those things. another thing that may sound a little weird but it was particularly bob dole, at the end of the day, after four or five meetings campaigning in iowa for the republican nomination, whether we go to a hotel or get on the airplane to go to the next stop or a restaurant, he would say at the end of the day probably because he was tired, he would say "free at last, free at last so i ended my tribute to him -- "free at >> we are leaving this to honor our more than 40 year commitment of live gavel to gavel coverage. the house is coming in to debate and vote on a bill seeking to - presidential power, up to 40 amendments are allowed. live coverage on c-span

[captioning made possible by th, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] >> the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's rooms, washington, d.c. december 9, 2021. i hereby appoint the honorable julia brownley to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, nancy pelosi, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: the prayer will be offered by chaplain kibben. chaplain kibben: would you pray with me. create in our pure hearts, o god, and recreate within us this day new and steadfast spirits. be our judge. when we find ourselves caught up in the love of triumph,

transform us. redeem our appetite for fighting and winning. beat the swords we wield against others into tools that instead carve out safe places for dialogue and collaboration. be our arbitrator, disrupt our incollinnation to fight and win -- inclination to fight and win. redeem our deep desire to conquer our adversaries and recast our spears into instruments that serve to reveal our best sevs -- selves. be our guide. teach us something other than conflict. redeem our predisposition to demonize or demean the other and form in us habits of decency and civility, honor and respect. we vendor ourselves to this -- surrender ourselves to this radical transformation and yield ourselves to the redemption that your loves us -- offers us --

love offers with us. grant within us a willing spirit that we would be sustained in our service to you in this time. in your sovereign name we pray, amen. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to section 11-a of house resolution 188, the journal of the last day's proceedings is approved. the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentlewoman from the district of columbia, ms. norton. ms. norton: i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain up to 15 requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the the gentlewoman from the district of columbia seek recognition? ms. norton: to address the house

for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. norton: madam speaker, this month's job report gives americans something to cheer about. unemployment is down a full 2%age points. under democratic congressional and presidential leadership. since president biden took office. the corollary to this impressive unemployment figure is the record six million jobs created, a record for a new president. with the signing of the new transportation and infrastructure bill, more jobs, for example in my own district, district of columbia, are on the way. 1.1 billion for roads and bridges. build back better promises even more economic dividends. analysts say build back better

is the biggest cost cutting bill for the middle class in modern american history. with costs down, job growth will be spurred. democrats are creating a new economy featuring record jobs for the american people. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i rise today and honor the passing of carol jenkins barnett. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman will suspend. does the gentleman seek unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. >> yes, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> madam speaker, i rise today in honor of the passing of the carol jenkins barnett. she was the daughter of public supermarket founder george jenkins. she carried the mantle of generosity on behalf of the family and public supermarket charities. benefiting the precedents of

lakeland, the state of florida, and beyond. carol had a remarkable love for her family and for the families of our community. advocating especially for children and early childhood education with her time, talent, as well as her treasure. mr. franklin: she impacted so many people in so many communities in ways both seen and unseen. quite simply, i have never known a more generous person than carol jenkins barnett. we'll be praying for carol's husband, their sons, and their families as they mourn the loss of this exceptional woman. you'll be missed, carol, but your legacy endures in the generations you touched. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition? >> thank you, madam speaker. i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, madam speaker. i have been to every nook and cranny of the region i represent. i have never spoken to anyone, anywhere who thought elected officials should be able to use their public office for personal

profit. mr. kilmer: i never spoken to anyone, anywhere who believes elected officials should be able to interfere in independent investigations or pun lish whistleblowers. i have never spoken to anyone, anywhere in my district though thinks we should allow foreign countries toint fear in our elections. addressing these issues is what the protecting our democracy act is all about. importantly, this bill includes the honest ads act. the bill i led to increase accountable for online political ads. their requirements for print, broadcast, and radio ads, our bipartisan bill would set those same requirements for online ads so the american people can know who is paying for the ads they are seeing online. so we can keep foreign money out. we know that foreign adversaries have attacked our elections in the past and we have to stop t that's why i'm proud to co-sponsor this legislation and i encourage my colleagues to pass this bill today. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> ask unanimous consent to

address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, madam speaker. i rise today to honor mr. victor karsa and wish him a happy 100th birthday. he is a world war ii veteran who is devoted to his family, faith, and service to his country. he joined the united states navy at the age of 22 and served in the pacific theater during orlando war ii. world war ii. during his service he worked as a heavy equipment operator and was stationed in japan where he assisted with efforts to free prisoners of war. after his service to his contory, he devoted himself to his community building homes and businesses across victoria, texas, and being an active member of the v.f.w. he also devoted himself to his family raising seven children with his wife of 74 years. mr. cloud: he's a true hero and example to all of us of what it means to be an american. i'm proud to honor him today.

and hope he has a wonderful 100th birthday. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california seek recognition? ms. brownley: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute of the ms. brownley: thank you, madam speaker. as the pandemic put pressure on the pockets of americans, house democrats worked to not only bolster our economy but get people back to work. the november jobs report shows that our economy is on the right track to he -- doing just that. six million jobs have been created in the first 10 months of the biden administration no. other administration has created more jobs in its first year. but during the trump administration's mismanagement of the pandemic, we lost over nine million jobs. so we still have work to do. the recently housed passed build back better act will include specific and urgent measures to uplift working families, lower

everyday costs, fight inflation, and generate millions of good-paying jobs. house democrats remain committed to creating a strong economy and an economy that works for all americans. thank you, madam speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from wisconsin seek recognition? >> unanimous consent to speak for one minute. >> without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> as the congress prepares to break for christmas, it's important to review one more time what we can do to deal with the coronavirus. mr. grothman: while vaccines unquestionably have a role here, i am a little bit appalled at the lack of information coming from the public health establishment regarding vitamin d. tests show that adequate levels of vitamin d can reduce the amount of covid by up to 75%. which is good, including for

people who have taken the vaccine. right now experts feel you should have at least 30 nanograms per milliliter to have adequate amounts of vitamin d. right now 65% of our white population, 87% of our hispanic population, and the 6% of our black population does not have adequate vitamin d levels. the pun lig health establishment has to ask, why is this not publicized? why do we not give routine vitamin d tests to people coming in for their annual checkups? and why, if you show up at the hospital with covid, are not vitamin d tests automatic? please public health establishments, establish -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. grothman familiarize yourself with the benefits of vitamin d. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. extol the state of new mexico.

the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. cohen: thank you, madam speaker. the president has done an excellent job on trying to address our economic problems. one of the main reasons we have economic problems is because of the coronavirus. the president has an excellent vaccination program that the republicans are unfortunately fighting. as people have experienced the pandemic, they have been less willing to go out, engage in commerce, travel, and had to reduce some of their business activities. this has hurt the supply chain and our economy. the president's vaccination plan is also an economic plan. republicans in the senate led an effort to cancel all of the vaccination programs that the president has to protect us to keep us healthy and move our economy forward. that's unfortunate. we need to support these vaccination plans. we need to support the president in these efforts. inflation, there's been problems, the president has released oil from the reserve to deal with gas prices and gas

prices are going down and they will go down naturally. one of the great reasons why inflation is increased because of used car prices. you have to think about when used car price goes up, somebody's selling that used car and getting more money to put in their pocket. things are getting better. i yield back the balance of my time. god bless new mexico. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> madam speaker, i rise today to honor the renowned 37th year career of news anchor dan cummings from channel 9. mr. cat -- he's been one of the most trusted names in local news and earned a well deserved reputation for his investigative prowess. a native of the county, he grew up in central new york and got his start in journalism working at local radio stations. in 1984, dan joined the news channel 9 team and the 2008 began anchoring the morning news. later becoming the driving force behind newsmakers.

a weekly public affairs program. in these permanent roles he has been celebrated for his ability to conduct smart, original reporting and communicate even the most difficult stories in a calm and straightforward manner. mr. katko: i have known him for many years. i can unequivocally say he's one of the most fair and genuine news professionals and an extremely generous man who is actively involved with multiple charities. madam speaker, i ask that my colleagues in the house join me in honoring dan cummings for an incredible career in broadcast journalism and wish him the best in his retirement. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from north carolina seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> madam speaker, i rise today to discuss an important life line to so many north carolina families. ms. ross: the child tax credit. in north carolina alone,

millions of families have benefited from the child tax credit. the first monthly payment lifted three million children out of poverty and significantly re-- reduced childhood hunger. the child tax credit also helps pay for childcare, helps pay for school supplies, and helps when the car breaks down and helps families living paycheck to paycheck. recently i heard from a mother in north carolina who told me that the child tax credit takes away a layer of stress that's inherent in trying to return to the work force. and financially plan for a new setting. in just a few weeks these monthly payments are set to expire unless build back better is passed. we cannot fail the next generation. we must pass this transformative legislation in the senate and

have the president sign it. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the the gentleman from south carolina seek recognition? mr. wilson: madam speaker, i unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. wilson: thank you, madam speaker. incredibly president biden said tuesday, quote, we are making progress and american people are paying their fair share for gas, end of quote. however, the reality is americans are paying 61% more for gas. and home heating oil cost also jump 54%. the disastrous biden agenda has put america in an energy crisis. he killed the keystone pipeline with 11,000 jobs lost. and executive orders have paused new oil and gas leasing costing over one million jobs. annual biden inflation is the highest in 40 years destroying jobs. the democrat think they are better than everyone and they

believe democrat voters and media are ignorant to accept $4.5 trillion, quote, costs zero dollars. in conclusion, god bless our troops. who have successfully protected america for 20 years in the global war on terrorism, now is moving from afghanistan safe haven to america. congratulations nor ma and -- norma and john on their new grandson born yesterday. hunter, taylor wilson jr., of west columbia, south carolina. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> madam speaker, i rise today to congratulate my good friend of chicago on receiving jay street's highest honor. mr. krishnamoorthi: this is the justice and peace award.

no one is more deserving than fred. i'm honored to call him a good friend and be close with his family, including his lovely wife, melanie. he's empathetic, fred is generous and he's a leader in the community. fred practices the ancient saying, every day in repairing the world. he serves as a co-chair of the u.s. international advicery committee for eco peace middle east. he's also a lay co-chair of the joint committee for the reconstructing judaism movement. and he's served as a critical member of jay street's chicago executive committee. he's one of those people whose action speed louder than words. we're so honored by his presence in the community. congratulations to fred again in receiving this award. i yield back.

>> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, madam speaker. the american people deserve a transparent and bipartisan legislative process. but that is apparently not what the democrat majority wants. unfortunately my colleagues on the other side of the aisle continually manufacture crisis after crisis by waiting until deadlines are immediately upon us before addressing the issues at hand. and when we're up against a deadline it gives the majority leverage to limit opposition and allows them to ram harmful bills through this house. claiming they are necessities. they've done it with multiple continuing resolutions. they did it with surface transportation re-authorization and now after having already punted responsibility once on the issue, they're doing it again on raising the debt ceiling. mr. cline: as the default looms less than a week away. we must stop fanning the flames of fires where the tools exist to extinguish them. democrats legislating in this manner create uncertainty and spooks the market which contributes to the twin economic

crises and energy kris. both of which -- crisis. both of which this administration has done nothing to address. we must ensure the government is working efficiently and effectively on behalf of the american people. madam speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from texas seek recognition? ms. jackson lee: to ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. jackson lee: madam speaker, i rise today to support american families. and as i do, that i'm sad to say that the texas work force sent almost a two-page small-type letter to texans around the state to tell them that they could ignore the president's mandate on vaccines as the omicron vaccine, the variant, rises. and as hospitals are beginning to teem over with the delta variant. isn't that sad? to my fellow texans do what is

right for your family. get your children vaccinate, get your booster or second shot. let us save lives. i am saddened by government tax dollars being used to counter and distort the president's mandates and the president's desire to ipact the lives of americans -- to impact the lives of americans. to also impact the lives of americans, i intend to introduce the kimberly vaughan storage bill. in light of oakland county and the tragedy of a family leaving a gun as they gave it to a child for a birthday, believing it access to be that child, four precious lives are lost. i think this is certainly bipartisan legislation to create the opportunity for you to buy a gun, but to have the message, storage is important. this bill will provide a variety of best practices and penalties for those that do not store their guns. support me in the kimberly vaughan storage bill to make sure that we do what is right for our children. i yield back. store your guns and make them

safe. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? mr. thompson: madam speaker, request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. thompson: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, i rise today to recognize an extraordinary citizen of pattin township in centre county, david panko. for the past 22 years served as president of the pattin township business association in his role as president. he built lasting relationships between the association, the community and the pattin township police. in 2002 he worked to establish the pattin township children's safety fair, a community event focused on building trust between residents and their police officers, firefighters and e.m.s. responders in the county. david will be remembered as a leader who worked to make his community a better place. he rebuilt the organization to a group full of gracious and

welcoming members. through david's leadership, the township business association has continued to advance the commercial, industrial and civic interests for the people of pattin township. i've had the privilege of working closely with david in the pattin township business association as they advocate on behalf of small businesses in pattin township in the centre county region. i thank david for his years of leadership and service to the organization. pattin township and centre county. his contributions cannot be overstated and his legacy will be remembered for years to come. thank you, madam speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, madam speaker. what we are seeing at our southern border is an undeniable crisis. an unthinkable amount of

fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances are coming across our border. there is enough fentanyl coming across our border to kill every american seven times over. think about that. this only exacerbates our existing drug problem in the united states, like the rising use of meth in the central valley of california. in october, u.s. customs and border protection apprehended over 16 to -- 160,000 illegal immigrants attempting to cross our southern border. the highest number of apprehensions for october on record. i've always been supportive of ingration. after all, i am the son of immigrants. but we have to respect and enforce our laws. by refusing to enforce immigration laws, this administration is sending a dangerous message to our border, that our border is open for business to cartels and encourages people to put themselves in harm's way to cross our border. ms. velazquez: -- mr. valadao: madam speaker, i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from oklahoma seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. mrs. bice: thank you. i rise today to address the dangerous fentanyl and related substances crossing our border, enough to kill every american seven times over. criminal drug cartels are capitalizing on the lack of security due to biden's open border policies. since these large amounts of fentanyl are flooding in, the d.e.a. issued its first public safety alert in six years, warning the public about fake pills laced with lethal doses of fentanyl. and we're seeing the devastating effects. synthetic opioids, primarily

fentanyl, account for 2/3 of the overdose deaths, including american teenagers. many parents across our country and including my home state of oklahoma have tragically lost their children to accidental fentanyl overdoses. no one should have to ever experience that sort of pain. in february we had the chance to respond. the emergency class-wide scheduling order for fentanyl-related substances is set to expire. democrats want to enact only temporary extensions while republicans are fighting to make it permanent. madam speaker, there are deadly consequences for the lack of security at the border. we must ensure law enforcement has the resources to protect our country and keep those drugs out of american hands. thank you, madam speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i seek recognition unanimous consent -- i seek unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute.

>> thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, it is no surprise to anyone here or throughout the united states that we have a serious crisis at our southern border. all anyone has to do is go visit the southern boarder to see the devastation, to see the death, to see the desperation, to see the drugs coming across, madam speaker. since president biden has come into office, a record number of -- over 200 million illegal immigrants have been apprehended. 12% increase in apprehensions from the previous year. 1.7 million migrants were apprehended illegally this just this year. mr. meuser: 400,000 illegally krolsed the border and got away. the president and his administration halted the trump administration's successful remain in mexico policy, has reinstated catch and release, refused to enforce title 42 and is providing incentives for illegals to come into our country through amnesty proposals, work visas and driver's licenses. ok. this is a serious matter for every state, for my constituents

for my district, with the highest level of overdose fatalities ever and it's a direct result of the biden administration's policy. this needs to stop. this is a terrible situation caused by the biden administration. i wish it would stop. we can stop it here. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, madam speaker. i rise today to honor the life and legacy of an honorable public servant, mr. ralph owens, of georgia. as a lifetime member of the franklin county community, ralph humbly answered the call to public service and played a critical role in the city of lavonia's success. in 1987 he was first elected to the lavonia city council. just two short years later he became the mayor. where he duty fly served his

local community for over three decades. during his lifetime as a public official, mayor owens' leadership ushered in impressive industrial and economic growth to the city. mr. clyde: from dramatically improving the city's police departments, to bringing new businesses to the community, ralph was a dedicated servant to the great people of lavonia. i am deeply saddened by the loss of such an accomplished individual that led to, with his servants heart, to truly make a positive difference in his community. georgia's ninth district will always remember mayor ralph owens and his profound impact on the city of lavonia and both frankly and hart counties in northeast georgia. thank you and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> madam speaker, i'm proud to rise today to congratulate.

mrs. elizabeth wrath of lancaster county who was recently named pennsylvania's teacher of the year for 2022. elizabeth teaches sixth grade in lancaster county where she's taught since 2014. the school district superintendent, dr. mike litliter, described elizabeth as a dynamic and creative teach who are is always trying to find new ways to reach her students and noted that she creates a space where students are encouraged to explore ideas in a supportive and respectful environment. it's no question that teachers and students have been impacted, they've had challenges presented by the covid-19 pandemic over the last two years, and we thank our teachers for all they have done to make sure that our students are receiving the best education possible. mr. smucker: that's certainly true of. mrs. wrath whose classroom is well decorated and offers students access to a large library of books to peak their interest -- pic their interest -- pique their interest and a

stage to present to their classmates. thank you to. mrs. wrath for all you have done to educate students in our community. we all appreciate your efforts and wish to congratulate you on being named pennsylvania's 2022 teacher of the year. thank you, madam speaker. i yield back.

>> ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5314, a bill 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. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 838, 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 house report 117-205, is adopted, and the bill as amnded is considered as read.

the bill as amended is debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on oversight and reform or their respective dez ig knees. the gentlewoman from new york, mrs. maloney, and the gentleman from kentucky, mr. comer, each control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the the gentleman from new york. mrs. maloney: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials on h.r. 5314, the protecting our democracy act. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mrs. maloney: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. mrs. maloney: i rise today in strong support of h.r. 5314, the protecting our democracy act.

this sweeping package of reforms would restore integrity, accountability, and transparency to our government. the landmark reforms in this bill would protect against future abuses no matter who is president. this includes preventing abuses of the president's pardon power. and requiring the president and vice president to disclose their tax returns. this bill includes many provisions that have bipartisan support. for example, the bill includes a provision based on a bill previously introduced by representative darrell issa to make it easier for congress to enforce subpoenas. the bill would strengthen protections for inspectors general by allowing and only allowing an i.g. to be removed for specific documented causes. this reform passed the house with a bipartisan vote in june

as part of a bill i introduced to increase the independence of inspectors general, and it passed the house with overwhelming bipartisan support in 2007. this bill also includes the bipartisan whistleblower protection improvement act which i was proud to introduce. these provisions would strengthen protections for whistleblowers who are retaliated against for reporting waste, fraud, and abuse. these reforms would provide whistleblowers the long overdue right to challenge retaliation in court. it would also prohibit agencies from launching retaliatory investigations and disclosing a whistleblower's identity. and it would make clear that no federal employee, including the president, or vice president of the united states may interfere or retaliate against a

whistleblower for sharing information with congress. the protecting our democracy act would also protect the government from political interference by strengthening the hatch act. just last month the independent office of special counsel found that 13 senior trump administration officials, including top white house aides and cabinet members, broke the law by using their official government position to campaign for president trump. this legislation would also limit who can be named an acting official and for how long. i thank representative katie porter for her leadership on these reforms which are included in her bill, the accountability for acting officials act. the reforms in this bill have broad support from over 150

groups, including the brennan center for justice and the protect on government oversight. project on government oversight. my colleagues on across the aisle claim this bill is about punishing former president trump, but this is simply not true. while this bill addresses issues that were highlighted by past abuses, it is not about the past, it is about the future of our democracy and it will strengthen our democracy. i strongly urge all of my colleagues, both democrats and republicans, to vote for the protecting our democracy act. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. comer: madam speaker, the bill the majority has titled protecting our democracy act does nothing to protect anything

but the swamp. right now the american people are trying to prepare for the holidays with the highest inflation rate in 30 years. they are struggling to keep their gas tanks full, put food on the table, and heat their homes. they are worried about rising crime in their communities. they are concerned their children have suffered while their classrooms were close the, by the borders are wide open to illegal immigrants and deadly drugs. democrats are ignoring these real issues facing americans today. instead, democrats want to talk about former president trump, even though a democrat has occupied the white house for nearly a year. this is not what the american people want for christmas. the democrats' playbook is about as predictable as a mall mark -- hallmark christmas special. we have seen this movie. the bill before us today is based on political fiction and latest attempt to res. representative-elect democrats'

sham investigations of the past. this bill unconstitutionally disrupts the separation of powers among the branches of government by diminishing the executive branch and ignoring the judicial branch. for example, the legislation interferes with the president's pardon power, a power completely vested with the president. but this bill gives congress access to sensitive white house deliberations and communications about pardons. what legislative purpose does that serve? congress has no authority to evaluate the president's pardon power. this bill also overrides the judicial branch by attaching partisan definitions to constitutional language that the supreme court has already spoken to. it would change the definition of emolument to fit failed democrat legal theories indulge certain members' conspiracy theories. certain members' conspiracy these. members like, i don't know, madam chair, adam schiff.

rewinding this technical constitutional term would keep any businessperson who has conducted business outside the u.s. from running for president. that would mean no hunter biden. at the top of the ticket in 2024. democrats appear to think the skill set for running a business would not be helpful to the federal government. maybe that's why democrats only solution to any problem is to throw american taxpayer dollars at it. and not to engage in serious government reform efforts. democrats only want career politicians to be able to serve as elected officials or even better, career bureaucrats. similarly democrats are determined to make the federal government run as inefficiently as possible by allowing incompetent or dishonest federal employees to keep their jobs. the so-called whistleblower protections in the bill are so expansive that if a federal employee even a bad or ineffective one claims they are a whistleblower, they are almost immune from scrutiny.

the oversight committee has great respect for whistleblowers. we need them to conduct true oversight. they serve an essential role in evaluating waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government. sometimes federal employees attempt to -- claim they are whistleblowers because of poor performance. we should not make it impossible to vet claims. the bills to entrench infectors general is another policy that reduces the efficiency of the federal government and the legislative branch intruding on the operations of the executive branch. madam speaker, it's christmastime. and instead of fixing the many problems created by president biden like the supply chain, energy, border, and economic crises, democrats have decided to take up a sham bill and deliver a lump of coal to the american people. instead of spending time on democrats' favorite obsession, president trump, we should instead take on the issues

facing americans today. thank you. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the chair will receive a message. the messenger: madam speaker, messages from the senate. the secretary: madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: madam secretary. the secretary: i have been directed by the senate to inform the house that the senate has passed s.2295 an act to enact the robert stafford disaster relief and emergency assistance act to provide certain rights to federal emergency management agency which the concurrence of the house is requested. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: madam speaker, i now yield a minute and a half to the gentlelady from the great state of connecticut, the distinguished chair of the committee on appropriations, miss rosa delauro. ms. rosa delauro.

ms. delauro: i thank the gentlewoman for yielding. madam speaker, the previous administration played fast and loose with the american people's hard-earned tax dollars and just as seriously it exposed dangerous faults in our democratic institution that if left unaddressed will erode the american people's trust in our democracy. that is why i'm proud to be a co-sponsor of the protecting our democracy act which retrains presidents from abusing the public trust. of particular importance to me as chair of the appropriations committee, this bill will ensure every president, regardless of party, will be subject to the congress' constitutional power of the purpose. it will strengthen congressional control and review over funding to ensure that federal dollars are being used as directed by the congress. it will require the office of management and budget to publish the appropriations provided by

the congress to executive agencies. finally, it will increase reporting to congress on the executive branch compliance with the empowerment control act and the anti-deficiency act to bed -- two bedrock laws enacted to protect congress' appropriations power. the american people deserve a voice in how their money is spent through their duly elected representatives in the congress. the protecting our democracy act gives the american people that voice. i strongly urge support for this important piece of legislation. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the the gentlewoman from new york reserves. the gentleman from connecticut is recognized. mr. comer: madam speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from arkansas, mr. crawford. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. crawford: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman for his leadership. i rise today to oppose this insane piece of legislation house democrats are proposing. this bill is yet another further attempt by the chairman of house permanent select committee on

intelligence, adam schiff, to retroactively attack president trump's -- president trump even after the democrat russia collusional allegations have been repeatedly debunked. i want to specifically bring attention to title 13 of this ridiculous bill. this provide requires employees, officials, and agents of a presidential campaign to report foreign national contact and/or contributions to the sec and the f.b.i. the f.b.i. is required to provide notice to the campaign and to the house permanent select committee on intelligence or hpsci, as we call it. sound familiar? the f.b.i. would be required to work with hpsci on counterintelligence investigations into political candidates. what could possibly go wrong? this provision is designed to further the democrat-led f.b.i. scheme against republican presidential candidates just as they did with president trump. here's how it would work. first, if a foreign government contacts a republican campaign, the republican campaign in compliance with the proposed law reports the contact to the f.b.i.

then the f.b.i. notifies hpsci democrats. and somehow the media miraculously finds out about it. and runs -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. comer: 30 more seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. crawford: i'm not sure if anyone told chairman schiff and house democrats, donald trump is unfortunately no longer president. time to stop living in the past. the clear intent of this bill is weaponnize the federal government bureaucracy against republican can't. if this becomes law don't be surprised if we see russian hoaxes every two years. i yield back. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from the great state of oregon, the distinguished chair of the committee on transportation and infrastructure, mr. peter defazio. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. defazio: i thank the gentlelady. this bill does not look back. yeah, we saw the abuses of

donald trump, overusing the 1976 national emergency act in ways that had never ever been used before to move money around to things because he couldn't get it appropriated through a republican senate. and a republican house. he couldn't get it done. so he moved the money around. anybody who works in the house of representatives or the senate should be insulted. that you want to empower a president, what about if joe biden starts doing that? don't you want to have these tools? or any other future president of either party. this isn't about donald trump. it is about the trump era, which exposed things that need to be fixed and this law does that. subpoena power. our subpoenas should be enforceable. whether they're from a democratic congress or a republican congress. they're not. you know, the department of justice needs to have a firewall between the white house and the department of justice.

you can't have the president calling up the department of justice. any president of any party shouldn't be able to do that. then the president embargoed, stopped money to congress, republican congress, for ukraine. just stopped it. but apparently on the other side of the aisle, they feel like their job is to be hand maidens in case trump comes back. they don't want to put in the protections now when joe biden's there, who they carry on about as abusive all the time. why not put in the protections now? because you want donald trump to be able to come back and continue these sorts of abuses. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlewoman from new york reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: i yield a minute and a half to mr. stewart.

mr. stewart: there is so much in this bill to be concerned about. for the last five years i lived through the russian hoax, i lived through impeachment one, i lived through impeachment two. all of which are great examples of provisions in this bill that harm our democracy. let me talk about just one of them. tucked into this bill's provisions are elements which will rewrite the very nature of our democracy. whittling down the meaning of government for the people and by the people. the president of the united states is elected by the people to run the executive branch and the president by design is accountable to the people. among the bill today are new sections that will restrict the ability of the president to remove senior government employees. this will have the effect of empowering these senior officials with the ability to paralyze a president whose policies they may not agree with, which we saw again and

again during the russian hoax, during impeachment one, and during impeachment two. this sets a dangerous precedent that will create a permanent bureaucratic resistance to the dual elected president -- duly elected president. the danger of these provisions will also set in motion a precedent to weaponize the entire intelligence community bureaucracy. by allowing unanimous individuals to paralyze a president without any accountability. you don't think it's going to happen, i refer you back to the russian investigation hoax, to impeachment one, and to impeachment two. this guarantees more -- i urge my colleagues to vote against this bill. i yield back. mr. comer: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentlelady from the great state of california, the distinguished chairwoman of the committee on house

administration, ms. zoe lofgren. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. lofgren: madam speaker, i want to highlight an important element of reform that really came out of work a while ago from the house administration committee. most americans believe this. before an adversary reaches out to interfere in our elections, the campaign ought to report that to law enforcement. instead, as we saw in the previous administration, campaign officials welcomed and in some cases even solicited foreign assistance for political activities. this bill creates a duty to report illicit offers of campaign assistance from foreign governments to law enforcement. it also clarifies what is a thing of value. it includes information sought or obtained for political advantage like opposition research. it ensures that individuals engaging in misconduct with foreign actors to influence our elections would be held

accountable. it also ensures that foreign money cannot influence our politics through state and local ballot initiatives and referendums, closing a loophole that recently was created by the f.e.c. now, it's astounding to hear criticism of the idea that the f.b.i. should be notified when a foreign adversary is trying to corrupt our elections. we all know that that should happen. and to distrust our law enforcement agencies when it come to protecting our country from this kind of attack, which is what it is, from a foreign adversary, is shocking. support this bill and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: madam speaker, i yield one minute to the gentlelady from illinois, mrs. miller. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. mrs. miller: thank you.

i rise today in opposition to h.r. 5314. bringing h.r. 5414 -- 5314 to the house floor this week shows that the democrats' priority is partisan politics. not policies that will directly effect the american people. if democrats were serious about bipartisan reforms, they wouldn't be pushing a bill like h.r. 5414 -- 5314. this bill is nothing but a continuation of the democrats' obsession with president trump. he lives rent-free in their heads. this bill incorporates several unnecessary, quote, reforms, that are nothing but an attempt to validate house democrats' baseless investigation of the trump administration. it is a huge red flag that h.r. 5314 was referred to nine committees and not one democrat-led committee has held a hearing or markup on the legislation. this legislation is being pushed

through without proper order and i oppose it. thank you, and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now yield two minutes to the gentleman from the great state of california, the distinguished chair of the permanent select committee on intelligence, mr. adam schiff. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. schiff: madam speaker, i rise in support of the protecting our democracy act. i'm very proud to sponsor this legislation and i'm grateful for the partnership of many chairs and members who contributed to the effort, as well as the leadership of speaker pelosi. our system was founded upon a respect for the rule of law. and a carefully constructed balance of powers among the three branches. that system has throughout history been tested and just asafter watergate congress workd to enact reforms, so we must now examine the cracks in the democratic foundation and

address them. that's what this bill does. it will prevent presidential abuses of power, ensure the independence of our justice system, and reinforce the system of checks and balances. specifically, among other things, it would prevent corruption or misuse of the pardon power. it would ensure that congress may exercise its constitutionally man cated -- mandated oversight responsibilities and enforce subpoenas in a timely manner. it protects whistleblowers and expands the independence of inspectors general. and it re-establishes congress' power of the purse. this bill has garnered support from groups across the political spectrum because it is not about politics, it's about the survival of our democratic system of government. many of the reforms included in this package are sponsored and supported by republicans, as well as democrats. i urge all of my colleagues in congress to support the protecting our democracy act. the day that we were sworn into office, we made a sacred pledge

of allegiance and loyalty to the united states. this bill places our oath to democracy and the constitution above party politics. this is a moment and a vote when we have the opportunity to fulfill that oath. i thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. mrs. maloney: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. comer: i was hoping the chairman of the intelligence committee was going to present the evidence of russian collusion during his time. but apparently not. so i will yield one minute to the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. fitzgerald. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. fitzgerald: madam speaker, i rise today in opposition to h.r. 5314. the bill is simply another political attack by the democrats on president trump. it also destroys the separation of powers between the president and congress. i introduced an amendment to the bill that required congress to

be notified when the a.g. terminates a special counsel. but unfortunately the rules committee failed to adopt it. my colleagues on the other side of the aisle spent the last several years peddleling bogus allegations that president trump colluded with russia. and now the durham investigation has proved these allegations were a sham. that wasted years of time and resources. and now we know the clinton campaign paid to have a dossier drafted as opposition research. fusion g.p.s. relied on information from a russian who worked at the brooking institute. he based his information on tales from chuck dolan, a public relation executive who worked for the hillary clinton campaign in the past. the whole scheme was a vicious circle that began and ended with the clinton campaign. we cannot have a bill that works to prevent overreach by one

branch of government. i urge my colleagues to oppose the bill and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. comer: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from new york. mrs. maloney: i now yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from the great commonwealth of kentucky, the distinguished chair of the committee on the budget, mr. john yarmuth. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. yarmuth: i thank the gentlewoman for yielding. madam speaker, democracy is not static. it is not self-aeffectuating. it requires a converted effort to keep and a willingness to stand up against those who would seek to undermine it. the bill before us reaffirms our commitment to democracy, to transparency, accountability and a strong system of checks and balances. our founders knew that the power of the purse would be fundamental to the separation of powers and to our democratic government itself. and they explicitly gave that power to congress. the branch most responsive to

the will of the people. however, over the past few decades the executive branch has encroached our on constitutional spending authority and dangerous precedents have been set. presidents and agencies of both parties have pushed the boundaries, seeking more control of spending powers. and the previous administration's disregard for the rule of law and contempt for institutional norms made even more clear the need for laws that can with stand a -- withstand a lawless executive. the reforms in this landmark legislation will restore congress' central role in funding decisions, increase executive transparency, and add teeth to our budget laws. none of these provisions is partisan. after all this bill was introduced during the trump administration and it is being advanced during the biden administration. it is solely about shoring up the separation of powers and maintaining the rule of law. therefore i encourage my colleagues on both sides to uphold our sworn duty to defend

the constitution and vote yes on the protecting our democracy act. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time -- the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. comer: i yield one minute to the gentleman from florida. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mcclintock: madam speaker, setting aside the democrats' pour that ottic obsession with -- neurotic obsession with all things donald trump, this has many provisions that would receive bipartisan support if the bill's author were so inclined. but when we speak of protecting democracy, we need to remember what democracy is. it's the process by which the sovereign people through elections decide who will control and direct the powers that we entrust to our government. the executive power shall be vested in a president of the united states of america. if the executive branch begins to operate independently of the president, the will of the people is this watered and democracy isdy minute --

thwarted and democracy is diminished. there was a dangerous concept ultimately repealed by the congress and repudiated by the supreme court. provisions in this bill such as those that interfered with presidential appointments crossed that very bright constitutional line. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york. mrs. maloney: i now yield to the gentleman from the great state of new york, the distinguished committee -- chairman of the committee of judiciary, mr. nadler. mr. nadler: transparency and accountability are the bedrock of our democratic system. they are the essential guardrails that protect against unchecked executive power. unfortunately, the trump administration exposed certain vulnerabilities in the fabric of our democracy by engaging in conduct that was once unthinkable. and like the reforms enacted

post-watergate, we must prevent similar abuses from a future president. although many of these provisions from informed by the previous administration, they are not anti-trump measures. they are forward-looking. they protect against abuses of any party. importantly, many are based on proposals that have bipartisan support. i'm especially proud of the provisions in this bill that fall within the judiciary committee's jurisdiction. and streamlines subpoenas. it will prevoent stone -- prevent stonewalling. to address abuses of the clemsentsy power -- clemency power, it reaffirms that abuses of the clemsonens -- clemency power that self-pardons are prohibited. it puts a statute of limitations to ensure the president can be

held accountable for criminal conduct, just like any other american. and it addresses imper hour communications between -- improper communications between the white house and the department of justice, an all too common occurrence under the previous administration. when the founding fathers said the executive must not be a king and instead must be accountable for the congress, to the people and ultimately to the rule of law. it's vital we assert this principle. the protections our democracy -- the protecting our democracy would do this. i urge all members to support this vital legislation, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: thank you, madam chair. i yield four minutes to the gentleman from illinois, the ranking member of the house administration committee, mr. davis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. davis: thank you, madam speaker. thank you, my good friend, the

gentleman from kentucky, for yielding. the bill we're debating here today, the so-called protect our democracy act, is another attempt by the outgoing majority to relitigate many of the democrats' sham investigations. many of the bill's provisions are unnecessary and recycled attempts to take away individual state sovereignty. if we were really here to talk about our protecting our democracy, then we would focus on the importance of voter rolls list maintenance to ensure only eligible citizens are able to vote in federal elections. congress passed the bipartisan national voter registration act in 1993. that's almost 30 years ago. this law requires states to conduct regular list maintenance to ensure their voter rolls are kept up to date. this simple, commonsense requirement is incredibly important for voter confidence in our entire election process and its outcomes. however, the biden d.o.j. refuse it's to enforce it. instead, progressives focus on

defunding the police and embracing lawlessness, keeping our economy in capital shutdown while ignoring the science, labeling concerned parents as extremist threats, and weaponizing the d.o.j. to go after this, and pursuing reckless, unnecessary spending that is driving the inflation every single american feels in their pocketbook. if democrats were really focused on protecting our democracy, the biden justice department would investigate states like california, where the number of registered voters far exceeds the number of adults in the state. senator alex padilla, newly appointed senator from the state of california, knew about the problem and refused to address it when he was secretary of state in california during the last election cycle. republicans care about election integrity because our constitutional republic means nothing if our citizens don't have faith in our elections. when everyday americans hear more and more reports of individuals on active voter

rolls who have moved to another state, died, or non-citizens, it frustrates them because it calls into question whether their valid vote actually counts. one eligible person, one whole non-diluted vote. it's so frustrating because the fix is so simple, but democrats refuse time and time again to address this problem. it's common sense and has been federal law for decades that only eligible americans should be on our voter rolls. republicans want every eligible voter who wants to vote to exercise that right. democrats dilute your vote, but republicans restore it. i'm here today to talk about protecting our democracy, and i think the only way to do that is to make sure americans know our elections have integrity. so today, i'm calling on the radical biden justice department to do the right thing. enforce federal law across the board. stop investigating parents that

want to be involved in their children's education. stop supporting efforts to defund our men and women in blue, resulting in the lawlessness that we see ravaging our great country. focus on what really matters -- protect our democracy, protect our vote, and ensure states like california conduct voter roll list maintenance so that voters know only eligible american citizens are able to vote. i ask unanimous consent, madam speaker, to insert into the record a report from the department of justice i.g. dealing the d.o.j.'s official policy not to enforce federal voter list maintenance requirements. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. davis: this is a report from the d.o.j.'s i.g., this many pages it takes to tell the american voter they are not going to enforce federal law and ensuring that states actually provide and exercise the required voter list maintenance.

this is an affront to election integrity in our great country, and it needs to end today. let's protect our democracy, and let's work together to make that happen. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. comer: might i inquire about our remaining time? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky has 15 3/4 minutes. mr. comer: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: madam speaker, i also ask for unanimous consent to enter into the record a letter of support for the protecting our democracy act, listing over 150 organizations supporting this important legislation. we have widespread support across this nation. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mrs. maloney: madam speaker, i

now yield one minute to the gentleman from the great state of illinois, the distinguished chair of the committee on ways and means subcommittee on worker and family support, mr. danny davis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized. mr. davis: thank you, madam chairman. i want to thank you for yielding time. i rise in strong support of h.r. 5314, protecting our democracy. democracy generates the notion and the idea that people will get and be engaged, involved, heard, and have their wishes met. i agree with my colleague from illinois when he said voters all over the country, they vote for us and they send us here. they vote for our colleagues in the senate, send them there. we make laws. then, they expect those laws to be adhered to.

no one is above, no president -- and we're not obsessed with the former president. but we are obsessed with the idea and the hope that we will never have another administration like that one, and that's what this legislation is designed to do. i urge its support and yield back the rest of my time. mrs. maloney: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: madam speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from florida, mr. donalds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. donalds: i want to thank the gentleman for yielding. madam speaker, i rise today to express my firm opposition to the protecting our democracy act, otherwise known as poda. i don't have time to get into a bunch of provisions but there are many that the american people should be aware of. first, if provides the g.s.a. to

provide information intended only for the president-elect to the non-victor. if the g.s.a. administrator doesn't certify election results in five days. that would result in a conflict of interest. it doesn't make any sense, madam speaker. secondary, poda directly goes after president trump over his refusal not to disclose his tax records by requiring a presidential candidate to submit their income tax returns for the prior 10 years within 15 days of their nomination. now, madam president, the whole purpose of looking at tax returns, quite frankly, is to see if you are in violation of tax law. there is a certain thing called a tax lien. that is clear proof to the american people there is an issue with a nominee for the highest office in the land, not abiding by law tax in the united states. this is completely politically motivated specifically against president trump. last but not least, madam

speaker, poda massively expands f.e.c. jurisdiction, thereby, continuing the democrats' trend of heavy-handed federal involvement and intrusion into state rights. you know, i heard on this floor coming down for a few minutes about the desire for congress to want to be able to have more leverage to hold the executive accountable. one thing congress should be doing is stop actually yielding so much rulemaking and regulatory authority to the alphabet soup of agencies and congress actually doing that work here as opposed to creating a bill which is obviously targeted with one president in mind and trying to set -- create a new rubric here in congress. secondarily, and if we look at some of the metrics associated where the united states is right now versus where the united states was four years ago, it's without question, it's without question what a successful administration looks like, one that actually always followed the law, was in constant -- in constant standing with the law as opposed to an administration who issues mandates that are

unconstitutional, that the federal courts, as we speak, are undermining every single day. this is a bad bill. i urge the members to vote no on this bill. if you want to hold the executive accountable, if you want to increase congress' role -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. comer: madam speaker, i yield 30 more seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. donalds: thank you, madam speaker. if we want to increase congress' role in parity with the executive, there is far more we should be doing with this bill. we should vote no. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from the great commonwealth of virginia, the chair of the subcommittee on government operations of the committee on oversight and reform, mr. gerry connolly. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. connolly: thank you, madam speaker. i thank my friend, the distinguished chairwoman of the oversight and reform committee. we just heard obfuscation on the

floor of the house, hoping that people watching will be distracted from the purpose of this bill, which is to counter the systematic voter suppression that is occurring in republican-controlled states all over america. instead of enshrining the right to vote and enabling it, they want to suppress it, they want to narrow it, they want to make it harder for you to vote, because that's how they win elections, apparently. this bill, protecting our democracy act, led by mr. schiff, would counter that, would enshrine and protect that sacred franchise, which is what america was founded to be. i also want to highlight an amendment to the bill i provided. on october it 21, president trump signed executive order 13957, to undermine the merit system of the protection of our

federal workforce by requiring agency heads to reclassify policy determining, policymaking or policy advocating positions. at o.m.b. it meant 85% of its workforce was fired or eligible to be fired by the executive. the preventing a system preserves congressional prerogative by freezing that executive branch ability to unilaterally remove classes of federal employees and restore the civil service as a nonpartisan entity. i'm proud to support and co-sponsor this bill. i urge its passage. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: it's disappointing that my friend from virginia would spew disinformation about what states are doing, every state is making it easier to vote but harder to cheat. and he knows that. right now, madam speaker, i'll

reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentlelady from the great state of texas, the distinguished chair of the committee on the judiciary subcommittee on crime, terrorism, and homeland security, ms. sheila jackson lee. . ms. jackson lee: i thank the chairman, chairwoman, for her leadership. it is not about president trump, but it is about his behavior. but it is overall about the sanctity of democracy. and the recognition that behaviors result in a final destination that challenges the very core of democracy.

january 6, 2021. when members duly sworn to take an oath to defend this nation and to uphold the constitution were cowering on the floor. i stand with enormous support for the protecting our democracy act. why? because the nation needs it and the world is watching. i stand to avoid the abuse of the powers that existed clearly in the last administration. need i give a long list of examples? or the enforcement of the foreign and domestic emoluments clauses. the horrors of the hotel where many went to pay money into the coffers of a president of the united states. or enforcement of congressional subpoenas, the very authority that can protect democracy. reasserting congressional power of the purse. when dollars were manipulated and friends got a lot of dollars. so i am believing that this is

imperative. security from political interference injustice. i might think a noose hanging in the front to insist that vice president pence be arrested or hung might be an interference. i do want to acknowledge the amendment that i offered very quickly that improves and strejens -- strengthens the bill and the guard rail it provides that anyone who violates -- mrs. maloney: i yield the gentlelady an additional 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. jackson lee: the amendment indicates the violation by office holders treated as a violation of oath of office for purposes of ineligibility for public office under the 14th amendment. and so the collective actions, not a person, but if your actions suggest that you're volleying democracy, you should not ever run again. i look forward to this amendment becoming law and look forward to this bill becoming law because we must protect democracy

because the constitution says that we have been created to create a more perfect union. i insist that we create a more perfect union. support this great legislation. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: madam speaker, i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now yield one minute to the gentleman from the great safety illinois, the distinguished mr. michael quigley. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. quigley: thank you, madam speaker. the chairwoman. the reforms in this bill have been needed for a long time. it's just that the previous administration only brought out those needs in sharp relief. this legislation will bolster accountability, ensure that elected officials use their office to serve the american people, not for personal gain. jaimedz madison wrote, if angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be

necessary. if you haven't noticed, we're down a few angels. you must first enable the government to control the government, he wrote. and in the next place, oblige it to control itself. how he knew. madam speaker, this bill is not about looking back, it's about learning from our mistakes of the past to prevent future abuses of power. i urge support for this bill and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: madam speaker, i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now yield one minute to the gentlelady from the great state of new mexico, the distinguished chair of the committee on natural resources and the people of the united states subcommittee, ms. leger fernandez. ms. leger fernandez: madam

speaker, our democracy is precious. and it must be protected. the last administration did test and attack it. and we know we must take action against tyranny. tyranny battered our doors on january 6 and on this floor today we are going to fight back and strengthen our democracy. this act restores the accountability and ensures no one, no one, not even, and more importantly never, the president is above the law. foreign governments are interfering in our elections. the last president clamored for this interference in his bid for re-election. this bill in contrast roots out corruption. it prevents presidential abuses of power to keep our system of checks and balances sound. these principles are not partisan, they're simply american. there's nothing more american than voting for a bill to protect our democracy and the future of our nation. i stand and i ask all my

colleagues to stand with our constitution. thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: madam speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from illinois,. mr. davis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized. mr. davis: hello again, madam speaker. thank you. thank you again to my friend from kentucky. our most basic duty of the federal government should be protecting the right for our citizens to vote. but we're not doing everything we can to protect that. disturbing trend across the country is that more and more states and localities are allowing noncitizens to vote. furthermore, many states are conducting elections that rely on wildly outdated voter lists. many of which include these noncitizens. in some states, such as california, the voter rolls are so outdated that they have more registered voters than people who reside in the state. this creates the potential for our citizens' votes to be diluted. l.a. county had over 1.5 million ineligible people on their voter rolls. a suit filed by a nonpartisan

watchdog alleged that l.a. county had 112% of its adult citizens registered to vote. under pressure, california and l.a. county finally agreed to clean up their voter rolls in 2019. but unfortunately when then-california secretary of state padilla appeared before my committee in 2020, he could not confirm that many of those inhe ineligible people had been removed from california's unmaintained voter rolls. not a lot of faith that california's doing everything it can to protect the integrity of our elections. and then there's new york city. which just decided to allow nearly a million noncitizens to vote in city elections. new york can make its own bad decisions, but it's our job to ensure that we protect federal elections. common sense will tell that you combining noncitizens and eligible american voters on same voter rolls is ripe for abuse. i'll use an example from my home state of illinois. in illinois, noncitizens cannot

vote and if they do they face major legal consequences. and could be deported. but in 2016, illinois' automatic voter rental administration program -- registration program mistakenly registered to vote noncitizens who had done the right thing by checking the box stating that they are not citizens on their driver's license application. however, several of these noncitizens voted in the 2018 and 2019 elections. this does nothing to bolster voter confidence in our elections and in fact it does the opposite. not only does this undermine the integrity of our elections, the mistake by illinois could have had dire consequences for these individuals and it could be prevented if states were being forced to maintain accurate voter rolls. whether intentional or not, we know this is happening. it's undermining the integrity of our elections. this amendment would simply ensure those who are noncitizens who do not have the right to vote in federal elections are removed from states' voter

rolls. as someone who has attended many citizenship ser moeuns as meaive -- ser moeuns as a member of -- ceremonies as a member of congress, it's unthinkable states are undermining that. my office has helped many immigrants go through the legal process to become american citizens and there's nothing better than seeing them raise their right hand and swear to support and defend our constitution, swear to bear arms in defense of this nation. there's nothing better, madam speaker. and to think that their vote, something they worked hard to get, the right to do -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. comer: may i yield 30 more seconds? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. daifts davis -- mr. davis: the right to vote, something they worked hard to get the right to do, is being undermined. that's unthinkable. let's pass this amendment to ensure only citizens are voting in our elections and prevent states from putting noncitizens at risk of intentionally or unintentionally breaking the law and illegally voting in our elections. we will offer this solution as a motion to recommit.

if we adopt the motion to recommit we will instruct the committee on oversight and reform to consider an amendment to ensure states remove noncitizens from their voter rolls as part of a regular comprehensive list maintenance program. i ask unanimous consent to insert the text of the amendment in the record immediately prior to the vote on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. davis: i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now yield one minute to the gentleman from the great state of rhode island, the distinguished chair of the committee on the judiciary subcommittee, on anti-trust, commercial and administrative law, mr. david cicilline. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. cicilline: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. madam speaker, the blatant and corrupt actions we saw during the trump administration demand that congress take action to prevent any future president or administration officials from committing these same abuses of power. our laws have to be equipped to protect the office of the

presidency. and hold anyone holding that office accountable for their actions. this will prevent presidential abuse, restore our system of checks and balances, strengthen accountability and protect our elections. i am proud this packing an includes one of my pieces of -- package includes one of my pieces of legislation which will make white house visitor log-ins easily accessible and available to the public. the president demands integrity and transparency to protect our democracy -- transparency. the protect our democracy act gives us the tools to protect and defend our democracy, our most sacred responsibility. thank you to chairman schiff for his leadership and chairwoman maloney. let's all stand up today. vote for democracy. protect the right to vote so that the world when they watch this knows that america remains committed and renews today its commitment to a great democracy. with that, madam speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: madam speaker, may i inquire about our time

remaining? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky has 9 1/2 minutes. mr. comer: moirnlings i yield one minute -- madam speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from north carolina, mr. bishop. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. bishop: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman from kentucky. i'm sitting on the floor and it occurred to me as i listened to the debate that the point just has to be made. that the majority is so obsessed with donald trump that they will run rush-shod over the constitution to continue to try to persecute him. does it fail -- did they not see that they twice impeached him and the kowfort impeachment -- court of impeachment twice acquitted him? do they defer to the decision of our constitutional process in terms of what was just characterized that the president did? or do they stubbornly override that and continue to pursue him endlessly, despite what our processes and our constitutional

provisions require and provide? what about the provision requiring presidents, who the constitution specifies the qualifications for office, that then required to submit private tax returns in order to pursue that office? perhaps if you'd like, if it's a tradition to do so, for you to impose it by law means you disregard the constitution of the united states. to what end will you go? to what end will you go to prevail? i yield. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now yield one minute to the gentlelady from the great commonwealth of pennsylvania, the distinguished ms. dean. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. dean: thank you, madam speaker. thank you, madam chair. speaking of running rough shod, no president, republican or democrat, is above the law. but some have tried to be. the previous president and his followers ignored subpoenas, punished whistleblowers, and

invited foreign interference in our elections. congress, republicans and democrats, must act to protect our democracy from any future reckless presidents, which is why the protecting our democracy act is crucial. this bill will strengthen our institutions against future presidents who seek to abuse their power. january 6 showed us that presidential abuse can find its way to a joint session of congress in a deadly way. 140 police officers injured. several police officers dead. desecration, trauma. that's why the work of this select committee is so critical. subpoenas cannot be ignored. my act which is included in this bill will standardize and streamline the process so that no one can ignore a subpoena with impunity. the previous president's abuses revealed a dangerous fault line. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. ms. dean: i yield back the balance of my time. thank you. mrs. maloney: i reserve.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: madam speaker, i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now yield one minute to the gentlelady from the great state of california, the distinguished chair of the committee on natural resources, subcommittee on oversight and investigation, ms. katie porter. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. porter: i introduced the stop foreign interference in ballot measures act to ban foreign contributions to state and local ballot initiatives and referendums and i'm proud that my bill is part of the protecting our democracy act. current law also permits billions of dollars of foreign influence in ballot initiatives. last year, over 750 million was spent in california alone.

we prohibit foreign contributions to candidates because it protects our national security, and that same rationale should apply to foreign contributions to ballot initiatives and referenda and that's why we should pass my bill. money in politics disports the will of the american people. it advantages special interests and limits the power of regular americans. when that money is supplied by foreign countries and adversaries, it puts our democracy and our national security at risk. i yield back. mrs. maloney: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: madam speaker, i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: madam chair, i ask unanimous consent to submit to the record this statement from congressman bill pascrell. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's request will be

covered by general leave. mrs. maloney: i now yield one minute to the gentlelady from the great state of north carolina, the distinguished vice chair of the committee on the judiciary subcommittee on constitution, civil rights, and civil liberties, ms. ross. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. ross: thank you, madam speaker. i rise today as a proud co-sponsor of the protect our democracy act, which ensures our government remains of, by, and for the people. i also rise in support of my amendment, which would establish a task force within the department of justice to investigate and prosecute, in collaboration with state and local governments, threats to election officials. poll workers in my home state of north carolina and their families have been subjected to harassment, violent threats, and intimidation, all exacerbated by

baseless conspiracies like stop the steal. we suffered critical shortages of poll workers during the 2020 elections, and over 1/4 of counties in north carolina had understaffed polling sites. threats to election officials or threats -- are threats to our democracy and must be stopped. i urge my colleagues to support poll workers, the democratic process, my amendment, and the bill. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: madam speaker, i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now yield one minute to the gentlelady from the great state of california, the distinguished chair of the committee on energy and commerce subcommittee on health, ms. anna eshoo. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. eshoo: thank you, madam speaker. and thank you to congresswoman maloney for your special leadership. i'm so proud of you, my

classmate. madam speaker, as we gather here on the floor, it really is a somber day here at the capitol. with the remains of the last -- of the former majority leader of the senate, senator robert dole, a man that fought for our democracy, paid for it in terms of the injuries that he sustained during the war, and came to congress to defend our democracy. and that's what we're doing here on the floor of the house. we're working to protect our democracy. i'm proud that my legislation is included in this. just a few words about it. since watergate, presidential candidates and vice-presidential candidates voluntarily put their tax returns out to the public. in 2016, there were two that were running, one on each side,

that did not do that. i observed it. i was upset about it. and i wrote legislation on it. so in the protecting our democracy act, there will be a requirement -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. ms. eshoo: 15 more seconds. mrs. maloney: i yield her as much time as she may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. eshoo: i thank the gentlewoman. what this legislation does is to make it a requirement for those that seek the presidency and the vice-presidency to put out to the public their tax returns. now, why? tax returns contain vital information, whether a candidate has paid any taxes, what assets do they own, how much have they borrowed, who have they borrowed it from, have they taken advantage of tax loopholes of offshore tax shelters, and whether they have foreign bank accounts, and if they've made charitable contributions.

truth and transparency need to be a part of the democratic process. and so i'm very proud and grateful that my legislation is contained in a bill that overall is called the protecting our democracy act. all colleagues should vote for this, because we raised our hands and pledged to protect our democracy and defend it against all enemies, foreign and domestic. i yield back. mrs. maloney: i thank my colleague. we came to congress together, and i thank her for her outstanding leadership in this body and her beautiful statement today. and i inquire how much time remains, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman has 3 1/4 minutes remaining. mrs. maloney: i have no further speakers. i'm prepared to close if the gentleman is willing to close.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman is recognized. mr. comer: madam speaker, i have no further speakers, so i'm prepared to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. comer: wow, madam speaker. i heard donald trump's name mentioned at least a dozen times by my colleagues across the aisle. but i am sincerely glad that the democrats spent so much time investigating the president for wrongdoing. i'm glad that they issued subpoenas investigating the president for wrongdoing. i'm very happy that in all of the investigations conducted by the intelligence committee, oversight committee, that they did not find one ounce of wrongdoing committed by the

president trump. i'm also happy that they investigated the president's children -- president trump's children. i think that's fair game. and i can promise the american people that very soon, there will be that type of oversight for the biden administration and the president's son, hunter, who's in the news almost on a daily basis for things that just don't add up. they just don't look good. so that oversight's coming. the american people can count on that. madam speaker, after nearly a year in power, it's time for democrats to actually start governing. and abandon their obsession with donald trump. h.r. 5314 is full of bad policy

that diminishes the power of the executive branch and entrenches washington bureaucrats while making law based on false conspiracy theories of the bill's sponsor. the bill is not pro -- has not proceeded through regular order and is a frankenstein monster stitched through various committees while others have not gone through committee at all. we have not vet changes, no apparent path for the bill in the senate. in other words, madam speaker, h.r. 5314 is a messaging bill to bolster the fundraising efforts of democrat members in preparation for the 2022 mid-terms. the democrat party should try governing instead. i urge my colleagues to oppose this bill, oppose this reckless legislation. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentlewoman from new york is

recognized. mrs. maloney: madam speaker, i would like to point out to my very good friend and colleague, mr. comer, that president trump is no longer president. this bill is not about president trump. if anyone, it's about president biden and our future presidents and having more oversight and accountability and transparency. now, there are addressed in this bill past abuses that have occurred, but this is not about the past. it's about the future. it's about the future of our democracy and the strength of our democracy. and democrats are not standing alone. the reforms in this bill have broad, broad support from over 150 outstanding groups, including the brennan center for

justice, the project on government oversight, and many others, and i have put that list into the record. and in closing, the protecting our democracy act is a historic package of pro-democracy reforms to create or strengthen guardrails and prevent the abuse of executive power. many of the provisions in our bill has broad bipartisan support, has literally been authored by rrps. -- republicans. you yourself at the rules committee said the president should release his taxes. you said that. so these are issues that both sides of the aisle should be supporting. and it's time for congress to restore our authorities as a co-equal branch of power. this is about the future, the strengthening of our democracy, and i urge a strong support from

all of my colleagues. and i urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to join us in strengthening democracy and urge them to vote with republicans for this very important reform bill, and i yield back the balance of my time to my distinguished chair and speaker today, katherine. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. all time for debate has expired. each further amendment printed in part b of house report 117-205 not earlier considered as part of the amendments en bloc pursuant to section 3 of house resolution 838 shall be considered only in the order printed in the report, may be offered 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 demand for division of the question. it shall be in order at any time after debate 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 house report 117-205 not earlier disposed of. amendments en bloc 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 demand for division of the question. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york seek recognition? mrs. maloney: madam speaker, pursuant to house resolution 838, i offer amendments en bloc.

the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will designate the amendments en bloc. the clerk: en bloc number 1 consisting ever amendments numbered 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, and 34 printed in part b of house report 117-205 offered by ms. care lynn b. -- carolyn b. maloney of new york. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york, mrs. maloney, and the gentleman from kentucky, mr. comer, each will control 10 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from new york. mrs. maloney: madam speaker,

several amendments offered would increase transparency of white house operations and personnel. the amendment offered by congressman mike quigley would require the president to publicly release white house visitor logs with certain exceptions. the amendment offered by my -- by congressman david cicilline would require the white house to publicly release salary information and financial disclosure statements for white house employees. . the amendment you are ad -- offered by congressman pascrell would further strengthen the hatch act, by increasing penalties for employees that knowingly break the law and use their position for partisan political activity. this amendment would ams a-- would also allow the office of special counsel to continue investigations into former political employees after they leave federal office. the amendment offered by

congresswoman ocasio-cortez would direct the office of government ethics to establish ethics requirements, on the establishment or use of expense funds for the president, vice president or any political appointee. the amendment offered by congressman gerry connolly would protect the civil service, by preventing any position in the federal competitive service from being reclassified outside of merritt system principles. employment in the federal work force should be based on an individual's knowledge, skills and ability, not political connections. this package of amendments will bring accountability and transparency to our government. these reforms are critical for preserving and strengthening our democratic institutions. i urge all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote yes on this package of

amendments and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: madam speaker, i rise to oppose the amendments en bloc. this protecting the swamp act is full of bad policy and disregards regular order. h.r. 5314 is designed purely for democrats to talk about their failed conspiracy theories about the former president. in fact this bill looks more like a fundraising campaign than an effort to provide legislative solutions. my democrat colleagues should be working with republicans to address and solve the problems president biden's administration has created, not pushing through hyperpartisan legislation. while this en bloc package of amendments has several legitimate good ideas, there are too many that make this bad bill worse. while proposals such as strengthingen -- strengthening minority rights for oversight members and anspector general for the office of management and budget are perfectly reasonable

solutions for the house to consider, most of the amendments in this block make a very bad bill. worse. overall, these amendment -- very much worse. overall these amendments strip a duly elected president of the ability to effectively manage the executive branch. i'm not sure if democrats distrust -- democrats' distrust of the executive branch is because of their hatred for the former president or their lack of faith in the current president. either way, republicans should not support attempts to degrade the effectiveness of the office of president. the few good amendments in this block proposed by represents are -- republicans are simply drowned out by bad policy. if democrats were serious about engaging with republicans, they should have worked with us through the normal legislative process during which we could have effectively vetted these measures in committees of jurisdiction. americans are struggling with the highest inflation in 30 years, worried about the safety of their communities and eager to get their children back to school. the majority is flatly ignoring

the american people, to instead talk about former president trump. these amendments offered by democrats in this package only moves this bill further away from addressing the immediate concerns of americans. i urge my colleagues to vote no on and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlelady from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: madam speaker, i now yield one minute and a half to the gentleman from the great state of california, the distinguished chairman of the committee on homeland security subcommittee -- committee, subcommittee on oversight, management and accountable, mr. correa. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. correa: thank you for yielding me time. my first amendment, number 9, will strengthen our ability, the ability of congress, to do our job of oversight of the executive branch. it closes the loophole in the freedom of information act that effectively lets federal agencies ignore congressional requests for information. amendment number 10 will require

all congressionally mandated reports to be transmitted to congress in a machine-readable format. it's a commonsense way to search and find information within thousands of pages of reports. these two amendments are about the government, it's about transparency. our government should not have anything to hide. both of these are supported by project of good government. with that i urge an aye vote on en bloc 1 and support amendments number 9 and 10. with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: madam speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentlelady from north carolina and the ranking member of the education and labor committee, ms. foxx. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. and i thank my colleague for yielding time. madam speaker, i rise in support of my two amendments in this en bloc package. the alleged purpose of this bill is to protect our democracy by preventing abuses of

presidential power and restore checks and balances and accountability and transparency to government. end quote. my amendments in fact do exactly that. and would create an ofs of inspector -- an office of inspector general, i.g., at the office of management and budget, o.m. about. pursuant to the inspector -- o.m.b. pursuant to the inspector general act of 197, this independent, nonpartisan i.g. would prevent and detect waste, fraud and abuse at o.m.b. the underlying bill is a democrat attempt to relitigate yesterday's issues. but today americans are being assailed from all sides. they're facing a democrat president on a spending binge that's tearing this country apart. inflation is at a 30-year high. gas prices are skyrocketing out

of control. now an even more reckless socialist and amnesty agenda is in the works. my two amendments will truly bring accountability and transparency to the executive branch and protect the statutory authorities of congress. last week news broke that 40% or more of the $700 billion spent on unemployment benefits for covid-19 relief went to fraud. that's nearly the size of the defense budget. and i.g. and o.m.b. would be able to root out this kind of fraud and abuse and save taxpayer dollars. the biden administration should welcome having an o.m.b. inspector general with the same enthusiasm it talks about transparency and accountability. my second amendment will help protect the rights of the minority and allow the oversight committee to easily acquire documents from the executive branch so that we can uphold true oversight. i look forward to working with

the majority, to obtain the information required by law from the administration pursuant to these rules. i appreciate the democrats agree on some level that we need rigorous oversight of the executive branch. my only question is, where have you been for the last 11 months? i also profoundly -- and also profoundly am disappointed the democrats chose to load up this en bloc package with amendments that entrench the bureaucracy, hamstring presidential appointments and micromanage presidential powers. this bill is supposed to restore transparency and accountability, but many of the amendments in this package move it in the opposite direction. with that, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from the great state of tennessee, the distinguished chair of the

committee on the judiciary, subcommittee on the constitution, civil rights and civil liberties, mr. steven cohen. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from tennessee is recognized. kohn kohn -- mr. cohen: thank you very much, madam speaker, and, madam speaker, i appreciate the time. our sush committee works on -- subcommittee works on civil rights and liberties. the pardon power is something i've been introduced in since the 1970's when a democratic governor of tennessee abused the pardon power and stood up against it. i stood up against this previous president trump who abused the pardon power even more. he gave pardons to his family -- to people that were administration officials, people who worked in his campaign, to people who lied to the justice department and to the f.b.i. because they were protecting the president from impeachment articles that were lodged against him and which would have shown his contravention of the constitution. i've listened to the debate here some. it's astonishing to me.

there's nothing more important in this government and this congress than ect protecting -- than protecting democracy and democracy was threatened by donald trump and this bill, which adam schiff has sponsored with many co-sponsors, protects democracy. it puts checks and balances on the president. no person should have unfettered power and the president tried to use the pardon power to take care of people who took care of him, to shut them up. so they wouldn't testify against him. roger stone, mike flynn, you name it. down to his paul manafort. he pardoned people who lied, who dealt with the russians, who were part of the conspiracy to take over the election by communicating with russia and getting information out there on the social media to beat hillary clinton and elect donald trump, the most disgusting presidency in the history of this country and that's why this bill is so important. to protect our democracy and save from us abuses by a future president whodunit have limitations on -- who doesn't have limitations on it. with that, i pledge allegiance to the flag and hope all of us

do and support this bill and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlelady continues to reserve. mrs. maloney: reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky. mr. comer: mr. speaker, they say this bill's not about president trump, but every speaker mentions president trump. multiple times. anyway. mr. speaker, i yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from florida, mr. franklin. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. fran fran thank you, madam speaker -- mr. franklin: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you, ranking member comer. i rise today in opposition to this legislation and the en bloc package, particularly amendment 29. this amendment would continue democrat attempts to federalize elections. my colleagues on the other side of the aisle like to call us republicans seditionists. yet here they are again attempting to violate the constitution and our democratic republic by injecting the federal government into state elections. i'd like to remind the democrats that article 1, section 4 of the constitution reads, the times,

places and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives shall be prescribed in each state by the legislatures thereof, not by congress. our country is struggling with out of control inflation, supply chain shortages, rampant crime and a crisis on our southern border. yet democrats are focused on violating the constitution for their own political gain. when h.r. 1 was passed earlier this congress, we assumed the democrats were done trying to take election powers away from the states. as it turns out, they were just getting started. mr. speaker, at what point are we going to start focusing on the real issues facing this country? at what point are the democrats going to realize that america doesn't want out-of-control spending, open borders and rampant crime? the founding fathers were clear, the states are the primary managers of elections. we must address the real problems facing the american people and stop stripping states of their constitutional authorities. with that, i yield back. mr. comer: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman reserves the

balance of his time. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentlelady from the great state of north carolina, the distinguished chairwoman of the committee on education and labor, subcommittee on work force protections, dr. alma adams. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized. ms. adams: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of my amendment to ensure transparency in our elections. the american people have a right to know whether a candidate for president or vice president has unethical foreign intanglements or compromising debt that can be leveraged against their administration or worse. my amendment requires the federal election commission, the f.e.c., to make an income tax return publicly available within 48 hours after receipt of return. in cases where return requires extensive redactions, the f.e.c. may make the return available after 48 hours, but no later

than 30 days after receipt of the return. only a full release of tax returns can ensure that our president and vice president are working for us, the american people, not anybody else. i urge my colleagues to vote yes on this amendment and yes on h.r. 5314. thank you, i yield back. mrs. maloney: reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves the balance of her time. the gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: mr. speaker, i yield all of our remaining time to the great gentleman from ohio, the ranking member of the house judiciary committee, mr. jordan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. jordan: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding. americans want safer streets, affordable gas and freedom. instead democrats give us record crime levels, record inflation and another bill attacking president trump. sponsored by the guy who spent years misleading the congress

and more importantly the country, on the trump-russia investigation, on the mueller investigation, on impeachments. remember when the sponsor of the bill said that his office didn't meet with the whistleblower? found out that wasn't true. remember when the sponsor of the bill told us that we would hear from the whistleblower during impeachment? we'd actually have real processes, instead of having hearings and depositions in the basement, in the bunker of the capitol. remember when the sponsor told us this, there was more than circumstance -- circumstantial evidence that president trump colluded with russia? that turned out to be false. bob mueller said it was false. everyone knew it was false. in fact, it was such bologna, even "the washington post," even "the washington post" has had to retract and change things from stories because they said, oh, yeah, yeah, there was a lot of false information in that dossier that they used to go spy on president trump's campaign.

i think this is important to understand. the sponsor of this legislation wasn't just any member of congress, mr. speaker. he wasn't just any chairman of any committee in congress. he was the chairman on the intelligence committee, the committee that gets the most information making those claims that were not accurate. maybe instead of having another bill that attacks president trump because democrats are afraid he's going to run and he's going to win in 2024 so they want to do everything they can to attack him, maybe instead of another bill attacking president trump, we should focus on things that the american people care about. you can attack president trump all you want. i know one thing, a year ago, border was secure. sure was. year ago, cities were safe. safer than they are today. year ago we didn't have a 31-year high inflation.

we had wages going up, real wages. a year ago, a year ago we didn't have a department of justice -- department of justice attacking moms and dads putting a label, a designation, a threat tag on parents who simply go to school board meetings and speak out against the racist hate america curriculum. no, we didn't have that a year ago. you can keep attacking the president all you want. not addressing the issues the american people care about. we're going to speak about the issues they care about. we'll try to do everything we can to slow down your crazy agenda that's driving up the price of everything. we're going to speak out against and do everything we can to make sure that the department of justice quits attacking parents. thank you to the whistleblower sent from the counterterrorism division of the f.b.i. we could be holding the attorney general accountable, the justice department for what they're doing. no, no, no. we're going to attack president

trump again. democrats, that's the only thing they can do because they can't talk about anything else. i hope we defeat this bill. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: mr. speaker, i now yield one minute and a half to the gentlelady from the great commonwealth of pennsylvania, the distinguished vice chair of the committee on house administration, ms. mary gay scanlon. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from pennsylvania is recognized. ms. scanlon: thank you, madam speaker. -- thank you, mr. speaker. thank you, madam chairman. if the last few years taught us anything, it's that we can't take our democratic institutions for granted. and to protect them in the future, we must codify many of the rules of the road for good government, which have been trampled in recent years by those more interested in personal power than the public good. that's why i rise in support of

the protecting our democracy act, which would limit future abuses of presidential power, strengthen our system of checks and balances, and protect against foreign interference in our elections. i'm proud to offer my amendment to this important piece of legislation, which would increase the frequency with which the inspector general of the department of justice must report to congress any improper communications between the department of justice and the white house. we all should be concerned about the threat it poses to our country when the occupant of the white house, whether it's nixon, whether it's trump, or whether it's anyone else, when they treat the department of justice as their own personal law firm using taxpayer dollars to advance personal or political ambitions or to block the investigation of corruption. we're learning more every day about the heroic public servants in the department of justice and elsewhere who raised their voices to push back against misconduct in the white house. my amendment would make it easier for these individuals to alert congress to misconduct and

allow us to better protect our democracy. i urge my colleagues to do their patriotic duty to protect our constitution and to support both my amendment and the underlying bill. and with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: mr. speaker, i now yield one minute to the gentlelady from the great state of california, the distinguished and effective speaker of the house, ms. nancy pelosi. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman, the speaker, is recognized. the speaker: i thank the gentlewoman for yielding and for -- congratulate her on her great leadership chairing an important committee of the house corps, as we call it, and thank her for bringing this legislation to the floor today. mr. speaker, i thank mr. adam schiff for his leadership in putting this legislation together. i'll get to that in a moment. but first, i just want to say how proud we are today, every

day we serve in this house, a house of the people is a privilege, no matter what honors others may bestow us in this house, whether we are speaker or leader or whip or whatever, no honor is greater than to be able to step on the floor and say we speak for the people of our district, that they have chosen us to come here, as was intended by our founders. 245 years ago, an act of daring that would redefine the world, our founders imagined the courage to declare their independence from an oppressive monarch. they said we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. the pursuit of happiness written into the founding document.

and they continued, when any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the people's duty to throw off such government, to provide new guards for their future security. they were speaking about england. our founders would then forge those guards for our own government. the democratic institutions enshrined in the constitution, which for 42 -- for nearly 2 1/2 centuries have safeguarded the security and well-being of the american people. of the american people. but disturbingly, the last administration saw our democracy in crisis with a rogue president who trampled over the guardrails protecting our republic. now, congress has the solemn responsibility and opportunity to safeguard our democracy, ensuring that past abuses can never be perpetrated by any president of any party. the protecting our democracy act ensures the strength and

survival of a democracy of -- a democracy of, by, and for the people. defending the rule of law, revitalizing our system of checks and balances, and restoring our democratic institutions. thank you to chairman adam schiff, the chair -- and the chairs of the committees of jurisdiction -- judiciary being one of those, and many co-sponsors for their leadership on this transformative package of democracy -- democratic -- democracy reforms, which will put in place essential safeguards to prevent any president from abusing the public trust, no matter what his or her party is. this legislative package is sweeping and future-focused -- looking to the future, designed to restate the rule of law now and for generations to come. our chairs have crafted a robust reforms package that can stand up to and prevent attempts to

undermine our democracy, including the abuse of pardon power, abuse of office for personnel enrichment, the solicitation of foreign assistance in our elections, retaliatory attacks on whistleblowers and inspectors general, politicization frt tools of -- of the tools of justice, and contempt of congress' oversight powers on behalf of the american people, including our lawful subpoena power and the power of the purse. these steps ensure that no one, not even a president is above the law. during the constitutional convention, one of our founders, george mason, asked, shall any man be above justice? that man can be above it who can commit the most extensive injustice. in his great wisdom, george mason knew the injustice committed by the president erodes the rule of law, the very notion, the idea of fair justice, which is the bedrock of

our democracy. and if we allow a president to be above the law, we surely do to the peril of our republic. addressing presidential abuse, therefore, goes to the very heart, the very survival of our democracy. we are a democracy. three co-equal branches of government, each a check and balance on the other that cannot be undermined. otherwise, we are a monarchy. and that is what we chose not to be. let me close by recalling another scene from that constitutional convention on its final day, as our constitution was adopted, benjamin franklin was greeted by folks as he descended the steps from independence hall. people know this story. children in school learn it. the people ask, what do we have a republic or a monarchy? benjamin franklin responded, a republic, if we can keep it. this was a vision of our

founders. and we are grateful to them for it. this is what our men and women in uniform defend -- freedom, our democracy, and we are grateful to them for it. this is what we owe our children as we go forward -- to meet their aspirations to live in the united states of america with liberty and justice for all. and we are responsible for it. may we be worthy of the vision of our founders, the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform, and the aspirations of our children. the congress, is article 1, the first branch of government will uphold our solemn duty to keep our republic by passing the bill for the people. i say this with great appreciation to all who worked so hard to put this together. i support this bipartisan amendment that is on the floor

right now and thank those who worked together in a bipartisan way to put that forward and hope that we can have a successful day for the people. again, honoring our founders, our men and women in uniform, and for the children. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california, the speaker, yields back. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: mr. speaker, the amendments contained in this package will help ensure the executive branch is accountable to the american people. this package includes amendments that were authored by both democrats and republicans. these amendments bolster the many reforms in the protecting our democracy act that will protect against future abuses by the executive branch. i urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote yes on this package of amendments, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. pursuant to house resolution 838, the previous question is

ordered on the amendments en bloc offered by the gentlewoman from new york, mrs. maloney. the question is on the amendments en bloc. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. mr. comer: i ask for a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky. mr. comer: i ask for a recorded vote. 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. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york seek recognition? mrs. maloney: mr. speaker, pursuant to house resolution 838, i offer amendments en bloc. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will designate the amendment the amendments en bloc.

the clerk: amendments en bloc number 2 consisting of amendments number 3 and 7 printed in part b of house report 117-205 offered by ms. carolyn b. maloney of -- mrs. carolyn b. maloney of new york. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 838, the gentlewoman from new york, mrs. maloney, and the gentleman from kentucky, mr. comer, each will control 10 minutes. the chair now recognizes the gentlewoman from new york. mrs. maloney: mr. speaker, i rise in opposition to these amendments. together, these amendments would gut the bill and strike everything in this important package of reforms. the protecting our democracy act would make the government more transparent and accountable to the american people. provisions in this bill have been supported by both democrats and republicans. for example, my whistleblower protection improvement act in title 7 is a bipartisan bill. many of the reforms in this bill stem from efforts by prior administrations of both parties

to enhance executive power. democrats and republicans in congress should unite in reasserting congressional authority. representative burgess' amendment would strike important reforms in the bill which would ensure that presidents and vice presidents can be held accountable for criminal conduct, just like every other american. . representative comer's amendment would strike every section of the bill, including reforms to strengthen whistleblower laws that encourage federal employees to report waste, fraud, and abuse. the amendment would strike protections against federal agencies' misuse of government funds. the amendment would strike the provision in the bill that would require the president and vice president to disclose their tax returns. the sponsor of this amendment,

representative comer, said, at the rules committee recently, just two days ago, that he supports that very reform. yet his amendment would remove it from the bill. these amendments are not a serious attempt at addressing the protections in this bill. they are simply a messaging tool that will gut the protecting democracy act. my colleagues from across the aisle continue to claim this bill is about punishing former president trump. but joe biden is our president now. and these bold, good government reforms will impact his administration as well as future presidents of both parties. it is not about the past, it is about the future and the strengthening of our democracy. i strongly urge a no vote on this package of amendments and i reserve the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from kentucky, mr. comer. mr. comer: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise to support the amendments en bloc. in this package is my amendment, the i.g. stability act, which clearly shows where we should be able to come together and pass bipartisan inspector general reforms. inspectors general play a critical role in rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in the government. they help congress and especially the house committee on oversight and reform in conducting oversight of executive branch offices and federal agencies. yet, just like in every profession, occasionally there have been either poor performers who those who have acted outside their mandates with respect to poor performers, we had, in my opinion, a very poor performing election assistance commission i.g. and she resigned after we

started calling for her to do her job. in those situations the president should have the flexibility to remove an inspector general. the democrats proposal would dramatically limit the president's authority to remove an inspector general for dereliction of duty or undermining the policies of a newly elected press. my amendment mirrors bipartisan language in the senate which requires a detailed rationale to be provided to congress prior to the removal of an i.g. this ensures congress has adequate oversight of the removal of an i.g. without preventing a president from removing an i.g. who is undermining them. further, my amendment would remedy the ongoing concern about i.g. vacancies, which has been a recurring problem in republican and democrat administrations. my amendment requires the president to notify congress if they fail to fill a veterans dad

provide a written explanation with a farringet date for nomination -- target date for nomination. this amendment ensures the i.g. community is adequately staffed to conduct nonpartisan oversight of federal agencies. this provision has already passed the house this year as part of the bipartisan inspector general protection act, h.r. 23. yet the democrats are now putting this commonsense bipartisan amendment in an en bloc designed to fail. why? they are not interested in real reform. they are just interested in messaging. messaging campaigns. for the 2022 midterm elections, which, by all accounts, aren't looking very bright for my friends across the iem. this -- across the aisle. this amendment and mr. burgess' amendment should be accepted not shoved aside. i encourage support of this amendment and i reserve the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky reserves. the gentlelady from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from the great state of new york, the distinguished chair of the committee on the judiciary, mr. jerry nadler. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. nadler: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. mr. speaker, i rise in strong opposition to this en bloc amendment and particularly to the burgess amendment. the burgess amendment would strike one of the most important provisions in the bill. one that ensures that a sitting president or vice president can be held accountable for their actions. just like every other american. this provision is necessary in order to close the dangerous loophole in the law created by d.o.j. policy. most recently embodied in the legal opinion by the office of legal counsel. which holds that a president cannot be criminally prosecuted during his or her term in office. under current law, throughout the entire period that a president is presumed by some to

be immune from prosecution, the statute of limitations continues to run on any offense he or she may have committed. since most federal criminal offenses carry a five-year statute of limitations, a president who is not prosecuted while in office for a crime he or she may have committed could end up evading justice all together if the statute of limitations runs out before their term is over, particularly if they are elected to a second term. allowing complete immunity from criminal prosecution merely because the office a person hold would make a mock rift rule of law. mockery of the rule of law. it is a maxim of our system of justice that no man is immune from the law. no man can be a judge in his own case. statutes of limitations are an important element of criminal law. as the general matter they provide a necessary balance between protecting defendants from delay and allowing prosecutors adequate time to investigate and charge cases.

but the law also recognize that certain limited exceptions to this general rule are necessary. the case of a sitting president whose prosecution is barred under justice department policy fits comfortably among such exceptions. it is necessary, therefore, simply to pause the statute of limitations to ensure that the presidency is not a get out of jail free card. we must not strike this essential provision because every person, no matter his or her title or office, must be held accountable under our laws. i urge strongs op -- strong opposition to this amendment. i want to mention one other thing, we have heard our friends across the aisle talk about donald trump. they said that former president trump did nothing wrong. democrats by and large say, he did a lot of things wrong. but that is irrelevant to this debate.

these amendments -- this bill, rather, has nothing to do with what -- with president trump any more than the post watergate reforms had to do with richard nixon. richard nixon's conduct brought us certain lessons and donald trump's conduct taught us certain lessons. the legislation before us are the result of those lessons -- mrs. maloney: i yield the gentleman as much time he may consume. mr. nadler: i thank the gentlelady. those lessons are for us to use to protect the future. that's what this legislation is about. to protect the future from a president who -- of any party who may do some of the things, who may violate the law. who may aggrandize power. this is what it's about. the future not the past.

so when i hear our republican friends talk about donald trump and talk about how he wasn't convicted, etc., it's irrelevant. we are talking about the future not the past. and for the future it is necessary to pass this bill and for the future it is necessary to defeat this en bloc amendment. i thank the gentlelady for yielding. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york yields back. the gentlewoman from new york reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: again, mr. speaker, they say it's not about donald trump. but every speaker on that side of the aisle spends a significant percentage of their time talking about donald trump. with that, mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. burgess. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. burgess: i thank my friend from kentucky for yielding. and i do intend to speak on my amendment, h.r. 5314.

i do have to reference the remarks recently made by the democratic speaker of the house on her testimony. it's no news flash that democrats dislike the former president. democrats dislike president trump. the news flash is, they really fear the former president. that's what this legislation is all about. because their fear is so intense and so overreaching and preoccupying in their lives they can think of nothing else. i do want to thank my friend from kentucky for including me in this en bloc discussion. i think the amendments that mr. comer and i are offering are an important addition to this bill, the so-called protecting our democracy act. title 2 of this bill extends the statute of limitations for

offenses allegedly committed by a sitting president or vice president for the duration of their tenure and any period of time preceding their tenure in office. while we can agree with the title of the section, no president is above the law, this section further sets our president and elected vice presidents apart. so under current law, elected officials, the president and vice president may be investigated for alleged commission of crimes and any information can then be brought before congress where congress can then choose to remove that official from office via impeachment. we know how facile our democratic majority has been with the tool of impeachment in the past two years. so if itch peached removed from -- if impeached removed from office, that individual would be opened to prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.

well within the statute of limitations just like every other american. additionally, title 2 is very likely unconstitutional as the sixth amendment speedy trial clause protects the accused against unreasonable delays between an indictment and a trial. extending the statute of limitations in title 2 of this bill would only further politicize the presidency and vice-presidency, further politicize the impeachment process that the democrats have elkate vaited to a high art -- elevated to a high heart and make holders of those offices the targets of politically motivated investigations during and after their terms. for those reasons i urge support of this amendment. support of mr. comer's amendment. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yield back. the gentleman from kentucky reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: mr. speaker, i'm

prepared to close. we have no further speakers. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: mr. speaker, i have no more speakers. i'm prepared to close. the speaker pro tempore: the the gentlewoman from new york has the right to close. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: mr. speaker, the underlying bill is about the future, the future of our democracy. it is about strengthening our democracies. these amendments would gut the underlying bill. the protecting our democracy act. i rise in supporter the bill because it includes reforms such as curbing the abuse of a pardon power. increasing penalties for political appointees who violate the hatch act.

strengthening whistleblower protections and i.g. protections. and it would require the president and vice president to reveal their taxes among other reforms. i urge my colleagues to vote no, vote no on this package of amendments and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 838, the previous question is ordered on the amendments en bloc. offered by the gentlewoman from new york, mrs. maloney. the question is on the amendments en bloc. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. mr. comer: i ask for a recorded vote. 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.

it is now in order to consider amendment number 25 printed in house report 117-205. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york seek recognition? >> mr. chair, i have an amendment at the desk. ms. ocasio-cortez: i have an amendment. the clerk: the clerk will report the agencies. -- amendment. the clerk: amendment number 25 offered by ms. ocasio-cortez of new york. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 838, the gentlewoman from new york, ms. ocasio-cortez, and an opponent each will control five minutes each. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from new york. ms. ocasio-cortez: thank you, mr. chair. since its creation in 1921, the government accountability office has had the purview to conduct oversight of all federal

agencies with the goal of reducing waste, fraud, and abuse, and holding accountable bad actors. however, and unfortunately, most of our intelligence agencies today are not fully cooperative with the g.a.o., pointing to an outdated and vague 1988 department of justice opinion. our amendment would allow the g.a.o. to act as a check on this behavior, not creating new powers, but restoring the power congress already -- always intended the g.a.o. to have. this amendment is welcomed by many in the intelligence community who want to protect their important work and resources from abuse, particularly after the last presidency we just endured. we drafted this amendment in partnership with the community, and i'm proud to have the support of representative adam schiff, who serves as the chairman of the house permanent select committee on intelligence. in fact, many of my colleagues have already taken a stand in support of this legislation because in 2010, the house passed a virtually identical

amendment. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york reserves the balance of her time. for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky seek recognition? mr. comer: mr. speaker, i rise to oppose this amendment. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. comer: i must say, mr. speaker, the g.a.o. plays an important role in the legislative branch, but with matters of national security, we must ensure protocols are followed to prevent unauthorized disclosures of national security information. and with this amendment, it's unclear whether those protocols are being met, creating a potential national security risk. further, the house intelligence kerr already -- committee already has the authority to task g.a.o., when necessary and appropriate, to conduct reviews of the intelligence community and to ensure g.a.o. receives appropriate information from the

intelligence community. the house intel committee has done this several times in the past, making this amendment moot. again, this is why we needed to go through regular order on the various bills stitched together in the underlying bill. the committees need to have an opportunity to vet bills, including amendments such as these, before they come to the floor of the house. that's how we ensure good bills are passed, mr. speaker. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. ms. ocasio-cortez: i'd like to yield -- thank you. i'd like to yield one minute to the chairwoman of the house oversight committee, representative carolyn maloney. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i rise in support of this amendment and thank her for her leadership. the amendment offered by congresswoman ocasio-cortez, which would clarify the government accountability office's authority to

investigate the intelligence community. as congress' watchdog, g.a.o. helps to improve federal government performance and ensure accountability for the american people. g.a.o. has the tools and expertise to ensure that classified information is treated with appropriate care and confidentiality. they have been doing that for decades. for example, as part of its audit work, g.a.o. is authorized to examine highly sensitive tax return information, strict protocols are followed to protect that information while still enabling g.a.o. to carry out its important legislative and oversight responsibilities. this amendment includes important safeguards to balance the protection of sensitive information with the need for the oversight of the intelligence community. i urge a strong yes vote on this amendment, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the gentlewoman from new york -- ms. ocasio-cortez: i reserve my time.

the speaker pro tempore: continues to reserve her time. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. comer: reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. ms. ocasio-cortez: i'd like to -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. ms. ocasio-cortez: i yield one minute to the chairman of the house intelligence committee, representative adam schiff. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. schiff: i thank the gentlewoman. i rise in support of representative ocasio-cortez's amendment. the g.a.o.'s expertise and technical capacity are critical to congress' oversight. this amendment by my colleague gives g.a.o. access to important information in the possession that is necessary for the conduct of g.a.o.'s responsibilities while also ensuring the protection of sensitive sources and methods. it strikes the right balance between security, transparency, and needed oversight. it also imposes confidentiality restrictions, clarifies the g.a.o.'s officers and employees are subject to penalties for unauthorized disclosure and

requires the comptroller general to establish protections against such unauthorized disclosures. in sum, the amendment would enhance congressional oversight of the i.c. in a manner that protects our national security. i want to thank our colleague for offering if, and i urge a yes vote and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california yields back. the gentlewoman from new york continues to reserve. ms. ocasio-cortez: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: mr. speaker, every time the chairman schiff rises to speak on a bill about intelligence and security and holding the president accountable, i get excited hoping we'll hear about that evidence of conlugs and all -- collusion and all the other investigations that -- mr. schiff: if the gentleman will yield? if the gentleman will yield? mr. comer: yes. mr. schiff: let me ask the gentleman. are you aware, just by illustration, that the president's campaign chairman, paul man for the -- manifort,

provided russian intelligence with campaign polling data as well as strategic insights about their intelligence in key battleground states, are you aware? mr. comer: i am sure the american people are aware -- mr. schiff: while the campaign chairman was providing internal polling data that kremlin intelligence was leading a clan des ian -- clandestine social media campaign? mr. comer: they were trying to do a facebook campaign in ukraine, if i remember reading that correctly. mr. schiff -- mr. schiff: would you like me to go on? mr. comer: would you yield to a question? mr. schiff: i'm asking -- you asked me to present you with some of the information. mr. comer: are you aware of

president biden's son, hunter's, art dealings? are you aware of the president's son's dealings with the cobalt mine? are you aware of the dealing in ukraine? mr. schiff: i am aware of president trump's son meeting secretly in trump tower new york with a russian delegation with the purpose of receiving dirt on hillary clinton which the russian delegation represented was part of the russian government's effort to help elect donald trump in 2016. i am aware that donald jr., donald trump jr., said in response to that dirt on donald trump's opponent that he would love it. suggest the best time would be in late summer and had a secret meeting in trump tower, and when asked about that secret meeting, both the president and his son lied about it. are you aware about those facts? mr. comer: i think that everyone has seen all the information, again, that you all have peddled. i'm curious if you would like to

make a wager on which president's child, which president's son at the end of the day, once we have the gavel, will have the most -- will be the most security risk to our nation. hunter biden or -- mr. schiff: are you aware of the contacts between the trump contacts, the former's president having ukraine? i would like to use this chapter and verse. the subject of this amendment is to allow the general accounting office, the g.a.o., to help congress oversee aspects of the intelligence community -- mr. comer: i reclaim my time, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman has reclaimed his time. mr. comer: they have spent a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of tax dollars on trying to peddle a lot of wrongdoing in

the previous administration. this bill is all about the previous administration. every speaker on their side of the aisle has mentioned donald trump's name numerous times. every speaker. it's time for the majority party to focus on governing and get over their obsession with donald trump. i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky reserves. ms. ocasio-cortez: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired, i'm informed. mr. comer: i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. ms. ocasio-cortez: thank you, mr. chair. overall, the protecting our democracy act will do much to address the weaknesses that were exposed in light of the last administration. and exploited during president trump's presidency. i am proud to have four other amendments in a are included today that codifies the biden's ethics pledge as well as

inaugural committees. i hope my colleagues will also see the value in protecting our intelligence communities from abuse and vote to include this amendment in the poda act. thank you very much and i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields her time. pursuant to house resolution 838, the previous question is ordered on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from new york, ms. ocasio-cortez. the question is on the amendment. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. mr. comer: mr. speaker, i ask for a recorded vote of 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. proceedings will resume on

questions related to h.r. 5314 previously postponed. votes will be taken in the following order -- amendments en bloc number 1, amendmenting en bloc -- amendments en bloc number 2, amendment number 25, a motion to commit, if offered, and the question on passage of the bill, if ordered. the first electronic vote will be conducted as a 15-minute vote. pursuant to clause 9 of rule 20, remaining electronic votes will be conducted as five-minute votes. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the unfinished business is the question on amendments en bloc 1 printed in house report 117-205 offered by the gentlewoman from new york, mrs. maloney. the clerk will redesignate the amendments en bloc. the clerk: en bloc number consisting of amendments number 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19,

20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, and 34 printed in part b of house report 117-205 offered by mrs. carolyn b. maloney of new york. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the amendments en bloc offered by the gentlewoman from new york. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member

designated by ms. speier, i inform the house that ms. speier will vote yes on amendment en bloc 1.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from georgia seek recognition? mrs. greene: mr. speaker, as the

member designated by mr. jody hice of georgia, i inform the house that mr. highs will -- mr. hice will vote no on amendments en bloc number 1.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from alabama seek recognition? >> thank you, mr. speaker. as the member designated by mr. moore of utah, i inform the house that mr. moore will be voting no on amendment block 1, 5314. and also as the member designated by mr. hagedorn of minnesota, i inform the house that mr. hagedorn will be voting no also on block one. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. green: still i rise, mr. speaker. to inform the house that mr. henry cuellar of texas will vote yes on amendments en bloc 1.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from indiana seek recognition? mrs. walorski: mr. speaker, as the member designated mr. baird of indiana, i inform the house that mr. baird of indiana will vote no on amendment en bloc 1. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. rush, i inform the house that mr. rush from illinois will vote yes in amendment en bloc 1.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mrs. kirkpatrick, i inform the house that mrs. kirkpatrick will vote yes on amendment en bloc number 1.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? mr. garcia: mr. speaker, as the member designated by ms. newman of illinois, i inform the house that ms. newman will vote nay on amendment en bloc number 1. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition?

>> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. nehls of texas, pursuant to h.res. 8, i inform the house that mr. nehls will vote no on en bloc number 1. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from connecticut seek recognition? mrs. hayes: as the member designated by ms. wilson, i inform the house that ms. wilson will vote yes on amendment en bloc number 1. smegd by -- as the member designated by mr. courtney, i inform the house that mr. courtney will vote yes on amendment en bloc number 1. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from indiana seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. young of alaska, pursuant to h.res. 8, i inform the house that mr. young will vote nay on en bloc amendment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. lawson, i inform the house that mr. lawson will vote yes on h.r. 5314.

mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. mfume, i inform the house that mr. mfume will vote yes on 5314. >> smith of washington, i inform the house that mr. smith will vote yes on amendment en bloc number 1. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. strickland, i inform the house that ms. strickland will vote yes on amendment en bloc 1.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> as the member designated mr. crist, i inform the house that mr. crist will vote yes on amendment en bloc number 1. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? mr. fleischmann: mr. speaker, as the member designated by

mr. loudermilk of georgia, i inform the house that mr. loudermilk will vote nay on amendments en bloc number 1. thank you.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? mr. van drew: as the member designated by mr. smith of new jersey, i inform the house that mr. smith will vote no on en bloc 1. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. swalwell, i inform the house that mr. swalwell will vote aye on amendment en bloc number 1.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does -- for what purpose does the gentleman seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. underwood, i inform the house that ms. underwood will vote yes on amendments en bloc number 1. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. fallon from texas, i inform the house that mr. fallon will vote nay on the amendment en bloc number 1. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognize -- california seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. huffman, i inform the house that mr. huffman will vote yes on amendment en bloc number 1.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. sherman: as the member designated by mr. john garamendi of california, i inform the house that mr. garamendi will vote yes on amendment en bloc number 1. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california seek recognition? ms. brownley: mau -- thank you, mr. speaker. as the member designated by ms. bass of california, i inform the house that ms. bass will vote yes on amendment en bloc number 1. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mrs. kim of california, i inform the house

that mrs. kim will vote nay for amendments en bloc number 1. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado seek recognition? mr. me guse: -- mr. neguse: as the member designated by mr. veasey, i inform the house that mr. veasey will vote yea on amendment en bloc number 1.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. correa: mr. speaker, as the member designated by congress member napolitano, i inform the house that congress member napolitano will vote on amendments en bloc 1.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. guthrie of kentucky, i inform the house that mr. guthrie will vote nay on amendments en bloc number 1. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from west virginia seek recognition? mrs. miller: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mrs. lesko of arizona, i inform the house that mrs. lesko will vote no on amendment number 1.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? mr. johnson: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. russ fulcher of idaho, i inform the house that mr. fulcher will vote nay on amendments en bloc number 1.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? mr. pallone: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. donald payne, i inform the house that mr. payne will vote yes on amendment en bloc number 1. and as the member designated by mr. albio sires, as the member designated by -- i inform the house that mr. sires will vote yes on amendment en bloc number

1. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition? mr. mchenry: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. posey of florida, i inform the house that mr. posey intends to vote nay on amendment en bloc number 1.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona seek recognition? >> as the member designated by representative barragan, i inform the house that representative barragan will vote yes on amendment en bloc number 1. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition?

>> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. buchanan, i inform the house that mr. buchanan will vote nay on amendments en bloc 1.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition? mr. connolly: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. higgins of new york, i inform the house that mr. higgins of new york will vote aye on amendment en bloc number 1. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from oklahoma seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by ms. granger of texas, i inform the house that ms. granger will vote nay on amendments en bloc 1.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. defazio of oregon, i inform the house that mr. defazio will vote yes on amendments en bloc number 1.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the ayes are 214, the nays

are 208.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 218, the nays are 211, the amendments en bloc are adopted. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the unfinished business is the question on amendments en bloc 2 printed in house report 117-205, offered by the gentlewoman from new york, mrs. maloney. the clerk will redesignate the amendments en bloc. the clerk: en bloc number 2 consisting of amendments numbers 3 and 7, printed in part b of house report 117-205, offered by

ms. carolyn b. maloney of new york. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on amendments en bloc offered by the gentlewoman from new york. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by ms. speier, i inform the house that ms. speier will vote no on amendment en bloc 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. buchanan, i inform the house that mr. buchanan will vote yea on amendments en bloc number 2. the speaker: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition?

>> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. rush, i inform the house that mr. rush will vote no on amendment en bloc 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from indiana seek recognition? mrs. walorski: as the member designated by mr. baird of indiana, i inform the house that mr. baird will vote yes on en bloc2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from connecticut seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. wilson, i inform the house that ms. wilson will vote no on amendments en bloc 2. as the member designated by mr. courtney, i inform the house that mr. courtney will vote no on amendments en bloc 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from alabama seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. moore of utah, i inform the house that mr. moore will be voting yes on amendment bloc 2. also as the member designated by mr. hagedorn of minnesota, i inform the house that mr. hagedorn will be voting yes also on amendment bloc 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman

from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. lawson, i inform the house that mr. lawson will vote no on en bloc number 2. mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. mfume, i inform the house that mr. mfume will vote no on bloc 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from indiana seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. young of alaska, pursuant to house resolution 8, i inform the house that mr. young will vote yes on the bloc of amendments number 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. strickland, i inform the house that ms. strickland will vote no on amendment en bloc 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. kim of california, i inform the house that ms. kim will vote yes on amendments en bloc #. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. defazio of oregon, i inform

the house that mr. defazio will vote no on h.r. 5314. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from west virginia seek recognition? ms. moore: as the member designated by mrs. lesko of arizona, i inform the house that mrs. lesko will vote aye on amendments en bloc 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition? mr. connolly: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. higgins of new york, i inform the house that mr. higgins of new york will vote nay on amendment en bloc 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. russ fulcher of idaho, i inform the house that mr. fulcher will vote yea on amendments en bloc 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. swalwell, i inform the house that mr. swalwell will vote no

on amendment en bloc number 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. chris smith of new jersey, i inform the house that mr. smith will vote yea on en bloc 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. huffman, i inform the house that mr. huffman will vote no on amendments en bloc 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from oklahoma seek recognition? mr. cole: many mr. speaker, as the member designated by ms. granger of texas, i inform the house that ms. granger will vote yea on amendments en bloc 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition? >> thank you, mr. speaker. as the member designated by mr. smith of washington, i inform the house that mr. smith will vote no on amendment en bloc number 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. fallon of next, i inform the house that

mr. fallon will vote yea on amendments en bloc number 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. underwood of illinois, i inform the house that ms. underwood will vote no on amendment en bloc number. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. reschenthaler of pennsylvania, i inform the house that mr. reschenthaler will be yes on amendments en bloc number 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. veasey, i inform the house that mr. veasey will vote no on amendments en bloc 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by ms. newman of illinois, i inform the house that ms. newman will vote no on amendment bloc 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from georgia seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. jody hice of georgia, i inform the house that

mr. hice will vote yes on amendments en bloc number 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. green: and still i rise, mr. speaker. as the member designated by mr. henry cuellar of texas i inform the house that mr. cuellar will vote no on amendment en bloc 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. crist, i inform the house that mr. crist will vote nay on amendments en bloc 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. bass of california, i inform the house that ms. bass will vote no on amendment en bloc 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by congress member napolitano, i inform the house that congress member napolitano

will vote no on amendments en bloc 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. loudermilk of georgia, i inform the house that mr. loudermilk will vote yea on amendments en bloc number 2. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? mr. jeffries: as the member designated by chairwoman lofgren, i inform the house that chairwoman lofgren will vote nay on amendments enblom number -- en bloc number 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from virginia seek recognition? ms. wexton: as the member designated by ms. porter, i inform the house that ms. porter will vote no on en bloc number 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> as the member designated by

troy nehls, i inform the house that mr. nehls will be voting aye on the amendment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? mr. pallone: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. donald payne, i inform the house that mr. payne will vote no on amendment en bloc number 2. and as the member designated by mr. albio sires, i inform the house that mr. sires will vote on amendment en bloc number 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition? mr. mchenry: as the member designated by mr. posey of florida, i inform the house that mr. opposed to the bill will vote aye on amendment en bloc number 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. sherman: as the member designated by mr. garamendi from california, i inform the house that mr. garamendi will vote no on amendment en bloc number 2.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona seek recognition? >> as the member designated by representative barragan, i inform the house that representative barragan will vote no on amendment en bloc number 2. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona seek recognition? mr. stanton: as the member designated by mrs. kishlth, i inform the house that -- mrs. kirkpatrick, i inform the house that mrs. kirkpatrick will vote no on amendment en bloc number 2.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. guthrie from kentucky, i inform the house that mr. guthrie will vote yea on amendment number 25.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 211. the nays are 218. the amendments en bloc are not adopted. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the unfinished business is the question on amendment 25 printed in house report 117-205 offered by the gentlewoman from new

york, ms. ocasio-cortez. the clerk will redesignate the amendment please. the clerk: amendment number 25 printed in part b of house report 117-205 offered by ms. ocasio-cortez of new york. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from new york. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona seek recognition? mr. stanton: as the member designated by mrs. kirkpatrick, i inform the house that mrs. kirkpatrick will vote yes on the ocasio-cortez amendment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from alabama seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. moore of utah, i inform the house that mr. moore will be voting no on amendment number 25. mr. carl: also, as the member designated by mr. hagedorn, i inform the house that mr. hagedorn will be voting no on amendment 25. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition?

mr. quigley: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. rush of illinois, i inform the house that mr. rush will vote aye on the ocasio-cortez amendment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? mr. johnson: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. russ fulcher of idaho, i inform the house that mr. fulcher will vote nay on amendment number 25. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by ms. newman of illinois, i inform the house that ms. newman will vote yea on the ocasio-cortez amendment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mrs. kim of california, i inform the house that mrs. kim will vote no on the amendment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by ms. speier, i inform the house that ms. speier will vote yes on the ocasio-cortez amendment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from indiana seek recognition? mrs. walorski: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. baird of indiana, i inform the house that mr. baird will vote no on amendment number 25.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. strickland, i inform the house that ms. strickland will vote yes on the ocasio-cortez amendment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from oklahoma seek recognition? mr. cole: mr. speaker, as the member designated by ms. granger of texas, i inform the house that ms. granger will vote nay on amendment number 25. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. gomez: as the member designated by mr. swalwell, i inform the house that mr. swalwell will vote aye on the ocasio-cortez amendment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. buchanan of florida, i inform the house that mr. buchanan will vote nay on amendment 25. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition? >> thank you, mr. speaker. as the member designated by mr. smith of washington, i inform the house that mr. smith will vote yes on the ocasio-cortez amendment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from indiana seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. young of

alaska, i inform the house that mr. young will vote nay on amendment 25. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition? mr. brown: mr. speaker, on behalf of the gentleman from oregon, mr. defazio, i inform the house that mr. defazio will vote yes on the ocasio-cortez amendment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from west virginia seek recognition? mrs. miller: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mrs. lesko of arizona, i inform the house that mrs. lesko will vote no on amendment number 25. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. huffman, i inform the house that mr. huffman will vote yes on the ocasio-cortez amendment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by -- mr. van drew: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. chris smith of new jersey, i inform the house that mr. smith will vote no on the ocasio-cortez amendment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition?

mr. connolly: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. higgins of new york, i inform the house that mr. higgins of new york will vote aye on the owe kosio cortez -- ocasio-cortez amendment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. reschenthaler of the great commonwealth of pennsylvania, i inform the house that will be reschenthaler will be voting no on amendment number 25. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california seek recognition? ms. brownley: as the member designated by ms. bass of california, i inform the house that ms. bass will vote yes on the ocasio-cortez amendment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? mr. fleischmann: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. loudermilk of georgia, i inform the house that mr. loudermilk will vote nay on amendment number 25. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? mr. pallone: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. albio sires, i inform the house that mr. sires will vote yes on the ocasio-cortez amendment.

as the member designated by mr. donald payne, i inform the house that mr. payne will yes on the ocasio-cortez amendment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. nehls of texas, i inform the house that mr. nehls will vote no on amendment number 25. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. underwood of illinois, i inform the house that ms. underwood will vote yes on the ocasio-cortez amendment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. fallon of texas, i inform the house that mr. fallon will vote nay on amendment

that mr. crist will vote yes on the ocasio-cortez amendment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from virginia seek recognition? ms. wexton: as the member designated by ms. porter, i inform the house that ms. porter will vote yes on the ocasio-cortez amendment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? mr. jeffries: as the member designated by chairwoman zoe lofgren, i inform the house that chair lofgren will vote yea on the ocasio-cortez amendment.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona seek recognition? >> as the member designated by representative barragan, i inform the house that representative barragan will vote aye on the ocasio-cortez amendment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. posey of florida, i inform the house that mr. posey will vote no on amendment number 25. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman seek recognition? mr. correa: mr. speaker, as the member designated by congress member napolitano, i inform the house that congress member napolitano will vote yes on the ocasio-cortez amendment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. sherman: as the member designated by john garamendi of florida, i inform the house that mr. garamendi will vote yes on the ocasio-cortez amendment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from connecticut seek recognition?

mrs. hayes: mr. speaker, as the member designated by ms. wilson, i inform the house that ms. wilson will vote yes on the ocasio-cortez amendment. as the member designated by mr. courtney, i inform the house that mr. courtney will vote yes on the ocasio-cortez amendment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? mr. evans: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. lawson, i inform the house that mr. lawson will vote yes on the ocasio-cortez 5314. mr. speaker, mr. mfume votes yes on the ocasio-cortez amendment. thank you.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 196. the nays are 233. the amendment is not adopted.

all time for debate has expired. pursuant to house resolution 838, the previous question is ordered on the bill as amended. the question is on engrossment and third reading of the bill as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: a bill to protect our democracy by preventing abuses of presidential power, restoring checks and balances and accountability to government and defending elections against foreign interference and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the house will come to order.

the house will come to order. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i have a motion to recommit at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: mr. rodney davis of illinois moves to recommit the bill h.r. 5314 to the committee on oversight and reform. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to 2-b of rule 19 the previous question is ordered. on the motion to recommit. the question is on the motion. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the noes have it.

>> i respectfully the request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to section 3-s of house resolution 8, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seize are exin addition. >> as the member designated by mr. defazio, mr. to defazio will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman rise? >> as the member designated by mr. moore of utah, i inform the house that mr. moore will vote yes on the motion to recommit. also, as the member designated by mr. hagedorn, i inform the house that mr. hagedorn will

vote yes on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by ms. speier, i inform the house that ms. speier will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from indiana seek recognition? mrs. walorski: as the member designated by mr. baird of indiana, i inform the house that mr. baird will vote yes on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the -- gentleman from california seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by congress member in a moll tau noah, i inform the house that congress member napolitano will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. russ fulcher of idaho, i inform the house

that mr. fulcher will vote yea on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. swalwell, i inform the house that mr. swalwell will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by ms. kim of california, i inform the house that ms. kim will vote yea on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. green: and still i rise, mr. speaker. as the member designated by mr. henry cuellar of texas to inform the house that mr. cuellar will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from oklahoma seek recognition? mr. cole: mr. speaker, as the member designated by ms. granger of texas, i inform the house that ms. granger will vote yea on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member

designated by mr. sires, i inform the house that mr. sires will vote no on the motion to recommit. as the member designated by mr. donald payne i inform the house that mr. payne will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. chris smith of new jersey, i inform the house that mr. smith will vote yea on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. rush, i inform the house that mr. rush will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. nehls of texas, i inform the house that mr. nehls will vote aye on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. huffman, i inform the house that mr. huffman will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from west virginia seek recognition? ms. moore: mr. speaker, as the

member designated by mrs. lesko of arizona, i inform the house that ms.s relesko will vote aye on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. lawson, i inform the house that mr. lawson will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman -- >> as the member designated by mr. young of alaska, i inform the house that mr. young will vote yes on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek reck necessary? >> as the member designated by mr. mfume, i inform the house that mr. mfume will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. guthrie from kentucky, i inform the house that mr. guthrie will vote yea on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition? >> thank you, mr. speaker. as the member designated by mr. smith of washington, i inform the house that mr. smith

will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? >> mr. speakerring as the member designated by mr. loudermilk of georgia, i inform the house that mr. loudermilk will vote yea on the motion to recommit. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. strickland, i inform the house that ms. strichland will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from georgia seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. jody hice, i inform the house that mr. hice will vote yes on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from virginia seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. porter, i inform the house that ms. porter will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. buchanan of florida, i inform the house that mr. buchanan will vote yea on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition? mr. connolly: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. higgins of new york, i inform the house that mr. higgins of new york will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. posey of florida, i inform the house that mr. posey votes aye on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. bass of california, i inform the house that ms. bass will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. reschenthaler of the great commonwealth of pennsylvania, i inform the house that mr. reschenthaler will be voting yes on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. veasey, i inform the house that mr. veasey will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition?

>> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. fallon of texas, i inform the house that mr. fallon rill vote yes on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek reckings in? as the member designated by mr. garamendi of california, i inform the house that mr. garamendi will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from connecticut seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. wilson, i inform the house that ms. wilson will vote no on the motion to recommit. and as the member designated by mr. courtney, i inform the house that mr. courtney will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona seek recognition? >> minnesotamen mrs. kirkpatrick, i inform the house that mrs. kirkpatrick will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition?

mr. jeffries: as the member designated by chairwoman lofgren, i inform the house that chair lofgren will vote no on the motion trough commit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. crist, i inform the house that mr. crist will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the -- the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. newman of illinois, i inform the house that ms. newman will vote no on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona seek recognition? >> as the member designated by representative barragan, i inform the house that representative barragan will vote no on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 212. the nays are 217. the motion is not adopted. the question is on passage of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed,