Date: 2011-04-01
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I rise today in opposition to H.R. 1255. the "Government Shutdown Prevention Act of 2011." As a senior member of the Judiciary Committee. I reject H.R. 1255 on its face. H.R. 1255 seeks to commit a multitude of constitutional law violations and set aside the U.S. Constitution on a wholesale level. The Constitution is the veritable law of the land that we all took an oath to uphold. H.R. 1255 is an unfounded attempt to use the nonstatutory "deeming resolution" or "deem and pass" procedure to unconstitutionally achieve the $61 billion in budget cuts that the Majority of this chamber failed to get passed in the Senate in the form of H.R. 1. This legislation unconstitutionally states that if the House has not received any message from the Senate providing for the Appropriations of Government for fiscal year 2011 before April 6. 2011. then H.R. 1 would be deemed as passed by the Senate. signed by the President and enacted into law. H.R. 1255 also prohibits the CAO of the House and the Secretary of the Senate from disbursing salary payments for Members of Congress. and also prohibits the President from receiving his salary. It states that the President and Members cannot be disbursed a salary for every day that there is a lapse in appropriations. or if the debt ceiling prevents Federal expenditures. However. because H.R. 1255 already would deem H.R. 1 passed. no funding gap could exist. while hitting the debt ceiling would by definition prevent Federal expenditures like Member salaries. This legislation would have absolutely no practical effect. Since the Senate would have to pass it and President would have to sign it. this bill is nothing but a talking point for the Tea Party wing of the Republicans. This bill would not have any effect on current. serious negotiations to keep the government operating. The Member Salary portion of the bill would also have no effect since H.R. 1255 already would deem H.R. 1 passed. This legislation is unconstitutional. The Majority would make history by deeming that the Senate passed a bill which was considered on the Senate floor and failed. The Majority would also make history by deeming that the President would have signed a bill which he promised to veto. should it reach his desk. After opening Congress with a reading of the Constitution. the Republicans are breaking their pledge again. This legislation exposes extraordinary hypocrisy from the House Republican Leadership. In the 111th Congress. while Republicans promised never to use the "deem and pass" process. it only took a few weeks for them to break another pledge to the American people. During the 111th Congress. thenMinority Leader and nowSpeaker JOHN BOEHNER called deem and pass a "scheme and plot" that set a precedent that was "one of the most outrageous things [he] had seen since [he] had been in Congress"-and. erroneously claimed it had "never happened in American history." NowMajority Leader ERIC CANTOR has previously offered a privileged resolution on deem and pass putting Republicans on record as considering this process a "malfeasant manner" and those who might support it as having "discharged the duties of their offices." This legislation is a waste of the American peoples time and a distraction from Democrats serious efforts to keep the government from shutting down. Instead of passing this hypocritical. unconstitutional. meaningless bill. the GOP Leadership ought to spend more time at the negotiating table trying to reach a compromise agreement to keep the Government running. I am an ardent supporter of working in a bipartisan manner to pass fiscally responsible legislation which properly funds the Federal Government through fiscal year 2011 and maintains important programs that are vital to our economic recovery. So. I urge my colleagues to join me in opposing this bill and supporting true bipartisan appropriations legislation to keep the Federal Government operational through fiscal year 2011. so that we may address and solve the important issues facing the American people.