Providing for Consideration of H.R. Separation of Powers Restoration Act of Providing for Proceedings During the Period From June Through July and Providing for Consideration of Motions to Suspend the Rules

Floor Speech

(Mr. McGOVERN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions) for the customary 30 minutes. I really want to thank him because, after what happened 2 weeks ago when we in the minority were denied any debate time on the rule or the underlying bill, I know that being given the customary 30 minutes is no longer something we should automatically assume.

Let me begin by saying I rise in strong opposition to this rule. I am going to rise in strong opposition to the rule that comes after this, and the one that comes after that.

We are debating three rules today that would provide for the consideration of legislation on the separation of powers bill, a health savings account bill that they put together, and a financial services bill. All three bills, I want my colleagues to know, are going nowhere. There are Statements of Administration Policy on all three pieces of this legislation saying the administration would veto them.

Some of these bills are so bad, I am not even sure the Senate will consider them. They are either press releases that were written in the Republican congressional campaign committee or they are bills that are so loaded up with extraneous materials and riders on all kinds of subjects that have nothing to do with the underlying legislation that, again, we are just sitting here debating bills that have no future, that are going nowhere. We are wasting the time of our colleagues, and we are wasting taxpayer money.

What we should be debating here today, and you have heard from a series of my colleagues earlier, is legislation that would provide for comprehensive background checks on anybody who wants to buy a gun, and also on legislation that says that, if you are on an FBI terrorist watch list and you cannot fly on an airplane, then you should not be allowed to go into a gun store and buy a weapon of war--or buy any gun, for that matter.

Those are the two pieces of legislation that we tried 2 weeks ago to get the Speaker of the House to give us time to debate and a vote on them, and we are still demanding consideration of these two very basic, commonsense pieces of legislation that I believe will save lives in this country. Quite frankly, that is what we should be concerned with: how we better protect our constituents, how we better protect the American people.

The issue of gun violence is something that Democrats and Republicans, alike, care about. In fact, the two pieces of legislation that we want to bring to the floor are authored by a Republican Member. The distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. King) is the prime author of both of these pieces of legislation.

This problem is something that seems to worry the American people, trouble the American people, but doesn't seem to trouble the people who are in charge of this House.

Listen to this statistic from PolitiFact:

So many people die annually from gunfire in the United States that the death toll between 1968 and 2011 eclipses all wars ever fought by the country. There were about 1.4 million firearm deaths in that period compared to 1.2 million U.S. deaths in every conflict from the War of Independence to Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, 2 weeks ago, many of us came to this floor and joined with our colleagues--John Lewis, Katherine Clark, John Larson, Mike Thompson, and so many others--in a protest, in a sit-in. The reason we did that is because the frustration level on this side of the aisle is boiling over. This is supposed to be a deliberative body where important issues get debated and voted on. Instead, this has become a place where trivial issues get debated passionately and important ones not at all.

In the aftermath of the terrible tragedy in Orlando where 49 people were killed, all we could do in this House was have a moment of silence. That was it. That was what that protest was all about. That is what that sit-in was all about.

We have exhausted every other way to try to get this legislation to the floor. Every time we try to go through regular order, we are blocked, we are blocked, we are blocked, we are blocked.

Enough.

The American people overwhelmingly support the no fly, no buy bill and universal background checks. They are not going to fall for the theatrics that my Republican friends are now engaged in this week, which is to bring up an NRA-written bill, which they are going to say is no fly, no buy.

But what they are not going to tell you is that all of the loopholes still exist. It doesn't matter what this bill purports to do; you could still be on the terrorist watch list and go online and buy a gun. You could still be on the terrorist watch list and not be able to fly and go to a gun show and buy a gun.

It is pathetic that the loopholes and the background checks in our laws continue to be unaddressed. All we are trying to do is have our moment where we can debate this issue, which, again, is a bipartisan issue. It is not a partisan issue. Again, the two pieces of legislation that we want to bring to the floor are authored by a Republican Member.

Mr. Speaker, we are not going away. This issue is too important. We are not going to be silent. We are going to continue to use every means available to us to raise our voices and to demand that the leadership of this House respect not the wishes of the Democratic minority, but respect the wishes of the vast majority of the American people, Democrats and Republicans alike.

I am tired of this Republican leadership, on a regular basis, bringing meaningless bills to this floor for debate and taking up the time of the Members and wasting taxpayers' money. This bill is going nowhere, and we all know that.

I am also tired of moments of silence after every massacre that occurs in this country--Sandy Hook, San Bernardino, Orlando, Aurora, Virginia Tech, Charleston. I can go on and on and on and on. All this body can do is have a moment of silence.

We can't even have a debate on the floor on serious legislation, which is bipartisan legislation, because the NRA wouldn't like it. Too bad. Too many people are dying in this country, and we have to do something. We have to come together.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that we defeat the previous question, and I will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up bipartisan legislation that would allow the Attorney General to bar the sale of firearms and explosives to those on the FBI's terrorist watch list.

The Republican majority refused to even debate closing this glaring loophole for the first half of the year. Only after Democrats took action did the majority decide to offer a toothless NRA bill that will do nothing to keep our communities safer. The country, simply, cannot wait any longer for this Congress to take meaningful action to end gun violence. The American people will not be fooled by this latest-- cynical--Republican capitulation to the gun lobby.

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Mr. McGOVERN. I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Esty).

My Republican friends have the right to talk about whatever they want to talk about no matter how inconsequential or meaningless. We all know that this stuff we are dealing with today is going nowhere.

We Democrats reserve the right to talk about matters of consequence, to talk about things that, quite frankly, our constituents are concerned about.

From every public opinion poll I have seen, the majority of Americans want us to do something about it, and that is this issue of gun violence. People don't want to have massacres become the new norm in this country. They want us to do something.

I would suggest to my colleagues that those who are resisting, allowing us to have these debates and to have these votes are on the wrong side of not only public opinion, they are on the wrong side of history.

Clark), one of the leaders in our Caucus.

Again, I would remind my colleague that what we are doing today is considering three rules that will bring forward legislation that is going absolutely nowhere. And when the gentleman talks about the power of Congress, he is right; Congress does have power.

Congress has the power to actually pass a universal background check, to make sure that there are no loopholes in our law that allows criminals or suspected terrorists from getting weapons that they could use against our people.

Congress could pass a no fly, no buy bill, which says that if you are on an FBI terrorist watch list, then you should not be able to go to a gun store and buy a gun. So we have the power to do some important things for the American people. Unfortunately, this leadership in this House refuses to bring these important priorities to the floor.

I appreciate the gentleman from Texas' defense of what I think is a lousy and meaningless piece of legislation. It is going nowhere. And just so people can put it in perspective, basically what it is about is easing up on regulations on polluters and big corporations that, quite frankly, don't care about average working people.

But be that as it may, let me make clear to my colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans, that when I am asking Members to defeat the previous question, you can still vote on this meaningless and lousy piece of legislation. It would just also allow us to bring up the no fly, no buy legislation as well, the bipartisan no fly, no buy legislation.

The underlying bill that the gentleman from Texas is talking about is a purely partisan document. And if we want to talk about how we get this economy moving even faster, maybe we ought to talk about how we work in a bipartisan way to do that, not constantly bringing partisan documents like this to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, once again, I urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question so that we can bring up bipartisan legislation that would allow the Attorney General to bar the sale of firearms and explosives to those on the FBI's terrorist watch list.

Mr. Speaker, enough is enough is enough is enough. The American people demand action. We are supposed to be the greatest deliberative body in the world. It is time we act like it.

Vote ``no'' to defeat the previous question and vote ``no'' on the rule.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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