scanlon: thank you very much. i am not a chairman or woman but i want to speak on behalf of the rank and file members who came to congress because we believe in democracy, we believe in our government to do good for the people. there was a huge wave of us in 2018, and we came because we left our -- we left our comfortable lives and our families to come to d.c. because we were appalled by what we were seeing. we were appalled by the lack of civility, the violation of democratic norms, the attacks upon a free press, upon our courts and upon our inspectors general and upon the election. so for the remainder of that presidency, we played defense. we acted as a check and balance upon the worst of those impulses. now it is time to move forward and in doing that, the protect our democracy act is so, so important. really pleased to be able to be here with all the chairmens. thank you so much for chairman schiff for that work. that's where we need to go. the two options are, you say, well, the last one got away with it. we

thank you very much for being there, and i want to give a shoutout to olivia scanlon and the others for helping us get it together. it was a really touching ceremony, so thank you everyone who attended. and i met our nominated fire commissioner, arney morgan there. i believe he will be getting sworn in on monday afternoon, the 27, so looking forward to that. that is the latest information i have on that. there have been lots of sort of meet and greets going on with our panels for new firefighters, and tomorrow, i will be taking all the recommendations from those panels and deciding who will be on the meet and greet staff. and then violation of covid, which has really been taking up most of our time these days. we have a lot of other things we'd, you know, really like to focus on, but this is where it's at right now. right now, we have 122 who are not compliant. out of that 122, 18 are on long-term leave, so we really have 104 noncompliant. some have filed for exemptions, and those are working through the system, so we'll see what the final number is, but we will definitely be losing som

scanlon: with the cost of care for two kids consuming 20% to 30% of most families' income. since the pandemic began, the situation has worsened dramatically. hundreds of pennsylvania childcare agencies, which operated on the slimmest of margins to begin with, have closed permanently and already scarce childcare spots have become harder to find. since the pandemic, the lack of childcare and continuing school closures has resulted in millions of parents, mostly women, losing their jobs or being forced to leave work due to childcare obligations. families need investment in childcare now. women can't be asked to bear the costs of not funding these crucial programs any longer. the build back better act is our once in a generation opportunity to meet the needs of working families. access to affordable childcare will strengthen the financial standing of our families, make sure that women are not left behind in our recovery, and help parents enter or re- enter the work force and generate new economic activity. let's get this done for the american people. i yield back. the speaker p

scanlon: thank you. mr. speaker, i rise in strong support of this rule and its underlying legislation. but specifically i want to highlight h.r. 3755, women's health protect act. the passing of ruth gaider ginsberg a year ago removed the last major impediment to an all out assault by conservative extremists on the freedom of american women to make their own reproductive choices. with the culmination of a decades-long campaign to pack the supreme court with pro life abortion foes, we have seen moves to overturn the constitutional protections in roe v. wade. those have included s.b. 8, the texas bill outlawing abortion after six weeks, the bounty bill accompanying that. and the court's refusal to hear an argument that -- and the court's argument toover turn roe v. wade. the decision to have or not have a child is deeply personal and may profoundly impact a woman's physical and financial health and in some instances her life. women should have the ability to make those decisions with those they love and the doc

and in just during the, two democrats in congress we mary gay scanlon and zoe lofgren, two democratic members of congress are also not asking the u.s. justices time print, to look at, to intervene -- as to what republicans are going to do with all that personal identifying into information from every voter in the state of pennsylvania. the original one of these audits is of course the one in arizona. that one is supposed to release its reported findings at the end of this week on friday. we will see. they started this thing in april, and said it would take three weeks. it's officially now late september. so who knows. but they say it will be on friday. with all of this election overthrow energy, coursing through the republican party right now, you think that the guy who jingle this up in the first place would be happy to see it. happy though, he is not. in the wake of nobody showing up for the saturday rally for the january 6th rioters, former president donald trump released a swear-y, screaming statement, that was a little unhinged even by his standards. said in part quote >> i have

scanlon: for decades, trickled down economics has guided our country's fiscal policies, selling the american people a bill of goods about how cutting taxes for big business and the wealthy would eventually benefit society at large. most americans have experienced this policy failure firsthand. they've watched the rich and powerful accumulate wealth while the middle class shrinks and families struggle to stay afloat. study after study has shown that instead of promoting jobs or growth, tax cuts for the rich have increased inequality. it's time to reject the failed theory of trickled down economics and finally give everyday americans a fair shot. the build back better act will provide one of the biggest middle-class tax cuts in history and invest in the american people to build a stronger, more inclusive economy. the best part, it's paid for by making those at the top finally pay their fair share. the system has been rigged against most americans for far too long. we have a chance to fix it now. let's get it done. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. for what purp