mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, today we will consider the 61st closed rule of this congress, part of a disturbing and familiar parent. republicans are running this house -- pattern. republicans are running this house with no regular order, no hearings on legislation and one closed rule after another. speaker ryan and house republicans recently set a record as presiding over the most closed session of congress in history and now they are adding to it. with no transparency and their continued effort to silence any debate and any dissent, this chamber feels more like the russia house rather than the people's house. now, i know president trump is inthraled with authoritarian leaders and rule, but that doesn't mean you have to follow suit. today's rule provides for consideration of h.r. 4712, yet another partisan and extreme republican bill that's completely unnecessary and aimed at solely -- aimed solely at pleasing the majority's right-wing base. the simple truth is that this bill is filled with inflammatory

mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, here we go again, literally. today we're considering for the third time the f.y. 2018 defense appropriations act. the house took up and passed this bill in july. the house took up and passed this bill in september. and now we will pass it under a completely closed process for the third time. i know, mr. speaker, that many people think that the third time is the charm, but in this case, i think the third time is a farce. there are a couple minor changes to this version of the bill. for example, once again, it has $1.18 billion to fund president trump's request to send 3,500 more u.s. troops to afghanistan. funding which has been attached to prior spending bills. it also has a general provision that turns off sequestration for defense spending. so it busts the budget caps but exempts itself from any consequences. that's a neat little trick, mr. speaker. but really, why are we wasting our time on this bill for a third time? here's a little bit of a reality check, mr. speaker. ne

mr. mcgovern. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. mcgovern: this is day one of the trump shutdown. what a sad day it is for this institution and what an incredibly sad day it is for our country this republican-controlled government is incompetent. it takes my breath away. you control the house, the senate, the white house and this is what we get? one continuing resolution after another and now a trump shutdown? you should be fired. this is so incredibly wrong. you say you want democrats to support your spending bill, yet you won't work with us. you won't talk to us. negotiating bills in back rooms with only republicans is not how you get a bipartisan vote. this my way or the highway approach undermine ours democracy and results in lousy bills that do not serve the interests of the american people. the republican leadership promised regular order. they promised to respect the views of everybody including the views of the minority. and they promised a more open process. that has turned out to be a big, fat lie. i hear from my republican

mr. mcgovern, thank you. at the beginning of my statement, i indicated there was not a specific proposal. i'm not testifying on a specific proposal. i am testifying on what i think is a bedrock principle of the separation of powers. our article 1 authority is to raise and spend money. we have, in effect, abrogated part of that smont toresponsibility to the detriment of our constituents and our district and our country. i certainly agree we have to look at the specifics of the proposal. on the latter point you make. we're not as fair as we ought to be to one another. that was not true when i came here in 1981 and served on the appropriations committee. there was great comedy between the republicans and democrats. i have seen that deteriorate over the almost four decades that i have been here. i think that's unfortunate for the country, institutions and congress. it is unfortunate for the individual members. i would hope at some point in time we would resolve to do bhawhat we say is the golden rule, treat one a

mr. mcgovern. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. mcgovern: this is day one of the trump shutdown. what a sad day it is for this institution and what an incredibly sad day it is for our country this republican-controlled government is incompetent. it takes my breath away. you control the house, the senate, the white house and this is what we get? one continuing resolution after another and now a trump shutdown? you should be fired. this is so incredibly wrong. you say you want democrats to support your spending bill, yet you won't work with us. you won't talk to us. negotiating bills in back rooms with only republicans is not how you get a bipartisan vote. this my way or the highway approach undermine ours democracy and results in lousy bills that do not serve the interests of the american people. the republican leadership promised regular order. they promised to respect the views of everybody including the views of the minority. and they promised a more open process. that has turned out to be a big, fat lie. i hear from my republican

mr. mcgovern, for five minutes. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, i rise to condemn in the strongest possible terms the ongoing, unrelenting attacks against civilians in syria committed by the barbaric lawless regime of asawed with russian backing. we -- assad with russian backing. as many as half a million killed since march, 2011. tens of thousands of them civilians. tens of thousands of them detained, disappeared and likely dead directly at the hands of the regime. more than 11 million people displaced once again inside and outside of syria's borders, the largest single refugee crisis in the world has seen since 1945. more than half of those displaced are children and youth. last summer, much was made of the cease-fire agreement that the trump administration reached with the russian government to establish de-escalation zones to establish syria while keeping the assad regime in power. we were told it would save lives. all of a sudden you are going to have no bullets being fired in syria, trump said. well, that has turned out not to be tr

mr. mcgovern. in this circumstance, it seems to me difficult for us to just say we're going to maintain the status quo, we're going to sort of, you know, decide that we're somehow absolved of our constitutional obligation. we ought to be able to find a way that we can put enough limits and transparency on it, frankly more transparency, than we have when you've got elected bureaucrats making these decisions. so the combination -- i'm trying to understand how the system -- how i can explain to my constituents that the current system works better, where you have unelected bureaucrats making decisions in many instances with very little transparency who don't fully understand and recognize the needs of the people of my state, for example. and why is that a better system than one where we, the people's elected representatives, are making those kinds of decisions and recommendations with, you know, new rules and requirements and restrictions with respect to transparency and accountability. >> i would asse

mr. mcgovern, but in this circumstance is seems to me difficult for us to say we are going to maintain status quo well we were sort of decide that we are somehow absolved of our current obligation and we ought to be able to find a way that we can put enough limits and transparency on it, frankly more transparency in the unelected bureaucrat making these decisions to understand how the sachin-- a system works and how i can explain that the current system works better that you have been selected bureaucrats making decisions with very little transparency that don't fully understand and recognize the need of the people of my stay, for example, and why is that a better system when one we the people of elected representatives are making those recommendations with new rules and requirements and restrictions perspective transparency and accountability. >> you should not defend the current system as being better. that's a fool's errand. there are those that are very discreet times when you want the executive to make specific decisions, but congress even there should be directing the process so that a

mr. holtzman. >> fair enough. >> up next, kitty costello, followed by teresa mcgovern, followed by glenn fieldman. is kitty costello in the room? tier teresa mcgovern? glenn fieldman? >> i waive my right to speak. >> what is your name? >> glenn fieldman. >> is terry wallace present? please come up. followed by catherine howard. followed by linda weiner. followed by wayne roth. >> thank you. i have a dog in this fight. i'm a retiree from san franci o francisco. i'm against divestment. it is not all about energy and about carbon. everything we have in this room that isn't alive comes from petroleum, including the carpets, stand, ceiling, everything comes from petroleum. it's called plastic. so it isn't all about -- and i think that some of our investments come from the oil companies, am i correct? okay. that's my dog in the fight. it ain't going to go away. thank you. >> up next, catherine howard, followed by linda weiner, wayne roth. thank you very much. is linda weiner in the room? >> i represent the executive committee of san francisco sierra club. i want to say that divestment is not a

mr. hoyer mentioned who worked with him on that important legislation. bob also believes in honoring human dignity. together with senator george mcgovern he extended the food stamps and school nutrition and special initiatives to millions of women, children and working families. his mcgovern-dole food for education initiative has brought food from america's heartland to communities across the world. that vital initiative is synonymous with america's compassion and leadership in the world. senator dole once said our challenge is not to question american ideals or replace them, but to act worthy of them. may you all take heed of those profound words. senator bob dole, for a life time spent defending, advancing and exemplifying our proudest american ideals, we thank you. this congress sends our warmest congratulations to you, to your incredible wife elizabeth, daughter robin and the entire dole family. in accepting this congressional gold medal, senator dole, you bring luster to it and your service and leadership has brought luster to the congress of the united states. thank you. [ applause ]

mr. hoyer mentioned, that worked with him on that important legislation. bob also believes in honoring human dignity. together with senator george mcgovernutrition initiatives to millions of women, children and working families. high school mcgovern-dole food initiative has brought food from america's heartland to community as cross the world. that initiative is synonymous with america's compassion and leadership in the world. senator dole once said, our challenge is not to question american ideals or replace them but to act worthy of them. may we all take heed of those profound words. senator bob dole, for a lifetime spent defending and exemplifying our proudest american ideals, we thank you. this congress sends our warmest congratulations to you, to your incredible wife, elizabeth, daughter robin and the entire dole family. in accepting this congressional gold medal, you bring luster to it and to the congress of the united states. thank you. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, the democratic leader of the united states senate, the honorable chuck schumer. [applause] >> president trump, vice president pence, majority leader mcconnell, s