Providing for Consideration of the Senate Amendment to H.R. 83, Insular Areas and Freely Associated States Energy Development; Waiving Requirement of Clause 6(a) of Rule XIII with Respect to Consideration of Certain Resolutions; and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

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Mr. McGOVERN. I thank the gentlewoman.

Madam Speaker, I oppose this closed rule, and I oppose the underlying
bill, which is the product of a closed and deeply flawed process.

It contains policy riders that will do great damage to this country
and that have no business whatsoever being in an omnibus spending bill.
It contains an airdropped earmark for politicians that would allow
wealthy couples to give as much as $3.1 million to political parties--
three times as much as the current level. No hearings, no markup, no
discussion--just snuck into the bill with the hope that no one would
notice. We ought to be finding ways, Madam Speaker, to get money out of
politics, not the reverse.

The bill would repeal, at the request of Wall Street special
interests and lobbyists, important Dodd-Frank provisions. It would
allow banks to engage in the same risky behavior that caused the
financial crisis of 2008.

What in the world are my Republican colleagues thinking? I know they
want to do a lot of favors for their pals on Wall Street, but, please,
please, do not do it at the expense of our economy.

The bill contains a provision that the trucking industry wants to
allow truck drivers to work up to 80 hours a week when we know that
over-tired truck drivers put all of us at risk on the roads.

Unbelievable.

Finally, the bill funds new wars that Congress has not authorized. We
are dropping bombs every day in Iraq and Syria. We have 3,000 troops
deployed in Iraq, and we hear more and more talk about having those
troops engage in direct combat.

Yet, this Republican leadership has been content to do nothing. In
fact, the majority has repeatedly and routinely denied Members the
right to debate the issue of war on the floor of the House of
Representatives. None of us will be asked to fight another pointless
war, Madam Speaker--they are not our lives on the line--but we have a
constitutional responsibility to debate and vote on whether to
authorize it. But no. Instead, we are leaving town. Instead, we are
ducking a vote. We are not doing our jobs. It is shameful and it is
inexcusable, and it is a lousy way to end this session.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.

Just to respond to my colleague, I should remind my colleagues here
that there were five appropriations bills that never saw the light of
day here on the House floor. Of the ones that we did deal with, none of
them included the rollback of Dodd-Frank provisions or the rollback of
campaign finance reform. We can blame the United States Senate all we
want, but they have nothing to do with whether or not we bring up a
resolution to authorize another war in Iraq or not.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from California
(Ms. Waters), the distinguished ranking member of the Financial
Services Committee.

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