{time}  1240

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for
yielding me the customary time, and I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, let me begin by asking: Do Republicans even have the
votes to pass this rule? Because, if not, what on Earth are we doing
here? Wasting more time?
  Even your own Members are fed up, Mr. Speaker--every week wondering
if someone is going to throw a fit; if Donald Trump is going to post
something crazy and blow everything up; if   Mike Johnson is going to
bring something to the floor when he doesn't have the votes. The chaos
and the dysfunction around here is unhinged.
  We wasted hours and hours at the Rules Committee last week debating

and voting on a rule that never came to the floor. And for what?
Because Congress passed a bipartisan housing affordability bill, and
the President had a temper tantrum, refused to sign it, and derailed
everything? I mean, really? And why? Because he is still busy trying to
fraudulently claim that the 2020 election was stolen, and now he wants
to use that as an excuse to try to rig the midterms.
  Let me remind my colleagues: This is the United States of America. It
is still the United States of America. We are not China, or Russia, or
some two-bit dictatorship.
  This is insane what is going on here. Families cannot afford rent.
Folks are priced out of buying a house. Donald Trump is asked about the
bipartisan housing bill yesterday, and he says: `` . . . it's so
unimportant . . . `' he says: `` . . . it's so unimportant . . . `'
then he says: ``I made a lot of money with housing.''
  The American people are not asking whether Donald Trump made a lot of
money in housing. They are asking why they cannot afford it. They are
asking why his economy sucks, why their prices are going up, and nobody
in this Republican administration seems to give a damn.
  So, now, we are back with another rule. Maybe it passes. Maybe it
doesn't. Who knows anymore. This rule includes a National Defense
Authorization bill with a trillion--that is with a t--dollar price tag.
  I should tell my colleagues that we already spend more on our
military than the next six countries combined. It is an astronomical
amount. Over another trillion dollars on our military budget? Boy, that
is so wild and extravagant, even Dr. Strangelove would be impressed.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, let me get this straight: Republicans want to give
Donald Trump over a trillion dollars for the Pentagon? Donald Trump who
started an illegal war? Donald Trump who got 13 American servicemembers
killed because he started a war to distract from the Epstein files?
That is who they want to give a trillion dollars to? I mean, get real.
  The State and Foreign Operations bill is a mess, too. It guts all the
programs that actually prevent crises before they explode. When the
next war, famine, pandemic, or global breakdown knocks on our door,
just remember it was Republicans who set the stage, just like they did
when they cut funding for screwworm protection.
  There is the Social Security disability bill that hands more
authority to an administration already targeting programs that working
people rely on.
  Then, we get to this Republican self-esteem exercise, yet another
nonbinding resolution, praising Republicans for the big, ugly bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I have a secret for you. I checked with my staff. Not a
single person has called my office saying: Congressman, I think
Republicans should spend time congratulating themselves on a bill they
passed last year that took away my healthcare and is directly
responsible for raising my bills. I haven't got a single call about
that.
  What exactly is it that my Republican friends are congratulating
themselves for anyway? You passed the big, ugly bill a year ago. Since
then, gas prices have gone up. Grocery prices have gone up. There is a
new war in the Middle East. Healthcare is more expensive, and fewer
people have it. Child hunger has gone up. The tariffs are crushing
farmers and driving up costs.
  That is what you guys are doing a victory lap over? Really? I mean,
really? Never have we seen so much inequality between the rich and the
poor in this country. Regular people are getting screwed while the top
0.001 percent saw their incomes go up by--get this--$20 million last
year.
  You guys could not be more out of touch if you tried, Mr. Speaker.
  There might be hours of floor debate on these crummy bills this week,
but right now we are here to talk about the Republicans' agenda, their
plan for the week. The truth is that their bills are just more of the
same old status quo nonsense that people back home are sick and tired
of.
  The Republican agenda is a nightmare for this country. The American
people are in an economic crisis right now. They are getting screwed by
the policies of this administration. Their wallets and their
pocketbooks are getting cleaned out by this President and this
majority's billionaire-forced agenda.
  Then, they turn on C-SPAN today--and God help them if they do--and
what do they see Republicans bringing to the floor? Not a bill to help
deal with rising inflation and economic uncertainty--no, no, no. Their
focus this week is a resolution to congratulate themselves on a bill
that they already passed last year. In case they haven't noticed, for
most people, things have gotten worse since then, not better.
  People are looking to this place and wondering whether anybody at all
on the Republican side has any idea what their life is actually like.
They believe that this Republican majority is just out of touch, out of
sync with where regular people are. If people look at these awful,
lousy bills, the answer is obviously no.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as
I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, no doubt the Democrat socialists of America believe
everything that the gentleman from Massachusetts just said, but the
majority of Americans are smart enough to know that those things are
simply not true.

  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Boy, that was a good retort.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an
amendment to strike the section adding the SAVE America Act to the NDAA
during engrossment.
  Mr. Speaker, let me be clear. I think the SAVE Act is an awful bill.
It is not about election security. It is about relitigating Donald
Trump's loss in 2020--and he did lose. He lost big. It will make it
harder for American citizens to vote if this SAVE Act ever becomes law.
  Here is another thing that is clear to everyone, or should be. This
little maneuver by the Speaker is a nothing burger. It is a shell game.
It is the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain pretending to do magic. Here
is the truth: The SAVE Act will not become law. Even if this rule
manages to pass, the Senate will not pass an NDAA with the SAVE Act
included. They have already said that, and Leader Thune, 5 days ago,
already filed cloture on the Senate's own version of the NDAA without
the SAVE Act.
  At the end of the day, it is very simple. Republicans are using
procedural tricks to try to make it harder for people to vote because
they can't win elections the old-fashioned way. They can't win them
fair and square. It is offensive. In the case of this MIRV scheme, it
is downright stupid.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my
amendment into the Record, along with any extraneous material,
immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Meuser). Is there objection to the
request of the gentleman from Massachusetts?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, to discuss our proposal, I yield 5 minutes
to the gentlewoman from Alabama (Ms. Sewell), the sponsor of this
amendment.
  Ms. SEWELL. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member McGovern for allowing
me to speak.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to attaching the SAVE America
Act to the NDAA.
  This week, Mr. Speaker, marks the 250th anniversary of our Nation's
independence. Yet, instead of working to strengthen our democracy,
Trump and Republicans are hell-bent on undermining it.
  While we should be celebrating how far we have come since the days of
Jim Crow voter suppression, Republicans are working to drag us back.
Old battles have indeed become new again.
  Mr. Speaker, the so-called SAVE America Act is nothing more than a
scheme devised by my colleagues across the aisle to save themselves
from accountability at the ballot box. It is a voter suppression bill
designed to block millions of eligible voters from casting their
ballots.