has all these and more. secure the border. provide a pathway to citizenship for dreamers. and so muchike my predecessor -- and so much more. but unlike my predecessor i know who we are as americans. we're the only nation in the world with a heart and soul that draws from old and new. host: that's president biden from state of the union, drawing contrast with former president trump. mr. devore, your thoughts? guest: i did listen to the state of the union. i was disappointed with it. immigration, the lack of security on our border, is the number one issue among the american people. and of course that makes sense. we have had some 200 people on the terror watch list come across. there was evidence presented just yesterday before a senate committee that some of the criminal drug and human trafficking cartels are working with elements of isis to get some individuals across our border. that is pretty significant news given that less than 30 people killed almost 3,000 americans.

>> we'll leave this now to go back to the floor of the house. ordering the previous questn onouse resolution 1071 and adoption of the resolution, if ordered. the first electronic vote will be conducted as a 15-minute vote. pursuant to clause 9 of rule torquehe remaining electronic votes will be conducted as five-minute vote. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the unfinished business is the vote on ordering the previous question on house resolution 1071 on which the yeas and nays are oered. the clerk will report the right tool of the resolution. the cle the clerk: house calendar numberrk 66, house resolution 1071, resolution providing for consideration of the bill h.r. 6276, to direct the administrator of general services and the director of the office of management and budget to identify the utilization rate of certain public buildings in federally leased space and for other purposes. providing for consideration of the resolution, house resolution

1065 denouncing the biden administration's immigration policies. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on ordering the previous question on the resolution. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

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the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 210.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 209. the nays are 205. the previous question is ordered. the question is on adoption of the resolution. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair the ayes have it. for what purpose does gentleman seek recognition? mr. mcgovern: i ask for a

recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman requests a recorded vote. a record is requested. those favoring a recorded vote will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or co of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 209. the nays are 206. the resolution is adopted. without objectioners the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table.

the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the house will be in order. for what purpose does the gentleman the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition?

mr. perry: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to -- hold on a second. ok. that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h.r. 6276. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized. mr. perry: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman will suspend. pursuant to house resolution 1071 and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole on the state of the union for the consideration of h.r. 6276. the chair appoints the gentlewoman from virginia, ms. kiggans, to preside over whole. the chair: the house is in the committee of the whole house on

the state of the union for the consideration of h.r. 6276 which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: a bill to direct the administrator of general services and the director of the office of management and budget to identify the utilization rate of certain public buildings and federally leased space and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered -- the chair: pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered read the first time. general debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on transportation and infrastructure or their respective designees. the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. perry, and the gentleman from washington, mr. larsen, each will contro recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. perry: thank you, madam chair. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the committee will be in order. the gentleman is recognized. mr. perry: thank you madam chai

h.r. 6276, the use it act of 2023, is commonsense and reasonable space occupancy standards to get federal employees back into the office or the agency will have to lose that unnecessary unneeded, unused space. as a recent government accountability office review of how agencies were actually using their headquarter space here in washington d.c., found that 17 of 24 agencies, the g.a.o. re-- that g.a.o. reviewed used 25% or less otheir space. 17 of 24. 25% or less of their space. one agency even admitted that if 100% of their employees showed up every single one of them showed up, they boo still -- would still only use 67% of their own bui even more troubling is some agencies were using only 9%, they can't even make double digits of their space, 9%. and to be clear, we're not just

paying for space to sit empty. but throughout the whole time we're paying for utilities and services cooling, lighting. regular power maintenance security for the entire space that no one is in. empty federal buildings are not only a drain to the federal taxpayer, but they also don't produce investments needed for local econom because nobody's in the building. there's nobody there to go out to lunch. the bottom line is agencies should bring federal to the office. but the reality is underutilized space has been a chronic problem in federal real estate and is one reason federal property has been on the g.a.o.'s high-risk list since 2003. so this is 20 years on now that this problem has been identified and remains existing. in order to address the issue h.r. 6276 -- >> the house is not in order.

the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. perry: thank you, madam speaker. in order to address the issue h.r. 6276 would use similar metrics to those used by the g.a.o. and require federal agencies to report on tal utilization rates. set a target utilization of not less than 60%, not less than 60%, so it's very reasonable and require the general services administration to report to congress if any agency fails to meet that standard. agencies will be given time to meet the 60% utilization standard, but if they fail to do so, they would have to lose or give up their excess space. give up their excess space. ultimately the result of 6276 will benefit not just the federal taxpayer but also allow unused federal buildings to be put to better use for the local communities. i urge support of this bill and time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania reserve -- the chair: the gentleman from

pennsylvania reserves. the gentleman from washington is recognizeddam chair. i yield myself as much time as i may consume. h.r. 6276 directs the o.m.b. and g.s.a. to establish standards for measuring o buildings. the bill directs the g.s.a. and federal tenants to use sensors to measure occupancy, requires the heads of federal agencies to report occupancy and utilization data, and directs the g.s.a. to notify agencies and congress when occupancy in a federal building falls below 60%, at which time g.s.a. would be permitted to consolidate tenants. the bill further requires o.m.b. and g.s.a. to develop a plan to consolidate agency headquarter buildings in the national capital region that result in the utilization rate of 60% or more. now, i agree with representative perry's goal to reduce agency costs by giving up unneeded space and i consistently made that point to him and others on the committee. i am opposed to this bill. the bill defines occupancy as the total number of employees physically working from their offices at least five

many federal employees may not sit at their desks all day every day, including federal firefighters disaster responders, law enforcement officers, border patrol agents, food safety inspectors, t.s.a. supervisors, national park service rangers and more. these employees would not be included in occupancy counts required by this bill. also not counted would be the federal employees who work alter -- alternative work schedules. federal law grants the office of personal management authority to promulgate regulations, to minister programs and permits agencies to allow the use of flexible schedules. this authority extends to employees of any executive agency, any military department and the library of congress. to have an accurate picture of a space needs in federal buildings, all federal employees occupying buildings should be counted. and a full-time employee with an approved work schedule is still a full-time employee. and this bill fails to consider that fact. i have concerns with the bill because it does not adequately concern the complexity of the

federal leasing process, a process that is frankly far too complex. directing the o.m.b. and g.s.a. to reduce space if occuypanc 60% sounds fiscally responsible but at most currently leased locations if agency space is reduced, the gove ment would still be on the hook for the original cost in the leased contract because most existing lease contracts do not include partial termination rights. partial termination rights would increase the costs of leases for the government. again, i want to work with the chairman, we want to work with the chairman and the committee to resize the federal estate footprint and reduce costs, not unnecessarily increase those but here again, that bill -- this bill falls short. after this period of general debate, we're going to move on to a debate on seven amendments made in order by the rules committee. i will not be opposing any of those amendments, but unfortunately the seven amendments do not fix the underlying defects in the bill so i will still oppose final passage. i'm disappointed as well the rules committee did not make in

order the amendment that representative titus offered that would have adjusted the calculation of the occupancy rate to include employees with approved alternative work schedules. this fix would have gone a long way toward alleviating my with the legislation but not even allowing a vote on this amendment is a really missed opportunity for bipartisanship on this bill. so with will reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington reserves -- the chair: the gentleman from washington reserves. the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. perry: thank you, madam speaker. to my good friend the ranking member of the full committee the current administration doesn't even count every single employee in the federal system. and this bill, as he knows does not effect flex schedules or telework schedules, has nothing to do with that. so we can in this case have our cake and eat it too. we can have this bill, we can get our occupancy rate up to 60%. we can pass the bipartisan

amendment that myself and representative awken class have worked together on and is in order and we can try to right-size the people who show up to work while acknowledging in the federal system that not everybody has to be in the office. but with that i want to yield three minutes to my good friend from louisiana mr. graves. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. graves: thank you, madam chair. to thank the gentleman from colorado for promoting this legislation, for carrying it through the committee. let me provide a little bit of background because i think there's been some confusion here. if we look at occupancy rates of federal buildings from pre-pandemic to current then 54% of the buildings are occupied as compared to pre-pandemic. let me say this again. if you look at pre-pandemic occupancy and compare it to today, you have 54% occ

compared to what would have been 100% at the time. 100% of those slots filled. so what this legislation does is it says that if leases are occupied 60% or less then the government needs to give up those leases. so my friend from washington has brought up the fact that you have folks who do telework and flexible schedules and things along those lines. th a 40% cushion number one. number two, i thinking is that is incumbent upon -- i think mething that is incumbent upon folks who are using public money to pay for this let me say it again, $2 billion a year to operate and maintain $5 billion a year to pay for leases, it's incumbent upon these folks that are managing this to make sure that you're properly coordinating schedules. if people are teleworking or flexible schedules or whatever, that's fine. just manage them in a way that maximizes the use of the space.

look, this is ridiculous what's going on. $7 billion a year. if we went around the congress and asked members of congress do you have something in your district that needs funding and you've been unable to get funding for? every single one of us could spend $7 billion, we've been bridge crossing the mississippi river for years and years now. it should have been done 40 years ago. so let's be clear. it only requires divestment or elimination of the lease if the occupancy is less than 60%. what private business would even do that? i think it actually should be a higher standard in an ideal situation. as chairman perry said, according to a government accountability office study that went through, they looked at 24 federal agencies and 17 of the 24 only used 25% of the space. this is insane. there's better uses of taxpayer funds. and in closing, madam chair, i

want to remind everyone here our current government debt is approximately $34.5 trillion. each individual taxpayer's share of that is around $257,000. i couldn't afford that. i don't think we need to be irresponsibly and recklessly spending taxpayer dollars in this environment or ever. i commend my friend from pennsylvania for pushing this legislation. i urge adoption and yield back. mr. perry: i thank the gentleman from louisiana. i reserve. the chair: the gentleman from pennsylvania reserves. the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. larsen: thank you, madam chair. i want the representative from virginia, representative buyer. the chair: the gentleman is roz -- representative beyer. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. beyer: i rise in fir opposition to this bill. the utilizing space efficiently and improving technologies act. contrary to what the title would suggest, this bill is an irresponsible, partisan effort that would seriously harm not only our federal work force located in the national capital

region, but simply ignores the practical realities of federal jobs. while i agree that we should always help our agencies run more efficiently and decrease spending where we can, this bill reveals ignorance of the current process that g.s.a. undertakes when it comes to contracting evaluations and consolidations. further, the bill exempts warehouses and laboratories from space restrictions, but doesn't name secure classified information facilities as an exempted category. i'm concerned that this would cause negative implications for local facilities that have been designed specifically for use of scifs and for our national defense work broadly. finally, this bill offer noes offers no consideration for workers with alternative schedules. people who work field work or those who have telework arrangem get me wrong. many of our colleagues and i support the idea of our federal agencies consolidating spaces to repurpose parts of their budgets. they've already done that with the patent and trade office in my district. or to decrease spending. but this bill actually does the

opposite. by cutting short contracts we increase spending. g.s.a. already has agencies with consolidating unused spaces. if you take out the bill language that matches what g.s.a.'s already doing, it's easy to read thia partisan employ to -- ploy to move agency headquarters out of the national capital region and attack federal employees. there's no need to introduce the bill to mr1date work that g.s.a. already does and to threaten to remove agency workspaces because of arbitrary building occupancy rates. madam speaker, i have invested and managed real estate for many decades. this bill doesn't offer an appropriate metric to evaluate space usage, need or work productivity. i considered places in my car stores that were occupied by cars instead of people as wasted space. it's a matter of appropriateness. any member here who would allow their staff to work from home would be a hypocrite to oppose this bill. we need the best and brightest to want to w government. and we want to utilize telework and nontraditional hours or days where it's appropriate. after all, we want the most

productive and effective federal work force and imply -- applying a 1950's mentality of butts in seats five days a week doesn't reflect the actual work that most americans do. what if they need to spend every day in a scif or site visit? for these reasons i'll offer a motion to recommit this committee. if rules would have permitted i would have offered a motion with an important amendment to this bill offered by representative titus this. amendment would ensure that all federal employees, including ones using alternative work schedules, are accounted for utilization rates of federal buildings. this amendment would significantly alleviate some concerns coming from workers who use alternative work schedules and has access to reliable workspaces would be threatened by this bill. i hope my colleagues will join me in voting for the motion i yield. the chair: the gentleman from washington reserves. the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. perry: thank you, madam speaker.

historically for 20 years while this problem has been identified, these issues have historically been bipartisan. it was former president obama that advocated agencies to freeze and then reduce their space footprint, recognizing that agencies had far more space than they and to the gentleman that just testified, g.s.a. actually wants to -- they want to do t they want to reduce the space. but the agencies won't allow t why would they? why would they? they get so much space, and they don't have to dealging it or not. they just get the space and they can continue on their other work with as much space as they need. sometimes 3,000 feet per employee. 3,000 square feet per employee. a lot of people in america would like to have a house that's 3,000 feet -- square feet for their whole family. and if they found out, if they knew if they were watching today and found out the federal government was paying for that, their taxes were paying for that

when they couldn't afford it themselves they won furious. the obama administration set a standard that agencies had to account for things like teleworking and actual space usage and planning for the space. an agency thate 1,000 people assigned to a building, yet only a portion of those people would be counted when it came to desks and space. what makes up for it puts into consideration things like teleworking. the obama administration even proposed selling the department of labor type of space utilization and counting. more recently, i know the gentlewoman from the district of columbia has previously proposed legislation to move and sell the department of energy. folks say that republicans just want to kick federal employees out of their buildings, we don't. we would prefer they come back to work. and if they would come back to work, i think very reasonable for us to say that we want the building to be 60%

occupied. 60%. that's, to me, a pretty good compromise with my friends on the other side of the aisle who are saying that, well, we just want to sell buildings and kick federal employees out of their buildings. we don't. we want them to come to work. we want them to be good stewards of the taxpayers' money.qc use the space efficiently. when you don't need it, like everybody else, give up that space to be utilized either by other agencies in the federal government or by the political subdivisions. some town or city where that building is located should have the advantage to use that space so that they can increase their tax rolls, so they can help their vendors on the street. so they can help their community. with that i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. larsen: thank you mr. chair. we have no further speakers. i'm ready to close if the majority is ready. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. perry: i'm prepared to close if the gentleman is prepared to

close. the chair: the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. larsen: thank you, mr. chair. i appreciate that. i do think that it is incumbent on me to characterize my position and recharacterize my friend's characterization of my position. which as i recall was to close buildings and kick out federal employees. that is not my position. in fact, in many ways i share the goals of the chair subcommittee that it's clear we have much more federally owned and leased space than is used given the work schedules and changes that have taken place since covid. it is necessary for us to look at how best to consolidate that space. to right size that space given

its usage. the problem i have is the hammer approach that this particular bill takes by setting fast 60% rule rather than looking at the flexibility necessary when you are considering agency by agency, division by division within those agencies and how that space can be useed properly and most efficiently. we have worked in a bipartisan basis on the committee. on a wide range of policies, including right sizing the federal real estate footprint. just yesterday we passed on suspension the fasta reform act a bill that chairman himself sponsored that will expedite the disposal of excess federal property. when we work together, we can make some really good progress on this and other issues. but today's bill does fall short by failing to take into account the complexity of the federal

leasing process and using an incomplete and flawed metric for measuring occupancy rate of federal buildings. i do welcome the opportunity to work with any member in good faith. we have done that, again, many issues in the transportation and committee. and we will all want to make genuine improvements on the federal real estate program. i do oppose this legislation. urge my colleagues to do the same. before yielding back the balance of my time, i do want to enter in the record the statement of administration policy that the administration strongly opposes h.r. 6276. a letter from the afl-cio in its opposition to h.r. 6276. dated march 12. a letter dated march 11 there the farewell workers alliance, opposing h.r. 6276. and a letter dated march 8 from the american federation of

government employees opposing h.r. 6276. if i can enter those with unanimous consent i wouldt. the chair: the gentleman's request is covered under general leave. mr. larsen: with that, mr. chair, i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. perry: mr. speaker can i inquire to the time remaining. the chair: the gentleman has 20 minutes remaining. mr. perry: thank you, mr. speaker. i do want to respond to my good friend from washington. i didn't mean to mischaracterize his assessment or his comments.ver, the speaker before you did essentially make those claims. i was answering to that. while i'm here i want to characterize what the public seeing if they are reading the "washington times." here's an article from wednesday, december 6 2023, the idea to fill empty federal buildings with illegal

immigrants where d.h.s. headquarters is 69% unused, and social security offices are 93% vacant. 93% vacant. no wonder offices many constituent calls when they can't get answers from the social security administration. we would like those folks who come back to work, but if they are not going to come back to work, my goodness, could we stop having everybody including social security recipients, pay for the empty building? then there is another one from the "washington times" here dated thursday, september 21, 2023. telework's empty buildings opens the door for legionnaires' disease. isn't that wonderful. won't that be ghraib breakwhen the source of an outbreak comes from a vacant federal building we are paying for. here's another one, the i.g. to investigate federal offices left vacant by telework policyies from the "washington times." the date is wednesday, october

18 2023. finally ghost towns. federal office buildings are 80% vacant government fund audit finds. 80% vacant. we have here that shouldn't be partisan, should be pretty simple. all we are saying is, my goodness federal agencies, can you come back to work at least 60%? at least 60%. is that too much? it's 10% above 50% which would be half empty. we find that very objectionable. but at least 60% should be something we agree on. this article is from the "washingto thursday, october 26 2023. mr. speaker, i'd like to have all these entered into the the chair: the gentleman's request is covered by general leave. mr. perry: sorry? the chair: the gentleman's request is covered by general leave. mr. perry: thank you, mr. speaker.

federal red on the g.a.o.'s high-risk list for more than 20 years. the government accountability office has said this is a high risk for the last 20 years. we are on the precipice. we are standing on the edge of providing a solution to the excess space that exists th we keep paying for. at the same time, our debt has gone to $34 trillion. by may it will be $35 trillion. we are not going to save trillions here but we can save billions. and if you start adding up billions, maybe you'll finally get to trillions. we are not saving anything right now. we are not going to save any of this if we don't pass this bill. this is our opportunity, mr. speaker, to finally fix thisem that i will note historically has found bipartisan support to address the issue. even on this occasion, when thearing, markup on it, friends on the other side of the aisle said would you listen to a way we could potentially improve it? we did and we worked together. you'll have an opportunity to

vote on that amendment shortly. the use it act of 2023 is reasonable. it is common sense legislation that simply says that if the federal employees don't come back into the office, the taxpayer is not going to have to pay for the empty space. we don't have any exinterest money in this town, mr. speaker. extra money in this town, mr. speaker. nobody has any extra money. this is where some of it's going, unnecessarily. we can consolidate, sell things off. some of these agencies probably get a new building at the right size where their workers would still have flex time, would priate. where constituents, where our bosses, where the american people could access the telework where appropriate. where constituents, where our bosses, where the american people could access the services that they pay for and deserve to get because they do pay for them.

mr. speaker, i do urge support of this bipartisan, soon-to-be bipartisan bill. and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. all time for general debate has expired. pursuant to the rule, the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the committee on transportation and infrastructure printed in the bill shall be considered as adopted. the bill as amended shall be considered as read. no further amendment to the bill as amended shall be in order except those printed in house report 118-419. each further amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the report. by the member designated in the report. shall be considered as read. shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and opponent, shall not be subject to amendment, and shall not be subject to demand for division of the question.

it is now in order to considered am numbered 1 printed in house report 118-419. for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition? >> will chair, pursuant to house resolution -- mr. chair pursuant to house resolution 1071 i rise to offer an amendment. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 1, printed in part a of house report number 118-419, offered by mr. edwards of north carolina. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 1071, the gentleman from north carolina, mr. edwards, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from north carolina. mr. edwards: thank you mr. chair. i'd like to commend mr. perry for his work on this important bill. i had the opportunity to serve

on the subcommittee on t&i where this issue this horrible expense issue was brought to our attention. i'd like to start by thanking also my bipartisan co-lead ms. perez from washington, for her partnership on this amendment. and the greater stand alone bill. i'm here today to urge support for my amendment to h.r. 6276, the use it act. i introduced the federal use it or lose it act, or the full act, back in november to bring accountability to the practice of maintaining high telework levels while maintaining expensive office leases, and to reduce wasteful government spending on unused office space. . to ensure our language was synonymous a could work together to establish strong federal building policies and procedures to reduce the federal

footprint. the act unanimously passed out of the transportation and infrastructure committee by voice vote during the full committee markup on november 15. as you know, a g.a.o. report found that 17 of the 24 major agency headquarters in d.c. were less than 25% occupied during the first quarter of 2023. even the few agencies above 25% reported right around or below 50% occupancy. meanwhile, taxpayers continue to pay for 100% of theral employees are not using. the federal real estate portfolio has become a wasteland that is seldom reviewed. lease assets cost taxpayers more than $6 billion a year and even during the peak of telewor and 2022, federal agencies managed to spend more than $1 billion in a single year if you compare the use it act

and my amendment, you'll see our language is very similar. mr. perry's use it act establishes the criteria that i reference in my amendment to regulate general federal building practices. my bill differentiates it self by serving as the reporting catalyst for mr. perry's bill, the u.s.e. it act -- and the full act will require that g.s.a. include language in all leases with federal tenants directing the submission of an annual report on a monthly occupancy and inclusion of written procedures governing the return of thatnused office space to g.s.a. together the language ensures congress has up-to-date information to make the best space utilization -- to make decisions for our taxpayers. the full act also requires independent leasing authorities to submit a report to the transportation and

infrastructure committee, the senate committee on environment and public works, and the congressional commtee of jurisdiction on occupancy and space utilization. ultimately my amendment seeks to equip congress and g.s.a. with the dated greater oversight of federal leases, to reduce the federal real estate footprint and to ensure that we're maximizing every federal dollar spent on office space for agency use. mr. perry's bill sets the best practices for managing federal real estate and my amendment provides the mechanism for implementing those best practices. ultimately, mr. speaker, i urge support of my amendment which will help to strengthen congressional oversight of government spending on office leases and prevent taxpayers from continuing to foot the bill for underutilized federal office space. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves.

for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition? mr. larsen: mr. chair, i claim time in opposition, although i am not opposed to the amendment. the chair: without objection. the gentleman is recognized. mr. larsen: thank you mr. chair. this amendment requires g.s.a. to include in its occupancy agreements with federal tenants a requirement that tenant agencies submit a report to g.s.a. w 60% for six months within any one-year period. it previously allowed tenant agencies to return unneeded space back to g.s.a. with 120 days' notice. but in may of 2023, g.s.a. changed its policy and now all new occupancy agreements between g.s.a. and federal tenants must include a noncans claition clause to -- noncancellation clause. requiring agencies to return space if occupancy falls below 60% for six months does not account for the fact that space costs procured by the government still remain under the lease contract. so i have concerns about the

mechanics and costs of an agency returning space to g.s.a. withill not oppose this amendment. with that, i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from north carolina is recognized. mr. edwards: mr. chair, i yield the gentlelady from washington state as much time as she may consume. the chair: the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. gluesenkamp perez: thank you. flexibility in where federal employee work has allowed public servants to spend more time coaching their kids' little league team and less time commuting in traffic and telework has been beneficial to rural communities like mine. but federal policy needs to keep up so taxpayers aren't footing the bill for empty office space. we want to see our tax dollars going to fixing aging infrastructure in our public schools, not to landlords. with more than half of all

federal leases set to expire in the next five years, our full act would help the government better utilize space and cut down on expensive building leases and furniture. it would require important reporting on space utilization, as ensure agencies have written procedures in place to return unused office space to the g.s.a. instead of wasting tax dollars empty buildings and their landlords, we should be using them to replace our crumbling infrastructure. i'm grateful to congressman edwards' partnership on this bipartisan, commonsense effort to reduce government waste and be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars. i urge my colleagues to support this amendment and i yield back. the chair: the gentlewoman yields back. the gentleman from north carolina's time has expired. the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. larsen: thank you mr. chair. again, we do not oppose the amendment on this side of the aisle and with that i'll yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from

north carolina. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider amendment number 2 printed in house report 118-419. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? mr. perry: thank you, mr. speaker. i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 2 printed in part a of house report 118-419 offered by mr. perry of pennsylvania. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 1071, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. perry and a member opposed each will have control of five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. perry: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. perry: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm pleased to offer this bipartisan amendment to the bill h.r. 6276, with my friend,

representative auchincloss from massachusetts. this makes two clarifying changes to the bill, ensuring the legislation collects occupancy data in a way that better encompasses all federal workers, wherever they're working, and protects the privacy of those workers. this amendment updates the definition of occupancy in the bill from the total number of employees performing duties in person over a five-day workweek to the number of employees doing so over a 40-hour workweek. ensuring that occupancy calculations can more comprehensively account for all employees. now, the issue came up during discussion in regular order in the committee. mr. auchincloss had some issues with the bill, rightly so. he came to me and said, can we work on this? i said, sure, i think we can. because we're all interested in making things better. no matter where the ideas come from. additionally, this amendment requires that the sensors used to collect occupancy data within

is to protect the personally identifiable information of the buildings' occupants ensuring these new requirements will not imping impose on a federal employee privacy. it's been great to work with -- youw, we all want to improving things, right? we all think we have the best ideas but sometimes we don't. and when somebody else does, you got to say, well can we get it done together? and if that brings us together, this is a win for the american people and a win for this congress if we can work on the amendment, get this passed and also the bill. with that, i reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves. for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition? mr. larsen: mr. chair, i claim the time in opposition to the amendment, although i am not opposed to the amendment. the chair: without objection the gentleman is recognized. mr. larsen: thank you. mr. chair, i want to yield one minute to the representative from massachusetts mr. auchincloss. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for one minute.

mr. auchincloss: mr. speaker, i rise today in support of my amendment with mr. perry to his bill the utilizing space efficiently and imp i support the intent and much of the substance of the underlying bill. i believe it is wise to require the federal government to be a good stewaf its leases and of taxpayer dollars. it is important to re-evaluate employee occupancy of federal buildings in this new post-covid employment environment, just as the private sector is doing. and to right-size our federal office space accordingly. this amendment makes two important provisions to the bill and i appreciate mr. perry's collaboration in adopting it. first, it defines occupancy in terms of hours per week instead of days per week to better reflect federal employees who have compressed work schedules. and second, it codifies that any technology used to collect occupancy data should protect personallyble information which g.s.a. is already doing. this amendment does not solve every outstanding issue with this bill. i agree with the ranking member that ms. titus' amendment should also have been made in order. but i believe it materially improves it and i urge my

colleagues to support this amendment. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields.. larsen: reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. perry: thank you, mr. speaker. again, trying to alleviate the fact that a vast majority of the buildings are vastly understaffed. yet 100% of them are paid for. that's what we're trying to do here, it's been a 20-year-long problem. 20 years long. the obama administration recognized it, tried to do something about it and of course the g.s.a. wants to do something about it, but again, tenants, the occupants of the building the agencies have no incentive to reduce their they're happy to have all the space and have nobody in it except when they feel like showing up, as long as the taxpayer is willing to pay for an empty building, well heated well cared for, well maintained, just in case they might use it. now, we have told the rules committee that we want to see all the amendments that are

worthy be listened to, be debated and vote. because we think that improving ideas no matter where they come from are the greatest thing for this institution and for this effort. and so with that, i have no other speakers. i urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this amendment that i worked on with my good friend and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. larsen: thank you mr. chair. my biggest concern with the underlying bill is it defines occupancy as the total number of employees physically working from the offices at least five days a week. many federal employees do not actually sit at their desks at all because they're out in the field working. as the bill's currently written these employees, as well as federal employees approved alternative work schedules, would not be included in the occupancy counts. this amendment makes a slight improvement to that definition, as was explained by the representative from massachusetts. the effort to count occupants in buildings is worthwhile but if

we only -- but only if we occupants, including those who have been sanctioned and approved with their alternative work schedules, are included. this amendment will improve the bill and i want to thank the representative from pennsylvania and the representative from massachusetts for their efforts. and with that i will yience of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from pennsylvania. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider amendment number 3 printed in house report 118-419. for what purpose ds the gentlewoman from wyoming seek recognition? mr. hagedorn: mr. chairman, i have an amendment at -- -- ms. hageman: i have an amendment at the desk. the clerk: amendment number 3 offered by ms. hageman of wyoming. the chair: pursuant to house resolution ms. hageman, and a

member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from wyoming. ms. hageman: thank you, mr. chairman. i rise today in favor of my amendment, number 3, to h.r. 6276, which expands on the bill's reporting requirements to have the federal agencies also evaluate whether occupancy and utilization rates are affected by the agencies' remote an the underlying bill as drafted requires federal agencies and the general services administration or g.s.a. to measure and report on occupancy and utilization in public buildings and federally leased spaces. my amendment builds on this reporting requirement and forces the agencies to measure how telework and remote work impacts the utilization of its physical office space. telework and remote work have long been available to the federal work force but the wide scale and regular use of such policies drastically increase during covid. two priorities of thissed a majority have -- this majority

have been to return the federal work force to work and understand how telework impacted the efficiency of the federal government and the services it is required to provide to our constituents. the committee on oversight and accountability under the leadership of chairman comer and sessions have work to accomplish this goal. mr. perry's bill and other bills reported by the transportation and infrastructure committeederal office space make further meaningful steps in achieving the goals of this majority. but the agencies have been anything but fully transparent. my amendment seeks to build on this great work. .

post-covid world and if we need divest to save tax p pair dollars. i urge my colleagues to support my amendment and i reserve. mr. larsen: i seek time in opposition to the amendment but opposed. it requires the heads of federal agencies to submit to the office of budgetnd congress to report.

>> with that i would urge my colleagues to support the amendment, i yield back. the chair: the gentlewoman yields back. mr. larsen: we have no further comments and i yield back. the chair: those i favor say yie. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair the amendment is agreed to. it is in order to consider amendment number 4.

the chair: gentlewoman from wyoming and a member opposed each will control five. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from from wyoming. mr. hagedorn: i rise in support of amendment 4 which clarifies that the services administration or g.s.a. should p.i.v. bag swipe data isolating the use for each card holder to measure utilization of federal office space. occupancy data is a vital tool for agencies to accurately effort, the g.s.a. is implementing data collection tecologies. ey use bag swipe data which relies on verification or p.i.v.

at building access points. and isolated to the first usage of the day. it uses the card tthe door. my amendment that bag swipe data should be a tool that g.s.a. uses. occupancy measure the utilization in specific rooms accordg to g.s.a., it cano provide an account of the number of uque individuals in a space or building. based on density square per foot. this is absolutely the type of data we need to achieve the outcomes. the collection of the daily attendance for eachffice building which is then reported to congress will help to measure the impact. again, my amendment is t clarify that this important data

collection technology that g.s.a. is piloting is utilized that can measure government office space. i urge my colleagues to support this amendment and i reserve. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek to be recognized. mr. larsen: i claim time in opposition to the amendnt though i am not opposed to the amendment. section 3 of.r. 6276 requires the head of federal agencies to work with the administrator of general services to use sensors and to measure the occupancy of federal. th representative from wyoming will require personal identity bag swipe data should be used and only capture the cry detention use. each person is counted one time would provide accurate representation of building utilization and meet the goals of the congress to better assess office

space. i support this amendme and i serve. mr. hagedorn: one final statement. this amendment is to clarify that congress intends for g.s.a. for occupancy data collection techniques. i urgey colleagues to support this amendment and i yield back. the chair: the gentlewoman yields. the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. larsen: i yield the balance of my time. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from wyoming. those in fav, say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair the ayes have it and the amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider amendment number 5 printed in house report 118-49.

>> i have an amendment at the desk. the clerk: amendment number 5 printed in of house 118-419 offered by mr. mccormick of georgia. the chair: the gentleman from georgia, mr. mccormick and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognize gasp georgia. >> i rise to offer my amendment to h.r. 6276 and the use it act of 2023.s simple. it would amend section 4 of the bill to make the reports required by section be made publicly available on website operated by the g.s.a. with representations for national security-related reasons the american people deserve transparency. far too often the people of this country the ones that fund the government the ones we represent don't kno where the

nun is going. it is being used to heat and cool underutilized government ildings. the amendment -- the american people see tens of thousands of dollars go out of their paychecks every year to pay for what a open board out of control national debt and inefficient bureaucracy. this is ridiculous. the people deserve to know their money is being used efficiently. making these reports on office use publicly available will increase oversight on the activities of the federal agencies and increase public trust andonfidence in our confidence. i reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves. for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition? mr. larsen: i claim time in opposition though i am not opposed to the amendment. the amendment the representative by georgia requires significant reporting

on occupancy utilization rates and costs. by the heads ofice of management and budget the general services administration and congress. information gathered in the transparency is vital to efficient governing so i will not oppose the amendment. agency heads are required to occupancy and utilization data and can be found in g.s.a. reports on their website. with that, i will not oppose the amendment and reserve the balance o my time. >> prepared to close. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. >> mymendment isasy and common sense. i ask my colleagues to support this amendment and support the underlying bill. the chair: does the gentleman yield back? the gentleman yields. the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. larsen: we have no other

speakers. i yield. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from georgia. those in favor, say aye. those posed, no. in the opinion of the chair the ayes have it, the amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider amendment report 118-419. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? >> i risehe designees of the the gentleman from florida mr. mills. the clerk: amendment number 6 printed in part arch of house report 118-419 offered by mr. mccormick of georgia. the chair: pursuant to house resolution a member opposed each will control five minutes. mr. mccormick: i'm offering this amendment on behalf of the the gentleman from florida. i support the accountability the continuing bloating of

government's physical footprint cost taxpayers obscene amounts of money each year. this provides additional transparency to the bill to ensure that congress and the american people have the most data. specifically this amendment requires the government accountability offices to report on the cost of establishing future methodologies to measure federal building occupancy. the enactment excludes preexisting systems in place before the date of the enactment of this act. as we strive to eliminate waste fraud and abuse, we are doing so with transparency a accountability in federal building management. this bill and its amendment to it are hardly limited. the government ruires the to do the work to keep the ship

upright and moving forward. i want to take a secondo say i wish mr. mills could have been here to offer this important amendment but he is on his way back from haiti assisting the evacuation of american citizens. and with that, i reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves. for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition? mr. larsen: i claim time in opposition to the amendme though i am not opposed to the amendment. whairmt -- the chair: without objection. mr. larsen: this requires the heads of federal agency to submit to the g.s.a. and congress a report on the usage of real property. the amendment offered by representative from georgia for the representative from florida requires the government accountability office to report to congress on theost to federal agencies associated with

the complying with section 4 of the underlying bill. g.a.o.'s report must include the costs of surveying monitoring sense soars to measure the utilization rates of space and public buildings and spaces leased by the federal government. i support this amendment and i reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. mccormick: just like the last amendment this amendment is about transparency and accountability. once again, i ask my colleagues' support on this amendment and on the underlying bill. i yield bk. the chair: the gentleman from washington isecognized. mr. larsen: i yie the balance of my time. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from georgia. those in favor, say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of

the chair the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. it is nown order to consider amendment number 7 considered in house report 118-419. for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? >> i have an amendment at the desk. the erk: amendment number 7 printed in part a of house report 118-419 offered by mr. rose of tennessee. the chair: pursuant to house resolution the gentleman from tennessee, mr. rose, and a member opposed each will control fiveinutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from tennessee. mr. rose: i asknanimous consent that members may have five days to include extraneous material. i yield melf as i may consume.

. . . . the chai the gentleman is reco mr. rose: my big requires utilization rates of public buildings in federally leasedd by federal agencies and the report must list costs to taxpayers associated with capacity that exceeds occupancy. the use it act requires the governme to sell or dispose of excess capacity space or consolidate space in ildings with the utilization rate below %. mr. chair, tennesseans are rightfully outraged their taxpayer dollars are paying for mostly empty federal buildings. many of the folks i represent show up toork every day to put food on the table care for their communi or teach and train the next generation of leaders. however, for some reason those in washington and around this country who collect a check from

their xpayer funded job believe showing up for work is no longer necessary. they are mistaken. in a record on the use it act -- in a report on the use it act issued by the committee on transportation and infrastructure t committee noted according to a recent government accountability or g.a.o.eport, 17-24 agency headquarters in g.a.o.'s review were at 25% or less utilization. the g.a.o. report also noted some agency headquarters had as low as 9% space utilization. 9%. mr. chairman tnk of it this way, a federal building with an only have 90 people working in it on any given workday. that is just ridiculous, frankly. that's why i've offered my amendment which would build on the underlying bill by specifically requiring federal agencies report to general any large public

building or federally leased spaces with a capacity of 500 or more and a utilization rate below 20% in the reporting period on the underlying bill. my amendment excludes vacant office building. any large buildingr federally leased space identified would be forwarded to the relevant inspector general to conduct a investigation to discover if there is fraud, waste, abuse or mismanagement. it's simple, if a building meant for more than 500 people is being utilized less than 20% the inspector general must investigate whether there is fraud, waste, and mis unfortunate that although many large federal office buildings are operang at frightening low res federal agencies are not taking steps to increase utilization rates. action to reduce their footprint or any meaningful movements to reduce the operating costsf

these empty office spaces despite repeated warnings from congress to do so.mperative that inspectors general investigate whether waste, fraud or mismanagement is taking place in these buildings that are not being utilized to ensure we're spending taxpayer dollars wisely. i urge my colleagueso support the amendment and reserve my time. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek to be recognized? mr. larsen: i claim time in opposition though i'm not opposed to the amendment. the chair: without objection the gentleman is recognized. mr. larsen: it requires federal agencies to send a report to the inspector generalf such agency with the building under their jurisdiction with capacity of 500 or more employees but h a 20% utilizati rate or less. upon receipt of the report, the relevant inspector general is to investigate evidence of fraud, abe, or mismanagement. i'll sayhis, i don't know why this amendment is necessary.

i understand that federal real estate has been on the general accounting office's high risk list for years. nowhere in g.a.o.'s reporting were there claims of fraud waste, abuse or mismanagement. though this is a reporting requirement requiring the inector general or every federal agency to investigate could be a waste of time and resources. this amendment seems to be a solution to chase a problem but i will not oppose it a with that i reserve the balce ofy time. the chair: the gentleman from tennessee is recognized. mr. rose: i have no speakers and i'm prepared to close. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the the the -- the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from tennessee has the right to close. mr. rose: i yield myself the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. rose: thankfully the worst effects of the covid 19 pandemic are past us. though most agencies have not adjusted to this post pandemic period which is reflected in the

desertedice buildings throughout our country. i hope all members will support this effort to bring accountability to large federal buildings and federally leased spaces with low utilization rates by supporting my amendment and underlying bill. in closing i urge my colleagues my amendment and yes on the underlying bill and yield the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from washington is recognized.. larsen: i'll close on this amendment by speaking to the broader bill briefly and that is the goal that we share in congress is to ensure that congress the general services administration the agencies all adjust to t post covid life that we have in federal real estate that we are right sized in federal real estate and that we get rid of the office space we don't need and use the office space we do need. this amendment is an attempt to do that. i cerinly am not going to

oppose it but do ask folks to consider it and with that i will yield the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from tennessee. those in favor say aye those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. there being no further amendments under the rule, the committee rises. the speaker pro tempore: mr. cha ir? the chair: madam speaker, the committee of the whole house on the state of the union has had under consideration h.r. 6276 and pursuant to house resolution 1071, i report the bill as amended by that resolution back to the house with the sundry

further amendments adopted in the committee of the whole. the speaker pro tempore: the chair of the committee of the whole house on the state of the union reports the committee has had under consideration the bill h.r. 6276 and pursuant to the house resolution 1 071 reports the bill as amended by that resolution. back to the house with the sundry further amendments adopted in the committee of the whole. under the rule, the previous question is ordered. is a separate vote demanded on any further amendment reported from the committee of the whole? if not the chair will put them enoss. the question is on the adoption of the amendments. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the amendments are adopted.

the question is on the engrossment and third reading of the bill. those in favor say aye.posed, no. the ayes have it. third reading.o direct the administrators of general services and the office of management and budget to identifyhe utilization rate of certain public buildings and federally leased space and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuan t to clause 1-c of rule 19, further consideration of h.r. 6276 is postponed.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina, mon? mr. fry: pursuant to hoe resolution 1071, i call up house resolution 1065, denouncing the biden administration's immigration policies and ask for its immediate consideration in the house. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk wi report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 1065 resolution denouncing the biden administration's immigratn policies. the speaker pro tempore: pursuan t to house resolution 1071, the resolution is considered rea the gentleman from south carolina mr. fry and the gentlewoman from washington, ms. eye pal -- ms. eye pal, each will control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from south carolina, mr. fry.

mr. fry: i ask unanimous consent all members have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous material on house resolution 1065. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. fry: i yield myself as much time as i y consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. fry: just over three years ago joe biden took office as president of the united states and he immediately began upholding his campaign promises to reverse the trump administration's immigration policies. on day one this president issued executive orders that sent the world message that america'sorders are open. he used his executive authority to stopall construction, rescind the remain in mexico policy, prevent the removal of illegal aliens and block i.e. and. from enforcing immigration laws. in the weeks that will followed he terminated trump policies and aid at catch and release and preventi illegal immigration. after all, if trump d it, it must be. result of biden's radical dismantling of policies

that worked to reduce and prevent illegal immigration? the biggest mass illegal immigration in the history of the united states. nearly 7.5 million illegal aliens have been encountered by the customs and border patrol on the southwest border. there have been 37 straight months of c.b.p. encounters. the biden administration released 4.5 million illegal aliens in american communities in addition to 1.8 million known got-aways avoiding apprehension. at least 340 illegal aliens on the terror watch list have been encountered by border patrol along the southwest border and those are the ones we know about. we haven't mentioned the northern border where historical high number of illegal alien are encountered by c.b.p. every day. who could have predict these results? for start worse, the trump administration officials did the house republicans did the american people did sheriffs, ranchers farmers families, they all did.

they warned the biden transition team not to rescind policies like the migrant protection protocols in title 42. politics trumped common sense and the american people are left with the national security public safety andal disaster that is the biden administration's immigration agenda. after three years of chaos, the biden administration seems to have finally gotten the message that americans get uneasy when they see mobs of illegal aliens beating up new york city police officers watch endless number of illegal aliens stream across the southwest border and hear the heart-wrenching details of murders like that of 22-year-old nursing student laken riley by illegalliens who shouldn't have been here in the first place. with a election on the horizon president biden's handlers think it's time to admit what is happening on the southwest border is a crisis. instead of correcting, they're blaming congress. but the american people are not stupid and know if president trump was able to establish the most secure border i american histor despite the open border

groups rushing to get his immigration policies enjoined in activist courts at every turn, then president biden too could use h ecutive authority to help secure the border and restore those policies. they know president biden simply refuses to do it. president biden refuses to implement the migrant protection protocols t stop abusing discretionary case by and other parole authority and reimplement president trump's asylum cooperative agreements so we can remove illegal aliens seeking asylum to third wor countries. president biden refuses to use 212-f authority to suspend aliens from crossing the border and refuses catch and release. he refuses to apply with the mandatory statutes, the immigration and nationality act for illegal aliens and refuses to rein in tax this stands in contrast to president trump who refused to give up. the answer to the border crisis

simple am, secure the border and enforce the law. that is what the trump administration did and what president biden refuses to do. president biden has the authority to secure the secure and begin using that executive authority as has been done. h.r. 2 the secure border act passed this house last spring and would enhance our current law and help ensure the border is controlled. refused to bring that bill to the floor for almost a year now. president biden should use executive authority ensure the national security and public safety of americans is paramount and use it to secure our border and do today. i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from south carolina reserves. the gentlelady from washington is recognized. >> i yield myself such time as i

may consume. for the second time in less than two months with another shutdown looming we are wasting our time on a meaningless house resolution wse sole purpose is to justify republicans' lack of desire to have solutions. how did we get here? ms. jayapal: earlier this congress, congress passed cruel inhumane broken border bill h.r. 2. they say it is the only way to securehe border and say democrats have refused to bring up h.r. 2 in the senate but that bill has failed twice to pass the united states senate receiving 32 votes. there are a lot of republins over there in the senate that didn't vote for.r. 2. and after insisting the only way was to do it through harsh

security border legislation republicans even managed to get some democrats to agree to a border bill in the senate that was written by the senate's second most republican senator a bill leader mitch mcconnell called the toughest border bill in 30 years. what happened to that bill? donald trump to do anything to help the border because he wants immigration to be out there as a campaign issue and other republicans said they didn't want to do quote too damn much to help a democrat. hours after the 370-paged text of the bill was released, speake johnson declared the bill dead on arrival. the rank a file and the senate bill died before the ink was even dry. republicans have showed clely what we democrats have been saying over and over again they don't want to do anything on to

help address the issues we face of a broken immigration system. instead of solving a problem my colleagues on the other side want to weaponnize the border for this election year. the truth is that the situation at the border is directly linked to the fact that our legal immigration system haseen left in chaos because it hasn't been modernized in 30 years to meet the needs of our country families. when the legal process is so backed up that it takes decades to get children into the country or employersan't get people to hire because there is a backlog that haven't been processed or when we have so few immigration judges that asylum seekers wait eight years to get cases heard. people give in to actors

including the cartels if they pay money they can get them. until you fix the legal immigration system so that it works and update the caps and quotas you will see large numbers of migrants at the border. you cannot fix the border without fixing the underlying system and only fix it with harsh immigration policies. speaker johnson have been caught.

the resolution alleges that the biden administration is not removing people fast enough. in the eight months since ending title 42, this administration has returned or removed over half a million roughly equivalent to the numberf people removed and returned in the trump administration in all of 2019. it states quote it could comply with the mandatory with the act which no administration including the trump administration has ever complied with because no congres has ever extraordinary levels of funding that such compliance would require. the resolution complains that the president isn'ton of entry authority but republicans want to forget that president trump tried to doy that in november of 2018 and he was stopped by the courts even the supreme court

refused to intervene and lift the lower court injunction. enforcement policies do not stop people from crossing the border. when president trump implemented remain in mexico, that summer we saw some of the highest levels of migration of the entire trump administration. and when president trump used title 42 to turn back all border crossers actually shot up not down. cartels made moneyand over fist by providing people with multiple entry attempt packages. one individual was apprehended over 40 times alone. from february 1 of 2017 to december 31 of 2020, the duration of donald tmp's presidency illegal border crossings wen up by 300%.

the arduous dangerous journey here on a whim they do it because they are fleeing for their lives or desperate to escape an unbliivel situation in their he country and because of that they will continue to come no matter how many policies they have to face once they arrive. we need a system that actually works inside the united states, legal pathways for people to come to this country. the way to fix the border is modernize our current immigration system and provides people about different opportunities and abilities to apply to be with their families or to come here and work or flee war or torture and have their applications and claims processed in a timely way. we have already seen when we provide workable ways for people to seek refuge, they will use

them and encounters between ports of entry fall dramatically. this resolution showsnce again that republicans don't want to do anything to fix a border. this is a resolution that literally does absolutely nothing. changes not one single policy that is on the books. i urge all my colleagues to oppose this resolution and i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleladym washingn reserves. the gentleman from south carolina is recognized. mr. fry: i yield five minutes to the gentlelady from texas the auth of this resolution. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. >> thank you to my friend for yielding. i rise in strong support of house resolution 1065, which is critical to addressing one of the most pressing challenges of our time, the unprecedented crisis at our southern

this resolution is not just a condemnation of this administration's policies, but a call to action, a plea for a return to responsibility, security and the rule of law. the biden administration's approach to border security marked by its relentless pursuit of political correctness at the expense of commose and american lives has reached a point of abject failure. this was made painfully clear by the president's abhorrent recent statements where he felt compelled to apologize for accurately identifying a murderer a murderer as an illegal immigrant. let me be very clear. as granddaughter of mexican immigrants myself, i am very proud of our heritage. in fact, the community where my

family and i live is over90% to encounter anyone outside of three or four activists here in washington d.c. who are offended by calling laken riley's killer exactly what he an illegal immigrant who is a murdere in fact where i'm from, being called an illegal immigrant is perhaps the kindest thing we would say about such a despicable individual, who is a murderer. the outrage seems reserved for those who are out of touch with the realities of every day americans including the vast majority of hispanics who are sick and tired of extremists using our culture a shield for their radical open bders'

agenda. president biden's apology is emblem attic of a broader issue. our broader policy just as with this administration is dictated by the needs of americans but by e whims of d.c. insiders and elitists who just don't care about working americans. their policies have jeopardized the safety and well-being of american families and the migrants and children who are being exploited by the ruthless cartels. this resolution once again brings to light the harrowing reality t president biden and secretary mayorkas' watch, our nation has witnessed border crisis in american history. the resolution is clear on its

demand. it is time for this administration to uphold its responsibilities. we must asylum agreements with safer countries employ expedite removal authority judiciously and ensure that those not admissible are detained as federal law requires. this is not merely a question of immigration policy, but of national security. publ safety and basic human dignity. i respectfully implore my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support house reso 1065. let us send a resounding message to the safety and security of ameran citizens that the safety and security of american citizens are nonnegotiable. we deserve sensible, secure and

humane immigration system. for the sake of our nation, for the protection of our citizens and integrity of our borders i urge you to support this resolution. thank you. i yield b the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. mr. fry: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from washington is recognized. ms. jayapal: no president has ever been able to detain everybody that is required by law because we have never appropriated that amount of money. it's my great pleasure to yield two minutes to the the gentlewoman from new york, representative velazquez. thspeaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the genelady from new york for two minutes. ms. velazquez: thank you for yielding. mr. speaker, if republicans were really interested in fing our broken immigration system, why are we wasting our time debating

this nonbinding resolution? republicans claim that all president biden needs to do to fix our immigration system is to unconstitutionally shut down the border and return to the draconian policies of the trump administration. immigration in our country has been broken for decades. an enforcement-only immigration solutions ow that. we must also recognition the positive benefits of immigration. according to the c.b.o., increased immigration will help bolster our economy by about trillion over the next decade. if republicans really care about addressing the problems of our immigration system, theyill join with democrats to pass

thoughtful and bipartisan legislation to actually address the problem thy -- at the border. but guess what? they are not interested in doing that. all they need is a political talking point. instead, we are debating a yet we're debating a policy tt will do nothing to help no one. i urge my colleagues to oppose this resolution and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from washington reserves. the gentleman from south carolina is recognized. mr. fry: i yield three minutes to the gentleman fm california. the speaker pro tempore: the speaker recognizes the gentleman from california three minutes. >> this resolution reflects the testimonyf the immigration of the house judiciary committee recently received from experts and former i.c.e. officials that the president has the fl authority in existing law to

secure our borders. he simply refuses to do so. donald trump enforced our laws. he used title 42 to stop millions of illegal crossings. he required asylum claants to remain in mexico or other safe third countries until their ses were heard. he enforced court ordered deportations and it worked. illegal immigration fell to a 46-year low. now, the laws didn't change. the president changed. on biden's first day in office, heain in mexico policy he ordered i.c.e. to stop enforcing court-ordered deportations andrdered all construction on the border to cease. since that day this administration has deliberately released more than.5 million legal aliens in our country and allowed an additional 1.8 million to evade apprehension by

theerwhelmed. that is a combined population of illel migrants that entered in this country the size of the state of missouri. the 18th largest state with eight congressional districts. i repeat the laws didn't change the president changed. last year, the house passed h.r. 2 to make it harder for future presidents to flout the law but senate democrats killed it. instead, they tout a bill that would leave a future president powerless to enforce our immigration laws until illegal crossings reached a minimum of 4,000 per day. this crisis is exactly what the democrats promised to unleash anexactly what they have unleashed and d three years. the hard truth is that that cannot be fixed by the congress. that can only be fixed by replacing this administration

with one that will secure our border enforce our laws, and protect our people. can only be done by the american people at the ballot box. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from califor the gentleman from south carolina. mr. fry: i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from washington is recognized. mr. jaypal: i have no more speakers and am ready to close. mr. fry: i have no more speakersed i'm ready to close. i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from washington is recognized to close. mr. jaypal: thank you mr. speaker. we're very efficient here. we may not know it from the language being used today, we're debating a immigration resolution that is nonbinding. that means it does absolutely nothing. it is rhetoric, but it makes no actual policy changes to address the outdated immigration system. it does not a single thing other than take up time for debate on

this floor when we should be working on making sure that our government doesn't shut down. rather than debating the meaningless resolutions we should be meaningfully reform the broken immigration system to expand lawful immigration to the united states given the documented benefits that it brings. in 2021 alone talka recipients -- daca recipients paid $6 billion and refuse fees paid $28 billion and t.p.s. holders paid $2.2 billion in taxes. in 2021 undocumented immigrants paid approximate $18.6 million in federal income taxes and $12.2 billion in state and local taxes. recently the department of health and human services released a study demonstrating that refugees and others

generated $124 billion in fisca years. and the congressional budget office a nonpartisan entity, recently released a report finding that recent immigrants who joined the work force will add $1 trillion in revenue to our country's g.d.p. between 2023 and 2034, and $7 trillion overall to our g.d.p. it's also estimated that putting undocumented immigrants on a roadmap to citizenship would not only increase u.s. g.d.p. by $1.7 trillion that action would raise wages for all americans and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs. unfortunately, republicans talk a big game when it comes to immigration and border security. but instead of trying to pass thoughtful and bipartisan legislation to address the problems in our immigration system we are wasting our time onesolutions like the one before u cannot be clearer

republicannings are simply not interested in solutions -- republicans are simply not interested in solutions. le me yield one minute to the chair of the hisnic caucus, ms. barragon for three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for three minutes. ms. barragon: i rise to oppos another house resolution from the republicans. it's republicans who refuse to vote for additionalesources to address challenges at the southern border but instead spend their time on empty messaging resolutions such as this. worse yet they continue to lie. ms. barragan. look at this resolution. the resolution says the biden administration suspended and

terminated asylum cooperative agreements with el salvador, guatemala and honduras, established by the previous administration. the fact is, two of these agreements were never implemented by the previous administration. and one was paused at the of covid. the pandemic. the resolution says the biden administraon has refused to use its authority to detain inadmissible mile rants. inadmissible migrants. the fact is that no administration including the trump administration, hasmplied with the act because congre is not funding and providing the funds and the previous administration never even asked for the funding to come close to having this mandatory detention for all. something i don't even agree with. but yet even the prior administration didn't do that. now, this administration the

biden administration is actually detaining migrants. the fact is the biden administration is detaining approximate 39,000 inadmissible migrants. th resolution also says the biden administration has the authority to use expedited removal and is refusing to use expedited removal. again, that's not true. let's look at the facts. the biden administration has expanded expedited removal to remove hundreds of thousands of people. my point today is this just goes to show you republicans are not serious about the border. if they were serious they would stick to the facts they would stick to solutions. this bill, this resolution is not about solutions but all about politics. they've consistently opposed legislation to increase funding at the southern border.

it's republicans who refuse to coiderresident biden's $13.6 billion funding at the border. let me talk what's in that. republicans refused to give $850 million to combat fentanyl from crossinghe southern border. it's republicans who refuse to consider $723 million to hire additional customs and border protection officers and border patrol agents. and republicans even refused $1 billion for i.c.e. detention beds. ms. jaypal: one more minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. ms. barragan: the republicans refused money to put in new

fentan technology at points of entries. republicans have said no to all of this. then the biden administration helped craft a punitive conservative bipartisan immigration bill that i didn't even support. house republicans said no before the ink was dry why? cause donald trump called and said d't consider it, we don't want to do anything at all. i need a campaign issue. that's what this is about. time and time again. republicans have had a chance to do something. they failed to act every time. they misled, they fear mongered, they demonize immigrants and try to convince the american people they are not responsible for their own failus to act. democrats should reject these tactics and dishonest resolution. i urge my colleagues to vote no and yield back to ms. jaypal. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentlelady is recognized.

ms. jaypal: i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from south carolina is recognized. mr. fry: i'm prepared to close. unfortunately, my colleagues on the other side suffer from a bit of amnesia. because just as quickly as these border patrololicies were taken away at the stroke of a pen at the start of this administration, the purpose of the resolion is to remind our president who seems to have forgotten he has every authority to put back the policies that worked in the first place with that same stroke of a pen. there are steps today this administration could unilaterally do, ending catch and release reinstating the migrant protection protocols entering back into asylum cooperative agreements with latin american countries ending abusel authority expediting removal authority and reigning in taxpayer funded benefits for illegal alien. the biden administration created this crisis at the southern border and can end it with the stroke of a pen. this resolution calls out these numerous actions the biden administration has taken to

systematically open up our borders and i strongly urge my colleagues to support house resolution 1065. i yield the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from south carolina yields back. all time for debate has expired. pursuant to house resolution 1071 the previous question is ordered on the resolution in the preamble. the question is on adoption of the resolution. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. it. the resolution is agreed to and without objection, a motion to -- the gentleman from south carolina requests the yeas and nays. those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counte. a sufficient nber having arisen the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question are postponed.

before the house is a communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, sir i hereby submit my resignation effective at the end of the calendar day on march 22, 2024 as the united states repre fourth district of colorado. enclosed is a lettei submitted to the governor of colorado. it's been an honor and privilege to serve t people of colorado and to serve with you and other great members of congress, signed sincerely ken buck, member of congress. the speaker pro tempore: pursuan t to clause 12-a of rule 1 the chair declares the house in re de cou talessionspan. c-span now our free mobile app

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