[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 162 (Tuesday, October 3, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H4969-H4978]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RAISING A QUESTION OF THE PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE
Mr. GAETZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise to a question of the privileges of the
House and offer the resolution I previously noticed.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the resolution.
The Clerk read as follows:
H. Res. 757
Resolved, That the office of Speaker of the House of
Representatives is hereby declared to be vacant.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The resolution qualifies as a question of
the privileges of the House.
Motion to Table
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to table at the desk.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the motion.
The Clerk read as follows:
Mr. Cole of Oklahoma moves to lay the resolution on the
table.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to table.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 208,
nays 218, not voting 7, as follows:
[Roll No. 518]
YEAS--208
Aderholt
Alford
Allen
Amodei
Armstrong
Arrington
Babin
Bacon
Baird
Balderson
Banks
Barr
Bean (FL)
Bentz
Bergman
Bice
Bilirakis
Bishop (NC)
Boebert
Bost
Brecheen
Buchanan
Bucshon
Burgess
Burlison
Calvert
Cammack
Carey
Carl
Carter (GA)
Chavez-DeRemer
Ciscomani
Cline
Cloud
Clyde
Cole
Collins
Comer
Crawford
Crenshaw
Curtis
D'Esposito
De La Cruz
DesJarlais
Diaz-Balart
Donalds
Duarte
Duncan
Dunn (FL)
Edwards
Ellzey
Emmer
Estes
Ezell
Fallon
Feenstra
Ferguson
Finstad
Fischbach
Fitzgerald
Fitzpatrick
Fleischmann
Flood
Foxx
Franklin, C. Scott
Fry
Fulcher
Gallagher
Garbarino
Garcia, Mike
Gimenez
Gonzales, Tony
Gooden (TX)
Gosar
Granger
Graves (LA)
Graves (MO)
Green (TN)
Greene (GA)
Griffith
Grothman
Guest
Guthrie
Hageman
Harris
Harshbarger
Hern
Higgins (LA)
Hill
Hinson
Houchin
Hudson
Huizenga
Hunt
Issa
Jackson (TX)
James
Johnson (LA)
Johnson (OH)
Johnson (SD)
Jordan
Joyce (OH)
Joyce (PA)
Kean (NJ)
Kelly (MS)
Kelly (PA)
Kiggans (VA)
Kiley
Kim (CA)
Kustoff
LaHood
LaLota
LaMalfa
Lamborn
Langworthy
Latta
LaTurner
Lawler
Lee (FL)
Lesko
Letlow
Loudermilk
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
Luttrell
Malliotakis
Mann
Massie
Mast
McCarthy
McCaul
McClain
McClintock
McCormick
McHenry
Meuser
Miller (IL)
Miller (OH)
Miller (WV)
Miller-Meeks
Molinaro
Moolenaar
Mooney
Moore (AL)
Moore (UT)
Moran
Murphy
Nehls
Newhouse
Norman
Nunn (IA)
Obernolte
Ogles
Owens
Palmer
Pence
Perry
Pfluger
Posey
Reschenthaler
Rodgers (WA)
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rose
Rouzer
Roy
Rutherford
Salazar
Santos
Scalise
Schweikert
Scott, Austin
Self
Sessions
Simpson
Smith (MO)
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smucker
Stauber
Steel
Stefanik
Steil
Steube
Strong
Tenney
Thompson (PA)
Tiffany
Timmons
Turner
Valadao
Van Drew
Van Duyne
Van Orden
Wagner
Walberg
Waltz
Weber (TX)
Webster (FL)
Wenstrup
Westerman
Williams (NY)
Williams (TX)
Wilson (SC)
Wittman
Womack
Yakym
Zinke
NAYS--218
Adams
Aguilar
Allred
Auchincloss
Balint
Barragan
Beatty
Bera
Beyer
Biggs
Bishop (GA)
Blumenauer
Blunt Rochester
Bonamici
Bowman
Boyle (PA)
Brown
Brownley
Buck
Budzinski
Burchett
Caraveo
Carbajal
Cardenas
Carson
Carter (LA)
Cartwright
Casar
Case
Casten
Castor (FL)
Castro (TX)
Cherfilus-McCormick
Chu
Clark (MA)
Clarke (NY)
Cleaver
Clyburn
Cohen
Connolly
Correa
Costa
Courtney
Craig
Crane
Crockett
Crow
Cuellar
Davids (KS)
Davidson
Davis (IL)
Davis (NC)
Dean (PA)
DeGette
DeLauro
DelBene
Deluzio
DeSaulnier
Dingell
Doggett
Escobar
Eshoo
Espaillat
Evans
Fletcher
Foster
Foushee
Frankel, Lois
Frost
Gaetz
Gallego
Garamendi
Garcia (IL)
Garcia (TX)
Garcia, Robert
Golden (ME)
Goldman (NY)
Gomez
Gonzalez, Vicente
Good (VA)
Gottheimer
Green, Al (TX)
Grijalva
Harder (CA)
Hayes
Higgins (NY)
Himes
Horsford
Houlahan
Hoyer
Hoyle (OR)
Huffman
Ivey
Jackson (IL)
Jackson (NC)
Jackson Lee
Jacobs
Jayapal
Jeffries
Johnson (GA)
Kamlager-Dove
Kaptur
Keating
[[Page H4970]]
Kelly (IL)
Khanna
Kildee
Kilmer
Kim (NJ)
Krishnamoorthi
Kuster
Landsman
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lee (CA)
Lee (NV)
Lee (PA)
Leger Fernandez
Levin
Lieu
Lofgren
Lynch
Mace
Magaziner
Manning
Matsui
McBath
McClellan
McCollum
McGarvey
McGovern
Meeks
Menendez
Meng
Mfume
Mills
Moore (WI)
Morelle
Moskowitz
Moulton
Mrvan
Mullin
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Neguse
Nickel
Norcross
Ocasio-Cortez
Omar
Pallone
Panetta
Pappas
Pascrell
Payne
Perez
Peters
Pettersen
Phillips
Pingree
Pocan
Porter
Pressley
Quigley
Ramirez
Raskin
Rosendale
Ross
Ruiz
Ruppersberger
Ryan
Salinas
Sanchez
Sarbanes
Scanlon
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schneider
Scholten
Schrier
Scott (VA)
Scott, David
Sewell
Sherman
Sherrill
Slotkin
Smith (WA)
Sorensen
Soto
Spanberger
Spartz
Stansbury
Stanton
Stevens
Strickland
Swalwell
Takano
Thanedar
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Titus
Tlaib
Tokuda
Tonko
Torres (CA)
Torres (NY)
Trahan
Trone
Underwood
Vargas
Vasquez
Veasey
Velazquez
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson Coleman
Wexton
Wild
Williams (GA)
NOT VOTING--7
Bush
Carter (TX)
Luna
Pelosi
Peltola
Sykes
Wilson (FL)
Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore
The SPEAKER pro tempore (during the vote). There is 1 minute
remaining.
{time} 1443
So the motion to table was rejected.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 2(a)(2) of rule IX, the
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Gaetz) and the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr.
Cole) each will control 30 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida.
Mr. GAETZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Good).
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Before the gentleman speaks, may I remind my
colleagues that all parties need to be heard. Would you please clear
the well and clear the aisles, and any extraneous conversations need to
be taken from the floor.
Mr. GOOD of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, like so many others, I deeply
regret that we are here in what was a totally avoidable situation.
I must take you back to January, however, which for many of us was
about not repeating the failures of the past and letting Republican
voters across the country down once again, when in the past for many
years, when Republicans have had majorities in this Chamber, we have
passed our major spending bills predominantly with Democratic votes;
something the other side of the House has never and would never do with
majority control.
Back in January, I expressed my concern that the previous 2 years
during my first term here in this House, we had not used every tool at
our disposal to fight against the harmful, radical Democrat agenda that
is destroying the country, bankrupting the country, and under which the
American people are suffering.
Most in here wouldn't know that I helped persuade my five colleagues
who comprised the remaining resistance in the wee morning hours of
January 7 to switch our votes to ``present'' to let Mr. McCarthy become
Speaker.
I went to him on this very floor to tell him that he was finally
going to become Speaker on the next vote. In that moment, it was clear
to me that I or we could have asked for anything in exchange for
switching our votes to ``present,'' but I and we asked for nothing.
The very next week, I requested and had a meeting with Speaker
McCarthy to tell him he had my full support and that I wanted him to be
successful because the country needed him to be successful.
In the ensuing months, I helped him narrowly pass the Parents Bill of
Rights and the Limit, Save, Grow bill--I think both of those by just
one or two votes--helping persuade some of my most conservative
colleagues to come along despite some of the concerns they had with
those bills.
We remained united as a Conference through the Limit, Save, Grow vote
as we passed a bill that was cutting spending to pre-COVID levels for
nondefense discretionary spending or just over $100 billion, historic
spending cuts, as the Speaker had committed to do in January. It also
included a host of other conservative fiscal reforms.
Unfortunately, however, that unity and that commitment to significant
year-one cuts and spending reforms were discarded in the failed
responsibility act, as I call it, which passed overwhelmingly, once
again, with a majority of Democrat votes, validating the concern many
of us had in January.
Many of us had begged the Speaker, pleaded with the Speaker
repeatedly, to utilize the debt ceiling to leverage spending cuts and
reforms.
Instead, he negotiated an unlimited increase to the debt ceiling
through January of `25, as much as we can come together and gleefully
spend through January of `25, with no significant wins for the American
people in that FRA or failed responsibility act.
The Speaker then said that we would use appropriations to bring the
fight and finally reduce our spending.
He said the levels of the FRA were the ceiling and not the floor, and
recommitted multiple times to go back to the $1.471 trillion that was
the Limit, Save, Grow levels, radically, historically saving $100
billion and lowering the deficit this year under Republican majority
from $2.2 trillion to $2.1 trillion. That is what we were asking the
Republican House to do, to go to $2.1 trillion.
Meanwhile, the Speaker had committed to bring a balanced budget vote
to this floor, something that still has not happened despite the work
that has been done in our Budget Committee to mark it up and have it
ready to come to the floor.
He also promised that we would bring all 12 appropriations bills well
before the September 30 fiscal deadline. We did not.
We simply, as Republicans, needed the Speaker to cast the vision,
request the support of the entire Conference, all of whom voted for the
Limit, Save, Grow levels, except for four who wanted to go even
further, to lead us in joining him, sticking with him, supporting him,
and sending the most conservative spending bills with the most
conservative cuts possible to the Senate as the best starting position
for negotiations with the Senate. Many of us begged and pleaded with
the Speaker to do that over the past 5 months.
When the Speaker failed to lead us to pass our spending bills,
bringing only 1 of 12 to the floor before the August district work
period, Members began to negotiate amongst themselves without the
Speaker to find compromise.
I was among those who reluctantly agreed last month to split the
difference between failed responsibilities, $1.526, and the Limit,
Save, Grow, $1.471. I reluctantly agreed to do that, to go to $1.526,
in order to pass our bills on to the Senate.
We then essentially forced the Speaker with the pressure of the
shutdown threat of the calendar to bring those four bills to the floor
last week, all of which I voted for, despite some of them not cutting
to the levels we agreed to and other concerns I had with the bills.
I reluctantly voted for a 30-day conditional CR, continuing
resolution, because it cut an additional $10 billion in the month of
October, going back to the pre-COVID $1.471 levels for defense,
nondefense discretionary, 30 percent, and it had border security. I
voted for that.
However, when that vote failed, the Speaker, this past Friday in the
Republican Conference meeting, made it abundantly clear that he was
willing to do anything to avoid the temporary discomfort and the
pressure of a pause in the 15 percent of the nonessential Federal
Government operations, which would guarantee that we would lose to the
Senate Democrats and the White House. If you are not willing to say no,
then you are guaranteed to lose.
That was confirmed with the passage of the unconditional 45-day CR
this past Saturday, once again with 209 Democrat votes. The Republican
bill, 209-1 Democrats; 51-0 on the Senate side.
The Speaker fought through 15 votes in January to become Speaker but
was only willing to fight through one failed CR before surrendering to
the Democrats on Saturday. We need a Speaker who will fight for
something, anything,
[[Page H4971]]
besides just staying or becoming Speaker.
If there was ever a time to fight with $33 trillion in national debt,
a $2 trillion deficit this year, 40-year high inflation, 20-year high
interest rates, a downgraded credit rating, and for the first time in
modern history and despite all the help of the media blaming
Republicans in the House, the polls showing that the public was blaming
Biden and the Democrats for an imminent shutdown. If not fight now,
when would we fight? Now is and was the time.
With the Democrats driving the fiscal bus off the cliff at 100 miles
an hour, we cannot simply be content to be the party that slows it down
to 95 just so we can sit in the front seat and wear the captain's hat.
Our current debt and our spending trajectory is unsustainable. We
need a Speaker, ideally somebody who doesn't want to be Speaker and
hasn't pursued that at all costs for his entire adult life, who will
meet the moment and do everything possible to fight for the country.
A red line was crossed for me, I regret, on Saturday, and so it is
with regret that I must vote against the motion to table, as I did, and
vote to vacate the Chair.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I share one thing in common with my friend
from Virginia. This is a very sad day and certainly a day I never
expected to have to live through.
I think, broadly speaking, as I look across this floor, you can
divide Members into three groups. I am very happy to be in the first
group, the overwhelming majority of my party who supports the Speaker
that we elected.
We are proud of the leadership he has shown. We are proud of the
manner in which he has been willing to work with everybody in our
Conference, and I believe in this Chamber.
There is a second group, a small group. Honestly, they are willing to
plunge this body into chaos and this country into uncertainty for
reasons that only they really understand. I certainly don't.
Then there are friends on the other side--I mean friends, honestly,
with great sincerity--I have a lot of friends over there, and I
recognize that my friends on the other side have a very complex set of
partisan, personal, and political calculations to make.
I certainly wouldn't presume to give them any advice about that, but
I would say think long and hard before you plunge us into chaos because
that is where we are headed if we vacate the speakership.
I personally think there are really three reasons why we have come to
this point, and that is because at each three of these critical
minutes, the Speaker did the right thing.
First, there was a Speaker vote. He got 85 percent of the vote in our
Conference; 90 percent of the vote from Republicans on this floor.
Yet, we had a small group that decided no, they would dictate what
they want. He didn't let that happen. He fought. Now, he fought for
himself, but he fought for 90 percent of us too that wanted him to be
the Speaker, and I appreciate that.
Then, of course, we had the debt ceiling deal. Nobody here thought he
could pass a bill. Nobody in America thought he could pass a bill.
He did what Speakers are supposed to do. He passed the bill. Then he
sat down and negotiated with a Democratic Senate and a Democratic
President and came back with a good deal, a deal that will limit
spending. He did the right thing.
Finally, last Saturday on this floor, we were on the verge of a
government shutdown, a government shutdown that the vast majority of
Members in this Chamber did not want, a substantial majority on my side
and an overwhelming majority on the Democrat side.
{time} 1500
He put his political neck on the line, knowing this day was coming,
to do the right thing--the right thing for the country without a doubt.
My friends and I agree on that, whether or not we agree on the Speaker.
He did the right thing. He did the right thing for this institution. He
showed it could function in a time of crisis. Finally, he did the right
thing for our party. He made sure that we could continue to negotiate
and achieve some of the very objectives my friend from Virginia laid
out, and achieve them in divided government, which calls for some
degree of give-and-take.
Mr. Speaker, I am very proud of this Speaker. I am very proud to
stand behind him. Tomorrow morning, whether I win or lose, I am going
to be pretty proud of the people I fought with and I am going to be
extraordinarily proud of the person I fought for, the Speaker of the
House, Kevin McCarthy.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GAETZ. Mr. Speaker, my friend from Oklahoma says that my
colleagues and I who don't support Kevin McCarthy would plunge the
House and the country into chaos. Chaos is Speaker McCarthy. Chaos is
somebody who we cannot trust with their word.
The one thing that the White House, House Democrats, and many of us
on the conservative side of the Republican caucus would argue is that
the thing we have in common, Kevin McCarthy said something to all of us
at one point or another that he didn't really mean and never intended
to live up to.
I don't think voting against Kevin McCarthy is chaos. I think $33
trillion in debt is chaos. I think that facing a $2.2 trillion annual
deficit is chaos. I think that not passing single-subject spending
bills is chaos. I think the fact that we have been governed in this
country since the mid-1990s by continuing resolution and omnibus is
chaos. The way to liberate ourselves from that is a series of reforms
to this body that I would hope would outlast Speaker McCarthy's time
here, would outlast my time here, and would outlast either of our
majorities.
Mr. Speaker, these are reforms that I have heard some of the most
conservative Members of this body fight for and some of the reforms
that we have been battling for that I have even heard those in the
Democratic Caucus say would be worthy and helpful to the House--like
open amendments and understanding what the budget is.
We have been out of compliance with budget laws for most of my life
and most of many of your lives. By the way, if we did those things, if
we had single-subject bills, if we had an understanding on the top
line, if we had open amendments, if we had trust and honesty and
understanding, there would be times when my conservative colleagues and
I would lose. There might be a few times when we would win. There would
be times when we would form partnerships that might otherwise not be
really predictable in the American body politic, but the American
people would see us legislating.
These last few days, we have suspended the momentum that we had
established the week earlier when we were bringing bills to the floor,
voting on them, and staying late at night working hard. That is what
the American people expect. It is something Speaker McCarthy hasn't
delivered. That is why I moved to vacate the Chair.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Minnesota (Mr. Emmer), my very good friend.
Mr. EMMER. Mr. Speaker, Kevin McCarthy has earned this. Under Speaker
McCarthy's leadership, our House Republican majority has actually
defied all odds and overperformed expectations again and again and
again.
It all started with the Speaker's race when our Speaker, Kevin
McCarthy, showed the American people how he would never give up. It
carried over into the Speaker spearheading a Rules package to create
the most transparent, Member-driven legislative process that I have
ever seen since I have been here.
Since then, Speaker McCarthy's Republican majority has been
successful in bringing common sense back to our Nation's capital by
passing legislation to affirm a parents' right to be involved in their
child's education, bolster American energy production, fully fund
veterans' care and benefits, fight back against the regulatory state,
and continue delivering on our promise to rein in Democrats' reckless
spending by passing fiscally responsible appropriations bills.
[[Page H4972]]
We have also achieved historic conservative wins like passing the
strongest border security legislation in history, passing the first
Republican-only NDAA in history, and passing the first Republican-only
State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill.
So many Americans are better off because of Kevin McCarthy's
leadership: American families, jobs creators, entrepreneurs,
servicemembers, law enforcement officers, and the list goes on and on.
These are just a few of our House Republican majority successes.
Make no mistake, we need Kevin McCarthy to remain Speaker if we are
going to stay focused on our mission of delivering commonsense wins for
the American people. We have shown Americans what success looks like
when we come together as a team.
Now it is time for us to stand together stronger than ever so we can
get back to the work our majority was elected to do.
I am proud to support the Speaker as we continue championing
conservative priorities that will put our country on a better path. Mr.
Speaker, I thank Speaker McCarthy.
Mr. GAETZ. Mr. Speaker, the opening line of my colleague's speech was
that Speaker McCarthy always overperforms expectations, but after
tweeting ``bring it'' and after engaging in profane-laced tirades at
House Conference, he just lost a motion to table. I wouldn't
necessarily consider that overperforming expectations.
Time and again, I have heard my colleagues say: Well, he deserves it
because he went through a tough Speaker contest. Let me let everyone
know, he prevailed in that Speaker contest because he made an agreement
to fulfill certain commitments to make this an open and honest process,
and he has failed to meet those commitments. That is why we are here.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio
(Mr. Jordan), my very good friend.
Mr. JORDAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 3 we said the 118th Congress is
about three things: pass the bills that need passed, do the oversight
work that needs to be done, and stop the inevitable omnibus that comes
from the United States Senate right before the holidays.
Kevin McCarthy has been rock-solid on all three. We have passed the
bills we told the American people we would pass: the 87,000 IRS agents,
that bill passed; Parents Bill of Rights, that bill passed; energy
legislation, passed; border security immigration enforcement
legislation, the strongest bill ever to pass the Congress, passed
earlier this year.
We have done what we told them we were going to do. We can't help
that the Senate won't take up those good commonsense bills. They will
have to answer to the American people come election day.
Oversight. We have done the oversight that we are supposed to do.
Because of our oversight, we know that parents were targeted by the
Department of Justice. Because of our oversight, we know that 51 former
intel officials misled the country weeks before the most important
election we have.
Mr. Speaker, because of our oversight, the Disinformation Governance
Board at the Department of Homeland Security is gone. Because of our
oversight, the memo attacking pro-life Catholics has been rescinded.
Because of over oversight, unannounced visits to Americans' homes by
the Internal Revenue Service has stopped. That happened under Speaker
McCarthy.
On the third one on this side, we know there is a big, old, ugly bill
coming at the end of the year with all kinds of spending and garbage in
it. We are still in that fight. Frankly, to Mr. Gaetz' point, we don't
know how that one is going to shake out.
We do know this: On Saturday, we didn't take the Senate's bill. The
Senate tried to send it over and shove it down our throats on Saturday,
but we didn't take that bill. The Speaker was in a tough position.
There were five options on the table last week. Option one was to
send a long-term CR over there that would have leveraged the 1 percent
cut--something a bunch of us voted for, both parties. We couldn't get
the votes for that one.
The second option was to focus on the one issue the country is now
completely focused on, the border issue. We couldn't get the votes for
that one either. When the Senate tried to send us that bill, he said
``no'' to it.
Mr. Speaker, I think the Speaker has kept his word. I know my
colleagues and friends are saying different, but I think he has kept
his word on those three things that we talked about on January 3 and,
frankly, that entire week.
Mr. Speaker, he has kept his word, and I think we should keep him as
Speaker.
Mr. GAETZ. Mr. Speaker, the problem with my friend from Ohio's
argument is that many of the bills he referenced as having passed are
not law. We are on a fast track to an omnibus bill, and it is difficult
to champion oversight when House Republicans haven't even sent a
subpoena to Hunter Biden. It is hard to make the argument that
oversight is the reason to continue when it sort of looks like failure
theater.
Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman
from Arizona (Mr. Biggs).
Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, this is a serious time. My mind immediately
goes to the young deputy from Cochise County who 2 nights ago, while
trying to apprehend a runaway vehicle smuggling humans across the
border, suffered major injuries. He was transported to Pima County
where he is in a Tucson hospital fighting for his life.
I am talking about a border that remains wide open where drugs come
through. The Tucson sector has the most got-aways known and unknown of
any sector along the border. There are terrorists coming in, people
conducting criminal conduct coming in, criminal gang members, human
smugglers, and sex traffickers. They are coming across our border to
the tune of hundreds of thousands every month.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleagues and their position, but I
would suggest something: I don't think you can just skip to last
weekend and say, oh, my goodness, a CR came out last weekend on
Saturday. I think we need to go back to January.
I will say this. This body came together on the Republican side and
we passed a good border security piece of legislation, H.R. 2. That is
good.
Last week we passed the DHS bill and the DOD bills which had funding
for our CBP, ICE, military leaders, and military men and women. Why
were we successful in doing that? What happened to motivate us to get
there?
Well, for one thing, we didn't bother to pass the 12 appropriations
bills as required under the Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
We didn't do it. Do you know how many times that has not been done?
That has not been done 25 years in a row.
Do you know how many CRs this body has passed in that same period of
time?
It is 130.
Do you know what that gets you?
A $2 trillion-plus structural deficit like we had in fiscal year
2023.
Do you know what that leads you to?
A $33 trillion national debt, which is where we sit today. It leads
you to somewhere north of $700 billion in interest payments.
Do you know why that happened?
Because this body is entrenched in a suboptimal path and refuses to
leave it. It refuses to leave that path. You cannot change if you are
unwilling to change. We had every opportunity to change. We were
promised change.
We were promised we were going to go ahead, and we were going to get
those 12 bills done. If we got those 12 bills done--do you know why you
do 12 bills?
Because it allows you to reduce spending and get rid of wasteful
duplicative programs. It allows you to set an agenda to restore fiscal
sanity. We chose to not do it again. We were promised we would do it.
That is why at the end some people said: We will vote present. We will
go ahead. We are going to put our trust in Mr. McCarthy to become the
Speaker. That didn't happen. I suspected that would be the case. That
was my struggle. That was my struggle last November and December. I
iterated it to this body, our Conference anyway.
When we got to the debt ceiling, again, that seemed to spring upon
everybody like a surprise. When that happened, I was in there for some
of those
[[Page H4973]]
negotiations on where that number would be, and I was astonished how
that $1.5 trillion number was negotiated. Unbelievable. Unbelievable.
{time} 1515
However, I will tell you this: To his credit, the Speaker told us one
thing that I believe to be true. He said that is basically the ante in
a poker game. You can sit down at the table.
I told my colleagues who supported that: That $1.5 trillion in 8
months that you are willing to raise the debt ceiling, that is the
opening marker.
Indeed, it was. Now, projections are many trillion dollars above
that.
Yes, I think it is time to make a change. I am not the only one, and
thus, it is somber. But what have we failed to accomplish? Why didn't
we get this stuff done?
When we are campaigning, we are talking about an extension of the
debt ceiling to January 2025.
We are talking about additional Ukraine funding. Maybe that is good
in your districts. Maybe it is not. That money is not offset. We are
not paying for it. We haven't designated how we are going to pay for
that--the same with the disaster package.
The IRS remains 80 percent increased. I could go down the list, but I
will just tell you why this happens. When you don't do your 12 budget
bills and you rely ultimately on a CR--and I will get to the calendar
in a second--what happens is, you cannot leverage this administration
to actually enforce the border laws that you need to have enforced.
This is a lawless Biden regime. They will not enforce border laws. We
can pass them until we are blue in the face, but until you leverage the
budget and the spending, you will not see enforcement by this
administration.
Now, take a look at the calendar that we were just provided last
week. We are supposed to finish our 12 bills by November 3. By November
17 is when we are supposed to see that the conference committees have
come together, both sides, and we have resolved this. I don't believe
that that is going to happen.
It wasn't going to happen before. You were betting on the come again.
At some point, I would urge you to stop betting on the come and bet on
the reality. That is why I can't support the Speaker any longer, and I
will be voting for the motion to vacate.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to direct their remarks
to the Chair.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Arkansas (Mr. Westerman), my very good friend.
Mr. WESTERMAN. Selah, s-e-l-a-h, selah. This unique word, scattered
throughout the Psalms, signals to the reader to pause, reflect,
consider, and maybe take a deep breath before moving on.
Psalmists use selah to emphasize the significance of a statement. For
example, King David wrote: ``Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our
burden, the God who is our salvation. Selah.'' That is a profound
statement with huge implications. It deserves more than a cursory
consideration.
Within the next hour, this House will vote ``yea'' or ``nay'' to
vacate the Speaker's chair, a profound action with huge implications.
This was last tried in 1910. Joseph Cannon won the vote. One hundred
thirteen years later, my office is in the Cannon Office Building, and
Uncle Joe Cannon's statue sits just outside this Chamber.
No living human has taken the vote we are about to take. It deserves
that we pause and reflect, that we consider deeply the ramification of
our actions.
To my fellow Republicans who would consider voting ``yes'' to
removing our Republican Speaker, please pause and ask yourself two
questions: Will your ``yes'' vote make America stronger? Will your
``yes'' vote strengthen conservative policies?
If you believe ``yes'' is the right vote, please stand before this
body and the American people and articulate your plan--not your
grievances or your wishes, your plan. Convince the vast majority of the
Republican Conference that strongly disagrees with you to follow you.
If you cannot do that, which you have failed to do so far, then
voting ``yes'' is, at the least, a disruptive overreaction. In reality,
it is selfish, bad for conservative policies, and bad for America.
That is why I strongly support Speaker Kevin McCarthy and why,
without hesitation or reservation, I will vote ``no'' on this
disastrous resolution.
Mr. GAETZ. Mr. Speaker, there is nothing selfish about wanting a
Speaker of the House who tells the truth. I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Kentucky (Mr. Massie), my good friend and fellow member of the Rules
Committee.
Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, as the only still-serving coauthor and
cosponsor of the motion to vacate Speaker Boehner, I can tell you this
motion to vacate is a terrible idea. As the only Member who is serving
here who took every chance to vote against Speaker Boehner and to vote
against Speaker Ryan, I can tell you that this Chamber has been run
better, more conservatively, and more transparently under Mr. McCarthy
than any other Speaker that I have served under.
As a member of the Rules Committee, one of three conservatives who
was placed there out of trust--the Speaker gave us a blocking position
by putting three of us on there to keep an eye on the Rules Committee,
to make sure the process was fair and even--I can tell you it has been
fair and even. None of us are voting against the Speaker today.
Regular order is at odds with predetermined outcomes. Yet, the
Speaker is being accused of not holding to regular order and
predetermined outcomes at the same time. It is not possible. You cannot
be for both at the same time.
I was a party to the January agreement, and I can tell you that there
were promises in there, but there was never a promise for an outcome.
There was never a promise that you could force Joe Biden to sign
something. There was only the promise that we would try, and try we
have. We have tried in the Rules Committee. We have tried on the floor.
We have been trying since this summer.
There is enough blame to go around for why we don't have 12 bills,
but part of it was a relitigation of the debt limit deal.
By the way, there was no promise on the debt limit deal. There were
no conditions on that in January--zero--whatsoever. I was in the room
for that.
The 12 bills were delayed over what? $100 billion. That is a lot of
money, but it is nothing compared to the $2 trillion that I came here
to object to when Speaker Pelosi and President Trump pushed that bill
through.
We have had over 500 amendments. Listen, this is a referendum on this
institution. We have tried regular order. Speaker McCarthy has tried
regular order. If regular order fails today, if you vote to vacate the
Speaker, no one is going to try again. This institution will fail.
Please do not vacate the Speaker.
Mr. GAETZ. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
California (Mr. McClintock), my very good friend.
Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, if there was ever a time for sobriety,
wisdom, and caution in this House, it is right now.
If this motion carries, the House will be paralyzed. We can expect
week after week of fruitless ballots while no other business can be
conducted. The Democrats will revel in Republican dysfunction, and the
public will rightly be repulsed. It will end when the Democrats are
able to enlist a rump caucus of Republicans to join a coalition to end
the impasse.
This House will shift dramatically to the left and will effectively
end the Republican House majority that the voters elected in 2022.
This, in turn, will neutralize the only counterweight in our elected
government to the woke left's control of the Senate and the White House
at a time when their policies are destroying our economy and have
opened our borders to invasion.
There are turning points in history whose significance is only
realized by the events that they unleash. This is one of those times.
We are at the precipice. There are only minutes left to come to our
senses and realize the grave danger our country is in at this moment.
Dear God, grant us the wisdom to see it and to save our country from
it.
[[Page H4974]]
Mr. GAETZ. Mr. Speaker, there is nothing sober, wise, or cautious
about the path we are on. We are on a path to financial ruin if this
House does not take a different posture, a different procedure, and
yield toward different outcomes and a better future. I reserve the
balance of my time.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Gimenez), my very good friend.
Mr. GIMENEZ. Mr. Speaker, I stand before my colleagues and the Nation
as a proud Representative of the great State of Florida. I truly am
beyond blessed to represent the paradise that is Miami-Dade County and
the Florida Keys. I am beyond proud to represent my community before
this Congress, to stand with a leader who has consistently demonstrated
an unwavering commitment to our country and to the principles that
define us as Americans, Kevin McCarthy.
Today is historic for a lot of reasons. For one thing, this is the
first time in over 100 years that this has been attempted, but it is
also because we are part of a Congress with historically tight
majorities for the Republicans in the House and the Democrats in the
Senate, and we have a Democratic White House. Divided government is
what we have.
The need to negotiate to find solutions to the issues facing this
country, that is a reflection of the principles that are uniquely
American, principles that make this country exceptional. They are
principles that allowed me, an exile who came here from Cuba, fleeing
Communist Cuba, to serve in this very institution.
I wasn't born here, but everything that I am, everything that I ever
will be, is thanks to America. The best part about it is that my story,
the story of the community I am so proud to represent, and the story of
many in this body is that we are not the exception in America. We are
the rule. That is the America that Kevin McCarthy has fought for his
entire career. Kevin McCarthy is a champion for the American Dream, and
he has proved it as our Speaker.
Thomas Jefferson once said: I predict future happiness for Americans
if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the
people under the guise of taking care of them.
Let's keep Kevin McCarthy as our Speaker. He is a great man, a great
leader, and a great Speaker.
Mr. GAETZ. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to my remaining time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Florida has 9\3/4\
minutes remaining.
Mr. GAETZ. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from
Iowa (Mrs. Hinson), my very good friend.
Mrs. HINSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of our Speaker,
Kevin McCarthy.
Let's be very clear here. We would not have a House Republican
majority without the relentless efforts of this man, our Speaker.
Under his leadership, Joe Biden's policies have had a check and
balance. His policies have created a horrific border crisis--10,000
illegal immigrants a day surging across our border. Under Speaker
McCarthy, Republicans have passed legislation to secure our border.
Joe Biden has done everything to squash American energy, selling our
oil reserves to China. Under Speaker McCarthy, Republicans have passed
legislation to unleash American energy dominance.
Joe Biden has spent taxpayer dollars like there is no tomorrow. Under
Speaker McCarthy, we have returned to passing single-subject
appropriations bills and ending the status quo of omnibus spending.
One of the most valuable pieces of advice that I received was from
Kevin McCarthy when I got here to D.C. He told me to separate the
signal from the noise. The noise is those who are causing chaos for
their own personal benefit while ignoring the needs of their
constituents and this country, grinding our work here to a halt. The
signal is the many accomplishments that we have delivered for the
American people with Speaker McCarthy at the helm. The signal is the
failures coming out of the White House time and time again. The signal
is the work that we must do today and going forward to save our country
for my kids and yours.
My colleagues here today have a choice: Be a chaos agent or get back
to work. I call on my colleagues: Let's separate the signal from the
noise. Let's support our Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, so we can get back to
work for the American people.
Mr. GAETZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I think I have caught the signal, too. The signal is for $33 trillion
in debt, facing $2.2 trillion annual deficits. Our fellow Americans may
be watching and wondering, how does that happen? How does the greatest
country in the world have a process so broken that it would be laughed
out of the rooms in the halls of the State legislatures where many of
us come from?
{time} 1530
Here is how it works. The law says we are supposed to have the very
single-subject spending bills that my colleague referenced in the
summer; that we are supposed to have that and move it. But there is a
dirty little secret in this town, and that is, if you delay, if you
hold the bills, if you make multiple contradictory promises--as Speaker
McCarthy has done--and you back everybody up against shutdown politics,
well, nobody wants to shut the government down. No one cheers for a
shutdown and, of course, when people are backed up against shutdown
politics, the decision calculus changes.
So year after year, decade after decade, we break the law, and we do
the same thing. We pass a continuing resolution, then we pass another
continuing resolution, and then it is either another continuing
resolution or an omnibus bill or a series of minibuses that lump these
disparate things together.
The American people want all of us to take votes on single-subject
matters. They don't want to see these things all mushed together and
logrolled. It was concerning to me to hear of a secret deal on Ukraine
funding that would have logrolled more money with Ukraine with our
southern border.
Now, how offensive is that to our Customs and Border Patrol, to our
ICE, to the people that are suffering as a consequence of our border
that some of my colleagues are only willing to stand up and fight for
our border if they can send billions to Ukraine to fund their border,
too?
Well, I have had enough of that, and that is why I brought this
motion to vacate.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from
Louisiana (Mr. Scalise), our distinguished majority leader and my good
friend.
Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Oklahoma for
yielding.
When we go back to January, as many people have, we knew that it was
going to be a narrow majority. We also knew that it wasn't going to be
easy. How many of us came here because we thought this job was going to
be easy? How many of us thought the task ahead of us to address the
problems of this country was going to be easy?
One thing we did know is that if we were going to finally start
confronting problems that had been ignored for years and years and
years, we had to change the way this place worked, and one thing
Speaker McCarthy embraced from day one is to start making those kinds
of changes to this institution, opening up the process, allowing
Members to be more engaged, having amendments come to the floor,
single-subject bills, doing appropriations bills.
Yes, making that happen overnight is not something that happens
automatically, but it started to happen, and we are now seeing the
fruits of it. Just last week, we had four different appropriations
bills on this House floor, four different ones. Now, those bills took
weeks and weeks to finally get to the floor, going through an open
committee process, hundreds of amendments, each one of them where
Republicans and Democrats could bring their ideas.
We debated those bills on the floor, some until after midnight where
Members could actually participate in the process. This has been a
broken process for a long time, but it is a process where we, if we are
going to confront the problems that families are facing, we need to
resolve our differences inside this House Chamber before we can then go
and fight for those families who are struggling. Every single day
[[Page H4975]]
across America families are struggling with real problems that we are
going to have to get back to solving.
Those problems are real for them. It is inflation. It is the economy.
It is high energy costs. It is an open southern border that doesn't
just affect the border States. It is affecting every State--Republican
districts, Democrat districts. Everybody knows it, and it can be
ignored by the White House, but this House is the only body that
started to take action with H.R. 2 and then with the border bill last
week. Plus, with the action we took last week, over 70 percent of
government funding passed out of the House, however everybody voted,
Republican or Democrat.
This House passed funding for over 70 percent of the Federal
Government's operation, and it is sitting over in the Senate where they
passed zero, and we are going to beat each other up and talk about our
internal processes and we need to get our internal processes working
better, but so does that other body over there and so does the White
House.
Everybody in this town needs to be engaged in addressing these
problems, but if we don't start here and if we don't focus these next
45 days--because that is what we have got in front of us, we have got
two bills this week, we have got two more appropriations bills next
week, and if we are going to be confronting those, we have got to stay
focused on our mission.
What the other side does, let's continue to put pressure on them, but
we also need to put pressure on ourselves to do our job. Speaker
McCarthy has been leading at the top of the level to make sure that we
have the tools to do our jobs in a different way than the House has
done it before.
This House is going to have to continue to make those changes, but
the American people sent us here to confront those problems. We are
finally starting to. This isn't the time to slow that process down. We
need to keep doing our work. We need to keep fighting for those
families who are struggling, but so does the Senate and so does the
White House, as well.
Let's keep doing this work that we were sent here to do.
Mr. GAETZ. Mr. Speaker, I agree with everything that the majority
leader said in those remarks, except one thing. It is astonishing to
hear any colleague give Speaker McCarthy credit for moving on to the
single-subject appropriations bills.
As you heard my colleague Mr. Biggs say, that was never the plan from
Speaker McCarthy. The week before we moved on to those single-subject
appropriations bills, the plan was another CR. He pitched a CR. They
tried to get us to vote for a CR, and a brave few said we are done
governing by continuing resolution. We are here to eulogize the era of
the continuing resolution. We will not do it. We will not pass it.
These bills can go. The spending may rise and fall as the years pass,
but the notion that we are going to lump in the Department of Education
and the Department of Labor with our military and our troops and our
Border Patrol is fundamentally unserious, and I would suggest chaotic.
We cannot do that. It was only because we forced that to happen. By
the way, if we continue with Speaker McCarthy, the appropriations
process will go right back to what he wanted it to go back to--just a
sideshow, just a puppet show, just something to keep the hamsters on
the hamster wheel as they continue to back people up against a
calendar, centralize power with the lobbyists and special interests
that move all kinds of money through the leadership. That is how they
get their way, and that is why the American people have been getting
screwed decade after decade. I am not going to tolerate it anymore
without a fight.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
California (Mr. Mike Garcia), my very good friend and fellow member of
the Appropriations Committee.
Mr. MIKE GARCIA of California. Mr. Speaker, I want to recalibrate our
minds on what is actually happening here today.
This proceeding looks important. It feels consequential, but let's
look at what else is happening across America.
Today, about 300 Americans will die from fentanyl poisoning. Today,
about 11,000 people will illegally penetrate our borders. Today's debt
is approaching $34 trillion. Today's mortgage rates just hit a 25-year
high now approaching 8 percent. Our energy prices are again at
backbreaking highs with gas approaching $8 a gallon in my district.
Today, China and the CCP grow stronger with an intent to go to war by
2027, and our military is experiencing record-low retention and record-
low recruitment.
This is the reality of today for 335 million Americans under
President Joe Biden. It is a dark and scary reality. This Republican
majority here today in the House is the only firewall against the
damaging far-left policies of the Biden administration.
The single-subject appropriations bills that we were supposed to be
voting on this week will literally fight to reverse the darkness of
these realities and fight inflation, cut spending, secure our border,
while enhancing our Nation's security and investing in our soldiers at
a meaningful level.
Today, this body filled with people in fancy suits led by a few
Republicans who are running with scissors and supported by Democrats
who have personal issues with the Speaker, have uncertain intentions
and even more uncertain goals, and they have decided to make today
about drama. Today is not about solving problems and helping our
constituents but about drama.
We need to be the no-drama option for America--this party, this
majority. I fear that this self-inflicted drama of today jeopardizes
our majority and by definition removes the last layer of defense
protecting America from this Biden administration.
Let's dispense with the drama, do our jobs, and move on with
defending this beautiful country.
Mr. GAETZ. Mr. Speaker, I am here to solve problems, too, but we have
decade after decade of history showing us that you don't solve any
problems with continuing resolutions and omnibus bills. That creates
more problems, more debt, more inflation, more pain for American
families.
So the way to solve problems is to break the fever dream of governing
by continuing resolution and omnibus bills and instead return to the
very single-subject spending bills that we will only get if my
resolution passes to vacate Speaker McCarthy.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North
Carolina (Mr. McHenry).
Mr. McHENRY. Mr. Speaker, every step of the way, Speaker McCarthy has
been doubted.
After the first Speaker vote, he was mocked, right? After 15, they
called him Speaker, and even then it was the media and the left that
mocked him.
With the narrowest Republican majority in a generation, what did we
achieve? We brought the President to the table when he stubbornly said
for 100 days he would not negotiate on the debt ceiling. I took him at
his word.
The Speaker said, no, we will get him to the table, and sure enough,
we did. The result: The most conservative spending package we have seen
in generations, the largest spending cuts year over year that any
Congress has passed. Conservative outcomes.
I understand your position on the left. I understand that.
But my friends on the right, why?
Then this past weekend, I understand the frustration on the left at
what happened on the continuing resolution, but why would we have
conservatives object to that? Why would we have House Members object to
that?
We rolled the Senate. We never roll the Senate as a House. Moreover,
we never roll the Senate to get less spending, and we got it this
weekend, so I understand why the left is mad. What I don't understand
is why some Republicans think that that is a bad thing.
The frustration for me today--I understand where the liberals are. I
know you support the constitutional order except in a moment like this
when you are questioned on that. I understand that. You can't be
counted on in a moment like this with the state of the speakership.
For Republicans, why would we give up a conservative working majority
for better outcomes and hand the keys over to the Democrats? Why would
we do that?
[[Page H4976]]
With this record of success that we have seen Kevin McCarthy and the
Republican majority produce in a Washington run by Democrats, we are
going to throw that away, resulting in more liberal outcomes, not more
conservative ones. I understand why the left is where you are today.
You don't like an effective conservative majority.
Mr. GAETZ. Mr. Speaker, it is lovely to hear from the principal
architect of Mr. McCarthy's debt limit deal, but here is the reality:
The only Republicans in America who believe that the debt limit deal
was conservative are in this Chamber right now because all over
America, Republicans think that when you negotiated that debt limit
deal, they took your lunch money.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from
Oklahoma (Mrs. Bice).
Mrs. BICE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of Speaker Kevin
McCarthy.
Under his leadership and a very small, five-seat majority, House
Republicans have achieved, contrary to popular belief, numerous
victories. We passed the Parents Bill of Rights; the Lower Energy Costs
Act to lower the cost of gasoline and restore American energy
independence; the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which was one of the
largest enacted cuts with enforceable spending caps in American
history; and H.R. 2, the most conservative southern border security
bill in history--all of this while fully funding our military and our
Nation's veterans.
Let me be abundantly clear: Attempting to remove Speaker McCarthy
will put this House in a stalemate and paralyze our ability to fight
for our constituents and instead create a fight amongst one another.
We have 43 days to restore fiscal responsibility and advance
conservative appropriations priorities, which is exactly what my
colleagues have asked for. Instead, we are threatening any House
proceedings.
{time} 1545
This is an unnecessary distraction. Working together under the
leadership of Speaker McCarthy is of the utmost importance.
Mr. Speaker, I stand and strongly support Kevin McCarthy for Speaker
of the House, and I encourage my Republican colleagues to do the same.
Mr. GAETZ. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from New
York (Ms. Stefanik), my very good friend, and our distinguished
Conference leader.
Ms. STEFANIK. Mr. Speaker, anyone and everyone who knows Kevin
McCarthy, whether they are a friend or foe, knows that Kevin McCarthy
is a happy warrior. He is tireless. He has that uniquely American grit.
Under Kevin's speakership, that lasted 15 rounds of him never giving
up, this Republican majority have exceeded all expectations:
We reopened the people's House.
We passed the strongest border security bill in our Nation's history.
We passed an energy plan to unleash American energy dominance.
We passed Defense bills to support our troops.
Under Kevin's leadership, he has brought hundreds and hundreds of
bipartisan Members of Congress to Israel, our greatest ally.
He elected the most diverse class of Republicans ever, with the
largest number of Republican women ever in American history.
This boy from Bakersfield, he cares deeply about his constituents,
his country, and the American people, and that includes each and every
one of his colleagues.
He has been to our districts, toasted at our weddings, celebrated the
birth of our children, mourned the loss of our loved ones, and has
cheered us when we haven't believed in ourselves, which is why the
Republicans strongly support Speaker McCarthy and are proud he is our
Speaker.
Now more than ever, the Republicans must unify. The stakes are too
high. We need to save our country, which is why this Conference is
proud to strongly support Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House of
Representatives.
Mr. GAETZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I will just say that if this House of Representatives
has exceeded all expectations, then we definitely need higher
expectations.
While it is heartwarming and kind that the Speaker calls people on
their birthday and visits their district and congratulates them on
their children, please know this isn't a critique of the individual. It
is a critique of the job. The job hasn't been done. We have had
multiple contradictory promises.
It is quite something, for those of you keeping track at home, the
last three speakers you have heard opposing my resolution all voted for
the debt deal. So if you believe that the debt limit deal that Speaker
McCarthy brought into law was a good thing, maybe you agree with their
perspective.
I think the debt limit deal was a terrible deal, and it really was
the original sin of the McCarthy speakership, and it is one of the
reasons I seek to vacate the Chair now.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Louisiana (Mr. Graves), my very good friend.
Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from
Oklahoma for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, we have been here for 8 months with one of the tightest
majorities in modern history. Yet, look at the accomplishments of this
majority, this conservative majority, with the majority of Republicans
voting for:
The strongest border security in my lifetime.
Fighting against this incomprehensible energy policy that is driving
up energy costs 40 percent, utility and gasoline payments, pushing
Americans into energy poverty.
We passed legislation to unleash America's energy resources, pushing
back this administration's brainless policies on energy.
We passed legislation to pull back, to stop spending, $4.8 trillion,
that--I want to make note--my friends that are carrying this motion to
vacate opposed.
We passed legislation to streamline regulations permitting
environmental laws for the first time in 40 years. Again, my friends
here opposed.
We strengthened work requirements for welfare to get people back into
the workforce. Again, my friends over here opposed.
I keep wondering, what is going on? Are we redefining what
conservative is? What is going on in this country today? What is going
on in this body?
We have FreedomWorks, Heritage, Chip Roy and Jim Jordan say
something is conservative and these folks say it is not, and they are
right.
All of a sudden, my phone keeps sending text messages, saying: Hey,
give me money.
Look at that. Oh, look: Give me money. I filed a motion to vacate.
Using official actions, official actions to raise money; it is
disgusting. It is what is disgusting about Washington.
Mr. Speaker, we have watched as these folks right here that have
brought up this motion to vacate have refused to pay our military
servicemembers, refused to pay them.
I would quote my delegation member, my Senator from Louisiana, John
Kennedy. If we are not going to pay our servicemembers, if they are not
going to be there to protect us, the next time someone invades America,
``call a crackhead.'' Let me know how that works out.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the
gentleman from Louisiana.
Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I have heard people talk about
bad faith here. I have heard them make reference to this January
agreement--my friends from Arizona, Virginia, and Florida.
Let me be crystal clear: Not a single one of them was in the room.
You know what? The Speaker didn't meet the targets of that January
agreement, he exceeded them. The greatest savings in American history.
The greatest savings in American history.
Mr. Speaker, this isn't about fundraising. This is about our country.
It is about our children and our grandchildren.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has again expired.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the
gentleman from Louisiana.
[[Page H4977]]
Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, we need to stand behind this
majority. We need to stand behind the greatest Speaker in modern
history that has delivered the best conservative wins for this country.
Mr. GAETZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, my colleague says we have passed the strongest border
bills in history. Well, guess what? Look at the border right now.
We didn't use sufficient leverage in the debt limit or in any other
thing to actually get results on the border.
The border is a disaster; really something I don't think you are
going to be campaigning on that you fixed the border.
Second, the gentleman said he streamlined regulations. What the
gentleman from Louisiana doesn't tell you is that all of the regulatory
reform he was just bragging about is waivable by the stroke of a pen of
someone in the Biden White House.
Do you really think you have anything for that? It is a total joke.
Finally, the Welfare-to-Work that the gentleman from Louisiana said
we have, the welfare programs that they said they streamlined with
their Welfare-to-Work stuff, they are actually going to grow. While
they did work requirements, they blew out those programs of expanded
eligibility.
I am really glad my colleagues didn't put work requirements on
Medicaid. It probably would have resulted in Medicaid expansion.
When it comes to how those raise money, I take no lecture on asking
patriotic Americans to weigh in and contribute to this fight from those
who would grovel and bend knee for the lobbyists and special interests
who own our leadership, who have--oh, boo all you want--who have
hollowed out this town and have borrowed against the future of our
future generations.
I will be happy to fund my political operation through the work of
hardworking Americans, $10, $20, and $30 at a time. My colleagues can
keep showing up at the lobbyists' fundraisers and see how that goes for
you.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Once again, the Chair would admonish those
speaking from the floor to direct their comments to the Chair.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time remaining for
each side.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Oklahoma has 3 minutes
remaining. The gentleman from Florida has 3 minutes remaining.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the
gentleman from North Dakota (Mr. Armstrong), my great friend.
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Mr. Speaker, let's be clear why we are here: Because
the incentive structure in this town is completely broken.
We no longer value loyalty, integrity, confidence, or collaboration.
Instead, we have descended to a place where clicks, TV hits, and the
never-ending quest for the most mediocre taste of celebrity drives
decisions and encourages juvenile behavior that is so far beneath this
esteemed body.
Kevin McCarthy has done more in 9 months to restore the people's
House than any Speaker in decades. We have done regular order. We have
had open amendments. Every single Member of this Chamber has the right,
the ability, and the opportunity to be heard on the floor.
It has been messy. It has been raucous, and at times, it has been
chaotic. God bless every minute of it, because democracy is supposed to
be hard. The alternative is a closed-door process where 2,000-page
bills come out of the Speaker's office at midnight and are forced to
the floor the next morning.
Kevin McCarthy has broken that cycle. That alone is enough for him to
remain our Speaker, but that doesn't deliver his opponents what they
crave the most: attention.
We shouldn't stand for it. I won't stand for it. I will stand here
with our Speaker, with our leader, that the overwhelming majority of
our Conference supports. You need to look no further than where the
opponents are sitting today in this Chamber.
They are not over here. They are over there.
Mr. Speaker, we are going to face these challenges together. I say
bring whatever comes next because we believe in the job our Speaker has
done. We believe in his vision, and, most importantly, we are proud to
call Kevin McCarthy our friend and our Speaker of the House.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. GAETZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, to be clear, I tried to get one of the three podiums on
the Republican side, and my colleagues wouldn't let me have them, so
they sent me over here.
Mr. Speaker, you know what, I will make this argument at any desk in
this building, from the well, from the Chair. I will make it on every
street corner in this country that Washington must change.
We have to break the cycle. We have to break the fever. I would hope,
truly, that the reforms that we are fighting for are reforms that would
last and be embraced and that would democratize power in this
institution beyond the privileged few who back us up against
shutdown politics and Christmases and deadlines in order to achieve
their objectives.
Mr. Speaker, high inflation is on the verge of bankrupting American
families. Our economy is breaking in half. A typical American family
can't afford to buy a House in 99 percent of U.S. counties. Inflation
is stealing more than $700 a month from working Americans; nearly
$9,000 a year.
Kevin McCarthy is the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and he
has failed to take a stand where it matters; so if he won't, I will. I
make no apologies for defending the right of every hardworking American
to afford a decent life for themselves and their families, and we have
a greater opportunity to do that and to build coalitions under new
leadership.
We have to rip off the Band-Aid. We have to get back on a better
course.
Mr. Speaker, I don't know how this vote is going to go. Usually when
a vote comes to this floor, it is pretty pre-determined. This one, I am
not so sure.
I am sure that we have made the right argument: that this place
deserves single-subject spending bills; that we should have 72 hours to
read a bill; that something that spends more than $100 million
shouldn't be put on the suspension agenda such that we can't amend it;
and there shouldn't be secret side deals made on a continuing
resolution to lump Ukraine in with border security.
That is not right for Ukraine or border security because it fails to
give either of those issues the dignity that they would require.
We can return that dignity to this House. We can get back on a better
path. We can have single-subject appropriation bills. We can set a
budget, a budget top line. We haven't had a budget in this place since
I was in high school.
Let's get a budget. Let's get our act together. Let's get on with it.
Let's vacate the Chair, and let's get a better Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired. Without
objection, the previous question is ordered on the resolution.
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on adoption of the
resolution.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the noes appeared to have it.
Mr. GAETZ. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 3 of rule XX, the Chair
directs the Clerk to conduct the vote by a call of the roll.
The Clerk will call the roll alphabetically by surname.
The following is the result of the vote, and there were--yeas 216,
nays 210, not voting 7, as follows:
[Roll No. 519]
YEAS--216
Adams
Aguilar
Allred
Auchincloss
Balint
Barragan
Beatty
Bera
Beyer
Biggs
Bishop (GA)
Blumenauer
Blunt Rochester
Bonamici
Bowman
Boyle (PA)
Brown
Brownley
Buck
Budzinski
Burchett
Caraveo
Carbajal
Cardenas
Carson
Carter (LA)
Cartwright
Casar
Case
Casten
Castor (FL)
Castro (TX)
[[Page H4978]]
Cherfilus-McCormick
Chu
Clark (MA)
Clarke (NY)
Cleaver
Clyburn
Cohen
Connolly
Correa
Costa
Courtney
Craig
Crane
Crockett
Crow
Cuellar
Davids (KS)
Davis (IL)
Davis (NC)
Dean (PA)
DeGette
DeLauro
DelBene
Deluzio
DeSaulnier
Dingell
Doggett
Escobar
Eshoo
Espaillat
Evans
Fletcher
Foster
Foushee
Frankel, Lois
Frost
Gaetz
Gallego
Garamendi
Garcia (IL)
Garcia (TX)
Garcia, Robert
Golden (ME)
Goldman (NY)
Gomez
Gonzalez, Vicente
Good (VA)
Gottheimer
Green, Al (TX)
Grijalva
Harder (CA)
Hayes
Higgins (NY)
Himes
Horsford
Houlahan
Hoyer
Hoyle (OR)
Huffman
Ivey
Jackson (IL)
Jackson (NC)
Jackson Lee
Jacobs
Jayapal
Jeffries
Johnson (GA)
Kamlager-Dove
Kaptur
Keating
Kelly (IL)
Khanna
Kildee
Kilmer
Kim (NJ)
Krishnamoorthi
Kuster
Landsman
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lee (CA)
Lee (NV)
Lee (PA)
Leger Fernandez
Levin
Lieu
Lofgren
Lynch
Mace
Magaziner
Manning
Matsui
McBath
McClellan
McCollum
McGarvey
McGovern
Meeks
Menendez
Meng
Mfume
Moore (WI)
Morelle
Moskowitz
Moulton
Mrvan
Mullin
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Neguse
Nickel
Norcross
Ocasio-Cortez
Omar
Pallone
Panetta
Pappas
Pascrell
Payne
Perez
Peters
Pettersen
Phillips
Pingree
Pocan
Porter
Pressley
Quigley
Ramirez
Raskin
Rosendale
Ross
Ruiz
Ruppersberger
Ryan
Salinas
Sanchez
Sarbanes
Scanlon
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schneider
Scholten
Schrier
Scott (VA)
Scott, David
Sewell
Sherman
Sherrill
Slotkin
Smith (WA)
Sorensen
Soto
Spanberger
Stansbury
Stanton
Stevens
Strickland
Swalwell
Takano
Thanedar
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Titus
Tlaib
Tokuda
Tonko
Torres (CA)
Torres (NY)
Trahan
Trone
Underwood
Vargas
Vasquez
Veasey
Velazquez
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson Coleman
Wexton
Wild
Williams (GA)
Wilson (FL)
NAYS--210
Aderholt
Alford
Allen
Amodei
Armstrong
Arrington
Babin
Bacon
Baird
Balderson
Banks
Barr
Bean (FL)
Bentz
Bergman
Bice
Bilirakis
Bishop (NC)
Boebert
Bost
Brecheen
Buchanan
Bucshon
Burgess
Burlison
Calvert
Cammack
Carey
Carl
Carter (GA)
Chavez-DeRemer
Ciscomani
Cline
Cloud
Clyde
Cole
Collins
Comer
Crawford
Crenshaw
Curtis
D'Esposito
Davidson
De La Cruz
DesJarlais
Diaz-Balart
Donalds
Duarte
Duncan
Dunn (FL)
Edwards
Ellzey
Emmer
Estes
Ezell
Fallon
Feenstra
Ferguson
Finstad
Fischbach
Fitzgerald
Fitzpatrick
Fleischmann
Flood
Foxx
Franklin, C. Scott
Fry
Fulcher
Gallagher
Garbarino
Garcia, Mike
Gimenez
Gonzales, Tony
Gosar
Granger
Graves (LA)
Graves (MO)
Green (TN)
Greene (GA)
Griffith
Grothman
Guest
Guthrie
Hageman
Harris
Harshbarger
Hern
Higgins (LA)
Hill
Hinson
Houchin
Hudson
Huizenga
Hunt
Issa
Jackson (TX)
James
Johnson (LA)
Johnson (OH)
Johnson (SD)
Jordan
Joyce (OH)
Joyce (PA)
Kean (NJ)
Kelly (MS)
Kelly (PA)
Kiggans (VA)
Kiley
Kim (CA)
Kustoff
LaHood
LaLota
LaMalfa
Lamborn
Langworthy
Latta
LaTurner
Lawler
Lee (FL)
Lesko
Letlow
Loudermilk
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
Luttrell
Malliotakis
Mann
Massie
Mast
McCarthy
McCaul
McClain
McClintock
McCormick
McHenry
Meuser
Miller (IL)
Miller (OH)
Miller (WV)
Miller-Meeks
Mills
Molinaro
Moolenaar
Mooney
Moore (AL)
Moore (UT)
Moran
Murphy
Nehls
Newhouse
Norman
Nunn (IA)
Obernolte
Ogles
Owens
Palmer
Pence
Perry
Pfluger
Posey
Reschenthaler
Rodgers (WA)
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rose
Rouzer
Roy
Rutherford
Salazar
Santos
Scalise
Schweikert
Scott, Austin
Self
Sessions
Simpson
Smith (MO)
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smucker
Spartz
Stauber
Steel
Stefanik
Steil
Steube
Strong
Tenney
Thompson (PA)
Tiffany
Timmons
Turner
Valadao
Van Drew
Van Duyne
Van Orden
Wagner
Walberg
Waltz
Weber (TX)
Webster (FL)
Wenstrup
Westerman
Williams (NY)
Williams (TX)
Wilson (SC)
Wittman
Womack
Yakym
Zinke
NOT VOTING--7
Bush
Carter (TX)
Gooden (TX)
Luna
Pelosi
Peltola
Sykes
{time} 1642
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.
personal explanation
Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I missed a series of votes due to my
participating in official memorials and honoring the legacy of my
friend Senator Feinstein. Had I been present, I would have voted
``nay'' on rollcall No. 518 and ``yea'' on rollcall No. 519.
PERSONAL EXPLANATION
Ms. BUSH. Mr. Speaker, I was not present during today's votes. Had I
been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall No. 516, ``nay''
on rollcall No. 517, ``nay'' on rollcall No. 518, and ``yea'' on
rollcall No. 519.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Office of Speaker of the House of the
United States House of Representatives is hereby declared vacant.
____________________