resolution is agreed to and, without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> thank you, mr. speaker. i hereby remove my name as co-sponsor of h.r. 25. the speaker pro tempore: the request is granted. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the claire declares the -- declares -- the chair declares tempore: without objection. mr. cole: thank you, mr.

speaker. mr. speaker, yesterday the rules committee met and reported out a rule. house resolution 456, providing for consideration of h.r. 3746, the fiscal responsibility act, under a closed rule. it provides one hour of general debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking member of the committee on ways and means. it provides for one motion to recommit. i rise today in support of the rule and the underlying legislation. mr. speaker, today's legislation has been a long time coming. an agreement like the one we are considering today could and should have been in place much earlier. instead, president biden dithered and refused to negotiate with house republicans, pushing us right up to the very brink of catastrophic default. from day one, speaker mccarthy and house republicans tried to get president biden and congressional democrats to come to the negotiating table. but for months they refused. over and over again president

biden refused to meet with speaker mccarthy to discuss the debt limit and the budget. he insisted over and over again that it was his way or the highway. he told us over and over again that the only thing he would accept was a clean debt ceiling increase. it was that or not. of course it's easy to understand why president biden wouldn't want to talk about cutting spending. just look at the spending record he's amassed. since he took office president biden and congressional democrats have increased the 10-year spending trajectory by $10 trillion. they did this by passing a partisan reconciliation bill, that spent $1.9 trillion. and passing another partisan reconciliation bill that added up to another $600 billion in new spending. and president biden himself issued executive orders that added $1.5 trillion in spending, including his reckless and

unconstitutional $400 billion plan to cancel student loan debt. when you lay it out like that, it's easy to see how we have reached the statutory debt ceiling so quickly. it's easy to see why president biden and congressional democrats wouldn't want any barriers to spending more and more money. they want the gravy train to keep flowing, and the spending to keep increasing. which will ultimately lead the nation further and further into debt. house republicans disagree. and last month we acted. we passed the limit, save, grow act. a bill that responsibly lifts the debt ceiling and changes the trajectory of future spending downward. we agreed the united states cannot, should not, and will not default on our national debt. we also put forward clear, commonsense, and responsible savings that will bring reckless spending under control. what do democrats do? nothing. not a thing. not a single democrat in the

house voted to lift the debt ceiling. not a single house democrat voted to save trillions of dollars over the next 10 years. our friends in the senate, which is controlled by the democrats, refused to take up the limit, save, grow act. and to this day the senate has refused to pass any bill limiting -- lifting the debt limit. not one. but house republicans have. for all the posturing on the other side of the aisle, i would remind everyone that house republicans are the only ones who have taken up concrete action to avoid default. at present biden's refusal to negotiate for so long was what brought us so close to the bank of a catastrophic default in the first place. but having said all that, today we are bringing a bill to the floor that will resolve this crisis. this bill is the result of negotiatations between president biden -- negotiations between president biden and house republicans. it is not a perfect bill but it

does represent a compromise between the administration and congress that's necessary in divided government. nobody got everything they wanted. but the end result is a truly historic bill. consider what the bill does, mr. speaker. it responsibly lifts the debt ceiling through january 1, 2025. in exchange it also puts in place a series of fiscal reforms that will save taxpayers money. for the first time in history we are pairing a debt ceiling increase with a year over year decrease in spending. we will be spending less in fiscal year 2024 than we are in fiscal year 2023. something that's never happened before in conjunction with a debt ceiling increase. we accomplish that goal while preserving funding for our national defense and ensuring our veterans get the care they need and deserve. we have also clawed back $28 billion in unspent covid pandemic relief dollars that are

no longer needed. the largest rescission in history. we have cut $1.4 billion that president biden and congressional democrats want to give to the i.r.s. for new agents. we will cap further spending at just 1% growth per year for the next six years. and we accomplish all of this without including any new taxes or new government programs. rejecting president biden's demands to charge hardworking americans another $5 trillion in taxes. but that's not all this bill does. it includes real policy victories, mr. speaker, that will improve the lives of everyday americans. the bill includes the first major reforms to work requirements for snap and tanf, ensuring we can lift people on these programs out of poverty and into the work force. the bill also includes major permitting reform provisions, reducing approval time for

essential infrastructure and energy projects. none of this with have happened but for president biden's decision to come to the table and negotiate. and none of this would have happened but for house republicans doing the responsible thing and insisting on fiscal reforms. together we are doing something good for the nation. we are avoid ago devastating default on the national debt, and we are enacting needed fiscal reform to put us on a more sustainable spending path. thank you, mr. speaker. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, let me first thank the gentleman from oklahoma, the distinguished chairman, for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: you are recognized. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, with less than a week from default, we have been rushed back to washington because republicans decided they wanted to waste months playing games with the debt limit. they said if democrats and president biden didn't give

house republicans everything they wanted, they were prepared to push the entire economy off a cliff. causing catastrophic lasting irreparable damage to america. even though the g.o.p. voted three times to prevent default when donald trump was president. even though 97% of the debt was accumulated before president biden took office. and over a quarter of the debt was accumulated under donald trump. even though republicans had no problem adding trillions to the debt with their giveaways to big oil and wall street c.e.o.'s and lavish tax cuts for the very rich. now they choose to play russian roulette with our economy. frankly, we should not be here. we should have taken care of this months ago. but once again republicans are demonstrating that they cannot govern. .. now, let's rewind to 2017, the

last time the republicans held the majority. they left our government with the longest shutdown in american history. now here we are today dealing with a totally manufactured crisis that jeopardizes the full faith and credit of the united states. both then and now, democrats have had to be the adults in the room to come in and clean up republicans' self-made mess. every time republicans are in charge, mr. speaker, they screw things up. i want to thank president biden and that loaneda young and louisa and ashley and alicia and the white house team as well as leader jeffries and his staff for their leadership throughout these negotiations. i'm sure it wasn't easy working with our republican colleagues. i saw reports will reports -- i saw reports that white house staff were holed up arguing for hours on end with republicans.

all i can say, as a long standing member of the rules committee, welcome to the club. but because of their efforts, mr. speaker, this bill is a lot less awful than it could have been. now that said, i have some very real, very serious reservations about this bill. there are better ways to deal with our deficit than to further burden our nation's most v vulnerable. we can make sure the wealthy and well-connected pay their fair share. let's close the tax loopholes that millionaires and billionaires and corporations exploit. this bill does the opposite. it cuts i.r.s. funding that would have kept big corporations and the top 1% in check. we have some of the wealthiest corporations on the entire planet, and they pay little to no taxes. they should at least paid the rate their lowest paying workers pay. or what about the military budget?

''60 minutes" covered a couple weekends ago where a former pentagon official talked about the insane price gouging taking place at the pentagon. he told us that the pentagon overpays for almost everything. in one example, the pentagon paid $10,000 for a $300 oil switch. but we're hearing from the republicans that we can't find any savings from the bloated pentagon budget. really? instead, they say let's continue to take from the most vulnerable in our country. give me a break. i know my republican friends claim that investing less in military expenditures would somehow undercut our national security. yes, we want a defense budget that ensures we are second to none, but to put -- everything -- to put everything in perspective here, we spend more on our national defense including the next 10 countries combined, including china and russia.

defense spending accounts for nearly half of all discretionary spending. our national security is so much more than bullets and bombs. it is health care. it is education and food. it is the clean environment. it's good jobs and safe neighborhoods. it includes adequate support for our veterans, our seniors and for our children, all the things that strengthen our communities. and honestly, mr. speaker, thank god for joe biden. he secured expanded food benefits for some of the most vulnerable individuals like veterans, kids emerging from the foster care system, and the unhoused. it's clear the president enter entered these negotiations -- entered these negotiations trying to protect as many people from the g.o.p.'s war on the poor. but at the end of the day, we should not be making tradeoffs between which vulnerable population gets to eat. i have a hard time understanding why we are kicking up to 700,000

older adults off of snap. it is just cruel. food and hunger should not be a partisan issue. it is a human issue. but republicans don't care who they hurt. we have over 30 million people in this country who do not know where their next meal will come from. and the current snap benefit on average $6 per person per day. that's $2 per meal. the majority of people on snap who can work do work, and we also know that work requirements do not work. in february, 2021, a report entitled the effects of changing snap work requirements on health and employment outcomes of able-bodied adults without dependents -- exactly what we were talking about here today -- it's reported that it made people less healthy and made no significant change in status. again, work requirements do not

work. but by the way, you know, if my republican colleagues don't believe me, they could have held a hearing. they could have held a hearing in the agriculture committee, nutrition subcommittee. they didn't hold a single hearing on this issue. not one. they have no clue who this will adversely impact. and i don't even think they care. you would think we would want to go into this knowing exactly how this legislation would affect our constituents, but they didn't even have time for a hearing. and here's the kicker, mr. speaker. you got to love them. but many of the people in this chamber who are trying to take food away from struggling americans are the same people who had their p.p.p. loans forgiven. some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle received hundreds of thousands of dollars, some millions of dollars in taxpayer dollars that were used to forgive some of their loans. they had no problem with that. they just shrugged that off. but they say we cannot afford to

help make sure that families can put food on the table. it is ridiculous. and i also have issues with the anti-environmental language in the deal. the bill slashes key nepa protections, approves the mountain valley pipeline. it doesn't include transmission reform. look, we all knew there would have to be compromise. no side was going to get everything they wanted out of this deal. but republicans have used this manufactured crisis to force policy changes that are so unpopular that they could not possibly get them through on regular order. and for some on the far, far, far right -- and there's a lot of them over there -- this bill isn't mean enough. let that sink in, everybody. by weaponizing the debt ceiling, republicans are establishing a precedent that will haunt us forever. that one party can use the full faith and credit of the united states as a hostage to pass their wildly unpopular ideas that they could not get done

through the normal legislative process. it's a lousy, lousy, lousy way to govern. and let me conclude by saying that in this republican-led congress, it has become unfashionable to worry about the poor and the vulnerable, to believe in the principle that we should bring everyone along, that we must meet the needs of the many, not just of the few. mr. speaker, our goal should be to elevate people, not demean them. and the policies being advocated and forced upon us by my republican friends do not reflect my values. and it is sad that for them, solving problems and uplifting all people apparently is not their mission. and with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. cole: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may con consume. i want to quickly respond to my friend's statement about the origins of the national debt. let me remind him, much this

debt was accumulated in just the last two years as a consequence of president biden and congressional democrats' reckless spending spree. consider the spring of 2021, congressional democrats without a single republican vote pushed through a $1.9 trillion partisan spending bill. last year, they enacted another partisan spending bill without a single republican vote with $600 billion in new spending, partly offsets by budget gimmicks and higher taxes. and president biden himself put forward the unconstitutional and illegal student debt cancellation which allowed to -- if allowed to stand will add another $400 billion to the national debt. and this is on top of all regular federal spending and emergency spending for covid-19 pandemic. as for the military budget, my friend calls it bloated. frankly, i think we should be spending more. but i rehiend him -- but i remind him, we're giving the

president what he asked for. if this budget is bloated at the pentagon, they can ask the white house about it because it's the budget they proposed. with that, mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to my very good friend, distinguished member of the rules committee from texas, mr. roy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for three minutes. mr. roy: i thank the speaker. i thank the chairman, the gentleman from oklahoma, who is a gentleman, giving me time despite the fact that i voted against the rule in the rules committee. i respect that. i respect that immensely so we can have a full and open debate here on the floor of the house. as to the gentleman from massachusetts, wax on, talking about -- we want to govern, mr. mcgovern. we represent. that's what we're supposed to do, anyway, is represent the people of this country. fed up with a government that is now 40% bigger since the beginning of covid. a government barreling towards $36 trillion of debt. and an absolute devastating burden on the future of this

country on our children and our grandchildren who are not going to be able to afford homes, not going to be able to afford to go to school, not going to be able to afford food, groceries. talk about food programs. i don't hear a hell of a lot what we're doing to deal with rampant inflation because we keep spending money we don't have. to my colleagues on this side of the aisle, my beef isn't that i don't understand the struggle with the negotiators against that kind of reasoning. my beef is that you cut a deal that shouldn't have been cut. the fact is at best we have a two-year spending freeze that's full of loopholes and gimmicks that would allow for increased funding for the federal bureaucracy in order to achieve a $4 trillion increase in the debt by january 1, 2025. $4 trillion. we have permitting reform which might have some good elements in it, but the problem is you have the biden administration saying it accelerates implementation of the historic clean energy and

environmental justice investments in the inflation reduction act, the very policies destroying the american way of life and making them unable to afford energy and afford their food. we have watered-down work requirements that c.b.o. said will actually increase the cost of snap by $2 billion. a supposed 1% automatic top line reduction in spending at the end of the year that will actually make a christmas omnibus more likely. a 2% cut to biden's $80 billion i.r.s. expansion. 2% of that $80 billion expansion. administrative pay-go, i'm told. we're not going to do the raines act. we are not going to constrain the regulatory state. we'll do an administrative pay-go. it will die in the senate. why aren't we using this leverage? a complete punt to skoet us on -- scotus on the biden administration's student loan bailout, billions of dollars of

unto untouched covid dollars, and the loss of our biggest leverage points to force biden to actually score the southern border. i encourage my colleagues to vote no on the rule and to oppose this legislation. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, i ask -- i ask unanimous consent to insert in the record a report by the balance entitled the trump's impact on the national debt. mr. speaker, talk about spending. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcgovern: the national debt increased 36% fduring president trump's tenure. i wish the gentleman from texas was screaming on the floor then as he is now. he has no problem spending trillions of dollars on tax cuts for rich people and subsidies for big oil companies but when it comes to the basics, putting food on the table, he doesn't have a problem. we just don't share the same value. i yield two minutes to the gentleman from california,

dr. ruiz. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. mr. ruiz: let's be clear. this bill is not about fiscal responsibility. it is about extreme g.o.p. pushing their extreme agenda. extreme republicans demanded to cut veterans' health care to zero out the toxic exposure fund for sick burn pits exposed veterans, to end protections for our environment and allow polluters to expose workers and communities to toxic chemicals for corporate profits, to cut medicaid, cut childcare, and cut education and repeal efforts to make our air and water cleaner, especially in vulnerable communities. and if they didn't get their way, they held hostage the american economy and threatened to send america into default, raising costs for families, cutting one million jobs for workers, and devastating seniors' retirements. and so today, under this

republican-manufactured extreme crisis, we will take up the bipartisan budget agreement to prevent a republican catastrophic default. president biden, in this bill, made sure veterans got the care that they need by funding the toxic exposure fund for burn pit veterans. keeps the inflation reduction act's environmental and clean energy protections to stop polluters from harming people. he was able to protect medicare. no changes to -- protect medicaid. with no changes to medicaid and maintain health care access for millions of families across the country and preserve funding for clean energy programs to clean up our air. look, if extreme republicans were serious about fiscal responsibility, they would have accepted president biden's budget that would have reduced the deficit by $3 trillion.

. instead this bill only reduces it by $1.5 trillion. nevertheless, today i will vote for the bipartisan agreement and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. cole: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself just quickly for the purposes of response such time as i may consume. i want to remind my friend from california, we filed a veterans bill that increased veteran spending so. that is just simple -- spending. so that just simply is not the case. we from the very beginning were going to take care of veterans and file legislation to do that. with that, mr. speaker, i want to yield to my very good friend from texas, my classmate and the distinguished vice chairman of the rules committee, mr. burgess, three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for three minutes. mr. burgess: thank you, mr. speaker. and thank the gentleman from oklahoma. i rise today to speak in support of the rule and the underlying legislation. including within the rule's measure is h.r. 3746, the fiscal

responsibility act. so fortunately the fiscal responsibility act makes worthwhile reforms that will safeguard america's solvency. 100 days, mr. speaker, that's how long president biden flirted with economic calamity because he was too stubborn to come to terms with a new political reality. the american people did not send a republican majority to continue business as usual. mr. speaker, the typical business as usual, where elected lawmakers come together in a lame duck session and knock the bottom out of the country's finances. well, no more, mr. speaker. with the passage of this legislation, republicans are putting america back on a sound fiscal footing by reducing nondiscretionary funding, reforming entitlement programs and adding requirements that congress pass its 12 appropriations bills on time. that is a massive change from the status quo.

credit our fellow rules committee member, thomas massie, for the concept of including this in the debt limit bill because if the appropriators cannot pass all 12 of their appropriations bills by september 30, it automatically goes to a continuing resolution with a 1% reduction. that's the first time that that has ever happened. so we have budget enforcement, in fact, without blowing up the filibuster over in the senate, we all know what that could lead to. no one can say they got everything they wanted in this bill. and, candidly, i don't think the reforms -- the permitting reforms are nearly enough. the nepa reform included in this bill is an important first step, but there's no question that we will need to do much more. the full faith and credit of the united states is preserved with this legislative product. and bear that in mind, if the

united states were to default on its debt, there actually is another country, the people's republic of china, who would like to be the reserve currency of the world. we will not give them that chance when we pass this bill. i commend patrick mchenry and garrett graves for their hard work in bringing this vital piece of legislation, commend the speaker for bringing it to a vote on the floor today after 72 hours for members to read and understand the bill. i urge everyone to support the rule and support the underlying legislation. i yield back to my friend from oklahoma. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from new mexico, ms. leger fernandez. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for three minutes. ms. leger fernandez: thank you, mr. speaker. we are where we're at today, at the precipice of ruin, because extreme republicans chose to hold americans hostage by

refusing to pay america's bills. their chaos created fear and stress as americans worried about a catastrophic recession. extreme republicans' ransom demand was the default on america act, a proposal which targeted rural communities, head start, veterans' health care and more, with 22% and more tax -- more cuts, all to pay for the trump tax cuts for the wealthiest c.e.o.'s, they added $2 trillion to the deficit. rather than making the wealthiest pay their fair share, extreme republicans wanted to balance the budget on americans' ground balling, hungry stomachs. democrats proposed amendments to the default on america act to protect programs like rural development and veterans' health care. republicans rejected every amendment. so we went to our communities, we told them the truth about what the republicans' default on america act would do. americans listened.

and they spoke out against the republicans' plan. when democrats and president biden's team went into the room to negotiate with republicans, the voices of veterans, seniors and working americans went in too. now we have h.r. 3746. the bill does save us from economic catastrophe and rejects the most extreme and rule proposals contained in the -- cruel proposals contained in the republicans' act. it allows advanced appropriations for the indian health service, protects clean energy tax credits, and the health care for veterans. is it perfect? absolutely not. i do not support many of the changes to our environmental laws and our social safety net programs. but let's talk fiscal responsibility for a moment. president trump increased the debt by $8 trillion. in contrast, president biden reduced the deficit in his first two years alone by $1.7

trillion, while creating 12 million jobs, bringing manufacturing back and making the largest investments to adjust the -- address the climate crisis ever. the bill today reduces the deficit only by 1.-- $1.5 trillion. if we had merely passed the president's budget, we would have decreased the deficit by $3 trillion, without creating the fear and economic insecurity that extreme maga republicans have foarlsed americans -- forced americans to endure. i want to repeat this point. let me repeat it. this crisis didn't have to happen. everything in this bill could have been negotiated through the normal process, without a debt crisis crisis. indeed, that's how it's almost always been done. except for in 2011, when the republicans did this before. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. ms. leger fernandez: the american people need to tell the republicans no more hostage

taking. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. cole: thank you very much, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to my very good friend, distinguished member of both the proamses and -- appropriations and rules committee, mr. reschenthaler from pennsylvania. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. reschenthaler: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank the chairman of the rules committee for being generous and yielding me this time. mr. speaker, i rise today in support of this rule and in support of the underlying legislation. today the house is taking historic steps to address our nation's out-of-control debt. this house republican win rescinds $28 billion in unobligated covid funds. it cuts over $2 trillion in government spending. it reins in the executive branch. and it rejects the president's extreme $5 trillion in proposed tax increases. further, this legislation will help lift americans out of poverty and grow our economy by

cutting red tape and streamlining energy and infrastructure projects. h.r. 3746 also includes an important provision championed by house republicans and that is to complete the mountain valley pipeline. m.v.p. is near completion, but the last 14 miles, there's just 14 miles left, the last 14 miles are being held up by extreme radical far-left judges. when completed this pipeline will help reduce costs for hardworking americans in south carolina, north carolina and virginia. it will simultaneously help the economies of pennsylvania, ohio and west virginia, with thousands of construction jobs, millions of dollars in royalty payments just in pennsylvania alone, $150 million a year in royalty payments just to pennsylvania alone, and it will lead to direct investment in rural communities. mr. speaker, i support the rule and the underlying legislation. i urge my colleagues to do the same and with that i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, i'm honored to yield two minutes to the very distinguished gentleman from maryland, mr. hoyer. the speaker pro tempore: how much time? two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from maryland. you're recognized. mr. hoyer: mr. speaker, there's been a lot of argument about who is responsible, why we're here. mr. roy, the gentleman from texas, as i was coming in, spoke about keeping leverage. now, what do you keep leverage for? you keep it so you can making is that you want to happen -- make something that you want to happen happen. the speaker of this house has said, default is not an option. the leader of the democratic party in this house has said, default is not an option. but that wasn't good enough that

we agreed. it was, as the gentleman from texas said, our republican friends wanted to keep leverage. to accomplish essentially in the appropriation bill, or what they couldn't either accomplish or pass in the appropriations committee here, because of their extraordinarily devastating bill that they offered and passed, which some of them are going to have to answer for in the next election. but what today is about is whether we're going to hurt 330 million americans. whether we're going to hurt the global economy. that's what this is about. and from my perspective, there is only one answer, to pass a bill that in fact does not have

america welch on its debts. or, alternativetively, to defeat a bill -- deservely, to defeat -- alternatively, to defeat a bill which will devastate our economy and be catastrophic globally. that's why we're here. i urge every member to think of those 330 million americans, all of whom will be hurt if we fail to do our duty. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. cole: thank you very much, mr. speaker. i yield two minutes to my very good friend, distinguished gentleman from new york, mr. molinaro. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. molinaro: thank you, mr. speaker, and thank you to the chairman. i've only been here for five months but already have been blamed for things i have and have not done, for action we did or didn't take. we're here now. we're here now at a moment where americans by he sign or default -- by design or default have given us a bipartisan government

and the house republicans delivered on a promise to hold the federal government accountable, and we have an agreement. that agreement will move this nation forward. i want to speak very specifically to one component. i, mr. speaker, grew up on food stamps. my mother, diagnosed with depression, would not have survived without that assistance. she was encouraged and worked hard and got on her feet and ultimately achieved independence. for the last 12 years i've administered a social service agency in the state of new york. the fiscal responsibility act takes important action, not at all to punish our most vulnerable. in fact, takes real steps to ensure those most vulnerable among us are protected and served and have access to the support they deserve and, by the way, finds their way to work. this bill holds states like new york and others accountable. accountable for waiving restrictions, expanding access,

not to help the most vulnerable, but to bloat and to grow and to increase state government. because of action states have taken, the most vulnerable are left to fend for themselves, demoralize, dehumanize and felt worthless, while states in new york help their infrastructure, their government, and leverage federal taxpayer dollars not to benefit those who need the help the most, but to benefit state government. this bill starts a very important step of holding states accountable and assisting those who are most vulnerable among us. i urge my colleagues not only to support the rule but to support the underlying bill. we have an opportunity here to make a measurable difference in the lives of those who struggle the most, and this is an effort to ensure that happens. thank you, mr. speaker. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, i just remind the gentleman that under the new standards in this

bill, 700,000 older americans, vulnerable americans, will lose their food benefits. and if that's his idea of protecting the vulnerable, we don't want your help. mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from tennessee, mr. cohen. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from tennessee is recognized for two minutes. mr. cohen: thank you, sir. before us today we have a difficult vote. like many of my democratic colleagues, i would have preferred to vote on a clean debt ceiling bill. i signed a discharge petition, along with all of my democratic colleagues, to bring a clean debt ceiling bill to the house floor. but we couldn't get just five republicans to join us, to force that vote. that's why we're here today. because not just five republicans could do that. i don't like the language in the bill, to bypass environmental reviews and approve the mountain valley pipeline. there are pipelines that have leaked and there are pipelines that have leaked. i've i have joined representative mcclellan in support of an

amendment to remove that language but wasn't allowed to be voted on. i don't like permitting reform and strips nepa of its authorities. we should be funding the agency so staff can help projects be built in a timely and responsible manner. i don't like the tax cuts for the wealthiest americans are protected. the trump tax scam which was not funded raised the debt by $2 trillion. and not an effort was made to put duty and responsibility on those individuals. i have sponsored a bill to make billionaires pay their fair share. they do. in addition for work requirements for snap recipients, we have tough decisions and do the best for our constituents and our country. we have to protect the progress we have made to providing a

boost to memphis like health care and energy savings we secured for seniors under the inflation reduction act. they are funding for smart development in my district now but republicans are trying to defund them. we need to protect social security, medicare and medicaid. i would like to ask for 30 additional seconds. mr. mcgovern: i yield. mr. cohen: we protected social security and medicaid and medicare. the fact is, the republicans brought us to this brink because they wanted to extract political damage on president biden and if the american people were there as collateral damage, so be it. when president trump was president they approved every section of the debt relief. this is ex tosser. we have to deal with it for the

benefit of our country and world's economy and i will vote yes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from oklahoma. mr. cole: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. mcgovern: i yield two minutes to the the gentlewoman from texas, ms. jackson lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from texas is recognized for two minutes. ms. jackson lee: i'm going to say my good friend, mr. cole, because he is my good friend,

mr. cole had the facts very much incorrect. the president of the united states was protecting the american people, protecting their future and being in essence the great protector, while my friends on the other side of the aisle were passing legislation which was taking away h.r. 1, 31 million appointments for veterans and throwing millions of americans off of medicaid. that is why the president was trying to get a clean debt ceiling so we could come back as a house, democrats working to get a fair budget bill. that did not happen. as he waited over and over again to see whether or not the republicans would do what was done in the last administration and raise the debt ceiling not for debt, but to pay america's bills. this picture depicts what the speaker and big hope baptist

church, children in daycare. and under the leadership of my friends without the work we are doing now to pay our bills and in tuttle, ensure that nondiscretionary funding which takes care of head start and child care would have been thrown out and families standing in line looking for an empty child for their child to go in so they can go to work. that's what democrats did. and today we stand on this floor that we will not allow the cruelty of default or allow hostage taking. we will stand for the american people and ensure that the expansion of veterans and homeless persons and children in foster care that are now able to get snap, that is because we continue to fight even though we cannot get the republicans to come to the table for four, five months. i offered amendments to provide an increase or provision for those students who are still in their families' homes.

we care about america. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is no longer recognized. the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. the gentlelady is no longer recognized. the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. cole: i continue to reserve. mr. mcgovern: i yield two minutes to the distinguished the gentleman from texas, mr. green. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. mr. green: and still i rise, mr. speaker, and i rise today with a testimony. the genesis of which is i believe that president biden did the best that he could in developing this legislation. i support him. i thank him for what he has done. i believe that leader jeffries did an outstanding job in making

it clear that default was not an option. but here's the essence of my testimony. i have the preimminent privilege of serving in september of 2008 when we had the downturn in the economy and there was a clarion call for help to do what was called bail out the banks. i was totally adamantly opposed to bailing out the banks because i thought it was not the thing to do given that the banks did not ask for our help getting into the position they were in. i stood in the rear of this chamber and i could see the vote that was being tallied. i could also see the stock market reacting to the vote that was being tallied. the stock market went down as the bill went down.

777 points, a 7% drop in the stock market. my constituents told me not to vote for that bill, and i concurred with them. the next day my constituents called, why didn't you vote for that bill? why did you let the market go down? i learned a lesson. votes like this are votes of conscience and you have to vote your conscience knowing what the consequences are. i will vote for this bill because i understand the consequences of the market tanking. i was here and i saw it. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. green: i yield back and i thank you for the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. cole: i yield myself such time as i may consume.

i voted for that bill twice. the bill we are rallying today is a house compromise and the president of the united states. in that come proposal hice everybody didn't get what they wanted. but i think we are acting together, as my friend texas suggested to make sure we don't default and don't have a day like we had in 2008. that is something we can agree on together and celebrate together and we'll continue to try to work together. but the problem we have, my friends on the other side think we can spend forever. president obama never introduced a budget that balanced ever, not in 10 years, 20 or 100. president biden has never introduced a budget that comes into balance at any point. you can't sustain that indefinitely. this effort is to raise our debt

ceiling and address the underlying spending problem. i wish we could have done more, but i'm glad we got done what we did and we will continue to work with this. and i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. mcgovern: the republican conference hasn't passed a budget. i yield one minute to the gentleman from ohio. >> i rise today to encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support tonight's vote. the vote on the bipartisan budget act. there are three aspects of this bill, a bill that will avoid default and a bill that protects social security and medicare that i hope my colleagues and fellow citizens take into account. one, we can't keep doing this.

the brinksmanship around this question of default and paying our bills has to end. folks have been calling our offices and worried about social security checks and health care and worried about whether or not the economy will crash. we can't normalizing this behavior. two, the bill represents the fact that congress is divided. the president negotiated with speaker mccarthy and even though a majority of americans want congress to fix the tax code -- mr. mcgovern: another 30 seconds. >> that is off the table. what i needed to see from this table no veterans would lose their benefits and people would receive social security checks and no child would lose access to food under the snap policeman. i am voting yes. we need more pragmatic leaders to stand up and pass this bill

tonight and continue to work on behalf of the american people. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. cole: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the democratic congress didn't produce a budget in four years, four years when you were in the majority. you left things in quite a mess and going to take a while to fix it. but we are working on a budget and i hope we get one. the country has allowed itself under democratic leadership to get deeply in debt. this bill is at least a step in the right direction. we would have liked to have taken a bigger step. and weren't able to do that given a democratic senate and president both of whom they think they can spend endlessly,

recklessly indefinitely. that's not going to happen. sooner or later that reckoning will come. this is an effort to buy some time and work together. i'm glad we did and the president came to the negotiating table despite saying he wasn't going to and i'm glad we made minimal progress that we did. let's not kid ourselves. this is the right step in the right direction. and with that, mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: last time my republican friends were in charge they left us with the longest government shutdown in u.s. history. i yield to the gentlewoman from florida. ms. wasserman schultz: i rise in support of the bipartisan budget agreement and thank president biden and his team and the

o.m.b. team putting people over politics and defending our values and protecting the full faith and credit of the united states. my colleagues across the aisle were prepared to crash the economy into the side of the cliff. but democrats will put people over politics and our economy's did your built over default. my friend from oklahoma knows that v.a. appropriations bill zeroed funding for our veterans it's in the bill black and white and afraid to vote on it and pulled the bill. and we expanded snap benefits and stopped republicans' dangerous budget cuts. and found that participation rates in snap will increase because of this compromise. president biden negotiated a deal that gets us through the short-term and puts in a good position to work through the

appropriations process. i look forward to working with my colleagues to efficiently finish this year's budget and i remind my friend from oklahoma, under the trump administration republicans blew the whole in the deficit with $1.5 trillion budget and that is on that. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. cole: i yield myself such time. what on balance was covid? and we worked together. but that's what spent billions of dollars in a relatively short period of time. quite frankly, in terms of where we are today, my friends have never submitted a budget that balanced. the last president to do that was president clinton. we disagreed how to get the balance but he submitted budgets

that came to balance in 10 years. president obama didn't do that. president biden hasn't done that. until you return to the clintond how to get there, i think we're going to have a hard time getting on top of our fiscal problem. but this bill, where we do agree, we don't like every part of it, we would have liked to have done more. my friends would have liked to have spent more. but the reality is, it does move us in the right direction. so i'm happy for the bipartisanship, but i do note, it took us a long time. i also note for my democratic friends, remember, so far to this point, the only people who voted to raise the deficit -- excuse me, the debt ceiling are on this side of the aisle. my friends have not yet provided a single vote to raise the debt ceiling. the body they control in the united states senate has not presented a bill, let alone moved one across the floor. we did. my friends didn't like that

bill, we sat down and negotiated, came to something different. but at least we voted to raise the debt ceiling. my friends who are concerned about it have neither presented a plan to deal with it, nor have voted to act upon the problem. i'm hopeful today that many of them will actually join us in that effort because the president of the united states has come to the negotiating table and we'll move forward together. but rest assured, we're not moving forward as fast as we should, we're not going as far as we should and we've had to bring you to this point, kicking and screaming every step of the way. with that, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: the gentleman's absolutely right that covid did add to the deficit. but he neglected to mention the multitrillion-dollar tax cut for the rich that was unpaid for. mr. speaker, i have no other requests for time. may i ask the gentleman -- mr. cole: i'm prepared to close whether my friend is. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, i'll yield myself the remaining time. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman is recognized. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, i think there is a difference between democrats and republicans. i think democrats have proven that we can govern, and republicans have proven they cannot. we've seen the great things that government is capable of doing in the last congress with democrats in charge of the house. we invested to rebuild our neglected infrastructure, airports, roads, bridges and ports, and all of our communities -- in all of our communities. we will see the benefits of that infrastructure bill for years and years to come. we brought manufacturing back to the united states. we passed the chips in science act to drive innovation and create good paying jobs. we made the largest investment in climate, protecting our water and our air. we strengthened our supply chains and set up new programs to support minority businesses. we lifted a record number of kids out of poverty in this country. we ensured that our veterans get the health care that they earned and so it's possible for us to deliver for the american people. though i haven't seen much of it this year. instead, republicans spent a week in january trying to elect a speaker. republicans spent the last five months trying to destroy

everything that we built over the last two years. they have only enacted three laws in five months. and those laws don't do much. the bill we are debating today may become their fourth law, it would be their biggest legislative accomplishment of the year. think about that. the biggest accomplishment will be ending a crisis that they created. we have wasted time going back and forth on how to pay our bills. the fact that we've had to bend and contort ourselves to get that done, to prevent our economy from falling off a cliff, because republicans wanted to play games, is unconscionable. and it doesn't bode well for the future. finally, let me just say to my colleagues, i plead with my colleagues on the republican side to not -- to stop this assault against the poor. every concession in this bill, every demand that republicans made in this bill hurts somebody. it hurts the most vulnerable in our country. going after snap for older people, a measly $6 a day benefit. shame on you for doing that.

we're here to help people. we're here to uplift people. we're not here to demean people. we're not here to try to punish people. and, quite frankly, the narrative that the republicans have been utilizing in this whole debate doesn't reflect the reality. talk to the people in your district who are struggling. let them tell you how difficult it is to make ends meet and how maddonning it is -- maddening it is to not know if you can put food on the table. we can do so much better but you have to stop this assault against the poor, against the vulnerable in this country. we need to do better and urge all of my colleagues, you know, as we move forward in the coming months, to keep that in mind. we are here to bring everybody forward, not just a select few. we're here to represent everybody, not just the rich and powerful and well-connected and people who give to our campaigns. and again, the contrast here, where we have members of congress who accepted government

subsidized loan forgiveness from p.p.p. and they're the ones who are out here demanding that we nickel and dime programs like snap and tanf. it is disgusting, quite frankly, that we're even having this debate. we should be able to do so much better. mr. speaker, with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts yields. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. cole: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. cole: my friend ticked through the impressive list of accomplishments of the last congress. he forgot to mention democrats also added $10 trillion, $10 trillion to the projected debt the united states will have to deal with over the next 10 years. now, look, $10 trillion is a lot of money. but worse than the money was the inflation that they unleashed by their reckless spending. you care about americans, then you don't push the price up of gasoline, of home heating, of

interest rates on their -- any purchase they make. what they pay at the grocery store. my friends managed to unleash the worst bout of inflation in 40 years. i look around this chamber, i'm probably the only guy on the floor, mr. speaker, that can actually remember that. this was an unprecedented disaster that they unleashed on the country. everything in the bill that we fought for, the things that are there and the things that aren't there, were to lower the excess spending and to try and tame inflation. my friends act as if it doesn't exist. well, i guarantee you, just go to the grocery store. ask any american who hasn't gotten a 15% or 20% raise what their life has been like in the last two years. so, mr. speaker, in closing, i urge all my colleagues to support this resolution. with today's bill, we're putting forward commonsense reforms that will save taxpayers money, while also preventing an economic

crisis. and the reforms included in this bill are historic. the first year over year cut in spending in a debt ceiling bill. the largest rescission of appropriated but unspent funds in history. the first real reforms to requirements for snap and tanf, which will help lift people out of poverty. and real reforms to the permitting process which will streamline major infrastructure and energy projects and cut the red tape that are holding them back. those are reforms, by the way, that my friends did not support. those were things that were put in the bill by republicans and negotiated for. sadly, they weren't willing to work with us on those and it was only the threat of the debt ceiling that actually brought them to the table. it's responsible things -- it's the responsible thing to do to pass this legislation and in the end, the american people will be better off for it. i do want to be clear on something, mr. speaker.

this is not the end of house republicans' fight for necessary fiscal reforms. we have more than $31 trillion in debt. programs like medicare and social security, which are the bedrock of our safety net, are growing in an unsustainable manner. and for too long this congress has seen fit to just allow mandatory programs to eat up more and more of our budget. indeed, the president himself refused to talk about those programs. mandztory programs -- mandatory programs are now more than 2/3 of what we spend in any given year. without real reforms to these programs, we'll have no chance to right the fiscal imbalance the country finds itself in. republicans are committed to preserving america's status as the greatest nation in the world. and to do that we must get serious about the national debt. but at the end of the day, the journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step. this bill, mr. speaker, is that

first step. mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time and move the the house will be back this evening at 7:15 p.m. eastern debate and hold a final vote on a bill to incree nation's debt limit for two years. the mealso caps nondefense federal spending andases work requirements for food stamps other government bene senate majority leader chuck schumer says the bill will get the votes to pass in thte once it passes the house. in an effort to get the bill to president biden's desk ahead of monday's deadline to avoid a default. live coverage on c-span when the house returns. >> watch video on demand anytime online at c-span.org and feature a timeline tool thatses markers that quickly moves you to key coverage. use points of interest anytime online at c-span.org.

>> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we're funded by these television companies and more, including comcast. >> do you think this is just a community center? no. it's way more than that. comcast is partnering with a thousand community centers to create wi-fi enabled lists so students from low-income families can he the tools they need for anything. >> comcast supports c-span as a publicervice along with these other television providers giving you a front-row seat to democracy. >> congressman garrett graves and patrick mchenry spoke to reporters about the deal struck between president biden and house speaker kevin mccarthy to raise the debt limit. they say it's a big win for republicans.