On Tuesday, Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA) and Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) led a debate on the House floor regarding the 'Gulf of America' Act.
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00:00And on any further amendment, there are two to final passage without intervening motion except one, one hour of debate, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Natural Resources or their respective designees, and two, one motion to recommit.
00:14Section 2. Upon adoption of this resolution, it shall be in order to consider in the House the bill, H.R. 881, to establish Department of Homeland Security funding restrictions on institutions of higher education that have relationship with Confucius Institutes and for other purposes.
00:29All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived.
00:32In lieu of the amendment and the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on Homeland Security now printed in the bill, an amendment and the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of Rules Committee Print 119-2 shall be considered as adopted.
00:44The bill as amended shall be considered as read.
00:47All points of order against provisions in the bill as amended are waived.
00:49The previous question shall be considered as order on the bill as amended and on any further amendment thereto to final passage without intervening motion except one, one hour of debate.
00:59Equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Homeland Security or their respective designees, and two, one motion to recommit.
01:08The gentleman from Georgia is recognized for one hour.
01:11Mr. Speaker, for purposes of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the general lady from Pennsylvania, Ms. Scanlon, pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume.
01:20During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purposes of debate only.
01:25Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.
01:30Without objection.
01:32Mr. Speaker, last night the Rules Committee met and reported a rule, House Resolution 377, providing for consideration of two measures.
01:39H.R. 276, the Gulf of America Act, under a closed rule.
01:43The rule provides one hour debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking member of the Committee on Natural Resources or their respective designees and provides one motion to recommit.
01:53Additionally, the rule provides for consideration of H.R. 881, the DHS restrictions on the Confucius Institute and Chinese Entities of Concern Act to be considered under a closed rule.
02:04The rule provides one hour debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security or their respective designees and provides one motion to recommit.
02:12Mr. Speaker, we're here to debate a rule on two pieces of legislation, beginning with H.R. 276, the Gulf of America Act.
02:22Mr. Speaker, H.R. 276 is straightforward.
02:25It permanently renames the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and directs federal agencies to update their documents and maps to incorporate the new name.
02:33President Trump directed the name change a few months ago, Mr. Speaker, and there have been no issues during that time.
02:40We're simply using our Article I authority to reflect the Gulf's importance to our country.
02:44Moving on, Mr. Speaker, the rule also provides for the consideration of H.R. 881, the DHS restrictions on Confucius Institutes and Chinese Entities of Concern Act.
02:53It goes without saying, Mr. Speaker, that the Chinese Communist Party does not share our interests or our values.
03:01Confucius Institutes were originally established in America in 2004 and marketed as a way to promote Chinese language and culture,
03:10support local Chinese teaching internationally, and facilitate cultural exchanges.
03:16However, it has become clear that this was not the real goal, Mr. Speaker.
03:21The true intent was a sophisticated and global influence campaign allowing the CCP to conduct espionage in our country and steal our intellectual property and trade secrets.
03:32While there are less than five Confucius Institutes still currently active in the United States,
03:35the Government Accountability Office has reported that 43 of 74 schools it surveyed still maintain a relationship with the entity that supported their Confucius Institutes.
03:46Further, the Department of Education has shown that over $3 billion has been collected by U.S. universities from entities connected to the People's Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party.
03:59This bill, which has been worked on and will pass in a bipartisan manner, I believe, simply bans eligibility for DHS funding from an institution with a relationship to a Confucius Institute.
04:11A thousand talents program or Chinese entity of concern until such a relationship is terminated.
04:18Mr. Speaker, I look forward to consideration of these pieces of legislation and urge passage of this rule.
04:24I reserve the balance of my time.
04:25The gentleman from Georgia reserves the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania is recognized.
04:29Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
04:32As much as it pains me to say this, we're here on the House floor today because the House Republican majority has chosen to prioritize debate and passage of a bill to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
04:45That's not what my constituents think is the most important thing Congress should tackle this week or this year.
04:51And I bet it's not what your constituents think either.
04:55It's easy to mock this legislation because it's so inane and embarrassing, and we have, but its very existence and the fact that House Republicans have chosen to waste time and taxpayer dollars to bring it up for a vote is worth considering.
05:10So let's talk about the real Gulf of America, the Gulf in America, the Gulf between the ambitions and priorities of this White House, aided and abetted by the House majority, and the needs of the American people.
05:24The Gulf that makes Republicans think that it's more important to give tax cuts to billionaires than to make sure that America's children and veterans and seniors have food and housing and medical services,
05:36and that we protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat.
05:42The Gulf that causes the Speaker to bring ridiculous legislation to the floor to flatter the President and appease his base rather than meet the needs of the American people.
05:53Americans want a Congress and a White House that solves problems rather than creates them.
05:58Americans aren't asking to rename the Gulf of Mexico.
06:01In fact, public polling, including on Fox, says that nearly 70 percent of Americans oppose that executive order and this legislation to rename the Gulf of Mexico.
06:12Like many Americans, I follow the news each day with trepidation.
06:17Many folks tell me that the chaos and missteps of this administration are too painful or upsetting to follow,
06:24and they've tuned it out because the only guarantee we have is that every day the President or his administration will have done something dumber or more dangerous than the day before.
06:35Each day brings its own self-inflicted crisis with this White House, and millions of Americans are exhausted by it.
06:42They're pleading with their elected officials to act, to do something, anything, to bring normalcy back to this country, to bring decency back to this country.
06:51There was a time when American public life was guided by a genuine sense of duty and a converse fear of shame, but today neither appear to hold much sway.
07:03Instead, we have a White House filled with charlatans, made-for-TV personalities, conmen, snake-oil salesmen, grifters, billionaires, and criminals,
07:11all using the power of the federal government to enrich themselves at the expense of the American people and to punish their political opponents.
07:19Last week was President Trump's 100th day in office, a customary benchmark by which we measure the successes and failures of a new President's term.
07:30I think it's safe to say that Trump's first 100 days have been a disaster.
07:34His tariff policies are likely to cause a recession.
07:38Millions of people have seen their retirement savings evaporate.
07:41Families don't know if they're going to be afforded basic goods, much less Christmas dolls.
07:46Businesses, big and small, are paralyzed by uncertainty and reducing their spending, and many small businesses may not survive.
07:54To add insult to injury, when faced with these facts, what does the President say?
07:59Deal with it.
08:00Those are the President's own words.
08:02The tariffs will be painful, but it's a price that must be paid.
08:07But paid by whom?
08:08It won't be Trump or the billionaires in his cabinet or at his golf clubs.
08:13No, it's going to be real people.
08:15People who work for a living, who will have to pay the price for his ill-conceived trade war.
08:21It's not going to be guys like Besson or Lutnick who have multi-million dollar mansions and fly on private planes.
08:27They'll be just fine.
08:28However, for working parents, according to Trump, maybe the kids will have two dolls instead of 30, and I don't know who has 30 dolls.
08:36And maybe the moms who live in my district will have to pay more for the stroller they use to transport their kids to daycare and doctors and the grocery store.
08:45So much for the guy who said he was going to bring down prices on day one.
08:50And it's worth noting that just yesterday in our rules markup, our Republican colleagues voted once again to keep the Trump tariffs in place.
08:58Over a month ago, they rigged the rules of the House to prevent Congress from voting to end the Trump tariffs.
09:05They literally voted to stop time, to say that for the purposes of protecting the Trump tariffs, there's only one day between now and the end of September.
09:15That will prevent anyone from being able to force a vote on whether to end Trump's tariffs.
09:21So they're dragging down our economy and American families with it.
09:25And that's just the terrible Trump tariffs.
09:28In these first hundred days, the administration has cut services at Social Security, fired medical staff at VA hospitals, and withheld aid to food banks, children's health programs, and community violence prevention efforts.
09:42They've waged a political war against universities and scientific research, and illegally frozen over $400 billion in congressionally appropriated funds, including billions of dollars to FEMA, to everyone from local firefighters to states that have been affected by natural disasters.
10:00This White House has issued hundreds of controversial executive orders, many of which courts have deemed illegal or unconstitutional.
10:09And every day, this administration is disappearing hundreds of people, sending them to faraway detention centers without any due process, due process that would expose mistakes and lies about some people who are not criminals, and in some cases are even citizens, and therefore should not be deported.
10:30The damage that's being caused right now by this administration to our communities, to our international standing, to our national security and national fabric, will take years to unwind.
10:43But eager to do their part and contribute to the chaos, House Republicans continue to find novel ways to bring this chamber to new lows.
10:50This week, Republicans are putting forward two bills, one that's pretty much a redundant effort to counter Confucius Institutes, and another to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
11:02The second bill may be the dumbest bill brought to the floor during the six years I've served in Congress.
11:08With all of the important work this Congress should be tackling, the Speaker and House Republicans have chosen to indulge the President in a whim that the American public does not support.
11:18Frankly, if I had to vote on a bill like this, I would find it deeply embarrassing.
11:23And I know my Republican colleagues are smart people, they're not dumb, so I have to feel that they share this embarrassment.
11:30Unless they're members of a cult, a cult of personality based around a dear leader who they're required to obey or risk retribution,
11:38and upon whom they bestow endless compliments and praise in order to seek personal favors.
11:43And it doesn't matter how much damage he causes, how much money he wastes, how many lives and family he hurts, it doesn't matter if he causes a recession,
11:52it doesn't matter if he encourages influence peddling and grift with a Trump coin, or his Gulf of America merch,
11:59or if he gives insider stock tips before taking executive action.
12:05House Republicans seem to always do what Trump says.
12:08So if he wants to do something as dumb as rename the Gulf of Mexico, Republicans apparently will fall in line.
12:15We'll watch them twist themselves into pretzels to come up with increasingly convoluted rationale for the President's actions.
12:23Today will surely be a master class in delusion.
12:28Further adding to the chaos, this month House Republicans are expected to finish drafting the text of the Reconciliation Bill,
12:34through which they're planning to cut health care benefits to seniors and children and people with disabilities
12:39and cut nutrition assistance to the poor in order to pay for a huge tax giveaway to billionaires and big business.
12:48Despite more than 40 years of empirical evidence showing that Republicans' trickle-down economics are a resounding failure,
12:56Republicans are nonetheless pushing ahead with their party orthodoxy.
13:00We have more than enough evidence that trickle-down economics does not work.
13:06It doesn't help the middle class, it doesn't create jobs, it doesn't increase business investment,
13:10and it doesn't grow the economy.
13:13What these policies actually do is allow companies and their shareholders to pocket more profits
13:18at the expense of everyone else.
13:21It's because of trickle-down economics that we now have some of the most extreme income inequality
13:27in this country, in our nation's history.
13:30To pay for this giveaway to the rich, Republicans are going to take away health care benefits and food assistance
13:35and cut critical federal investments in our local communities,
13:39in our democracy, in the environment, and in our national security.
13:44Also, millionaires and billionaires can get an extra buck.
13:47It's horrifying, it's immoral, and it's un-American.
13:51Unlike many of my Republican colleagues, I have participated in multiple town halls this year
13:57to hear from my constituents.
13:59One message that I hear consistently is that people are scared.
14:04These are good, honest, hard-working Americans who, in one way or another,
14:09have been forced to rely on Medicaid or Medicare or SNAP or WIC or Head Start or Social Security
14:15or LIHEAP in order to make ends meet for their families.
14:19And they're rightfully scared that Republicans are planning to gut those programs.
14:24We'll surely hear all kinds of mental gymnastics from our colleagues
14:27about how millionaires really need that extra tax cut
14:30or how cutting Medicaid won't really lead to a loss of coverage or service.
14:34We'll hear tortured arguments from Republicans to hide what they're really doing.
14:39When you take a step back and look at everything that's happening,
14:42this White House, in concert with Elon Musk and congressional Republicans,
14:46have put the country on a dark and troubling path, a fear-based path.
14:52It's leading us to a place that has more in common with Stalin's Russia
14:55than the free society envisioned by our founding fathers.
15:00It's heartbreaking to see the lengths to which some people will go
15:04to destroy the ideas and institutions that, for decades, have made this country great.
15:10Mr. Speaker, I think it goes without saying that I rise in strong opposition to this rule
15:15and I reserve the balance of my time.
15:17The gentlewoman reserves.
15:18The gentleman from Georgia is recognized.
15:22Mr. Speaker, I would just remind my colleagues
15:26that Donald Trump was elected president of the United States,
15:29and while we are yet to put many of his policies into law,
15:32where you left us was with an interest payment of $2.6 billion a day.
15:40If you took 100% of the money from the people that are billionaires in this country,
15:45you probably couldn't pay the interest on the national debt for a year.
15:48With that, Mr. Speaker, I reserve.
15:51The gentleman from Georgia reserves.
15:52The gentlewoman from Pennsylvania is recognized.
15:55Mr. Speaker, I would yield four minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas, Ms. Johnson.
15:59The gentlewoman is recognized.
16:00Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the gentlewoman for yielding her time.
16:06I rise in opposition to this complete waste of time, the Gulf of America Act.
16:12While Americans are struggling with real problems,
16:15while Trump is trampling over the constitutional rights of the citizens he swore to protect,
16:20Republicans are wasting this chamber's time with performative nonsense.
16:26Here's the choice this comes down to.
16:28We could focus on helping 40 million Americans saddled with medical debt.
16:34Or we could rename the Gulf of Mexico.
16:37We could ensure that 10 million children going hungry every night have enough food to eat.
16:44Or we can rename the Gulf of Mexico.
16:48We could address our nation's highest paternal mortality rate where women are dying in this country every day while giving birth.
16:59Or we can rename the Gulf of Mexico.
17:03We could address our nation's lack of affordable housing where families are struggling to find safe shelter.
17:09Or we can rename the Gulf of Mexico.
17:11Or we can rename the Gulf of Mexico.
17:13We can make sure our veterans who are waiting for weeks for appointments at VA clinics get the desperate care they need after making such extreme sacrifices in the honor of service to our country.
17:28Or we can rename the Gulf of Mexico.
17:31We can be protecting Social Security and Medicare, protecting Medicaid, finding affordable child care for the millions of children in this country, and reducing the high cost of living that so many families in all of our districts are struggling to afford basic necessities.
17:51Or we can rename the Gulf of Mexico.
17:58Republicans have made their choice.
17:59They want to focus on renaming a body of water that doesn't need renaming instead of the emergent needs that the people we all represent.
18:08And the bill's co-sponsor, the woman from Georgia, in her district, one in five residents live below the poverty line.
18:18Her district ranks near the bottom in Georgia for health outcomes, opioid overdose rates continue to climb, broadband access remains limited, and public schools are under-resourced.
18:33But again, instead of working on bills to bring down the high costs of health care, making broadband accessible for Americans all over the country, or helping families struggling with addiction,
18:47we are renaming the Gulf of Mexico as if it is the most important pressing issue facing this country.
18:55This is not governing.
18:57It's a distraction.
18:58It's political theater.
18:59And it's an insult to the intelligence of every American who expects us in Congress to do the serious work of solving real problems and making their lives better.
19:10This bill does not achieve any of those ends.
19:14The American people did not send us here to troll and suck up to a president.
19:18They sent us here to legislate, leave, and make their lives better.
19:21I urge my colleagues to vote no on this stupid bill and focus on what matters to the American people.
19:29And I yield back.
19:30Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the president.
19:35The gentlewoman reserves, the gentleman from Georgia, is recognized.
19:39Mr. Speaker, I would just like to point out that in the state of Georgia, in the district that was referenced,
19:4568% of the voters in that district, as patriots, voted for Donald J. Trump to be president of the United States
19:54because they don't believe they need a federal government to micromanage their life.
19:57And with that, Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
20:00The gentleman reserves, the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania, is recognized.
20:07Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
20:08You know, in January, when House Republicans, Senate Republicans as well, punted once again
20:15on passing a budget and instead passed a continuing resolution, they forgot to include the funding
20:22to operate the District of Columbia.
20:25The Senate moved to rectify that mistake and has passed a bill to fix it.
20:31And the president has said that he will sign that bill.
20:34The mayor from D.C. has repeatedly spoken to House Republicans about the urgency of fixing the city's budget.
20:41The clock is ticking.
20:42And if the fix isn't passed, D.C. will have to lay off hundreds of teachers and police officers
20:50and control and curtail critical services in the district.
20:55But while this is going on, House Republicans are instead using floor time to prioritize removing the long-finned smelt
21:03from the endangered species list, to rename the Gulf of Mexico,
21:08and to do other, frankly, stupid messaging bills like those we're considering today.
21:14So the Speaker may claim that it's just a matter of schedule, but clearly this is once again the gulf in America
21:24between what Americans, what the people who live in D.C., what most of the country thinks is important,
21:29and what House Republicans are willing to do.
21:32I reserve.
21:33The gentlewoman reserves. The gentleman from Georgia is recognized.
21:36Mr. Speaker, I would remind you that the Chinese Communist Party is no longer an economic adversary.
21:44They're an enemy.
21:46And they've been very creative in the way they've embedded themselves into the university systems in this country.
21:55This rule gives us a vote on kicking them the rest of the way out of this country.
22:02And I think, Mr. Speaker, that that's going to pass in a very bipartisan manner.
22:05So with all the annex and yelling and screaming and pointing the fingers,
22:12I just want to remind you there's a very serious piece of legislation to deal with the Chinese Communist Party
22:17in this rule that I believe will pass in very much a bipartisan manner.
22:21And with that, Mr. Speaker, I reserve.
22:23In the reserves, the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania is recognized.
22:28Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up H.R. 2753.
22:34The Hands Off Medicaid and SNAP Act, which will prevent the Republican budget from cutting Medicaid or SNAP benefits.
22:43Mr. Speaker, this week the House is voting to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
22:48I'm not joking.
22:49This is what House Republicans are spending their time doing publicly.
22:53But privately, behind closed doors, according to reports, Republican leadership is meeting with vulnerable moderate Republicans
23:00to try to sell them on trading devastating cuts to Medicaid for tax cuts for billionaires.
23:06Under their plan, they have to cut $880 billion from Medicaid and $230 billion from food assistance just to make the math work for their disastrous reconciliation bill.
23:19Mr. Speaker, what's worse is they continue to argue that they aren't doing that.
23:24But the math doesn't lie.
23:26They can't reach the levels of billionaire tax cuts they want without gutting vital programs like Medicaid and SNAP,
23:33programs that the most vulnerable in our country rely upon.
23:36Republicans are publicly claiming that they won't make those cuts.
23:40So today I'll give them a chance to prove that to the American people by putting their money where their mouths are
23:46and voting to ensure those devastating cuts can't move forward in this House.
23:51Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment into the record, along with any extraneous material,
23:58immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.
24:01So I will urge a no vote on the previous question and I'll reserve my time.
24:08The gentleman reserves, the gentleman from Georgia is recognized.
24:12Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
24:13I would ask the gentlelady if she has any additional speakers or if she's prepared to close.
24:17Okay.
24:18I'm prepared to close.
24:20Mr. Speaker, I reserve.
24:22The gentleman reserves, the gentleman from Pennsylvania is recognized.
24:26Mr. Speaker, the country deserves better leadership.
24:29Leadership focused on the common good and public service rather than culture wars and private profit.
24:36The United States faces enormous challenges and the American people want Congress to act on their behalf.
24:43They want us to lower the cost of groceries, rent and health care.
24:48They don't want Congress wasting time on performance, on pointless legislation like the bills we're debating today.
24:55The American people want real solutions.
24:57They want their elected officials to collaborate, to govern with decency and discipline in ways that benefit the American people, not deep pocketed donors.
25:08They don't want politicians who chase headlines or who try to flatter the whims of erratic leaders with insane ideas like renaming the Gulf of Mexico or invading Greenland or annexing Canada or reinstituting Alcatraz.
25:23So while many Americans are struggling just to get by, the last thing they want is a Republican tax bill that guts their health care and denies food and housing to children and seniors so that millionaires can pay less in taxes.
25:38It's obscene.
25:39It's obscene.
25:40And if Republicans carry out their stated plans, it'll be one of the largest government handouts in American history, paid for by those who can least afford it and delivered to those who need it least.
25:52Talk about corporate welfare.
25:54And while the rich will get their tax cut, working families will be stuck footing the bill for Trump's tariffs.
26:00It's not too late for Republicans to change course.
26:03I pray that enough of them find the courage to push back against this plan, to listen to their constituents and to do the right thing.
26:11We don't need to slash Medicaid and SNAP and we can move forward with a sensible tax bill that invests in families and the middle class, not just billionaires and the Fortune 500.
26:23I urge my colleagues to vote down this resolution, reject these unserious bills, and join us in the business of governing for the public good, the common good.
26:33I yield back.
26:34The gentlewoman yields.
26:35The gentleman from Georgia is recognized.
26:37Mr. Speaker, I'm prepared to close and yield myself the balance of my time.
26:40Without objection.
26:41The gentleman is recognized.
26:44Mr. Speaker, we've heard a lot over the last few minutes about the $2.6 billion a day.
26:52Interest payment that the Democrats under Joe Biden's lead left the United States citizen with.
26:59And now we hear their demand that we allow the current tax rates to expire, thereby raising taxes on virtually every American citizen.
27:10It's very convenient that they say billionaires.
27:13Now they've acknowledged millionaires.
27:15But just factually speaking, if the tax rates are allowed to expire, virtually every American that works would receive a tax increase.
27:23We as Republicans are committed to stopping that.
27:26But today, and this week, the House has the ability to advance two pieces of legislation under this rule.
27:33H.R. 276, the Gulf of America Act, which simply reflects the Gulf's importance to our country, the United States of America.
27:44In H.R. 881, the DHS Restrictions on Confucius Institutes and Chinese Entities of Concerns Act, which puts our national security first and bans eligibility for DHS funding from an institution with a relationship to a Confucius Institute thousand talents program or Chinese entities of concern until such relationship is terminated.
28:09Mr. Speaker, the Chinese Communist Party is our enemy.
28:15That is a decision that they have made.
28:17I urge my colleagues to join me in voting yes on the previous question and yes on the rule.
28:23Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time and move the previous question on the resolution.
28:28The question is on ordering the previous question on the resolution.
28:33Those in favor say aye.
28:34Those opposed, no.
28:36In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it.
28:40I would request a recorded vote.
28:42The yeas and nays.
28:44The yeas and nays are requested.
28:47Those favoring a vote by yeas and nays will rise.
28:50A sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered.
28:54Pursuant to Clause 8 of Rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed.
28:59Pursuant to Clause 12A of Rule 1, the chair declares.
29:04.