PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 1, ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL ACT

On 2025-05-21, Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL-13) delivered a floor speech titled "PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 1, ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL ACT" in the House.

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 1, ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL ACT

Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 86 (Wednesday, May 21, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 86 (Wednesday, May 21, 2025)] [House] [Pages H2220-H2234] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] {time} 2350 PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 1, ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL ACT Mrs. HOUCHIN. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 436 and ask for its immediate consideration. The Clerk read the resolution, as follows: H. Res. 436 Resolved, That upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the House the bill (H.R. 1) to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of H. Con. Res. 14. All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. An amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of Rules Committee Print 119-3, modified by the amendment printed in the report of the Committee on Rules accompanying this resolution, shall be considered as adopted. The bill, as amended, shall be considered as read. All points of order against provisions in the bill, as amended, are waived. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill, as amended, and on any further amendment thereto, to final passage without intervening motion except: (1) two hours of debate equally divided among and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Budget or their respective designees and the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Ways and Means or their respective designees; and (2) one motion to recommit. Clause 5(b) of rule XXI shall not apply to the bill or amendments thereto. Point of Order Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 9 of rule XXI, I make a point of order against consideration of the rule, House Resolution 436. Clause 9(c) of rule XXI of the Rules of the House specifically state that the Rules Committee may not waive the earmark disclosure rule prescribed by paragraphs (a) or (b) of clause 9 of rule XXI. House Resolution 436 states: ``All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived.'' Therefore, I make a point of order pursuant to clause 9(c) of rule XXI that this rule may not be considered. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Massachusetts makes a point of order that the resolution violates clause 9(c) of rule XXI. Under clause 9(c) of rule XXI, the gentleman from Massachusetts and a Member opposed each will control 10 minutes of debate on the question of consideration. Following that debate, the Chair will put the question of consideration as follows, Will the House now consider the resolution? The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Massachusetts. Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, House Democrats are making a series of procedural motions today to stop the consideration of this lousy, awful, disastrous bill. Mr. Speaker, we will not stand by and watch Trump and his billionaire friends destroy this country without putting up one hell of a fight, and because this resolution waives the earmark rule, it is not in order for it to be considered on the floor. As I just said, Democrats are not going to sit here and let Republicans jam this bill down the throats of the American people. We are going to fight back, and we are going to fight like hell because, Mr. Speaker, this point of order is not just about the fact that this bill has earmarks. Look at who the earmarks are for. Look at who Republicans help and who they hurt. Follow the money. From day one, Trump has demanded that this entire process be about one thing: giveaways to the rich and to the powerful. This bill is a scam; a tax scam designed to steal from the American people and give to Trump's millionaire and billionaire friends. These are the same millionaires and billionaires who write big, fat checks to Members of Congress, and guess what? They expect a return on their investment, and this bill, this Republican tax scam, is exhibit A. This is all about corruption, greed, and theft--theft from the American people, theft of their hard-earned tax dollars to give to Elon and his rich friends. It is 1,000 pages of giveaways to billionaires. There are so many, I don't even know where to begin. Let's start with the big, fat earmarks Republicans have in here for polluters. There is lots of pork for polluters in this bill. We have corrupt pay-to-play schemes that let polluters buy immunity from lawsuits, cut corners on environmental reviews, and skip the legal permitting process. Did ExxonMobil come up with that one, or was it BP? There is a nice little giveaway to them tucked into this bill. That is on page 247 and page 600. Mr. Speaker, what about the earmarks in here that will allow certain companies to exploit and pollute pristine public lands, including for a coal mine owner with criminal convictions for environmental and safety violations? Did he just text Republicans the language of that earmark, or did my colleagues on the other side of the aisle draft it themselves? That is on page 559 for those following along at home. This bill even has a hit man handout. An earmark here gets rid of an excise tax on gun silencers. Who does that? That is on page 1,024. This has been in place for nearly 100 years, and it is a vital public safety measure. Over 400 silencers were found on or traced to violent crime scenes in 2023 alone. At least on that earmark, we know who asked for it. It was the NRA. We know why Republicans complied. It is because they want to keep getting big, fat checks from the gun lobbyists. I could go on and on, but this bill is loaded to the gills with giveaways to lobbyists, earmarks for special interests, and loopholes for the rich so they can get away with dodging their taxes. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. Mrs. HOUCHIN. Mr. Speaker, I claim time in favor of consideration of the resolution. The question before the House is: Should the House now consider House Resolution 436? The resolution before us waives all points of order against consideration of the bill. The Committee on the Budget filed its report on May 21, 2025, which included the following statement from each instructed committee's reports: The committee print does not contain any congressional earmark, limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits, as defined in clause 9 of House rule XXI. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I can't believe the Republican argument is just: Trust us. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Frost). Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, this is a moment I am never going to forget because, tonight, hundreds of Republican Members of Congress are wanting to line up to vote for the biggest transfer of wealth from the working poor and the working class to billionaires and megacorporations that we have seen in this country's history. This is a deep moment of betrayal, a complete absence of loyalty to the people that we represent, and an abandonment of the values of hard work and a dignified life. Mr. Speaker, I am 28 years old. My generation already expects that we will never be able to afford a home, to get out of debt, to retire, or to live comfortably. No, it is not because we have lived beyond our means, but it is because we have been denied the means to live. Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are making it worse by gutting Medicaid and food assistance to give tax cuts to billionaires and special interests. Mr. Speaker, out of all of the things that you could give tax breaks for, this bill will cut taxes on silencers for guns. For those who don't know, gun silencers can be attached to a gun to muffle the sound of a gunshot. [[Page H2221]] In mass shootings, these silencers make it harder to identify and respond to the source of the gunshots. Earlier, I put forth an amendment to strip this tax cut for the gun lobby, and House Republicans wouldn't even let it come up for a vote. Mr. Speaker, the Republicans then made the bill worse in their manager's amendment by making silencers completely unregulated. In 2023 alone, the ATF recovered over 400 silencers from violent crime scenes. For this reason, silencers have been highly regulated for nearly 100 years. In May of 2019, the Virginia Beach shooter attached a silencer to his .45-caliber handgun that he used to kill 12 people on three floors of a city building. Survivors of the attack said that they weren't even aware that a mass shooting was going on due to the silencer. My question is: Why did this get added to the bill just a couple of hours ago? Which congressional Republican just couldn't stand to vote for the horrible bill until it promised even more death to people? Mr. Speaker, I will yield to hear a name. Point of Order Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, point of order. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will state his point of order. Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, this is supposed to be a challenge because the rule says that we waived earmarks, but the gentleman is not talking about earmarks. He is talking about process that he doesn't like. He is talking about parts of the bill that he doesn't like, but he has not mentioned any specific earmark. Even the gentleman who spoke before him, the gentleman from Massachusetts, only talked in general terms about things that were general policy, not earmarks. Mr. McGOVERN. We are talking about an earmark for the gun lobby, my friend. Mr. GRIFFITH. I submit, Mr. Speaker, that the gentleman is not in order, giving remarks that are not pertinent. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Virginia has not stated a point of order. Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I reclaim my time. Mr. Speaker, I will yield just to hear the name of the Republican that couldn't vote for this bill. {time} 0000 Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I am just curious which Republican couldn't vote for the bill until we completely deregulated silencers. My ge

Referenced legislation: HR1, HR1, HCONRES14, SJRES31, HRES436