of millions of taxpayer 
dollars funneled to the benefit of a handful of Senators. While 
families are struggling to afford groceries and healthcare, we are 
being asked to sign off on a deal that lines the pockets of the very 
people who wrote it. That is an insult to every hardworking taxpayer 
who expects honesty from their government.
  The contrast could not be clearer. Republicans are operating in the 
currency of cruelty and corruption while Democrats are fighting with 
courage and compassion. The American people deserve better, and I will 
never stop fighting to protect the basic necessities that every family 
needs to survive.
  Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Austin Scott).
  Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for 
yielding me time.
  Mr. Speaker, the American farmer needs this bill to pass. The 
American soldier needs this bill to pass. Our air traffic controllers 
need this bill to pass. The men and women who protect us here in this 
Capitol and all Federal law enforcement need this bill to pass.
  Mr. Speaker, I am one of those who represent a lot of Federal 
employees, and they have been without a check for a long time. This is 
very simple. It is very simple. It is way past time to open the 
government up. There are going to be a lot of excuses about could have, 
should have, would have, and that we need to take this provision or 
that provision out, or Democrats are going to vote to keep the 
government shut down.
  Mr. Speaker, the vote today is straight up or straight down. You vote 
to open the government up today, or you vote to keep it closed. That is 
all there is to it.
  As for the provision that has been mentioned a few times about the 
Senate language, I have introduced a piece of legislation already to 
repeal the Senate language, and I am hopeful that we will have a vote 
on that as soon as we get back.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I love my Republican colleagues. The majority is 
introducing legislation to repeal provisions in a bill that they are 
going to vote ``yes'' on. Figure that out.
  Mr. Speaker, the previous question is the House Democrats' last 
attempt to make a change to this rule before it gets voted on, and I 
use this opportunity to talk about a last-minute provision that was 
slipped into this CR in the Senate. It is an outrageous giveaway to pad 
the pockets of eight Republican Senators, and it is one of the most 
corrupt things that I have seen in my life.
  Mr. Speaker, if the House defeats the previous question, I will offer 
an amendment to the rule to consider as adopted an amendment to the 
continuing resolution, offered by Representative Subramanyam, which 
would strike the corrupt giveaway out of the text of this bill so that 
it does not make it into law.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a massive payday for Republicans. It would allow 
eight Republican Senators to shovel millions--millions--of dollars into 
their own wallets. I am talking about cash money. It is not for their 
States and not for their constituents. No, no. It is for their own 
personal bank accounts.
  Why should a United States Senator or any party get a special right 
that nobody else has? No State legislator, no Governor, no judge, and 
no citizen in the entire country has this right, but we are creating it 
for a handful of Republican Senators. It is immoral. I say it is 
unconstitutional.
  It is wrong, and it is probably the most brazen theft and plunder of 
public resources ever proposed in the United States Congress. It was 
tucked into this legislation, and I speak directly to Republicans who 
say that they can't vote with us because it will delay the reopening of 
the government.
  First off, that is exactly what these corrupt Senators were hoping 
they would say. Second, we absolutely can send this back to the Senate. 
They can quickly strip it and send the bill to the President. They 
finished this package in less than 2 days. This is one small thing that 
needs to be deleted. It is easy, and it could be done very fast.
  Mr. Speaker, please spare me the excuses that we will get this done 
next week with a new bill. Once this is law, that is it. It is signed 
into law forever. It will never change. It is permanent, and the 
majority voted for it. Republicans all know that. So they shouldn't say 
that they are going to pass some new bill next week to address this. 
That is just an excuse to do nothing that would fix it.
  Republicans moved at the speed of light to give tax breaks to 
billionaires, and the least that they could do is to give the same 
urgency to stop this shamelessly corrupt fleecing of the American 
people.

  Mr. Speaker, I get it. Trump is suing the U.S. Government for $230 
million, and I guess these Senators want in on the action. They want 
their own payday. I have never seen this level of grift, shameless 
corruption, and theft of public money in my entire life, ever.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my 
amendment into the Record, along with 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. Mr. Speaker, to discuss our proposal, I yield 1 minute 
to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Subramanyam).
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair will remind the gentleman from 
Massachusetts and others to please refrain from engaging in 
personalities toward Members of the Senate.
  Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding 
me time.
  Mr. Speaker, do you know what people hate more than seeing their 
costs go up? It is seeing their costs go up while corrupt politicians 
line their pockets with taxpayers' money. That is what they really 
hate, yet that is what this bill does.
  Republican Senators slipped into this bill a legal pathway for them 
to personally receive millions of dollars of taxpayers' money for being 
investigated after January 6. My colleagues on the other side talk 
about fiscal responsibility and say that there is no money for 
healthcare, but somehow there is taxpayer money for Republican 
Senators. This an ethics violation. This is a breach of trust, and it 
calls into question the very legitimacy of this institution.
  Mr. Speaker, I put forward an amendment to reject this corruption, 
but

[[Page H4598]]

committee Republicans voted it down last night. They said that they 
knew that it was corrupt but that there was nothing that could be done 
and that the system didn't work.
  Republicans are the system, and House Republicans promised a vote on 
this next week as a standalone bill. There is no guarantee that the 
Senate will act. In fact, they probably won't act. The majority has the 
power to join us in righting this wrong today. Let's take out this 
ridiculous kickback. Otherwise, a vote for this bill is a vote for 
corruption.
  Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I never said that this bill was perfect. Not everyone 
agrees with the provision, and our colleague from Georgia (Mr. Austin 
Scott) just mentioned that he is already addressing it. What we do 
agree on is that it is critically important to get the government open, 
and that is why we are here today.
  Mr. Speaker, it is getting our Federal employees paid and getting our 
troops paid. It is getting SNAP back on track and getting our airports 
back to full capacity. Once this happens, we can tackle the issues. We 
can get back to really doing the things for the American people and not 
using their suffering as leverage like Democratic Whip Clark is willing 
to do.
  Democrats have spent weeks performing political theater by refusing 
to open government, and they continue to perform that political 
theater. We need to prioritize the reopening of the government and stop 
the suffering that the Democrats want to use as leverage.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. 
Langworthy).
  Mr. LANGWORTHY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this rule 
and ending this shutdown chaos.
  For more than 40 days, the American people have endured a painful and 
entirely avoidable government shutdown. It was not because of policy 
differences but because Senate Democrats and Chuck Schumer chose 
politics over people.
  While Washington stalled, hardworking Americans paid the price. Our 
air traffic controllers went without pay. A system stretched thinner by 
the day had a new strain put on that system, which put millions of 
lives at risk. Americans depend on them to keep our skies safe. 
Families who rely on SNAP and WIC, parents who are just trying to feed 
their kids, were left wondering how they would make it through another 
week.

                              {time}  1700

  At the same time, our border agents and Coast Guard members continue 
to serve this country as their own families went without pay. Through 
it all, while everyday Americans carried the weight of this shutdown, 
Senate Democrats had chance after chance to end it, but instead they 
chose to prolong the pain. That is not leadership. That is hypocrisy.
  It was never about budgets or priorities. It was about power. It is 
not about turning government on. For them, it was about turning 
government into performance, where the people paying the highest price 
are the ones furthest from Washington.
  For more than 40 days, families were used as political pawns and 
props while those responsible stood in front of cameras pretending to 
solve the crisis that they created. I actually saw a Member from my 
home State stand at a food bank, decry the fact that nutritional 
assistance was in question, then swear up and down that they would vote 
against ending this shutdown. That is the epitome of hypocrisy, and the 
American people deserve better than that.
  House Republicans did our job. We passed a clean continuing 
resolution weeks ago, the same kind of straightforward measure that 
should have been agreed to immediately to keep this government open. 
Senate Democrats blocked that 14 times, prolonging this shutdown just 
to score points to their woke, angry mob.
  This measure before us today is the same bipartisan framework they 
could have passed 40 days ago. The only thing that has changed is the 
political calendar.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the rule. Let's stand 
with the American people, the families, the veterans, and public 
servants who have carried the burden of this shutdown and reopen our 
government. Let's get this country moving again.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the 
Record an article from ABC News titled: ``Inflation climbs to highest 
level since January, beef prices soar.''
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Massachusetts?
  There was no objection.

                     [From ABC News, Oct. 24, 2025]

   Inflation Climbs to Highest Level Since January, Beef Prices Soar

                             (By Max Zahn)

       Consumer prices rose 3 percent in September compared to a 
     year ago, extending a monthslong uptick that has sent 
     inflation to its highest level since January, government data 
     on Friday showed. The reading came in lower than economists' 
     expectations.
       The fresh data marked a slight increase from a 2.9 percent 
     year-over-year increase recorded a month prior. An 
     acceleration of price increases over recent months has 
     coincided with a flurry of tariffs issued by President Donald 
     Trump.
       Beef prices soared nearly 15 percent over the year ending 
     in September, data showed. Trump has set off outcry among 
     some ranchers over a plan to import beef from Argentina in an 
     effort to reduce U.S. prices.
       Egg prices, a longtime symbol of rising costs, fell almost 
     5 percent in September. The price of eggs, stands about 1 
     percent lower than where it was a year ago. The price of 
     coffee has surged 19 percent over the past year, the data 
     showed.
       The White House touted the September inflation numbers 
     coming in below economists' expectations on Friday, with 
     Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posting on social media that 
     they were ``good news'' for American families.
       Leavitt also said on X that the ongoing government shutdown 
     would likely result in no inflation report for October, 
     ``which will leave businesses, markets, families, and the 
     Federal Reserve in disarray.''
       The data arrived more than a week later than originally 
     planned, since the government shutdown has severely hamstrung 
     the release of information about the economy.
       The latest acceleration of price increases comes at a 
     wobbly moment for the Nation's economy. In recent months, 
     inflation has picked up while hiring has slowed, posing a 
     risk of an economic double-whammy known as ``stagflation.''
       The economic conditions have put the Federal Reserve in a 
     bind. If the Fed raises interest rates as a means of 
     protecting against tariff-induced inflation, it risks tipping 
     the economy into a downturn. On the other hand, if the Fed 
     lowers rates to stimulate the economy in the face of a hiring 
     slowdown, it threatens to boost spending and worsen 
     inflation.
       Last month, the Fed cut its benchmark interest rate a 
     quarter of a percentage point, opting for its first interest 
     rate cut this year in an effort to revive the labor market.
       ``It's a challenging situation when our goals are in 
     tension like this,'' Powell said, but he added that the 
     balance of risks had shifted toward greater concern over 
     sluggish hiring.
       Policymakers are widely expected to make an additional 
     quarter-point cut when they meet next week, according to CME 
     FedWatch Tool, a measure of market sentiment.
       But an elevated inflation reading on Friday could give Fed 
     officials pause, since a rate cut would increase the 
     likelihood of a spike in demand that further drives up 
     prices.
       In recent months, tariffs modestly contributed to the 
     uptick in overall inflation, analysts previously told ABC 
     News, but overall price increases owed largely to a rise in 
     housing and food products with little connection to Trump's 
     levies.
       Last week, President Donald Trump threatened 100 percent 
     tariffs on all China-made goods starting Nov. 1 in response 
     to restrictions placed on rare earth minerals. Beijing has 
     publicly stood firm on the policy, leaving the two sides at 
     an impasse with massive implications for the price of 
     consumer goods imported from China.

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the 
Record an article from The Washington Post titled: ``From groceries to 
gas, Americans say they're spending more under Trump.''
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Massachusetts?
  There was no objection.

                [From the Washington Post, Nov. 4, 2025]

 From Groceries to Gas, Americans Say They're Spending More Under Trump

                 (By Abha Bhattarai and Andrew Ba Tran)

       A majority of Americans say they are spending more on 
     groceries and utilities than they were a year ago, and they 
     blame President Trump for the rising prices, a Washington 
     Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll finds.
       About 7 in 10 Americans say their grocery costs have risen 
     in the past year, while about 6 in 10 say their utility costs 
     have edged

[[Page H4599]]

     higher, according to the poll, conducted in late October. 
     Roughly 4 in 10 say the same about health care, gas and 
     housing. The findings reflect angst about the cost of living, 
     which has emerged as a key issue in the off-year elections 
     across the country on Tuesday.
       ``Even as inflation has gone down, people are still 
     struggling with very high price levels for food, energy and 
     health care,'' said Sophie Mitra, an economics professor at 
     Fordham University. ``The rate of increases has slowed, but 
     things are still very difficult, especially for low- and 
     middle-income households.
       Americans' discontent reflects government data showing that 
     inflation is slowly worsening. Utility costs, in particular, 
     have jumped 12 percent in the past year, according to data 
     from September. Grocery prices have risen by 3 percent, 
     though some categories have recorded more dramatic increases. 
     Meat prices, for example, have climbed more than 8 percent 
     since last year, while canned fruits and vegetables are up 5 
     percent. Coffee has gone up by nearly 19 percent.
       Roughly 6 in 10 Americans blame Trump ``a great deal'' or 
     ``a good amount'' for the current rate of inflation and 
     rising prices, the Post-ABC-Ipsos survey found. About two-
     thirds of independents (66 percent) and 92 percent of 
     Democrats blame him, compared with 20 percent of Republicans.
       The poll also found that 65 percent of Americans disapprove 
     of Trump's handling of tariffs and that 62 percent disapprove 
     of his handling of the economy, both figures little changed 
     from April.
       Responses were split across party lines, particularly for 
     food expenses: 89 percent of Democrats, 73 percent of 
     independents and 52 percent of Republicans report spending 
     more on groceries compared with a year ago. Overall, 
     Democrats were more than 30 percentage points likelier than 
     Republicans to say they are spending more on a range of 
     necessities, including gas, health care and housing.
       Rising prices have made affordability a key political issue 
     in the Tuesday elections. Despite their differing ideological 
     views, Democrats running in Virginia, New Jersey and New York 
     have centered their campaigns on addressing cost-of-living 
     issues. Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor in 
     New York, has focused heavily on making the city more 
     affordable through proposals such as universal child care, 
     free buses and city-owned grocery stores.
       ``Every politician says New York is the greatest city on 
     the globe,'' Mamdani said in his first campaign ad. ``But 
     what good is that if no one can afford to live here?''
       In Palmerton, Pennsylvania, Vicki Sestok is paying 30 
     percent more per kilowatt-hour of electricity than she was a 
     couple of months ago. She and her husband, who have already 
     switched to LED lights and installed a heat pump, are running 
     out of ways to cut costs, she said.
       ``The house will just have to be cooler this winter,'' said 
     Sestok, 57, who voted for former vice president Kamala Harris 
     in last year's presidential election. ``We're going to have 
     to put on an extra sweater, and that's going to be that.''
       The rising utility bills are just one of the challenges 
     squeezing Sestok's finances. Her daughter, a chemist, 
     recently lost her job because of funding cuts, and her son, 
     who is disabled, has yet to get his latest round of SNAP 
     benefits. ``I'm helping out on both ends,'' she said.
       Food costs are also inching up, she said. Sestok spends 
     between $200 and $250 a week on groceries, at least $70 more 
     than she used to.
       Although the Trump administration's sweeping new tariffs 
     have yet to dramatically reignite inflation, there are signs 
     that they are pushing up the price of certain goods, such as 
     toys and cars. Economists warn that it could take months for 
     the full effects of those policies to show up, leaving many 
     business owners and household on edge. More than 6 in 10 
     Americans say tariffs contribute to inflation, the poll 
     found. And nearly 6 out of 10 Americans believe tariffs harm 
     the U.S. economy, including 88 percent of Democrats and 64 
     percent of independents. However, nearly half of Republicans 
     say the U.S. economy is improved by tariffs.
       By 45 percent to 28 percent, more people say they believe 
     tariffs hurt U.S. manufacturing companies, although 56 
     percent of Republicans say the levies will help domestic 
     producers.
       Spencer Williamson, who works in medical sales in Tempe, 
     Arizona, says he's feeling better about the economy than he 
     was a year ago. The 34-year-old voted for Trump and says he's 
     hopeful that the president's plan to revive manufacturing and 
     create new jobs will lead to longterm change. In the 
     meantime, he has been happy to see his grocery bill stay 
     steady.
       ``Certain things seem to be stabilizing,'' he said. ``But, 
     of course, there are still hurdles. House prices are still 
     too expensive. It's hard to feel great about the economy.''
       The Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll was conducted 
     online Oct. 24 through Oct. 28 among 2,725 U.S. adults. The 
     sample was drawn through the Ipsos KnowledgePanel, an ongoing 
     panel of U.S. households recruited by mail using random 
     sampling methods. Overall results have a margin of error of 
     plus or minus 1.9 percentage points.

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the 
Record an article from The New Republic titled: `` `No, You're wrong': 
Trump Spirals When Pressed on Rising Food Prices.''
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Massachusetts?
  There was no objection.

                 [From The New Republic, Nov. 3, 2025]

 ``No, You're Wrong'': Trump Spirals When Pressed on Rising Food Prices

                            (By Rachel Kahn)

       President Donald Trump desperately tried to pivot the 
     conversation away from his tanking economy in an interview 
     with 60 Minutes Sunday.
       When the president brought up the stock market, O'Donnell 
     pointed out that many Americans may not feel the effects of 
     market growth in their wallets: ``When the stock market is 
     doing well, that doesn't affect everybody. Not everybody is 
     invested in the stock market--''
       ``It does,'' insisted Trump. ``Oh it does, it does.''
       O'Donnell pushed ahead, observing, ``Grocery prices are 
     up.''
       Trump ignored her, choosing to instead over-exaggerate the 
     growth of 401(k) retirement savings accounts. O'Donnell, not 
     taking the bait, tried again to get the president to answer 
     her question: ``But for people that don't have 401(k)s, who 
     are not invested in the stock market--they've seen their 
     grocery prices go up.''
       ``No, you're wrong.'' Trump responded. ``They went up under 
     Biden, right now they're going down. Other than beef, which 
     we're working on.''
       In reality, grocery prices are not down--they're up. 
     Grocery prices are 2.7 percent higher than they were last 
     September and 1.4 percent higher than January, when Trump 
     triumphantly returned to office. They're also still on the 
     rise, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor 
     Statistics last Friday. Overall, grocery prices have 
     increased almost 30 percent in the last five years.
       Though this is far from the first time that Trump has lied 
     on camera, pretending that grocery prices are down is 
     particularly egregious. The president campaigned on lowering 
     prices, and has lied repeatedly about the fact that his 
     nonsensical tariffs and cruel mass deportation campaign--
     which targets many of the people who grow and harvest our 
     food--have hurt consumers.
       Meanwhile, Trump is gilding the Oval Office and building a 
     ballroom. At least he's not out of touch!

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the 
Record an article from The New Republic titled: ``Trump Admits He 
Doesn't Care About `Affordability' As Economy Plunges.''
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Massachusetts?
  There was no objection.

                 [From The New Republic, Nov. 7, 2025]

Trump Admits He Doesn't Care About ``Affordability'' as Economy Plunges

                         (By Malcolm Ferguson)

       As inflation rises, layoffs surge, and SNAP benefits stop, 
     President Trump told Americans point-blank that he does not 
     want to hear about their affordability issues.
       ``Talk about the cost of Thanksgiving, and the cost of 
     living through Thanksgiving. . . . Our energy costs are way 
     down, our groceries are way down, everything is way down. And 
     the press doesn't report it,'' the president said last 
     evening while taking questions from reporters. ``You know, I 
     call the Democrats conmen and women, they make up numbers. 
     But when you look at the 25 percent reduction in costs for 
     Thanksgiving between Biden and me . . . it's the biggest 
     reduction in cost in the history of that chart or whatever it 
     is they do.''
       The Thanksgiving cost numbers Trump is touting come 
     directly from Walmart, which is selling a $40 Thanksgiving 
     basket compared to a $55 one last year. But this year's meal 
     has less food in it too.
       ``So I don't wanna hear about the affordability,'' Trump 
     continued. ``We're getting close to $2 a gallon gasoline. 
     With Biden it was $4.50, $5. Another thing, inflation. We had 
     the worst inflation in the history of our country. Now we 
     have virtually no inflation at all . . . so the affordability 
     is much better with the Republicans.''
       This short rant was ridden with lies. Everything is not 
     ``way down.''
       Inflation is still going up. This summer, Americans saw the 
     biggest grocery price jump in over three years. Average 
     grocery prices in September were around 2.7 percent higher 
     than they were the year before and around 1.4 percent higher 
     than they were when Trump got back into office in January.
       It's truly a travesty that this man who campaigned on 
     affordability, and on remembering the forgotten working 
     class, is now telling those very same people to shut up and 
     be happy while outright lying about the state of 
     affordability in this country. It was already bad, and Trump 
     has unquestionably made it worse. But he'd rather lie and 
     finger-point than admit that and work to fix it.

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the 
Record an article from MSNBC titled: `` `Not a big issue': Republicans 
shrug as consumers confront health care sticker shock.''

[[Page H4600]]

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Massachusetts?
  There was no objection.

                      [From MSNBC, Oct. 30, 2025]

`Not a Big Issue': Republicans Shrug as Consumers Confront Health Care 
                             Sticker Shock

                            (By Steve Benen)

       For those who follow health-care policy closely, it's been 
     obvious for quite a while that health insurance premiums were 
     poised to soar, especially as Republicans allow Covid-era 
     subsidies to expire. The problem, however, has been on the 
     horizon for a long time.
       That's no longer the case; the problem is here. Many 
     Americans are now confronting the severity of increased 
     costs, with millions of families facing payments that will 
     double or even triple in 2026.
       The conditions have left GOP officials with limited options 
     about how best to respond to the problem. Much of the party 
     has effectively settled on the position of ``this doesn't 
     really matter.'' The Hill reported:
       Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) 
     Administrator Mehmet Oz downplayed on Wednesday the likely 
     substantial increase in the amount Americans will pay for 
     health insurance on the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) federal 
     marketplace.
       At an event ostensibly about prescription drug costs, a 
     reporter asked, ``Unless those tax credits are extended, the 
     subsidies, the average plan will increase for Americans by 
     somewhere around 115 percent. Do you believe that Congress 
     should extend those subsidies so that most Americans do not 
     receive significant increases in their premiums?''
       Mehmet Oz, the former television personality who was tapped 
     to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, asked 
     about the source of the figure. The reporter noted that the 
     statistic came by way of KFF, a leading health research group 
     (formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation).
       Oz responded that KFF had retracted that assessment (that 
     does not appear to be the case), before adding that ``the 
     truth'' is that the average American who gets coverage 
     through the Affordable Care Act will only have to pay $13 
     more next year. He added that increased costs are ``not the 
     big issue.''
       Right off the bat, it's worth emphasizing that Oz's claims 
     weren't true: It's not clear where his claim about $13 in 
     additional costs comes from, but the actual increases are on 
     track to be vastly worse.
       Complicating matters, however, is the frequency with which 
     other Republicans are also responding to the conditions with 
     shrugged shoulders. House Speaker Mike Johnson, for example, 
     last week derided the ``so-called forthcoming health-care 
     crisis.''
       The same day, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin told 
     CNBC viewers, ``I don't think this is going to be any kind of 
     gut-wrenching problem if these enhanced subsidies just go 
     away.''
       A few days later, Republican Rep. Mark Alford of Missouri 
     acknowledged that many U.S. consumers will have ``a hard 
     time'' dealing with the increased coverage costs, but he 
     wanted his party to stay the course anyway.
       The Republican answer to this problem is to downplay the 
     importance of the problem. That seems politically untenable, 
     but for now, GOP officials don't appear to have an 
     alternative.

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the 
Record an opinion article published in MSNBC titled: ``Trump's 
Argentina bailout once again puts Americans last.''
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Massachusetts?
  There was no objection.

                      [From MSNBC, Oct. 21, 2025]

        Trump's Argentina Bailout Once Again Puts Americans Last

                       (By Rep. Nydia Velazquez)

       In January, Donald Trump opened his inaugural address by 
     promising to ``put America first'' daily and usher in a new 
     golden age for American families. Ten months in, Americans 
     are still waiting for the golden age to arrive and reeling 
     from Trump administration policies that have actively made 
     their lives worse.
       His administration's signature legislation delivers the 
     largest Medicaid cuts in U.S. history, threatening to strip 
     coverage from 15 million people while taking food assistance 
     from children, seniors, and people with disabilities. His 
     erratic trade policy has worsened the cost-of-living crisis, 
     amounting to an average $1,300 tax increase per household 
     this year. And as the Republican shutdown drags on, essential 
     services are halted and paychecks paused for hundreds of 
     thousands of federal workers.
       Now, with government operations paralyzed and Americans' 
     pocketbooks reeling, the White House has made the 
     extraordinary decision to move forward with a $20 billion 
     bailout for Argentina. Republicans and Democrats alike are 
     asking what, exactly, is ``America First'' about sending 
     billions of U.S. dollars abroad while Americans are suffering 
     at home. The irony is especially sharp for U.S. farmers, who 
     have been shut out of China's soybean market because of 
     Trump's trade war--just as Argentina moves in to fill that 
     gap. While Washington props up Buenos Aires, small-farm 
     bankruptcies here have climbed to a five-year high.
       During a White House meeting with Argentine President 
     Javier Milei last week, President Trump provided the answer. 
     Asked how the bailout would help the U.S., he replied, ``Just 
     helping a great philosophy take over a great country.''
       Even Trump knows this deal has nothing to do with helping 
     Americans and everything to do with propping up a political 
     ally.
       Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has called Argentina a 
     ``systemically important ally,'' but its real importance to 
     this administration is political rather than economic.
       President Milei has styled himself as an ideological cousin 
     of Trump and Elon Musk, though his campaign of extreme 
     austerity came first. At the Conservative Political Action 
     Conference (CPAC) in Washington, D.C., this February, Milei 
     presented Musk with a chainsaw to highlight the links between 
     Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and 
     Milei's austerity campaign in Argentina. Like DOGE, Milei's 
     program was billed as a war on waste, but in practice, it 
     became a showy slashing spree that gutted public services 
     while doing little to fix Argentina's deeper economic 
     problems.
       Milei's program has driven household spending on utilities 
     up from 6 percent to 15 percent, according to a report from 
     the University of Buenos Aires, and pushed the country to the 
     brink of a currency crisis.
       This situation has left many Argentines fed up with the 
     Milei political agenda, causing his party to suffer a 
     stunning loss in a Buenos Aires provincial election in 
     September. With more potential losses looming in a pivotal 
     Argentine midterm election, Trump decided to step in to stop 
     the bleeding. The political motive behind the bailout was 
     made crystal clear last week when Trump said the U.S. is 
     ``not going to waste our time'' if Milei's coalition did not 
     prevail in November.
       That motivation should alarm every taxpayer. Using U.S. 
     funds to influence a foreign election is a glaring misuse of 
     public money. The fact that Milei's government is embroiled 
     in numerous alleged corruption scandals makes the bailout 
     even more concerning.
       Even the structure of the bailout raises red flags. The 
     Treasury Department is utilizing the Exchange Stabilization 
     Fund, or ESF, to extend a massive line of credit without any 
     conditionality or immediate congressional oversight. Such 
     intervention is almost without precedent. Historically, 
     deployment of the ESF--such as for Mexico in 1995 and Asian 
     economies in 1997--came with clear repayment terms and 
     transparency requirements to protect American taxpayers. The 
     Trump administration has disclosed no such safeguards here.
       This is important, as Argentina's capacity to repay the 
     loan is highly uncertain. Its sovereign bonds are rated below 
     investment grade across the board. Investors consider them a 
     speculative gamble, reflecting just how precarious 
     Argentina's finances have become. Meanwhile, the government 
     has been burning through billions in reserves to prop up an 
     overvalued exchange rate--a strategy that cannot last, no 
     matter how much it borrows from the United States or other 
     institutions. The Treasury Department owes the public an 
     explanation of what safeguards or repayment terms exist to 
     protect U.S. taxpayers from loss.
       Trump's promise to put America first has become a hollow 
     slogan. At home, he's dismantling the government programs 
     that working families rely on. Abroad, he's using taxpayer 
     dollars on a risky bailout of a foreign government that 
     shares his politics. If this is his idea of America first, 
     Americans deserve far better.

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the 
Record an article from PBS titled: ``Trump administration working on 
doubling Argentina financing to $40 billion.''
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Massachusetts?
  There was no objection.

                     [From PBS News, Oct. 16, 2025]

  Trump Administration Working on Doubling Argentina Financing to $40 
                                Billion

                 (By Fatima Hussein and Andrea Vulcano)

       Washington (AP)--The Trump administration is looking to 
     provide an additional $20 billion in financing for Argentina 
     through a mix of financing from sovereign funds and the 
     private sector.
       That would come on top of the $20 billion credit swap line 
     that the U.S. Treasury pledged to Argentine President Javier 
     Milei and his government this month to bolster the South 
     American nation's collapsing currency.
       ``We are working on a $20 billion facility that would 
     complement our swap line, with private banks and sovereign 
     funds that, I believe, would be more focused on the debt 
     market,'' Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters 
     Wednesday. He called it ``a private-sector solution'' and 
     said ``many banks are interested in it and many sovereign 
     funds have expressed interest.''
       At a White House meeting Tuesday with Milei, Republican 
     President Donald Trump said his administration wanted to help 
     ``our neighbors'' with the aid package, but he also suggested 
     that the money could be pulled if Milei 's party did not 
     prevail in the Oct. 26 midterm elections.
       ``If he loses, we are not going to be generous with 
     Argentina,'' Trump said.

[[Page H4601]]

       The Argentine peso weakened slightly Wednesday after 
     Trump's comments. The peso depreciated about 0.7 percent, 
     with the dollar--the currency Argentines rely on to save--
     trading at 1,395 pesos, compared with 1,385 pesos the 
     previous day.
       On Wall Street, shares of major Argentine companies rose 
     slightly after dropping as much as 8.1 percent Tuesday upon 
     Trump's comments.
       In Argentina, the opposition's criticism was swift.
       Former President Cristina Fernandez, who is under house 
     arrest after a corruption conviction, wrote on social media: 
     ``Trump to Milei in the United States: `Our agreements depend 
     on who wins election.' Argentines . . . you already know what 
     to do!''
       Martin Lousteau, president of the centrist Radical Civic 
     Union, said ``Trump doesn't want to help a country--he only 
     wants to save Milei, and that ``nothing good can come of 
     this.''
       Maximiliano Ferraro, head of the opposition Civic 
     Coalition, called Trump's comments ``a blatant act of 
     extortion against the Argentine Nation.''

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the 
Record an article from Forbes titled: ``Presidency Boosts Trump's Net 
Worth By $3 billion In A Year.''
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Massachusetts?
  There was no objection.

                      [From Forbes, Sept. 9, 2025]

      Presidency Boosts Trump's Net Worth by $3 Billion in a Year

                           (By Dan Alexander)

       Donald Trump just had the most lucrative year of his life. 
     The president is now worth a record $7.3 billion, up from 
     $4.3 billion in 2024, when he was still running for office. 
     The $3 billion gain vaulted him 118 spots on The Forbes 400, 
     where he lands at No. 201 this year.
       No president in U.S. history has used his position of power 
     to profit as immensely as Trump. His primary vehicle for 
     enrichment: cryptocurrency, an asset class full of hype and 
     vulnerable to regulators. Teaming up with his three sons, 
     Trump announced a crypto venture in September 2024 named 
     World Liberty Financial, which initially struggled to gain 
     traction. Then he won the White House.
       Crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, whom the Securities and 
     Exchange Commission had accused of fraud, invested $75 
     million, routing an estimated $40 million to the president-
     elect and millions more to his family members, kickstarting a 
     bonanza that has since snowballed. In January, days before 
     reentering the White House, Trump launched a memecoin, adding 
     hundreds of millions to his pile of cash.
       In office, Trump rolled back regulatory enforcement of 
     crypto and signed legislation favorable to the industry, 
     ensuring he would personally benefit from conflicts of 
     interest. His memecoins, initially tied up for three months, 
     now unlock daily, freeing tens of millions per week. World 
     Liberty Financial, meanwhile, has continued selling tokens, 
     including to opaque buyers, generating an estimated $1.4 
     billion so far. A Trump family entity receives a roughly 75% 
     cut of those sales, amounting to more than $1 billion.
       The president apparently made plans to sell part of that 
     entity, according to a letter that a court-appointed monitor 
     overseeing the Trump Organization wrote to a New York judge 
     in May. It remains unclear what percentage the president sold 
     or whether the transaction even happened. The identity of the 
     supposed buyer also remains unknown. The Trump Organization 
     did not respond to questions about the deal. (Shortly after a 
     Forbes reporter first exposed it, the president ranted about 
     the journalist on Truth Social.)
       With supporters piling into risky assets, Trump deployed 
     his cash conservatively. He paid off $114 million of debt 
     against 40 Wall Street, a troubled New York skyscraper, at 
     the start of the summer. In July, he knocked out a couple of 
     smaller loans, totaling an estimated $15 million, against 
     mansions in New York and Florida. He also loaded up on 
     municipal and corporate bonds. Trump's balance sheet is now 
     stronger than it has ever been, with an estimated $1.1 
     billion of liabilities and $8.4 billion of assets, $1.1 
     billion of which are in liquid holdings.


                          Cashing in on Crypto

       Most of Trump's jump in net worth comes from his move into 
     cryptocurrency, which provided him with a pile of cash. He 
     still has plenty of coins leftover, set to jump in value as 
     they unlock over the course of his presidency. Below, Forbes 
     highlights which parts of the Trump fortune improved the most 
     over the last year.
       Memecoin: +$710 million
       Liquid assets: +$660 million
       Licensing and management business: +$410 million
       Legal victory: +$470 million
       World Liberty Financial tokens: +$340 million
       Stablecoin business: +$240 million
       Almost everything in his portfolio is doing well. Appellate 
     judges in New York threw out a roughly $500 million fraud 
     penalty in August. Trump's real-estate licensing business, 
     stalled out for years, has come roaring back to life, with 
     new deals in Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Romania, India, Qatar and 
     the United Arab Emirates. Revenues jumped an estimated 580% 
     in 2024 to $45 million, boosting the value of the business by 
     $400 million. In the United States, the president's golf-and-
     club portfolio continues to thrive, as profits jumped an 
     estimated 30% in 2024, adding roughly $325 million to Trump's 
     net worth.
       With so much money coming in, the president may soon get 
     back to his first love, building. He and his family have been 
     making noise for years about constructing small villages at 
     golf resorts in Scotland and Florida. Projects like that 
     require a lot of liquidity, something that has not always 
     been available to Trump. But now, after reclaiming the White 
     House--and cashing in on the power that comes with it--he can 
     pretty much do anything he wants.

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the 
Record an article from People.com titled: ``Donald Trump Hosts Great 
Gatsby-Themed Halloween Party as 42 Million Americans Brace for SNAP 
Benefits to Expire.''
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Massachusetts?
  There was no objection.

                      [From People, Nov. 1, 2025]

 Donald Trump Hosts Great Gatsby-Themed Halloween Party as 42 Million 
              Americans Brace for SNAP Benefits to Expire

                          (By Bailey Richards)

       President Donald Trump celebrated Halloween with a Great 
     Gatsby-themed party as millions of Americans prepared to lose 
     their SNAP benefits amid the government shutdown.
       On Friday, Oct. 31, Trump, 79, hosted a Halloween party 
     inspired by F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic 1925 novel at his 
     Palm Beach, Fla., estate, Mar-a-Lago. The president sat with 
     Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Roaring '20s bash, 
     which was complete with feathers and flapper dresses, photos 
     show.
       The official theme of the lavish event was The Great 
     Gatsby, the Roaring '20s and ``a little party never killed 
     nobody,'' according to reports from White House 
     correspondents Danny Kemp and Kellie Meyer of AFP News Agency 
     and NewsNation, respectively.
       Footage of the event shared by Meyer on X shows Trump and 
     Rubio, 54, smiling and chatting at a table with other guests. 
     At a certain point in the evening, all members of the press 
     were ordered to leave Mar-a-Lago, Meyer reported.
       Trump hosted guests at his Palm Beach property as millions 
     of Americans braced to lose their federal Supplemental 
     Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, sometimes 
     referred to as ``food stamps,'' the following day amid the 
     ongoing government shutdown.
       Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture warned that 
     there would not be enough funding for the 42 million 
     Americans who rely on SNAP benefits to receive their money on 
     Saturday, Nov. 1. (The program provides one in eight people 
     in the U.S. with money to buy food.)
       U.S. President Donald Trump talks at a press conference 
     with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer (not pictured) at 
     Chequers at the conclusion of a state visit on September 18, 
     2025 in Aylesbury, England. This is the final day of 
     President Trump's second UK state visit, with the previous 
     one taking place in 2019 during his first presidential term; 
     ``SNAP/EBT Food Stamp Benefits Accepted'' is displayed on a 
     screen inside a Family Dollar Stores Inc. store in Chicago, 
     Illinois, U.S., on Tuesday, March 3, 2020. Dollar Tree Inc. 
     released earnings figures on March 4.
       ``Donald Trump hosted a Great Gatsby party while SNAP 
     benefits were about to disappear for 42 million Americans,'' 
     Newsom wrote on X, reposting Kemp's photo from inside the 
     event. ``He does not give a damn about you.''
       The government shutdown began on Oct. 1 and is the second-
     longest on record. The largest point of contention is related 
     to the Affordable Care Act, with Democrats seeking to quickly 
     extend ACA tax credits to prevent healthcare premiums from 
     dramatically rising for millions of Americans. Despite 
     overwhelming public support, Republicans have refused to 
     budge on the issue, saying they can negotiate after the 
     government reopens.
       Never miss a story--sign up for PEOPLE's free daily 
     newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has 
     to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest 
     stories.
       Along with the loss of federal SNAP benefits for millions, 
     hundreds of thousands of federal employees are furloughed or 
     working without pay amid the government shutdown. Longtime 
     Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employee 
     LaShanda Palmer is one of them. She has not been paid since 
     the shutdown began, she previously told PEOPLE.
       ``I have a car note, I have insurance, I have a grandchild 
     that I have guardianship over, who's 6,'' as well as two of 
     her five children who live with her, she told PEOPLE. Palmer, 
     who works at the Philadelphia International Airport, also has 
     a $1,375 rent payment due on Nov. 1, along with overdrawn 
     checking and savings accounts and mounting overdraft fees.

[[Page H4602]]

       ``It is extremely hard,'' said the lead transportation 
     security officer, one of an estimated 1.4 million federal 
     employees furloughed or working without pay while the federal 
     government is locked in a shutdown.
       Elaborating on her situation amid the shutdown--the second 
     she's endured, including the last one during Trump's first 
     term--Palmer told PEOPLE, ``I don't want to get an eviction 
     notice. I'm in a position right now, come Nov. 1, where my 
     rent may not get paid because I don't have [rent money] to 
     pay it.''
       ``And it's not that I don't work for it because I am 
     working for it,'' she added. ``I should have it.''

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the 
Record an article from The New York Times titled: ``Trump's Latest 
White House Makeover: The Lincoln Bathroom in Marble and Gold.''
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Massachusetts?
  There was no objection.

                [From The New York Times, Oct. 31, 2025]

Trump's latest White House Makeover: The Lincoln Bathroom in Marble and 
                                  Gold

                          (By Luke Broadwater)

       President Trump is not stopping with the East Wing.
       On Friday, Mr. Trump said he had renovated the bathroom in 
     the Lincoln Bedroom, posting two dozen photos on social media 
     as he continues to remodel the White House in his own style.
       Mr. Trump said the new design of black and white marble 
     with gold faucets and light fixtures was ``very appropriate 
     for the time of Abraham Lincoln.''
       The bathtub fixtures have been replaced, and the tub itself 
     is embedded in a nest of ``highly polished statuary marble,'' 
     as President Trump put it. Credit . . . Donald Trump, via 
     Truth Social
       The White House did not say, in response to questions, who 
     paid for the renovation, how much it cost or which contractor 
     built it.
       The bathroom is only the latest remodel that Mr. Trump has 
     undertaken at the White House, including the demolition of 
     the East Wing. He has wide latitude as president to make 
     changes, although critics have raised questions about the 
     funding and lack of transparency.
       President Harry Truman redid the bathroom in 1945, and Mr. 
     Trump has repeatedly criticized its style.
       Speaking to donors this month, Mr. Trump called the 
     bathrooms style ``not good.''
       ``Art Deco doesn't go with, you know, 1850 and civil wars 
     and all of the problems,'' Mr. Trump said. ``But what does is 
     statuary marble. So I ripped it apart and we built the 
     bathroom. It's absolutely gorgeous and totally in keeping 
     with that time.''
       A photo of the sink and vanity taken in July, before the 
     renovations began. Credit . . . Andrea Hanks/The White House
       Edward Lengel, who served as the chief historian of the 
     White House Historical Association, said of the photos Mr. 
     Trump posted: ``It doesn't look anything like 1860s interiors 
     to me.''
       Michael F. Bishop, the former executive director of the 
     Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, said the bathroom 
     was a sitting room in the president's day and was unlikely to 
     have included marble.
       ``The present-day bathroom only takes up a portion of the 
     Lincoln sitting room,'' Mr. Bishop said. ``They created a 
     bathroom in the corner of this room. Trump's change to the 
     bathroom is not remotely a crime against historical 
     preservation or anything like that. It was just a fairly 
     dated-looking bathroom.''
       The historian Harold Holzer, the author of many books about 
     Mr. Lincoln, said that when Mr. Lincoln moved into the White 
     House in 1861, there were two water closets on the second 
     floor, including one adjacent to the rooms where he lived 
     with the family.
       When Mary Todd Lincoln complained about the overall poor 
     condition of the White House, Mr. Holzer said, he reminded 
     her that it was better than any other house they had ever 
     lived in.
       ``Lincoln had an outhouse in Springfield, and heaven knows 
     what when he lived in log cabins with his parents, so the 
     plain bathroom was fine with him,'' Mr. Holzer said. ``He 
     thought it was a majestic step up.''
       During his second term, Mr. Trump has wasted no time making 
     changes to historical elements of the White House, arguing 
     that parts of it are dated or too small. He tore down the 
     entire East Wing, which had stood for more than a century, to 
     make way for a planned 90,000-square-foot, $300 million 
     ballroom that he said was necessary for receiving 
     dignitaries.
       His plans for the size of the ballroom continue to expand.
       Mr. Trump has said that he and a group of donors--not the 
     taxpayers--are footing the bill for the ballroom. His staff 
     has released a list of donors, but has not said how much each 
     one has given. The money is being deposited in the Trust for 
     the National Mall, a nonprofit, tax-exempt entity that is not 
     subject to transparency laws.
       He also has added gold moldings and gold decorations 
     throughout the Oval Office, and gold ornaments to the Cabinet 
     Room. He cut down the White House's historic magnolia tree, 
     which President Andrew Jackson planted in 1829 in memory of 
     his wife, Rachel.
       He removed a photo of Hillary Clinton and replaced it with 
     an image of his own face colored with the American flag. He 
     added marble floors and a chandelier to the Palm Room.
       He paved over the Rose Garden grass to add a patio. Along 
     the West Wing colonnade, he added gold-framed photos of every 
     American president except his predecessor, Joseph R. Biden 
     Jr., whom he depicted as an autopen.
       Mr. Trump and White House staff members say the president 
     is granted wide latitude to make renovations on the property. 
     Mr. Trump has said he is not subject to zoning regulations or 
     permitting requirements.

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the 
Record an article from The Nation titled: ``The Bill to End the 
Shutdown Is Full of Giveaways to Republicans.''
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Massachusetts?
  There was no objection.

                    [From the Nation, Nov. 11, 2025]

    The Bill to End the Shutdown is Full of Giveaways to Republicans

                            (By Joan Walsh)

       Last night, eight Democratic senators caved and voted for a 
     bill to open the government without restoring the Affordable 
     Care Act subsidies they'd promised to fight for. You might 
     think Donald Trump would appreciate the olive branch, but 
     you'd be wrong. That very same night, Trump's Justice 
     Department announced a mass pardon for almost 80 individuals 
     involved in Trump's campaign to overturn the 2020 election. 
     This list included Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and John 
     Eastman.
       But that's not the only gift to the Republicans who tried 
     to help Trump overturn the 2020 election. Tucked inside the 
     bill is a measure that would create a slush fund to enable 
     senators who've had their phone records subpoenaed, without 
     their knowledge, to sue over invasion of privacy, for at 
     least half a million dollars. It's basically free money for 
     Lindsey Graham, Marsha Blackburn, Bill Hagerty, Josh Hawley, 
     Dan Sullivan, Tommy Tuberville, Ron Johnson, and Cynthia 
     Lummis, all of whom had their metadata subpoenaed by Jack 
     Smith. (No messages were included.) If they all won in court, 
     they'd pocket at least $4 million collectively.
       The bill would limit the government's defense against such 
     claims, removing qualified or sovereign immunity as grounds 
     for such a move to fight a lawsuit over the issue.
       In last-minute maneuvers, Senate majority leader John 
     Thune, who has called Smith's phone subpoenas ``Biden's 
     Watergate,'' added the provision personally. ``Leader Thune 
     inserted that in the bill to provide real teeth to the 
     prohibition on the Department of Justice targeting 
     senators,'' Texas Senator Ted Cruz declared.
       ``I am furious that the Senate Minority and Majority 
     Leaders chose to airdrop this provision into this bill at the 
     eleventh hour,'' New Mexico Democratic Senator Martin 
     Heinrich said in a statement. ``This is precisely what's 
     wrong with the Senate.'' In case you missed it, that's a slap 
     at Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, who presided over 
     last-minute negotiations on the package but voted against it. 
     Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, a privacy advocate, nonetheless 
     slammed the provision as ``very troubling'' to Politico.
       There are obviously other troubling provisions in this 
     alleged compromise, which, remember, keeps the government 
     open only until January. The good news is that it funds SNAP 
     through next year--recipients don't have to worry about 
     losing food benefits during another stalemate in at the 
     beginning of 2026. Other measures touted as victories--
     furloughed workers getting back pay, some fired workers 
     getting their jobs back--likely would have happened anyway. 
     Senate Dems did get a promise from Thune to hold a stand-
     alone vote on restoring ACA subsidies, but there's no 
     guarantee he'll do it; even if he does, it's unlikely to 
     pass; and House Speaker Mike Johnson has already announced 
     that he won't bring the measure up for a vote. So it's DOA.
       Another problem with the cave-in was its timing, coming 
     only days after Democrats won huge election victories in 
     Virginia, New Jersey, California, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. 
     Schumer is reportedly claiming he got the Democratic 
     defectors to hold off until after the elections, to avoid 
     depressing turnout (a sign Democratic leaders knew the cave-
     in would be unpopular with their base). He couldn't have 
     asked them to take maybe another week, to avoid snubbing the 
     Democratic activists who worked so hard on those election 
     victories?
       Meanwhile, Zeteo reports that Trump officials are 
     celebrating the Democratic surrender, calling party leaders 
     ``losers'' and ``pussies,'' after Trump himself already 
     admitted that the shutdown contributed to GOP losses last 
     Tuesday.
       The bill still has to pass the House. Is it possible 
     outraged Democrats will be joined by some Republicans and 
     reject the Senate GOP's self-protection? Or will House GOP 
     leaders add a similar provision for their members--at least 
     one, Pennsylvania Representative Mike Kelly, also had his 
     phone metadata released to Smith. Anything is possible in 
     Johnson's caucus circus. The bill could fail for other 
     reasons, even though

[[Page H4603]]

     Johnson claims he has the votes. We'll find out Wednesday, 
     when House members return from their long vacation to vote.

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 15 seconds.
  Mr. Speaker, I am sorry that the gentlewoman thinks that trying to 
stop people's healthcare premiums from doubling and tripling and 
quadrupling is political theater, but we don't. I don't have time to 
address all the BS coming from my colleagues across the Chamber, but it 
is clear this Republican leadership is not only failing to deliver on 
their promises but they are selling out at the expense of the basic 
needs of the American people.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Roy).
  Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Minnesota for 
yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, here we are on September 19, House Republicans passed 
legislation which would have funded government through November 20. 
Here we are on November 12, and we are basically where we would have 
been had we just passed the bill that we passed in September.
  What did we get for all of that? What happened over all these days? 
Well, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle were searching for a 
reason for voters to support them next November. They were searching 
for a cause.
  We know this because there were intervening elections and a lot of 
rhetoric but no results. We are here right now, with Democrats having 
joined Republican Senators to send a bill over here to fund government 
through the end of January with three appropriations bills, which we 
worked through regular order, to keep spending relatively flat. It 
advances the priorities the American people sent us here to advance, to 
back up the President who is securing the border, which he was sent to 
Washington to do; to restore military to focusing on defending this 
Nation rather than advancing woke priorities, which the American people 
sent him here to do; for us to continue to work, to grow, and to build 
this economy after 4 years of being wrecked with reckless spending but 
also abhorrent policies. The American people are now saying: What on 
Earth were Democrats doing?
  My Democrat colleagues' response is healthcare. That is the only 
default position they have is the default to healthcare. The fact is, 
it is because they broke the system so badly that they are now coming 
and asking us to have the Treasury print money to then give out in 
order to enrich insurance companies with massive subsidies. That is the 
actual fact.
  The American people understand this and they recognize that they 
don't want insurance companies to be enriched, but they want to be able 
to go get the doctor of their choice. The American people understand 
this and so do we.
  We are here to open the government, and we are here to stand up for 
doctors and patients instead of insurance companies and big regulators. 
I support this legislation. I know my Republican colleagues do. The 
question really is: Will Democrats support this legislation, or will 
they wish to perpetuate the shutting down of government to enrich 
insurance companies?
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I don't think we ought to be lectured by 
somebody who, over the years, has been the king of government shutdowns 
and who worked for a United States Senator that pushed for a government 
shutdown to object to the Affordable Care Act.
  I just want to make it clear to everybody: This is a Republican 
shutdown. They control the White House. They control the House. They 
control the Senate. This government shutdown is because they don't want 
to negotiate. It is their way or the highway. This is a Republican 
shutdown. They own it.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Maryland 
(Mr. Raskin), the distinguished ranking member of the Judiciary 
Committee.
  Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, this bill, which they now call imperfect, 
contains the single most corrupt provision for legislative self-dealing 
that anyone in this Chamber today has ever voted on. It is such an 
egregiously corrupt act of legislator self-enrichment and plunder of 
the taxpayer that not only did every single House Democrat oppose it in 
the Rules Committee last night, but multiple Republicans were 
denouncing it, that is, before they were summoned into a side room and 
instructed to vote for it, which they all proceeded to do.
  Now they are telling us: Vote for it today and they will repeal it 
maybe next week or maybe the week after that or maybe before Christmas. 
I have a solution. If Members don't like this corrupt provision, don't 
vote for it today. That will work.
  This is a great bill, a great bill that is if you think eight 
Republican U.S. senators should have a right to collect at least $1 
million in a jackpot bonanza payoff from the taxpayers simply because 
they were subject to the exact same rules all other Americans were 
subject to and are subject to now. They don't propose to change those 
rules for anybody else, not for more than 300 million Americans, not 
for the Members of the House of Representatives, not for Governors or 
mayors but for themselves. They want to deal themselves a special legal 
privilege.
  In this Republican class war, a Great Gatsby economy where President 
Trump has made more than $3 billion since he reoccupied the White 
House, the Federal building which he has proceeded to demolish in large 
part while millions of Americans face losing their healthcare and their 
SNAP benefits. This provision is an affront to our taxpayers and to the 
rule of law.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the 
gentleman from Maryland.
  Mr. RASKIN. It is an affront to everyone who believes that we, in 
public office, must be the servants of the people, not the masters of 
the people who get special, legal rights and privileges and 
multimillion-dollar payoffs, people who think that they have a right to 
better treatment than everybody else, like Ghislaine Maxwell in the 
prison camp where she gets room service, puppy time, and special gym 
privileges.

                              {time}  1710

  Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from 
Oregon (Ms. Bonamici).
  Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to this 
continuing resolution. I will not support a bill that will continue the 
Republicans' assault on Americans and their pocketbooks. At a time when 
Oregonians and Americans are already struggling with rising costs, this 
bill locks in devastating cuts to healthcare and drives up the cost, in 
many cases, significantly.
  The assault on healthcare and the Republican shutdown more broadly 
are further proof that the first 10 months of this Trump administration 
have been chaotic, harmful, and completely out of touch with the needs 
of the American people. Donald Trump held an extravagant Great Gatsby 
party at Mar-a-Lago the night before SNAP benefits expired, while the 
administration and Republicans continue to ignore the needs of working 
families. That is not governing. They have abandoned their 
responsibility to bring down costs and grow the economy.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill was already bad, but now they have added this 
corrupt, get-rich-quick scheme to give hundreds of thousands of 
taxpayer dollars to Trump-aligned Senators. That is outrageous. 
Oregonians and Americans deserve better.
  My colleagues should listen to their constituents, vote ``no,'' and 
come back to the table and join us in the work to make healthcare 
affordable and accessible to all.
  Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. McDowell).
  Mr. McDOWELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as we are in the process of 
ending the longest government shutdown in our Nation's history and to 
affirm that this Congress will get back to leading America into her 
next golden age.
  Over 40 days, that is how long the government has been closed. For 
over 40 days, Democrats here in this body and in the Senate have chosen 
chaos over our country. They chose to shut the government down because 
politics demanded it, not policy.

[[Page H4604]]

  The elites who dominate their party's decisionmaking are the ones 
least impacted by its decisions.
  Were the far-left activists and Democrats here in this body the ones 
not getting paychecks? No, Mr. Speaker. That was the air traffic 
controllers, our troops, and our Capitol Police officers.
  When these same people passed ObamaCare, were they the ones impacted 
by the law, or was it the middle-class teacher in North Carolina who 
could no longer keep their doctor? We all know the answer to that, Mr. 
Speaker.
  Across the Nation, Federal workers are working two and three jobs 
just to stay afloat, all so Democrats could champion illegal aliens who 
exploit our compassion as they poison our communities with deadly 
fentanyl.
  That is not governing. That was extortion of the American taxpayer. 
That ends today.
  Today, we are in the process of finally reopening the government, 
returning to the business of the people, and further implementing the 
mandate our constituents sent us here to deliver on.
  Democrats chose to have a month of political theater, but political 
shows don't do one thing to help make the costs of everyday items more 
affordable. It is time to govern and to focus on making America more 
affordable for the middle class.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote on this rule.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, we are getting lectured on governance by a 
guy who is just coming off an 8-week paid vacation. Give me a break.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from New 
Jersey (Ms. Sherrill), the next Governor of New Jersey.
  Ms. SHERRILL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to a rule for a bill 
that does nothing to protect over 450,000 New Jerseyans who will see 
their healthcare premiums skyrocket.
  I took my first oath to the Constitution when I was 18 and went to 
the Naval Academy. It is an oath to serve, to run toward the fight. I 
ran for Congress after I saw Washington Republicans attacking the 
Affordable Care Act.
  I promised I would take on the status quo. I would fight the big 
fights because that is what people expect of their leaders. That is 
what people deserve from their leaders.
  I am proud of the wins that I have delivered as the Representative 
for New Jersey's 11th District: capping the cost of insulin and 
prescription drugs for seniors, funding the Gateway Tunnel, the PACT 
Act for veterans, flood mitigation projects, and delivering for 
Picatinny Arsenal.
  New Jersey has trusted me, and last week, they placed their trust in 
me again, electing me their 57th Governor. I ran on a similar promise: 
to take on anyone and stop at nothing to lower costs and build 
opportunity for everyone.
  This will be my last speech in this Chamber. I intend to submit my 
resignation next week and turn to protecting all of New Jersey.
  My parting message to Jersey is: Thank you.
  To my staff, thank you for your dedication to serving the 11th 
District of New Jersey.
  To my colleagues, do not let this body become a ceremonial rubber 
stamp for an administration that takes food away from children--
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the 
gentlewoman from New Jersey.
  Ms. SHERRILL.--and that rips healthcare away from people and takes 
food away from children.
  To the country, stand strong. As we say in the Navy: Don't give up 
the ship.
  Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Rhode Island (Mr. Magaziner).

  Mr. MAGAZINER. Mr. Speaker, House Republicans are back from their 54-
day taxpayer-funded vacation. But don't get me wrong, they do know how 
to work hard. When billionaires wanted tax breaks, they moved mountains 
to make it happen. When Argentina needed a $40 billion bailout to help 
Trump's buddy, they moved quickly to make it happen at the White House.
  When working people need help, when millions of Americans are seeing 
their health insurance costs double and triple and Americans all across 
this country are feeling like they are going to have to go without 
health insurance for the first time in their lives because they can't 
afford it anymore and have to make that terrible decision about which 
of their family members they are going to cut off of their insurance, 
House Republicans are nowhere to be found.
  When Donald Trump's stupid tariffs are raising the price of groceries 
and the cost of coffee is up 40 percent over the last year, House 
Republicans are silent. When working people need help, they are absent. 
Shameful.
  They will work when billionaires need tax cuts, when Argentina needs 
a bailout, but when working people need relief, they go on a taxpayer-
funded vacation. Shameful, Mr. Speaker.
  Vote ``no'' on this budget. Do not cut the healthcare of the American 
people.
  Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
New York (Mr. Lawler).
  Mr. LAWLER. Mr. Speaker, the reason we know this is a Democratic 
shutdown is because of how angry they are that we are about to reopen 
the government, period. That is all you need to know.
  Jerry Nadler said the shutdown is really ``an extremist policy 
designed to appeal to an extremist base and hold the whole country 
hostage.''
  That is exactly what the Democrats have done over the last 43 days. 
They have held the American people hostage, trying to extract insane 
things, like free healthcare for illegal immigrants.
  If they were serious about tackling the healthcare affordability 
crisis in this country, then they would address the fundamental problem 
with ObamaCare. Since ObamaCare took effect, healthcare premiums have 
risen by 96 percent and on the open market by 114 percent.
  When I asked Leader Jeffries to sign on to the 1-year extension of 
the premium tax credit, he refused. He stuttered. He stammered. He 
couldn't answer a single question because this shutdown was never about 
healthcare. It was always about appeasing a far-left radical base.
  Chuck Schumer said: Every day gets better for us.
  Katherine Clark said: Of course, people will suffer. We want to use 
this as leverage.
  It is an embarrassment to this country. You should all be ashamed of 
yourselves for inflicting this pain on the American people, taking away 
food stamps from 42 million Americans, defunding WIC, and not paying 
our troops, our Federal employees, and our air traffic controllers. It 
is a disgrace, and you should all hang your heads in shame.
  Vote ``yes'' to pass the bill and reopen the government.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Let me remind my colleagues, I fully 
recognize that there is a lot of pent-up anxiety, and emotions have 
been elevated somewhat, but please, in the interest of the decorum of 
this House, direct your comments to the Chair and do not engage in 
personalities toward the Senate and toward the President.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, let me just say that the gentleman from 
New York sounds as extreme as his voting record. Mr. Speaker, I say to 
the gentleman who just spoke, by supporting this bill, he is betraying 
7,000 constituents in his district who rely on the ACA to afford their 
healthcare. Boy, I am glad he is not my Representative.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. 
Kennedy).
  Mr. KENNEDY of New York. Mr. Speaker, as the Representative of 
western New York, where so many people in my community, like others 
across the country, are already struggling to afford healthcare, I urge 
my colleagues to reject this disgraceful bill.
  As an occupational therapist, I know exactly who these cuts will 
hurt. I have heard from so many who are desperate for a lifeline, like 
Iris, a mom in Buffalo, who is worried about how she will keep her 
kids' healthcare insurance; or Andy, a nursing home resident in 
Tonawanda, who relies on Medicaid to get the services he needs; or the 
kids at Bornhava, a special needs school where I provided therapy, who 
depend on early intervention services.

[[Page H4605]]

  Donald Trump and congressional Republicans began their assault on the 
people of our country in the big, ugly bill.
  This bill further devastates healthcare and leaves millions of 
Americans to pray they don't get sick. Shame on anyone who goes along 
with it. This country deserves better.
  I will be voting ``no,'' and I urge all my colleagues to do the same.

                              {time}  1720

  Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, there is some big news, some breaking news 
in the last hour. I am proud to say that our newest colleague, 
Representative Adelita Grijalva, just became the 218th signature on the 
Massie-Khanna discharge petition to compel the release of the Epstein 
files.
  To all my Republican colleagues who refuse to sign on: Time is up, 
you need to figure out where you stand on this because you are about to 
go on record. Is your loyalty to Trump more important than going after 
pedophiles? Make no mistake, these files will come out. It is no longer 
a question of if, only when, and whether the White House chooses to 
stand with the survivors or throw them under the bus.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. 
Dexter).
  Ms. DEXTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to this 
rule and the underlying bill.
  As a physician who spent 20 years saving lives, I did not come to 
Congress to let healthcare be decimated by Congress. I came to fight 
for my constituents who deserve to be able to see a doctor they trust, 
afford their medication, and keep their families healthy.
  If House Republicans let the ACA tax credits expire, they are 
complicit in forcing Oregonians to make impossible choices, like 
whether to keep their insurance or put food on the table.
  As a physician, I know what comes next. People go without. They go 
uninsured, they delay care, and they skip refills. They get sicker, and 
sometimes they end up in medical debt that is devastating.
  The cost of living is already too damn high. Republicans are 
committed to cutting Americans' care. They patently rejected amendments 
to protect Americans, ignoring millions of American families who are 
desperate for relief.
  I will be an absolute ``no'' on the rule and the underlying bill, and 
I refuse to give up on ensuring affordable healthcare for all.
  Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  The ranking member mentioned the discharge petition, and he is very 
proud that it has 218 signatures, but not that long ago today we had a 
unanimous consent request that would have moved that resolution along 
over to the Senate, and I believe the Democrats objected to it.
  It seems more like a political stunt than it does that they actually 
wanted to have that resolution moved along because if they had not 
objected, it would have gone on its way, and they would have 
accomplished what they wanted to do.
  I don't see their real desire to have the resolution passed. I see it 
more, like I said, as a political stunt, and it certainly is actually a 
moot point, given that the Oversight Committee is already releasing 
many of those files. As a matter of fact, I believe they have done tens 
of thousands of them, but I believe this morning they did another 
20,000 files, so they are being released, and this all seems for 
naught.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. 
McClintock).
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, Jimmy Failla offered Democrats this pro 
tip: If you are going to call it the Republican shutdown, you are not 
supposed to get mad that it is ending.
  Anyone who remembers their ``Schoolhouse Rock'' knows that once the 
House originates an appropriation, the Senate must either amend it or 
pass it. Now, the House did its job on September 19 with a simple 
appropriation that made no policy changes. It merely kept the 
government operating at current levels while we finished debating 
priorities.
  Democrats deliberately blocked the Senate from acting, demanding $1.5 
trillion of new spending as a ransom. Finally, thank God, eight of them 
put country ahead of party and voted to end this madness.
  Hearing the bitter recriminations from our leftist colleagues, it 
seems unlikely we will see much bipartisanship today, but with or 
without, we will reopen the government tonight and get back to 
addressing the challenges that confront our country.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Massachusetts has 11 
minutes remaining on his side. There are 9 minutes remaining on the 
majority side.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I am surprised the gentlewoman brought up 
the unanimous consent request, but I am glad she did because I want the 
Record to be clear. I didn't hear any objection on the floor. The 
Republican chair basically ruled it as an improper unanimous consent 
request, and so that is why it didn't move forward.
  However, I do know this, because I am on the Rules Committee, and I 
do know the gentlewoman time and time and time again voted against 
releasing the Epstein files. I know my Republican friends are hoping 
that they don't have to go on record because they don't want to get 
Trump upset at them, but the bottom line is every single Republican 
will go on record, and you will have to make clear whether you are on 
the side of a pedophile or whether you are on the side of the victims.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to direct their 
comments to the Chair.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from 
Washington (Ms. Jayapal).
  Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to oppose this bill that allows 
health insurance premiums for 22 million American families to skyrocket 
and raises healthcare costs for everyone. Trump and his Republican cult 
of followers in Congress have unleashed a shameful crisis of cruelty 
and corruption on the American people.

  First, they slash Medicaid by a trillion dollars, kicked 15 million 
Americans off of healthcare, set up the playboard for rural hospitals 
to shutter, all so that they could give $7 trillion in permanent tax 
breaks to their billionaire buddies.
  Then they refused to negotiate with Democrats to extend the 
Affordable Care Act tax credits so that 22 million wouldn't have to 
choose between healthcare and rent. When we refused to go along with 
that, they caused this 45-day Republican shutdown, illegally refused to 
pay SNAP benefits for the hungry, and illegally canceled flights, 
throwing the country into chaos.
  Trump and Republicans want to make Americans poorer and sicker, while 
Trump builds his gilded ballrooms, protects pedophiles, pardons those 
who buy his memecoins, and lets Americans starve. Shame on them. I am a 
``hell-no'' on this bill.
  Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Rose).
  Mr. ROSE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to oppose the Senate's provision 
that allows Senators to make financial gain off illegal government 
surveillance.
  Three things can be true at once, Mr. Speaker. The first truth is 
this: The shutdown has to end. The American people and countless 
Tennesseans I represent are suffering and experiencing real pain. This 
record-breaking Schumer Democratic shutdown was completely avoidable, 
and it was completely carried out for political purposes.
  The second truth is that the last administration, led by Joe Biden 
and his autopen, unfairly surveilled conservatives and conservative 
Members of Congress. That included sitting United States Senators.
  Yet, Mr. Speaker, the third thing I would note is that the American 
taxpayer has suffered enough because of the last administration. No one 
in this body should support allowing Senators to sue and collect from 
taxpayers because the FBI went rogue under President Biden.
  Don't get me wrong. The overreach is more than troubling. It is 
unfathomable that the Department of Justice was weaponized in this way. 
I fully support holding those radical agents accountable and the 
ongoing investigations into their misdeeds, yet no elected officials 
should profit from

[[Page H4606]]

the political calculation of leftwing bureaucrats and judges.
  Mr. Speaker, the folks I represent are still reeling from historic 
Bidenflation, the effects of the border crisis, and the regulatory 
agenda of the last administration. It is shameful to ask them to 
shoulder the burden of paying U.S. Senators a half million dollars or 
more for those misdeeds.

                              {time}  1730

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Green).
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise. I rise to call to 
my colleagues' attention that they are no longer claiming that this is 
a clean CR. The truth is that it is a dirty, filthy, and stealthy CR 
that has been contaminated with millions of dollars for people who have 
not earned it. They want to take it from the taxpayers of this country 
because they have concluded somehow that they have been harmed where no 
harm has been proven or brought to our attention.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe that healthcare for all is important because 
we in Congress have the best healthcare in the world. Yet, people with 
the best healthcare in the world do not see fit for persons who need it 
and who are among the least, the last, and the lost to acquire 
healthcare, something that they have.
  Healthcare is becoming wealthcare for too many people in this 
country. We need to extend the subsidies. We need to make sure that 
everybody who can get to a doctor gets care. This is not a poor 
country.
  Mr. Speaker, I refuse to take a poison pill and let my colleagues 
tell me I will regurgitate it next week. The poison pill has killed the 
CR.
  Mr. Speaker, this is not a clean CR! This is a dirty, corrupt 
Continuing Resolution that I cannot in good conscience support. This CR 
does nothing to address the Affordable Care Act subsidies whose 
expiration Republicans refused to address. This CR includes a shameful 
stealthy provision that would allow eight senators to sue the federal 
government for millions of dollars. To allow each of the eight Senators 
to concoct legislation to benefit themselves and sue the federal 
government for a $1 million taxpayer funded giveaway would legitimize 
their blatant corruption in the so-called clean CR.
  Millions of Americans deserve a permanent solution to the healthcare 
affordability crisis, much more than the billionaire contributors to 
campaigns who just received millions of dollars in tax breaks from 
their Republican accomplices. While the American people were working 
through the shutdown, President Trump partially demolished the White 
House and Senate Republicans negotiated a $ million-dollar gift to some 
of their colleagues.
  This shutdown need not have happened. Republicans control the House, 
Senate, and Presidency. They could have kept the government open with a 
negotiated settlement, or in the same way they placed Mr. Gorsuch on 
the Supreme Court, by using a majority rule rather than a 60-vote rule.
  I cannot support this corrupt and dirty CR, and I urge my colleagues 
to oppose this legislation too.
  Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from 
New York (Ms. Ocasio-Cortez).
  Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ. Mr. Speaker, it is great. It is great that 
Democrats have a line of people who are willing to fight for working-
class Americans from coast to coast in this country.
  Mr. Speaker, God forbid that we have a Member of the Republican 
caucus who stands up and actually wants to extend the Affordable Care 
Act so that people with cancer, need insulin, and all sorts of 
healthcare issues across this country have their health insurance 
protected and extended throughout 2026.
  It is unconscionable that what we are debating right now is 
legislation that will give eight Members of the United States Senate 
over $1 million apiece. We are robbing people of their food assistance 
and of their healthcare to pay for it.
  How is this even on the floor? How can we, as Members of Congress--
Republican or Democrat--vote to enrich ourselves by stealing from the 
American people? That is what this legislation does. In fact, Senator 
Graham went before the press earlier today, and he said he was going to 
seek well over $1 million from the American people from this.
  Mr. Speaker, we cannot support it, and we cannot stand for it.
  Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, I would point out to some of my 
colleagues that the Democrat government shutdown stopped the SNAP 
benefits. If they were very concerned about making sure that people had 
their nutritional assistance, they wouldn't have shut down the 
government. That is what caused it.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gill).
  Mr. GILL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, it is great to hear from Ms. Ocasio-
Cortez, the new leader of the Democratic Party. Unfortunately, we 
didn't get to hear from Mr. Zohran Mamdani, their other leader.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to vote this evening to reopen the Federal 
Government. For 40 days the Democrats shut our government down to 
pursue unrealistic policy proposals that they know the American people 
do not want.
  Mr. Speaker, the American people do not want healthcare for illegal 
aliens. They do not want our tax dollars funding leftwing media 
outlets. They do not want to drive up our debt $1.5 trillion as part of 
a short-term continuing resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, the last 40 days have been nothing but pure political 
nihilism. I am glad this nightmare is over so we can get back to work 
on behalf of the American people.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, first of all, let me just say to the gentlewoman this 
Republican shutdown didn't need to happen. All they needed to do was 
extend ACA tax credits so the American people wouldn't get screwed on 
their health insurance bills.
  I would also point out to her the President of the United States 
illegally withheld SNAP benefits. Two Federal judges, basically two 
court orders, backed us up on that. He is the first President ever in 
history to shut off food benefits to people during a shutdown. Shame on 
him.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Khanna).
  Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, our country is at a moral crossroads. Just 
today, it comes out that billionaires are worth $8 trillion. That is 
more than 50 percent of Americans combined.
  What does the President do? He decides he doesn't have the money for 
the American people. He is going to starve the American people to give 
$40 billion to the corrupt Libertarian leader in Argentina. Mr. 
Speaker, $9 million would have fed the American people. How is that 
America first?
  Then he says he doesn't care about the cab driver who is now paying 
$2,600 per month in healthcare as opposed to $44. He doesn't want to 
save the 20 million Americans who are going to face high premium 
increases. How is that America first?
  Mr. Speaker, we need national health insurance in this country. We 
need to tax billionaires in this country. We need to fund SNAP in this 
country. We need to stop funding Argentina and corrupt foreign leaders.
  Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to address the healthcare issues the Democrats 
continue to bring up. They act like this had anything to do with the 
premiums of everyone in the country. We are talking about the 
Affordable Care Act COVID-era subsidies. This is not what is affecting 
other people's premiums, other than those folks who qualify for those 
COVID-era premium subsidies. That is it. They continue to make it sound 
like this is responsible for every kind of increase that people are 
seeing.
  The Affordable Care Act's original subsidies will remain in place. So 
that is the original subsidies, ensuring that millions still qualify 
for the income-based tax credit and capping out-of-pocket costs 
relative to income.

                              {time}  1740

  It is the COVID era. I can't say that enough. It is the COVID-era 
subsidies that are in question here, and premium increases are actually 
driven by multiple factors, including medical inflation, provider 
consolidation, and rising

[[Page H4607]]

drug costs. However to actually reduce premiums, that is what we must 
address. We must have comprehensive discussions about that, not just 
political theater and sound bites. We have to actually sit down and 
have those discussions, and that is what getting the government back 
open will do.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, the ACA polls at 65 percent. Donald Trump 
is at 37 percent.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts 
(Ms. Pressley).
  Ms. PRESSLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of every elder who 
can't afford their prescriptions and every parent who went to work 
hungry so their child could eat. In the United States of America, there 
is no lack of resource, only a deficit of empathy, political will, and 
courage.
  At its best, government is a backstop, a compassionate steward of the 
public good. At its best, government catches people when they stumble 
at a moment of hardship. At its best, government does right by the 
people, all the people.
  Struggle does not discriminate, Mr. Speaker. Hardship is not a 
character flaw and has zero to do with work ethic. Every single person 
is one diagnosis and one layoff away from hardship. Life can change in 
an instant.
  What we are bearing witness to is not only a lack of political 
courage, but it is a fundamental betrayal of the people, incompetence 
and indifference to the suffering of our neighbors, the shame and the 
sham of it all.
  Any Member of Congress who would vote to deny a child a meal or 
medication, it is child abuse and neglect. I ought to file a 51A on 
Republicans for that. Every person in this Chamber and every person in 
our country has lost a loved one to cancer, and yet Republicans would 
vote to deny people lifesaving cancer treatment and research.
  Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House, and 
with a majority they have chosen to enact harm to make people hungry, 
poorer, sicker, and less safe.
  The shame and the sham of it all. You the people deserve better. We 
the people deserve better, and I won't stop fighting until you get it.
  Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Pocan).
  Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, yes, the Federal Government will officially 
reopen with the House vote today, but here is what won't happen. We 
won't protect the 22 million people paying more for the ACA or the 15 
million people losing their healthcare outright due to Republican 
actions in the big, ugly law, nor will we stop the healthcare rate 
increases for everyone in this country.
  We won't be restoring food assistance today for the millions of 
Americans who benefit from SNAP because House Republicans voted to cut 
the number one program that keeps kids and seniors out of poverty by 
over $180 billion.
  Nor will we be able today to roll back the tax cuts for billionaires 
and Republicans' GOP donors that they funded by gutting those 
healthcare and food programs.
  I sure hope Republicans are tanned and rested after their 8-week paid 
vacation, because they are going to need it. Democrats are going to 
continue fighting every single day for people's healthcare and food 
benefits. We are going to be on Republicans day after day until we get 
it done.
  Vote ``no.''
  Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Olszewski).
  Mr. OLSZEWSKI. Mr. Speaker, this funding deal is why Americans have 
lost faith in Congress. It does absolutely nothing to address the 
crushing cost of healthcare, in what amounts to a massive tax hike on 
working families.
  It does absolutely nothing to stop President Trump from canceling the 
very funding we would provide, something he has already done again and 
again.
  Here is what it does: It allows Senators to write themselves, and 
only themselves, million-dollar checks because their phone records were 
legally subpoenaed, checks paid for by American taxpayers.
  It is corruption at a whole new level. With bribery and insider 
trading, someone breaks the law. Here, Congress is writing a law that 
protects and funds corruption. It is brazen and disgusting and an 
effort to legalize corruption. Anyone who votes for this CR is 
complicit in that corruption.
  If government still belongs to the people and not the powerful, then 
we must reject this self-serving scam.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, I don't have enough time to rebut all the absurd claims 
made by the other side. Suddenly, they all have an opinion on 
healthcare. They had a decade to come up with a plan, and they came up 
with nothing.
  I am glad they finally acknowledged that this is a dirty CR that 
shovels millions of dollars into the pockets of Republican politicians. 
They hate this bill so much that they are all going to vote for it.
  They say that we shut the government down.
  Really, Mr. Speaker?
  The last time I checked, Republicans are in charge around here. We 
heard for months about their mandate. They control the House, the 
Senate, and the White House. They have a duty to keep the government 
open, and they failed. They did not have the votes. They refused 
to negotiate with us because we wanted to help regular people instead 
of billionaires, and now they want to blame us for the consequences of 
their own actions.

  What the hell is wrong with them?
  Give me a frigging break.
  America is the richest country in the history of the world. We are 
blessed with an abundance of so much. There should not be an 
affordability crisis. Every single person in this country should be 
able to have a good job, a living wage, affordable food and healthcare, 
and have a shot at a better future. That is what I am fighting for. 
That is what we are fighting for. That is how I want to make America 
great. That is the Democratic vision for what this country could be.
  From a moral perspective and from a set of values, we believe it is 
immoral to have a system that gives so much to just a few billionaires 
by depriving so many of the basic things they need to live a good life. 
It is clear to me after this debate that Republicans do not share those 
same values.
  I am going to fight like hell, and we are going to fight like hell 
because I believe in America. We believe in America, and we believe 
that the hopes and the dreams of the American people will prevail.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  As we wrap up this debate, I want to take a moment to cut through the 
noise from our colleagues on the left. Instead of focusing on the 
legislation before us, they are resorting to fear tactics and tossing 
out false claims about what this shutdown is really about.
  The CR would have kept the government open to continue and finish the 
appropriations process. Yet the Democrats refused and instead chose to 
shut down the government.
  My colleague mentions values. Democrats claim that our values are 
different. Democratic Whip Clark said: ``Of course there will be 
families that are going to suffer . . . but it is one of the few 
leverage times we have.''
  So if those are the values they are talking about, I don't share 
those values.
  Mr. Speaker, I won't make the American people suffer, whether it be 
their SNAP payments, whether it be keeping air traffic controllers 
paid, or whether it is paying our troops. Making the American people 
suffer are not the values that I share.
  For the record, Republicans did not cause this shutdown, and we have 
not been on vacation. I have been splitting my time between D.C. and 
the District, as I mentioned before, meeting with constituents in both, 
meeting with Federal agencies, and hosting a teletownhall. I know how 
hard my Republican colleagues have been working for their constituents 
and the American people.

[[Page H4608]]

  It was the Democrats who shut down the government when they refused 
to support a clean CR that would have kept the lights on and protected 
critical services, and now it is the Democrats who continue to shift 
the blame.
  Now, getting back to the issue at hand, let's talk about what this 
bill actually does.
  H.R. 5371 restores the funding for SNAP and WIC. It reimburses the 
contingency reserves to make sure that programs remain stable and 
reliable. Actually, President Trump moved $300 million of tariff 
revenue to fund WIC during the shutdown. Republicans are the ones 
protecting food security and not playing games with it.
  This bill also delivers for our farmers and ranchers and for rural 
development. It invests in the communities that feed this country and 
keep the economy strong. It supports our troops and Federal workers. It 
ensures our servicemembers and their families have the support they 
need, and it honors the promises we have made to those who have served.
  Yes, it reopens the government, restores stability, and resumes 
regular order.
  So let's be honest about what a ``yes'' vote means. A ``yes'' vote is 
a vote for veterans care. A ``yes'' vote is a vote for SNAP and WIC. A 
``yes'' vote is a vote for $700,000 for a fire engine in Ranking Member 
McGovern's district and $1 million for the Navajo Nation Division of 
Community Development in Representative Leger Fernandez's district. A 
``yes'' vote is for farmers. A ``yes'' vote is for our troops and for 
Federal workers, and, yes, it is for reopening the government.
  A ``no'' vote is a vote against all of that, including the 
development of a wastewater treatment facility in Mr. Neguse's 
district, and $1.5 million in watershed conservation in Representative 
Clark's district. It is a vote against Federal workers. It is a vote 
against healthcare. It is a vote against feeding hungry children, and 
it is a vote against common sense.
  The material previously referred to by Mr. McGovern is as follows:

  An Amendment to H. Res. 873 Offered by Mr. McGovern of Massachusetts

       Strike all after the resolving clause and insert the 
     following:
       That upon adoptipon of this resolution it shall be in order 
     to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 5371) making 
     continuing appropriations and extensions for fiscal year 
     2026, and for other purposes, with the Senate amendment 
     thereto, and to consider in the House, without intervention 
     of any point of order, a motion offered by the chair of the 
     Committee on Appropriations or his designee that the House 
     concur in the Senate amendment with the amendment specified 
     in section 2 of this resolution. The Senate amendment and the 
     motion shall be considered as read. The motion shall be 
     debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the 
     chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on 
     Appropriations or their respective designees. The previous 
     question shall be considered as ordered on the motion to its 
     adoption without intervening motion.
       Sec. 2. The amendment referred to in section 1 is as 
     follows:
       Page 217, beginning on line 6, strike section 213.
  Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. 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.
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the ayes appeared to have it.
  Mr. McGOVERN. 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, the Chair 
will reduce to 5 minutes the minimum time for any electronic vote on 
the question of adoption of the resolution.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 216, 
nays 213, not voting 4, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 283]

                               YEAS--216

     Aderholt
     Alford
     Allen
     Amodei (NV)
     Arrington
     Babin
     Bacon
     Baird
     Balderson
     Barr
     Barrett
     Baumgartner
     Bean (FL)
     Begich
     Bentz
     Bergman
     Bice
     Biggs (AZ)
     Biggs (SC)
     Bilirakis
     Boebert
     Bost
     Brecheen
     Bresnahan
     Buchanan
     Burchett
     Burlison
     Calvert
     Cammack
     Carey
     Carter (GA)
     Carter (TX)
     Ciscomani
     Cline
     Cloud
     Clyde
     Cole
     Collins
     Comer
     Crane
     Crank
     Crawford
     Crenshaw
     Davidson
     De La Cruz
     DesJarlais
     Diaz-Balart
     Donalds
     Downing
     Dunn (FL)
     Edwards
     Ellzey
     Emmer
     Estes
     Evans (CO)
     Ezell
     Fallon
     Fedorchak
     Feenstra
     Fine
     Finstad
     Fischbach
     Fitzgerald
     Fitzpatrick
     Fleischmann
     Flood
     Fong
     Foxx
     Franklin, Scott
     Fry
     Fulcher
     Garbarino
     Gill (TX)
     Gimenez
     Goldman (TX)
     Gonzales, Tony
     Gooden
     Gosar
     Graves
     Greene (GA)
     Griffith
     Grothman
     Guest
     Guthrie
     Hageman
     Hamadeh (AZ)
     Haridopolos
     Harrigan
     Harris (MD)
     Harris (NC)
     Harshbarger
     Hern (OK)
     Higgins (LA)
     Hill (AR)
     Hinson
     Houchin
     Hudson
     Huizenga
     Hunt
     Hurd (CO)
     Issa
     Jack
     Jackson (TX)
     James
     Johnson (LA)
     Johnson (SD)
     Jordan
     Joyce (OH)
     Joyce (PA)
     Kean
     Kelly (MS)
     Kelly (PA)
     Kennedy (UT)
     Kiggans (VA)
     Kiley (CA)
     Kim
     Knott
     Kustoff
     LaHood
     LaLota
     LaMalfa
     Langworthy
     Latta
     Lawler
     Lee (FL)
     Letlow
     Loudermilk
     Lucas
     Luna
     Luttrell
     Mace
     Mackenzie
     Malliotakis
     Maloy
     Mann
     Massie
     Mast
     McClain
     McClintock
     McCormick
     McDowell
     McGuire
     Messmer
     Miller (IL)
     Miller (OH)
     Miller (WV)
     Miller-Meeks
     Mills
     Moolenaar
     Moore (AL)
     Moore (NC)
     Moore (UT)
     Moore (WV)
     Moran
     Murphy
     Nehls
     Newhouse
     Norman
     Nunn (IA)
     Obernolte
     Ogles
     Owens
     Palmer
     Patronis
     Perry
     Pfluger
     Reschenthaler
     Rogers (AL)
     Rogers (KY)
     Rose
     Rouzer
     Roy
     Rulli
     Rutherford
     Salazar
     Scalise
     Schmidt
     Schweikert
     Scott, Austin
     Self
     Sessions
     Shreve
     Simpson
     Smith (MO)
     Smith (NE)
     Smith (NJ)
     Smucker
     Spartz
     Stauber
     Stefanik
     Steil
     Steube
     Strong
     Stutzman
     Taylor
     Tenney
     Thompson (PA)
     Tiffany
     Timmons
     Turner (OH)
     Valadao
     Van Drew
     Van Duyne
     Van Orden
     Wagner
     Walberg
     Weber (TX)
     Webster (FL)
     Westerman
     Wied
     Williams (TX)
     Wilson (SC)
     Wittman
     Womack
     Yakym
     Zinke

                               NAYS--213

     Adams
     Aguilar
     Amo
     Ansari
     Auchincloss
     Balint
     Barragan
     Beatty
     Bell
     Bera
     Beyer
     Bishop
     Bonamici
     Boyle (PA)
     Brown
     Brownley
     Budzinski
     Bynum
     Carbajal
     Carson
     Carter (LA)
     Casar
     Case
     Casten
     Castor (FL)
     Castro (TX)
     Cherfilus-McCormick
     Chu
     Cisneros
     Clark (MA)
     Clarke (NY)
     Cleaver
     Clyburn
     Cohen
     Conaway
     Correa
     Costa
     Courtney
     Craig
     Crockett
     Crow
     Cuellar
     Davids (KS)
     Davis (IL)
     Davis (NC)
     Dean (PA)
     DeGette
     DeLauro
     DelBene
     Deluzio
     DeSaulnier
     Dexter
     Dingell
     Doggett
     Elfreth
     Escobar
     Espaillat
     Evans (PA)
     Fields
     Figures
     Fletcher
     Foster
     Foushee
     Frankel, Lois
     Friedman
     Frost
     Garamendi
     Garcia (CA)
     Garcia (IL)
     Garcia (TX)
     Gillen
     Golden (ME)
     Goldman (NY)
     Gomez
     Gonzalez, V.
     Goodlander
     Gottheimer
     Gray
     Green, Al (TX)
     Grijalva
     Harder (CA)
     Hayes
     Himes
     Horsford
     Houlahan
     Hoyer
     Hoyle (OR)
     Huffman
     Ivey
     Jackson (IL)
     Jacobs
     Jayapal
     Jeffries
     Johnson (GA)
     Johnson (TX)
     Kamlager-Dove
     Kaptur
     Keating
     Kelly (IL)
     Kennedy (NY)
     Khanna
     Krishnamoorthi
     Landsman
     Larsen (WA)
     Larson (CT)
     Latimer
     Lee (NV)
     Lee (PA)
     Leger Fernandez
     Levin
     Liccardo
     Lieu
     Lofgren
     Lynch
     Magaziner
     Mannion
     Matsui
     McBath
     McBride
     McClain Delaney
     McClellan
     McCollum
     McDonald Rivet
     McGarvey
     McGovern
     McIver
     Meeks
     Menendez
     Meng
     Mfume
     Min
     Moore (WI)
     Morelle
     Morrison
     Moskowitz
     Moulton
     Mrvan
     Mullin
     Nadler
     Neal
     Neguse
     Norcross
     Ocasio-Cortez
     Olszewski
     Omar
     Pallone
     Panetta
     Pappas
     Pelosi
     Perez
     Peters
     Pettersen
     Pingree
     Pocan
     Pou
     Pressley
     Quigley
     Ramirez
     Randall
     Raskin
     Riley (NY)
     Rivas
     Ross
     Ruiz
     Ryan
     Salinas
     Sanchez
     Scanlon
     Schakowsky
     Schneider
     Scholten
     Schrier
     Scott (VA)
     Scott, David
     Sewell
     Sherman
     Sherrill
     Simon
     Smith (WA)
     Sorensen
     Soto
     Stansbury
     Stanton
     Stevens
     Strickland
     Subramanyam
     Suozzi
     Swalwell
     Sykes
     Takano
     Thanedar
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Titus
     Tlaib
     Tokuda
     Tonko
     Torres (CA)
     Torres (NY)
     Trahan
     Tran
     Underwood
     Vargas
     Vasquez
     Veasey
     Velazquez
     Vindman
     Walkinshaw
     Wasserman Schultz
     Waters
     Whitesides
     Williams (GA)
     Wilson (FL)

                             NOT VOTING--4

     McCaul
     Meuser
     Onder
       
       Watson Coleman

                              {time}  1814

  Messrs. SORENSEN, POCAN, and Ms. GILLEN 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 resolution.

[[Page H4609]]

  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the ayes appeared to have it.


                             Recorded Vote

  Mr. McGOVERN. 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 213, 
noes 209, not voting 11, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 284]

                               AYES--213

     Aderholt
     Alford
     Allen
     Amodei (NV)
     Babin
     Bacon
     Baird
     Balderson
     Barr
     Barrett
     Baumgartner
     Bean (FL)
     Begich
     Bentz
     Bergman
     Bice
     Biggs (AZ)
     Biggs (SC)
     Bilirakis
     Boebert
     Bost
     Brecheen
     Bresnahan
     Buchanan
     Burchett
     Burlison
     Calvert
     Cammack
     Carey
     Carter (GA)
     Carter (TX)
     Ciscomani
     Cline
     Cloud
     Clyde
     Cole
     Collins
     Comer
     Crane
     Crank
     Crawford
     Crenshaw
     Davidson
     De La Cruz
     DesJarlais
     Diaz-Balart
     Donalds
     Downing
     Dunn (FL)
     Edwards
     Ellzey
     Emmer
     Estes
     Evans (CO)
     Ezell
     Fallon
     Fedorchak
     Feenstra
     Fine
     Finstad
     Fischbach
     Fitzgerald
     Fitzpatrick
     Fleischmann
     Flood
     Fong
     Foxx
     Franklin, Scott
     Fry
     Fulcher
     Garbarino
     Gill (TX)
     Gimenez
     Goldman (TX)
     Gonzales, Tony
     Gooden
     Gosar
     Graves
     Greene (GA)
     Griffith
     Grothman
     Guest
     Guthrie
     Hageman
     Hamadeh (AZ)
     Haridopolos
     Harrigan
     Harris (MD)
     Harris (NC)
     Harshbarger
     Hern (OK)
     Higgins (LA)
     Hill (AR)
     Hinson
     Houchin
     Hudson
     Huizenga
     Hunt
     Hurd (CO)
     Issa
     Jack
     Jackson (TX)
     James
     Johnson (LA)
     Johnson (SD)
     Jordan
     Joyce (OH)
     Joyce (PA)
     Kean
     Kelly (MS)
     Kelly (PA)
     Kiggans (VA)
     Kiley (CA)
     Kim
     Knott
     Kustoff
     LaHood
     LaLota
     LaMalfa
     Langworthy
     Latta
     Lawler
     Letlow
     Loudermilk
     Lucas
     Luna
     Luttrell
     Mace
     Mackenzie
     Malliotakis
     Maloy
     Mann
     Massie
     Mast
     McClain
     McClintock
     McCormick
     McDowell
     McGuire
     Messmer
     Meuser
     Miller (OH)
     Miller (WV)
     Miller-Meeks
     Mills
     Moolenaar
     Moore (AL)
     Moore (NC)
     Moore (UT)
     Moore (WV)
     Moran
     Murphy
     Nehls
     Newhouse
     Norman
     Nunn (IA)
     Obernolte
     Ogles
     Onder
     Owens
     Palmer
     Patronis
     Perry
     Pfluger
     Reschenthaler
     Rogers (AL)
     Rogers (KY)
     Rose
     Rouzer
     Roy
     Rulli
     Rutherford
     Salazar
     Scalise
     Schmidt
     Scott, Austin
     Self
     Sessions
     Shreve
     Simpson
     Smith (MO)
     Smith (NE)
     Smith (NJ)
     Smucker
     Spartz
     Stauber
     Stefanik
     Steil
     Steube
     Strong
     Stutzman
     Taylor
     Tenney
     Thompson (PA)
     Tiffany
     Timmons
     Turner (OH)
     Valadao
     Van Drew
     Van Duyne
     Van Orden
     Wagner
     Walberg
     Weber (TX)
     Webster (FL)
     Westerman
     Wied
     Williams (TX)
     Wilson (SC)
     Wittman
     Womack
     Yakym
     Zinke

                               NOES--209

     Adams
     Aguilar
     Amo
     Ansari
     Balint
     Barragan
     Beatty
     Bell
     Bera
     Beyer
     Bishop
     Bonamici
     Boyle (PA)
     Brown
     Brownley
     Budzinski
     Bynum
     Carbajal
     Carson
     Carter (LA)
     Casar
     Case
     Casten
     Castor (FL)
     Castro (TX)
     Cherfilus-McCormick
     Chu
     Cisneros
     Clark (MA)
     Clarke (NY)
     Cleaver
     Clyburn
     Cohen
     Conaway
     Correa
     Costa
     Courtney
     Craig
     Crockett
     Crow
     Cuellar
     Davids (KS)
     Davis (IL)
     Davis (NC)
     Dean (PA)
     DeGette
     DeLauro
     DelBene
     Deluzio
     DeSaulnier
     Dexter
     Dingell
     Doggett
     Elfreth
     Escobar
     Espaillat
     Evans (PA)
     Fields
     Figures
     Fletcher
     Foster
     Foushee
     Frankel, Lois
     Friedman
     Garamendi
     Garcia (CA)
     Garcia (IL)
     Garcia (TX)
     Gillen
     Golden (ME)
     Goldman (NY)
     Gomez
     Gonzalez, V.
     Goodlander
     Gottheimer
     Gray
     Green, Al (TX)
     Grijalva
     Harder (CA)
     Hayes
     Himes
     Horsford
     Houlahan
     Hoyer
     Hoyle (OR)
     Huffman
     Ivey
     Jackson (IL)
     Jacobs
     Jayapal
     Jeffries
     Johnson (GA)
     Johnson (TX)
     Kamlager-Dove
     Kaptur
     Keating
     Kelly (IL)
     Kennedy (NY)
     Khanna
     Krishnamoorthi
     Landsman
     Larsen (WA)
     Larson (CT)
     Latimer
     Lee (NV)
     Lee (PA)
     Leger Fernandez
     Levin
     Liccardo
     Lieu
     Lofgren
     Lynch
     Magaziner
     Mannion
     Matsui
     McBath
     McBride
     McClain Delaney
     McClellan
     McCollum
     McDonald Rivet
     McGarvey
     McGovern
     McIver
     Meeks
     Menendez
     Meng
     Mfume
     Min
     Moore (WI)
     Morelle
     Morrison
     Moskowitz
     Moulton
     Mrvan
     Mullin
     Nadler
     Neal
     Neguse
     Norcross
     Ocasio-Cortez
     Omar
     Pallone
     Panetta
     Pappas
     Pelosi
     Perez
     Peters
     Pettersen
     Pingree
     Pocan
     Pou
     Pressley
     Quigley
     Ramirez
     Randall
     Raskin
     Riley (NY)
     Rivas
     Ross
     Ruiz
     Ryan
     Salinas
     Sanchez
     Scanlon
     Schakowsky
     Schneider
     Scholten
     Schrier
     Scott (VA)
     Scott, David
     Sewell
     Sherman
     Sherrill
     Simon
     Smith (WA)
     Sorensen
     Soto
     Stansbury
     Stanton
     Stevens
     Strickland
     Subramanyam
     Suozzi
     Swalwell
     Sykes
     Takano
     Thanedar
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Titus
     Tlaib
     Tokuda
     Tonko
     Torres (CA)
     Torres (NY)
     Trahan
     Tran
     Underwood
     Vargas
     Vasquez
     Veasey
     Velazquez
     Vindman
     Walkinshaw
     Wasserman Schultz
     Waters
     Whitesides
     Wilson (FL)

                             NOT VOTING--11

     Arrington
     Auchincloss
     Frost
     Kennedy (UT)
     Lee (FL)
     McCaul
     Miller (IL)
     Olszewski
     Schweikert
     Watson Coleman
     Williams (GA)

                              {time}  1821

  So the resolution was agreed to.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________