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H1164 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE March 9, 2021 PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION going hungry. Roughly 12 million chil- Madam Speaker, today’s rule pro- OF SENATE AMENDMENT TO H.R. dren are living in households with food vides for consideration of the Senate 1319, AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN insecurity. Up to 40 million people can- amendment to H.R. 1319, the American ACT OF 2021 not afford to pay rent and fear evic- Rescue Plan Act of 2021. tion. Over 2 million women have been First, the House considered the budg- Mr. MCGOVERN. Madam Speaker, by et resolution setting the budget rec- direction of the Committee on Rules, I forced to leave the workforce. Eight of 10 minority businesses are on the brink onciliation instructions for this mas- call up House Resolution 198 and ask of closure. That is what COVID has sive coronavirus relief bill. Then, the for its immediate consideration. wrought in America today. House considered and passed, on a par- The Clerk read the resolution, as fol- This is more than a Band-Aid; this is tisan basis, the budget resolution au- lows: a lifeline, Madam Speaker. It will put thorizing a deficit increase of nearly $2 H. RES. 198 more vaccines in arms, put more kids trillion. After an all-night vote-a-rama Resolved, That upon adoption of this reso- back safely in schools, put more money in the Senate, the House will consider lution it shall be in order to take from the in people’s pockets, and put more peo- this package for the third time. Speaker’s table the bill (H.R. 1319) to provide ple back to work. It is hard to over- Three times the House will have de- for reconciliation pursuant to title II of S. state just how important this is. Con. Res. 5, with the Senate amendment bated and passed a partisan package, thereto, and to consider in the House, with- This bill, Madam Speaker, attacks and only 9 percent is dedicated to actu- out intervention of any point of order, a mo- inequality and poverty in ways we ally crushing the coronavirus. This tion offered by the chair of the Committee haven’t seen in a generation. This leg- isn’t just disappointing; it is irrespon- on the Budget or his designee that the House islation makes the biggest investments sible, and it is unrepresentative of the concur in the Senate amendment. The Sen- in our workers and our middle class American people. ate amendment and the motion shall be con- that I have seen in my two-and-a-half Currently, Democrats only hold the sidered as read. The motion shall be debat- decades of service here. majority by five Representatives. That able for two hours equally divided among Make no mistake, I am disappointed means that the 211 Republicans, rep- and controlled by the chair and ranking mi- to see the cut in the unemployment in- resenting nearly 150 million Ameri- nority member of the Committee on the surance made over in the Senate, and cans, have been shut out of this proc- Budget or their respective designees and the we are going to keep fighting to raise chair and ranking minority member of the ess; 150 million Americans are not rep- Committee on Ways and Means or their re- the minimum wage so that no one who resented in the package before us spective designees. The previous question works full time lives in poverty. We are today. shall be considered as ordered on the motion going to keep focusing on the hunger Madam Speaker, we all want to pro- to its adoption without intervening motion. crisis in this country until we end it vide the resources to successfully The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. once and for all. These should be funda- emerge on the other side of the pan- JACKSON LEE). The gentleman from mental priorities of the wealthiest na- demic. This bill does include funding Massachusetts is recognized for 1 hour. tion on the planet. for testing and vaccine deployment, as But let’s be clear. Today, we are on Mr. MCGOVERN. Madam Speaker, for well as some economic support and aid the doorstep of history. We are about the purpose of debate only, I yield the to those who are unemployed or experi- to send the most sweeping and progres- customary 30 minutes to the distin- encing food shortages, but this support sive economic investment in modern guished gentleman from Texas (Mr. is not targeted toward those identified times to the President of the United BURGESS), pending which I yield myself as most vulnerable. States: $1,400 in direct payments, a his- This bill includes $1,400 in economic such time as I may consume. During toric child allowance, school infra- consideration of this resolution, all stimulus payments to anyone making structure, an expansion of the Afford- $75,000 a year or less, including those time yielded is for the purpose of de- able Care Act, student loan relief, bil- bate only. who may not have lost their jobs or ex- lions in rental assistance, aid that will perienced reduced employment. In ad- GENERAL LEAVE cut child poverty in half, and I could go dition, there is no mechanism to en- Mr. MCGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I on and on and on. sure that these payments go only to ask unanimous consent that all Mem- Everything included in this final American citizens. bers may have 5 legislative days in package is necessary to crush the virus Republicans were pleased that the in- which to revise and extend their re- and revitalize our economy. frastructure projects in California and As I have noted, I have been in Con- marks. New York, projects that had nothing to gress for more than 20 years, but this, The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there do with coronavirus relief, have been Madam Speaker, this is among my objection to the request of the gen- removed. We are glad of that. tleman from Massachusetts? proudest moments. My Democratic colleagues may argue I want to thank our distinguished There was no objection. that these projects would have created Speaker, NANCY PELOSI, and my fellow Mr. MCGOVERN. Madam Speaker, jobs, but why then are Democrats also today, the Rules Committee met and committee chairs who worked so hard on this bill. I want to thank Budget providing $125 billion to schools even if reported a rule, House Resolution 198, they remain closed? Teachers want to providing for a motion to concur with Committee Chair YARMUTH and all of my colleagues here in the House for teach. Teachers want to be safely in the Senate amendment to H.R. 1319, their classrooms teaching. The Centers the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. getting us to this point. Democrats on both sides of the Cap- for Disease Control has confirmed that The rule provides 2 hours of debate itol, together with the Biden adminis- with appropriate safety precautions, on the motion, equally divided and con- tration, have crafted something his- the risk of coronavirus transmission in trolled by the chairs and ranking mi- toric. In 1 day, with a single vote in schools is minimal. In fact, many nority members of the Committees on favor of this bill, we will change the States are prioritizing teachers for vac- Budget and Ways and Means. lives of millions of Americans for the cines. Madam Speaker, our State of Madam Speaker, a once-in-a-century better. Texas is doing so. Why are we paying pandemic brought us the need to act, For all of our important work, day in schools to keep them home? and a Democratic Congress and a and day out, we don’t get many This bill also provides $362 billion for Democratic President have seized the chances like this. I urge all of my col- State and local governments. The moment, not as a chance to help big leagues to join me in voting for this CARES Act, passed on March 27, al- corporations or the already well-off, as rule and the underlying rescue plan. ready provided a $150 billion those on the other side have done over Let us rise and meet this moment, Coronavirus Relief Fund to help local and over again, but as an opportunity and let’s send this historic bill to the entities with lost revenue during the to invest in our workers, our students, President’s desk for his signature. shutdowns. However, many local au- our communities, and the very people Madam Speaker, I reserve the bal- thorities have chosen to keep their who need help the most. ance of my time. economies shut down, despite a drop in More than 18 million Americans are Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, I coronavirus cases and the effectiveness receiving unemployment benefits yield myself such time as I may con- of safety measures like social today. Nearly 24 million adults are sume. distancing and mask-wearing. VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:58 Mar 10, 2021 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00040 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\K09MR7.057 H09MRPT1 dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with HOUSE March 9, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H1165 Congress should not bail out State [From Politico, Mar. 5, 2021] hoped that ‘‘hearing from local officials that and local governments for mismanage- ‘CHECK PARTISANSHIP AT THE DOOR’: BIDEN are on the ground, day in and day out, will ment that occurred prior to the pan- FINDS GOP ALLIES FOR RESCUE MONEY be something that motivates elected officials (By Kellie Mejdrich) from both parties’’ to support the funding.
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