meeting, in what our relationship is with pakistan and the degree to which they will help prevent terror from that part of the world. but i'll thank the chairman for having the subcommittee hearing and hopefully we'll have more in the near future. mr. lynch: i want to thank my colleagues for participating today. i want to remind everyone -- [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2021] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> we're going to leave the last minute or so of this hearing. you can watch it on c-span.org. as the u.s. house gavels back in. ouse resolution 838 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house calendar number 55, house resolution 838. resolved, that upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the house the bill h.r. 5314, to protect our democracy by preventing abuses of presidential power, restoring

checks and balances and accountability and transparency in government, and defending elections against foreign interference, and for other purposes. all points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of rules committee print 117-20, modified by the amendment printed in part a of the report of the committee on rules accompanying this resolution, shall be considered as adopted. the bill, as amended, shall be considered as read. all points of order against provisions in the bill, as amended, are waived. the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill, as amended, and on any further amendment thereto, 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 oversight and reform or their respective designees, two, the further amendments described in section 2 of this resolution, three, the amendments en bloc

described in section 3 of this resolution, and four, one motion to recommit. section 2. after debate pursuant to the first section of this resolution, each further amendment printed in part b of the report of the committee on rules not earlier considered as part of amendments en bloc pursuant to section 3 of this resolution shall be considered only in the order printed in the report, may be offered only by a member designated in the report, shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, may be withdrawn by the proponent at any time before the question is put thereon, shall not be subject to amendment, and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question. section 3. it shall be in order at any time after debate pursuant to the first section of this resolution for the chair of the committee on oversight and reform or her designee to offer amendments en bloc consisting of further amendments printed in part b of

the report of the committee on rules accompanying this resolution not earlier disposed of. amendments en bloc offered pursuant to this section shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for 20 minutes equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on oversight and reform or their respective designees, shall not be subject to amendment, and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question. section 4. all points of order against the further amendments printed in part b of the report of the committee on rules or amendments en bloc described in section 3 of this resolution are waived. section 5. upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the house the bill s. 1605, to designate the national pulse memorial located at 1912 south orange avenue in orlando, florida, and for other purposes. all points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. an amendment in the nature of a

substitute consisting of the text of rules committee print 117- 21 shall be considered as adopted. the bill, as amended, shall be considered as read. all points of order against provisions in the bill, as amended, are waived. the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill, as amended, and on any further amendment thereto, 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 armed services or their respective designees, and, two, one motion to commit. section 6. the chair of the committee on armed services may insert in the congressional record not later than december 10, 2021, such material as he may deem explanatory of s. 1605. section 7. upon adoption of this resolution

it shall be in order to consider in the house the bill s. 610, to address behavioral health and well-being among health care professionals. all points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of rules committee print 117-22 shall be considered as adopted. the bill, as amended, shall be considered as read. all points of order against provisions in the bill, as amended, are waived. the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill, as amended, and on any further amendment thereto, 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 ways and means or their respective designees. and, two, one motion to commit. section 8. a, at any time through the legislative day of thursday, december 9, 2021, the speaker may entertain motions offered by the majority leader or a designee that the house suspend the rules as though under clause

1 of rule 15 with respect to multiple measures described in subsection b, and the chair shall put the question on any such motion without debate or intervening motion. b, a measure referred to in subsection a includes any measure that was the object of a motion to suspend the rules on the legislative day of november 30, 2021, december 1, 2021, or december 8, 2021, in the form as so offered, on which the yeas and nays were ordered and further proceedings postponed pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20. c, upon the offering of a motion pursuant to subsection a concerning five multiple measures, the ordering of the yeas and nays on postponed motions to suspend the rules with respect to such measures is vacated to the end that all such motions are considered as

withdrawn. resolved, that upon adoption of this resolution it shall be i >> for the purposes of debate only, i yield the customary 30 minutes to the distinguished ranking member of the rules committee, the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. cole. ms. scanlon: pending which i yield myself such time as i may consume. during consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. i ask unanimous consent that all members be given five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. scanlon: mr. speaker, today the rules committee met and reported a rule, house resolution 838, providing for consideration of h.r. 5314, the protecting our democracy act, under a structured rule. it provides one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on oversight and reform. it self-executes a manager's amendment from chairwoman maloney and makes in order 34 amendments. it also provides en bloc authority to chairwoman maloney and one motion to recommit.

the rule also provides for consideration of s.1605, the national defense authorization act for fiscal year 2022 under a closed rule. it provides one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on armed services. it provides authority for the chair of the armed services committee to insert into the record explanatory materials through december 10 and provides for one motion to commit. the rule also provides for consideration of s.610, the protecting medicare and american farmers from sequester cuts act. under a closed rule. it provides one hour of debate equally divided and kroad controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the chair on ways and means and provides for one motion to economy. finally -- commit. rule provides the majority leader to unblock requested roll call votes on certain suspension bills through december #, 2001 -- december 9, 2001. ever since the founding of our great nation, we have debated how to appropriately check and

balance the various branches of our government with a primary concern dating back to the 1700's being how to prevent abuses of executive power and how to address such abuses when they occur. in the 1970's congress passed a variety of reforms in response to abuses of the nixon administration, to address the imbalance between congress and the president. laws like the wars powers act, the national emergencies act and the impoundment control act. now just like then, congress must pass additional reforms to protect against presidential impunity and reset the dysfunctional relationship between the branches of government. many americans did not realize that we didn't already have laws to prevent the kinds of abuses we saw during the trump administration. they thought that our laws required the disclosure of tax returns by presidential candidates and avoidance of financial conflicts, itly with foreign -- particularly with foreign nations, and that our laws prevented the use of

pardons to protect political allies from criminal liability. in a country founded by men for whom public service to promote the common good was the highest calling, we have long expected our elected leaders to adhere to ethical standards that far exceed minimal legality and for the most part they have. people didn't realize that a wayward president might have a dangerously wide berth to avoid legal and ethical guard rails. subverlt the other branches of government and escape accountability for doing so. they were surprised that the former president and his administration would offer pardons in return for political favors. illegally repurposed taxpayer dollars, violate the hatch act or remove inspectors general when they investigated executive misconduct. they were surprised the former president would politically interfere in federal law enforcement investigations and prosecutions, order federal agents to violent ladies bers peaceful protesters or to use

his office to profit. this is no way for a democracy to function. when a president, any president, abuses the power of their office, we all suffer and our democracy is weakened. we often hear that the united states is a nation of laws, not men. but as long as those laws are enforced by men, we need a functional system of oversight and accountability to prevent lawlessness, nepotism, crony dealings and abuses of presidential power. the protecting our democracy act focuses on three major areas of reform. limiting abuses of presidential power, improving accountability, transparency and the system of checks and balances, and protecting against foreign interference in our nation's elections. former president trump and his administration made it clear that the functioning of our democratic institutions have become too dependent on the good behavior of good people. and that our government was vulnerable to the dangers posed by people in possessions of

power who might value their own political or financial interests more than public service or the common good. these are not esotric concerns. just last week at a town hall some of my constituents asked sharp questions about the failure to hold anyone accountability so -- accountable so far for inciting the january 6 attack on the u.s. capitol. questions about the misuse of government funds intended for covid relief, and the measures necessary to hold people in contempt when they defy congressional subpoenas. one of the most recent administration may have ended, our democratic institutions are still vulnerable to future presidents who try to commit similar crimes, abuses of power and other improper actions. the protecting our democracy act is the culmination of years of work by dozens of bipartisan members and nine congressional committees to institute reforms to protect our democracy and rebalance the relationship between congress and the president. for decades congress has ceded many administrative and oversight responsibilities to

the executive branch. congress has granted broad powers in article i-of the constitution but over time many of those powers have been weakened or be a southerned by the -- soshed by the presidence presidency. it's become increasingly clear and particularly so over the last administration that this problem has dangerous consequences. to protect against abuses of presidential power, the protecting our democracy act prevents presidents from pardoning themselves and updates federal bribery laws to prevent quid pro quo pardons. the protecting our democracy act spends the statute of limitations so that presidents cannot escape accountability for crimes committed before or during their terms in office. and this act would allow congress to prevent future presidents from accepting money or gifts from foreign governments or others who seek

to influence presidential actions. to improving transparency and accountability, this act makes a series of necessary reforms to bolster the enforcement of congressional subpoenas. presidents have increasingly used a variety of legal methods to stall or obstruct congressional investigations and these issues came to a head during the trump administration when the executive branch refused to turn over information to congress for so long that the administration ended before congress could obtain that information. congress needs to be able to promptly and effectively conduct oversight in order to fulfill its constitutional role as a check and balance to a rogue administration. the protecting our democracy acts reforms will give congress important legal remedies to ensure recipients of congressional subpoenas comply with them in a timely manner. it will place important limits on presidentially declared emergencies so that presidents cannot indefinitely maintain emergency powers. the protecting our democracy act

will additionally prevent the president from illegally diverting or spending taxpayer dollars. it will prevent presidents from dismissing inspectors general when they conduct investigations that disclose misconduct by an administration. importantly the protecting our democracy act will reinforce measures to prevent the white house from trying to interfere in federal law enforcement for political reasons. lastly the protecting our democracy act includes policies to protect our federal elections from foreign interference. since 2016 numerous foreign governments have gone to great lengths to interfere in our elections and manipulate american public opinion. the protecting our democracy act would require campaigns to affirmatively report any contact with a foreign government or its agents, expressly prohibit those contacts and strengthen criminal penalties for knowing and willful violations of these prohibitions. all in all this

all in all, it will establish essential guardrails to protect our democratic institutions from illegal and unethical behavior by a president or his or her administration. these reforms are long overdue and i strongly encourage my colleagues to support this bill when it's considered on the floor. however, i do want to note to my colleagues that while the protecting our democracy act can address many of the abuses of the recent administration and prevent them in the future, ultimately, the responsibility for holding the executive accountable falls to congress. under our constitution, congress plays an equal role in the functioning of our government. through our powers to authorize and appropriate funds, conduct oversight, pass laws, grant skouf authority, under -- executive authority, under article 1 congress has the ability to limit presidential power and punish presidents who break the law, violates norms, or act in ways to undermine our

constitutional order, and we all must have the courage to exercise that power. so while it's to the congress' ceded many article 1 powers, we can't count on an executive of any party to relinquish powers that we've given away. whether it's war powers, emergency powers, or the enforcement of subpoenas, ethical norms and criminal penalties, it falls on congress to pass legislation to resolve these issues. mr. speaker, today's rule also provides for consideration of the freer 2020 -- fiscal year 2022 national defense authorization act. i applaud the work of our house colleagues to pass the ndaa in a finally -- timely fashion and the senate has once again held up the business. this improves our national security policies, ensuring the united states is able to appropriately respond to ongoing and emerging threats. the ndaa will provide the resources to combat aggression and malign activity by russia

and china. it will strengthen our security relations with important allies in europe and asia, and it will continue vital modernization and acquisition programs. the ndaa includes important policies for my district, including funding for five block two chinook helicopters and five ospreys, all which are manufactured in ridley park, pennsylvania. the men and women who build these incredible aircraft are proud that their hard work directly supports our national security and sdraser relief -- disaster relief efforts around the world and the 2022 ndaa is an investment in these amazing workers. the ndaa also includes funding for the fifth of five national security multimission vessels which are being built at the philadelphia ship yard, the birthplace of the united states navy. these are training ships for our nation's maritime academy which will educate the next generation of mariners as we're seeing growing shortages of that

workforce. this has provided hundreds of jobs in my district and throughout our region and it will create hundreds more as work continues. these training vessels are critical to our national commerce, our national defense, and our regional economy. this friday, i'm looking forward go to the philadelphia navy yard. i want to highlight as well the important reforms the ndaa finally makes to the way the military handles cases of sexual assault. thanks to years of work by advocates and members of the house and senate armed services committee, the ndaa will remove special victims crimes from the chain of command and create an office of the special victim prosecutor within each service that is independent from the military justice system. these reforms will ensure that allegations of sexual assault get an independent investigation with experience criminal justice attorneys, allowing members to seek justice without the pressures and obfuscations that

keeps these in the shadows. while i think more needs to be done about sexual assault in the armed fosss -- forces, the 2022 ndaa makes much-needed progress. this rule will provide an expedited consideration in the senate of legislation to raise the nation's debt limit. congressional republicans have held the country hostage for nearly four months, threatening to derail our economy and the world's economy as part of a fiscally irresponsible political stunt. again, it's incredibly irresponsible for members of congress to support fiscal policies that require the treasury to borrow and then to prevent the treasury from doing so. we must raise the debt limit and we must be responsible stewards of the full faith and credit of the united states. it's been said multiple times but bears repeating, raising the debt limit is necessary to allow the treasury to pay the bills our country has already incurred. it has nothing to do with the national debt. the united states cannot default on its bills without creating a

global financial crisis and inflicting serious financial harm on our country and its inhabitants. it is grossly irresponsible for any member of this congress to deliberately not pay our debts and particularly to do so for partisan political purposes. i look forward to legislative action in the future to permanently lift the debt limit and to remove this political football from the halls of congress. i'm glad that both chambers of congress have come to an agreement on the path forward to raising the debt limit for the president so we can end the economic anxiety caused by this arbitrary and functionally useless budget provision. in addition to the debt limit provisions, the rule includes important budgetary provisions to protect funding for medicare and other important federal programs as our nation continues our robust recovery from last year's recession and to fight the ongoing covid-19 pandemic. mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from pennsylvania reserves. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. cole: thank you, mr. speaker. and i thank my good friend, the gentlelady from pennsylvania, distinguished member, ms. scanlon, for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. i yield myself such time as i may consume. today's rule, mr. speaker, covers three items. i'll begin my remarks on a bipartisan note with the house amendment to senate bill 1605, the vehicle for the agreement between the house and the senate for the national defense authorization act for fiscal year 2022. it's been a long road to get us to this point, mr. speaker, but with this week's action, the house and senate are poised to enact the ndaa for the 61st consecutive year. this is quite an accomplishment and one that could not have been possible but for the bipartisan cooperation in the house and the senate. it didn't always look promising. at the beginning of the process, president biden proposed a defense budget that would deeply

underfund our national defense. chronic underfunding of defense was the hallmark of the obama-biden administration, a trend that was thankfully reversed by president trump and a republican congress. with his first budget, president biden appeared poised to return to the previous sorry state of affairs. fortunately, a bipartisan group of legislators on the armed services committee rejected this approach, ensuring an increase in defense funding that would be sufficient to meet the country's needs. the increase garnered overwhelming bipartisan support in the committee, allowing the ndaa to be reported out on a 57-2 vote. extending to final passage out of the house with a bipartisan 316-113 vote. at a glance, it's easy to see why. the united states and our allies face significant threats around the globe. we see this every day in trouble spots around the world, ranging

from the middle east to afghanistan to the taiwan strait. between russian adventurism in eastern europe, chinese development of new hypersonic missiles and saberrattling against taiwan and the extremist terrorist organizations like al qaeda and the islamic state, this is not the time to underfund our national defense. fortunately, the 2022 ndaa will adequately fund our defense needs and set clear priorities to our armed forces. the bill before us funds acquisition of ships to ensure the united states navy can meet its mission. and weapons systems that will allow our military to meet new and emerging challenges in the coming years. it provides our service members with a 2.7% pay raise. and perhaps most important of all, it includes many provisions designed to provide much-needed oversight of president biden's bungled withdrawal from

afghanistan. america deserves answers about decisions that were made, and the resulting failures of leadership that occurred at all levels. thanks to this bill, they can be assured they will get them. our second item is the house amendment to senate bill 610. which addresses the medicare sequestration. while most of the members on both sides of the aisle would agree that a resolution of this problem is necessary, i fear today's bill is a missed opportunity for bipartisanship. rather than pursuing a clean bipartisan deal, we have a bill which includes provisions addressing the debt ceiling and delaying the pay-go cuts from the majority's partisan reconciliation bill earlier this year. mr. speaker, two months ago, democrats passed a measure to increase the debt ceiling, leading us to the deadline we face today. at that time, republicans told democrats two things, which i think bear repeating. first, democrats needed to step back from their massive partisan

spending priorities. and second, they needed to work with the republicans on solutions to our ever-increasing strkt urlly -- instruct urlly in -- structurely imbalanced debt. they didn't use reconciliation to address the debt ceiling. earlier this year, the majority passed a $1.9 trillion reconciliation bill, which only democratic votes. last month, the house passed another partisan reconciliation bill with only democratic votes, which may ultimately cost us as much as $4.5 trillion. even if you take the democrats at their word and accept their claims these measures are fully paid for, all the new revenues this legislation claims to do to raise do nothing to address the existing $29 trillion national debt. they just go on new programs overwhelmingly designed to benefit the liberal and special

interests. both of these measures are larded up with more spending, more taxation, and more big government control over the lives of everyday americans. and these measures come on top of normal federal spending and on top of the trillions of dollars appropriated last year and earlier this year to address the covid-19 pandemic and subsequent economic crisis. after continuing to spend money in such a reckless and partisan manner, it's deeply disappointing that the democratic leadership in the house and the senate waited until now to address the debt ceiling. waiting until this point has placed the house in an awkward position, resulting in today's unfortunate bill. additionally, the pay-go cuts due to be implemented next month do mostly to the democrats' first reconciliation bill are not addressed. instead, they are delayed until the end of 2022, setting up an even bigger cry sirs at that

time. finally, the house is also considering h.r. 5314, which the majority is calling the protecting our democracy act. this is a package of purported reforms relating to presidential power and foreign interference in elections. but the reality is that this package is an attempt by the majority to write into law supposed solutions to every complaint they ever had about the previous president. the best thing i can say about this package is that it's duplicative. many of the provisions included in this package have already passed the house as part of the majority's previous purported reform packages, notably including h.r. 1. but not content with having passed these partisan provisions previously, the majority is pushing ahead with today's package. this is such a waste of time for this institution. at a time when the american people are deeply concerned about inflation and the weak economy and when we are seeing the consequences of president biden's weak leadership, both

domestically and abroad, the majority is once again wasting time by talking about the last administration. i can think of countless other ways we could and should be spending our time that would be more productive and would deliver better results for our constituents. mr. speaker, this is a sorry state of affairs. i continue to hope that the majority will shift its focus back to where it should be, governing in a dleep partisan man -- deeply partisan manner may be saving for their base, but it's hardly productive for the american people. with that, mr. speaker, i urge opposition to this rule, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma reserves. the gentlewoman from pennsylvania is recognized. ms. scanlon: mr. speaker, i yield four minutes to the gentleman from massachusetts, the distinguished chair of the committee on rules, mr. mcgovern. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for four minutes. mr. mcgovern: thank you. i want to thank the gentlelady from pennsylvania for yielding and for her leadership on the rules committee.

mr. speaker, there are lots of good things in this rule. and everybody should vote for it. the protect our democracy act. and there are lots of amendments to that bill that are included in this rule. we move forward with the -- with a doc fix and we put in this rule a procedure that will allow the senate to consider the debt ceiling issue. and i should clarify this because during the rules committee meeting today, i think some of my republican friends who testified started to cleeb the republican talking points that this was automatically increasing the debt ceiling. it isn't. it puts in place a process that was negotiated by senator schumer and senator mcconnell, a democrat and a republican, that would allow the senate to deal with the issue. when they deal with it and pass it, we will have to then deal with it and pass it here in the house. .

the bill also includes the f.y.2022 national defense authorization act, that was negotiated between the house and senate. and it is a bill in my opinion that spends far too much on military matters. and i have some problems with that. but i will say this. the chair, chairman smith, and ranking member rodgers, did an incredible job of trying to piece together a bill that would get a majority in the house and a majority in the senate. but i want to speak about one provision in particular that's missing. the house verse of the ndaa that passed with a broad bipartisan support last september, you know, in the house, had some good things in it, including section 6470, which included my provision that re-authorizes sanctions and makes them more effective by adding provisions

through executive order 13818 which was actually issued by former president trump. briefly the ndaa provision codifies the global sanctions as they have been applied over the last five years. we need to re-authorize the global sanctions because when they became law in 2016, a sunset was added. since 2016 global sanctions have had a strong -- have had strong bipartisan support and have proven to be one of our most powerful foreign policy tools. they have been imposed on more than 300 human rights abusers and corrupt actors in nearly 40 countries around the world. human rights groups, civil society organizations and victims organizations overwhelmingly support them. the number one request we hear

from threatened human rights defenders is that the u.s. imposed global sanctions on government perpetrators, on the individuals, on the institutions responsible for heinous human rights atrocities. in 2020 the sanctions were imposed on chinese officials for abusing uighurs in china. who opposes that? well, apparently there's a handful of republicans here in this house who oppose it. because they are responsible for blocking the global provision from the final ndaa agreement. and these are the same people that are happy to talk about human rights and how important human rights is and then they issue press release it's and call for -- releases and call for sanctions when there's a human rights atrocity that they want to be involved in. but when it comes to making sure that the u.s. government can maintain the tools it needs to

advance human rights, they just said no. can i ask for an additional -- ms. scanlon: i yield an additional minute. mr. mcgovern: they should know. shame on those who derail this in the negotiations between the house and senate. you know, it's not enough to issue press releases. we inside to -- need to take action. mr. speaker, mark my words we will re-authorize an strengthen -- and strengthen the global in country and whether he do so hand in hand with allies of both sides of the aisle in the house and in the senate. because at the end of the day it's important that we just don't talk the talk, that we walk the walk. and again, i can't believe that this important provision was derailed by a small group in this house. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from pennsylvania reserves. the gentleman from oklahoma is

recognized. mr. cole: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. if we defeat the previous question i'll offer an amendment on the rule precedely to -- immediately to bring up h.r. 1995, the protecting our communities from gang violence act of twown. this -- 2001. this bill -- 2021. this would make alien gang members inadmissible to the united states and deportable. it would also authorize revoking the citizenship of certain naturalized individuals who are members of a criminal gang and it would ensure that individuals associated with criminal gangs aren't eligible for asylum or temporary protected status. mr. speaker, gang violence continues to be a scourge on american communities, threatening the lives and livelihood of ordinary, hardworking americans. certain gangs like ms-13 operate internationally, bringing violence from overseas to the united states. if enacted h.r. 1995 would ensure the federal government has an appropriate response to

gang members and wrongdoers who seek to enter the united states, who have taken advantage of our broken immigration system because chaos in -- and cause kayous -- and cause chaos in our communities. i ask unanimous consent to insert language of my bill not record. to further explain the previous question, i yield three minutes to my good friend and fellow appropriator and former sheriff, mr. rutherford from florida. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. rutherford: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank my good friend from oklahoma for this opportunity. mr. speaker, i rise in opposition to the previous question so that we can immediately consider h.r. 1995, a bill to keep alien gang members from entering the united states. the crisis at the southern border continues to rage with over 160,000 illegal aliens pouring into the country every single month.

every month. in miss it cal year 2021 a record breaking 1.7 million illegal aliens crossed our southern border. those were the only ones who were caught. how many others avoided authorities and successfully entered into our country illegally? mr. speaker, we know cartels are sending gang members across our border and into our communities. and i can tell you as a former sheriff, i can assure you, mr. speaker, these gang members, these alien gang members are bringing violence and drugs and they are straining police resources in cities all across america. in fact, crime skyrocketed in many cities last year and much of that was cited to gang violence. i hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle can agree that alien gang members should not be allowed into the united states. a no vote on the previous question send as message to

those looking to bring crime and violence into our country that they are not welcome here. mr. speaker, for the sake of my children, for the sake of your children, for the sake of our children i would ask all of my colleagues, even those across the aisle, on both sides of the aisle, to vote no on the previous question and stop these illegal alien gang members. thank you, mr. speaker. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from oklahoma reserves. the gentlewoman from pennsylvania is recognized. ms. scanlon: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from new york, the distinguished chairwoman from the committee on oversight and reform, mrs. maloney. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized for if anyones. mrs. maloney: thank you, mr. speaker. and i thank the gentlelady for yielding and for her outstanding work on the rules committee. i rise in strong support of a rule for h.r. 5314, the protecting our democracy act.

this sweeping package of reforms, many of which have been supported by democrats and republicans in the past, will protect our government from future abuses, restore the government's system of checks and balances, and strengthen accountability and transparency. the oversight committee has jurisdiction over several titles in this landmark legislation and i am proud to be an original co-sponsor of this bill. the protecting our democracy act includes the inspector general independence act, which i introduced last year with majority leader steny hoyer and sterile other members of the over-- several other members of the oversight committee. the bill will strengthen protections for inspectors generals by only allowing an i.g. to be removed for specific documented cause and not for retaliation, political retaliation for doing their jobs, for conducting oversight. the bill also includes my

whistleblower protection improvement act. a bipartisan bill the oversight committee approved earlier this year. these provisions would strengthen protections for whistleblowers by protecting their anonymity and prohibiting retaliation when they come forward with abuses in government. the protecting our democracy act would strengthen the hatch act which is intended to protect the government from political interference with our work force. last month the independent office of special counsel found that senior officials in the last administration repeatedly broke the law by using their government positions to campaign for the former president. the bill also includes representative katie porter's bill, the accountability for acting officials act, which would limit who can be named an acting official and for how long. these reforms would close

loopholes that are ripe for abuse. finally, the bill -- my time is expired. i urge everyone to vote for thisle important bill. i yield back and ask the opportunity to revise and extend my remarks. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman from new york yields back. the gentlewoman from pennsylvania reserves. the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. mr. cole: mr. speaker, to provide further information about the previous question, i yield three minutes to my good friend and former police officer, member of the law enforcement caucus, mr. stauber of minnesota. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota is recognized for three minutes. mr. stauber: thank you, mr. chair. thank you, ranking member cole. i rise to oppose the previous question so that we can immediately consider h.r. 1995, the protecting our communities from gang violence act. crime is running rampant in our cities, smash and grabs is the new normal for malls and small business owners. carjackings are happening with

such frequency that it's now recommended you drive in the center lane of roads and highways. what once were beloved destinations in our states and our communities have become overrun with street gangs and violent criminals across this great nation. and now president biden is helping bring that crime to every suburban and rural community in america. as we speak, the biden administration is using taxpayer dollars to fly and transport illegal immigrants across this country. this is without knowledge of who these people are or their criminal background.

now, violent gang members have been illegally entering our country and circumventing our laws well before the biden administration implemented their weak border policies. but it is grateful naive -- gravely naive to think that these gang members are not taking full advantage of this crisis. crossing the border with ease, hopping on these taxpayer-funded flights, hopping on these taxpayer-funded flights, mr. chair, and making their way into every small town across this great nation. the biden administration is without a doubt providing gang members new playgrounds for their criminal behavior. this is unacceptable in our great nation. as members of congress, we cannot sit idly by and allow our communities to be infiltrated by

gang members and exposed to violence. mr. speaker, h.r. 1995 is simple. it will make gang members inadmissible to and deportable from the united states of america. let me repeat that. it will make gang members inadmissible to and deportable from the united states of america. this legislation should be noncontroversial. violent and dangerous criminals have no right to live in our communities and benefit from our country. we must finally send a signal that we will not allow this cycle of crime and violence to continue. i ask my colleagues to defeat the previous question. mr. chair, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from oklahoma

reserves. the gentlewoman from pennsylvania is recognized. ms. scanlon: thank you, mr. speaker. i just remind our colleagues, we're here today to talk about a rule to bring the protecting our democracy act to the floor. that is a bill that would prevent criminal behavior by presidents, not by illegal aliens. so i would just kind of redirect the conversation there. we're also here to engage in the extremely important business of passing the national defense authorization act and to pass -- to help the senate since they're having difficulty on their own to raise the debt limit. so that's what we're here to discuss and with that i would reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. cole: i yield two minutes to the distinguished gentlelady from missouri, one of the recognized experts on defense in the congress, mrs. hartzler. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for two minutes. mrs. hartzler: thank you, mr.

speaker. thank you, mr. ranking member. i rise in support of the national defense thofersation act for fiscal year 2022. i want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their work in developing this comprehensive bill that will ensure our men and women in uniform have the resources they need to keep our country safe. the bill before us today does not include a provision requiring women to register for the selective service. this bill does not include any red flag gun provisions that would infringe on the second amendment rights of our service members. and this bill does not establish an office of extremism. i want to thank ranking member rogers for his advocacy in remove these provisions from the final bill. this bill does proteblght queer sis veep -- service members who choose not to receive the covid-19 vaccine by prohibiting d.o.d. proissuing dishonorable discharges. it also requires standards for

covid-19 vaccine exemses and requires the phoning consider the effects of natural immunity. as a member of the subcommittee i'm pleased with the investment this is bill makes to the land air air. this bill continues critical oversight of the air force, navy and marine corps strike force fighter structure, setting better conditions for setting the better mix for fourth and fifth generation fighters and managing operational risk. specifically this legislation authorizes funding for 12 f-18 superhornets, 85 strike fighters an 17 aircraft. the legislation provides much-needed funding increases within the army's small and medium caliber ammunition accounts as well as to support operational and safety improvements to the nation's ammunition industrial base. i am proud of this legislation

and i urge all my colleagues to vote yes on the final passage of the ndaa. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from oklahoma -- the gentlewoman yields. the gentlewoman from oklahoma reserves. the gentlewoman from pennsylvania is recognized. ms. scanlon: yes, i would inquire how many speakers mr. cole has remaining? mr. cole: we have at least one, i think perhaps two, if the gentleman makes it back in time. ms. scanlon: well as long as i have a few minutes left i want to raise an antidepressant which i have to the protecting our democracy act which has been made in order. this would effectuate the finds of the senate judiciary committee report entitled subverting justice, how the former president and his allies pressured the department of justice to overturn the 2020 election. that report made numerous recommendations but one of them is directly related to the protecting our democracy act and would increase the frequency with which reports are made of

contact between the white house and the department of justice in order to make sure that the protections against po litcy cigs of our law enforcement arm occurs at the bed he's of bad actors in the white house. very, very pleased that amendment was made in order. as always, very grateful to the committee on rules for its continuing efforts to make amendments in order which it's been doing at a much higher rate this term than last. with that, i would yield -- i reserve, i'm sorry. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the quelt from oklahoma is recognized. mr. cole: thank you very much, mr. speaker. i yield four minutes to my good friend, a fellow member of the rules committee, distinguished member of the committee on energy and commerce, dr. burgess of texas. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for four minutes. mr. burgess: i thank the gentleman for yielding. look, you just have to ask yourself what in the heck is going on here. doctors across this country are

heroes in the health care fight that we've been in the last two years. facing significant cuts in medicare. in their medicare reimbursement. instead of getting a commitment from congress that we're going to work on solve this problem, what did they get? a gimmicky bill tying a reprieve on medicare cuts to the debt limit. that's a dead duck over in the other body. it's not going to pass. the majority knows it's not going to pass. why don't we face the facts and get things done correctly from the start? look, unfortunately, our authorizic committees, committee on energy and commerce and committee on ways and means has not seen fit to hold the hearings that would be necessary to provide a solution to this problem. our providers need and deserve that certainty. look, i don't know, mr. speaker, what it's like in your part of the state but in my part of the state we're experiencing a

shortage of health care workers. we're also seeing hospital consolidation becoming more and more prevalent. the coming medicare cuts will only worsen these issues. furthermore, we've not even considered the cuts due to the centers for medicare and medicaid services for clinical labor pricing updates. some studies are indicating that these cuts could be as significant as 20% for some providers. many of these same providers serve our seniors, serve patients in critical care populations. including cancer patients and patients receiving critical surgeries or procedures. overall, the clinical labor pricing updates will have an extreme impact on health quality as it will affect our most vulnerable populations. i appreciate the fact that the rebate rule is not included as an offset in this bill that truly was budgetary smoke and

mirrors that had no place in a rational discussion of this. but i do have to ask why we are reluctant to reuse the dollars in the provider relief fund as an offset instead of creating a new medicare sequester, oh, yeah, that won't start until 10 years from now. mr. speaker, we're all familiar down here with kicking the can down the road and robbing peter to pay paul. we're basically now robbing peter's grandchildren to pay paul. the provider relief fund is sitting there waiting to be used. it would provide target red leaf to providers consistent with the original intent of the fund that we all voted for on march 27 of 2020. unfortunately, this bill includes a one-time procedural change to allow the senate to originate and pass a debt limit increase with only 51 votes. the medicare issue and the debt

limit do not belong in the same room let alone in the same bill. protecting patients' access to care and helping health care providers during a public health emergency is a bipartisan issue. it deserves sincere congressional action. and it's time we work on that meaning. payment reform. i thank the gentleman from oklahoma and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas yields back. the gentleman from oklahoma reserves. the gentlewoman from pennsylvania is recognized. ms. scanlon: thank you. i completely agree that protecting medicare from cuts is a bipartisan issue and we are happy to engage on that. unfortunately, there's a complaint about how this bill is coming up at this time, that's something that was pushed by republican leadership here in the house. that is not how our leadership proposed to do it. so you know, if my colleagues want to have a serious conversation about the nation's fiscal policies, we encourage them to do the work with us to

pass the funding bill for the current fiscal year. we're now two months into this fiscal year and we still don't have a funding bill because senate republicans are refusing to work with the rest of congress to negotiate a bipartisan appropriations bill. with that, i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. mr. cole: i'd ask the jailed, we're still waiting for a speaker but if you're prepared to close -- i'd ask the gentlelady, we're still waiting for a speaker but if you're prepared to close, we will close. thank you very much. i yield myself the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. cole: before i get into my prepared remarks to close, in response to to my good friend's last mark, i want her to be aware we don't have a appropriations bill or budget because my friends, frankly, have riddled what happened in the appropriations committee with poison pills taking out the hyde protection, we've been waiting to negotiate that.

our friends have refused to do that. it's been extended now to february 18. i hope that we meet that deadline and we actually do get an agreed upon appropriations bill. if we do i'd be happy to support it as i have so many years in the past. mr. speaker, in passing a final bipartisan, bicameral version of the ndaa, we're fulfilling our responsibility to provide for the common defense. this will mark the 61st year in a row that congress has passed a final ndaa and i celebrate that fact. this year's bill increases defense spending to a level commensurate with our needs. unlike the president's budget. it ensures a needed pay raise for our troops and ensures that war fighters of tomorrow will have the weapons and capabilities they need. it will also provide needed oversight over the president's debacle in afghanistan and will ensure that the american people receive the answers they deserve. i want to public play --

publicly commend chair smith and ranking member rogers for working together in a bipartisan fashion and commend their opt parts in the united states senate, chairman reed and ranking member inhofe for cooperating and bringing this important measure before us and i hope we can pass it and move forward from there. today's rule unfortunately also advances a measure to address medicaid's sequestration. this is a bill that could and should have been bipartisan. but instead must be used to address the democratic leadership's failure to resolve the debt ceiling vote. that's sad. democratic leadership have chosen to divide us when they could have chosen a different course that would have united us in a bipartisan agreement. hopefully they'll learn from that lesson. finally this bill also -- this rule also advances a highly partisan and unnecessary collection of purported government reformsmark of which are duplicative of measures that

have previously passed the house. i urge the majority to rethink these measures. mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to vote no on the previous question, no on the rule, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma yields back. the gentlewoman from pennsylvania is recognized. ms. scanlon: mr. speaker, the protecting our democracy act is a necessary pack aiming of policies to address abuses of our constitutional processes that have developed over time but accelerated under the most recent administration. it's become clear that our government will not survive solely on the good behavior of good people. we need statutory guardrails to ensure compliance with norms of good behavior. the protecting our democracy act will impose reasonable and constitutionally sound limits on presidential power and then create enforceable penalties for presidents who abuse the powers of their office. i'm proud of my colleagues to contributed legislation to the final bill, especially representative adam schiff who

spearheaded this important effort. the protecting our democracy act is an important continuation of the house's work for the people to protect our democratic institutions at this critical moment in time. it builds off bills like h.r. 1, h.r. 4 and the inspector general independence and empowerment act to protect our elections and make good government reforms to ensure that our government works for everyone and that the rule of law applies to everyone. as with many of these bills and others passed by the house i strongly urge my senate colleagues to join us and do some legislating. our country is facing multiple problems and we frankly cannot afford continued inaction from the senate on voting right, the ntaa or the debt limit or any of the hundreds of bills passed by the house over the last year. i urge my colleagues to vote for the rule today and to support the underlying legislation. i yield back the balance of my time and i move the previous question on the resolution.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the question is on ordering the previous question on the resolution. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair the ayes have it. the gentleman from oklahoma. mr. cole: on that i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to section 3-s of house resolution 8, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings are postponed. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess subject to the call of thewashington journal"

continues. caller: we are joint -- host: we are joined by anthony brown, a retired u.s. army colonel, and in the first