Part 2: Rules Committee Meeting on H.R. 3110, H.R. 3992, H.R. 2119 and S. 1301

The Rules Committee will come to order. So we recently completed testimony on three bills from the Education and Labor Committee. We are now reconvening to report a rule on those three measures. As a reminder, those bills are H.R. 3992, which will ensure older Americans are not excluded from applying for work or pushed out of the workforce, H.R. 3110, bipartisan bicameral legislation to extend protections for nursing mothers in the workplace, and H.R. 2119 to combat intimate partner violence and provide victims with the resources that they need. The rule will also allow us to get the Senate-passed compromise to raise the debt limit through December 3rd to President Biden's desk without any delay. I would like to see us take care of this problem in a long-term way, but I think it's pretty clear that Republicans, particularly in the Senate, were not prepared to let that happen. So I'm glad that this at least allows us to prevent a totally self-made and utterly preventable economic catastrophe as we work on a longer-term plan. So with that, let me now turn to our Ranking Member, Mr. Cole, for any remarks he wishes to make. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Before I begin my remarks, can I inquire just quickly, I'm concluding them with offering a motion on the rule. Is that appropriate at that point? So once we read the rule, then you can offer an amendment. Okay. This is just opening statements. Let me go ahead and make my opening statements, if I may. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman, today's rule goes beyond the pale to once again protect Democratic members from actually having to vote on anything. Sadly, this has become all too common an occurrence under the Democratic majority. When directly voting on something might be too tough on Democratic members, just wave a magic wand and deem it passed. The House Budget Committee failed to consider a budget and committee for both fiscal years And instead of even allowing a debate on the floor on that legislation, which the Speaker described as the reflection of one's values, Democrats shoved it in a rule here at the Rules Committee to deem it passed. Likewise here, on a critical issue regarding the fiscal trajectory of the nation, Democrats aren't even willing to put up with an hour of debate on a measure that increases the debt ceiling by $480 billion or cast a stand-alone vote on the issue. This rule simply deems the measure passed upon adoption of the rule. The American people will see through this sham that the process is, and recognize that this is what's wrong with Washington. Democrats are content to play a game of smoke and mirrors so that they don't have to be on record on substantive items. While I recognize the necessity of addressing the debt ceiling, I continue to have grave reservations about the course the majority is following. I urge my Democratic colleagues to begin to work in a bipartisan fashion on the many challenges we have before us. When we do, there will be bipartisan support to raise the debt ceiling when necessary. Less than until Democrats give up on their dream of a big government, socialist America, Republicans cannot and will not support raising the debt limit and help them pave a superhighway to a great entitlement society. If that continues to be your chosen course, know that reconciliation is the only path forward to raise the debt limit again. With the passage of this rule, Democrats will have the time to get this done. I suggest you use it wisely. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. Well, I thank the gentleman for his opening remarks. I just want to say, though, no one's hiding from anything. We had a debate and a vote on raising the debt ceiling. We all went on record voting yes or no. All this is is the Senate changed the date to a shorter period of time, which I wish they didn't do because I wish we could be done with this. But that's all this is. So we did this. No one's hiding. We're simply being efficient here and bringing this rule to the floor to accommodate the Senate. I mean, the Senate amendment. And so I think, you know, in any event, you know, but I just remember, Mr. Chairman, we've done that with two budgets and a budget resolution as well. Yeah. Well, I know. But but but nobody's hiding from I mean, we have made it very clear that defaulting on our financial obligations, by the way, stuff we've already spent money on much of 97 percent, which did not happen under this president's watch, which included the the the debt that we've accumulated from a tax cut that has benefited mostly the well off and the well connected. We're just paying the bill. So we can argue about reconciliation, which is has not been, you know, finalized yet. We can argue about, you know, whatever else we're going to do in the future. But when Congress votes, no matter who's in charge to spend money, we have an obligation to make sure we pay these bills. And that's all this is. But in any event, I now want to yield to the gentlewoman from California for a motion. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move the committee grant H.R. 2119, the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act, a structure rule. The rule provides one hour of general debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Education and Labor of or their designees. The rule waives all points of order against consideration of the bill. The rule provides that an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of Rules Committee Print 117-15 modified by the amendment printed in Part 8 of the Rules Committee report shall be considered as adopted and the bill as amended shall be considered as read. The rule waives all points of order against provisions in the bill as amended. The rule provides that following debate, each further amendment printed in Part B of the Rules Committee report not earlier considered as part of the amendments on block pursuant to Section 3 shall be considered only in the order printed in the report may be offered only by a member designated in the report shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and opponent may be withdrawn by the proponent at any time before the question is put thereon shall not be subject to amendment and shall not be subject to a demand or division of the rule. The rule waives all points of order against the amendments printed in Part B of the report and amendments on block described in Section 3 of the resolution. The rule provides that at any time after debate, the chair of the Committee of Education and Labor or his designee may offer amendments on block consisting of further amendments printed in Part B of the Rules Committee report not earlier disposed of. Amendments on block 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 Education and Labor or their designee shall not be subject to amendment and shall not be subject to the demand or division of the question. The rule provides one motion to recommit. The rule provides for consideration of H.R. 3110, the Pump for Nursing Mothers Act, under a structural rule. The rule provides one hour of general debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Education and Labor or their designees. The rule waives all points of order against consideration of the bill. The rule provides that the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on Education and Labor now printed in the bill modified by the amendment printed in Part C of the Rules Committee report shall be considered as adopted and the bill as amendment shall be considered as read. The rule waives all points of order against provisions in the bill as amended. The rule makes in order only those further amendments printed in Part D of the Rules Committee report. Each further amendment printed in Part D of the Rules Committee report shall be considered only in the order printed in the report, may be offered only by a member designated in the report, shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and opponent, may be withdrawn by the proponent at any time before the question is put thereon, shall not be subject to amendment and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question. The rule waives all points of order against the amendments printed in Part D of the report. The rule provides one motion to recommit. The rule provides for consideration of H.R. 3992, the Protect Older Job Applicants Act under a structural rule. The rule provides one hour of general debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Education and Labor or their designees. The rule waives all points of order against consideration of the bill. The rule provides that an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of Rules Committee Print 117-14 shall be considered as adopted and the bill as amendment shall be considered as read. The rule waives all points of order against provisions in the bill as amendment. The rule makes in order only those further amendments printed in Part E of the report. Each further amendment printed in Part E of the Rules Committee Report shall be considered only in the order printed in the report may be offered only by a member designated in the report shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent may be withdrawn by the proponent at any time before the question is put thereon, shall not be subject to amendment and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question. The rule waives all points of order against the amendments printed in Part E of the report. The rule provides one motion to recommit. The rule provides that the House hereby concurs in the Senate amendment to the House amendment to S-1301. The rule provides that at any time through the legislative date of Friday, October 22, 2021, the speaker may entertain motions offered by the majority leader or a designee that the House suspend the rules with respect to multiple measures that were the object of motions to suspend the rules on the legislative days of July 26, September 29, October 19, October 20, October 21, or October 22, and on which the years the yeas and nays were ordered and further proceedings postponed. The chair shall put the question on any such motion without debate or intervening motion in the ordering of the yeas and nays. Unpostponed motions to suspend the rules with respect to such measures is vacated. The chair shall put the question on any such motion without debate or intervening motion in the ordering of the yays and nays. on postponed motions to suspend the rules with respect to such measures is vacated. Finally, the rule provides that the House Resolution 188 agreed to March 8th, 2021 is amended by striking October 27th, 2021, each place it appears and inserting November 18th, 2021. Thank you very much. You heard the motion from the gentleman from California. Is there any amendment or discussion? Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment. Mr. Cole. Thank you very much. First, I wanna congratulate my friend from California for just getting through that. That was a long rule. But Mr. Chairman, I move that the committee strike from the rule, the section that considers the Senate amendment to House Amendment S1301 is adopted and provide for separate consideration under a closed rule. I heard the gentleman's amendment. Any discussion? Hearing none, the vote is on the Cole amendment. Oh, absolutely. Mr. Dr. Burgess. This is extremely important. And I don't know that people watching today really understand what is happening here. I mean, a lot of language, a lot of words being said, but we are essentially passing an almost half a trillion dollar expansion of the debt limit with no further debate, no further input from anyone on the majority or the minority. Mr. Chairman, you referenced about a manufactured crisis, but I don't know, watching this weekend and looking at the panoply of manufactured crises that have come about because of the actions taken by this administration. I mean, the border with my state and a major country, an ally, Mexico, is in shambles. And you see all of the stacks of equipment that has been purchased by the taxpayer that is either being left to rot or be stolen by someone. The wall could have been finished months ago, which would have provided a modicum of security for those individuals who live in that area. But we see the multiple problems that have happened with people coming from South America through our southern border from the country of Haiti. They're not directly coming from Haiti. They've been in South America for a while, but now news reports are that another 60,000 people are in sort of a no-man's land between Colombia and Panama. There are stories of mass graves that are being dug because conditions are so harsh there. Why is this happening? It's happening because the administration signaled that the southern border was no longer going to be enforced and anyone who wanted access to this country could just simply come in. Has anyone paid attention to the fact that gas is a dollar a gallon more expensive today than it was nine months ago? This is significant and we're not doing anything about it. There's going to be a cold winter. In spite of global warming, there's going to be a cold winter and energy prices have significantly increased and all we have managed to do is go to OPEC and say, could you pump a little more oil from the Middle East or go to Russia and say, maybe you could send some of that Gazprom gas down the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and help keep our cities warm this winter. Mr. Chairman, I had the pleasure of spending many hours in an airport last night. In case you haven't noticed, air traffic, air travel in this country right now is in crisis and people are justifiably angry. They don't understand why the conditions have been allowed to develop that caused this to happen. So Mr. Cole's amendment is exactly on point. We should pull this Senate amendment out. We should have a full debate and look, don't Americans deserve a country that actually works? Don't they deserve a government that actually works? And I would submit right now with the litany of things that I just proposed to you, it's not working and people understand it and they are upset. We would do ourselves and our countrymen a favor if we would pull this amendment out and have a full and fulsome debate on it. And I yield back. I thank the gentleman. First of all, most of what the gentleman just talked about has nothing to do with what we're doing right now. But putting that aside, it's absurd to somehow suggest that people don't know what we're doing here. We actually had a full debate and a vote on increasing the debt ceiling. My Republican friends seemed content on just driving the car off a cliff because it would be disastrous if we were to default on our obligations. By the way, financial obligations and bills that were accumulated under Joe Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, much of it as a result of a tax cut scheme that benefited the wealthiest people in this country, trillions of dollars in debt. So we have to pay for that. I don't like that tax cut, but I know we have to pay for our bills. If we don't, then the full faith and credit of this country is in jeopardy. Millions of jobs would be lost. It would be a disaster. So I get it. All we're voting on here is the Senate amendment, by the way, that doesn't do what we wanted to do last week, which was to extend this for a longer period of time, but just until December 6th. And then we're gonna have to deal with it again. Another manufacturing crisis. We're gonna have to deal with it again. So let's understand this. We are paying Donald Trump's bills. If you don't wanna pay the bills, you shouldn't have voted for the things that caused this debt to begin with. But the responsible thing to do for Democrats and Republicans is to pay our bills. That's exactly what this is. And so, you know, but you know, all this other stuff, and that's other legislation and other bills, but it's not what we're dealing with here. Any other comments or hearing none? The vote is on the Cole amendment. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say no. No. No. An opinion of the chair? I think the noes have it. I'm gonna ask for a recorded vote. Chairman, on that, I'd request a yeas and nays. Yeas and nays have been requested. The clerk will call the roll. Mrs. Torres? No. Mrs. Torres, no. Mr. Perlmutter? No. Mr. Perlmutter, no. Mr. Raskin? No. Mr. Raskin, no. Ms. Scanlon? No. Ms. Scanlon, no. Mr. Morelle? No. Mr. Morelle, no. Mr. Desangier? No. Mr. Desangier, no. Ms. Ross? No. Ms. Ross, no. Mr. Neguse? Mr. Cole? Aye. Mr. Cole, aye. Mr. Burgess? Votes, no. The vote's aye. Mr. Burgess, aye. Mr. Ruschenthaler? Mrs. Fischbach? Aye. Mrs. Fischbach, aye. Mr. Chairman? No. Mr. Chairman, no. Clerk, report the total. Three yeas, eight nays. Amendment is not agreed to. Are there further amendments? Yes, Mr. Chairman. Dr. Burgess? I move the committee make an order. Amendment number one to H.R. 3110, offered by Ms. Miller-Meeks of Iowa. This is a substitute amendment that strikes the underlying text and replaces it with language guaranteeing that executive, administrative, and professional employees are granted the same nursing accommodations as hourly workers and protecting small businesses from undue hardship. Mr. Chairman, this substitute amendment would better accomplish the goals of legislation of increasing protections for working mothers by foregoing sweeping regulatory burdens in exchange for guarantees that salaried employees are granted the same nursing accommodations as hourly workers and by ensuring that the workplace has necessary nursing accommodations without burdensome mandates for businesses. Just note that Republicans share the concerns of the majority in protecting adequate workplace conditions for new mothers, but there are major concerns over the workability of the legislation as it exists before us. I urge adoption of the Miller-Meeks amendment. Heard the gentleman's amendment, any discussion? Hearing none, the vote is on the Burgess amendment. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. For you, the Chair, the noes have it. Ask for a roll call. Roll call has been requested. Mrs. Torres. No. Mrs. Torres, no. Mr. Perlmutter. No. Mr. Perlmutter, no. Mr. Raskin. No. Mr. Raskin, no. Ms. Scanlon. No. Ms. Scanlon, no. Mr. Morelle. No. Mr. Morelle, no. Mr. DeSaulnier. No. Mr. DeSaulnier, no. Ms. Ross. No. Ms. Ross, no. Mr. Neguse. Mr. Cole. Aye. Mr. Cole, aye. Mr. Burgess. Mr. Burgess, aye. Mr. Ruschenthaler. Mrs. Fischbach. Aye. Mrs. Fischbach, aye. Mr. Chairman. No. Mr. Chairman, no. Clerk, report the total. Three yeas, eight nays. Amendment is not agreed to. Further amendments? Hearing none, the vote now is on the motion from the gentleman from California. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say no. No. In the opinion of the chairs, even with that late no from Mr. Cole, the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. Mr. Chairman, I think it's a delayed broadcast. I just wanted you to know I moved quickly. But if I may, I would request a recorded vote. A recorded vote has been requested. Clerk will call the roll. Mrs. Torres. Mrs. Torres, aye. Mr. Perlmutter. Aye. Mr. Perlmutter, aye. Mr. Raskin. Aye. Mr. Raskin, aye. Ms. Scanlon. Aye. Ms. Scanlon, aye. Mr. Morelle. Aye. Mr. Morelle, aye. Mr. Dasanye. Aye. Mr. Dasanye, aye. Ms. Ross. Aye. Ms. Ross, aye. Mr. Neguse. Mr. Cole. No. Mr. Cole, no. Mr. Burgess. Mr. Burgess, no. Mr. Reschenthaler. Mrs. Fischbach. No. Mrs. Fischbach, no. Mr. Chairman. Aye. Mr. Chairman, aye. Clerk, report the total. Eight yeas, three nays. And the motion is agreed to. And I will carry it for the Democrats. And Ms. Fischbach will carry it for the Republicans, Mr. Chairman. And so my understanding is that we'll be on the floor around four o'clock, all right? We will see you then. No other business. The committee stands adjourned.