Sparks Fly As Democrats & Republicans Debate CR, SAVE Act In House Rules Committee

uh without objection any prepared statements that our Witnesses may have will be included in the record and I want to welcome our first panel subcommittee chairman Andy Harris and ranking member Rosa Doo from the committee on Appropriations chairman Harris I welcome your testimony thank you very much uh chairman Burgess and esteemed members of the rules committee I thank you for your warm welcome and your kind invitation to testify today I appear before you today on the continuing Appropriations and others matter Act of 2025 as members of this committee are well aware fiscal year 2024 ends on September 30th 21 days from now at which time Government funding will expire this means that Congress must act to ensure that the government remains open and operating but indeed prior to August the house has already taken clear steps toward completing our fiscal year 25 funding measures the Appropriations Committee reported out all 12 of our appropriation bills by mid July and by the end of July the house passed five of the 12 bills across the floor those five bills Encompass nearly 71% of overall discretionary spending just to remind the chairman our Senate has passed none out of the out of uh the uh none out of the senate floor and that is what has resulted in the current impass while this is a good start what we did in the house there's still much work to be done in order to give us time to complete our work for the year A continuing resolution is obviously needed today's Bill extends government funding for 6 months through March 28 2025 and that that's the time that would be necessary to do the appropriate conferencing with our tardy Senate colleagues it also includes extensions of programs that must remain in place such as the national flood insurance program today's Bill also provides additional funding for disaster relief we've seen a large number of natural disasters all across the United States this year including wildfires flooding severe storms and tornadoes These funds will help provide needed relief for communities all across the United States that have Faced Natural Disasters this year importantly today's Bill also recognizes the importance of securing our elections this November Americans will go to the polls to elect a new president of the United States along with every member of the House and onethird of the Senate Americans will be asked to make difficult decisions about the future of our country but with so much at stake it's more important than ever to ensure that our elections are in fact secure that's why today's Bill also includes the text of the bipartisan past Safeguard American voter eligibility or save act which will ensure that only American citizens may vote in federal elections the security of our national elections is of critical importance to all Americans and as such passage of the save act as part of today's bill is simply common sense because although the save Act passed the House of Representatives again the Democrat majority in the Senate has chosen not to bring it up for a vote in the Senate I thank each of you for your time and look forward to your questions today and yield back gentleman Ys back chair thanks gentleman rank member deloro you're recognized thank you chairman burges and uh the members of the committee I'm delighted to be here with you this afternoon um I oppose this continuing resolution which would Short change our veterans absolve the house um of the Republican majority of their responsibility to govern and move us closer to a shutdown and I urge my colleagues to vote against it the majority's proposal completely abandons our nation's veterans we have been told by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Office of Management and budget that $12 billion I'm sorry Mr chairman I can barely hear her if she sure is that better okay the majority's proposal completely abandons our nation's veterans we've been told by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Office of Management and budget that 122 billion more is required to provide medical care for veterans who have been exposed to toxic substances despite those needs the majority has decided to provide nothing for veterans medical needs I can understand I cannot understand how anybody could support this bill go home to look their veteran constituents in the eye and tell them that they voted to Short change the medical care they earned with their service it is disgraceful and we could have solved this issue had the majority considered a bipartisan path forward at any point during this entire process but instead just like last year House Republicans squandered an entire Year by taking us down a partisan path forcing us to waste time considering extreme funding bills based on Trump's project 2025 they could not pass and that have no chance of becoming law our five bills passed seven not couldn't even bring them to the floor just like last year House Republicans refusal to meet house Democrats at the table has left us without time to pass all 12 full year Appropriations bills before the end of September and now rather than admitting The Inevitable Defeat of their project 2025 spending bills and passing a bipartisan Bill to keep the government open while we finish our work the majority proposes abandoning their obligation to govern forcing a new Congress to clean up their mess and they have included an extraneous partisan and controversial measure non gerain to Theo to Appropriations that guarant es this continuing resolution will not become law this bill will not pass the Senate the president would veto it this bill has no path to becoming law a six-month continuing resolution is a ploy to force the extreme project 2025 Manifesto agenda on the American people they want to slash domestic advancements and Health Care education job training and every other discretionary program which will hurt the middle class and the economy the Republican majority believes A continuing resolution to the end of March provides them with more leverage to force their unpopular cuts to services that American families depend on to make ends meet the majority knows that the fiscal year ends September 30th and that we cannot fund the government without the support of Democrats and Republicans in the house and the Senate but for the second time in the 118th Congress the majority does not want Congress to finish its work until March nearly halfway through the fiscal year wasting time avoiding the inevitable and failing to meet our obligations to the American people A halfe continuing resolution is no way to govern this is no way to serve the American people the American people have a choice to make in November and come January we will will have a new president and we will have a new Congress while we presumably disagree on who we think will be leading our country and which side of the aisle will hold the Gales we should agree that it is not right not in the interest of the American people for us to punt this year's work deep into next year for a different Congress and a different White House to be confronted with we must pass a continuing resolution that allows us to finish our work before the new president and Congress are sworn in and which addresses the immediate needs of the American families workers and Veterans A continuing resolution that ends in December rather than one that lasts a half year better serves our national security and our military Readiness veterans and their families victims recovering from natural disasters and all hardworking American taxpayers instead the majority Bill fails our veterans the majority's bill fails our military putting Government funding on autopilot for six months which means the Department of Defense cannot execute its strategic priorities such as investing in cuttingedge Technologies and capabilities investments in our defense industrial base will be put on hold including the submarine and ship building bases over the weekend secretary Austin said in a letter and I I quote asking the department to compete with the People's Republic of China let alone manage conflicts in Europe and the Middle East while under a lengthy continuing resolution ties our hands behind our back while expecting us to be agile and to accelerate progress he continued the most um the single most important thing that Congress can do to ensure US National Security is to pass timely legislation for all 12 Appropriations bills for fiscal 2025 and I believe that every a member of the committee has received a letter from the Secretary of Defense uh in detail about what are the um uh areas that would be held back if we move to a March uh 20 uh 205 bill the majority's bill fails our seniors and Americans with Disabilities on Social Security no additional funding for the Social Security administration's operating budget will result in reduced hours closed field offices and longer wait times for applicants and claims the majority's bill fails the communities devastated by disasters by short changing emergency funds for FEMA the bill provides nothing to address the dramatic collapse of the Key Bridge in Maryland and nothing for block grants to help communities with the long-term recovery from devastating natural disasters from 20123 including the horrifying wildfires in Hawaii the tornadoes across the country that devastated communities in places like Oklahoma the majority fails low-income families deprives them of support to achieve economic stability and well-being by halting payments for the temporary assistance for needy families program failure to extend tan of payments to States for the first two quarters of the fiscal year means Republicans are blocking more than 8 billion doar in reimbursements for state run programs to help lowincome families and children and the majorities failing to live up to their own Promises to the American people that they are capable of being entrusted to do the hard work of governing they have unequivocally demonstrated they cannot this bill is an admission that a house Republican majority cannot govern they would rather gamble on an intervening election than attempt to complete their work on time let us hope the majority does not drive us straight to a republican shutdown but if they do shut down the government I have no doubt the American people will know who is to blame vote no on this continuing resolution abandon this partisan game join Democrats at the table it is past time to govern and I thank you for the time chair thanks gentle lady did the uh gentle lady wish to submit something for the record the letter that she referenced earlier I'm happy to submit the secretary's letter make sure I didn't miss something okay very well um chairman Harris thank you for uh being here coming back and making yourself available to the committee um just wanted to give you an opportunity to address anything that you might have heard in the last few minutes uh well Mr chairman the only thing I can say is that the failure was on the part of the Democrat majority leader in the Senate who who did not put any of the bills that we sent over there to the floor so to somehow suggest that the Republicans for instance for the Secretary of Defense to suggest that the Republicans are at fault for not having a budget next year in place an Appropriations bill in place for the Department of Defense I find it a little curious if in fact if I heard correctly that he actually suggested that the best thing we can do is pass all 12 bills I thought he was only concerned with two bills at best the Department of Defense Bill and of course the energy bill which which funds our nuclear Arsenal but to suggest somehow that it isn't the Senate's fault for not taking up the defense appro Appropriations Bill maybe it's because in Washington we just got used to not passing individual bills out of both houses it it has to be a mini buus or an Omnibus that's not the way the legislative process should work the defense bill was one of the first bills we sent over it funded the defense department and the and the Democrat majority Democrat majority controlled Senate refused to take it up so I'm just curious if the secretary of defense is going to write a little note to Mr Schumer on the other side of the capital to suggest that maybe he ought to take up the bill tomorrow or next week or the week after and we could come to a quick resolution on defense and take that off the table but that's not the way business is done in Washington anymore it's all got to be one part of some big package where you even have co-opted the Secretary of Defense into that to somehow suggest that you have to pass all 12 bills in order for the defense department to be appropriated I'm not sure I I missed that in my pocket copy of the Constitution I'm not sure it's in there but that's what it's become so we are forced at this point because this of the intren of the Senate to put forth A continuing resolution and honestly there are 21 days till the till the we run out of money September 30th then there are another 30 plus days until the election when neither house is in session leaving us if we if we did just punt this into end of November or beginning of December uh it leaves us with precious little time as I said in my opening comments to properly conference the bills with the Senate now if the senate had taken up the defense Appropriations bill for instance in a timely fashion I'm not sure what Mr Schumer is doing over there but he has something better to do than fund our defense department we would be conferencing it right now and it would be coming to the floor and our Department of Defense for instance would be funded but again that's not that's not the way it works that's the way it should work and conferencing is not going to be done quickly should not be done with the with the end of the year hanging over us in fact it will take months to conference these bills and let's remember why we are late we're late because the president submitted a late budget we're late because the Senate refuses to take up our the bills that we send over there and now we're expected to do a Year's worth of work in the time between the the November election and the end of December it's not enough time to do it properly Mr chairman so that's why this bill puts it off to an appropriate end point when we have the time to do it it uh it includes the save act which uh Mr chairman when I go around the country people are kind of concerned with the number the millions and millions of people who have entered this country illegally under this Administration and without the protection of the law in place could indeed in some jurisdictions register to vote perhaps even for a federal election this is so important that we need belts and suspenders because some people would say well we don't need the save act it's already illegal this is so important you need belts and suspenders because this is what the American people are talking about now they're talking about probably over 10 million people entering this country illegally in the last three and a half years enough to certainly tip an election if the appropriate safeguards are not in place like the save act again and I just want to remind everyone here passed on a bipartisan basis because yes there actually are people on both sides of the aisle who understand the importance of securing America's elections from people who are ineligible to vote in those elections voting in those elections so again this is something Mr Schumer could have taken up on the Senate I suspect he didn't because he might be afraid that it actually might pass that actually there probably enough Senators there to overcome a filibuster and to pass that act because it's just common sense if you talk to American people go that's common sense I I thought we wouldn't even need a law but apparently we do need a law because we're now now cases are coming up where people who are in this country illegally are in fact on voter roles uh and you know finally we have uh with regards to the veteran question the president the administration took until July to figure out that they didn't really have enough money they didn't ask for enough money in Jan in February when they submitted their budget well that's pretty stunning because I would think that the whole purpose of them and they have I'm sure they have a lot of people in that department that does budget projections that they should have projected well in advance and requested that money for this fiscal year so at the late date in July they come forward and say no we actually need you know tens of millions of dollars more uh I shouldn't say tens tens of mli actually over 10 billion dollars more uh to take care of our nation's veterans now we'll take care of our nation's veterans and I want to remind everyone that you know we are here uh the whole month that we're here in November December January February March if they if they is a need that is not addressed in this continuing resolution this Congress is in session for five of the six months of this continuing resolution and we could deal with it at that time uh again I a lot of straw men thrown up I get it the American people are kind of up to here with the with the partisanship uh in Washington they look at us and say you can't even agree on not letting illegal sit illegal people in this country illegally from registering to vote for a federal election you can't even agree on that in Washington they're fed up with it and hopefully uh it's reflected in in uh the upcoming election uh with that Mr chairman I would yield to any other questions Mr chairman I I appreciate the very thorough uh coverage that you provided yes R member Doro well I just in a point I want to make which has to do with uh the comments the last comments on the uh VA and Veterans and holding them wait till the gentleman pours his water of what they are really doing is politicizing uh veterans care and benefits let's acknowledge the truth uh the need for Health Care uh has grown since the enactment of the paack ACT um and you've heard my uh colleague uh make unspecific accusations uh at the administration and of mismanagement let's say the fact is the VA has seen a record number of Health Care appointments uh on Pace for 127 million in 2024 well exceeding the previous year's record more veterans are enrolling in VA care over 412,000 have enrolled over the last 365 days it's a 27% increase year over year there is a record number of claims being processed already exceeding 2 million on Pace to break last year's record by 30% % this is because the packed Act is working enrollment is up because of the va's good work to find veterans in need of care cut through the bureaucracy get them the services and the benefits that they deserved the truth is the increased demand for funding is a good news story more veterans than ever are receiving care and I wish that my colleagues have thought it was a good thing this is a republican excuse that is somehow VA mismanagement is beyond the pale we commit a commitment to these veterans when we pass the packed Act and the bill has now come due it's time to follow through on the promise and deal with the 12 billion that is required to address the medical services that are needed for our veterans thank you um chairman Harris if I could just ask you one other question and it's a little bit on a different topic when and I appreciate the fact the committee did work through all 12 Appropriations bills when the work was being done on labor H HS there was some discussion of including a reauthorization for the National Institute of Health as part of the part of the bill from my reading of the continuing resolution in front of us there is no such reauthorization of the NIH that will occur as a result result of the of the CR in other words that will still need to be done in the uh after the expiration of the CR uh yes that is correct there was a uh I'll call it generally a organizational reform that was suggested in in the uh uh in the bill is passed out of the house but it is not one of the anomalies in the uh continuing resolution that's correct very well I thank both of you for your testability today Mr govern you're recognized for questions thank you does the save back allow convicted felons to vote excuse me you addressing you ask I don't even oh whoever okay I'll let whoever answer I'm just curious whether some states do not allow convicted felons to vote and uh I'm just curious because one of the candidates for president uh falls into that category look I'm not going to I'm not going to spend a lot of time here um because because we're actually wasting time here I mean uh you guys the Republicans are in charge um you can't you you have the majority you can't seem to pass appropriation bills you are you pulled a whole bunch of them uh so you can't get agreement within your own conference on how to proceed and so we're going to bring a partisan CR to the floor and I don't know how that turns out and um you know but I can tell you I can tell you for certain he going nowhere uh so um I don't know how many times we're going to have to do this uh before we get down to uh you know passing a bill that quite frankly uh you know reflects at least some understanding that these appropriation bills are are helpful to Veterans and to you know so many other people in this country um but in any event um I'm not going to I'm not going to waste any more time other than to say that uh it is pathetic that here we are uh and U again I I I hope and pray that there is a major change come November uh because this is not the way this Congress should be run I yield better chair thanks to General first comments gentle lady from Minnesota is recognizing sneaking a little snack so but thank you Mr chair and and I really won't I I don't want to ask a lot of questions or talk very long I just want to say this makes sense and no matter what the talking points from the Democrats are the fact remains that the Senate Democrats have not done their work I think uh Mr Harris laid that out very well in his opening statement and again in another response to the chairman but we are in the position that we have to do this because the Senate Democrats didn't do their work and I don't know if we can express that enough because there's so much going on from the talking points from the other side about veterans and about all kinds of things all the other all the other horrible things you can think of that but then why didn't the Senate Democrats do the work if there was that much concern and there was that so um that's all I really wanted to say and Mr chair yeld back Mr chairman our jobs here and then we could blame the other people for not doing their jobs but we haven't done our job here by any measure I thank the gentleman a y back sure thanks a gentleman gentleman from Colorado is recognized I thank the chairman uh and thank you chairman and raiky member for your testimony today just to underscore a point that our ranking member of the rules committee I think well articulated and just to be clear on the facts my understanding is the house has not sent a single Appropriations bill for the next fiscal year to the United States Senate the house passed a few bills as Mr Harris mentioned of course Republicans failed to pass appropriation bills for Agriculture Rural Development uh Food and Drug Administration Commerce Justice science and related agencies energy and water development and related agencies Financial Services in general government labor Health and Human Services education and related agencies and then finally Transportation housing and Hut so wide variety of appropriation bills that the Republican majority has failed to pass and The Limited bills they have passed they've refused to send to the United States Senate for the Senate's consideration so I I think characterization to the contrary is a bit rich and untrue Mr Harris I guess one question I wanted to ask you and get a better sense of it it's clear by virtue of your testimony and the decisions made by the Republican majority that the save Act is very important to you and and you believe important to the country is that a fair it's it's important to the American people that's correct it's important enough in your view to attach to this continuing resolution right uh in in my view and I think in the opinion of the American people they expect that illegal people in this country illegally are not going to be voting in federal elections and that's why you've added that provision to the CR as opposed to taking that bill up in regular order next week or the week after or in October or November right uh we did take it up and if the gentleman will remember it passed the house with five minority members agreeing and is sitting over in the Senate so the bill has been taken up it's just that we can't there Chuck Schumer refuses to do the work of the American people and for instance take up the save act because again I I'll again I'll reiterate I suspect that he believes it actually might pass in the Senate and why it wouldn't I'm not sure because I think everyone should agree that people who are in the country illegally shouldn't vote in a federal election uh but the fact is we did take it up and the Senate refuses Mr Schumer refuses to put it on the voting schedule in the Senate well in comes over with the well if it comes over with the CR that's that's a you know and uh I've been around here long enough to know there are such things that are called must pass bills MH the CR is considered a must-pass bill at some point and attaching something like the save act to it might actually enforce reinforce with the American people that Congress actually does believe that only American citizens should vote in American elections and given that point Mr Harris why not do the same thing for the 12 billion in funding that the VA needs to take care of our nation's veterans if you believe that a signal of how important legislation is is to in include it in the CR that it's something that can't be taken up during the duration of a CR through the next fiscal year through March of 20125 that that demonstrates that it's an issue of vital importance what could be more important than the billion that the VA desperately needs to provide care for our nation's veterans why put that on the back burner so I I'll remind the gentleman that the military construction VA bill that was passed by the Republicans in the house actually increased funding for the veterans and the Democrat minority voted against increasing that funding for the VA that bill is over in the Senate it's not in the Senate could you didn't send it only the DHS bill was was held was held uh pending passage of hr2 so the Senate could take up their if if if Mr Schumer and the Democrat majority in the Senate felt that the veteran uh issue was so important they in fact could take up the military construction VA bill in the Senate and we could conference rapidly and solve this problem by next week so I would suggest that I mean that's my answer I would suggest you write a note to Mr Schumer and ask him why taking them up I would just simply say it is completely within the power of the Republican majority to address it today in this CR it's not particularly complicated the Republican majority could decide that addressing our veterans healthc care needs is as important as the wide variety of other anomalies that the Republican majority has settled on as important as the save act as the Republican majority clearly believes it to be and included in this bill the Republican majority made a decision not to do so I don't understand why and I don't think the answer or a answer rather that this can be something that can be addressed in December or January or February that that it can be addressed at some point during the pendency of a six-month CR I think that answer is not going to comport with the needs of the American people I think they will find that answer deeply uh disquieting ranking member deloro if you care to expound on well I I I first of all I would just say let me just make a point on the um uh the the the issue of uh eligibility of of noncitizens whether to vote or otherwise but what the CR does it shuts down the ever verify program I might add uh which is our nation's system to confirm the eligibility of non-citizens to work lawfully in the United States so it's it really could you just repeat that R you're saying the Republican CR Bill shuts down the eify prog program which is our nation system to confirm the eligibility of non-citizens to work lawfully in the United States so it is a i it should be okay um with with I I I think it's this this veterans issue is really a critical uh issue there's a 12 billion shortfall and I explained it the um the increase demand for services we understood that when we passed the pacted act because it extends to uh uh um uh all uh altercations uh here so12 billion shortfall it's medical services for veterans and um uh this is you can read the VA would have this is the OM VA would have insufficient funding to maintain Medical Care operations for veterans through 2025 absent this funding VA uh need to begin addressing any potential shortfall as early as the first quarter of a fiscal year 2025 so 0 zero dollars here and the most and and it it it's really a little crazy here because you look at section 144 of the CR and it gives the VA authority to spend funding provided in this CR for medical service faster than they normally would be allowed but there are zero in the bill for medical services so they're going to spend 0 as fast as they can now it would be laughable if it were not serious for veterans that are faced with grave illnesses and they simply need to get their medical care I you you know to your point you ask your colleagues in the majority how hard is it to do the right thing um so yeah I I couldn't agree more ranking member and you know this notion that the CR is written as some sacred parchment that can't be modified in any way is contravened by the manager's amendment that I understand chairman Cole has submitted that would address some issues with respect to tanif funding so clearly it is within the majority's power to address what is a very Salient issue a distressing issue that the VA has identified according to the Office of Management budget I'll simply quote from their letter to the Congress that quote the VA would have insufficient funding to maintain Medical Care operations for veterans their fiscal year 2025 period that that's the bottom line so a vote for this bill is a vote that ultimately would deprive the VA of their ability to care for our nation's veterans it's why I'll be voting no on the CR and why I'll be encouraging my colleagues to do the same I yield back Madam chair thank you very much and I would call in Mr Massie can we be honest with the American people about what's going on here this is political theater I'm going to call out both sides right here it's all posturing it's fake fighting we all know where it ends up this is Groundhog Day I don't care if the Democrat is the speaker or republican is the speaker we always get a CR in September and then we get an Omnibus sometimes there's a Twist on that we might get the Omnibus before Christmas but if we're not good it comes after Christmas but that's what's going to happen and in the meantime it's political theater you know we've got some it's good theater we've got great writers I wish they'd just come up with a new plot it's the same plot every fiscal year uh what should we be doing it's already been discussed we should have done 12 separate bills we should have done 12 separate bills but again whether Democrats are in control or Republicans are in control we never do the 12 separate bills what what why do we always spend at least as much as we did last year and why do we never cut spending it's because Democrats want to grow the welfare state and Republicans want to grow the military industrial complex and we're we're eventually going to get together and they're both going to go up I guar Dam it and both parties are just fine letting the bureaucrats do their thing which should be our thing according to article one uh section in the Constitution we are empowered with these things most important of the things we do is the funding and that's the big lever we have you I've sat through now almost two years of hearings in this Congress where we've exposed lies at the CDC shortcuts at the FDA unconstitutional gun bans at the ATF over prosecution of January Sixers at the doj targeting common citizens at the FBI spying by the NSA illegal mandates for Li livestock by the USDA targeting plant vacc or transgenic plant vaccine at the NSF and censorship the censorship industrial complex at the of which the NSF is part of automobile kill switch at the dot now these are all things I think most Democrats are just fine with this kind of totalitarian state that the bureaucrats are pushing on us but Republicans at least pretend to be against these things but what are we going to do this September we're going to fund every freaking one of those things that we have exposed that is the tool that we have is the funding why are we funding things we don't like we don't have to well it's because we're addicted to spending and this doesn't do anything about the addiction at all so um why let me let me touch on one point too here that I think is important is you know a couple years ago or a summer and a half ago I suppose now we did something where we um allowed the debt limit to be increased but as uh as a condition of that we said if you do a c that lasts past April 30th everything's going to get cut 1% and that to me seemed like at least a little tinge of fiscal responsibility was creeping in but now I noticed that this CR instead of going one year and giving us time to do the 12 Appropriations bills is going to go six months now let me tell you what's going to happen because this goes six months number one it ends in March 28th on March 28th well the automatic Cuts happen on April 30th if the CR went past that so that is exactly why the speaker chose a six-month CR is so we don't have even the chance a threat to this to this town it's a threat of a 1% cut we don't want to even this is like t-ball the 1% cut is on the tea and Republicans won't even swing at it so instead we're going to do a six-month CR instead of a one-year CR that sets up this another crisis next spring where we can do another pretend fight sometime around March and that fight will it'll be the same fight regardless of who wins the presidency and who's in charge of the Senate and the house and we're basically going to get pretty much the same result but that's 6 months from now in the mean time we can kick the can down the road all of these things that we've exposed and all of these hearings are going to continue to get funded but wait there's a bright shiny object on this CR I've never seen one of these I have never seen a bright shiny object attached to one of these must pass bills oh wait no it actually happens there always is a bright shiny object a bobble if you will little something to get excited about this save act it's going to save us all right uh and and by the way this is good political theater I do like this part of it that we're going to see almost every Democrat cast a vote so that illegals can vote in our elections I mean that's pretty clever on the part of our speaker to set that up Make You all take that vote but here's what he's going to do after you take that vote he's going to take it off the bright shiny object goes away it's Lucy in the football again and the American public is all revved up yeah we're going to get to save that we're going to save these elections we're going to stop the illegals from voting really how are you going to do that in like six weeks I think they're all already registered if they're going to vote some of them probably already voted this save act ain't going to save anything and particularly because it ain't ever going to become law it's it's a false promise to get all the Republicans half pregnant and then you're going to get fully pregnant by the end of SE September when you vote for this CR with that is not going to have this I I mean I hate to break this to you I mean the Democrats already know this I'm not telling you anything special I hate to break it to the Republicans you ain't getting the save act it is not going to stay on this bill why because we're going to Cave we're going to cave is it a fight worth having absolutely it's a fight worth having make those Democrats say they want illegals to vote make them take that vote as many times as you can and then make them go to The Ballot Box in November but that's what it is is political theater folks we all know where it ends up we've seen it I've been here 12 years I've seen it 12 times I refuse to be a thespian in this failure theater and with that I yeld back thank you Mr Massie um Miss Ledger Fernandez Mr nassie also known as uh let me let's do it is it kit is it is it Shakespeare who is it right you know I think I think what's really key here is that you are absolutely correct that this is political theater I would just OB uh to your characterization of what this First Act is right because I think what this First Act is is an indication of where your values are and what you prioritize and that is why we are as up set about this first act as we are uh because I've been out in my district my district looks like your District Mr Mass we talk about this all the time right I have a big Ral District I have lots of wonderful beautiful Republican counties where I spend time with my with ranchers and farmers and people that I grew up with and and and we need to do everything to help them uh in those districts we have some of the most patriotic communities New Mexico has some of the highest uh levels of participation in the military so you can imagine when I go around to my districts they tell me what they are worried about and what they are worried about right now is they know they know that there is a shortfall for the VA funding and they tell me right at the Labor Day Parade in ragen Mount it's called a bean Day Parade right you could tell what happens in ragen Mount they grow beans uh and the color guard is worried because as one man told me if that funding isn't there what do we do right what happens to my wife who relies on some of this medications and treatments what happens to me when I cannot get that check what happens to my world it falls apart and he is carrying that flag and he is wearing so proudly that uniform and what we are doing in this act this First Act Mr Massie is saying you are not important enough to give you a speaking part instead we're going to give speaking Parts through all kinds of other stuff that's completely irrelevant to the lives of the people in my community that's what is so infuriating about this film is that it leaves out that shortfall and representative uh delar ranking member tell us uh give us a response to the idea of it could wait it could happen later especially in this kind of Congress where we can't get stuff through when as Mr Harris said we must attach things to Must Pass legislation what what's your response to oh it could wait or it's the Senate's fault we shouldn't worry about this well the fact of the matter is is this body on a voted for the PCT act we did and we said we were going to make meet a commitment to our veterans and what we said was those who had been subject to burn pits to toxic chemicals Etc we weren't going to uh short curtail it to to one uh episode but we were going to broaden the base of that so that we could provide the best medical services that we could to our veterans now it's time to pay the bill there is a$1 billion shortfall and you can again as I'll say folks want to talk about mismanagement but think about if you extend that packed act and that legislation to uh uh Veterans of all wars so the numbers have escalated so maybe the fact that you don't like the accounting uh system in in in terms of the VA but today there's a 12 billion dollar shortfall veterans health services are on the line and do we meet our commitment do we do the right thing do we keep a promise to our veterans addition to which there's a craziness of talking about another part of the bill where we say they can spend the money on these Medical Services faster there's no money to spend faster so nobody was paying attention to what in fact was going into this bill Etc so they're just leaving veterans behind in in in this effort and I I I just think it's it is disgraceful and shameful you can't go home to your folks nobody should be able to go home to their folks and tell them that we are meeting the needs of the veterans in terms of their medical services it is just not happening with this CR first opportunity where they could fix it and they could fix it now and when we fail when we fail in our first opportunity in as the representative Harris has said a must pass Bill to prioritize our veterans we are not giving them the priority they deserve and instead what are we doing instead what did they say is the shiny object as representative Massie said the shiny object is the save act now everybody knows everybody knows in this room that it is already illegal to vote if you are not a citizen it is illegal to vote if you are not a citizen it's illegal to vote if you are a resident uh and not a c it's illegal to if you're an undocumented immigrant uh it is illegal to vote already so that concern that they keep raising is not real instead what did they do this save act this save act actually hurts my communities once again because who do I represent I represent Native Americans the first Americans will no longer be able to use their tribal ID to register and vote it's making it harder for Native Americans to vote and I might remind people who helped Joe Biden win Arizona Native Americans who does this bill Target Native Americans I might remind everybody that who else is it making harder to vote we're talking about veterans under the save act you would not you be able to use without additional information a military ID to register and vote that's insulting and why why would you go after making it harder for the military to vote we talked about this when we discussed the save act military part participate in our elections at lower numbers than the regular population they give their lives they put their lives on the line and we're saying with that military Ida that you are willing to die for this country you canot use it to register to vote that tells you where your priorities are and that this is indeed political theater because it's not about undocumented it's about making it harder for other people to register to vote and I want to say why why are you making it so hard for a military to vote is it because military voters are increasingly upset with the Republican Presidential nominee Mr Madam chair I'd like to introduce the February 2024 article open quote Trump disrespects the military it's published in the National Security action without objection thank you madam chair I would point out Madam chair that in the article it points out that Trump has and I quote Trump has not only continued to ver verbally insult active due to military prisoners at War and follow service members as president he consistantly failed to protect them and laugh off their injuries and deaths with the military ID you can fight and die for this country but their Republican save act bill wouldn't let you use it alone to registered to vote so you know I've traveled my district and and heard from folks who are in situations like other people in this room who suffered horrible disasters right in M District we've had flooding and fires there's a disaster declaration in place to cover the hard work of recovery but I've also met with the administrator she was out there visiting the site and she explained to me what is going to happen because there is not enough money to cover the obligations to help people recover and let's face it a flood a fire or tornado or hurricane that's not red or blue that just destroys the lives of our communities I'm fighting for this fee of funding because New Mexico has two disaster declarations and we my citizens my constituents will be hurt but you know what I'm concerned about every state every state every Community deserves help looking around this room in Kentucky there's a disaster declaration in Kentucky they need help Texas they need help New York South Carolina they'll all suffer if we don't fund FEMA shortfall representative dor can you describe what happens if we don't provide the full funding that's needed at FEMA now you you've you've it really is pretty incredible on Friday last Friday in my district in Seymour Connecticut uh where we had these flash flooding and a it wiped out a rail line the the the the structure underneath the Rail lines just was washed away and I went to visit the site with the Emergency Services with people representing FEMA Etc uh and uh the fact is is that without FEMA funds um they're they're going to be unable to address the the issues uh and of restoring uh services and there isn't this is federal money for FEMA uh which is there are disasters you pointed out all over this country uh whether it is in of Hawaii or Oklahoma or Connecticut or New York or wherever that they the if there is there was I think six and they've already deferred $6.1 billion dollar uh because they don't have the money uh to be able to move forward on projects um this is not something that was created by a Democrat or a Republican or so forth this is a it's a disaster it's it's Mother Nature doing something and these communities are going to mightily suffer whether or not they're individuals or whether or not their businesses uh that are not going to be able to um uh uh be able to deal with the kinds of services that are necessary uh for them to to to continue uh if without the money FEMA cannot move forward they need $24 billion and my understanding in this bill there's $1 billion that is a very very big difference in what we need in order to be able to go forward to meet the disaster belief um uh uh issues that are facing uh so less than half of what is needed Republicans put in the continuing resolution left of half of what is needed so which business do I say you get help but I'm sorry on the other side of the street your neighbor is not when we are going to be working neighbors to neighbor community community we must cover everybody no matter where you live whether it is in South Carolina or in New Mexico or in Connecticut or in Kentucky we've had a disaster of uh emergency uh disaster declaration towns like like Seymour Oxford Monroe all of these places are just trying to figure out how they're going to uh be able to uh build back be able to build back and without FEMA they're not able to build back and it is just a helping hand that FEMA is coming up it's just it's a kind of thing you do expect government to do when there is that kind of disaster what kind of helping hand do can you expect and our federal law says we will provide it but once again it is congress's job to fund the government to fund our promises to fund the P act to pass the farm bill we haven't done that so all the things we should be doing that we are not doing and instead focusing on items that are not essential in this moment well I I think there's a point with also with regard to defense funding and that you know that this was uh this is acute National Security threats that were that we are faced with and I won't go into chapter and verse because the the the secretary's letter does that but each of the services impacted under the six-month CR the Army delaying development of Next Generation Squad weapon lethal semi-autonomous aerial unman systems in the Navy delay space and electronic warfare engineering programs air Force delays B21 progress initial operational capability so I this is a reality I'm I I don't I I you know ranking on labor HHS not on defense and and the material is coming from the Department of Defense with a reality of what happens with a six-month uh continuing re resolution uh uh and you know a point made earlier at a different time was that uh if you only wanted to fund defense and not do everything else that that was the absolutely the wrong thing to do because we were all dependent on one another in terms of the overall security of this country now now we're talking about uh uh if this were so important it would have been done in in another in another way and that's blame the United States Senate look I'm not one that U uh carries a lot of water for what goes on in the United States Senate with some uh areas but I'll be you know this is not the Senate's fault uh this is the fault of this body here with a failure to govern a failure to pass the bills that we could have been passing all along we've done it before I chaired this I chaired this committee and I've watched tough hard negotiations week after week month after month until we were able to come to a conclusion and we did it in December we didn't carry over until the to the following year was with senator with Senator Ley with congresswoman Granger and myself we made a decision to get it done and not carry it over it can be done that has got to be a willingness to get it done and my view that willingness is not not here at the moment thank you uh very much uh uh ranking member and I I believe that this issue of of needing to work things on that hard work and hard bipartisan work uh uh I've I've enjoyed listening to the appropriators talk about how it was done in the past on that hard bipartisan work together uh and if there's not anything is there anything else you'd like to point out I happened to be the last Democrat so uh is there anything else you want to mention I I think we've tried we've made the point with regard to Veterans it's the clarity of that the military piece There's real Clarity overall with that I think the feema issue these are the big issues that are coming out of this out out of this bill and above all above all we all know that you have to have Democrats and Republicans at the table to hammer out the bills so that in the final analysis the president signs the bill otherwise the government shuts down that's not what happens with other pieces of legislation that happens with the Appropriations bills and with the funding bills we can come together we have in the past there is no doubt in my mind that if there is a willingness to do it let's do it we can get started and we can make it happen by mid December and going forward thank you for your optimism ring member gelo and with that I yeld back thank you and I would yeld to Mr Norman Mr L you mentioned ntion security threat yeah is The Invasion at the border of national security threat I'm talking about what's here in this building in terms of Defense of of funding and and commenting on the letter I don't know if you received a copy of of secretary Austin's letter where he outlines very very clearly what the downside is if we uh to the military and to our national security no is our national security under attack by The Invasion at the border yes or no well I don't know you know I don't understand what your what your question is in relations to you are talking about you said this was a national security threat if we didn't let me just I'll let you finish can I just ask the question sure go ahead I just caught the tail into you saying this not funding um milit the defense department defense department through I guess your warning through the end of this this year yeah uh was a national security threat is The Invasion at the border a national security threat I don't understand what that has to do with this the continuing resolution yeah what does it have to do with the continuing resolution your continuing resolution this is a a one corner the Republican House Majority the Senate hasn't par the national security threat has everything to do with the funding uh the national security threat that Invasion at the border that your Administration uh has settled us with is a is a uh a threat to this whole system of government and and let me just tell you this go ahead uh the the fact that we are putting the save act with this to verify whether you're a citizen or not um I think has a lot to do with Integrity this country and our voting system well I I would just say to you that if you're very very concerned about the the border security issue then we you would have uh been able to pass the bipartisan bill that came out of the United States Senate that's not true uh that's not true the border patrol you 15 it was 15,000 per day that that that was a farce just to get know I'm focused on this continuing resolution and the the the uh lack of where the defense department has told us that um the shortfall and the inconsistency for them over the next six months incist real problem terms of our national SEC the inconsistency of particularly Lloyd Austin he is a national security threat by what he's allowed to happen to this country he's hadn't spoken One Word Up On The Invasion that's happened at the border and for you to sit here and say this is a national security threat when you have allowed you and your party have allowed 15 million in this country is a travesty and the American people are going to hold you accountable for it U Mr Harris would you uh give me your take on our national security threat and what's happened the last 4 and A2 years under this Administration well I mean clearly the southern border is an national security threat we know it on a daily basis we see it on our TVs the American people see it on their TVs that's why the American people actually strongly support the save act they think it's just common sense that you actually should put in place you know the issue was that that we already have a law in place in fact the gentleman from South Carolina I think fully understands that that that law is not very clear because uh the U the establishment of intent is unclear in the law so for instance if you go into the Department of Motor Vehicles in the state of Maryland and you are an illegal uh because an illegal alien can can own a car they can uh get a driver's license they can do that you sit at a computer screen and it's a screen flashes up and says well do you want to register to vote so all they have to do is they have to push yes and uh there is no the DMV person and I know because I did this a couple times DMV they don't come and say oh but you know you have to be an American citizen you have to be this they're not going over the rules with you so in fact the way it's established the way some states have established voter registration allows the legal alien to register to vote perhaps without intending to do it to break the law the save act fills in the loophole it may again it's a belts and suspenders approach the American people expect it because the reports of people voting illegal is it accountability yeah look the fact of the matter is that there are states who are who who uh push back against it because uh I think honestly some states don't mind if illegal aliens vote in federal election but when you check the box what the save act does is puts penalties in place for those who bypass it ignore it Overlook it um and you know we got 15 million here that my good friends on the other aisle don't want any accountability for there want want you say there is no problem uh I think it's constitutional isn't it that you have to be an American citizen to vote it absolutely is uh again it's belt and suspenders approach and I'll correct the gentleman we don't have 15 million people here illegally we probably have well over 20 million now because we have 10 million just in the last three and a half years and I I will tell you what what uh what came alive with me the past two weeks you realize over 320,000 children unaccompanied minors that are into God knows what put it into football perspectives each state football stadium holds around 82 85,000 that's four stadiums of children in this country Mr laio of your Administration letting in this country with without a parent without knowing the language to fend for themselves that is a try are you back if I might you you you asked a question I'll ask the chair yeah apologize because there's there's one piece in this this is the on unmanned aircraft systems and the Authority for that allowing the authorities this is is coming from allowing authorities to lapse would weaken the nation's overall security posture leaving critic iCal infrastructure public space is more exposed to drone related threats additionally it would provide transnational criminal organizations with more opportunities to use drones to evade detection and Carry Out illegal activities across board what's your point the point is is that there is there are systems that are not going to be able to be utilized that could potentially address what you are talking about in terms of they utiliz the uh ballon from China they utiliz that didn't they the balloon from China that was was utilized I I was responding to your issue of dealing with the Border this is something that would deal with it and it is if you want to deal with the Border you would have done it four and a half years ago you didn't do it talk to me about dealing with you wanted to let the 15 million end but to keep power it's not going to work this time you know my friend uh I have acknowledged a border crisis we've had opportunity to deal with it we had opportunities I've been here for a while I can remember when Senator McCain and others came together they came together to put forward a a uh a immigration reform and it was the house at the time House Republicans who rejected it in the same way that House Republicans have rejected it in this past year when President former president Trump said to folks in the majority don't do it don't give Biden a win if you're really serious about it you would have taken if B wanted to win he would have finished the wall and stopped it he's one that opened it up and you know it and children are suffering all right all right you made them suffer when you separated them from their families I am going to I'm going to recognize Mr Roy I thank the uh gentle lady thank the chair um Mr Harris is there any um anything that stops Congress from passing an Appropriations bill um at any point after a CR is adopted that would uh whether it's an Omnibus Appropriations bill or all 12 Appropriations bills in other words if a CR is adopted of any length whether it be three months or a year um Can Congress continue to do its work pass preparations bills and override the CR uh well the gentleman makes a good point you don't override the CR the CR actually has an expiration date for funding just like our expiration date for funding right now is September 30th yet we pass appropriation bills in June in fact just to correct the record on the VA and and somehow Republicans don't care about veterans that's the first bill we brought to the floor June 6th and it passed the house on a Partyline vote that means that every Republican voted and by the way the amount for VA Medical Care funding was at the president's budget request right it went to the Senate where it has languished for three months so if we're worried about who cares about veterans and who doesn't I suggest you call Mr Schumer up and say hey remember that bill we passed we sent over there on June 7th because we passed it on the 6th went over there on the 7th and has sat there the fact of the matter is this it's just it's an expiration date it's not the date you have to pay I mean we we don't have to pass those bills on March 28th we could pass them in December we could pass them in November we could pass them in January in fact if the Senate begins to do its job and conference with us pass some of the bills on the floor we sent five over there we sent four because I think Homeland Security still over here because Senate refuses to take up a real border Bill hr2 not not the phony one that that was put up in the Senate uh if the Senate takes up those four bills that are over there we could conference them next week we could we could we could answer all these defense questions all these things that the the gentle lady brings up uh the ranking member brings up we could address all of them in a negotiation on the House pass defense Appropriations bill because it's been sitting in the Senate the Senate hasn't even brought their defense Appropriations Bill to the floor now again I will reiterate Mr Austin seems to have misplaced the criticism here criticism should be on the Senate not doing the job it should be doing with the defense Appropriations Bill and so just putting a finer point on that the debate about a expiration date on the CR in this case March 28th is really just a debate about about when we're putting the pressure point right it's not a debate about whether or not the Appropriations bills could ultimately get finished or not that is a separate question we have five Appropriations bills that we've passed we have four that are sitting in the Senate the Senate has passed how many bills to the best of the gentleman's knowledge none off the floor zero and so the Senate the house has passed four we have a fifth that's sitting at the desk we have others that we've been debating we've gotten them out of committee so then the question is is the gentleman aware uh what four times in basically my lifetime since the mid 1970s have we passed Appropriations bills 12 Appropriations bills on time is that correct it was before my time here since my time here we've never passed all 12 bills on time right and how of rarely do we pass 12 independent Appropriations bills even late correct normally it's an Omnibus or CR not saying that's good I'm saying that's the way we've been doing things is that correct that is and the gentleman wasn't here when I mentioned that earlier in my testimony that is the way we do it that's not the way it's supposed to be done but now the expectation here is that you don't pass an individual Appropriations Bill no matter how important defense is or the VA is you put them on a shelf somewhere until you get a mini bus or an Omnibus that's not the way it's meant to be but abely right just a non a a nonpartisan question House's fault Senate's fault democrat's fault Republicans fault are we going to pass 12 Appropriations bills in any way shape or form by September 30th uh independently I don't believe we will but but again there are four bills the claim is the Republicans haven't done their job we've done our job on four bills that sit over there and and I'll remind the gentleman that those four bills total up to more than half the spending had those bills been processed by the Senate gone to conference and come back to the floor then we' be in position to PO do smaller CR having done those prepar I agree but but point being whoever's fault again the Senate has passed zero appropriation bills we've passed five four one held at the desk four sitting in the Senate it is unlikely that we're going to have the 12 independent bills passed and signed into law by September 30th is that a fair statement that's a very fair statement and the gentle lady is nodding an agreement correct of course right again regardless of fault so my point of saying that is to those that uh question the CR I don't like CRS I don't like CRS as a way of doing business um but we've got to figure out what to do with one in this context this environment so then the question becomes what's the expiration date uh question for the gentle lady you expressed earlier I think I just want to make sure I understand for the record that you think it ought to expire on a shorter time I think December December is that that didn't you pait that earlier the way we've done that this in the past in terms of the negotiation we were able to sort out the differences uh by you know mid to later but in December getting it done before the end of the year okay and do you know just for purposes of trying to figure out what that would look like right in terms of putting together a what would be almost certainly an Omnibus right probably not 12 independent bills um then in addition what would be the likelihood do you know what the timing is of Ukraine expiration and whether that would be a part of the discussion on the funding no I I I I I I think that we're talking about the the bills that are currently uh before uh the body that we we have as you pointed out there are five bills that have been passed there there are additional seven that still need to be one would have to be sitting down with W with the view of getting it done in the way that we have done in the past and that means uh you know hard negotiations and what we did the last time in terms of doing this and it was still carried over to March we got you've got to be done with the the the the the extraneous nonr writers that are part of the bills You' got to focus in on what the the the F said in terms of an increase of 1% for defense and an increase of 1% for non-defense if we follow the rules of the road we could get this done in short order so but it would be an Omnibus almost certainly an omnius a mini buus Etc I'm not going to do individual bills which which is one of those things goes back to my point about timing right it goes my point about picking the date we we pick dates just for the average viewer out there we pick dates based typically on a pressure point we don't pick because you can always pass the Appropriations bills we could pass them tomorrow we could do an Omnibus in December even if we have a March date or a year full year CR I personally would rather just have a one-year CR just set it go ahead and fund it and then and then we could debate it but but the the reason I think the general lady shaking her hand there others is it if you don't set the date at a certain date to try to trigger oh oh we're going to run out of money then there's not a pressure point and the reason typically it's done in December is not like oh some joy we want to get this done before the next calendar year our fiscal year is September 30th it's because it's Christmas we should have done it by September 30th and we could have but it's always done well but the Senate's past zero let's go back to that again not casting blame I'm talking here for the good of the country I'm trying to figure out because Americans scratch their head and they go what are you doing and you look up and whatever always happens so let's go back to the Ukraine question the reason I asked the question to my gentleman gentleman my friend from Maryland did we not start the Ukraine funding with a basically a $45 billion funding in December on an Omnibus two years ago before we had the plus up this last spring yes and so if you're an average American sitting out there going well do I want a CR that is expiring on say December 15th setting up a pre- Christmas pressure point wherein we are deciding how to fund government for the rest of this fiscal year right before Christmas and the question of Ukraine funding expiration is now out in the press that it's going to be running out of money by the end of the year would there not be a potential pressure for there to be a grand bargain of significant spending in an Omnibus spending in December along with potentially another large pot of money for Ukraine with the gentleman from Maryland agree that based on your experience in this town that that is not an insignificant likelihood if a CR is put till December 15th uh it's not only an insignificant likelihood but it disenfranchises the idea of coming back in a lame duck session disenfranchises the American voters who will have made a decision right in the beginning of November perhaps to take this country in a different direction and to me that's the reason why again we don't know what the outcome of the election is going to be but let's set the deadline into the next Administration into the next Congress uh because I think that's just fair for the American voters they going to make a big decision this fall and it would be a shame if we if this Congress in a lame duck session did things like that again with with the pressure of a debt sealing with the pressure of a uh Ukraine funding with the pressure of uh Israeli funding I mean you could you could do the whole laundry list uh what it does is it allows a lame duck legislature to make major decisions and I think that's just not right for the American people I agree so let me move then off of the uh spending issue to the save act issue is the gentleman from Maryland aware that in Texas on August 26th they announced uh the removal of 6,500 non-citizens from the voter rols in Virginia in August the Attorney General announced 6,33 noncitizens since 2014 Virginia has removed 11,000 non-citizens Alabama has removed 3,251 Ohio just announced 597 uh and I could go on and on down the list of states North Carolina 1,4 54 but importantly is it not true that under current law the way the courts have applied the NV that if you're a state like Arizona and you say we believe and have passed a law saying we want to ensure documentary proof of citizenship to ensure that only citizens vote in American elections that in the case of Arizona the courts have said sorry you can't do that for federal elections because the courts have interpreted is violating the nvra because the nvra sets out certain documents and materials that you can collect so in other words the federal law has been interpreted by federal judges to prohibit States from ensuring the enforcement of the law that non-citizens uh not vote that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle present to the American people as an already established fact is it not also true that it's an already established fact of law that you're not supposed to be here illegally but but yet we have 20 million people here is it gentleman agree that that is a problem that the save act sets out to address so and again given the way uh motor voter registration occurs in Maryland I wouldn't be surprised if there were thousands of of illegal aliens in Maryland who were registered to vote and who who should be taken off the roles uh but the the the upshot is that Congress thought that a belt was enough and the courts said it's not we need we're going to have to put suspenders on this too and that's what the save act does it clarifies the law so that the court cannot go to a state like they did in Arizona and say you can't do this I I think that clarification needs to be made because there are states who care about whether or not illegal aliens vote in elections um one other question so uh we had 143 of our colleagues in the other side of the aisle opposed a bill to overturn the District of Columbia's law allowing illegal aliens to vote in local elections now that's DC we have authority over DC as Congress so we put legislation before now 52 Democrats voted for it I mean give credit words due but 100 to this point about well it's already illegal to vote as a non-citizen but yet we have 143 Democrats who are leaning into wanting wanting to allow DC to have illegal aliens not just vote but we're being recruited to vote targeted to vote in what you would call the local elections for DC uh so is it not uh true that we have jurisdictions across the country San Francisco Oakland DC like I just mentioned New York and other places that have been actively seeking to recruit and register noncitizens for claim to be state and local elections so now you're doing that and then at the same time saying don't worry it's against the law but just trust me in terms of the voters for the federal elections is that not the state of things and is that not what the save ACC sets to address uh so that that's right it creates an administrative nightmare so for instance there jurisdictions in Maryland that want 16 year olds to vote in local elections especially Schoolboard elections but you can imagine I mean we talk about a voter role but in fact you'd have to keep multiple voter roles and we know that some states are better than others at keeping voter roles uh with Integrity uh so it sets it sets a a standard that is necessary and again that the American people expect they do not expect a person who crossed the border illegally to have a say in federal elections so last question for the gentleman of Maryland and I'll yield back my time um because it has been raised an issue about the timing of the save act and whether it would have an impact on this election um and let me share my con the concerns raised my friend from Kentucky and others about you know how this plays out in terms of timing um and you know lack of joy of saying that we're at a place where we haven't pass 12 Appropriations bills I wish we had I wish we weren't doing a CR like we always do um but we are where we are and so the question here with respect to the save act and timing uh would the gentleman agree by and large I'll posit some things that I think is important for everybody to know is that um the bill would be effective upon enactment it's the way it's drafted that it will still be um effective because a number of states 22 states allow for election day registration so we got to keep in mind people say well people are already registered well that assertion is correct that a lot of states have already registration you know in dates that that that that have already passed but we have same day registration in certain States um we have a significant um uh impact where there's other states that have expired for example uh Nevada is same day North Carolina I think is um same uh same day registration permitted during early voting Pennsylvania has 15 days before the election in other words there's still a lot of time between now and an election day with respect to those issues um is that is that uh does gentleman agree that that's important in the consideration with respect to timing um I would agree and not only that there is no bad time to do this uh because again the American people actually think that the protections are in place so that illegal aliens are not voting in our federal elections and the fact and the fact of the matter which the which the gentleman from Texas has brought up due to the Arizona ruling indicates that those protections are not really in place so there is no bad time to do it this should have been done honestly it should have been taken up by the Senate when it was passed when this bipartisan Bill and remember this was passed on a bipartisan basis when it was sent over to the Senate shame on uh the Democrat majority in the Senate they should have taken it up and again I will reiterate I suspect they didn't because it actually could pass because of a overwhelming majority of Americans agree with the idea that people in this country illegally should not be voting in a federal and the gentleman is aware that the legislation requires states to remove non-citizens for their existing roles to the through the election so in other words if we were to pass this into law at by the September 30th deadline we will have funded the United States government including our men and women uniform uh and including all the things that are concerned about through March 28th giving time for a new election to have transpired and a new set of priorities to be established uh not doing it during the lame duck and we would have set up a situation in which we'd have the save act uh which is supported the the issue is supported by 80 plus percent of the American people and it would then give time still to and require uh to clean non-citizens from their existing roles through the election and the tools it gives them access to databases they don't current ly have a requirement and access to have access to um and so I think that's an important piece of this in addition to additional penalties uh for federal employees and state and local election officials that register non-citizens to vote it enhances those penalties so that you can make sure that we have a belief in our elections final point that has been made about the VA um for the gentleman for Maryland uh is it not true that we basically have the VA secretary saying we have more people applying for this than we thought so that those of us who had raised concerns when the PCT Act was passed and we were saying this was going to create a system that was going to be very difficult to predict and administer and raise those issues and even some of us voted against and didn't want to vote against because we have constituents suffering from Burn pit uh harm but we said this is going to be a problem and now are we not sitting here looking at the you know Piper being here that has to be paid and this is the problem but the gentleman agree with that and then I'll y back well I do and that's that's why uh the Congress and its wisdom has $112 billion in advanced appropriation to uh to do to do this so this is not the the emergency that it is uh being again being held up as and uh you know evidence of that is that the Senate hasn't taken up the VA Appropriations bill yet and that would be an a totally appropriate vehicle to deal with this issue on a more permanent basis but this CR because of the $112 billion Advance appropriation it is not essential to be doing it at this time it's actually more appropriate to do it through the normal Appropriations process thanks gentleman i y back gentleman you back chair thanks so gentleman gentleman from Georgia is recognized thank you m chairman I have an hour or two of questions um I'm kidding I wouldn't do that to you uh I I would uh just like to make a couple of points one is we have a $2.4 trillion deficit over the last 365 days 2.4 trillion we're not at War we're not in a healthcare emergency and uh we're not technically in a recession we're not $2.4 trillion deficit 35 trillion in debt and so as as we push forward with discussions about continuing resolution or Appropriations let's just recognize that we can't afford all of the things that we're spending money on and we're going to have to make some choices between things uh we want and other things that we want and uh you know I mean there's been a lot of discussion here my my friend Mr Massie spoke earlier about some things and I I mean we're going to pass this bill through the house hopefully on Wednesday and uh and it'll go to the Senate and Senate will do what they do and that's nothing and the reason the Senate doesn't pass appropriation measures is because it gives the majority leader Chuck Schumer all of the power it's intentional he he's a power hungry individual uh he his oath to the Constitution means nothing to him and so by not passing appropriation measures it means everything gets negotiate negotiated out through his office it's not the way we want to do things because it diminishes the role uh of the people's elected representatives but it's the way it's the way he does things uh fortunately if you believe the polls he won't be the majority leader and I do believe the polls I think the Republicans will will control the Senate next year and and I'm going to say this all this discussion about 60 days 90 days 180 days ultimately there's an election coming in 56 days 56 days from now the Public's going to make a decision you're going to they're going to choose a Republican president or a Democratic president a republican house or a Democratic House a Republican senator or Democratic Senate that's that's what's going to happen in our democracy and I would tell you the likelihood whether we do a 60 a 90 or 180 day resolution let's say we do 60 or 90 days is that whoever wins whoever wins simply doesn't do a whole lot and and we end up with another 90-day continuing resolution so why not just go ahead and do 180 days this is what happens in presidential election Cycles you we we we've had the continuing resolutions and then someone gets elected president and they ask for another continuing res resolution so that they can then get their people seated and and I think that's in all likelihood what what will happen again so so why not just go ahead and do 180 days and take the potential shutdown off the table take the shutdown off the table 60 days puts you at November the 29th which gives us maybe maybe 10 days after the election if we do 60 days maybe 10 days what's going to change the Senate's not going to do anything after after after the election you got Thanksgiving break in there U if you go 90 days it puts you December 29th the Sunday after Christmas so so the Dems have got this argument about 60 days or 90 days ultimately we're going to end up with 180 days of continuing resolutions I believe so let's just go ahead and do 180 days of continuing resolution let's take the shutdown off the table so the American citizens don't have to work about that over Thanksgiving or Christmas or or January or February and then if we come to an agreement if we can come to an agreement that recognizes that we can't afford to spend as much as we're spending then hopefully we can get something done unfortunately it would be an Omnibus and not not individual appropriation measures but um I the 180 days is not a reason to be against the piece of legislation if if you run the calendar the 180 days is not a reason to be against the piece of legislation and if you're for illegal immigrants voting in this country then you should stand for that before the the American citizens in November and with that Mr chairman I yield here thanks and gentlemen and gentleman yields back um I do want to thank our our Witnesses for their testimony and their endurance uh this panel is uh is excused as we transition I want to welcome our second panel representative Gooden and subcommittee ranking member Johnson from the committee on Judiciary to the witness table