Legislative Program
Floor Speech
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Mr. CLYBURN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
On Monday, the House will meet at 12 p.m. for morning hour and 2 p.m. for legislative business, with votes postponed until 6:30 p.m.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the House will meet at 10 a.m. for morning hour and 12 p.m. for legislative business.
On Thursday, the House will meet at 9 a.m. for legislative business.
Next week, the House will begin our work to advance appropriations bills to fund the government for fiscal year 2023 and consider H.R. 8294, a minibus package of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development; Agriculture and Rural Development; Energy and Water Development; Financial Services and General Government; Interior and Environment; and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs.
The House will also consider Representative Kathy Manning's H.R. 8373, the Right to Contraception Act, which will protect in Federal statute the rights enshrined in Griswold v. Connecticut and Eisenstadt v. Baird.
American women deserve to be able to make decisions about their own bodies and their own lives, including whether to become pregnant and have children.
The House will consider bills under suspension of the rules. A complete list of suspension bills will be announced by the close of business today.
Additional legislative matters are possible.
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Mr. CLYBURN. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I assure you that we will get to discuss and debate and hopefully pass all of these bills at the appropriate time.
However, I am sure the gentleman is aware that Russia's war against Ukraine is driving up prices all over the world--Putin's price hike.
Three weeks ago, the price of crude oil was trading at $115.25 per barrel. It closed yesterday at $96.47 a barrel, a decrease of $18.78 per barrel, or a decrease of 16 percent in almost a month.
The average price for gasoline, a gallon of gas, last month was $5.01. It is now $4.57. It decreased 44 cents, or a decrease of 8 percent, in a month. Funny how that works.
Cuts at the pump are half that of the price of crude, and we are shocked to know that major oil companies are raking in record profits.
The House passed the Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act, which will help ease inflation, which the gentleman voted against and quipped against. This bill helps Americans save money at the gas pump by promoting local, renewable energy production, and it also expands access to E15.
The House also passed the Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act to prevent all corporations from prioritizing profits instead of increasing supply. It empowers the FTC to crack down on oil companies that excessively overcharge their consumers for gas just to boost their bottom line.
The President has released historic amounts from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a million gallons a day, and expanded access to cheaper E15 gas across the Midwest, among other steps to bring down energy prices.
The Biden administration has approved more drilling permits on public lands in 2021 than the previous administration did each year during the first 3 years in office, 2017, 2018, and 2019.
The Biden administration is also working with our allies and partners around the world to implement a price cap on Russian oil so that we can continue to inflict pain on Putin while minimizing the pain at the pump.
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Mr. CLYBURN. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
I think the gentleman is well aware that the President has certain authorities that he can use, and he is using them. The oil companies have certain responsibilities, and the question is whether or not they are living up to their responsibilities.
I know the gentleman is as aware as I am of all the permits out there that are not being utilized. Of course, we are at the mercy of those corporate decisions. Hopefully, they will be made in due course and in such a way that would bring relief to the American people.
I suspect the consideration of all those bills that you are discussing will be taken up by the leader at the time that he considers to be appropriate. I, along with the gentleman, will continue to consult, and hopefully, we can address all these issues in the very-- let's just say shortly.
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Mr. CLYBURN. Thank you for yielding.
As the gentleman knows, proxy voting has been utilized by both sides of the aisle. I admit it can be a very cumbersome process here on the floor, but we all utilize it. It is done because it serves a very valuable purpose for this institution.
We have made great strides in mitigating the harm of the coronavirus pandemic through vaccines and treatments, but as we both know, the disease continues to spread in both of our home States.
We are hearing numbers that are very concerning. In just this week of this session alone, I know of several Members who have tested positive for COVID and are, therefore, isolating.
These Members can still participate in the process and represent their constituents by using the proxy vote. Of course, having the proxy vote and having 2-minute votes doesn't seem a pretty efficient process to me. We are having a hard time getting it done during 5 minutes.
We just had several 5-minute votes, and I saw on my friend's side of the aisle about 15 people still lined up after the time has expired.
Both of us are being disadvantaged and inconvenienced by this process, but I think it is something that we have to do. I don't know how we could be efficient in this operation with 2-minute voting.
I will pass that along to the leader and hope that he will keep in mind that coronavirus is still here with us, as the gentleman knows.
We serve together on the coronavirus select subcommittee, and we are confronted with issues that still concern the American people. I think that we have to keep all of that in mind as we try to carry out the people's business.
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