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03Resignation as Member of Committee on Homeland Security
04Discharge Petitions: Additions and Withdrawals
Daily Digest
Public Bills and Resolutions Introduced
22 public bills, H.R. 4271- 4292; and 1 resolution, H. Res. 567, were introduced.
Pages H3188-89
Reports Filed
Reports were filed today as follows: H. Res. 566, providing for consideration of the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 1) to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of H. Con. Res. 14 (H. Rept. 119-179); H.R. 3898, to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to make targeted reforms with respect to waters of the United States and other matters, and for other purposes, with an amendment (H. Rept. 119-180); H.R. 261, to amend the National Marine Sanctuaries Act to prohibit requiring an authorization for the installation, continued presence, operation, maintenance, repair, or recovery of undersea fiber optic cables in a national marine sanctuary if such activities have previously been authorized by a Federal or State agency, with amendments (H. Rept. 119-181); H.R. 900, to direct the Director of the United States Geological Survey to establish a program to map zones that are at greater risk of sinkhole formation, and for other purposes, with an amendment (H. Rept. 119-182); H.R. 1043, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain Federal land in Arizona to La Paz County, Arizona, and for other purposes (H. Rept. 119-183); H.R. 2037, to provide outreach and technical assistance to small providers regarding Open RAN networks, and for other purposes, with an amendment (H. Rept. 119-184); H.R. 3015, to reestablish the National Coal Council in the Department of Energy to provide advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Energy on matters related to coal and the coal industry, and for other purposes (H. Rept. 119-185); and H.R. 3062, to establish a more uniform, transparent, and modern process to authorize the construction, connection, operation, and maintenance of international border-crossing facilities for the import and export of oil and natural gas and the transmission of electricity, with an amendment (H. Rept. 119-186, Part 1).
Page H3188
Speaker
Read a letter from the Speaker wherein he appointed Representative Simpson to act as Speaker pro tempore for today.
Page H3039
Committee Resignation
Read a letter from Representative Garcia (CA) wherein he resigned from the Committee on Homeland Security.
Page H3039
One Big Beautiful Bill Act
The House agreed to the motion to concur in the Senate amendment to H.R. 1, to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of H. Con. Res. 14, by a recorded vote of 218 ayes to 214 noes, Roll No. 190.
Page H3187
H. Res. 566, amended, the rule providing for consideration of the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 1) was agreed to by a yea-and-nay vote of 219 yeas to 213 nays, Roll No. 189, after the amendment offered by Representative Foxx was agreed to by a recorded vote of 220 ayes to 212 noes, Roll No. 188, after the previous question was ordered by a yea-and-nay vote of 214 yeas to 212 nays, Roll No. 187. Earlier, the House agreed to consider the resolution by a yea-and-nay vote of 212 yeas to 211 nays, Roll No. 186.
Pages H3041-42, H3057, H3057-58, H3058-59
Senate Referrals
S. 98 was held at the desk. S. 257 was held at the desk.
Page H3187
Senate Messages
Messages received from the Senate by the Clerk and subsequently presented to the House today appears on page H3039. Quorum Calls--Votes: Three yea-and-nay votes and two recorded votes developed during the proceedings of today and appear on pages H3041-42, H3057, H3507-58, H3058-59, H3187. Adjournment: The House met at 9 a.m. and adjourned at 2:33 p.m. on Thursday, July 3rd.
Every speech and line is the Congressional Record's own text, read from GovInfo. Speakers are matched to members by GPO's own metadata. Referandom places each turn on the Clerk's video by matching its words: 51 of 600 spoken turns were found. Turns without a time are still listed; they just can't seek.
Resignation as Member of Committee on Homeland Security
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the resignation is accepted.
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to section 426(a) of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, I make a point of order against consideration of the rule, House Resolution 566.
Section 426(a) of the Budget Act specifically states that the Rules Committee may not waive the point of order prescribed by section 425 of that same act. House Resolution 566 states that it is in order to consider a motion that the House concur in the Senate amendment to H.R. 1: ``Without intervention of any point of order.''
Therefore, I make a point of order pursuant to section 426(a) that this rule may not be considered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Massachusetts makes a point of order that the resolution violates section 426(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
The gentleman has met the threshold burden under the rule and the gentleman from Massachusetts and a Member opposed each will control 10 minutes of debate on the question of consideration. Following debate, the Chair will put the question of consideration as the statutory means of disposing of the point of order.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Massachusetts.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, let me say this once again: We will not stand by and watch Trump and his billionaire friends destroy this country without putting up one hell of a fight.
Because this rule waives the point of order against unfunded mandates, it is not in order to consider it on the floor.
The bill Republicans are attempting to jam through the House today cuts nutritional assistance for moms and dads, kids, people with disabilities, veterans, and senior citizens. It goes after the most important people in our lives, our families, to fund massive tax breaks for the richest people in the world. I think that that is wrong, and I think it is immoral.
More than just a massive betrayal of the American people, this bill is also a massive, new unfunded mandate on States. Don't just take my word for it. The nonpartisan experts of the Congressional Budget Office said title I of the bill, the Agriculture Committee's portion of this awful bill, would impose intergovernmental mandates by requiring States, for the first time ever, to provide State funding for food assistance benefits, increasing the share of food assistance administrative costs paid by States and requiring State agencies to perform additional administrative duties. This massive, new unfunded mandate would cost States a whopping $19 billion each year.
Mr. Speaker, where the hell are States going to come up with this kind of money? They can't. What will happen is, people will get kicked off of food assistance, and they will go hungry.
State after State has written to Congress begging us not to pass this awful bill. They have made it very clear that if this bill goes through, States will be forced to cut benefits, kick eligible people off of food assistance entirely, or raise taxes to pay for this massive new bureaucracy that Republicans are creating in every State in this country.
The chairman of the Agriculture Committee's home State of Pennsylvania would have to come up with over $1 billion to cover the State's share of benefit costs. There is no State in this country who is able to take on this kind of massive, unfunded mandate.
We are talking about basic needs for people. It is a food assistance benefit of $2 per meal so people don't go hungry. By the way, that money not only lifts people out of poverty, it improves health and it uplifts local economies, too.
Hunger costs this country, and food assistance programs save us money. People who have enough food to eat are more productive at work. Kids who are not hungry are able to learn better at school. Seniors who take their medication on a full stomach are less likely to go to emergency rooms.
No American should go without food. This is a human rights issue. We live in the richest country on Earth for God's sake. Not a single kid in this country should go to bed hungry, not a single damn one, especially not when Republicans are giving millionaires and billionaires a big, fat tax break.
Mr. Speaker, what is wrong with my Republican colleagues? In this bill, they provide a $2 billion tax break for gun silencers, but they cut SNAP benefits for vulnerable families, which, by the way, is on average $2 per person per meal. Jesus Christ, what are you people thinking?
Mr. Speaker, the question before the House is: Should the House now consider House Resolution 566? Though the resolution waives all points of order against consideration of the motion to concur in the Senate amendment to H.R. 1, the Committee on Rules is not aware of any violation of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act, nor has the Congressional Budget Office identified any violation of the act.
The reason for this motion is plain and obvious. It is not a legitimate attempt to question consideration, but simply a dilatory tactic to further delay consideration of this historic legislation and to give the Democrats more time to mislead Americans.
We must dispense with this question of consideration so we can move the process forward and enact the agenda President Trump and the American people have demanded.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member McGovern for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this rule and the underlying bill.
For the first time in history, this bill would force States to pay for part of SNAP benefits, and it would require States to increase their share of administrative costs.
This is an unfunded mandate, plain and simple.
Let's be clear. The costs are staggering, the consequences are devastating, and the cruelty is deeply disturbing.
This policy punishes those who can least afford it: seniors on a fixed income, veterans, and families already forced to choose between gas and groceries.
States will be stuck in a corner. They will cut benefits, cut eligibility, or cut public safety, education, housing, and mental health programs just to stay afloat.
This isn't just a budgeting decision. It is a values decision, and for what? All to take from the hungry and give it to the wealthy. To slash SNAP benefits just $6 per day hands a quarter-million-dollar tax break to the top 0.1 percent. That is not policy. That is plunder. The math doesn't lie.
In North Carolina, it is $400 million. That is more than the entire State budget for child development and early education. In Georgia, it is $500 million, double what the State spends on child welfare. In my State of Ohio, it is $300 million, four times the transportation budget.
My colleagues are writing checks that the government can't cash. When the money runs out, the food runs out. Children will go hungry. Seniors will skip meals. Veterans, working moms, and working dads will be turned down
This mandate isn't just unfunded. It is unfathomable.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to reject this provision, reject this rule, and reject this betrayal. Don't reward the rich on the backs of hungry Americans.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today against the Republican reconciliation bill, which would put 42 million Americans at risk of losing their SNAP benefits.
These policies are untested, dangerous, and arbitrary. Congress did not engage in a thoughtful process to make these changes to SNAP. The majority has not held a single hearing on the Nutrition, Foreign, Agriculture, and Horticulture Subcommittee on the cost-sharing provisions or the impact of this legislation. They have not solicited feedback from stakeholders or experts on what these changes would mean to States and hungry families who rely on SNAP.
The Republicans did not examine these policies closely because they knew it would take food away from hungry families and they didn't care. They have chosen to provide tax cuts for the wealthiest individuals. They know these changes will devastate State budgets.
In my home State of Connecticut, we could have to pay up to an additional $221 million per year for SNAP benefits and an additional $39 million for administrative costs.
Connecticut, like most States, will have to come up with these funds or deny basic services that they need for other things, like education, public safety, healthcare, and providing for our roads and bridges in our States. Notably, not every State will be subject to this change.
Late into the night, the Republican majority jumped through hoops to exempt noncontiguous States from these policies to pass cruel legislation. That is why we are up here writing legislation on the fly to protect some Americans while going after others.
No one should go hungry, whether they live in Connecticut, Alaska, Hawaii, or anywhere. It should not matter where you live or what kind of deal your Senator made. Everybody deserves to eat.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to reject this irresponsible legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I don't think any of my Republican colleagues have read this provision in the reconciliation bill. In fact, the Agriculture Committee never even did a hearing on it. Yet, billions and billions of dollars in new costs are going to be thrust upon States. States are going to have to decide whether to cut other programs in order to make sure that no one loses their nutrition benefits, or they are going to have to cut people off their nutrition benefits.
The SNAP benefit, on average, is about $2 per person per meal. That is it. You can't buy a damn cup of coffee in the Capitol with that. My Republican friends are obsessed with trying to throw people off of this benefit. I have no idea why.
Most of the people on the benefit are children and senior citizens. They include veterans. Many of them are working full time and can't afford to put food on the table. This benefit helps them provide for their families.
My Republican friends have basically gone on an attack on this most basic, effective program that is about food. You can live without a lot of things, but you can't live without food.
Mr. Speaker, for those Republicans who think it is okay to give Jeff Bezos a tax cut and, at the same time, cut food benefits for struggling families, let me say clearly that we don't share the same values.
Unloading billions of dollars in new costs on States, money they do not have, will force them to cut benefits and throw needy people off of SNAP. It is a rotten thing to do.
I believe there is a special place in hell for people who take food away from veterans, seniors, children, former foster youth, and hungry families. This is sick. This is disgusting.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 212, nays 211, not voting 9, as follows:
Messrs. GARCIA of California, GARCIA of Illinois, Mrs. McCLAIN DELANEY, Messrs. CROW and SMITH of Washington changed their vote from ``yea'' to ``nay.''
Messrs. JACKSON of Texas and HARRIS of Maryland changed their vote from ``nay'' to ``yea.''
So the question of consideration was decided in the affirmative.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina is recognized for 1 hour.
Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, during consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only.
Mr. Speaker, Republicans stand ready to deliver H.R. 1 directly to the President's desk for his signature.
Late last year, the American people rallied en masse behind the Republican vision for a renewed Nation. It is a nation no longer blighted by the cataclysmic failures of the previous administration, and a nation primed and ready to enter the golden age.
One of the many strong reinforced byproducts of our Republican vision is the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. It is one of the most consequential pieces of legislation that any party has ever passed and for good reason.
The provisions interwoven in this legislation are monumental. They are what the American people voted for in November: historic tax relief for working families; massive investments to secure our Nation's borders; capturing generational savings; and slashing waste, fraud, and abuse in government programs so that they may run more efficiently for those who truly need them.
Mr. Speaker, I could opine at length about the wins that Republicans have secured in this bill, wins that we have been highlighting to the American people for months. Meanwhile, our Democratic colleagues have resorted to fear-mongering and wailing from their bully pulpits in the hopes of deceiving the American people.
For months, we have heard Democrats claim that the sky was falling, that all hope is lost because H.R. 1 will bring about the end times, and a litany of other outlandish and absurd claims. They are so desperate to smear H.R. 1 and deny the American people the policies that the American people overwhelmingly voted for in November.
Let's again focus on what this bill accomplishes. It yields the single greatest cut in wasteful government spending in congressional history by slashing far more than a trillion dollars of bloat. It preserves the greatest battle-tested set of tax cuts for working families that our Nation has ever seen or our economy has ever realized. It doubles down on the border priorities of the most successful enforcement efforts by a President in our Nation's history. It realigns our economy in defense of American workers, American energy, American businesses, and American job creators to unleash the engines of our economy, raise the tide of our economic standards, and bring a new definition of American greatness to the world.
Perhaps the reason why Democrats are so desperate to smear this legislation is because they are caught in their own self-inflicted malaise of denial. Perhaps they still can't accept that Americans chose Republicans to lead the Nation instead of them.
That said, Mr. Speaker, Republicans are not distracted by that fear- mongering and doomsaying of those who want H.R. 1 to fail. The facts are on our side, and we have been cutting through the noise by bringing those facts to the American people for months.
So that the record is clear, a vote against this legislation is a vote to green-light the largest tax increase in American history being levied against everyday men and women, to decimate millions of jobs across America, and to kneecap the capabilities and readiness of the Nation's military. This is not fear-mongering like what our colleagues across the aisle have been engaging in. These are just facts.
Mr. Speaker, the pathway forward is crystal clear. The House must pass this rule and pass the Senate amendment to H.R. 1 so that more wins can be delivered to the American people. The American people deserve to keep winning, and to deny them that opportunity is a flagrant disservice.
This legislation is the embodiment of the America First agenda, and we would all do well to remember that. Failure at this critical juncture is not an option. This clock is ticking. The President and the American people are waiting.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, this process is an abomination, legislative malpractice. Final text of this bill came out less than 24 hours ago. We met in committee an hour after it was posted, and now, we are here considering a rule that allows for only 1 hour of debate.
This bill is within the jurisdiction of 12 different committees. One hour is ridiculous. Every minute, we are finding out new things that were snuck into the bill, like a tax cut for whalers. Now, we are learning about a gambling tax.
Republican leadership and the White House are jamming this bill down our throats. For what? We are not on a deadline. There is no looming crisis.
We are here because Donald Trump wants a Fourth of July party to celebrate this garbage bill. He wants fireworks, flags, and cameras, not for this country, but for himself. He says to close your ears, close your eyes, and vote for this bill. Honestly, it sounds more like a cult than a Congress to me.
Some Republicans promised their voters no cuts to Medicaid and no new debt. Now, they are flipping faster than pancakes at a campaign breakfast. The House passed it hoping the Senate would kill it. The Senate passed it hoping the House would grow a spine.
Everyone is playing a game of legislative chicken, voting for a bad bill and thinking the other Chamber will be the one to fix it. This is nuts.
Trump says: ``Have fun, and Vote `YAY.' '' Have fun gutting Medicaid? Vote ``yea'' on taking away food from poor families? Are you serious?
This bill is catastrophic. It is not policy. It is punishment.
Let's talk facts. It slashes Medicaid, cuts Medicare, and dismantles the ACA. It shutters rural hospitals, closes nursing homes, and wipes out health centers. It takes food off kitchen tables, throws clean energy workers out of jobs, and spikes utility bills. Why? So billionaires and oil companies can
Jeff Bezos just had a $50 million wedding in Venice, and they want to give him another tax break. Meanwhile, families making under $50,000 a year get less than a buck a day in tax cuts. You can't even buy a cup of coffee with that.
The cost? Over $3 trillion added to the debt and a $5 trillion debt ceiling raise brought to you by the very people who won't shut up about so-called fiscal responsibility.
This isn't tax reform to relieve the middle and working class. It is a robbery that will result in the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich our country has ever seen.
Let's not lie to the American people. This is about taking from the most vulnerable to pay off the already powerful. It is about pleasing one man who is holding this Congress hostage with primary threats and social media tantrums.
This bill is cruel. It is cowardly. It is a betrayal of everything this country is supposed to stand for.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the rule to consider H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The stakes for the American people could not be higher. We are rapidly approaching a fiscal cliff. If we do nothing, the Trump tax cuts, the most progrowth tax reforms in generations, will expire.
That means higher taxes on nearly every American. That means a gutted child tax credit. That means small businesses will lose the tools they need to survive and to thrive. That means less take-home pay for working families that have already been crushed by the Biden-era inflation.
This isn't some hypothetical scenario. This is the Democrats' game plan. They want to raise taxes. They want to punish success. They want more people dependent on government and fewer people building independent lives. Republicans will not let that happen.
With H.R. 1, we are stepping in to lock in the Trump tax cuts permanently and to provide targeted new relief to the workers and the families who keep this country running: seniors, tipped workers, and those putting in overtime to get ahead.
Mr. Speaker, this bill also takes a critical step to protect and strengthen Medicaid, a vital program for millions of Americans.
Let me be very clear about something: This isn't anything radical. We are restoring the same commonsense work requirements that President Bill Clinton signed into law in the 1990s, one of the most popular things he did.
Back then, a Democratic President worked with a Republican Congress to say that if you are able-bodied and adult without dependents and receiving government assistance, you should be expected to work, train, or volunteer and participate in the economy. It worked. Poverty dropped, employment rose, and millions of Americans moved from welfare to work and independence.
Democrats today have abandoned that model. They want permanent government dependency. They will oppose any form of accountability, and they will vilify anyone who dares to suggest that opportunity should come with responsibility. Republicans are standing up for what works and what is right.
We are saying Medicaid must remain a lifeline for the truly vulnerable: children, seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income parents.
However, for able-bodied adults without kids, yes, you should try to work, just like in the 1990s, just like under President Bill Clinton.
This isn't extreme. It is not partisan. It is proven policy that respects both taxpayers and lifts people up.
Mr. Speaker, this bill delivers economic relief, fiscal sanity, and basic fairness. It secures the future of our economy and our safety net.
Let's choose the path that has been tested and proven to work. Let's approve this rule. Let's pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and let's get this country back on track.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I want to alert all Members to something about this rule. It has a mistake in it.
Republicans have rushed this process from the very beginning to meet Trump's artificial July 4 deadline, and this rule is no exception.
We found an error in the rule at 2 a.m. after the Rules Committee reported the rule. This is going to sound a little in the weeds, but they forgot to do something called considering the previous question as ordered on their big ugly bill.
Now, let me put that in English. What that means is they won't have an escape hatch once they start debate on this bill. If they start it and they realize they don't have the votes, they still have to take the embarrassing vote. There are also other consequences, but this Speaker's timeout authority is the one Republican leadership is most afraid of.
Now, I expect they will try to fix this with an amendment, but I have a question for Members. If this Republican leadership cannot get a one- paragraph rule right, can we really trust them to get an 870-page bill right?
Not only are we going to find things that were sneaked into this bill, we are going to find massive mistakes that have unintended consequences for people and industries across this country.
This whole process has been lousy, and this rule is no exception.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to address the American citizens for just a couple of minutes.
I know many of our citizens are concerned about some of the language in the bill, and I think maybe the reason they are concerned is because the people that are telling them what is in the bill never bothered to read the bill, so I thought I would just read to them a part.
If the Democrats have read this, then they are lying to the general public.
This excerpt is on SNAP. ``Exceptions. Paragraph (2) shall not apply to an individual if the individual is-- (A) under 18, or over 65, years of age;
(B) medically certified as physically or mentally unfit for employment;
(C) a parent or other member of a household with responsibility for a dependent child under 14 years of age . . .''
When the Democrats are telling you that we are kicking disabled people off of SNAP or we are kicking disabled people off of Medicaid, it is an absolute lie.
Look at pages 16 and 17 of the legislation. It will take about 60 seconds to read it. That is exactly what it says.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend, the gentleman from Massachusetts, the ranking member of the Rules Committee, for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, as we reach the apparent conclusion of this absurd exercise, it is worth asking: What is the purpose of this bill? This bill will strip away health insurance from nearly 17 million people, devastating communities like mine in Rochester, New York. This bill will recklessly eliminate food assistance for nearly 3 million Americans, including nearly a million senior citizens. This bill will explode the deficit by $3.3 trillion.
For what?
Well, Mr. Speaker, sometimes the simplest explanation is closest to the truth. We all saw the gaggle of billionaires sitting behind Donald Trump on Inauguration Day earlier this year. The driving force behind this entire legislative effort has been to grant handouts to those same billionaires and special interests all at the expense of hardworking families.
Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will stop and think again before voting for the worst piece of legislation in generations. But I know one thing for certain, House Democrats will never stop fighting for American families.
Mr. Speaker, today we take another big step toward delivering a course correction for our country. The American people sent us here with a mandate, to fight back and deliver on a promise. That is what the One Big Beautiful Bill Act does.
Americans should first know what my colleagues in opposition to this legislation are voting for and what they are voting against.
Not passing this bill means a $1,700 increase in taxes for the average American family of four. Mr. Speaker, that might not be a big deal to the elites in Manhattan or San Francisco, but it does mean a lot to the people of my district in North Carolina.
Not passing this bill means our Border Patrol officers and our Coast Guard won't have what they need to secure the border and stop the flow of deadly fentanyl.
It doesn't stop there, Mr. Speaker. Opposing this bill also means protecting waste over purpose, fraud over fairness, and foreign interests over American strength.
Mr. Speaker, I want to make sure voters in my district know what passing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will mean for them. It means they get to keep more of their hard-earned money. It means that small businesses can spend more money on their employees instead of sending it to Washington. This bill will make our communities safer by making a historic investment in our border security. No more dangerous, illegal aliens parading around with no consequences.
Mr. Speaker, this legislation is one of the most consequential items we will vote on. It is President Trump's agenda, and it is what we all told the people back home we would do.
Now the House must get it done. I urge all of my colleagues to vote in favor of this rule. Let's choose our country over comfort and get the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to the President's desk.
Mr. Speaker, I know a Senator from North Carolina who disagrees with everything the gentleman just said, including a lot of hospitals in North Carolina that disagree with what he just said.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Raskin), the distinguished ranking member of the Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. Speaker, I found the preamble to this big ugly bill: We, the billionaires and our king, in order to deform and sicken our Union, establish injustice, ensure domestic servility, weaken our people's defenses, undermine the general welfare, and reserve to ourselves and our posterity staggering debt servitude for eternity, do hereby instruct the Republicans in Congress to strip 17 million people of their healthcare, increase copays, deductibles, and premiums for everyone else, cut 42 million people off of nutritional assistance, increase the national debt by $4 trillion, trash renewable energy systems, increase our electric bills for the carbon kings, all to weaken and destroy the Constitution of the people of these United States of America.
Please include this preamble in the legislative Record.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Garcia), the distinguished ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Mr. Speaker, my Democratic colleagues and I believe in a country where we take care of our fellow Americans and the wealthiest pay their fair share. However, Republicans are fighting for the biggest rip-off in American history and the biggest attack on our social safety net in decades.
If this bill passes, 16 million people are going to lose their health insurance. They will take away basic food assistance from millions of veterans, seniors, and kids. The poorest 10 percent of Americans are going to lose $1,600 per person on average while the richest only get richer because of this bill. It is a transfer from the poor and the middle class to the wealthiest. It does all of this while increasing debt over $3 trillion.
What happened to fiscal responsibility?
That means that our grandkids will fund a tax cut for Elon Musk. Now, while I am proud that we are defeating a number of extremely concerning provisions in this House bill, this is our last chance to stand up for our values.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this big BS bill. The American people are watching.
Voters wanted change for one simple reason: It was too expensive to live in America for the last 4 years. Gas prices, rent prices, and food prices were up radically. This bill is designed to help those very people hurt over the last 4 years. People who earn tips or overtime, as well as those who earn Social Security get a big tax cut.
Mr. Speaker, let's be clear, so the American public hears it loud and clear: The current tax rate on the wealthiest Americans is 37 percent. Under this bill, it remains at 37 percent.
At the same time, we are protecting the most vulnerable. Please read the bill. Seniors in nursing homes are unaffected. Persons who are disabled are unaffected. Pregnant women on Medicaid are unaffected. Low-income kids, whose parents aren't making much, are unaffected.
Isn't it nice to see that Washington actually keeps its promises from the campaign trail? This is a welcome change. Donald Trump said that we are going to bring America back by putting more money back in their pockets, instead of sending it up here to Washington, D.C.
He promised a secure border. Mr. Speaker, there is a 99 percent reduction in the number of people coming across the border illegally. That is action. What are we putting in this bill? We are putting in the money needed to make sure it stays that way.
I am proud to support this bill because I came to Washington for one reason: I came to Washington to make promises, keep promises, and prove that the Republicans can lead and are willing to make sure that the great American comeback continues.
Mr. Speaker, I read the bill, too. I want to know why Jeff Bezos and multimillionaires and multibillionaires are getting tax cuts.
Last night, I offered an amendment to let Trump's tax cuts expire only for people earning more than $1 billion a year. Every single Republican voted against it. What is that all about? Follow the money.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson), the distinguished ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for yielding time.
Mr. Speaker, Republicans are openly bragging about how the bill kicks children and the elderly off Medicaid, nutritional assistance, and more, all to pay for another tax break for wealthy Republican donors.
My Republican colleagues are not talking about the trillions and trillions of dollars their political giveaway is going to cost. In fact, Mr. Speaker, Vice President Vance has said historic levels of Homeland Security funding in the bill sweetens the deal for the devil.
This deal means billions of American tax dollars to build a wall Trump promised Mexico would pay for.
This bill means billions of dollars for masked ICE agents to terrorize immigrant families who have been contributing to our country for decades, including law-abiding marines and even American kids.
This bill means billions of dollars for DHS to continue obstructing Congress and denying due process to legal immigrants.
My Republican colleagues may be fooled by the one big, ugly bill, but the American people are not. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the rule and the underlying bill.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Virginia (Ms. Foxx) for her work on this.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the rule and in strong support of H.R. 1, President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Today, Mr. Speaker, we face a watershed moment for the American people. This Republican majority was given a clear mandate by the American people, which is the America First agenda. This bill is our opportunity to deliver on that agenda.
H.R. 1 stops the largest tax increase in U.S. history, while providing the largest tax cut for working-and middle-class families ever, with no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and tax breaks for seniors.
H.R. 1 protects the 87,000 Missouri farms and countless family-owned small businesses from double taxation by expanding the death tax exemption.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act reverses 4 long years of Biden's open- border policies with a generational investment in border security, including funding to complete phase 2 of the border wall.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act modernizes our Armed Forces for 21st century threats by properly funding our military and funding the Golden Dome.
H.R. 1 ends the progressive left's war on American energy by unleashing domestic oil, natural gas, and nuclear energy production. H.R. 1 lowers energy costs, ensuring reliable and stable energy sources. H.R. 1 renews not just energy independence but makes us energy dominant once again.
Finally, H.R. 1 restores fiscal sanity by cutting almost $2 trillion in Federal spending. It rescinds billions in green new scam funding. It eliminates waste, fraud, and abuse from numerous Federal programs.
Mr. Speaker, this is a time for choosing. We can choose to side with the illegal aliens, unelected rogue bureaucrats, and fear-mongering from the America left or we can choose to side with the American people and deliver on the mandate that they gave us back in November.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to put America first, support the rule, and pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Mr. Speaker, cult much? That gentleman's poster says it all. It is not about American families. It is about one big party for Trump. It is about swelling up his ego.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the Speaker Emerita.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for his leadership.
Mr. Speaker, the gentleman just ended by asking us to vote for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, the GOP has a very blurred vision of what America is about.
Is it beautiful to cut off food from seniors and children? Is it beautiful to cut off 17 million people from healthcare? Is it beautiful to do this to give tax cuts to billionaires in our country? Is it beautiful to take money from education and the rest? The list goes on and on.
Nearly 60 years ago, Dr. King said: ``Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhuman because it often results in physical death.''
We come to this floor with the moral force of Dr. King's words in our hearts. Let us not with this bill turn the American Dream he talked about into a nightmare for America's seniors, the disabled, and our children. Let us vote ``no'' on this shameful bill and throw a punch for the children.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters), the distinguished ranking member of the Committee on Financial Services.
Mr. Speaker, this big, ugly bill strikes healthcare from 17 million Americans, shutters hospitals, and starves 12 million people by taking away their food stamps.
These cuts add up to $1.3 trillion, the exact cost of the tax cut Republicans are handing out to the richest 1 percent of Americans. That is not all. The entire bill will add a whopping $3.3 trillion to our Nation's $35 trillion debt. So much for Republicans being the party of fiscal responsibility.
They are also gutting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency that returned $21 billion to families cheated by megabanks. They are cutting housing funds during an affordability crisis and weakening oversight of Wall Street. Maybe they have forgotten that the people elected them, not Trump or the billionaire class.
Mr. Speaker, it will be a cold day in hell before we let Republicans get away with this.
Mr. Speaker, I say that because here in Congress, we measure how much people really believe in their position by whether they are willing to come and join their leaders on the House floor.
I count 4 Members on the Republican side, and we have over 75 here. If I were them, I wouldn't want to be associated with this bill either.
Mr. Speaker, I urge we defeat the previous question. If we do, I will offer an amendment to the rule to consider amendment No. 156 offered by Leader Jeffries, which strikes all provisions that will cause millions of Americans to lose healthcare and food assistance.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment into the Record, along with any extraneous material, immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Massachusetts?
Mr. Speaker, President Trump issued some statements throughout this process saying, urging, and insisting that this bill does not cut Medicaid.
He has also said some things. He says he doesn't think I am too much of a smart person. I will tell you one thing. It doesn't take a smart person to know if you are being lied to.
President Trump, you are either being lied to or you are lying to the American people because this bill represents, in the text of this bill, the largest and greatest loss of healthcare in American history.
Seventeen million Americans will lose their healthcare with this bill, not undocumented people, not the disgusting term ``illegal,'' but 17 million Americans will have their healthcare cut from this bill.
On this point of tax on tips, as one of the only people in this body who has lived off of tips, I want to tell you a little bit about the scam of that text, a little bit of the fine print there.
The cap on that is $25,000, while you are jacking up taxes on people who make less than $50,000 across the United States, while taking away their SNAP, while taking away their Medicaid, and while kicking them off of the ACA and their healthcare extensions.
If you are at home and living off tips, you do the math. Is that worth it to you? Losing all your healthcare, not being able to feed your babies, and not being able to put a diaper on their bottom in exchange for what?
This bill is a deal with the devil. It explodes our national debt. It militarizes our entire economy. It strips away healthcare and basic dignity from the American people. For what? To give Elon Musk a tax break, and billionaires, the greedy, taking our Nation.
We cannot stand for it, and we will not support it. You should be ashamed.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the President, and Members are reminded to direct their remarks to the Chair.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss an important provision in the big, beautiful bill.
I was proud to introduce the Endowment Tax Fairness Act, which would
The Senate gutted this provision and reduced it to under $1 billion annually to protect elite universities that take hundreds of millions of dollars annually in Federal tax dollars.
We were given instructions to generate revenue to pay for President Trump's wonderful priorities. We are not taxing the endowment itself. Harvard has $53 billion. We are not taxing that. We are just going to tax the net earnings on their investments at 21 percent, which is equal to the corporate tax rate.
What did the Senate do? They reduced it to 8 percent, just under 8 percent.
It is about time that we get these universities to pay the same that corporate America pays.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to oppose this vile Republican plunder of working families, seniors, and veterans, all so the richest Americans can be showered with even more wealth.
This billionaire bailout would strip healthcare coverage from 17 million Americans, nearly 2 million in my State of Florida. It would push millions into crowded, costly emergency rooms and saddle them with medical debt.
Trump's big, ugly bill also steals record food assistance from millions of kids, seniors, and veterans.
It makes cancer screenings and prenatal care harder to get by defunding Planned Parenthood.
It cripples solar and wind projects and kills millions of clean, green manufacturing and construction jobs, all so the rich can get huge tax breaks.
No family is unscathed because this bill also blows up the national debt by $4 trillion, which drives up interest rates on car loans and mortgages and triggers billions in Medicare cuts, cutting healthcare for our seniors.
This bill makes life less affordable and more painful. Instead of uplifting lives, it will end them.
When history looks back on this bill, its legacy will be: Trump lied, and people died.
Vote ``no.''
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded, once again, to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the President.
Mr. Speaker, when we say that the Republican Party has turned into a cult, this is what we mean. Our Republican colleagues are pushing a bill that would throw their constituents under the bus, a bill that flies in the face of everything they claim to stand for, all because Donald Trump wants a bill-signing photo op by the Fourth of July.
My Republican colleagues know that this bill will cost 17 million Americans their health insurance. They know that nursing homes in their own districts will have to close down. They know that, under this bill, $5 trillion of debt is being added that will be paid for by my children, your children, and their children for generations to come so that today's billionaires can get a tax break.
They know that this bill is unpopular. Many of their vulnerable Members will lose reelection over it, but the cult leader has decided. He wants his photo op on July Fourth, and our Kool-Aid-drinking colleagues are going along with it.
They know this is wrong. They still have a chance to do right by their constituents and their convictions.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairwoman Virginia Foxx of North Carolina for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, indeed, Republicans were elected last November, but with promises made, promises kept.
Despite the extraordinarily ignorant lies on the other side, the American people know that the bill that we will be voting on today reduces taxes, creating jobs.
It is the elimination of taxes on tips and overtime. It provides for securing the border. It provides for energy independence. It provides for the ability to have peace through strength. All of this is in the bill.
On compassion, it is not compassion to support programs that are ultimately going to fail. Republicans want people who need assistance to receive assistance.
Margaret Thatcher has identified what they are proposing, and that is that socialism will work until you run out of other people's money to spend.
They are putting the poor people of America at risk. We are the ones with compassion.
Additionally, with promises made, promises kept by Donald Trump, I have lived it. I led the delegation to move the Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He did that. People at the State Department said that we shouldn't do it because it leads to dislocation. No, it led to the Embassy being in Jerusalem, and it led to the Abraham Accords.
We know that last week the President was advised not to bomb Iran, that it would lead to World War III. No, it has led to a cease-fire and the ability to have the Abraham Accords extended to other countries, including Syria.
I am really grateful that Lindsey Graham was such an adviser. The President acted despite the naysayers that we have all around us.
I just appreciate Donald Trump. Promises made, promises kept.
Mr. Speaker, I am an occupational therapist. I helped people live the fullest life they could given the cards they were dealt. I worked at a school for children with disabilities and a nursing home, helping seniors maintain their independence.
I know exactly what it means to cut $1 trillion from Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act, which is exactly what this big, ugly bill does.
Taking away healthcare for 17 million Americans won't make us any healthier. Stealing food away from the neediest children, seniors, and veterans won't make us any stronger. Giving billionaires a tax break won't make us any richer. Children will go hungry. Seniors will lose their healthcare. Students will lose their financial aid. Hospitals will close. Americans will die.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my Republican colleagues to stand up; grow a spine; stop bowing down to your king, Donald Trump; represent your constituents like you were elected to do; and vote ``no'' on this horrible, big, ugly bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. For the third time, the Chair would remind Members not to engage in personalities toward the President, or they will be called out of order.
Mr. Speaker, if there are no other Republican Members willing to speak for this bill, we can send some Members over to you just to state the facts as to what is in this bill. Let's do the public a service.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Olszewski).
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remind my colleagues that this bill is more than words on paper. The policies we are debating today have real impacts on real people, people like 4-year-old Amir Rich, who visited my office earlier this month. Amir was born at just 2 pounds and spent 452 days in the hospital.
Today, although he still depends on feeding tubes and oxygen tanks, he is thriving. He is walking and able to speak. He lit up my office with energy. That is thanks to the care he received under Medicaid.
Christina was forced to leave her 16-year career in corrections to become his full-time caregiver, placing a significant financial strain on their family. In the face of rising costs for American families, Medicaid has become a vital lifeline helping to cover the kind of care Amir needs.
The bill before us guts these lifelines like Medicaid and CHIP. These programs cover nearly half of all American children.
For families like Christina and Amir, today's vote is a matter of life and death. I encourage my colleagues to look at Amir. Look at him and oppose this reckless bill. Protect the vital support systems that serve millions of Americans.
Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to be here and speak in favor of the rule for the big, beautiful bill.
As a provider of healthcare myself, as a doctor, and as a recipient of Medicaid services--my first three children were born on Medicaid--in addition to the fact that as a child, I was receiving food assistance not only from free school lunch programs but church programs, recognizing the vital need associated with Medicaid as well as with these food programs, we need to rightsize these programs.
Mr. Speaker, if we don't take a different trajectory, these programs will collapse under the economic failures of prior administrations. The reality behind this is, this bill that we are discussing today is insisting on work requirements associated with the recipients of Medicaid.
If you are an able-bodied, working adult, you should be able to go out and find a job. If you can't find a job, you need to go to a training program and try to find training so that you can get a job and ultimately get off Medicaid.
One of the components about Medicaid, we all know, is that it was formed in favor of pregnant women, disabled people, as well as the elderly. What the Republicans are trying to do is rightsize the Medicaid program so that it survives for the long-term, vital needs of the people of the future.
Mr. Speaker, if you can't find a job, just enroll in a training program. That is hard to do when Republicans are cutting and gutting the training programs that exist in this country.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Johnson).
Mr. Speaker, I have been listening to this debate, and I am struck by the appalling ability of the Members of the other side who are so afraid of this President. They are willing to lie to the American people because they fear the tweet of a President more than they fear the wrath of the voters at the ballot box. This will come home to roost because 17 million people are going to lose their healthcare.
In Texas, we are one of the largest creators of clean energy jobs. Texas is the energy State. I am proud to be an energy State. We have vast amounts of oil and gas jobs, but we also are the largest creator of clean energy jobs. We will lose millions of jobs in our State because Republicans of this delegation are going to vote for this bill.
In response to Representative Nehls, I am a proud graduate of the University of Texas. I think Texas A&M and our elite University of Texas deserve to have the funding in our universities.
With this bill, we must vote it down. I condemn the Republicans in the State of Texas who are going to harm our State with their support of this bill.
Three years ago today, I was diagnosed with neuroendocrine cancer. That day, my youngest child, my daughter, turned 2 months old.
There is a drug that I have to take every month, every 28 days, and the first time I saw the bill for that, the list price on that drug was $24,000 per injection. For people that don't have insurance or Medicaid or aren't covered, they are not getting that shot. They are not going to survive, some of them. This is a choice for some of you between your career and saving people's lives.
There are so many folks who have reached out over the last several months panicking about their disabled children, about their senior citizen parents who are in nursing homes, people struggling with cancer, Alzheimer's, dementia, sickle cell, diabetes, all of these illnesses. You have the power today to make sure that they can live with dignity and stay alive, or you can choose your career. That is your choice.
We choose to keep people alive. We choose to have healthcare in this country. We refuse to cut healthcare for 17 million people nationwide and 1.6 million people in Texas because it is wrong and it is immoral and we can take a different course.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the big, beautiful bill.
At its heart, the big, beautiful bill is a measure that will make America both wealthier and safer. I am inspired in thinking about the big, beautiful bill of not only this President but two of my favorite former Presidents.
The first would be President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who realized-- getting the appropriate quote--realized the negative impacts of high tax rates. Indeed, roughly 60 years ago, President Kennedy warned: ``The largest single barrier to full employment of our manpower and resources and to a higher rate of economic growth is the unrealistically heavy drag of Federal income taxes on private purchasing power, initiative, and incentive.''
Indeed, I have little doubt that President Kennedy would be a big fan of the big, beautiful bill.
Similarly, President Reagan realized peace through strength was how America could defeat the communist Soviet Union. He realized how missile defense was key to facing up to the challenge of the communists.
Today, the big, beautiful bill puts much-needed funding into missile defense through the Golden Dome system.
I encourage every American that cares about making our country wealthier and safer to support the big, beautiful bill.
Mr. Speaker, this bill makes me sick to my stomach. I have met with over 200 manufacturers in my district, and the one thing that I hear over and over again is that the cost of everything is going up.
This administration is now, yet again, trying to raise prices on working Michiganders. This bill in Michigan will kick 750,000 people off their Medicaid. It will eliminate critical investments in Michigan manufacturing. It means, for Michiganders, that costs will continue to go up and up.
As someone who served as the chief of staff on the U.S. auto rescue in the Obama administration, I know what it means to see Michiganders struggling. I know what it means when Michiganders have to choose between paying their bills and paying for lifesaving healthcare, all while billionaires get a tax cut.
This bill, Mr. Speaker, makes me sick to my stomach, and I urge everyone to vote ``no.''
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to oppose this terrible bill that is a bad deal for Ohio, the residents of Ohio's 13th Congressional District, and the people of the United States of America.
When I was first elected, I told the people of Ohio's 13th Congressional District that it may be my name on the ballot, but when I win, we are all going to Washington together. I made that promise because, as a Representative of my district, it is my responsibility to make sure that my constituents' needs are being addressed here in Washington.
The people in Ohio's 13th Congressional District need lower costs. The people in Ohio's 13th Congressional District need access to care. The people in Ohio's 13th District need opportunity, opportunity to work, to buy a house, and to live their American Dream. Yet, this bill does none of that.
Instead, it kicks 17 million people off their healthcare and makes life more expensive. People don't have extra money to pay for billionaires' yachts and monthslong vacations.
This bill takes money away from hardworking Americans and gives it to
In my district, Mr. Speaker, 30,000 jobs are in jeopardy. I don't want to hear another word from Republicans about people not wanting to work when they are sending them to the unemployment line.
Mr. Speaker, this is a bad bill. Do not allow the people in my district to be unemployed, hungry, and without the ability to live their American Dream.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, my Democratic colleagues continue to rail against commonsense community engagement requirements, which require able- bodied adults without an exemption to spend 20 hours per week working, volunteering, enrolling in school, or participating in a work development program.
Let's be perfectly clear. These work requirements apply only to able- bodied adults without young dependents who don't have a disqualifying condition.
Individuals who are exempt from these requirements include pregnant women, individuals under the age of 19 or over the age of 64, foster youth and former foster youth under the age of 26, members of Tribes, individuals who are considered medically frail, and individuals who are already in compliance with the work requirements under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, TANF, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP.
The list goes on, but our priority remains the same. It is to root out waste, fraud, and abuse and to strengthen and sustain Medicaid for those for whom the program was intended to serve: expectant mothers, children with disabilities, the poor, and the elderly.
Mr. Speaker, Democratic Leader Jeffries has an amendment to strike the devastating cuts to healthcare and SNAP, and I yield to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Clarke), the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any Medicaid cuts and any cuts to SNAP.
Mr. Speaker, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate. I do not yield for that request.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair understands that the gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Once again, the Chair understands that the gentlewoman from North Carolina will not yield for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has expressed a desire not to entertain the unanimous consent request for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Given that the gentlewoman from North Carolina will not accept the request for the unanimous consent agenda, the purpose, therefore, cannot be entertained at this time.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Once again, the Chair understands that the gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair understands that the gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Once again, the Chair understands that the gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair understands the gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I request unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid or SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rules to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Once again, the gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and therefore, the unanimous consent request may not be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina does not yield for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman has been clear. She is not entertaining any unanimous consent requests. She will not yield to that point. Therefore, it cannot be entertained at this time.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the spirit of Jesus as it is spoken in Matthew: He was sick, and I healed him. He was hungry, and I fed him.
Medicare, healthcare, SNAP payments, and nutrition payments should not be taken away from fellow passengers on this Earth.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Further, the Chair would advise Members that although a unanimous consent to consider a measure is covered by the Speaker's guidelines for recognition, embellishments constitute debate and, as such, can become an imposition on the time of the Member who is yielded for that purpose.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and to SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule and to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose. Therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid or SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and, therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from North Carolina has not yielded for that purpose, and, therefore, the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained.
Mr. Speaker, over 100 Democratic Members just asked to allow an amendment to protect Medicaid and SNAP, to just give us a vote. That is all I ask.
I will say that we are here standing up for the American people, no matter where they live, and this is what it looks like to fight for the American people, to make sure that this administration and this Republican Congress don't rip away their healthcare and their food benefits. That is disgusting.
In the gentlewoman from North Carolina's district alone, 142,000 of her constituents would lose some or all of their SNAP benefits, and five rural hospitals are at risk of closure.
My Democratic colleagues and I are here to help people, not to screw them over.
Mr. Speaker, as I sat here and listened to that panoply of speeches or motions over the last few seconds, I was reminded of the fact that when we say there should be no cuts to Medicaid, we are saying there should be no
We live in a world where we spend more money than we bring in, and it is not fair to actual Americans to be forced to take on additional debt to give benefits to people who are not in this country legally.
Mr. Speaker, I note that the Democrats have not proposed a solution that would allow us to continue to give benefits to people who shouldn't be here anyway and pay for them without our children going into future debt. We must keep that in mind.
I am here to fight for Americans, and that is what this bill does.
Mr. Speaker, I don't know if the gentleman has ever read the Medicaid statute, but undocumented immigrants are not entitled to receive Medicaid benefits, and they don't.
Our solution to make sure that our children are not saddled with debt is to not give billionaires, millionaires, and corporations big tax cuts. Jeff Bezos doesn't need a tax cut.
Why don't you come down here and explain to people why it is so important that you protect his tax cuts? We tried to go after the billionaire tax cuts in the Rules Committee last night, and every single Republican voted ``no.''
That is how we are going to do it. We are going to invest in people who need help. We are going to make sure people have healthcare. We are going to make sure people have food assistance. We are not going to screw them over.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. DeSaulnier).
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, this bill would cause household resources for the poorest Americans to decrease while the obscenely rich will get richer.
I offered two amendments in the Rules Committee, one to prevent people with disabilities from being kicked off Medicaid and one to help low-income students afford an education that they earned.
Unfortunately, Republicans refused to consider them, as they yet again worked through the dead of night to rip off hardworking Americans and give tax breaks to the richest Americans who don't need them.
Even FOX News reports that it is projected to increase the Federal deficit by $4 trillion over the next decade.
This bill is nothing more than a vanity project for the President, and it betrays the American people. I strongly oppose this reckless legislation and urge my colleagues to do the right thing.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in very strong support of H.R. 1, President Trump's one big, beautiful bill.
Here we are, despite months of our Democratic colleagues' best efforts to delay, fearmonger, and mislead the public about this bill, and we are ready to deliver for the American people.
Here is the thing about fear-mongering. You can only say ``the sky is falling'' so many times before folks start waking up and seeing for themselves exactly what is going on.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act secures our border. It prevents the single largest tax increase in American history and refocuses safety net programs for those who truly need them, not the ones shamming. Then, it reinvigorates our Armed Forces, where we saw a diminution for 4 long years under the Biden administration.
Mr. Speaker, it is high time that we deliver this to the President's desk for a signature. This is promises made and promises kept, and I am very proud to support this bill.
Mr. Speaker, the big, ugly bill is going to throw 16 million people off of healthcare and give people like Jeff Bezos, millionaires and billionaires, a tax cut. If that is what you are about, I hate to tell you, that is not what the American people voted for.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Riley).
Mr. Speaker, where I come from, we make things. Generations woke up before the crack of dawn, went off to the factory, punched a clock, worked their hands to the bone, and came home and counted nickels to make sure they could keep a roof over the kids' heads and keep food on the tables.
We have kept our heads down. We have kept our sleeves rolled up. We have kept our shoulder to the wheel. All we have asked for is a fair shot and for this place to stop screwing us over, but you can't help yourselves.
You got us into terrible trade deals that made Wall Street rich and shipped all of our jobs overseas. You bail out the banks while neglecting rural America. You have rigged the economy so the corporate PACs that are funding your campaigns make huge profits, jacking up costs on folks who can't afford it, and now this.
This bill will kill good, blue-collar manufacturing jobs that we need to rebuild the economy in this country, close rural hospitals, and defund healthcare, all to give trillions of dollars in tax cuts to your cronies.
Don't tell me you give a shit about the middle class when all you are doing is shitting on the middle class.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair would remind both sides of two things. Please direct your remarks to the Chair and avoid vulgar speak. We do have families here. The gentleman will not be recognized.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this big, ugly bill. Let's be clear: This bill is TrumpCare. And TrumpCare means 17 million more Americans will be uninsured and all the rest of us will be paying higher costs and driving further to get care.
Over the last several months, I have met with hundreds of Delawareans--parents, patients, providers, hospital leaders, teachers, nurses, people from all across the State of Delaware--and everyone was asking us, pleading with us, to kill this bill.
Are my Republican colleagues meeting with their constituents? Are they ignoring them? Do they even care?
Every ``yes'' vote shows very clearly that they don't. This bill is trickle-down cruelty, and people will die because of it.
Mr. Speaker, as the President has said numerous times, there will be no cuts to Medicaid. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act protects and strengthens Medicaid for those who rely on it--pregnant women, children, seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income families--while eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act removes illegal aliens, enforces work requirements, and protects Medicaid for the truly vulnerable.
For our colleagues on the other side who say illegal aliens are not receiving this, we understand that 1.4 million people do not meet citizenship and immigration status requirements for Medicaid enrollment but would be covered under current law and programs funded by the States. We know that because we have a CBO score.
Mr. Speaker, I never want to hear the Republicans lecture about fiscal responsibility again. The last President to actually balance this budget was Bill Clinton. Today, Bob Rubin and Larry Summers wrote an op-ed in The New York Times that every American should read.
Their budget will take the deficit up to 8 percent of GDP. It is historically unprecedented in the history of our country during peacetime. We never had a more reckless, deficit-exploding bill than what they are proposing.
The Democrats have a proposal to bring the deficits back down under 4 percent. Bob Rubin and Larry Summers were the last ones who have done it. Hakeem Jeffries is leading with a sensible proposal to lower deficits.
If you care about debt in this country, if you care about our grandkids
Mr. Speaker, with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, President Trump is once again keeping his promises to the American people. He promised he would stop the largest tax increase in America history. He promised he would make the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent. He promised he would deliver the largest tax cut for hardworking taxpayers in American history, and he promised to eliminate taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security benefits.
President Trump is keeping his word. He is delivering much-needed relief for the American people, and this will produce an investment surge, driving real median incomes up by $10,000 relative to the scenario in which the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is allowed to expire.
To my friend from California, if he cares about fiscal responsibility, stopping a $4.5 trillion tax increase stops a recession. You cannot balance the budget without growth.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
I don't want to close, but I am prepared to close.
Mr. Speaker, this bill is a moral failure. It rips healthcare away from millions. It pushes more families into hunger, and it leaves seniors stranded all so billionaires can keep more of what they will never spend.
Republicans say: If you lose your job, too bad. If hospitals shut down, good luck. If you can't afford groceries or insulin, figure it out. But if you are Big Oil, a CEO, or trust fund baby, don't worry, we have got you covered. This bill is about who matters and who doesn't. Guess what. Working people didn't make the cut.
I want my Republican colleagues to know they don't have to do this. They don't have to sell out their own communities. They don't have to vote for a bill that goes against fundamental things they claim to believe in.
Crazy as it sounds, they don't have to hurt people to keep Trump happy. Find a spine. Find a conscience, for God's sake, because the American people are watching. They know the difference between real leadership and bootlicking.
A vote for this bill is a vote for cruelty. It is a vote for fiscal irresponsibility and a vote to screw over your constituents to give more to the ultra wealthy. This bill is a middle finger to working people.
We can still stop this. We can still do the right thing. Vote ``no.'' Go back to the table. Work with us on tax relief for people who are not making millions and billions of dollars. Don't let this be your legacy.
That so many of you are blindly going along with this just to please the guy in the White House is shameful. You have a responsibility to care for the people in your districts, and you are voting for a bill that is going to throw millions off of healthcare and rip food off kitchen tables all across the country. It is shameful. It is shameful. I am disgusted that we are here debating this trash.
Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on the rule and a ``no'' vote on the bill. I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Once again, I remind both sides to direct your comments to the Chair.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
People who have supported the Democratic Party policies for years cannot come to this floor and question the morality of Republicans.
President Trump has his pen in hand and is waiting for the House to complete its work. We have championed this legislation for months, have guided it through the appropriate processes, and now we are on the 1 yard line.
America deserves to move even further into the golden age. H.R. 1 unlocks the opportunity to do that. It is time to get this done.
Let's be crystal clear about the content of this historic bill. We are restoring our borders once left defenseless and without redress. We are protecting our great Nation by investing in our military and military families. We are preserving tax cuts that made the United States economy the envy of the world just 8 years ago. We are reviving our Nation's fiscal outlook by finally cutting wasteful spending and unleashing our economy from harmful restraint--restore, protect, preserve, and revive. The failure to act would yield only the opposite.
Our Democrat colleagues would tear down the border wall and return us to open-border policies. They would have us oversee a continued decline in our military readiness despite unprecedented theaters of global conflict. They would destroy our economy in their unending appetite for continued tax increases to feed their spending binges.
Mr. Speaker, the choice is clear. We must deliver. We must deliver a renewed, restored, and revived Nation and grant voters the America they stood for just 8 months ago.
Mr. Speaker, in a moment, I will offer an amendment to the resolution, which would correct a technical error in the rule.
I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the previous question, ``yes'' on the amendment, and ``yes'' on the rule.
Mr. Speaker, and still I rise now, as I did during the Joint Address to Congress when I told the President and the Nation that there is no mandate to cut Medicaid. The waste, fraud, and abuse argument is a facade, because no empirical evidence has been presented to justify cutting more than $1 trillion from Medicaid, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act. These deep cuts will allow the richest Americans to receive, on average, an additional $30,000 annually, while the poorest Americans will lose approximately $700 annually.
This legislation is a complete betrayal of the American people, extending additional tax breaks to the wealthiest individuals in this country while cutting lifesaving, urgent services for the most vulnerable among us. The cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) alone will take health care and food assistance away from millions of veterans, seniors, and families across the country.
Congressional Democrats offered many amendments to ensure that critical services would not be cut. I submitted an amendment to ensure that individuals who have had their SNAP benefits stolen are able to receive a reimbursement. I also submitted an amendment which would help raise awareness of the risk of renal medullary carcinoma, an aggressive form of kidney cancer found in young individuals with the sickle cell trait. These common-sense amendments would not substantially add to the deficit, yet they were still rejected by Congressional Republicans, alongside all other amendments submitted to make this bill less cruel.
With H.R. 1, President Trump and Congressional Republicans have shown that they want a billionaire bailout at the expense of working families.
The material previously referred to by Mr. McGovern is as follows:
An Amendment to H. Res. 566 Offered by Mr. McGovern of Massachusetts
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 9 of rule XX, this 15- minute vote on ordering the previous question will be followed by 5- minute votes on:
Adoption of the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx), if ordered; and
Adoption of the resolution, if ordered.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 214, nays 212, not voting 6, as follows:
Mr. VARGAS changed his vote from ``yea'' to ``nay.''
So the previous question was ordered.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on adoption of the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx).
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that the ayes appeared to have it.
Mr. Speaker, my understanding is that Republican leadership has issued a notice to their Members that they aren't required to be on the floor, essentially an informal adjournment, notwithstanding that this amendment vote is pending. Is it appropriate under the Rules of the House of Representatives' procedure or Jefferson's Manual to keep a vote open while simultaneously declaring to Members that they are free to leave?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. What the Chair will say to the gentleman from Colorado is that, under clause 9 of rule XX, the minimum-- underline minimum--time for voting is 5 minutes on this vote. This vote remains open, so the minimum time is 5 minutes, and there is not a maximum time, nor to this Chair's knowledge is there a requirement that, during the vote, the Members remain on the floor.
As the gentleman from Colorado would surely know, it is customary for Members to vote in the middle of a vote series, leave the floor, and then come back for additional votes later.
I hope that clears up any misunderstanding the gentleman from Colorado would have.
Mr. Speaker, it does, and I appreciate the Speaker's response. Is it customary for a vote to go over 1 hour?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. It is not unprecedented, though the Chair is not a historian, and so you would have to talk to people who are engaged in the history and the proceedings of the House of Representatives to be able to ascertain that answer. Sorry.
Mr. Speaker, my final parliamentary procedure request: Would it be permissible, Mr. Speaker, or would the Speaker entertain a motion to adjourn, given that Republicans don't intend to complete this vote?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. That would not be in order. The gentleman rose for a parliamentary inquiry. That answer has been given, and that would be the limitation to the gentleman's ability on the floor.
Mr. Speaker, my understanding is that House Republicans have kept this vote open longer than any other Congress in the history of the House of Representatives.
At what point will the Speaker ascertain whether this practice is violative of rule XVII with respect to the order of the House or rule XX with respect to the voting procedures of the House?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. What the Chair would tell the gentleman from Colorado is that, once again, as I said a few hours ago--
The SPEAKER pro tempore.--the presiding officer is not a historian and so, therefore, cannot opine as to whether or not historical precedent is in order or whether this will be a condition of the House going forward.
Mr. Speaker, I asked whether or not it was violative of rule XVII or rule XX for Republicans to keep this vote open longer than any other Congress in the history of the United States House of Representatives.
We know for certain that this, in fact, is a new precedent that has been broken by Republicans. This is the longest--yes, Mr. Speaker.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. To the gentleman from Colorado, as was stated, again, several hours ago, the rule provides for a minimum amount of time for voting, not a maximum time for voting. That minimum time is, obviously, part of that rule.
Besides that, the Chair doesn't have any other information he could share with the gentleman from Colorado that would be useful in this discussion.
Mr. Speaker, I conclude simply by saying: Is it permissible under the rules for this vote to be held open for 24 hours, 48 hours, 3 months? How long, in the Speaker's judgment, is it permissible to hold the vote?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman is posing hypotheticals, and the Chair is prepared to move on the vote that we are currently in. Therefore, the conversation ends.
So the amendment was agreed to.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the resolution, as amended.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that the ayes appeared to have it.
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 566, I call up the bill (H.R. 1) to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of H. Con. Res. 14, with the Senate amendment thereto.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will designate the Senate amendment.
The text of the Senate amendment is as follows:
Senate amendment: Strike all after the first word, and insert the following:
subchapter b--permanent america-first international tax reforms
Chapter 4--Investing in American Families, Communities, and Small
subchapter b--permanent investments in students and reforms to tax-
Chapter 5--Ending Green New Deal Spending, Promoting America-first
subchapter a--reducing fraud and improving enrollment processes
TITLE VIII--COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS
TITLE IX--COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
Subchapter B--Permanent America-first International Tax Reforms
CHAPTER 4--INVESTING IN AMERICAN FAMILIES, COMMUNITIES, AND SMALL
Subchapter B--Permanent Investments in Students and Reforms to Tax-
CHAPTER 5--ENDING GREEN NEW DEAL SPENDING, PROMOTING AMERICA-FIRST
Subchapter A--Reducing Fraud and Improving Enrollment Processes
TITLE VIII--COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS
TITLE IX--COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will designate the motion.
The text of the motion is as follows:
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 566, the motion shall be debatable for 1 hour equally divided among and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Budget, or their respective designees, and the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Ways and Means, or their respective designees.
The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Arrington), the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Boyle), the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith), and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Neal) each will control 15 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the Senate amendment to H.R. 1.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Texas?
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, today, we are considering H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, as passed by the Senate.
This bill creates the right incentives for historic economic growth, makes unprecedented investments in our military and border security, and implements the largest spending reduction in American history by twofold, alongside other generational fiscal reforms.
America's economic strength, Mr. Speaker, is the foundation of our global leadership and prosperity, but sadly, it has waned, especially over the last 4 years.
To preserve our influence abroad and our quality of life here at home, we must unleash growth, starting with the largest tax cut in U.S. history.
Just like the first Trump tax cuts, we can expect record job growth, investment, repatriation of capital back to the United States, record- low unemployment, record-high wage growth, and the lowest poverty rates in recorded history.
This bill also equips our troops and law enforcement, Mr. Speaker, to defend our sovereignty, protect our citizens, and secure our border after years of neglect and lawlessness.
While more work remains no doubt to rein in Washington's out-of- control spending and put our Nation on a more sustainable fiscal path, I am confident that H.R. 1 will make America safe, strong, and prosperous once again and, most importantly, give our children, like my daughter, Jane, who is here with me today, a better and brighter future in this, the greatest nation in human history.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, here we are again--Yogi Berra once said that it is deja vu all over again--debating this bill in the middle of the night. This crowd must love prime time in Guam.
This has been the worst process of the worst bill I have ever seen during my decade in Congress.
This is not what our Founders intended--far from it. While the process stinks, the substance is even worse. The bill still kicks 17 million Americans off their healthcare and makes record cuts to Medicaid, record cuts to the Affordable Care Act, and record cuts to Medicare.
That is not all. It kicks off 4\1/2\ million from nutrition assistance, mostly seniors and children. Why? It is to help subsidize massive tax cuts that mostly go to the top 1 percent.
Of course, all of those cuts, over $1.5 trillion worth, don't come close to paying for the more than $5 trillion worth of tax cuts. Who pays the remainder? Our national credit card does.
Here we are, actually voting not just for the biggest loss of healthcare in American history, but the biggest increase in our national debt in American history.
Mr. Speaker, I have no idea what in the world the crowd that was holding out got for holding out. Does anyone know? It is a complete mystery to me and to the American people, but one thing is clear. There is one group making out as a result of this bill: the billionaire class.
Mr. Speaker, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act marks the most significant investment in our farm economy in decades and delivers the most sweeping reforms to SNAP since the program's creation.
We are saving nearly $200 billion by restoring integrity to SNAP, closing loopholes, reinforcing work, and ending unchecked State abuse, all while preserving the program for the truly vulnerable.
At the same time, we are delivering $120 billion in deficit reduction and saving 2 million family farms from the death tax. We strengthen the farm safety net; invest in trade, research, and rural communities; and help keep ag innovation here in the United States of America, not in China.
This is a downpayment on the farm bill, and the rest is coming soon. Make no mistake, this is a generational win for rural America.
I thank Agriculture Committee members for their continued work in developing and advancing this policy. We are protecting taxpayers, helping low-income Americans return to work, and securing the future of American agriculture in our rural communities.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act delivers on President Trump's campaign promises, and it is a win for the American people.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett), a distinguished member of the Budget Committee and ranking member on the Ways and Means Committee's Health Subcommittee.
Mr. Speaker, at 3:35 in the morning, a favorite time of Republicans for taking up this bill, we consider a travesty.
The Senate took an ugly bill, went out and whipped it with an ugly stick, and made it even uglier with 17 million Americans going without health insurance; a 17 percent increase in electric rates; and the largest nutritional assistance cut in American history, leaving Americans hungry.
The independent Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget condemns this as exploding our debt, spiking it to new record highs, and accelerating the insolvency of Social Security and Medicare.
One thing remains the same: It takes from those with the least and gives to those with the most, lining the pockets of the super-rich with millions in tax giveaways.
It is mean. It is cruel. It is wrong. That is why it is being taken up at this hour of the morning, as they have done throughout this process.
Let's reject this ugly bill and stand up for Americans.
Mr. Speaker, this bill fulfills many of the promises we made to the American people: lower taxes, lighter regulations, a secure border, more frugal spending, and a war on waste. Throughout history, these are the policies that have produced prosperity and security, and there is every reason to believe that they will again.
I remind my conservative friends who say this bill doesn't go far enough that our process was not designed to make perfect law. It was designed to make the best law that is acceptable to a majority. Judging by the narrow votes, we have pushed this bill about as far toward perfection as our process allows.
The proof is not in the debate points scored today, but rather, next year when Americans will ask themselves if
Mr. Speaker, I rise to discuss this big, disgusting billionaire bailout bill.
This year, I have traveled the State of New Jersey, hearing from the constituents of my three GOP colleagues.
I spoke to some of the 178,000 people in Representative Van Drew's district on NJ FamilyCare who will lose their coverage; some parents of the nearly 100,000 children in Representative Smith's district who are at risk of losing their NJ FamilyCare health coverage; and some of the 11,000 seniors in Representative Kean's district who are worried about their nursing homes having to shut down.
What I heard from all of those constituents in those three districts was that they are very disappointed that they were not able to communicate with their Representatives because their Representatives were hiding from them because they could not justify their support of this big, disgusting billionaire bailout.
Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues from New Jersey to listen to their constituents and vote ``no.'' May God forgive those who do not do for the least among us.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1, which unleashes American energy and unlocks many of our abundant natural resources.
We are incentivizing domestic production in the Gulf of America and Alaska with at least 30 lease sales in the Gulf and 6 lease sales in the Cook Inlet. We are mandating lease sales every other year in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.
Our mission to responsibly develop our resources doesn't end there. The bill also requires coal lease sales. It reduces royalty rates on oil, gas, and coal production, and it incentivizes production, thereby lowering energy costs and supplying our country with domestically dependable energy.
That is just the beginning. The bill also invests in crucial water resource infrastructure and helps implement President Trump's executive orders on forest management.
Republicans on the House Committee on Natural Resources are proud of this historic legislation that unlocks our domestic resources' potential and supports hardworking Americans and communities nationwide as we become energy-dominant again and mine, refine, and manufacture in America.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding time.
Mr. Speaker, the American people sent us here to work together to address issues like the affordability crisis. Democrats are ready to work with anyone to make housing more affordable, to make childcare more affordable, and to make everyday goods like groceries less expensive.
Mr. Speaker, the policies within this big, ugly bill are going to raise costs and not lower them. Healthcare costs are going to go up as Medicaid gets gutted. Electric bills are going to go up when clean energy tax credits are wiped out at the request of the oil lobbyists.
Cutting food assistance programs like SNAP are going to hurt working people who are already getting squeezed at the checkout line because of these reckless tariffs. These are the same working people who were told by my Republican friends that lowering costs would be their top priority. That has not been the case. The American people are poorer, and it is more expensive to live here as a result.
Mr. Speaker, the economy is teetering on the brink. Every single piece of evidence tells us that a vote for this bill is a vote to make things worse, and I urge a ``no'' vote.
Mr. Speaker, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is one big, beautiful win for the American people.
Americans struggled under crushing inflation driven by the Biden- Harris administration's outrageous spending. Even worse, the Biden- Harris administration spent billions on reckless student loan repayment pauses, forcing Americans who never set foot on a college campus to cover the costs of elite Ivy League degrees.
House Republicans have the chance to right those wrongs and deliver real results for the American people by passing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Under President Trump, our economy is booming, thanks to progrowth policies that help workers, students, and taxpayers prosper. By passing this bill, we have a chance to seize on a generational opportunity to help put more Americans back on the path to the American Dream.
Mr. Speaker, this is the most shameful bill that I have ever seen. It takes healthcare away from 17 million people in order to give giant tax breaks to billionaires and large corporate interests.
The increase in uncompensated care will force hospitals and nursing homes to close and increase costs for those who still have insurance.
Costs are going to soar for hardworking families across the country, as health insurance premiums, energy bills, and medical debts rise for millions, while the rich get richer.
However, this bill doesn't just destroy Americans' access to see their doctors or afford their monthly medications. It also makes devastating cuts to American energy and jobs, which will further increase energy bills and eliminate jobs across the country.
This bill is fundamentally cruel. Hardworking Americans don't deserve to be treated this way by the Republicans in Congress, but the Republicans simply don't care.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues in the strongest terms to join me in voting ``no.''
Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. For too long, government spending has gone unchecked.
Last November, American voters sent a clear message. We need to rein in government spending. Our Financial Services title exceeds our $1 billion budget instruction by over $600 million. It caps the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's budget authority by nearly half.
It rescinds unobligated and unused funds from the SEC's reserve fund and HUD's Green and Resilient Retrofit Program.
It targets $1 billion for strategic use under the Defense Production Act to ensure that America can meet its national security supply chain requirements for the 21st century.
Overall, this bill stops a huge tax increase for our working families in Arkansas. It spurs major investments for small businesses. It gives law enforcement the tools they need to secure our southwest border. It strengthens energy security. It reduces government spending.
Mr. Speaker, it delivers on the promises that we made to American voters. I strongly support this bill, and I urge a ``yes'' vote.
Mr. Speaker, this is a cruel bill. Thousands of Americans will die because of it. Rural hospitals will close. Millions will lose their healthcare. Kids will go hungry. Americans will be poorer. They will be sicker because my Republican colleagues
This bill shows us their priorities, and it is not the American people. They are taking away Americans' healthcare to give more money to the very wealthy. This bill is for billionaires and not for Americans.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to address their remarks to the Chair.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from the Commonwealth of Kentucky (Mr. Guthrie), my friend and the chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding time.
Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which includes the work of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, to unleash American energy, promote innovation, and protect healthcare for the most vulnerable Americans.
We claw back wasteful and unnecessary spending. We unleash affordable and reliable American energy. We support technological innovation by reauthorizing the spectrum auction authority. We secure Medicaid for those who need it most. This includes mothers, children, seniors, and people with disabilities.
Democrats continue to fearmonger and misrepresent what is in this bill, but let me be clear: House Republicans are eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse to focus Medicaid on the most vulnerable and not on able-bodied adults who choose not to work.
We are fighting for commonsense policies to protect America's children, pregnant women, mothers, individuals with disabilities, and low-income seniors.
Mr. Speaker, this bill delivers on the promises the President and congressional Republicans made to the American people, and that is why I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Rogers), my friend and also the chairman of the Armed Services Committee here in the House.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding and for his leadership throughout this process.
Mr. Speaker, years of chronic underinvestment in our national security have shattered American deterrence. It has allowed our adversaries to threaten and challenge us in new and unprecedented ways.
That ends today because, with the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, we begin implementing President Trump's peace through strength agenda.
H.R. 1 includes a historic $150 billion investment in America's national defense that will help us begin building the Golden Dome missile defense shield to protect our homeland, begin to revitalize our defense industrial base, help us secure our border because border security is national security, begin to rebuild our munitions stockpiles and critical mineral supply chains, and continue to improve the quality of life of our servicemembers and their families.
With these investments, we will work to restore American deterrence and build the ready, capable, and lethal fighting force President Trump promised.
I commend the President, the Speaker, and Leader Thune for prioritizing national security in this bill, and I thank Chairman Wicker for his strong partnership throughout this process.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support this bill.
Mr. Speaker, this partisan tax bill will be our Nation's single-largest self-inflicted wound to working families and our economy.
It is the largest unfunded tax break for the wealthiest families and will lead to the largest number of working families losing healthcare. What is worse is that you are fooling yourselves into believing it is paid for. Instead, it adds trillions to our debt that will drag down our economy and our credibility.
Rather than negotiating with Democrats, Republicans are just placating the President.
I am voting ``no,'' Mr. Speaker, on this partisan bill to stand up to the President, to stand with working families, and to stand for the financial stability of our country and the credibility of this institution.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding me the time.
Mr. Speaker, this one big, beautiful bill delivers the American people the promises of President Trump's America First agenda and prevents the largest single tax hike on the middle class in history.
A ``no'' vote on this bill is a vote for sabotaging the United States' energy dominance and blocking critical investments to revolutionize our military to address 21st century threats.
It eliminates over $700 billion in wasteful Medicaid spending for illegal aliens and people who can work but refuse to work, instead of America's most vulnerable.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this historic piece of legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding.
This big bonanza bill for billionaires will make life harder for the people of northwest Ohio and America.
Unemployment is already up in Toledo, hovering around 6 percent. Mr. Speaker, 1,000 Jeep Gladiator workers in Toledo are idled, and 2,500 jobs at Perrysburg First Solar are on the chopping block as the Trump administration cedes, in this bill, our glass industry and America's lead in solar energy to China.
Grocery prices are up 2 percent, yet the bill freezes SNAP, a cut for 45,000 families in my district, which is an $18 million monthly blow to local grocers.
The bill ensures billionaires get $300,000 in tax breaks every year while seniors and working people lose Medicaid and SNAP in the largest cut to healthcare in American history, cutting over $1 trillion.
The bill recklessly adds $3.4 trillion to the U.S. debt, and interest rates will climb.
Congress can create a much brighter future for America by defeating this big, bloated bonanza bill for billionaires.
Mr. Speaker, I would just remind the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. Craig) and my Democratic colleagues that after the first Trump tax cuts, the bottom half's income grew three times faster than the top half. For the lower 10 percent, wages increased two times over the 1 percent. People at the bottom and people in the middle benefited more from the tax breaks.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his exceptional leadership, recognizing that the budget should be the statement of values of our country and how we allocate our resources reflecting those values.
I asked to speak because I hear Members on the other side talking about spending on the part of the Democrats, spending for education, healthcare, food, and all the needs for our children.
I want to remind all of them--speaking to you, Mr. Speaker--that tax cuts are expenditures. They are the biggest spending in this bill, to the tune of $5 trillion added to the national debt to give tax cuts to the wealthiest people in the country at the expense of feeding our children, healthcare for our people, and the education of our children.
Nothing brings more money to the Treasury than the education of the American people from early childhood through lifetime learning and every phase of it in between.
You should be ashamed of yourselves to mock spending on education. The best dollars we spend are on educating the American people and the investments in scientific research. The Biblical power to cure that science provides for us is cut in this bill to spend $5 trillion for the wealthiest people in America.
Mr. Speaker, budgets are value statements. We value letting working families keep more of their hard-earned dollars. We value stewarding tax dollars, protecting our most vulnerable, preserving programs that they depend on, and not allowing people in this country illegally to siphon money away, jeopardizing those safety nets.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter), my friend and fellow Budget Committee member.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1. We have a choice. We can continue down our current fiscally unsustainable path where we have waiting lists for Medicaid, insufficient border security resources, and are facing the largest tax hike in American history, or we can change course.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act ushers in the golden age of America, as our great President says, where taxpayers, not illegal immigrants, are put first. It eliminates taxes on tips and overtime and brings tax relief to seniors. It saves and sustains Medicaid so it is there for those who truly need it. It secures our southern border, making every community safe.
All that is required of us, to unleash this prosperity, Mr. Speaker, is to vote ``yes.'' I am proud to vote for this bill, and I encourage my colleagues to unleash America's shackles and make this country work for those who work for it every single day.
Mr. Speaker, campaign promises made and soon to be campaign promises kept.
I spent my entire career in the private sector. I know what those Trump tax policies did for me and for my business, my community, my State, and my country.
Now, with this bill, we are going to bring inflation under control, have energy dominance, make sure that small businesses have certainty with our tax policies out there. Also, Mr. Speaker, we are going to bring these Federal agencies under control by deregulation.
If we do that, we will unleash the American entrepreneurial spirit out there. This is a big day for Main Street. Wall Street has had their time.
I encourage my colleagues to vote for this bill, and let's get this thing to the President's desk.
Mr. Speaker, a budget is a series of choices. Republicans are choosing to take healthcare away from 17 million Americans. Republicans are choosing to take food off the plates of hardworking families, kids, and seniors. Republicans are choosing to blow up the national debt by trillions of dollars. For what? All so the top 0.1 percent can pay even less in taxes.
I don't ever want to hear a Republican say they care about rural America or the debt ever again if they vote for this bill. A budget is a series of choices and theirs are indefensible.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time for the purpose of closing.
This has been a very long day after many, many days that have stretched into the night to the following morning, such as this one, after a very long 6 months on this bill.
What really matters in these next few moments is that the decision we have been entrusted by the American people to make will have ramifications for millions of our fellow Americans and indeed for our country for decades to come.
There may not be a lot of people able to watch at 4:05 in the morning, but in just a few short hours, some of them on Medicaid will be waking up and turning on the news to find out if what we did here tonight means they are about to lose it. Some of the people who get their healthcare from the ACA exchanges will be turning on their TV to find out what we have done in these next few minutes and if they will still be able to have healthcare.
The folks like my dad, who are on Medicare, who are writing in, emailing, calling us, saying don't cut Medicare, they will find out in a few moments whether or not we have pushed through the biggest cut to Medicare in American history.
The kids who rely on SNAP, the nutrition assistance program, may not quite understand it, but make no mistake about it: What we are about to do in the next few minutes here will have a profound effect on their lives, not to mention the millions of Americans who may not be on Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP, or the ACA, but who rely on a hospital in a rural area, who now may see that hospital close because of the cuts that are in this piece of legislation.
Of course, for many years to come, we and our kids and our grandkids are going to be saddled with even more debt in order to afford tax cuts for those who need them the least. This is not just bad economics. I believe it is immoral.
I would remind us that the Congressional Budget Office, just last week, found in the final analysis of this bill, when all of its component parts are summed together, that the bottom third of households would be poorer, the middle of the country would be no better off, and the biggest benefit would go to the top 1 percent of Americans.
This legislation makes the poor poorer, the rich richer, and the middle class left behind.
On behalf of the millions of Americans who are relying on us to hold firm on behalf of this side of the aisle, we say: Hell, no. Vote ``no'' on this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
I will start by thanking my good friend and ranking member, Mr. Brendan Boyle. He is a good American, and he has been a great partner and colleague. I mostly appreciate his friendship.
We convene here before the Fourth of July. I think it is worth recalling those unalienable rights that sparked this American experiment: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Our Founders built this Republic on the promise of freedom: the freedom to build, to strive, and to pursue our own dreams. But that promise only thrives when government stays in its place, preserving liberty, not suffocating it with unchecked regulation and unbridled spending.
This legislation reclaims that founding promise. It is the principal vehicle for advancing President Trump's America First agenda, unleashing a rising tide of prosperity, securing our border, modernizing our national defense, and supercharging energy, agriculture, all of the sectors of our economy that Washington has kept in a choke hold for too long.
Throughout this debate, Mr. Speaker, we heard one hollow Hail Mary attack after another designed to scare the American people and prey on their fears, the last gasp of a broken status quo.
For our part, we put our trust in the American people. We appeal to their aspirations, and we deal in facts, not fear.
There are the false claims they make that this only helps the so- called 1 percent, the top 1 percent, the superrich, when actually it locks in the largest middle-class tax cuts in history, putting thousands of dollars back in the pockets of families still recovering from the crushing inflation and cost-of-living crisis caused by the Democrats' failed economic policies and unbridled spending.
There is the complete distortion that Medicaid is being cut when, in fact, it is being strengthened for our most vulnerable citizens by eliminating hundreds of billions of dollars of waste, fraud, and abuse.
There is the fallacy that work requirements are somehow punitive when we know that they restore the dignity of work and lead to better opportunities and bigger paychecks.
All their myths are headed for the ash heap of history.
From day one, we said this was a generational opportunity to deliver the most comprehensive and consequential set of conservative reforms in modern history, and that is exactly what we are doing.
This isn't our moment, Mr. Speaker. This is the American people's moment.
I urge my colleagues to pass this bill and open up that gateway to a new golden age of America.
God bless America. Go west Texas.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Neal) each will control 15 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, before November, Americans wondered whether our best days were behind us. Democrats fueled inflation. They opened our borders, funded illegal immigration with your tax dollars, and increased IRS audits on the middle class, all while leaving the working class behind.
President Trump promised to make America great again, and 77 million--77 million Americans supported that promise. They voted for change. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act delivers for the American people.
This is the largest tax cut for working families, farmers, and small businesses in U.S. history. Households making under $100,000 will see a 12 percent tax cut compared to what they pay today. The average family of four will see nearly $11,000 more in their pockets each year. Real wages for workers will rise by as much as $7,200 a year. A waitress working for tips will keep an extra $1,300. A lineman working overtime after a storm will keep an extra $1,400.
While Democrats defend illegal immigrants, fraudsters, and bureaucrats, Republicans are standing up for the American people, putting more money in their pockets. President Trump promised no tax on tips, overtime pay, or car loan interest, and tax relief for seniors. We are delivering on all of those items and more.
Families win in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Over 40 million households will benefit from a higher child tax credit of $2,200. We boost the standard deduction to give a tax cut to the 91 percent of middle-income families who use it, up to $31,500.
Young Americans win. We expand choices for educational freedom and open up savings options to include trade schools.
Moms and dads get new support for adoption, paid leave, childcare, and healthcare costs. Kids get Trump accounts, giving them a financial stake in our country's future.
We bring back American jobs and our manufacturing base by protecting or creating more than 7 million jobs, including 1 million new small business jobs each year.
We rein in Washington by delivering the largest cut in mandatory spending in U.S. history.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is for the people who don't have lobbyists in this town: the farmers; the welders; the waitresses; the nurses who are pulling double shifts; the truck drivers who are hauling goods across this country; and the folks who work hard, play by the rules, and ask only for a fair shot and a government that works for them, not against them.
It is for places like Peachtree City, Georgia; Yukon, Oklahoma; Petersburg, West Virginia; Erie, Pennsylvania, and all of the other communities that the Committee on Ways and Means visited over the last 24 months. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is their bill.
It is about restoring sanity in a town that has lost it, cutting waste, and reining in reckless spending. It demands that, if you are able to work, you should. It stops asking working families to foot the bill for Washington's bad decisions.
Mr. Speaker, we might have visited a lot of places. Tonight, or this morning, I should say, why don't we visit reality. Here is the reality because we are going to talk about facts for the next 15 minutes on our side.
One thing you can understand very clearly is that the Republicans in the House surrendered to the Republicans in the Senate. Once again, when the going got tough, both institutions surrendered to the President.
This bill became worse along the way when it was already a pretty bad product. In terms of expertise, let's reject what the Congressional Budget Office says. Let's reject what the Joint Committee on Taxation might have to say. Of course, when the going gets tough, let's blame the Federal Reserve Board because of interest rates.
Under this bill, here is a fact, Mr. Speaker: If you made $1 million last year, you are going to make an additional $96,000 in the next tax- filing season. That is a fact. Yet, here is the real fact and the scam that is being presented to the American people with this legislation: If you made under $50,000 last year, you are going to get 68 cents a day in terms of your tax relief. The Senate was too generous. They were at 73 cents, so the House Republicans wanted to go back to 68 cents.
Here is the real kicker: For a party that has preached fiscal rectitude that I have listened to all of my years here--all of my years here--voting for the balanced budget amendment, taking up all of these pursuits in terms of fiscal rectitude, they are borrowing an additional $5 trillion to pay for a tax cut for the wealthiest amongst us.
Mr. Speaker, $5 trillion is being added to the debt. I call attention to that because they are taking away health insurance for poor people. Hospitals are going to suffer. Medicare is going to be cut. The child credit will leave out the poorest, and seniors are threatened with losing many of the necessities of everyday life. SNAP, Medicaid, Medicare, and the ACA are all about to be gutted in the name of a tax cut for the wealthiest amongst us.
Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the leadership of Chairman Jason Smith in getting this bill to the floor.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in favor of President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Here are the facts, Mr. Speaker: If Congress fails to pass this bill, taxpayers across the Nation will get a big tax increase. In Tennessee's Eighth Congressional District, the average household would face a 26 percent tax hike. This would be catastrophic for families, for farms, and for small businesses across the Nation. This bill not only stops this massive tax hike, but it will reduce taxes for Americans nationwide and turbocharge our economy.
When Americans voted last November, they voted for these policies put forth by President Trump and House Republicans. Now is the time for us to do this job and pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Too much is at stake.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.
Mr. Speaker, this bill shamelessly hurts our constituents, cuts healthcare for 17 million Americans, and closes one in four nursing homes and many rural hospitals. It rips nutrition assistance away from 11 million Americans, and it cedes leadership in the green energy economy to China--to China.
It raises energy bills for hardworking Americans. It cuts Pell grants for millions of students. It adds $5 trillion to our national debt to give a tax break to billionaire donors who don't need the help in this environment. Mr. Speaker, $5 trillion will be added to our national debt.
It pushes the American Dream out of reach for millions of working- class Americans. Every Member who votes ``yes'' will forever carry the shame of betraying hardworking Americans and put our kids and our grandkids in great, great debt.
Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on this bill. It is bad for our constituents. It is bad for America. It is bad for our future.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for the diligent work he has done in bringing folks together, hearing from all Members, and helping formulate a bill that is great for America and great for workers. We know that what we did in 2017 increased wages for workers at an amount even better proportionately than higher-income folks.
I will also point out that my colleagues across the aisle voted for a large portion of this bill last year.
Now, there are various criticisms that they have kind of pivoted I guess a bit, but when you really look at what we are doing, we are preventing a tax increase on the middle class. The average American household, without this bill getting done, will face about a $1,500 tax increase. American Farm Bureau tells us that the average farm will face a more than $5,000 tax increase if we don't get our bill done.
Mr. Speaker, this is the right thing to do. This is great for America.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition and can never vote for this big, bad, inhumane, and ugly bill because it will wreck healthcare delivery. It takes food from hungry children. It sentences seniors to early deaths. It eliminates jobs and destabilizes our economy just to give the superrich and wealthy more influence, more power, and more wealth.
It takes from the poor, from the disabled, from the sick, from the hungry, and gives to the wealthy. This bill is cruel. It is immoral. It is a crime about to happen. It is draconian. It is dangerous. It is criminal. If you want to stop crime, vote ``no,'' as I will.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to enter into a colloquy with the gentleman from Missouri regarding the termination of the commercial clean vehicles credit in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Is it your understanding and intent, Chairman Smith, for the purposes of this provision, vehicles shall be treated as ``acquired'' as of the date on which a written binding contract is entered into for their acquisition and a payment has been made?
Mr. Speaker, yes, it is the legislative intent that vehicles shall be treated as ``acquired'' as of the date on which a written binding contract is entered into for their acquisition and a payment has been made.
Mr. Speaker, I flew overnight through thunderstorms and flash flood warnings to be here to stand up for my district this morning because Republicans refuse to stand up for theirs.
I have been in Congress for over 20 years, and I have never seen such cowardice from my colleagues across the aisle. Time and time again, we see Republicans fold like cheap lawn chairs.
Senator Murkowski said it was a bad bill. Then why the hell would she vote for it?
I am here to stand up against a bill that kicks 17 million Americans off of their healthcare, a bill that cuts school lunches and food assistance to children who go to bed hungry every night, a bill that includes billions of dollars for ICE, an already bloated agency that has been upending due process and racially profiling people in my district for weeks.
Mr. Speaker, I say to my colleagues across the aisle, have you no decency? Have you no humanity? It is not too late to do what you know is right by your constituents and by your country. Vote ``no'' on this one, big, steaming pile of crap.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the Kansas families, workers, and small businesses who will benefit from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
By extending and improving the TCJA, working-class families in my district will pay $10,900 less in taxes and see increased wages of $7,200 on average. It contains my bipartisan legislation to make research and development expensing permanent, a jobs provision ensuring America continues to lead the world entirely on innovation. It eliminates fraud and waste in ObamaCare, and it builds on President Trump's successes at securing the border.
Despite the misleading spin from my colleagues on the left, this bill delivers on what Americans voted for in November. It is time to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Mr. Speaker, this so-called big, beautiful bill is nothing but a big, ugly betrayal of Alabama families and a big handout to billionaires.
There is nothing beautiful about stripping healthcare from working families. There is nothing beautiful about taking food off the table of the most vulnerable neighbors, and there is nothing beautiful about putting rural hospitals on life support in communities that can least afford it.
Mr. Speaker, the cuts in this bill are not just numbers on a page. They are empty cupboards and shuttered clinics. They are hospital wings closed in small towns already struggling to keep their doors open. They are parents lying awake at night wondering how they will afford medicine for a sick child or how they will keep food on the table if they lose their hours.
Here are the facts: 170,000 Alabamians will lose their healthcare; 700,000 Alabamians will lose or have reduced their nutrition assistance; five Alabama hospitals will close, and it adds $5 trillion to the national debt.
On behalf of the 750,000 Alabamians that I represent in Alabama's Seventh Congressional District and the 5 million hardworking Alabamians, I say
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of this big, beautiful bill.
In 2017, President Trump signed the largest tax cut in history into law.
Today, thanks to the hard work of the Ways and Means Republicans, we will make those tax cuts permanent and prevent an end-of-the-year tax hike.
This bill gives the average working family a $1,300 tax cut and makes permanent the 199A small business deduction to keep our economy humming. This is a big win for our West Virginia businesses.
It provides relief to gig workers by ending the Democrats' absurd $600 1099-K reporting threshold and reverts back to the time-tested standard of $20,000 and 200 transactions. It will provide economic relief, secure our borders, and ensure American energy dominance.
This legislation will make the life of the average American better, and I support getting it to President Trump's desk.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to do the same.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, if you are a Republican with misgivings about the massive debt that this bill creates or if you are worried about stripping 17 million Americans of healthcare access, I tell you that now is your moment.
``A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once.'' That is a quote from Shakespeare.
Vote your constituents. Vote your conscience. This is how you will be remembered.
Better to vote your conscience today and face an angry tweet than have your legacy be one of equivocation and cowardice.
``By their deeds you will know them.''
I urge all of my colleagues to oppose debt, death, and hunger. Oppose this cruel legislation.
Mr. Speaker, President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act will dramatically grow our economy and reduce our deficit. It is the largest tax cut in American history for families, farmers, workers, and small businesses.
This bill will help our Main Street businesses grow, invest, and hire, and it will increase the exemption for the death tax, which will help save 2 million family farms.
Additionally, this legislation formally funds the border wall, hires more ICE and Border Patrol agents, and creates American energy independence.
We must pass this bill to unleash economic growth and rural prosperity. Let's make President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act the law of the land.
I would ask my House Republican colleagues: Have you no shame?
This bill hands $4.5 trillion in tax cuts to billionaires and the biggest corporations. It takes healthcare aware from 17 million Americans. People will die, and 42 million Americans will go hungry. This bill triggers $500 billion in Medicare cuts. It increases the budget deficit by $3.3 trillion.
President Trump and House Republicans have abandoned their promise to lower the cost of living. They are making it worse.
I would say to my Republican colleagues: Have the moral courage to oppose this bill. The consequences of this vote will come due. They will not wait until next November. It will come tomorrow, and every day after, and every phone call and letter that your office answers. When your constituents tell you they cannot find health coverage or afford groceries, and they ask what you have done to help, I hope you have the moral courage to tell them the truth; that you did nothing. Vote ``no.''
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
President Trump inherited a disastrous open-border policy from the Biden-Harris administration. There were nearly 9 million encounters at the southern border under President Biden, more than the last 14 years combined.
You can plainly see the difference between the first 5 months of President Biden and the first 5 months of President Trump on this chart.
As it turns out, all we really needed was a new President. Now the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will permanently secure the southern border. It completes the wall, funds thousands of new border agents, and equips them with the cutting-edge tools that they need.
I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' because border security is national security.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to Republicans' big, ugly bill because of my constituents like Lisa whose son was diagnosed with a life-altering disease that left him unable to work by mid-age. Medicaid enables Lisa to be his full-time caregiver and ensures that he has the care he needs.
Unfortunately, for Lisa and her son, Republicans don't care. They made it very clear over the past 6 months who they are fighting for. It is not for the most vulnerable like Lisa and her son, who may be 2 of the 17 million Americans kicked off their healthcare thanks to this bill. Instead, Republicans are fighting for billionaires like Donald Trump and the top 0.1 percent who will get an average tax cut of $309,000 per year, while those earning less than $50,000 get 68 cents a day.
To my Republican colleagues, there is still time to join Democrats in preventing this despicable bill from becoming law.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this bill.
After listening to the previous few hours, it should surprise no one that the party of open borders, the party of illegal aliens, and now the party of State-run grocery stores hates this bill because this bill secures America's borders. It protects America's farmers and America's businesses. It protects us from tremendous amounts of waste, fraud, and abuse, and it stops the largest tax hike in American history.
Mr. Speaker, with this bill, my Republican colleagues are betraying the American people.
In the dark of morning, they are trying to ram through legislation that will raise costs, strip away healthcare, take food off the tables of working families, and increase energy costs for all Americans, all to give tax breaks to billionaires and corporations.
Cuts to Medicaid will shutter rural hospitals, nursing homes, and health centers, leaving families with higher costs and nowhere to turn for care.
As millions of families right now are struggling to put food on the table, this bill cuts funding for nutrition assistance, forcing children, veterans, and seniors to go hungry.
This bill raises costs on everything, from energy bills to prescription medications.
This bill is a grave mistake. If it passes, my Republican colleagues may pay for it at the ballot box, but countless Americans will pay for it with their lives.
I urge my colleagues to have the moral courage to oppose this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Smith for not just yielding but for his leadership in getting us to this point.
Mr. Speaker, we are at the precipice of the new golden age of America. How do we get there? We get there by actually making the right decisions for those hardworking families who have been struggling.
If you listen to the people on the other side, Mr. Speaker, who have over and over again said they are against this bill and all the things that are in this bill for hardworking families, you would think the last 4 years things have been going great for middle America. I don't know what parallel universe they have been living in, Mr. Speaker, but we heard the message that the voters sent who said they are sick and tired of high inflation, of high gas prices, of not being able to fill up their grocery cart because of the spending in Washington, for Washington, at their expense.
What does this bill do? It says that we are finally going to turn that around and deliver a bill that focuses on families in America.
We hear a lot from the other side, Mr. Speaker, about billionaires, tax cuts for billionaires. If you go look at this bill--everybody has had an opportunity to read the bill. They actually read the whole bill on the Senate floor. It only took 14 hours. If you listened, one of the things you would find out, Mr. Speaker, is there are some new tax cuts in this bill, but not for billionaires.
It would beg the question: Why does the other side keep hiding behind billionaires as their excuse to vote no? Because they made a decision, Mr. Speaker, early on, they don't want to give people back their money. They want to keep that power in Washington. That is really what is at stake here. That is the big fight that has been going on for years.
The other side won that fight the last few years by raising taxes, raising spending, growing Washington. While they did that, families in America suffered. Inflation went up for those hardworking families while Washington grew. Interest rates went up to the point where they couldn't even afford to buy a first-time home because Washington grew.
We said that is enough. Washington has to finally start living within Washington's means so that families in America can finally start living the American Dream again. That is what this bill focuses on, Mr. Speaker.
How do we do it? We do it, number one, by locking in rates for everybody. Nobody's taxes go up, Mr. Speaker, nobody's. Now, the other side is upset about that, and I understand it. They don't want just the billionaires' taxes to go up because they know in this bill the income groups that get hit the hardest. If a ``no'' vote prevails--and we have heard them, they are all going to vote ``no,'' Mr. Speaker. But if a ``no'' vote prevails, the income groups that could get hit the hardest are the lower- and middle-income groups of America. They know that. They are watching this vote. You can say billionaires all day long, but do you know what the new tax cuts in this bill are? There are new tax cuts. For the waiter and waitress who are working maybe two, three shifts at a restaurant, at a diner, barely getting by, that is the new tax cut that we are putting in this bill.
You would say, well, then, how could the other side possibly vote against that? Mr. Speaker, they are. Maybe a focus group told them that if they curse enough and if they say ``billionaires'' enough, those families will forget what is actually happening. Those families are not going to forget because they are paying attention.
Do you know what the average pay for a worker in America who makes tip money is under this bill? It is $32,000 a year. That is right. Billionaires aren't even allowed to be eligible for that tax break, but the waitress who is working two or three shifts, barely getting by, making $32,000 a year finally gets a little bit more money.
Yes, every Democrat has bragged over here that they are going to vote against that. They don't want that waitress to get that money back in her pocket. However, we are going to make sure she gets that tax break, Mr. Speaker, because she is struggling. She maybe wants to put together a college fund for her kid. Maybe she wants to take her family on a vacation. She is going to have that opportunity when this bill passes.
Mr. Speaker, do you know who else we are going to give opportunity to in this bill? Sorry, it is not a billionaire again. It is that shift worker working overtime. The other tax cut is going not to billionaires, but to the person who is showing up at the factory, making stuff in America, and paying taxes on the overtime.
However, they are away from their family. They are looking at that check at the end of being away from their family for a few extra hours, trying to make ends meet for their family, and they think: Gee, I have got to give all that extra money back to the government, is it worth being away from my family?
We say, you know what? Yeah, normal tax rates apply on everything else, but if you work overtime, you are not going to pay taxes on that overtime. This is somebody making $60,000 a year, not the billionaire. If you say ``billionaire'' enough, maybe that shift worker won't know what you are doing, but Mr. Speaker, they do know. They do know what is about to happen because everybody is watching this vote. That is a good thing because that shift worker deserves the extra money back.
It might not seem like a lot to somebody who deals with billions and trillions of dollars up here in Washington and grows agencies by 20 to 30 percent every couple of years and just thinks if you double the size of an agency over 5 years, somebody is going to pay for that. Do you know who is paying for it? That hardworking family is paying for it.
We clean up waste, fraud, and abuse. It has been mocked by the other side. They think it is cool to mock what we are doing to finally root out waste, fraud, and abuse. Let the other party, Mr. Speaker, be the defender of waste, fraud, and abuse in Washington, but we are cleaning it up in this bill.
USDA has pointed out that there is about $10 billion a year in waste just in the SNAP program because of fraud and improper payments. These payments are not going to children that you hear about on the floor, and not all these other people. It is going to improper payments, to fraud, $10 billion a year.
However, Mr. Speaker, when you hear about the billionaires and you say, well, how could anybody vote against this bill? Think about what a ``no'' vote means. I am proud of the ``yes'' vote that we are about to pass to help those families. Mr. Speaker, everybody who votes ``no,'' make no mistake about it, everybody who votes ``no'' is going to be asked a question by that waitress making $32,000 a year saying: Why do you want me to pay more money on my tips so that $10 billion of fraud goes out in the SNAP program? You are voting against cleaning it up, and you voted against no tax on tips. That is the ``no'' vote.
You can't hide behind the billionaire anymore. You are going to have to face the reality, Mr. Speaker, that this bill actually delivers for the working families of this country who have been struggling. They haven't been living on easy street the last 4 years.
They went to the polls in November and said: We want to try a different approach. This is that different approach, to give them more power, to give them more opportunity.
Mr. Speaker, do you know who we are giving opportunity to in this bill? Again, if you are going to vote ``no,'' this is what the ``no'' vote will take away. We actually create something unique in this bill. It hasn't been talked about yet, but it is in the bill. I am really proud of it. We create opportunity in school choice for every--not billionaire--low-income family. Every low-income family in America will be eligible for a scholarship so that their kid can go to the school of their choice if they are in a failing school.
Now, if you vote ``no,'' Mr. Speaker, how do you tell that family that their kid doesn't have the same opportunity which they deserve that every other kid in America can have?
If somebody can afford it, they can go to a private school. If that low-income family can't afford it, we are finally giving them a lifeline in this bill, Mr. Speaker, and saying you can have the same opportunity. A ``no'' vote says you don't think that parent deserves the same opportunity, and then you hide behind billionaires.
There is going to be no hiding, Mr. Speaker. We all know when this board lights up what the consequences are.
Why do we say there is going to be a golden era in this country? We are securing our border in this bill, too. We are opening up American energy in this bill, everywhere from the North Slope of Alaska to, yes, the Gulf of America, where President Biden had shut down American energy.
He green-lighted Russia's Nord Stream pipeline so Russia could produce their energy, funding billions of dollars to go fund their war against Ukraine, but in America, we were shut down. We open it up in this bill, Mr. Speaker.
American workers get to produce American energy, not just for America. It is going to lower the price at the pump. Again, if you are a middle-income family--the billionaire doesn't care what the cost of gasoline is. Do you know who does? That waitress making $32,000 a year cares. When she saves that tip money, maybe she can go on a trip, get in her car and drive and afford the gasoline now because we will be producing more.
We actually have lease sales in this bill. For once, we can produce energy in America. We have great natural resources. We just had them shut down for 4 years by an administration that said no to American energy. They said yes to other countries' energy. Iran was able to sell their oil on world markets thanks to the previous administration. That party is over.
When America starts producing more energy, not only does it help lower the price for families here in America, not only does it create great jobs here in America, but all the bad guys around the world-- Russia, Iran, Venezuela, you name your country--they are not going to have a cartel-like exclusive license on global energy anymore because America is going to be back in the game.
Let's get this country back in the game. Let's get this country back on track. Let's actually promote opportunity and the American Dream again for anybody who wants it. Do you want to work? There is going to be more opportunity than you have ever had before.
If you are disabled on Medicaid, right now you have been crowded out of those programs by people turning down work. Able-bodied people, 35- year-olds sitting at home playing video games are going to have to now go get a job. That is right. By the way, that is a good thing for them. Their mom doesn't want them sitting in the basement playing video games anyway. Now it no longer will be crowding out Medicaid for the truly needy people who deserve it. The disabled people will not be getting crowded out of those programs by people who can actually go get a job, and there are going to be a lot of great jobs, Mr. Speaker, a lot of great jobs in this country. America is coming back.
You can vote ``no'' all day long, and you can hide behind billionaires all day long, but we are going to keep moving forward because this country doesn't sit down in the fetal position.
America is ready for a rebirth, and we are going to deliver it. President Trump is at the helm now. It is a new day. World leaders know it. The bad guys around the world know it. Those hardworking families who have been waiting for this relief for a long, long time are finally going to realize help is on the way because of Republicans in Congress. Any Democrats that want to join, Mr. Speaker, are free to, but they are bragging that they don't want to be a part of this.
Do you know what? The hardworking families of America are hungry for this kind of change. Take power away from Washington, give it back to the people, and watch what happens. Great things are ahead for this country. We are the greatest country in the history of the world. We are finally going to restore that great American Dream and that hope for those families who have been waiting way too long. That help is coming.
We are going to pass this bill. President Trump is going to sign it. It is going to be a great Fourth of July. Let's pass the bill.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute. I can't wait for the Republican Party to meet that waitress who is making $32,000 a year and tell her in this tax bill the Republican Party just gave her 68 cents more a day because that is the reality of what this tax bill is about.
We could also say in the next breath, if you made a million dollars last year, you are going to get $96,000. This is a fact-free argument. They are making this argument that the person at the bottom is going to do well in contrast to the person at the top. There is simply no factual basis to that.
By the way, the party of fiscal rectitude is borrowing $5 trillion to pay for a tax cut for the wealthiest amongst us.
Mr. Speaker, I represent one of the poorest congressional districts in this country. I can tell you this piece of legislation is for those working families, those small business owners, and those farmers who are doing everything they can just to get by. It is not for the millionaires and the billionaires.
How many waitresses who are tipped are billionaires? How many billionaires work hourly jobs and overtime? None do so.
``For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came unto me.''
``Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of my brothers, you have done it unto me.''
Mr. Speaker, the bill before us takes food and drink from the mouths of the poor. It takes healthcare from the sick. A vote for this bill betrays these Gospel teachings. In our hearts, all of us know it.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for his leadership.
Mr. Speaker, as we are here in the early morning hours, and 60 percent of the families in this country cannot afford the basics. Mr. Speaker, 60 percent of the Americans cannot afford that first rung of the American Dream. This is an existential failure of the wealthiest Nation on Earth.
With this big, ugly bill, Republicans are on the verge of moving that dream further out of touch. They are making people sicker and poorer. We hear the message. If Americans do not have great wealth, they do not matter to the GOP.
If my Republican colleagues vote for this cruel monstrosity, they are condemning families to poverty. They are condemning seniors and veterans in this country to hunger. They are condemning children to sickness without treatment. They are voting to enrich billionaires at the expense of what makes us American, which is our freedom to build a better life for our families.
Mr. Speaker, the American people overwhelmingly oppose this bill, and they will not forget if my Republican colleagues sell out their freedom this Independence Day.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman from the
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to Donald Trump's one, big ugly bill, this disgusting abomination, the GOP tax scam.
It guts Medicaid. It rips food from the mouths of children, seniors, and veterans. It rewards billionaires with massive tax breaks. Every single Democrat stands in strong opposition to this bill because we are standing up for the American people.
Mr. Speaker, I have heard a lot from my Republican colleagues who have expressed pride in this accomplishment. I ask the question: If Republicans were so proud of this one big, ugly bill, why did debate begin at 3:28 a.m. in the morning?
Republicans are once again, Mr. Speaker, as has been the case through every step of this journey, trying to jam this bill through the House of Representatives under cover of darkness.
Mr. Speaker, I am here today to make it clear that I am going to take my time and ensure that the American people fully understand how damaging this bill will be to their quality of life.
Republicans and Donald Trump promised that costs would go down on day one. Costs haven't gone down under Donald Trump and House Republicans here in the United States of America. In fact, costs have gone up.
We believe that America is too expensive, that the cost of living is too high, and that that is a priority that should be worked on in a bipartisan way.
From the very beginning of this Congress, our Republican colleagues have shown no interest in addressing the high cost of living in the United States of America.
Not a single executive order has been issued by this administration, Mr. Speaker, to address the high cost of living. Not a single bill has been passed, Mr. Speaker, to address the high cost of living in the United States of America.
This one big, ugly bill, this reckless Republican budget, this disgusting abomination is not about improving the quality of life of the American people. It will hurt everyday Americans in several different ways.
This bill represents the largest cut to healthcare in American history. It is an all-out assault on the healthcare of the American people.
It is an assault on Medicaid. It is an assault on Medicare. It is an assault on the Children's Health Insurance Program. It is an assault on the Affordable Care Act. It is an assault on Planned Parenthood and the healthcare of women all across the United States of America.
It is an unprecedented assault on the American people and their healthcare. We have almost $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid. This runs directly contrary to what President Trump indicated in January, which was that he was going to love and cherish Medicaid.
Nothing about this bill loves and cherishes Medicaid. It guts Medicaid. It guts Medicaid in a way that is going to hurt children. It will hurt families. It will hurt seniors. It will hurt people with disabilities. It will hurt women. It will hurt everyday Americans.
Hospitals will close, including all throughout rural America, Mr. Speaker. Nursing homes will shut down. By some estimates, one in four nursing homes will close as a result of this one big, ugly bill.
Community-based health clinics, which are the lifelines in neighborhood after neighborhood and all across this country--in urban America, in rural America, in suburban America, in small town America, in the heartland of America--will not be able to operate.
As a result of the lack of healthcare that will result directly from this one big, ugly bill, people in America will die unnecessary deaths.
That is outrageous. It is disgusting. That is not what we should be doing here in the United States House of Representatives. It is not what we should be doing.
In addition to the cuts to Medicaid, this bill will result in the largest cut to Medicare in American history--by some estimates, more than $500 billion in cuts to Medicare as a result of the Republicans' one big, ugly bill.
This bill will also result in a devastating blow to the Affordable Care Act. That is no surprise because, since 2010, Republicans, Mr. Speaker, have been trying to gut and destroy the Affordable Care Act.
As a result of the damage that is done to the Affordable Care Act in this legislation, millions of Americans will lose their healthcare. The assault on healthcare in this one big, ugly bill will result in more than 17 million Americans losing healthcare in the United States of America.
Shame on the people who have decided to launch that kind of all-out assault on the health and well-being of everyday Americans. That is not what we should be doing here in the United States House of Representatives.
Because of the drastic cuts that are made to healthcare in this one big, ugly bill, people with private insurance all across America are going to experience increases in their premiums, co-pays, and deductibles. Millions of Americans in every corner of this country will experience an all-out assault on healthcare.
That is a very different vision, Mr. Speaker, that Republicans have, working hard to take healthcare away from the American people, than our vision. That is because we believe, as Democrats, that in the United States of America, healthcare should not simply be a privilege. Healthcare is a right that should be available to every single person in the United States of America.
This bill is an all-out assault on the healthcare of the people of the United States of America, hardworking American taxpayers. These are the people we should be standing up to work hard to lift up, but instead, they are victims of this legislation.
Hospitals will close. That impacts everybody in the United States of America. Mr. Speaker, if your hospital closes, whether you are on Medicaid or not, you will be unable to get the treatment that you or your family need. That is why we are fighting so hard to stop this bill. One in four nursing homes, by some estimates, will close as a result of the Republicans' assault on Medicaid in this one big, ugly bill.
This bill also represents an assault on nutritional assistance here in the United States of America. We have made great progress over the last 50-plus years as it relates to hunger in this country, great progress, but we are still dealing with the reality that tens of millions of people in this country go to bed every night wondering whether they are going to be able to get a nutritious meal the next day--tens of millions of people in this country, millions of children.
Instead of trying to address that issue, Mr. Speaker, the one big, ugly bill will rip nutritional benefits away from millions of Americans, including children. It will rip food from the mouths of hungry children, hungry veterans, and hungry seniors.
That is unacceptable. It is one of the reasons why we stand in strong opposition, Mr. Speaker, to this one big, ugly bill.
Republicans promised to address the high cost of living in the United States of America. We believe that the cost of living is too high. Housing costs are too high. Grocery costs are too high. Utility costs are too high. Insurance costs are too high. And childcare costs are too high.
America is too expensive. There are far too many people in this country struggling to live paycheck to paycheck. That should not be the case in the United States of America.
Instead of addressing the high cost of living in this one big, ugly bill, Mr. Speaker, Republicans are actually going to increase costs, particularly as it relates to the energy bills that everyday Americans pay. It is estimated that energy bills will increase by hundreds of dollars a year. That has nothing to do with lowering the high cost of living and making this country a more affordable place. It does the exact opposite.
It is an all-out and unnecessary assault on the clean energy tax credits, the clean energy tax credits that many of my Republican colleagues promised in letter after letter after letter that they would stand behind, but all chose to fold and abandon, fighting instead for special interests and opposing the ability for this country to stand up a cleaner energy economy, which means cheaper energy.
Because of the attack on clean energy jobs, on the clean energy economy, and on the economic development that had already been set in motion, often in districts represented by our Republican colleagues and in Republican-led States, red States, by some estimates, millions of jobs are going to be lost.
They are ripping healthcare away from millions of Americans, Mr. Speaker, and ripping food away from children, veterans, and seniors. They are raising the cost of utilities, raising their energy bills by hundreds of dollars, and stripping away millions of jobs all across America.
What is all of this being done for? It is to provide massive tax breaks to billionaires all across this country.
We are better than that in the United States of America. When we take an oath, convene here, and come to the United States Capitol, our job is to make life better for everyday Americans. The genesis of this bill, the focus of this bill, and the justification for all the cuts that will hurt everyday Americans in this bill is to provide massive tax breaks for billionaires.
It is extraordinary. Never in my time here in Congress have I experienced legislation that benefits so few people who fall into the category of the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected, while at the same time hurting everyday Americans, whom we should be fighting hard to help.
Now, all of this apparently is being rushed because the decision was made by President Trump that he would like to get a bill done by the Fourth of July. What does the Fourth of July have to do with this one big, ugly bill? What does celebrating American independence, the birth of this exceptional country, the journey that we have been on for 249 years, any of that, have to do with this one big, ugly bill?
I would suggest, Mr. Speaker, that if you actually look at the Declaration of Independence, what we find is that everything about this one big, ugly bill runs in direct contrast with what was set in motion by the Framers and the Founders of our great country.
Of course, the Declaration of Independence, authored by Thomas Jefferson, makes the famous statement: ``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.''
Mr. Speaker, I want to lock in for just a moment on that aspirational objective, the pursuit of happiness. When it comes to everyday Americans, this one big, ugly bill will hurt the quality of life of hardworking American taxpayers, and it is all designed to put a happy smile on the face of billionaires. That is inconsistent with the Declaration of Independence and what we should be celebrating on July Fourth.
Thomas Jefferson and the Framers of this country set us on a course of action, a journey, a march toward a more perfect Union in part anchored in the pursuit of happiness, which decade after decade, century after century, those leaders who sat at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, leaders in this Congress on both sides of the aisle, tried to bring about for the greatest number of Americans. That is not what this one big, ugly bill is all about.
America is too expensive. There are far too many people who are living paycheck to paycheck here in this great country--that should not be the case--people who are struggling to survive, to make ends meet.
Mr. Speaker, imagine a country where everyone can afford to live the good life, work hard, play by the rules, and live the good life. We haven't reached that place in the United States of America. Imagine a country where everyone can work hard, play by the rules, and live the good life, with a good-paying job, good housing, good healthcare, good education for your children, and a good retirement--which means keep your hands off Social Security and Medicare now and forever.
We want a country where every single American can afford to live the good life, have a good-paying job, good housing, good healthcare, good education for your children, and then a good retirement.
We know that in the United States of America, to unlock that quintessential American Dream, living the good life, you have to work hard and play by the rules. But the challenge that so many Americans have right now in this country is that they are doing those two things. They are working hard and they are playing by the rules, but they are unable to experience the great American Dream. They are unable to get to that third leg. They are unable to live the good life. That is what we should be focusing on here in the United States Congress, not gutting Medicaid, not ripping food out of the mouths of hungry children, and not rewarding billionaires with massive tax breaks.
How can you prepare to celebrate legislation that will undermine the quality of life of everyday Americans? It is not just a hypothetical. It is not just hyperbole. It is not just hype. It will happen. Everyday Americans will be hurt by the one big, ugly bill.
We are here on the floor of the House of Representatives debating legislation in the middle of the night with millions of Americans having gone to sleep anxious about what would happen here on the floor of the House of Representatives, understandably concerned that their voices have not been heard in this debate, that their pleas for compassion have been overlooked.
Many of my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, on the other side of the aisle have chosen not to hold townhall meetings, not to hear from the voices of the people that they are privileged to represent.
We have embraced the American people. We haven't run from the American people. House Democrats will continue to run toward the American people and lift their voices up.
Mr. Speaker, I am going to take a little time to share some of the stories of the American people, voices that might otherwise be excluded from this debate. We are not going to let those voices be excluded. We will ensure that these voices are heard. We will continue to do everything we can to bring those voices to life here on the House floor and beyond, to stand up for the best interests of everyday Americans.
We heard from many of them throughout this process. I will share just a handful.
``With Medicaid expansion, I now qualify for Medicaid. Without insurance, my monthly bill for my three injectable drugs would be $3,000, $36,000 a year, and that doesn't include any of my other meds or my medical appointments. Who has that kind of money?''
That is Charles who lives in Alaska, the district represented by Congressman Nick Begich.
``Medicare and Social Security keep me alive. I am surviving on about $13,000 a year, most of it from my Social Security checks. That is just enough to afford my rent, utilities, and food. Without Social Security, I would be homeless, and if Medicare did not pay for my medications and I had to pay full price, I wouldn't be able to survive. There are so many other seniors who are in the same boat. Without these programs, seniors like me would die on the street.''
That is Paula, who lives in Arkansas' Second Congressional District, represented by my colleague, Congressman French Hill.
``My son is a 25-year-old young adult with profound nonverbal autism who needs 24/7 support. Our family has relied on Medicaid from the time he was 2 years old, when he began early intervention services. At 3, when he was diagnosed with autism, private health insurance denied him coverage for his preexisting condition. Medicaid stepped in to provide healthcare. From that point until today, home and community-based services through Medicaid have been vital to our son's health and well- being. Medicaid also helped his school district pay for medically necessary therapies at school. Our son is thriving and healthy, and our family can support him at home because of Medicaid.''
That is Robin. She lives in Arizona's First Congressional District, represented by David Schweikert.
These are stories from everyday Americans who have written to us to say to this Congress: Stand up for our healthcare, Mr. Speaker. Don't stand up for billionaires. Stand up for everyday Americans, for our health, for our safety, and for our well-being.
Gwendolyn from Arizona also writes. She says: ``Medicaid is the difference
Let me speak directly to Gwendolyn from Arizona: Her Representative may not be fighting on your behalf. As House Democrats, we are here to say to you: We agree. Medicaid matters, and it must be preserved. It must be preserved because Medicaid matters to millions of people all across this great country--to children, to seniors, to people with disabilities, to women, to families, and to people in every corner of the United States of America. Yes, Gwendolyn, Medicaid matters, and if your Representative won't fight for it, we will.
Brenda says to us: ``My youngest child is a nonverbal 43-year-old female with autism who has been on Medicaid since she was 12. She has had three major surgeries and six or more outpatient surgeries, all made possible because of Medicaid. We would not have been able to get our daughter what she needed if it wasn't for Medicaid.
``She also has a seizure disorder and is on several medications. Some of them are way too expensive for us to afford on a blue-collar income. Finding doctors that are good and accept Medicaid are few and far between, but some doctors are better than none and the only way our daughter will get any medical care at all. She is one of the many vulnerable people in society, and caring for her is a full-time job for myself and her father, who are both retired and are full-time care providers for her.
``I am not sure why anyone would want to take this help and service from people whose very life depends on the help it provides.''
That is a powerful and profound question: Why would anyone in this House vote to take away Medicaid from the American people amongst the most vulnerable here in the United States of America?
Brenda, from Arizona, lives in Arizona's Sixth Congressional District, represented by my colleague, Congressman Juan Ciscomani.
Garrett, also from Arizona--I am still in the A section right now, so strap in as we make sure we lift up the voices of everyday Americans all across this country. It is important that we take note. This isn't abstract, taking away healthcare from the American people. It is concrete. It is real. It has devastating implications.
Garrett says: ``I was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at birth. Thanks to Medicaid, I was able to undergo multiple surgeries that significantly improved my ability to walk, transforming both my mobility and daily life. Relying on Medicaid, SNAP in the past, and SSI, I worry about what would happen to me and my friends if these programs were taken away. Without them, I wouldn't be able to keep up with doctors' appointments, medications, and transportation.''
Earlier today, my distinguished colleague from the great Commonwealth of Virginia read a passage of Scripture. It was one of my favorite passages of Scripture, Matthew 25 and 35 through 40. Later on this morning, as I continue my remarks, perhaps I will have the opportunity to go a little deeper into the meaning of Matthew 25 and 35. What I can say is that all of us should be trying to lift up the least, the lost, the left behind, the poor, the sick, and the afflicted.
Garrett tells us: ``I was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at birth.''
The first thing that jumped out to me when I read this was that we are all God's children, and we should be looking after all God's children to the best of our ability, not running away from them and undermining their quality of life.
Garrett, we are going to continue to stand up and work hard on your behalf.
Nancy from California--that is a great name. Nancy from California, writes: ``My two special health needs former foster children depend on Medicaid for a dizzying array of health services, ranging from over 20 pediatric medical specialists and palliative care to behavioral health and occupational therapies. They both have rare, incurable, disabling diseases that require IEPs to navigate school.''
She continues but I want to pause right there. I think that is an important point, talking about her children and the IEPs to navigate school. We should be looking out for children like Nancy's two beautiful, former foster care children, her two special health needs children, as she calls them. It is one of the reasons why the Department of Education is important. Public schools are important. Nothing in this bill supports public education.
In fact, this one, big, ugly bill represents an attack on public education, and that is not consistent with what we should be doing as we prepare to celebrate our 249th birthday and lifting up this pursuit of happiness.
Nancy continues: ``The ACA protections for preexisting conditions and the removal of lifetime caps are also essential. My youngest child required medical care that I simply cannot afford, costing between $750,000 and $1 million per year, depending on how stable her health is. I work part time, but the caregiver burden is too demanding for me to maintain a full-time job. As a single, widowed mother, Medicaid has become a lifeline for keeping my kids as well as possible.''
Nancy lives in California's First Congressional District represented by my colleague, Congressman Doug LaMalfa.
Laura lives in the Central Valley of California, an area of the country with the highest concentration of Medicaid recipients, the highest concentration of Medicaid recipients.
``I have been raising my six grandchildren for 15 years and they are coming of age, but not many jobs are available. Also, my 16-year-old grandson depends on Medicaid and EBT to survive. He takes many medications a day.''
If you are not going to respect my ability to speak, respect the story that I am telling on behalf of Laura. Respect her story because her story matters. Her story matters and the American people matter.
``He takes many medications a day. I am too old to do anything but take care of him. I can't imagine choosing what medicines he gets or who gets to eat. Please reconsider for the people who need medication that is necessary for survival. Universal access to food and meds would lighten the worry that we carry. Not having to worry about food and medicines gives me more time to care for my 26-year old grandson who was quadriplegic due to a head-on collision last year. Please don't make him suffer any more. He needs food supplements and many medications every day to survive.''
Laura lives in California's 22nd Congressional District, a district that is represented by my colleague, Congressman David Valadao. This happens to be the district that has the highest concentration of Medicaid recipients in this country.
Laura, I don't know what your Congress Member is going to do. Every single House Democrat is fighting hard to protect your Medicaid. We value you, and we are working hard to defend it.
Jacki is from the Orange County area of California.
``My son is 34 years old. He has Down syndrome and autism and lives at home with his aging parents--dad, 82, and mom, 71. His biggest joys in life for him are his day program and eating out. How small are his desires, and you want to take that away from him.
``He requires much care: bathing, shaving, washing hair, brushing teeth, dressing, et cetera. His aging parents can do the job required for this 100 percent of the time. He has great caregivers right now, and they have been with him for many years.
``Now you want to take that away from us. Please know that Medicaid, Medi-Cal is what allows us to keep him in a safe and happy environment that he will not get anywhere else and for a whole lot less money. Why should that change for him? Please be respectful of families who have high-need family members who need these services. Thank you for allowing me to speak on behalf of my son and everyone who loves him.''
Jacki lives in California's 40th Congressional District, a district represented by my colleague, Congresswoman Young Kim.
Kayla writes to us from Colorado: ``At 26, I was diagnosed with brain cancer, a discovery I was only able to make because of Medicaid. Without it, I wouldn't have been able to get the treatment I need to survive. That diagnosis changed my life, and while I am grateful to be here, I can no longer work. Now, I rely on disability benefits, food stamps just to get by. These programs are the only reason I am able to live. Without this support, I don't know how I would manage.''
Kayla lives in Colorado's Second Congressional District, a district represented by the assistant Democratic leader, Joe Neguse.
Kayla, I can say to you that your Congress Member is fighting hard to protect you, just like every single member of the House Democratic Caucus.
Ashley writes to us from Colorado and says: ``My life was saved by the Affordable Care Act. Because of this act, I was able to stay on my parents' health insurance when I couldn't get any coverage. At the time, I was dealing with a myriad of health issues and would eventually be diagnosed with multiple chronic illnesses.
``Because of the ACA, when my husband and I were married, I was able to be added to his insurance without being denied due to preexisting conditions. Prior to the act being passed, I was denied coverage and care many times. If I was even approved for coverage, it cost me thousands per month in premiums. I was being penalized, Mr. Speaker, for being sick. There were many times when I could not get coverage that I had to choose between which prescriptions I would get to have or whether I would get all of my meds or the groceries we needed.
``You know, there are far too many people in the United States of America right now, before experiencing the devastating consequences of this one big, ugly bill, who have to choose between putting food on the table, clothing on their backs, access to medication, or paying the rent. The United States of America is the wealthiest country in the history of the world. Not a single hardworking American taxpayer should ever have to choose between food or medicine or rent or putting clothing on their back. Not a single hardworking American taxpayer should ever have to make that choice.
``If people did not have to worry about healthcare being accessible, they would be able to be seen when necessary, and when people are able to see doctors when they are unwell, they can stay healthy for longer periods of time. When people can stay healthy, they don't miss work. When people don't miss work, they don't risk losing their jobs.
``The way things work now only encourages the constant classist act of keeping the sick and poor sick and poor. This should never ever be the situation in a country that claims to have the best functioning economy in the world, the best doctors, the best universities.''
Ashley lives in Colorado's Third Congressional District, represented by my colleague, Congressman Jeff Hurd.
Ann also writes from Colorado: ``Through the Medicaid waiver, Scott Anson was placed in a group living situation that worked out for a while but was eventually kicked out. After that, he moved back in with me but ended up homeless once more before finally being placed back on a Medicaid waiver program.
``Now he is doing really well. His job, which he loves, also receives funding through Medicaid so that people with disabilities can be employed and be productive members of the community. Without Medicaid, he probably wouldn't be alive today. Without this assistance, we likely wouldn't be where we are now, and I doubt that there would be a happy ending to this story.''
Anne lives in Colorado's Sixth Congressional District, a district represented by our colleague, Congressman Jason Crow, who is also fighting hard to protect your interests, as every single one of us in the House Democratic Caucus will continue to do.
We believe, in America, healthcare is not simply a privilege that should be afforded to the wealthy, the well-off, and the well- connected. It is a right that should be available to everyone, a right that is still imperfect at this moment that we are working hard to perfect. This one big, ugly bill, the largest attack on healthcare, Mr. Speaker, in the United States of America, moves us in the opposite direction.
Daniella is also from Colorado. She writes to us: ``Medicaid has been a lifeline for our family, especially for my 5-year-old daughter who has autism.''
That is the thing, Mr. Speaker, Medicaid is important for so many Americans all across this country, including people with disabilities. It is a necessary lifeline so that parents can help their children live a better life with dignity and respect.
Why would any legislation that this House passes attack healthcare available to families that are pouring in everything they have to help their child under difficult circumstances live the best possible life? It perplexes me, Mr. Speaker, that this bill would go after the healthcare of people like Daniella and her 5-year-old daughter.
Daniella says: ``As parents we have faced many struggles trying to balance full-time work, starting a real estate business, and still being there for our three other children. It has been overwhelming at times, and finding the right support for her hasn't always been easy, but Medicaid has provided therapy and services that have made a world of difference in her life.
``These therapies have helped her make progress, feel seen, and connect with her peers, which means everything to us. It has allowed her to be a part of the world, to feel included, and to overcome obstacles that seemed insurmountable at times.
``Medicaid has helped us give her the opportunities she deserves and millions of other children in the United States.''
Mr. Speaker, Daniella lives in Colorado's Eighth Congressional District, a district currently represented by Congressman Gabe Evans; currently represented.
Mr. Speaker, we heard from Martha, who writes from Florida: ``I have an adult daughter with developmental and intellectual disabilities who needs Medicaid for her medical care. As a mom, I worry a lot about what the future will hold for her. Will she have access to quality medical care when my husband is no longer able to provide for her? Please, support individuals like my daughter who are vulnerable and need our help. Thank you from my heart.''
Martha lives in Florida's Seventh Congressional District, a district represented by our colleague, Mr. Speaker, Congressman Cory Mills.
We have heard from people from the heartland of this country. In Indiana, Kim writes to us: ``SNAP and Medicaid were lifelines when my children were younger, at least when I was able to get them. As a single mom, working my way up from low-paying jobs, we often had too little food. My dinner was the combined uneaten food from my four kids' plates. Even then, keeping benefits was difficult due to missing or late paperwork, and faxes lost to the ether.
``I sometimes worked three jobs and cried too often when the letter came saying benefits were suspended. When that happens, you end up hungry for weeks until it is straightened out.''
Kim lives in the Ninth Congressional District of Indiana, Mr. Speaker. She says: ``SNAP and Medicaid were lifelines when my children were younger, at least when I was able to get them.''
Let me pause right there for a moment because one of the arguments that I have consistently heard made, Mr. Speaker, by our Republican colleagues on the other side of the aisle is that they weren't going after Medicaid recipients, that no benefits would be taken away as a result of these so-called work requirements.
Let's fact-check that statement. Every independent entity that has looked at this question, including the Congressional Budget Office, has made clear that as a result of the one big, ugly bill, millions of Americans will lose their Medicaid benefits. These so-called work requirements are just a smokescreen because more than 90 percent of the people who receive Medicaid benefits who can work do work right now in the United States of America. Right now, more than 90 percent of recipients work.
What these impositions are are really paperwork requirements that are designed to make it harder for everyday
Kim says: ``I sometimes worked three jobs and cried too often when the letter came saying benefits were suspended.''
As House Democrats, Mr. Speaker, we are here fighting for people like Kim and millions of others like her all across the United States of America who will lose urgently necessary, life-changing, and life- sustaining Medicaid benefits as a result of Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill.
We hear from Maria from Iowa in the great heartland of this country. Maria writes to us: ``In 2021, I got seriously sick with COVID. I ended up in a coma for 12 days, spent 3\1/2\ weeks in the ICU, and then another 3 weeks on the recovery floor.''
Mr. Speaker: ``If it wasn't for Medicaid, I wouldn't have received any of the care I needed. I honestly don't know where I would be today. I don't know what my family would have done. Without Medicaid, I wouldn't have made it. If I lost Medicaid, it would completely change my life. I wouldn't be able to afford my insulin, diabetes medication, blood pressure medication, or see my endocrinologist, all of which are life-sustaining treatments. I also need to see my pulmonary specialist regularly. Without Medicaid, my health would deteriorate rapidly.''
That is a statement that applies to millions of Americans all across this great country who are at risk of losing their healthcare because this one big, ugly Republican bill has put a target on their back.
``Without Medicaid, my health would deteriorate.''
I am taking the time to share these stories because this is a question for so many Americans of life and death. It is extraordinary that on the House floor and in the middle of the night, the American people are forced to confront a bill that targets their healthcare and will result in their well-being deteriorating.
More than 17 million Americans are at risk of losing healthcare coverage. Then tens of millions more are experiencing increased premiums, copays, and deductibles as a result of the attack on healthcare in this bill. Many of them will also lose coverage and lose their healthcare.
These are Americans on private insurance or insurance provided by employers. But because of the healthcare attacks in this bill, their premiums, their copays, and their deductibles will go up. Some will not be able to afford it, and they will lose their healthcare.
That is what this bill represents. That is why I am taking the time to share these stories, experiences, concerns, fears, and anxieties of the American people.
Mr. Speaker, I wish we had a lot more time to debate this bill. This is the type of bill that under normal circumstances we would have hours and hours of debate. Hundreds of Members could participate on both sides of the aisle and share their thoughts, their perspectives, their ideas, and their passionate support or passionate opposition.
This bill, which by some estimates is larger than the CARES Act, the American Rescue Plan, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the CHIPS and Science Act combined in terms of its possible impact on the debt in this country--increasing the debt by more than $3 trillion and saddling our children and grandchildren with that level of extraordinary debt by people who claim to be fiscally responsible--the implications of this bill are enormous.
Yet, each side of the House Committee on Ways and Means was given 15 minutes to discuss the implications of this bill. Each side of the House Budget Committee was given 15 minutes to discuss the implications of this bill that will have devastating consequences for everyday Americans, while rewarding billionaires with massive tax breaks.
Mr. Speaker, it had been my hope that we would be able to have a robust debate, passionate support or passionate opposition, in connection with this bill. My hope was that hundreds of Members on both sides of the aisle could participate in it.
Instead, we have a limited debate where the relevant committees of jurisdiction have been given 15 minutes each on a bill of such significant magnitude as it relates to the health, the safety, and the well-being of the American people.
Because that debate was so limited, I feel the obligation, Mr. Speaker, to stand on this House floor and take my sweet time to tell the stories of the American people. That is exactly what I intend to do.
I will take my sweet time on behalf of the American people, on behalf of their healthcare, on behalf of their Medicaid, on behalf their nutritional assistance, on behalf of veterans, on behalf of farmers, on behalf of children, on behalf of seniors, on behalf of people with disabilities, and on behalf of small businesses.
On behalf of every single American, I am on this House floor after 6 a.m., and I plan to take my sweet time.
``Without Medicaid, I wouldn't have made it. If I lost Medicaid, it would completely change my life. It would also severely affect my husband with epilepsy. Without Medicaid, he wouldn't be able to afford his seizure medications, which means he would have seizures every week like he did before. This would leave him unable to function or work. Before he had Medicaid, he would have a seizure. It would take him days to recover. His health is inconsistent, which makes it hard for him to hold down a job.
``I still have my house, my car, my husband, and my health. Thank God for that. Why should we have to struggle so hard just to live in a country with so much wealth? I am considered one of the lucky ones, and yet I still struggle to make ends meet for the basics.''
That is Maria, pouring her heart out to us, as Members of Congress, about her struggles. She lives in Iowa's First Congressional District, represented by our colleague, Mr. Speaker, Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks.
``In a country with so much wealth, I am considered one of the lucky ones, and yet I still struggle to make ends meet for the basics.''
Maria makes this important point as we stand on the threshold of the Fourth of July. Thomas Jefferson wrote those immortal words in the Declaration of Independence: ``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.''
Mr. Speaker, if I am not going to get any love from the other side the aisle, I would expect that at least Thomas Jefferson would. He wrote, in the Declaration of Independence, ``that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.''
What is the pursuit of happiness in the United States of America here in the year of our Lord 2025?
Imagine a country where every single American can afford to live the good life--work hard and play by the rules in order to live the good life. That is the American Dream.
Our concern as Democrats is that, in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, there are far too many people like Maria from Iowa who are unable to achieve that American Dream. They are unable, despite working hard and playing by the rules, to live the good life-- good-paying job, good housing, good healthcare, good education for your children, and a good retirement. That should not be too much to ask for here in the United States of America.
Instead of working to bring that American Dream to life for the greatest number of people all across the country, this one big, ugly bill, Mr. Speaker, that our Republican colleagues are trying to jam down the throats of the American people will undermine their quality of life.
I also heard from Patrick, who lives in the heartland of this country. He is one of the good people of Iowa who says: ``I am a registered nurse in the ICU at the VA hospital in Iowa City. I have worked as a nurse for 30 years, and I am a native Iowan. I have two disabled children who are on Medicaid. My son had a severe brain injury as a child and requires extensive physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy. My daughter is autistic and lives independently in housing provided by Medicaid. Before we had
These are complicated systems for people with very complicated needs. These ``commonsense solutions'' they are coming up with are not based in reality. People have tried these work requirements in the past, but even disabled or able-bodied people--we all have barriers, from childcare, transportation, and monetary limitations. It is a foolish idea to think that this won't have a negative impact.
They are just trying to remove people from the program, and it is cruel.
Patrick is correct. I am grateful for his service as a registered nurse at the VA hospital. I am grateful for all that he is doing to love and cherish his two disabled children, who are on Medicaid.
He is exactly right. What is contemplated in this one big, ugly bill is wrong. It is dangerous, and it is cruel. Cruelty should not be either the objective or the outcome of legislation that we consider here in the United States House of Representatives.
Mr. Speaker, cruelty should never be the objective or the outcome of legislation that we consider here in the House of Representatives, but it is cruel to take away Medicaid from the American people. That is why, as House Democrats, we will continue to show up, speak up, and stand up in defense of the healthcare of the American people.
I am thankful for all of my colleagues who are here and who, throughout this process, a difficult process, have stood up over and over and over again on behalf of the healthcare of the American people.
I am thankful for my colleagues in leadership, Whip Katherine Clark, Chair Pete Aguilar, and all the members of House Democratic leadership. I am thankful for the leaders of every single committee who have been battling hard to push back against the cruelty that is in this one big, ugly bill.
I am thankful for the leadership of Richard Neal. I am thankful for the leadership of Frank Pallone. I am thankful for the leadership of Brendan Boyle. I am thankful for the leadership of Angie Craig. I am thankful for the leadership, the principled leadership, of every single member of the House Democratic Caucus.
Above all else, I am just thankful for the spirit and the heart and soul of the American people who have risen up throughout this country to make it clear to all of us in this institution: Keep your hands off our Medicaid. Keep your hands off our healthcare, our Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act. Keep your hands off our Medicaid.
That is why, Mr. Speaker, I stand before you today to lift up stories on behalf of the American people who don't have the great privilege and honor to stand on this House floor as all of us do, Democrats and Republicans alike, on behalf of the American people in this great institution, the House of Representatives.
To me, what we are doing with this one big, ugly bill is an assault on healthcare, on veterans, and on nutritional assistance. It is an assault on good-paying, clean energy jobs. It is an assault on the high cost of living in the United States of America. All of it is inconsistent with the best of what this House of Representatives should be doing for such a time as this.
I stand here on behalf of everyday Americans like Elizabeth, who is also from Iowa. Elizabeth suffered from sepsis caused by untreated strep throat. After waiting to receive care, while uninsured and without paid sick leave, after receiving the care she needed, she was able to apply for Medicaid and have her medical bills retroactively covered.
Now, Medicaid has allowed her to get access to essential and preventive healthcare. Mr. Speaker, Elizabeth lives in the congressional district represented by our colleague Zach Nunn, Iowa's Third Congressional District.
I thank Elizabeth for highlighting one of the concerns that all of us should have with this bill.
When you launch an all-out assault on the healthcare of the American people, when you effectively end Medicaid as we know it, when you gut parts of the Affordable Care Act, what you essentially are doing, by stripping healthcare away from the American people, is putting people like Elizabeth back in the position that she had previously been in, where she has an untreated medical condition that won't get better on its own, will likely get worse, and lead to further medical complications.
Why would we do that to the American people? That is wrong. We should be lifting people up in this country, not tearing them down. We should be lifting up everyday Americans, not tearing them down and putting them at risk of their life, their quality of life, their health, their well-being, getting worse.
We hear from Becky from the great State of Louisiana. By the way, Louisiana is a State with some of the highest percentages of Medicaid recipients of any State in the Union. Louisiana is a State at risk of suffering greatly as a result of the all-out assault on Medicaid that is part of Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill.
Becky tells us: ``I have had Medicaid for years, and without it I wouldn't be able to afford to see my doctors or cover what Medicaid doesn't pay. As a senior citizen, I now have to go back to work just to keep a roof over my head, afford rising food and utility costs, and maintain my car. Meanwhile, the government keeps taking more and more out of my Social Security benefits, money I already paid taxes on while working. It feels like the middle class no longer exists. You are either rich or poor. Politicians today have no real understanding of what it is like to struggle every single day. If they had to live like regular people, maybe things would improve for seniors like me.''
Mr. Speaker, Becky lives in Louisiana's Third Congressional District, a district represented by our colleague Representative Clay Higgins.
Louisiana is a State, of course, also represented by my good friend and colleague Congressman Troy Carter, who is with us here in the Chamber, and also Cleo Fields, another good friend and colleague.
Louisiana is a State that stands to suffer mightily as a result of this all-out assault on Medicaid.
Mr. Speaker, I heard my distinguished colleague, the House majority leader, someone who I personally respect for his resilience, his perseverance, and his journey. I think he comes by his views in good faith. It is his perspective. It is the Speaker's perspective.
Yet, many of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have made the representation that, as House Democrats, we are not telling the truth to the American people about the devastating impact that Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill, a bill being rushed through this Chamber, will have on the health and the well-being of people in Louisiana and all across the country.
They have accused us of fear-mongering and making misrepresentations, and so I was surprised to learn, Mr. Speaker, that the Louisiana State Legislature--the Louisiana State Legislature that has a Republican supermajority--the Louisiana State Legislature recently voted to condemn the one big, ugly bill because of the extraordinary attack on Medicaid that will adversely impact their constituents.
We are telling the truth. This one big, ugly bill will hurt everyday Americans in Louisiana and all across the country. Don't take our word for it. Take the word of the Louisiana State Legislature supermajority.
Mr. Speaker, we are here on the House floor taking our sweet time to tell the stories of the American people and the adverse impacts of Trump's one big, ugly bill that my House Republican colleagues, Mr. Speaker, are trying to jam down the throats of the American people, causing great harm to those who we should be working hard to protect, love, and cherish, not adversely impact their ability to live and live life more abundantly.
Tamra, who lives in Louisiana's Fourth Congressional District, represented by the Speaker of this great House: ``I have depression and PTSD. I am unable to work and rely on Medicaid to get my monthly medications to keep me essentially alive.''
Tamra, we are going to continue to fight hard on your behalf.
We heard from Emily, who lives in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Emily lives in the Fifth Congressional District of Massachusetts, a district that is represented by House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, who is a strong champion on your behalf, Emily, powerfully, ethically, and principally fighting hard on your behalf.
Kasey lives in the Second Congressional District of Maine, a district represented by Congressman Jared Golden. I am thankful for Congressman Golden's service. He served his Nation with distinction overseas and has come back home to serve this Nation in the United States Congress.
Kasey writes as a single mom of two young children and nonprofit professional in rural Maine, Kasey and her children rely on Medicaid and SNAP to live their lives. The resources and stability provided by Medicaid and SNAP allowed Kasey to leave her emotionally abusive husband and support her children.
Kasey's 7-year-old son has ADHD and is on the autism spectrum and relies heavily on individualized support through Medicaid. If Medicaid goes away, Kasey doesn't know how their family will stay afloat.
The American people are pouring in to us, Democrats and Republicans, in the United States House of Representatives, the people's House, pouring in to us with all of their heart, all of their soul, all of their authenticity, and pleading that this Congress would find it in our hearts to stand up for them and not stand up for billionaires, which is what this one big, ugly bill is designed to accomplish.
Sarah writes to us from Michigan's Fourth Congressional District: ``My daughter has a heart condition, and the fact that she is on Medicaid is the only way that we can pay for her doctor's visits and medications. I am a widow, and money is very tight, so the fact that I am on Medicaid, too, is the only way that I can pay for my own visits and meds. The loss of Medicaid for us would be absolutely devastating.''
Mr. Speaker, Sarah lives in Michigan's Fourth Congressional District, a district currently represented by our colleague, Congressman Bill Huizenga.
``The loss of Medicaid for us would be absolutely devastating.''
That is the consequence of the GOP tax scam. This disgusting abomination, this reckless Republican budget, Mr. Speaker, that Republicans were trying to jam down the throats of the American people during the dead of night, it is extraordinary.
No legislation that we consider in the House of Representatives should be devastating for everyday Americans, either in its objective or in its outcome, but as Democrats, we stand here in strong opposition to this one big, ugly bill because of the devastating consequences that will result to everyday Americans all across this great country.
Lucy writes to us from the heartland, from the great State of Michigan, as well. ``My brother is a developmentally disabled senior who lives in a group home. Until the age of 59, he was cared for by our mother. He cannot live on his own and has numerous health issues. He depends on Medicaid. Without Medicaid, his brothers and sisters could not support his medical care.''
We are hearing from families all across the country: mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, husbands and wives pleading with this Congress, pleading with House Republicans to stand up for their loved ones who are on Medicaid, who are at risk of having their healthcare run over and their lives ruined by the consequences of Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill.
Lucy lives in Michigan's Seventh Congressional District, a district currently represented, Mr. Speaker, by our colleague, Representative Tom Barrett.
We have also heard from Sharon who lives in Michigan. ``My daughter is a young woman who was born with cerebral palsy, mild cognitive impairments, and autism. She depends on Medicaid services for her health, safety, and well-being. She is unable to work or take care of herself. She is unable to work or care for herself without help. Without Medicaid, she is totally at risk. Cutting Medicaid to give tax cuts to wealthy billionaires is not only cruel and unethical,'' Sharon writes, ``but it puts vulnerable people, including children, at risk of severe mental and physical health problems. Do the right thing and rescind the drastic cuts to Medicaid for vulnerable people with serious physical disabilities and people with serious and persistent mental health problems.''
Mr. Speaker, Sharon lives in the 10th Congressional District represented by our colleague, Congressman John James. I don't know how the Congressman from the great State of Michigan will vote at the end of the day as it relates to defending people like Sharon, but as Sharon writes--I know what I can say--she says: ``Do the right thing and rescind the drastic cuts to Medicaid for vulnerable people with serious physical disabilities and people with serious and persistent mental health problems.''
Sharon, House Democrats will always do the right thing when it comes to your health, your safety, and your well-being, your Medicaid, and the love and care that you are working hard to provide to your daughter. We will always do the right thing. We are not perfect. No one is, but we will always strive to do the right thing on your behalf.
As I work through these stories in the Midwest, it appears, Mr. Speaker, that I am about halfway through the stories as it relates to Medicaid, Medicaid, Medicaid. It appears that I am halfway through the stories as it relates to Medicaid, but the extraordinary thing about this bill is that it represents such an unprecedented assault on the American people that there are stories that need to be told as it relates to the attack on nutritional assistance for the American people, and I will tell those stories. The stories need to be told as it relates to the attack that has taken place on farmers in this country, and I will tell those stories. The stories need to be told as it relates to the attack on small businesses in this country, and I will tell those stories. The stories need to be told as it relates to the unprecedented assault on veterans in this country. How dare this administration attack veterans who have served this country?
Instead of attacking veterans, we should make sure that every single veteran in this country can live with the dignity and respect that they have earned.
There are stories that need to be told as it relates to the veterans in this country, and there are stories that need to be told as it relates to law-abiding immigrant families.
We have to secure our border. We believe that we have a broken immigration system that should be fixed in a comprehensive and bipartisan way, but we must also stand up for Dreamers and farmworkers and law-abiding immigrant families in this country. We will not abandon our Nation's heritage as a country of immigrants, not today, not tomorrow, not ever. As part of what American exceptionalism has been all about, these are stories that need to be told.
William writes to us from the great State of Minnesota.
I am so thankful for our colleagues from the Minnesota delegation, fighting hard on behalf of that great State.
``I am a 57-year-old man living in central Minnesota. I am a type 1 insulin-dependent diabetic, legally blind, and I suffer from severe nerve damage in my back and legs due to diabetes. I rely on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP benefits to support myself. Any reduction in these programs would severely impact my life and my ability to afford food, pay for my small apartment, and access medical care. Without these benefits, I would be destitute.''
William lives in Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District, Mr. Speaker, a district represented by our colleague, Congressman Tom Emmer.
I would say to William that I don't know what the majority whip will ultimately decide to do as it relates to this one big, ugly bill, but we are going to stand up for the things that clearly matter to you. We are going to stand up for Social Security, stand up for your Medicare, stand up for Medicaid, stand up for your SNAP benefits, and stand up for you.
I would also note, parenthetically, it is not rhetorical that we are claiming to stand up for people like William, a 57-year-old man living in central Minnesota. He notes two things that are of interest to me. He says that ``I am a type 1 insulin-dependent diabetic,'' and then also says, ``I rely on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP benefits to support myself,'' which suggests to me that William actually may have been a beneficiary of some of the hard work that has taken place on this side of the aisle.
His life is not perfect. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done, but as a type 1 insulin-dependent diabetic who is also on Medicare, as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act, his insulin at this point always and forever will be no more than $35 per month.
That is a downpayment, William, on the type of work we believe needs to be done because we are committed to lowering your costs, despite all the talk that comes from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, Mr. Speaker, on day one promising to lower the high costs of living, that costs would go down on day one.
Costs haven't gone down, Mr. Speaker. In the United States of America, costs are going up. Life remains far too expensive, and as a result of some of the reckless policies coming out of the Trump administration, including the Trump tariffs, on-again, off-again, creating so much uncertainty, but certainly will result in thousands of dollars per year in additional costs on everyday Americans.
We are committed to lowering the high costs of living. We are committed to making sure that every single person in this country can afford to live the good life--good-paying job, good housing, good healthcare, good education for their children, and a good retirement. We are committed to working hard to make sure that every single American, like William, can afford to live the good life.
This one big, ugly bill does the exact opposite. It doesn't make life more affordable, Mr. Speaker. It makes life more expensive.
Heather from the great State of Minnesota writes: ``Without Medicaid, my three kids and I would have no insurance. I couldn't afford my epilepsy and schizophrenia medications. My kids wouldn't have access to healthcare, including ER visits, physicals, vaccines, and dental cleanings.''
Heather lives in Minnesota's Eighth Congressional District, represented by our colleague, Mr. Speaker, Congressman Peter Stauber.
Lynn writes to us from Missouri, the Show Me State, a State ably represented by Representative Emanuel Cleaver and Representative Wesley Bell. Lynn writes to us and says: ``I am a widow, near 70, with very little family left and have been diagnosed with breast cancer. I have an adult son severely disabled. He already has lost transportation services due to low Medicaid funding. If Medicaid is cut, it will be disastrous for my situation.'' Lynn knows that this one big, ugly bill puts a target on the back of Medicaid.
One of the Senators from the great State of Missouri, Senator Josh Hawley, spent months warning about the damage that Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill would do to the people of Missouri as a result of the all-out assault on Medicaid and then turned around and voted to cut Medicaid from his constituents.
It is so shocking, so disappointing, so heartbreaking for many Americans that a lot of people in the House of Representatives, Mr. Speaker, and a lot of people in the Senate have talked a good game about Medicaid but then turned around and done nothing to protect it. That is shameful. It disgusts me because I want to believe in the good faith of every Member to look out for the people that they are privileged to serve.
Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill is an all-out assault on healthcare, an all-out assault on Medicaid, with the largest cut to Medicaid in American history.
This legislation will end Medicaid as we know it. Millions of people will lose their healthcare. Hospitals will close, including in rural America. People will lose their nursing homes. One in four nursing homes may close as a result of this dangerous and extreme Republican budget.
Community-based health clinics, relied upon by many people all across this country, will shutter. As a result of Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill, people in this country will die unnecessary deaths. That is unacceptable. That is unconscionable. That is un-American.
That is why, as House Democrats, we stand on this floor aggressively pushing back for the everyday Americans, on their behalf, pushing back on their behalf because they will be so absolutely devastated if this bill were to pass in the House of Representatives.
Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill hurts everyday Americans and rewards billionaires with massive tax breaks.
Why is it that every time, Mr. Speaker, Republicans have the opportunity to govern in a partisan way, Republicans immediately race to legislation that provides massive tax breaks for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected in this country. We have seen this happen all over time.
During the Presidency of Ronald Reagan, massive tax cuts for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected added to our Nation's debt and deficit.
During the Presidency of George W. Bush, in 2001 and 2003 yet again, there were massive tax cuts for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected.
In fact, the Republican President at that time in 2001 inherited a budget surplus from President Bill Clinton and immediately turned around and took that budget surplus and turned it into a deficit. He exploded the debt.
Don't ever lecture us about fiscal responsibility--not now, not ever. Mr. Speaker, Republicans are not the party of fiscal responsibility. They are the party of fiscal irresponsibility over and over and over again.
Now, with this bill, they have taken it to a whole other level because in addition to exploding the debt by more than $3 trillion--and by some estimates even more than that--they are saddling our children and our grandchildren with trillions of dollars in additional debt.
Why? It appears to subsidize the lifestyles of the rich and shameless. That is extraordinary to me. It shouldn't be surprising because it is exactly what we saw during the first 4 years of the Trump administration where the signature legislative accomplishment was the 2017 GOP tax scam where, by some estimates, 83 percent of the benefits would go to the wealthiest 1 percent in this country, saddling, at the time, our children and grandchildren with more than $2 trillion in additional debt.
Yet, Mr. Speaker, many of our Republican colleagues want to lecture America about fiscal responsibility and then have the nerve to come to the House floor and try to jam a bill down the throats of the American people with a debate that began at 3:28 a.m. that would saddle them with more than $3 trillion in additional debt to provide massive tax breaks to billionaires in this country, and then pay for some of it by going after working-class Americans, everyday Americans, hardworking American taxpayers, middle-class Americans, children, veterans, seniors, and people with disabilities. Mr. Speaker, Trump's one big, ugly bill is obscene in that regard.
It seems to me that all of us have a responsibility as leaders to try to make life better for the American people. That is what leaders have done, particularly those who have served in the White House, when it comes to actually lifting up the people who we are entrusted to represent. That is what great leaders do, leaders like FDR, President Johnson, President Obama, and so many others. That is what the track record says.
The American people in this country deserve real leadership. What we have seen from complete Republican rule in Washington, D.C., Mr. Speaker, is not leadership that lifts up the American people. It is leadership that is tearing them down and tearing us apart. The first 6 months of this administration
We know what real leadership looks like in the United States of America. Real leadership shows courage. Real leadership shows compassion. Real leadership shows commitment, working with Congress as a separate and coequal branch of government, not to bend the knee to some extreme agenda, which is what, Mr. Speaker, my House Republican colleagues are doing by supporting this one big, ugly bill. Real leadership requires working with Congress as a separate and coequal branch of government to actually lift people up.
Mr. Speaker, when President Lincoln addressed the House of Representatives--I believe it was his second annual message to Congress on December 1, 1862, in the middle of the Civil War, an existential crisis that we were facing in the United States of America--he showed real leadership when he summoned this Congress to rise to the occasion.
In that second annual message to Congress on December 1, 1862, President Lincoln said:
``Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.
``We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it.
``We--even we here--hold the power and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free--honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of Earth.''
That is America: Even to this day, the last best hope of Earth.
It is extraordinary that Abraham Lincoln, in America's infancy, understood the importance of this country, not just for its citizens but for the world. He urges Congress:
``We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of Earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just--a way which, if followed, the world will ever applaud, and God must forever bless.''
That is Presidential leadership. That kind of leadership is missing in the United States of America right now.
Exhibit A is the fact that, at President Trump's urging, Mr. Speaker, our House Republican colleagues are here and ready to recklessly rubberstamp legislation that will rip healthcare away from more than 17 million Americans.
That is not leadership. That is not the leadership that this country deserves, but that is what the American people are experiencing because of Republican rule here in Washington, D.C. Yet, we know, Mr. Speaker, that things can be different.
At the very beginning of the preamble of the United States Constitution, those words are written:
``We, the people, in order to form a more perfect Union.''
I like that.
``We, the people, in order to form a more perfect Union.''
That is a recognition of the aspirational objective that all of us should have. It is part of our sacred charge to make life better for the American people while also acknowledging that at its birth and even to this day, America is not a perfect country. The gift that we have been given is that sacred charge to strive for a more perfect Union and to look out for every single American as best we can.
We have seen that kind of leadership across the years, across the decades, and across the centuries, particularly as it relates to the social safety net that is under extreme assault right now. Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill represents an unprecedented assault on America's social safety net and an unprecedented assault on hardworking taxpayers.
It is the exact opposite of the type of leadership we have seen in this country that is designed to march us toward a more perfect Union. It is one of the reasons why we can't forget American history. We need to learn from and lift up American history, as well as all types of history.
I will address that issue later, but let me also parenthetically make it clear. Black history is American history. We will never let anyone erase it. We need to learn from it and not erase it. We will never let that happen.
Our history teaches us that what leadership actually does is set us on a course toward a more perfect Union. Leaders have recognized that part of doing that is to make sure we are there for everyday Americans who would otherwise find themselves in an incredibly vulnerable situation.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, reflecting upon Social Security, which he championed, uttered these words:
``Long before the economic blight of the Depression descended on the Nation, millions of our people were living in wastelands of want and fear. Men and women too old and infirm to work either depended on those who had but little to share or spent their remaining years within the walls of a poorhouse. Fatherless children early learned the meaning of being a burden to relatives or to the community. Men and women, still strong, still young, but discarded as gainful workers, were drained of self-confidence and self-respect.
``The millions of today want, and have a right to, the same security their forefathers sought: the assurance that with health and the willingness to work they will find a place for themselves in the social and economic system of the time.
``Because it has become increasingly difficult for individuals to build their own security single-handed, government must now step in and help them lay the foundation stones, just as government in the past has helped lay the foundation of business and industry. We must face the fact that in this country we have a rich man's security and a poor man's security and that the government owes equal obligations to both. National security is not a half-and-half manner. It is all or none.''
President Roosevelt further went on to say: ``The Social Security Act offers to all our citizens a workable and working method of meeting urgent present needs and of forestalling future need. It utilizes the familiar machinery of our Federal-State Government to promote the common welfare and the economic stability of the Nation. The act does not offer anyone, either individually or collectively, an easy life, nor was it ever intended so to do. None of the sums of money paid out to individuals in assistance or in insurance will spell anything approaching abundance. But they will furnish that minimum necessity to keep a foothold, and that is the kind of protection Americans want.''
Truer words could never have been spoken. That is the type of protection that we should be building upon here in the United States Congress, not undermining.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt went on to say: ``What we are doing is good, but it is not good enough. To be truly national, a social security program must include all those who need its protection. Today, many of our citizens are still excluded from old-age insurance and unemployment compensation because of the nature of their employment. This must be set aright, and it will be.''
He continues to say to the American people: ``I am hopeful that on the basis of studies and investigations now underway, the Congress will improve and extend the law. I am also confident that each year will bring further development in Federal and State Social Security legislation, and that is as it should be. One word of warning, however. In our efforts to provide security for all of the American people, let us not allow ourselves to be misled by those who advocate shortcuts to Utopia of fantastic financial schemes.
``We have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go. There is still today a frontier that remains unconquered, an America unclaimed. This is the great, the nationwide frontier of insecurity, of human want and fear. This is the frontier--the America--we have set ourselves to reclaim.''
President Franklin D. Roosevelt pioneered Social Security but recognized that the work was unfinished, even as
President Franklin D. Roosevelt talked about this frontier that America must continue to pursue, conquering the ``frontier of insecurity, of human want and fear.''
That is leadership. That is what we should be doing here in the United States of America, Mr. Speaker, not enacting devastating cuts to healthcare that will hurt millions of everyday Americans.
All of this is also unfolding in an environment where Social Security is now under attack. That is extraordinary to me. Social Security is a sacred promise. It is a sacred trust between the American people and its stewards, her stewards, in government.
That is why I am so thankful for leadership as it relates to Social Security, for people like Congressman John Larson, who recognizes that leadership is not attacking Social Security. We, as House Democrats, led by John Larson, are determined to protect and strengthen Social Security for the American people, keeping FDR's promise of conquering that frontier of financial insecurity.
That is what we should be doing in the United States Congress, not attacking the social safety net, Mr. Speaker. Many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle constantly call things like Social Security and Medicare entitlement programs. They label Social Security and Medicare entitlement programs.
By the way, as a result of this one big, ugly bill, Medicare will be cut potentially by more than $500 billion. The largest cut to Medicare in American history will be set in motion by Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill, and now cosigned, it appears, by House Republicans.
Mr. Speaker, House Republicans have also cosigned this extraordinary assault on Social Security, closing offices, cutting off access to phone service, making it harder for seniors to access their hard-earned benefits.
Social Security is not an entitlement program. Medicare is not an entitlement program, Mr. Speaker. I learned this very early on in life. When I was 15 years old, I secured my first job. I was a messenger traveling from office to office in Midtown Manhattan delivering mail and delivering packages. I was just a sophomore at Midwood High School in Brooklyn, when I got my first job, earning minimum wage, $3.35 an hour. I was thankful for that money, having been raised by my mom and dad in a working-class neighborhood in central Brooklyn. It was $3.35 an hour. I was coming of age in the middle of the crack cocaine epidemic in central Brooklyn.
I couldn't wait to get my first check. I was told because I was working part-time and I was a high school student that the money that I made would not be taxed. So as I was anticipating that first check, I multiplied the amount that I was making, $3.35 per hour, by the number of hours that I expected to work during that pay period. I calculated the total, and, Mr. Speaker, that money was already spent.
I couldn't wait to go to Albee Square Mall in Brooklyn and get some new sneakers so I could look fresh like Run-DMC. The money was already spent, Mr. Speaker, because I was told that as a high school student working part-time, my first job, the money that I would make would not be taxed.
Then I got my first check, and I had two questions, Mr. Speaker: Who is FICA, and why is he taking my money?
Mr. Speaker, what I learned is that every single American, from your first job to every single job that you hold until your last job, pays into Social Security and Medicare through FICA.
Social Security and Medicare aren't entitlement programs. They are earned benefits, earned benefits that people work hard for, and earn throughout their entire life. They are benefits that they deserve.
So keep your hands off Social Security and Medicare, the earned benefits of the American people. Hands off these earned benefits.
It is extraordinary that as a result of this one big, ugly bill, Medicare could be cut by more than $500 billion and these earned benefits of the American people could be jeopardized.
Others have noted that because of Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill, the insolvency of Social Security and Medicare could be accelerated. This is the exact opposite of that sacred charge that President Franklin D. Roosevelt articulated to the Nation as he reflected upon the important first step that was taken with the establishment of Social Security.
He is not the only one. This is a great country, an exceptional country. There are so many examples of what leadership actually looks like, leadership that we are not seeing right now from the majority in the House of Representatives, leadership that we did not see on the Republican side of the aisle in the United States Senate in passing this disgusting abomination, and certainly we are not seeing this level of leadership coming out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
I am thankful that we have examples of leadership echoing throughout our history that we can reflect upon and be inspired by as we navigate our way through these challenging times.
President Truman was from the great State of Missouri, Emmanuel Cleaver's State, the good Reverend Dr. Emanuel Cleaver, my friend and my mentor. Mr. Truman, shortly after ending World War II--we are so thankful for the sacrifice, the bravery, and the courage of the Greatest Generation. A few months after, he unexpectedly became President, he replaced the great FDR. On November 19, 1945, he delivered a special message to Congress recommending a comprehensive health program.
I want to read just a few of those words because it shows us what leadership actually looks like, what it sounds like, what it feels like to have Presidential leadership that we in Congress should aspire to working with, as opposed to bending the knee to an extreme agenda reflected in this one big, ugly bill.
President Truman said to this Congress in a statement recommending a comprehensive health program: ``Millions of our citizens do not now have a full measure of opportunity to achieve and to enjoy good health. Millions do not now have protection or security against the economic effects of sickness. And the time has now arrived for action to help them attain that opportunity and help them get that protection.''
President Truman goes on to say: ``Our new Economic Bill of Rights should mean health security for all, regardless of residence, station, or race--everywhere in the United States.''
He says: ``regardless of residence, station, or race.'' That is Presidential leadership that brings people together. It doesn't seek to divide us, which is what, unfortunately, is happening in the United States of America right now.
President Truman goes on to say to Congress: ``We should resolve now that the health of this Nation is a national concern; that financial barriers in the way of attaining health shall be removed; that the health of all its citizens deserves the help of all the Nation.''
Truman goes on to articulate the challenges that exist in America as it relates to illnesses. He articulates several of them. He talks about the deficiencies in healthcare that existed across America and the fact that in the aftermath of World War II, it was clear that so many people without coverage were medically infirm. He made clear that is unacceptable in the United States of America.
He articulated a forward-looking vision for universal healthcare; an aspirational vision. It was a vision designed to lift the American people up, not rip healthcare away from them, which is what this one big, ugly bill will do, ripping healthcare away from more than 17 million Americans.
That is shameful. It disgusts me that we are on the floor of the House of Representatives right now having to push back so aggressively against an all-out assault on the healthcare of the American people when we should be trying to lift them up in a manner consistent, Mr. Speaker, with what President Truman once charged this Congress with doing.
Of course, he wasn't the only one. We are thankful for other leaders who
President Lyndon Baines Johnson, in connection with the Great Society, was inspired, in part, by his own experiences growing up in the hill country of Texas and seeing rural poverty and the devastating impacts of it. It was something that he was inspired to address, as opposed to this one big, ugly Republican bill that will result in rural hospitals closing in the United States of America. That is not the type of leadership that this country needs or that rural America needs. I am thankful that we have examples of the type of leadership that hopefully, Mr. Speaker, we can aspire to achieve in this country.
President Lyndon Baines Johnson, in connection with the signing of Medicare and Medicaid, spoke to the American people.
He said: ``Because the need for this action is plain; and it is so clear indeed that we marvel not simply at the passage of this bill, but what we marvel at is that it took so many years to pass it. And I am so glad that Amy Forand is here to see it finally passed and signed--one of the first authors.
``There are more than 18 million Americans over the age of 65. Most of them have low incomes. Most of them are threatened by illness and medical expenses that they cannot afford.
``And through this new law, Mr. President, every citizen will be able, in his productive years when he is earning, to insure himself against the ravages of illness in his old age.''
President Johnson was referring to President Harry Truman, who was there at the signing ceremony, having recognized President Truman's vision.
He says: ``And through this new law, Mr. President, every citizen will be able, in his productive years when he is earning, to insure himself against the ravages of illness in his old age.''
That was the beauty of Medicare. You pay into it. It is an earned benefit, and you can reap the benefits in your golden years.
President Johnson went on to say: ``This insurance will help pay for care in hospitals, in skilled nursing homes, or in the home.''
It is ironic. That is what Presidential leadership looks like.
LBJ says: ``This insurance will help pay for care in hospitals, in skilled nursing homes, or in the home.''
Yet, Mr. Speaker, we are here 60 years later, and Republicans are trying to jam a budget down the throats of the American people that will close hospitals, close nursing homes, and detonate the ability of millions of people to access home care.
That is shameful. It is not the type of leadership that this country needs right now, but that is what we are getting: chaos, cruelty, and corruption.
President Johnson went on to talk about Medicaid, which is the subject of an all-out assault now by this reckless Republican budget, the GOP tax scam, this one big, ugly bill.
I will make sure that the Record reflects what enlightened leadership had to say about Medicaid: ``The benefits under the law are as varied and broad as the marvelous modern medicine itself. If it has a few defects--such as the method of payment of certain specialists--then I am confident those can be quickly remedied, and I hope they will be.
``No longer will older Americans be denied the healing miracle of modern medicine. No longer will illness crush and destroy the savings that they have so carefully put away over a lifetime so that they may enjoy dignity in their later years. No longer will young families see their own incomes, and their own hopes, eaten way . . .
``No longer will this Nation refuse the hand of justice to those who have given a lifetime of service and wisdom and labor to the progress of this progressive country.''
Medicare and Medicaid benefit older Americans right now, people who have given a lifetime of service and wisdom and labor to the progress of this progressive country, as LBJ spoke to.
In this bill, Mr. President--again, a nod to President Harry Truman-- is even broader than that. It will increase Social Security benefits for all of our older Americans. It will improve a wide range of health and medical services for Americans of all ages.
Then President Lyndon Baines Johnson leans in on the importance of Medicaid with a greater degree of precision. He says: ``But there is another tradition that we share today. It calls upon us never to be indifferent toward despair. It commands us never to turn away from helplessness. It directs us never to ignore or to spurn those who suffer untended in a land that is bursting with abundance.''
This is not just our tradition or even the tradition of the Nation. It is as old as the day it was first commanded: ``Thou shalt open thy hand wide unto thy brother, unto thy poor, and to thy needy in thy land.''
Is that what we are doing here today in the United States Congress, opening our hands of grace and compassion and responsibility to our fellow Americans, our fellow citizens?
No. That is not what Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill is all about. It is an assault on everyday Americans to reward billionaires with massive tax breaks. That is extraordinary.
President Clinton in the 1990s talked about the Children's Health Insurance Program, a program designed to make sure that children in this country would have access to the medical care they needed to live a life of dignity and respect. It is extraordinary to me, Mr. Speaker, that in Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill, the eligibility for the Children's Health Insurance Program will also be diminished as part of an all-out assault on the healthcare of the American people.
I thought it not robbery in the time that I have that we lift up the original spirit of the Children's Health Insurance Program. President Clinton said to the Nation: ``Because we have acted, millions of children across this country will be able to get medicine, and have their sight and hearing tested, and see dentists and doctors for the first time. Millions of young Americans will be able to go on to college. Millions of Americans not so young will be able to go back to school to get the education and training they need to succeed in life. Millions of families will have more to spend on their own children's needs and upbringing. This budget is an investment in their future and in America's.''
Budgets are moral documents. In our view, Mr. Speaker, budgets should be designed to lift people up. This reckless Republican budget that we are debating right now on the floor of the House of Representatives tears people down. This reckless Republican budget is an immoral document, and everybody should vote ``no'' against it because of how it attacks children and seniors and everyday Americans and people with disabilities.
This reckless Republican budget is an immoral document, and that is why I stand here on the floor of the House of Representatives with my colleagues and the House Democratic Caucus to stand up and push back against it with everything we have on behalf of the American people.
In the spirit of John Lewis: ``Show up, stand up, and speak up for what we know is right.'' It is an immoral document that we are debating right now in the House of Representatives.
This budget also represents an attack on the Affordable Care Act. For some reason, Republicans have been obsessed, Mr. Speaker, with attacking the Affordable Care Act, gave it the nickname ObamaCare, but the great Jim Clyburn flipped the script and said, yes, it is ObamaCare because President Barack Obama cares about the American people just like we do as House Democrats.
That is not what is being reflected right now on the other side of the aisle. We care about the American people. We care about their health. We care about their safety. We care about their well-being. I am proud to stand here on the floor saying, yeah, we are going to continue to defend ObamaCare until the very end no matter what it takes.
President Obama spoke to this Congress, as well, talked about Presidential leadership. We have seen it year after year, decade after decade, century after century. President Lincoln, President Roosevelt, President Truman, President Johnson, President Clinton, and President Obama lifted up the American people on the healthcare issue. I think it is important that these words, as well, continue to echo out throughout America.
President Obama said: ``There is still tremendous hardship all across the country, but there is a sense that we are making progress because of you. But even before this crisis''--he, of course, speaks about the Great Recession. ``But even before this crisis, each and every one of us knew there were millions of people across America who were living their own quiet crises. Maybe because they had a child who had a preexisting condition and no matter how desperate they were, no matter what insurance company they called, they couldn't get coverage for that child. Maybe it was somebody who had been forced into early retirement, in their fifties, not yet eligible for Medicare, and they couldn't find a job, and they couldn't find health insurance despite the fact that they had some sort of chronic condition that had to be tended to. . . . And now, we are on the threshold of doing something about it,'' he said to the United States Congress, to Speaker Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi and others, who were great partners in this effort.
He said: ``And now, we are on the threshold of doing something about it. We are a day away.'' This is aspirational leadership. ``After a year of debate, after every argument has been made by just about everybody, we are 24 hours away.''
Referring to his critics that existed at the time, who sat on the other side of the aisle, he said: ``But it may also be possible that they realize after health reform passes and I sign that legislation into law that it is going to be a little harder to mischaracterize what this effort has been all about because, this year, small businesses will start getting tax credits so that they can offer health insurance to employees who currently don't have it; because, this year, those same parents who are worried about getting coverage for their children with preexisting conditions now are assured that insurance companies have to give them coverage this year; because, this year, insurance companies won't suddenly be able to drop your coverage when you get sick or impose lifetime limits or restrictive limits on the coverage that you have.''
President Obama went on to say: ``Maybe they know that this year, for the first time, young people will be able to stay on their parents' health insurance until they are 26 years old.''
The Affordable Care Act was a tremendous step in the right direction. It is aspirational leadership. Tens of millions of Americans now have health insurance coverage as a result of the Affordable Care Act.
This reckless Republican budget, this one big, ugly bill that President Donald Trump has directed my Republican colleagues to sign off on, to recklessly rubberstamp and to bend the knee to even though this bill and its assault on healthcare, on Medicaid, on the Children's Health Insurance Program, on Medicare, and on ObamaCare will rip away healthcare coverage from the people my Republican colleague are here in Washington to represent.
It is extraordinary to me that, as a result of this one big, ugly bill, this all-out assault on healthcare in this country, millions of people are going to lose coverage, thrown off of healthcare, set in motion a chain of events where hospitals will close, nursing homes will shut down, people unable to get the care that they need to live a life of dignity and respect.
As a result of the all-out Republican assault on healthcare in the United States of America, people will die, tens of thousands, perhaps year after year after year, as a result of the Republican assault on the healthcare of the American people.
I am sad. I never thought that I would be on the House floor saying that this is a crime scene, and House Democrats want no part of it, no part of it. It is a crime scene going after the health, the safety, and the well-being of the American people. Mr. Speaker, we want no part of it, which is why we are fighting so hard to stop it.
Serving in the United States Congress on this glorious floor, having to be part of a crime scene, it is shameful, an all-out assault on the American people.
President Biden worked hard with many of the people in this Congress who still serve to try and build upon this great legacy, this journey that we have been on, set in motion in modern American Presidential history by FDR; inspired by the great vision of President Truman; enhanced in years that were cut short, far too early, by President Kennedy; and empowered in such an extraordinary way by President Lyndon Baines Johnson; built upon aspirationally by President Jimmy Carter. Then, it advanced to the Children's Health Insurance Program by President Bill Clinton, furthered in such an extraordinary way by President Barack Obama, and then built upon and enhanced by President Biden.
None of us are perfect, but that is part of our march toward a more perfect Union. That is part of the charge that we have as public servants, given that sacred charge in the preamble of the United States Constitution, ``We the people . . . in order to form a more perfect Union,'' leadership that tries to perfect the American journey.
President Biden spoke to this in August 2022. He talked about the challenges, pushing back against special interests that are often the forces trying to stop progress on behalf of the American people. This one big, ugly bill is filled with giveaways to special interests here in Washington, D.C. I am disgusted by that. It is not what lawmaking should be about.
President Biden, reflecting upon the challenges of making progress on behalf of the American people, said, in August 2022: ``And, yet, we have not wavered. We have not flinched. We have not given in. Instead, we are delivering results for the American people.''
``We didn't tear down; we built up. We didn't look back; we looked forward. . . . This law that I am about to sign finally delivers on a promise that Washington has made for decades to the American people. . . . Guess what. We are giving Medicare the power to negotiate those prices,'' lower prices on behalf of the American people.
President Biden goes on to say: ``This means seniors are going to pay less for their prescription drugs, while we're changing circumstances for people on Medicare by putting a cap--a cap of a maximum of $2,000 per year on their prescription drug costs, no matter what the reason for those prescriptions are.
``That means if you're on Medicare, you'll never have to pay more than $2,000 a year, no matter how many prescriptions you have, whether it's for cancer or any other disease. No more than $2,000 a year.''
I don't care who in this town is trying to take credit for something accomplished by others, President Joseph Robinette Biden did that. He did that. He did that as part of our effort to lower costs on behalf of the American people.
None of us are perfect. There is still work to do, but the 46th President of the United States of America did that.
He went on to say: ``The Inflation Reduction Act locks in place lower healthcare premiums for millions of families who get their coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
``Last year, a family of four saved on average $2,400 through the American Rescue Plan that I signed into law that Congress voted in place.''
President Biden is talking about the continuation of our march toward a more perfect Union, the work that we in this Congress, many of us who had the privilege to serve over the last few years did to try to expand and strengthen the Affordable Care Act, ObamaCare, by enhancing the premium tax credits available so that millions of additional Americans would actually have the ability to get access to healthcare.
In this one big, ugly bill, Republicans are setting in motion the explosion of those tax credits that are designed to provide affordable healthcare coverage to the American people.
Leadership requires courage, conviction, and compassion. Yet, what we have seen from this administration and its co-conspirators on the Republican side of the aisle, Mr. Speaker, is cruelty, chaos, and corruption. It has all been morphed into a toxic mix now contained in Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill, an extraordinary assault on the healthcare of the American people.
I mentioned earlier, Mr. Speaker, that I would be taking to the House floor to share stories from the American people, stories that are too numerous to articulate in the time available
It is an assault on healthcare, an assault on nutritional assistance, an assault on children, an assault on veterans, an assault on farmers, an assault on everyday Americans.
Christal, who is also from the great State of Alaska, said: ``After my husband passed away suddenly, I was unprepared to pay all the bills as a part-time, stay-at-home mom. Working part time while my young girls were in school, I applied for SNAP benefits and was so thankful I received them, for it helped me so much. I was so thankful it put food on our table. I didn't have to worry about how I was going to buy groceries while paying the other bills I had to take care of.
``The SNAP program has helped me many times, and through those times I was struggling financially, and so I am so thankful it was there when I needed it most. I am no longer on the program, but it was one of the biggest blessings in my life during those hard years after my loss. Thank you to the government for helping me. We all need help at times in life, and I think this program should remain available to those who really need it, who are struggling.''
Mr. Speaker, I thank Christal for sharing her story with us.
Mr. Speaker, Talese, who wrote to us, lives in Alabama's Fifth Congressional District, a district currently represented by Dale Strong.
I am so thankful for the representation of my good friends, Terri Sewell and Shomari Figures, in the great State of Alabama.
Talese writes to us: ``I am a single mom, doing everything with my one income. My ex-husband refuses to pay child support or split the cost of anything related to my daughter. If it wasn't for SNAP, we would probably have very little in terms of food because I am always running on E. I am so beyond grateful for the assistance.''
Mr. Speaker, Curtis writes to us from the great State of Arizona: ``In my disabled senior status, I would be in a dire nutritional status if not mostly for the SNAP nutritional assistance, a godsend. For so many Americans, that is what SNAP has been, a godsend in a time of need.''
Mr. Speaker, now the nutritional assistance benefits will be ripped away from millions of Americans in Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill, a bill that Republicans are prepared to recklessly rubber stamp.
We also heard from Diana from the great State of California. Diana writes: ``SNAP has helped my family tremendously during this difficult time. We really appreciate all the help. My husband was diagnosed with cancer, and we have a little one at home. It has been difficult taking care of everything. Please keep this benefit to help people get on their feet.''
Diana lives in the Inland Empire, California's 33rd Congressional District. It is represented by the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, Pete Aguilar.
Diana, Pete Aguilar is fighting hard for you, just like every single House Democrat is fighting hard for the American people. We want to protect you as best we can from this cruel assault on nutritional assistance. We are going to continue to fight hard for you.
In Ohio, Julie writes to us: ``I am so thankful for Emilia Sykes and Marcy Kaptur. Marcy Kaptur is the original gangster of the Ohio delegation. She is the longest serving woman in the history of the United States Congress. She is fighting hard on behalf of the people she incredibly represents, along with Emilia Sykes, Shontel Brown, and Greg Landsman.
Of course, all of us know I couldn't leave out my big sister Joyce Beatty. I wanted to mention Joyce because this is part of the resilience of what we have seen from House Democrats.
We saw it from Brittany Pettersen, the distinguished gentlewoman from the great State of Colorado, who gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Sam, at the beginning of this year.
Because House Republicans, Mr. Speaker, have refused to allow proxy voting, virtual voting, for expectant mothers and new mothers, throughout this year, shortly after giving birth, Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen each and every week, often with her baby boy, Sam, has come to the United States Congress to stand with House Democrats in defense of the American people.
She did it in connection with that first vote that set this whole disgusting abomination into motion in February, that same day.
Kevin Mullin showed up to vote on behalf of the American people. Just like all of us continue to do, Kevin Mullin showed up to vote, despite the fact that he had been experiencing multiple surgeries. He was dealing with some complications. He understood, just like all House Democrats, the need to stand up in this moment and fight hard for the American people. He understood the need to be here throughout this entire toxic journey that Republicans have set us on in connection with this one big, ugly bill.
Kevin Mullin, coming off of multiple surgeries, rolled out of his hospital bed. He got on a plane from northern California and took his wife with him so that she could change his IV on the plane, across the country, to be here and stand with his sisters and brothers and the House Democratic Caucus family to push back against this one, big ugly bill.
I am so thankful and so appreciative to see the great Joyce Beatty who has been battling some issues. She worked her way through them and put off surgeries for as long as she could.
Yet, perhaps against some of the advice that she may have received, she understood, as she said in her own words, the importance of being here on behalf of the American people and to stand up and push back against Trump's one big, ugly bill because it will have devastating consequences for everyday Americans.
I thank Joyce Beatty for her courage, her strength, and her resilience on behalf of the people that she represents in the great State of Ohio and people all across the country. That is what we do as House Democrats, and she is leading by example.
I could tell stories about every single one of us who in this moment recognizes that we have to keep rising to the occasion because of the extraordinary assault that has been launched against the American people by Donald Trump and complete Republican control here in Washington.
Mr. Speaker, let's understand who is doing you in. It is the people on the other side of the aisle. It is not too late. All we need are four Republicans to join us and to show John McCain levels of courage, not on the battlefield as he did in such an extraordinary way. Yes, John McCain was an American hero and patriot.
He was an American hero and patriot. I may have disagreed with him on a whole host of issues, but we cannot disagree with the fact that he was an American patriot and a war hero who served this country overseas.
He came back home after being a POW year after year after year and got elected to the United States House of Representatives.
Did I get that right, Mr. Speaker?
He got elected to the United States House of Representatives. I am just making sure you are paying attention, Mr. Speaker. All good things start in the United States House of Representatives, as far as we are concerned.
Then, he went over to the Senate. In one of his final acts of courage, he pushed back against the efforts to rip away healthcare from millions of Americans.
All we need are four Republicans to show John McCain's levels of courage when it comes to protecting the health, the safety, and the well-being of the American people and protecting the nutritional assistance of the American people.
I think, earlier today, I may have neglected to mention the leadership of Jim McGovern, who has done an extraordinary job leading the charge on the Rules Committee as we pushed back against this all- out assault on the American people.
Hour after hour after hour after hour, Jim McGovern, the members of the
Jim McGovern, of course, is a longtime champion for combating hunger in the United States of America. Thankfully, Jim continues to battle hard on behalf of the American people with resilience and strength even in the face of great tragedy.
Julie writes: ``SNAP has been an amazing help to my family. I am very grateful to receive it. I am a single mom of twin 13-year-old girls. I have been on my own with my girls since they were 1 and have never received child support. I do work.''
People who receive Medicaid work. People who receive SNAP work. Some people in this town need to stop lying to the American people.
Mr. Speaker, I said some people in this town need to stop lying to the American people.
Julie said: ``I do work but don't make enough money to cover all of my expenses. It is a big misunderstanding that people on SNAP don't have jobs. My children would eat very poorly if I didn't have SNAP. I would have to rely on church food pantries, and they can only offer the bare minimum. Food banks don't give basics like milk and bread.''
That is Julie's experience. Mr. Speaker, she lives in Ohio's 14th Congressional District, represented by our colleague, Congressman David Joyce.
We heard from Mark from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Mark says: ``I have collected Medicaid and SNAP benefits for over a decade now. I may well have found myself in a worse place if not for these programs. Giving freely and charitably is the way of Jesus.''
Mr. Speaker, some people in this Chamber need to hear those words again: ``Giving freely and charitably is the way of Jesus.'' That is someone who is talking like a Matthew 25 and 35 Christian.
He says: ``SNAP and Social Security benefits have been lifesaving for me. They literally keep me alive. I suffer from severe depression, anxiety, and OCD, and I have Asperger's. This is why I am on Social Security and SNAP. I believe everyone should have access to these benefits, and in an ideal world, our communities would be centered around love, harmony, and the protection of each other.''
That is real love, not fake love like promising to love and cherish Medicaid and then turning around and presiding over the largest cut to Medicaid in American history, which is what Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill represents.
Mark says: ``I believe that everyone should have access to these benefits, and in an ideal world, our communities would be centered around love, harmony, and the protection of each other.''
That is the kind of leadership that this country needs and deserves right now, but that is the kind of leadership it is not getting from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Mr. Speaker, Mark lives in Pennsylvania's First Congressional District. I believe that district is represented by our colleague, Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick.
I want to ask the question: What happened earlier today? How was it that, a few hours ago, several of my Republican colleagues had principled opposition to Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill?
Several hours ago, how is it that so many of our Republican colleagues, Mr. Speaker, had principled opposition to Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill either because of the devastating assault on Medicaid, healthcare, supplemental nutritional assistance; the assault on veterans; the assault on clean energy jobs; the assault on the cost- of-living, which is represented in this bill; or the assault of the fiscal irresponsibility of a bill that will explode the deficit, increase the debt by trillions of dollars, and send us on a death spiral potentially as it relates to our economy?
How is it, Mr. Speaker, that so many of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle had principled opposition just a few hours ago and now seem prepared to fold on the floor of the House of Representatives?
Don't you have some responsibility, Mr. Speaker, to say to the American people what happened, what deals were cut, what occurred in the back room?
It will all come out one way or the other, Mr. Speaker.
It is incredible to me that this Congress is on the verge of ripping food out of the mouths of children, veterans, and seniors as a result of this one big, ugly bill in order to reward billionaires with massive tax breaks and exploding the debt in the process.
I mentioned earlier in my remarks that as House Democrats, we envision a different country than the one that is being ravaged by such extremism right now. We imagine a country where every single American can afford to live the good life, have a good-paying job, good housing, good healthcare, good education for your children, and a good retirement. You work hard, play by the rules, and live the good life. That is the America that we should be working hard right now to bring about for every single American.
We know there are far too many Americans in this country struggling to live paycheck to paycheck.
Mr. Speaker, that should not be the case in this country, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, a country that has become far too expensive for far too many people.
Donald Trump promised to lower the high cost of living on day one. He made that promise to the American people. He made that promise. It didn't happen on day one. It hasn't happened on month one, month two, month three, month four, month five, or month six. It is not happening, Mr. Speaker. Costs aren't going down. Costs are going up in the United States of America.
Life is becoming more expensive. It seems to me that in this great country, this Congress should be working hard to build an affordable economy for hardworking American taxpayers. That is our plan. That is our vision. That is our goal as House Democrats, an affordable economy for hardworking American taxpayers. Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill will make life more expensive for the American people.
Lynette wrote to us. She is also a resident of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. She said: ``I am a single mom of three girls. Although my two older girls are out of the home, they and I struggle. I work full- time, but it is not enough to get by.
``Without the help of SNAP and Section 8, I would not be able to afford anything. I sacrifice every day so my daughters can have food and a place to come home and call home. I get $124 a month in food stamps''--$124 a month in food stamps--``which isn't enough as food prices keep going up. With the little help I do get from the government, I am grateful and blessed.
``Last year, I passed out after a church service and was rushed to the hospital. I didn't have any insurance at this time, but I was treated. However, I could not pay back the services I received, and I still need treatments.
``I have been choosing to pay for rent and food, but I have these bills and other appointments that I need to go to, but I don't have the extra money. And I don't qualify for Medicare, and I don't make enough to get insurance on the marketplace for insurance.''
Lynette says: ``Without the help of SNAP and Section 8, I would not be able to afford anything.''
Mr. Speaker, Lynette resides in Pennsylvania's Seventh Congressional District, a district represented by our colleague Congressman Ryan Mackenzie.
Wendy writes to us from the Commonwealth of Virginia. She says: ``I am a single mother of two children, and due to bone cancer, I now live with a disability and am unable to work.
``I have not only survived cancer but my children and I also survived domestic abuse. I have been making ends meet while not working or receiving any child support for almost 2 years. To my family, SNAP is literally life or death. While I hope that one day my circumstances will improve to the point that I will not need the assistance, for now,'' Wendy tells us, ``it is a lifesaver.''
That is what these safety net programs represent: lifesavers for Americans in need. Instead of protecting these lifesaving programs, these life-sustaining programs, what we see from
Jamie is from the great State of Wisconsin, part of the heartland of the United States of America, the magical Midwest, the hardworking people of the great State of Wisconsin. I was privileged to just be there this past weekend.
Jamie said: ``I work. I am a single mom. I need help to feed my kids. All the bills have skyrocketed. I am doing this on my own. Please don't take away SNAP.''
That is a plea that I think is being heard all across this land: Please don't take away SNAP. It is a lifesaver that is being ripped away from the American people as part of this Republican effort, Mr. Speaker, to provide massive tax breaks for billionaires.
Jamie lives in the Third Congressional District of Wisconsin, currently represented, Mr. Speaker, by Congressman Derrick Van Orden.
Healthcare is under assault. Nutritional assistance is under assault. Farmers in this country have also been under assault.
One of the reasons why so many Americans are cynical about our politics of the moment is that there are people who run for office and say one thing and then they do the exact opposite. Many of the policies that we have seen come out of the Trump administration are inconsistent with the rhetorical promises that were made on the campaign trail, Donald Trump and House Republicans promising to look out for people in farm country and then supporting policies that do the exact opposite.
April is from Iowa, a fourth-generation farmer on land her family has worked for almost 125 years in north central Iowa. Then, it says: ``If there is all this uncertainty out there, how can we plan? We need a path forward. It is like changing a tire while we are still driving down the road.''
That is what our farmers are being asked to do: change a tire while they are still driving down the road because of the uncertainty that has been unleashed by an administration far too focused on chaos, cruelty, and corruption. Those are my words.
April goes on to say: ``We are kind of holding our breath for this fall. That is when it will hurt the most farmers. We need trade with Mexico and Canada, too. That is why I think the reciprocal tariffs are going to hurt us more. We get fertilizer from Canada. We get parts and products made in Mexico.''
As House Democrats, we are focused on creating more good-paying jobs and on economic strategies that make sense and are designed to lift up the American people. Yet, I can't find anything in this 900-plus page bill that is actually designed to permanently sustain a positive trajectory for farmers in this country and for everyday Americans.
In fact, the chaotic uncertainty of the economic policies that have been unleashed by the Trump administration and complete Republican rule in Washington, D.C., will have devastating consequences for the American people and for farmers like April.
John writes to us from the great State of North Carolina. He says to us: ``Not many families can say this, Black families, that is, but we've been here for over a hundred years. My great-grandfather, my grandfathers on both sides, and my father were all farmers. Honestly, I cannot understand it. I have not heard anybody from that administration that can tell me anything that makes any sense of what he is causing.''
John further writes: ``You cannot take a chain saw and do surgery. I am going to plant about 50 percent less than I would normally because I don't know what the price is going to be. I don't want to take the risk of putting even more out there.''
What we have seen from the Trump administration, from the so-called DOGE effort, and from our Republican colleagues, Mr. Speaker, is deeply troubling. Republicans are trying to take a chain saw to Social Security, a chain saw to Medicare, a chain saw to Medicaid, a chain saw to the healthcare of the American people, a chain saw to nutritional assistance for hungry children, a chain saw to farm country, and a chain saw to vulnerable Americans.
Yet, as House Democrats, we are here to make clear, Mr. Speaker, that we are determined to take a chain saw to Project 2025--a chain saw--a chain saw to Project 2025 on behalf of the American people. We don't want this country to go backward. We want this country to go forward, and so, no matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes, we are going to take a chain saw to the Republicans' Project 2025. That is what we are prepared to do.
I thank John from North Carolina.
There is one last farmer whose voice I want to elevate at this moment, and then I would like to have a discussion anchored around some of the things that our Republican colleagues, Mr. Speaker, have said during this entire process, correspondence that has been written by Republicans as it relates to this one big, ugly bill, correspondence that I am struggling to understand now because it appears that almost every single House Republican is prepared to recklessly rubberstamp Donald Trump's extreme agenda and sign off on this one big, ugly bill.
I am going to go through some of the correspondence momentarily that maybe, at some point, our Republican colleagues can help us figure out.
I will enter into the Record one last story from a farmer. Can we respect the farmers in the United States of America? Can we respect them? We began this country as an agrarian economy. We should respect the farmers in this country as I am telling their stories on the eve of our 249th birthday. Can we respect the farmers in this country who we are working hard to defend?
Suzie is from Missouri in a district, Mr. Speaker, represented by Ways and Means chairman, our colleague, Jason Smith. She writes to us, and she says that Suzie and her husband moved back to her family farm over two decades ago where they raised their children, including a son with complex medical needs who relies on Medicaid for essential therapies and care.
Over the years, Suzie has seen firsthand how Medicaid has been a lifeline for families like hers, especially in rural communities. The proud mother and daughter of hardworking Missourians, Suzie apparently has voted for both Democrats and Republicans, and her husband is a registered Republican; but as farmers, they both believe that access to healthcare should never be a partisan issue.
We agree. Thank you, Suzie. Access to healthcare in the United States of America should never be a partisan issue. It should never be considered a privilege just for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected. It is a right that should be available to every single American, and that is what we are fighting hard right now to defend here in the United States of America and to push back against this one big, ugly bill.
As I mentioned earlier, in the time that I have remaining, I certainly want to share the story of some of our veterans; share a few stories of some of our small business owners who would also be under assault as part of this one big, ugly bill. I want to also share the stories of hardworking and law-abiding immigrant families who also will be targeted by this one big, ugly bill.
However, I did want to take a little time at this moment to enter into the Record some of the statements that have been made, Mr. Speaker, by our Republican colleagues that I just don't understand. I mean, I am flummoxed by some of these statements. I have always wanted to use that word, y'all.
I was hoping to seek some clarification at some point after I am able to yield the floor, but I am still here to take my sweet time on behalf of the American people because it was totally unacceptable that you would try to jam this bill, Mr. Speaker, down the throats of the American people with 15 minutes allocated for a debate that would hurt everyday Americans--allocated to the committees of jurisdiction, 15 minutes.
Now, I am here with my House Democratic colleagues 4 hours in, taking our
As I mentioned, Mr. Speaker, I always wanted to use that word. I can't spell it, but I know what it means. I am confused by many of these statements, so I am trying to enter them into the Record and then perhaps, at some point, get some clarification.
Talking about Medicaid cuts, the largest cut to Medicaid in American history, the Vice President said these cuts are immaterial.
Are you kidding me? Immaterial? I am perplexed. I am astonished. I am confused that someone who sits in the second highest office in the land would say that Medicaid cuts, a trillion dollars or so of Medicaid cuts that are in Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill, are ``immaterial.''
I am confused, Mr. Speaker, by the statement that was made by the former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who, when talking about the Medicaid cuts that millions of Americans have been reaching out to us, pouring into us their heartfelt concerns at the devastating impact that these Medicaid cuts will have on their health, their safety, and their well-being, I am confused, Mr. Speaker, by the statement that Mitch McConnell made. He said: ``People will get over it.''
No, Mitch. The American people will not get over it, but they will get even next November. That is what is going to happen because of these cuts being unleashed on the American people.
I am confused, perplexed, astonished, and flummoxed by some of these statements.
This one is a beauty from the great State of Iowa. In the great State of Iowa, Senator Joni Ernst showed up at a townhall meeting in Iowa. First of all, I will give her credit for showing up at a townhall meeting because House Republicans were instructed not to show up at townhall meetings. She shows up, Mr. Speaker, at a townhall meeting and is questioned about the fact that healthcare in America--that Medicaid is a question of life or death.
When asked by one of her constituents about the concern that was had, the fact that people will die as a result of the devastating cuts to Medicaid and healthcare that are in Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill, Senator Ernst said: ``We are all going to die.''
Yes, Joni, the American people understand that, at some point, all of us will transition, but the American people do not deserve to die as a result of the Republican cruelty that is in this legislation, do not deserve to die as a result of the cruelty that is embedded, Mr. Speaker, in this legislation, ending Medicaid as we know it, the largest cut to Medicaid in American history as a result of this all-out assault on healthcare in America.
Mr. Speaker, there are 220 Republicans who I serve with in this Congress, and I wish I had time to go through the impact in all 220 districts. Actually, since I have unlimited time, maybe I do, but, Mr. Speaker, I figure that I will start in my home State of New York.
Mr. Speaker, in New York's First Congressional District, represented by our colleague Congressman Nick LaLota, approximately 50,000 New Yorkers will lose their healthcare.
In New York's 24th Congressional District, Mr. Speaker, represented by our colleague Congresswoman Claudia Tenney, over 30,000 New Yorkers will lose their healthcare.
In parts of western New York, an upstate district, New York-23, currently represented by Congressman Nick Langworthy, approximately 35,000 New Yorkers will lose their healthcare as a result of Trump's one big, ugly bill.
In New York-17, currently represented by Congressman Mike Lawler, more than 30,000 New Yorkers will lose their healthcare.
In New York-21, the north country, represented by Congresswoman Elise Stefanik--welcome back to Congress. I am sorry it did not work out for you. That is a lesson that should be learned by all those who pledge fealty to the wannabe king, but I digress.
In New York's 2lst Congressional District, currently represented by Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, approximately 44,000 New Yorkers will lose their healthcare.
In Long Island, Suffolk County, part of Long Island, currently represented in Nassau County by two amazing colleagues, Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen, but in Suffolk County, New York's Second Congressional District, currently represented by Congressman Andrew Garbarino, 48,000 New Yorkers will lose their healthcare in Suffolk County, in New York's Second Congressional District, as a result of Trump's one big, ugly bill.
In the 11th Congressional District, a district that includes all of Staten Island, a district, Mr. Speaker, currently represented by Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis, more than 50,000 New Yorkers will lose their healthcare as a result of Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill. On Staten Island and in New York's 11th Congressional District--I don't think that the Wu-Tang Clan would approve of that.
It is incredible to me. In district after district after district, Mr. Speaker, represented by my Republican colleagues, so many Americans will stand to lose their healthcare as a result of Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill.
Now, this is not just a Democratic perspective. We stand by that perspective. We will continue to articulate that view and forcefully defend the healthcare of the American people, but it is not just a Democratic perspective.
I thought that it was important that we enter into the Record some of the words, Mr. Speaker, of Members of the House Republican Conference who wrote directly to you, Mr. Speaker, in their own words, talking about the challenges of this one big, ugly bill.
February 19 of this year, in a letter written to the Honorable Mike Johnson, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the subject line was: ``Protecting American Communities in the Budget Reconciliation Process.''
For all the American people who may be watching the floor of the House of Representatives right now, that is the process that we are in with this one big, ugly bill.
Mr. Speaker, Republicans chose to go down this road because Republicans are uninterested in actually trying to find bipartisan solutions to solving problems on behalf of the American people, so we are in this budget reconciliation process that can avoid the filibuster in the United States Senate. Republicans, Mr. Speaker, are not interested in trying to actually find bipartisan common ground.
We are the party of common sense. Let's be clear about it. I am going to be spending some time on the road talking about what common sense really is all about. Common sense certainly is not taking healthcare away from the American people.
I have a lot of statements that have been entered into the Record, but I figured we would start with this one from February 19: ``Dear Speaker Johnson, as members of the Congressional Hispanic Conference-- ''
That is different than the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus right now is fighting hard on behalf of the healthcare of the American people on the Democratic side. We call that the real CHC. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is fighting hard on behalf of the American people.
However, this is the letter: ``As members of the Congressional Hispanic Conference--''
Mr. Speaker, as you know, these are Republicans here in the House of Representatives.
``--and those who represent sizable Hispanic populations, we are writing to express our concerns regarding possible funding decisions stemming from the House Budget Resolution's committee instructions advanced on February 13, 2025.''
Those budget instructions, by the way, were what set this whole toxic process in motion that has resulted in this moment that we find ourselves in right now on the floor of the House of Representatives, connected to this one big, ugly bill.
In this letter, it says that: ``While we fully support efforts to rein in wasteful spending and deliver on President Trump's agenda--''
Let me park it right there parenthetically for a moment. Nothing in this bill is about waste, fraud, and abuse. Nothing is doing anything meaningful about waste, fraud, and abuse.
The letter continues: ``--it is imperative that we do not slash programs that support American communities across our Nation. . . . ''
It then goes on to say: ``The House Budget Resolution proposed $880 billion in cuts to programs under the jurisdiction of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, with Medicaid expected to bear the brunt of these reductions.''
Those are their words, not our words.
``Nearly 30 percent of Medicaid enrollees are Hispanic Americans, and for many families across the country, Medicaid is their only access to healthcare. Slashing Medicaid would have serious consequences, particularly in rural and predominantly Hispanic communities where hospitals and nursing homes are already struggling to keep their doors open.''
Mr. Speaker, these are members of the House Republican Conference warning about the devastating impacts of this one big, ugly bill.
It goes on to say: ``The House Committee on Education and the Workforce has been tasked with cutting $330 billion, where Federal aid for higher education--such as Pell grants--may be a target for reductions.''
Once again, let me park it right there parenthetically to make the observation that this bill also assaults higher education in the United States of America. That is a disgrace.
Mr. Speaker, members of the House Republican Conference predicted that that would occur. Those are their words, not our words.
``The House Committee on Education and the Workforce has been tasked with cutting $330 billion, where Federal aid for higher education--such as Pell grants--may be a target for reductions. Hispanic students make up a significant share of Pell grant recipients, many of whom are first-generation college students striving for a better future for themselves, their families, and our Nation . . . If we are serious about empowering the next generation and strengthening our workforce, we must facilitate, and not undermine, opportunities that help students succeed.
``Finally, the House Committee on Agriculture has been directed to cut $230 billion.'' Then, Mr. Speaker, our Republican colleagues go on to write: ``While we fully support efforts to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse--``
By the way, that is all fake. We support a Federal Government that is effective, efficient, and equitable, and that eliminates waste, fraud, and abuse. That is not what this bill is all about.
But it goes on to say: ``While we fully support efforts to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse, we must ensure that assistance programs--such as SNAP--``
I mean, I am just confused.
``--remain protected as nearly 22 percent of Hispanic families rely on this critical program as a temporary safety net during difficult times.''
Then this letter, written to you, Mr. Speaker, by the Congressional Hispanic Conference concludes: ``Hispanic Americans are the future of the Republican Party.''
I will reserve judgment on that statement. As House Democrats, we are going to fight for every single community in the United States of America, including the Hispanic community, every single community. We want every single community to experience the good life, to be able to afford to live the good life. That is what we want for every single community: Good-paying jobs, good housing, good healthcare, good education for the children, and a good retirement. That is what we want for every community.
However, the Congressional Hispanic Conference writes, in closing, to you, Mr. Speaker, that these Hispanic Americans ``are closely watching to see if we will govern in a way that honors their values and delivers results.''
Just to make sure that appropriate authorship is conferred, I am going to enter the names of the signatories to this extraordinary letter, Mr. Speaker: Tony Gonzales, Nicole Malliotakis, Monica De La Cruz, David Valadao--who represents more Medicaid recipients than any other Member of Congress--Juan Ciscomani, Rob Bresnahan--what a beauty-- James Moylan, Kimberlyn King-Hinds. They all signed this letter.
The question that many Americans have to ask right now is that, after signing a letter indicating your commitment, Mr. Speaker, to protecting Medicaid and SNAP and access to affordable higher education through Pell grants, how is it possible that, Mr. Speaker, some of our Republican colleagues will turn around and devastate Medicaid, devastate supplemental nutritional assistance, and devastate the ability of Hispanic communities to achieve the type of upward mobility, in part through higher education, that is talked about in this letter?
Mr. Speaker, that letter was written in February.
Then we go to March. Can I talk about it? I mentioned, Mr. Speaker, I am here to take my sweet time on behalf of the American people.
On March 9, there is a letter that is written to House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, Mr. Speaker. By my count, 21 Republicans signed this letter. It is about the importance of the clean energy economy in the United States of America.
I would assume, based on this letter, that all of the signatories to this particular piece of correspondence are now horrified by the attack on clean energy, on clean energy jobs, and the clean energy economy in this one big, ugly bill. We will see shortly because everyone is going to have to go on record.
In this particular letter, written on March 9, Mr. Speaker, 21 Members of the House Republican Conference write to Chairman Jason Smith: ``Countless American companies are utilizing sector-wide energy tax credits--many of which have enjoyed broad support in Congress--to make major investments in domestic energy production and infrastructure for traditional and renewable energy sources alike. Both our constituencies and the energy industry alike remain concerned about disruptive changes to our Nation's energy tax structure.''
The letter continues toward the end: ``With all this in mind, we request that any proposed changes to the tax code be conducted in a targeted and pragmatic fashion that promotes conference priorities without undoing current and future private-sector investments which will continue to increase domestic manufacturing, promote energy innovation, and keep utility costs down.''
The language that was chosen there is pretty interesting, but the translation is protect the clean energy economy. That is what this letter was all about. It was written, by my count, 21 House Republicans.
Mr. Speaker, Andrew R. Garbarino, Jennifer Kiggans, Juan Ciscomani, Gabe Evans, David Valadao--what a prolific writer--Mark Amodei, Michael Lawler, Young Kim, Don Bacon, Vince Fong, Jeff Hurd, Thomas H. Kean, Jr., Nick LaLota, John James, Ryan Mackenzie, Rob Bresnahan, Mariannette J. Miller-Meeks, Earl L. ``Buddy'' Carter, Dan Newhouse, Erin Houchin, and David P. Joyce all write in support of a clean energy economy.
As House Democrats, we support--we know that there is an all-of-the- above approach that is underway right now--wind and solar energy and renewable energy because renewable energy is cheaper energy. Cheaper energy means reducing the high cost of living for everyday Americans. That is what we as House Democrats support.
Yet, I am perplexed because this letter was written, but the one big, ugly bill represents an extraordinary and unprecedented assault on clean energy and cheaper energy in the United States of America.
Mr. Speaker, I ask the question: What are those 21 Republicans going to do when it comes to voting for this one big, ugly bill?
Then we have got another letter in April. We have got a February letter, a March letter, and an April letter. They are quite elegant with these letters.
April 14, 2025, is correspondence written by 13 House Republicans, Mr. Speaker. It is written to you and Steve Scalise, the majority leader. It is written to Tom Emmer, majority whip. It is written to Brett Guthrie, the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee. It says: ``As Members of Congress who helped to deliver a Republican majority, many of us representing districts with high rates of constituents who depend on Medicaid, we would like to reiterate our strong support for this program . . . ''
By the way, it is a program that the one big, ugly bill now will cut and devastate, gut, Mr. Speaker, by almost $1 trillion.
In this letter, 13 Republicans say:
`` . . . we would like to reiterate our strong support for this program that ensures our constituents have reliable healthcare. Balancing the Federal budget must not come at the expense of those who depend on these benefits for their health and economic security.''
Mr. Speaker, that is their words, not our words. Then this bill makes an extraordinary declaration. I think it is important for us to understand who led this bill. It is David Valadao.
These are just facts, Mr. Speaker. These are publicly issued letters.
David Valadao, Don Bacon, Jeff Van Drew, Rob Bresnahan, Juan Ciscomani, Jen Kiggans, Young Kim--the usual suspects--Robert J. Wittman, Nicole Malliotakis, Nick LaLota, Andrew R. Garbarino, Jeff Hurd, and Michael V. Lawler, which by my count is 13 Members.
In some of the relevant portions of this letter, it says: ``To strengthen Medicaid, we urge you to prioritize care for our Nation's most vulnerable populations. Our constituents are asking for changes to the healthcare system that will strengthen the healthcare workforce, offer low-income, working-class families expanded opportunities to save for medical expenses, support rural and underserved communities, and help new mothers.''
In the second paragraph of this letter, a letter dated April 14, 2025, Mr. Speaker, these 13 Members of the House Republican Conference make this extraordinary representation. It says: ``However, we cannot and will not support a final reconciliation bill that includes any reduction in Medicaid coverage for vulnerable populations.'' This bill represents the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. It will devastate vulnerable populations all across America.
The reality is that all 212 House Democrats are going to stand up and protect the healthcare of the American people. We are going to protect the Medicaid of the American people against this assault on vulnerable communities.
I am looking forward to all 13 of these Republicans joining us to protect the healthcare of the American people whom they represent. That is the promise, Mr. Speaker, that your Republican colleagues made in this April letter.
We are looking forward to all 13 Republicans in the letter joining us to protect the Medicaid of the American people.
Mr. Speaker, this SALT issue is also an interesting one. A statement was issued on May 8 from my colleagues in the New York delegation, Elise Stefanik, Andrew Garbarino, Nick LaLota, and Mike Lawler. These are just facts right now. It was big talk about standing up to protect the State and local tax deduction.
Let's make sure we set the record straight here as to what happened to the State and local tax deduction, which impacts millions of hardworking American taxpayers all across the country, including the districts represented by the individuals whom I just named.
The State and local tax deduction was decimated, Mr. Speaker, by Donald Trump, House Republicans, and Senate Republicans in 2017 in connection with the GOP tax scam that callously and unnecessarily imposed a $10,000 cap, wiping away thousands of dollars a year for hardworking American taxpayers. Republicans did that.
Mr. Speaker, let's set the record straight. Mr. Speaker, there are people in this Chamber claiming to be saviors. Saving what? Saving from the devastation that Republicans have wrought by decimating the State and local tax deduction?
What is interesting about this is that people who are against this claim that the State and local tax deduction is subsidizing States in certain places to the detriment of others, but every single State that suffered from the Republican effort, Mr. Speaker, under Donald Trump's Presidency in 2017 to decimate the State and local tax deduction, every single State is a donor State that sends more money to the Federal Government than we ever get back in return, a donor State.
Some people in this town are running around misrepresenting the facts. We are okay to be a donor State, but don't lie to the American people about the reality of the State and local tax deduction.
Then, Mr. Speaker, you have this extraordinary statement on May 8. It is big talk, no action. I guess, in Texas, they say all hat and no cattle. They are prolific writers.
That brings us to this letter that was written in the House Republican Conference on June 6. I am really confused by this combination of this particular letter followed by an interesting statement that was made after the Senate passed Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill by Lisa Murkowski.
Maybe somebody, Mr. Speaker, can help me reconcile these statements, because all of us in the House and Senate were independently elected to stand up on behalf of our constituents in the Chambers that we serve in. I am going to get back to that point momentarily.
In the House, we passed this one big, ugly bill, initially in late May, devastating Medicaid, devastating nutritional assistance, and devastating the clean energy economy. Actually, it is benefiting red State after red State after red State in the United States of America.
Members of the House Republican Conference wrote to Majority Leader Thune and Chairman Crapo. This is after passing a bill in the House of Representatives that devastated the clean energy tax cuts that they are talking about in this letter on June 6.
It says: ``As members of the House Republican Conference, we write to express our continued support for commonsense energy policy and to urge the Senate to substantively and strategically improve clean energy tax credit provisions included in the House-passed reconciliation bill.''
I mean, what is happening right now? This may be beyond the legislative process.
In this letter, it goes on to say, in relationship to a bill that every signatory signed and voted for: ``Our position has always been that the energy tax code should be modernized in a way that promotes fiscal responsibility and business certainty. Fully realizing that balance requires improvements to the House-passed version of H.R. 1. . . . We believe the Senate now has a critical opportunity to restore common sense and deliver a truly pro-energy growth final bill that protects taxpayers while also unleashing the potential of U.S. energy producers, manufacturers, and workers.''
In other words, every single one of these signatories--Jen Kiggans, Brian Fitzpatrick, Juan Ciscomani, Nick LaLota, Mike Lawler, Andrew Garbarino, Don Bacon, Mark Amodei, Gabe Evans, Young Kim, David Valadao, Rob Bresnahan, and Thomas H. Kean, Jr.--every single one of these signatories voted for a House bill that undermined the clean energy economy, noted that it would hurt their own constituents, voted for the bill anyway, and then begged the Senate to make a difference.
That is not how we should be legislating in the United States House of Representatives. That is not how you legislate, particularly when every single House Democrat voted against the bill.
It left the House, limped out of the House by a single vote. So every single signatory on this letter could have stopped the bill that you, yourself, Mr. Speaker, indicated the signatories of this letter damaged the very thing they claim to be fighting for.
I am confused, perplexed, flummoxed at what the heck is going on. It is extraordinary.
I am just overwhelmed by the amount of correspondence. I had to just pick out the ones that were the most extraordinary to make sure they were entered in the Record.
The most recent one on the subject of Medicaid was written on June 24. It was directed to the Honorable John Thune, the majority leader of the United States Senate, and the Honorable Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
I think it had, by my count, 16 Members. No surprise, y'all, that it was authored by David Valadao.
I mean, these letters can make up a book, Mr. Speaker. David Valadao,
In the second to last paragraph, it says: ``Protecting Medicaid is essential for the vulnerable constituents we were elected to represent. Therefore, we cannot support a final bill that threatens access to coverage or jeopardizes the stability of our hospitals and providers.''
Mr. Speaker, these are 16 members of the House Republican Conference who just a few days ago made clear on the record that they will not support devastating cuts to Medicaid. All we need, Mr. Speaker, are four Republicans from this group to join us, and we can stop these devastating cuts to Medicaid.
Join us. We welcome you with open arms into the warm embrace of Members of Congress who are here to protect the healthcare of the American people. Just four of y'all, we welcome you with open arms into the warm embrace of Members of Congress determined to protect the healthcare of the American people. All we need are four, and so many of y'all are on record.
As I conclude this section of this particular presentation--and we still have some ground to cover--we are going to continue as House Democrats to take our sweet time on behalf of the American people because the issues are too significant to ever walk away from.
I just want to turn to a statement that was issued by Senator Lisa Murkowski. I want to give some love to the other side of the Capitol.
Again, Mr. Speaker, these are just the words that were issued. I am not even trying to characterize the words, but the American people need to hear these words from the people who were sent to Congress to protect their interests.
Senator Lisa Murkowski says: ``This was one of the hardest votes I have taken during my time in the Senate.''
Let me just editorialize there briefly. This should not be a hard vote, Senator Murkowski. This should be a ``hell no'' vote on behalf of the people you were sent to Washington to represent. It is a ``hell no'' vote for us because we are standing up on behalf of the American people. It should be a ``hell no'' vote.
Mr. Speaker, these are the words of Senator Murkowski. She says: ``This was one of the hardest votes I have taken during my time in the Senate.'' And then she keeps it real. As far as I can tell, she says: ``But, let's not kid ourselves. This has been an awful process. . . .''
Mr. Speaker, those are the words of a Republican Senator, not us. ``This has been an awful process--a frantic rush to meet an artificial deadline that has tested every limit of this institution. While we have worked to improve the present bill for Alaska, it is not good enough for the rest of our Nation, and we all know it.''
Yes, Senator Murkowski, we all know this one big, ugly bill will devastate everyday Americans across this country.
Yet, in the concluding paragraph--this comes after Senator Murkowski voted for this bill, the deciding vote in the United States Senate. It says: ``My sincere hope is that this is not the final product. This bill needs more work across Chambers and is not ready for the President's desk. We need to work together to get this right.''
Let me get this straight. I think the number was 16 House Republicans, Mr. Speaker, vote for a bill that they know will hurt their communities, Mr. Speaker, that they represent. They vote for the bill anyway when any one of them could have stopped this bill from ever leaving the House of Representatives, and then they write a letter to the Senators on the other side of the Capitol saying, fix this bill, when any single one of them could have stopped the bill dead in its tracks.
Then, Senator Murkowski, in her Chamber, turns out to be the deciding vote for a bill that she says, Mr. Speaker, is not good enough for the rest of the Nation and we all know it, votes for it anyway, and then begs the House to fix the bill.
That is not how the people's business should be done in the United States Congress. We have a responsibility to stand up for what is right and stand up for what is right in the Chamber that we serve in.
That is what we should all be doing, and so our House Republican colleagues, Mr. Speaker, have one last opportunity to join us as Democrats, every single Democrat, who is going to stand up and protect the healthcare of the American people, stand up and protect the nutritional assistance of the American people, stand up and protect our farmers, stand up and protect our veterans, stand up and protect the clean energy economy, stand up and protect our public schools.
Every single one of my House Republican colleagues have the opportunity now, in this Chamber--not the other Chamber, in this Chamber--to join us as Democrats and stand up for what is right.
The eyes of America are watching.
We started this process, Mr. Speaker, 3:28 in the morning, this debate. I took to the House floor maybe 1\1/2\ hours after that, and we still have a lot to say on behalf of the American people for such a time as this.
Every single one of us have an opportunity to stand up for what is right here in the United States of America.
I will speak for just a few moments about some of the people who have been targeted in a callous way by this administration, some of the stories that need to be told on behalf of the American people.
I mentioned, of course, Mr. Speaker, throughout this process, we have been thankful for the stories shared by everyday Americans who went to bed last night fearing the worst and have woken up this morning horrified by Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill that will hurt everyday Americans and rewards billionaires with massive tax breaks that will serve to devastate the social safety net and explode our Nation's debt.
I will tell a few stories on behalf of our Nation's veterans who have also written to us to share their concerns with this one big, ugly bill.
Victoria from Arizona wrote to us, Mr. Speaker, and said: ``My husband and I are patriots. We are both Army veterans who were disabled as a result of our service. We have five children and run a small electrical contracting business. We live on a fixed income and, like most families, have struggled with rising costs. One of our sons is adopted. He is a wonderful, loving 7-year-old who has autism and ADHD. He qualifies for Medicaid because he was adopted, and it has been the saving grace for his health and well-being.
``Medicaid is the reason we were able to get his formal diagnosis of his autism and ADHD. It also covers his regular doctors' visits and dental care. We used Medicaid to access in-home therapy for him, and it was a huge help. Slashing Medicaid will have especially dire consequences for rural communities like ours, forcing hospitals to close. Health resources are already slim in our area.''
This Army veteran writes: ``President Trump is causing enormous stress and hardship for families like mine. He and his billionaire friends don't need more tax breaks. It is outrageous. The last thing we should even be considering is cutting Medicaid. These programs are lifelines.''
We agree with you, Victoria. She lives in Arizona's Sixth Congressional District, Mr. Speaker, currently represented by Congressman Juan Ciscomani.
Troy, another veteran, lives in California, Mr. Speaker, in a district currently represented by Jay Obernolte. That is California's 23rd Congressional District, I believe. He writes to us and says: ``I was in the U.S. Army and went to Kosovo in 2001, and Iraq in 2003 and 2005. I depend on the VA as I am too disabled to work. I depend on VA healthcare. My children are now on Medicaid. I have worked from when I
Mr. Speaker, ``I need NIH's help. Now is the time to stand up for all Americans. Stop the assault on the VA, NIH, Medicaid, and the rest of Americans.''
We agree with you, Troy. It is time to stop the assault on the American people. Stop the assault that is represented in this one big, ugly bill.
Christy, another veteran, wrote to us and says: ``I was drafted in 1970. My choice was incarceration or militarization, so I enlisted in the Navy and became a Navy corpsman, serving on the USS Long Beach (CGN-9), and her marine detachment, where I was assigned to the Third Marines 1st Medical Battalion. I was blessed. I lived through two tours, giving medical care to my shipmates.
``Every other day I was assigned to flight ops to transfer or pick up the wounded and dead Marines from shore to ships waiting offshore about eight miles. I hated the smells of war,'' this veteran writes.
``Death and misery were my constant companions. The war left me unsettled mentally and morally corrupt. For 50 years, I have suffered with my PTSD, which went undiagnosed for years. After 12 years of VA therapy and working hard for my soul to be repaired, I find myself living alone and isolating from others, and I am one of the lucky ones thanks to the care I have received from the VA.''
Veterans pouring out their heart and their soul, sharing their anxiety with all of us, urging this Congress to do something, to stand up on behalf of the veterans who are going to be hurt by this one big, ugly bill, devastated by this one big, ugly bill.
We also heard, Mr. Speaker, from Timothy, who I believe may have written to us from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He says: ``My name is Timothy, and for the past 5 years, I have worked at the Department of Housing and Urban Development in field policy and management.''
The Department of Housing and Urban Development that was once led so ably by our former colleague, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, and now has been taken in a very different direction.
Timothy writes: ``In this role, I have educated the community about HUD's program such as FHA loans and housing counseling that allow people to purchase homes, affordable rental housing that help people pay their rent, and homeless services that help people find shelter and leave the streets. I have worked with internal data that focused on improving our programs. Most recently, I worked with a team that hired people from housing authorities and Job Corps with the goal of providing people a career and a way off government assistance. Those incredible people, along with myself, have been fired by Elon Musk's DOGE.
``My entire professional career, I have taken jobs that I considered bigger than me. I served in the military both enlisted and as an officer. I deployed, and I am now a disabled vet with a rating of 90 percent.
``After the military, I focused on giving back and challenging myself in a way, while continuing a job that was bigger than myself, so I joined the Peace Corps. I served in Ukraine for years, working as a youth development volunteer.
``Now, as a HUD employee, I am being fired by an unelected official and being called lazy by my President. I want to know why Elon Musk has this power and authority and why our elected officials are not doing more to stop it. I have served this country and the government my entire life because I love my country. Why is this happening?'' Tim writes to us.
That is such an important question, Mr. Speaker. Why is this happening in the United States of America? Why are we living in a country where this administration has launched an all-out assault on veterans in the United States of America, firing veterans like Tim in the United States of America, jeopardizing services from the VA, earned benefits that these veterans are entitled to because of their extraordinary service, men and women in uniform who served this country, Mr. Speaker, benefits that they have earned and now find themselves in the legislative line of fire from their own government, their own country, and stand to be hurt in such an extraordinary way by this extreme Republican budget, this one big, ugly bill?
We are here on the House floor, Mr. Speaker, to say to Tim and every single veteran who put on the uniform, every single man and woman who served this country, we will not abandon you in your hour of need. We are going to stand up for every single veteran in this great country and make sure that the veterans of the United States of America are treated with the dignity and respect that you deserve.
That is our promise to each and every veteran in the United States of America, and that is why, Mr. Speaker, we stand in strong opposition to Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill, an all-out assault here in the United States of America, an extraordinary assault, an assault on the economy, an assault on our veterans, an assault on farm country, an assault on healthcare, and an assault on nutritional assistance.
Of course, this one big, ugly bill and the Trump administration--I wish it was not so because at the beginning of this Congress, Mr. Speaker, I stood right where you stand right now and said in my first remarks to this Congress and the American people that, as Democrats, we were prepared to find common ground on any issue to make a difference in the lives of the American people we all represent.
Then, Mr. Speaker, beginning on January 20, a flood of extremism, the likes of which have never before been seen in the United States of America, has been unleashed on the American people, an all-out assault on the American way of life.
An assault on small businesses is underway here in the United States of America. We should all recognize that small businesses represent the heart and soul of the American economy. If we are going to stand up for any group of people here in the United States of America, in addition to our veterans, our men and women in uniform--and I am proud that I stand here as the son of someone who once wore the uniform, my father. He is in Heaven right now.
Marland Jeffries grew up in Newark. His nickname was Pudding. One of my regrets is I never got to ask him how he got the nickname Pudding. He left Newark as a high school graduate and put the uniform on, enlisted in the Air Force, and served in Germany during the Cold War.
We have to stand up for our veterans, stand up for small businesses. We have heard a lot about this process, about concerns from small business entrepreneurs here in the United States of America.
We heard from Mercedes, who lives in the great State of Colorado. Mercedes writes: ``My husband and I are the owners of a small business. Without the ACA, my family would not be able to afford health insurance. My daughter also receives free dental coverage as a result of the ACA. I still have major issues with our healthcare system, but at least we have health insurance. My mother, who is retired, also receives benefits from Medicaid, in addition to her Medicare. She would not be able to afford health insurance or dental insurance due to the fact that she lives on a fixed income. Any cuts to these programs would be detrimental to our health and welfare as a family.''
I thank Mercedes for reaching out and sharing her story because it helps to put to bed the lie that has been told, Mr. Speaker, by some people in this town that the people, the everyday Americans, who are participating in and have access to programs like the Affordable Care Act are unworthy, aren't hardworking American taxpayers.
They are hardworking American taxpayers, a group of people that real leaders in this country, beginning in modern American history, as I illustrated earlier, from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt all the way through our most recent President who we served with in the last Congress, have recognized that we have a sacred obligation to stand up for everyday Americans who are struggling right now, including our small business entrepreneurs, the heart and soul of the American economy, who right now are
Small business owners are under assault by this administration, and there is a target on the back of many of these small business owners as a result of this one big ugly bill.
Janice wrote to us. She is from the great State of Michigan, the heartland of our country. I am so thankful to all the Members of the Michigan delegation and what they represent. Janice, however, resides, Mr. Speaker, in the Seventh Congressional District, represented by Congressman Tom Barrett. She says that she is a small business owner, a mother, and an ACA recipient in Michigan, who recently spoke about how Trump's tariffs would potentially force her to close her business, which has given her family a livelihood for a decade and helped put two children through college. She writes: ``I just don't understand why Trump thinks putting tariffs will help American businesses. It is not. It is going to decimate us. People like us will be hit the hardest.''
However, then, Janice shows the great resolve of the American people, the great spirit of resilience of the American people, the refusal to run away from difficult circumstances.
Janice writes: ``People like us will be hit the hardest, but,'' Janice then writes, ``I refuse to call it quits. I won't give in to him.''
Janice, neither will House Democrats. Not now, not ever. We will never give in to this type of extremism that is being unleashed on the American people. We will continue to stand up for you.
There is one last small business owner that I would like to mention. There are so many who have written to us whose stories I want to be able to share, but let me perhaps go back to the Big Apple, the great State of New York.
Let me also say to the American people, one of the ways in which we have received all of these stories--and we urge you to continue to share these stories from all across the land. You can share your story with us at democraticleader.house.gov share your story, democraticleader.house.gov share your story.
We want to hear from the American people on how we can best represent their interests on this day and all days moving forward because their stories are powerful. Their stories will continue to give us the resolve to fight for an America that is fair and just, an America where every single person can afford to live the good life: a good-paying job, good housing, good healthcare, good retirement, and of course, a good education for your children.
That is not too much to ask in the wealthiest country in the history of the world. Work hard, play by the rules, and every single American should be able to afford to live the good life. But we know that in this country far too many people are living paycheck to paycheck, far too many small business entrepreneurs are living paycheck to paycheck, and they justifiably expect better from this government.
We should be working hard in a bipartisan way to make their life better, not unleashing shock, awe, and pain on the American people. That is what this one big, ugly bill will do, devastate everyday Americans.
Linda writes to us, a small business owner. I believe she is from the North Country. She lives in New York's 21st Congressional District, Mr. Speaker. Linda is a flower farmer and flower importer in upstate New York. Her small business has been impacted by Trump's tariffs on products being imported from Western Europe, the Netherlands, I believe.
The economic strain and uncertainty imposed by the tariffs on small business owners operating on slim margins has caused Linda and her customers to incur additional expenses.
Linda tells us, Mr. Speaker, everything was going really well until the tariffs. Now she worries the business will go bankrupt and be forced to close if the tariffs stay in place.
Mr. Speaker, how is it that we are living in America where President Trump and House Republicans promised to address the high cost of living in the United States, promised to lower costs on day one, but costs aren't going down? They are going up.
As a result of these Trump tariffs, we are now at risk of experiencing thousands of dollars per year in additional costs, and there is nothing in this one big, ugly bill that is going to meaningfully make the lives of everyday Americans, of hardworking American taxpayers, of working-class folks, of middle-class folks, of all those Americans who aspire to be part of the middle class, of the poor, the sick, and the afflicted, nothing in Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill that will meaningfully make their lives more affordable.
Mr. Speaker, we are dealing with an all-out assault on the economy. We are dealing with an all-out assault on healthcare, on Medicaid, on the Affordable Care Act, on the Children's Health Insurance Program.
We are dealing with an all-out assault on the medical care, Mr. Speaker, provided by Planned Parenthood that is jeopardized in this very bill.
There is an all-out assault on hungry children, on hungry veterans, and on hungry seniors. Millions of people will lose their nutritional assistance. They will go hungry. Food is being ripped out of their mouths by this one big, ugly bill, Mr. Speaker, that so many of my Republican colleagues seem prepared to support, notwithstanding their prior statements on the Record to the contrary.
There is an all-out assault on veterans. There is an all-out assault represented in this bill on small business owners and entrepreneurs who are the heart and soul of our economy.
This bill also represents an all-out assault on law-abiding immigrant families. Mr. Speaker, we are going to tell their stories, as well. We are going to tell their stories because what is happening in this country is an all-out assault on law-abiding immigrant families. It is unconscionable, unacceptable, and it is un-American.
This is a country that should continue to pride itself as a nation anchored in the rule of law and at the same time a nation anchored in our journey as one of immigrants from all over the world. We should never abandon that journey.
We are approaching the 249th birthday of this great country, this exceptional country. We can go directly, if necessary, Mr. Speaker, to the words that were initially issued by Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence. He went through a whole series of indictments against the King that America, Thirteen Colonies, which became the 13 States, were working hard to break free from.
I mentioned earlier the Declaration of Independence. Of course, with some of the aspirational aspects of it, there are really two parts as I can tell. I am not a constitutional scholar. I am thankful for the constitutional scholars that serve in this Congress.
No one is more constitutional and more scholarly than my friend and colleague, the top Democrat on the House Committee on the Judiciary, Jamie Raskin, who continues to lead the charge and stand up for the Constitution here in the United States of America.
As I read the Declaration of Independence, there seems to be two parts to it. There is the aspirational part, Mr. Speaker, of the Declaration of Independence: ``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.''
We understand that now in a more enlightened way. All men, all women, all children, all of God's children are created equally, they are entitled to ``certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.''
We spent a little time talking about what that could look like. It is our commitment to bringing about the American Dream, the good life for every single person in this country, everybody. If we work hard and play by the rules, we should be able to afford the good life in the United States of America. That is what we are going to continue to work on. Bring the American Dream to life, consistent with
Then as far as I can tell, there was also a second interesting part of the Declaration of Independence. It was the indictment against the King. I commend everyone in this Chamber, all of the American people, who may be observing the proceedings in the House of Representatives, particularly as we approach July 4, to read that Declaration of Independence.
Perhaps I may even enter it into the Record later on today because we are here, Mr. Speaker, to take our sweet time on behalf of the American people. We are here to make sure, as best I can and as best we can, to cover all of the things that, as Democrats, we are fighting hard to defend during this extraordinary moment of assault directed at the American people as a result of this one big, ugly bill that will hurt everyday Americans in order to reward billionaires with massive tax breaks. It will then explode the deficit and the debt in ways that will jeopardize the future of our children and our grandchildren.
The aspirational part of the Declaration of Independence, of course, is often famously quoted. Then if we read other parts of the Declaration of Independence, which is an extraordinarily written document, it reads like an indictment against the extremism of the King.
It reads like an indictment against the King. I think it was King George. It reads like an indictment against King George's flooding his own strategy. It reads like an indictment against King George's shock and awe strategy. It reads like an indictment against what I think may have been called Project 1775, which is what brought us to Project 1776.
If you look at this indictment, Mr. Speaker, one of the things that it alludes to, that it talks about, is the notion of the king's effort to stop the assimilation of people from other parts of the world into the United States of America. We understand that, from the very beginning of this great country, there was a recognition, of course, of the importance of immigration to the success and vitality of the United States of America.
Let me be clear, Mr. Speaker, so there is no misrepresentation. House Democrats understand the importance and urgency of securing the border. We believe that our immigration system is broken and that it should be fixed in a comprehensive and bipartisan way. So many leaders in that effort with so many big ideas were willing to partner in a bipartisan way: Pramila Jayapal, Linda Sanchez, Adriano Espaillat, Tom Suozzi, Veronica Escobar, and so many others. We want to partner to fix our broken immigration system and secure our border in a bipartisan and comprehensive way.
We are also going to make sure we stand up for our Nation's heritage, a nation of immigrants, which continues to this very day. It is an important part of American exceptionalism.
As far as I can tell in my reading of the original document, the writings of the Founders of this great country, the Framers of the Constitution, recognized it from the very beginning. They weren't perfect. They didn't have a perfect start, but, of course, as the preamble to the United States Constitution set forth: We the people, in order to form a more perfect Union.
Mr. Speaker, we have been set on this magical course, our march toward a more perfect Union. An immigration journey has always been an important part of the American journey.
That is why it is heartbreaking to see so many things that are happening in the country right now, such as the targeting, in such an extraordinary way, of law-abiding immigrant families, including American citizens. How can this be in the United States of America?
Some people might suggest that we should stay away from these stories. No. I am going to lean into this part of the American journey because we support our heritage and the mission of immigrants. We are going to stand up for Dreamers, stand up for farmworkers, and stand up for law-abiding immigrant families all across the country.
U.S. citizen children have been deported, Mr. Speaker. Is this who we have become in the United States of America? How can this be?
This is extraordinary. A 2-year-old American named Manu Borges Santos was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in September 2022. In February, she was taken into custody in Florida alongside her mother and father, both of whom were undocumented. As a result of this situation, 2-year- old Manu was deported to Brazil.
Because of the Trump administration, Manu, a U.S. citizen, only 2 years old, is now effectively stateless. Manu was not a citizen or resident of Brazil. She is a 2-year-old girl, an American citizen, removed from her homeland, but she can't get legal status in her parents' ancestral home.
As a result of her inability to get citizenship down in South America because she is an American citizen, she has no right to routine pediatric checkups, even though Brazil has a public health system. She cannot easily enroll in daycare and finds herself in an untenable situation.
I think we are better than this. We have to find a better way because I thought this administration promised, Mr. Speaker, to target violent felons, not 2-year-old American citizens. That is unacceptable, as far as I can tell, in the United States of America.
Target violent felons all you want, Mr. Speaker. We support that. They should be deported, but why are resources being spent targeting 2- year-old American children?
That is not American, and I don't believe the American people support that, Mr. Speaker. That is not what this country should be all about.
Manu wasn't the only American citizen who has been targeted by the deportation machine, a deportation machine that will be unleashed on steroids by this one big, ugly bill. We know that, in fact, is the case. That is not hyperbole. It is not a hypothetical. It is not hype.
JD Vance told us the other day: Don't worry about the cuts to Medicaid. Don't worry about the fact that this is the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. Don't worry about the fact that more than 17 million Americans will lose their healthcare, and many more will experience higher premiums, copays, and deductibles, and whose lives will measurably get worse as a result of this one big, ugly bill. Vice President JD Vance said don't worry about that because it is all about the deportation machine.
That is not targeting violent felons. Apparently, much of what has been unleashed on the American people is targeting American citizens like a 2-year-old American girl with the initials V.M.L., who was deported alongside her mother and sister to Honduras without any meaningful due process.
V.M.L. was taken into custody by ICE on April 22.
April 22 happens to be the birthday of my mom. I love you, Ms. Laneda Jeffries. If you are watching right now, I love you. My younger brother and I thank you for what you did, for your sacrifice in raising us to try to be the best citizens that we can be.
V.M.L. was taken into custody by ICE on April 22, while attending a routine check-in at a New Orleans immigration office with her mother. V.M.L.'s undocumented mother had no criminal history. Had she been allowed due process, they could have contested the removal. Instead, this 2-year-old American citizen was never given a chance to exercise her rights by the Trump administration.
That is not who we are. We are better than this in the United States of America.
Cary Lopez Alvarado, a U.S. citizen, was arrested while she was 9 months pregnant. Masked men wearing Border Patrol uniforms followed a white truck into a building's private parking in the city of Hawthorne. In that truck was Cary's partner, Brian. When she tried asking questions about who the agents were and what authority they had to arrest her partner, she was arrested.
Cary, an American citizen, recounted that: ``They started grabbing me from both sides, and I ducked down to sort of shield my stomach because I was afraid''--an American citizen afraid--``they were going to hurt me.''
She told them her due date. She was 9 months pregnant. Apparently the CBP officers responded: ``Okay. Your
One last story that I feel compelled to share on this issue, Mr. Speaker. I have still got some ground to cover on a few other issues of importance to the American people.
One last story that I think needs to be shared, Mr. Speaker, in connection with this issue. This achieved some attention, some notoriety. Americans were horrified, should be horrified--all of us should be horrified.
I will never forget the journey that we were originally on, set forth, spoken to by the Founders of this country: e pluribus unum; out of many, one. How can we forget that at this moment in time?
One last story in this area that I feel compelled to share, Mr. Speaker, is the story of Narciso Barranco, a 48-year-old undocumented landscaper who has been in the United States since the 1990s and has no criminal record.
Here is the thing that got me about this story and caused me to ask the question about this particular moment, the type of deportation machine that has been unleashed on the American people.
Narciso, this landscaper, raised three American sons, all of whom became U.S. Marines, two of whom are currently, Mr. Speaker, Active- Duty U.S. Marines.
His sons, juggling their military assignments, had been trying to deal with the cost and the paperwork required to adjust their father's immigration status through parole in place, a program which allows undocumented members of military families to apply for a green card, but these men in uniform, juggling their military assignments, had not gotten there yet.
After three decades of living, working, and raising a family of patriots in the United States, Narciso was violently arrested while he was mowing the grass at an IHOP restaurant.
We don't have to speculate as to whether this was true or not. In a video captured of the incident, you see he was sprayed with pepper gas. He was detained on the ground. He was not resisting. He was hit repeatedly in the head by masked Federal agents while he was on the ground.
Let me park it right there parenthetically for a moment. It seems to me that every other law enforcement professional in the United States of America has to disclose their identity in a way that is identifiable. These masks need to come down. These agents should just be held to the same set of standards as every other law enforcement officer in the United States of America.
If you don't understand the righteousness of that position, just study the case of Narciso. His oldest son, a U.S. Marine veteran, said in an interview: What we weren't prepared for and didn't prep him for was these guys attacking him. We never expected anything like that. We expected these guys to act professionally and up to the standards of the United States Government.
Are masked, armed Federal agents who beat people on the ground really the standards that the United States Government should be standing by? Are these the types of actions, Mr. Speaker, that House Republicans endorse and support?
This is not the way that anyone in the United States of America should be treated, particularly the father of three patriotic marines. No one should be treated this way, but certainly not the father of three patriotic marines in the United States of America. It is outrageous. It is out of control, and it is completely and totally unacceptable. Unacceptable. Unacceptable here in the United States of America. We are better than this. Better than this.
Mr. Speaker, I have talked about the aspirational vision that we have for a country where everybody can afford to live the good life and work hard, play by the rules, experience the American Dream, live the good life, good-paying job, good housing, good healthcare, good education for their children, and good retirement. That is not too much to ask in the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, a great country, an exceptional country.
As Abraham Lincoln once observed in a speech in the Chamber of the House of Representatives: America, ``the last best hope of Earth.''
I spent a little time talking about the type of things and the type of America that we should be working hard in a bipartisan way to bring about and spent some time critiquing this one big, ugly bill. It is not like Republicans, Mr. Speaker, weren't given every opportunity to try to address the concerns that we have raised.
I am thankful for my colleagues in all of the committees of jurisdiction who worked hard, pulled all-nighters, and offered amendments to try to improve this one big, ugly bill.
We have actually introduced throughout this process, Mr. Speaker, hundreds of amendments. Just yesterday, before the Committee on Rules, we introduced hundreds of amendments.
Before that, in late May, when the initial bill was being debated in a marathon session before the Committee on Rules, more than 125 or so Democrats offered more than 500 different amendments to improve this bill, to stand up for the American people, doing so over and over and over again throughout this process.
Mr. Speaker, I think it is important for the American people to understand what exactly House Republicans have rejected. What changes have House Republicans rejected to this one big, ugly bill?
We repeatedly tried to offer an amendment, both in the Committee on Rules and on the House floor on behalf of the American people to strike every single provision that would cause the largest cuts to healthcare and food assistance in history, which will result in 17 million people or more losing health coverage and jeopardizing nutritional benefits for about 42 million Americans who might otherwise go hungry.
Republicans voted down that amendment.
I believe it was Representative Emilia Sykes who had an amendment to strike the Medicaid cuts in the bill to prevent millions of people from losing their health insurance and to stop hospitals and nursing homes from shutting their doors.
Republicans voted down that amendment.
Representative Judy Chu had an amendment striking cuts to the Affordable Care Act, cuts that are in this one big, ugly bill that will cause millions of everyday Americans to lose their health insurance or experience having their costs go up.
Mr. Speaker, you know that Republicans voted down that amendment.
Representative Lauren Underwood from the great State of Illinois had an amendment, and I wish I could go through all of the amendments that have been introduced, but I am going to highlight as many as I can.
Representative Lauren Underwood had an amendment to ensure that people who get their insurance through the ACA, ObamaCare, will not see their premiums increase. I mentioned earlier that, as a result of this one big, ugly bill, Mr. Speaker, premiums, copays, and deductibles are going to go up for millions of Americans. Many will lose coverage, and so this amendment was introduced to ensure that people who get their insurance through the ACA will not see their premiums increase this year, which is expected to cause 5 million people to lose coverage.
Mr. Speaker, Republicans voted down that amendment.
Representative Kelly Morrison had an amendment that strikes the defunding of Planned Parenthood, which provides access to lifesaving cancer screenings and reproductive healthcare.
Last year, Republicans, Mr. Speaker, promised that reproductive healthcare and reproductive freedom was a State issue. President Trump promised that reproductive healthcare and reproductive freedom was a State issue. Yet, in this bill, there is a backdoor attack on reproductive freedom by targeting preventative healthcare that Planned Parenthood provides to millions of people all across this country.
Representative Kelly Morrison had an amendment that strikes the defunding of Planned Parenthood, which provides access to lifesaving cancer screenings along with reproductive healthcare.
Republicans voted that down.
Let me pause there parenthetically just to make one observation on this issue of reproductive freedom. What we are seeing right now in the House of Representatives, Mr. Speaker, is Republicans unleashing a march toward a nationwide abortion ban. That is what is going on right now. What does this provision have to do with making life more affordable for everyday Americans? Nothing.
This is all part of a rightwing ideological, extreme effort to undermine reproductive freedom in the United States of America.
Let me make something clear, Mr. Speaker: House Democrats believe in a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions, a decision that should be between a woman, her family, her faith, and her doctors. That is it. Period. Full stop.
We will continue to fight for reproductive freedom in the United States of America. We will not rest, Mr. Speaker, until the Women's Health Protection Act becomes the law of the land here in the United States of America. Big difference between us and them. Big difference.
Mr. Speaker, Representative Jahana Hayes introduced an amendment to strike all provisions that would cut food assistance for children, seniors, and veterans. Republicans voted that down. How cruel. How cruel.
Representative Shontel Brown had an amendment to strike burdensome red tape requirements that threaten nutritional assistance for millions of Americans and their families. Republicans voted that down.
I mentioned earlier, Mr. Speaker, this notion that Republicans are trying to spin to the American people that the attack on nutritional assistance, imposing those paperwork requirements, or as Frank Pallone would say, red tape requirements, that that is all about waste, fraud, and abuse. I think common sense suggests to us that it has nothing to do with waste, fraud, and abuse.
Mr. Speaker, I made clear earlier that as House Democrats, we believe that as custodians of taxpayer dollars, we need to make sure that we are spending that money efficiently, effectively, and equitably, and that we are committed to eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse wherever it may be found.
One of the things that is interesting about this bill, it appears to be part of the deal that was negotiated by the Senator from Alaska, is that the States apparently that have the highest error rates with respect to supplemental nutritional assistance are shielded from the initial impact of the nutritional assistance cuts.
Let's think about that for a moment.
How can it be that Republicans, Mr. Speaker, are claiming that this bill has anything to do with waste, fraud, and abuse? Yet, the States with the highest error rate, as Republicans during the Rules Committee acknowledged under questioning from Jim McGovern and Mary Gay Scanlon and Joe Neguse and Teresa Leger Fernandez, acknowledged that the States with the highest error rates were actually shielded from initial impact of the cuts to supplemental nutritional assistance.
Angie Craig pointed this out. It exposes, in my view, the lie being told, Mr. Speaker, by some in this town that this effort, this one big, ugly bill is somehow about combating waste, fraud, and abuse.
One of the reasons why we know common sense dictates that this one big, ugly bill has nothing to do with meaningfully going after waste, fraud, and abuse, is that, on average, SNAP beneficiaries receive $6 per day to try to help them not go hungry, to try to make sure that veterans and children and seniors don't go hungry.
Mr. Speaker, I think it is important for the American people to process that is what SNAP, on average, provides, $6 per day. At the same time, Elon Musk, his Federal contracts, as we understand it, amount to $8 million per day.
Mr. Speaker, if Republicans were really serious about targeting waste, fraud, and abuse in the United States of America, start there, $8 million per day. Start right there.
Don't take it. Don't rip it from the mouths of children, seniors, or veterans.
If Republicans were really serious about targeting waste, fraud, and abuse, start right there with Elon Musk, and we will join you. We will welcome you into the warm embrace of the House Democratic Caucus to target waste, fraud, and abuse. Start right there. You can start right there, Mr. Speaker. Start right there.
Ranking Members Jim McGovern and Bobby Scott had an amendment, Mr. Speaker, to prohibit the bill from going into effect unless cuts to Medicaid and SNAP would not result in fewer families being eligible for free school meals.
Mr. Speaker, as you know, Republicans voted down that amendment. We can't find a way to stand up for school meals, for school breakfast, for school lunch. That is just cruel. It is callous. It is a corrupt perversion of this process targeting as this one big, ugly bill does, schoolchildren, hungry schoolchildren in the United States of America.
Mr. Speaker, Representative Mike Thompson had an amendment that would have ensured Americans would not see their energy costs go up and to protect the millions of good-paying jobs that this bill will eliminate because this one big, ugly bill puts a target on the backs of the clean energy economy, on clean energy jobs, which result in cheaper energy and lower costs for the American people.
We were told by President Donald Trump when he was on the campaign trail, costs would go down on day one. He was going to focus, we were told, on lowering the high cost of living in the United States of America. That is not what this bill does, and we know it because 21 House Republicans made that clear in a letter that I cited earlier that is now part of this public record.
Representative Mike Thompson, supported by others, had an amendment. All of these amendments, cosponsored by Members all across the gorgeous mosaic of the House Democratic Caucus--we are proud of the fact that we look like we represent in the most intimate way possible, consistent with John Adams' original vision of the House of Representatives, that the House should be a portrait of the American people. That is what we represent. We are proud of that fact, the gorgeous mosaic of the American people.
That is what we are all about, in the most intimate way possible. That is why we love the House and what the House is supposed to represent, the best of the House, not what we are seeing on the floor right now.
Mr. Speaker, Republicans voted down the amendment introduced by Representative Mike Thompson that was designed to ensure that Americans would not see their energy costs go up. It was also designed to protect the good-paying American jobs that were part of both the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act as well as the Inflation Reduction Act.
This amendment was designed to lift up the principle of actually trying to create good-paying union jobs that allow people to provide a comfortable living in the United States of America.
Amongst this all-out assault that we are witnessing in the United States is an all-out assault on organized labor, an assault on collective bargaining, and an assault on the freedom to negotiate.
What is the difference, Mr. Speaker, between us and our colleagues on the other side of the aisle? I think one of the things that is a clear difference, Mr. Speaker, is that we believe, we recognize, that in connection with this journey, work hard, play by the rules, imagine and dare to dream the ability to live the good life, to experience the American Dream, an American Dream that when you work hard and play by the rules, it should be able to provide a comfortable living for yourself and for your family, educate your children, purchase a home, have access to high-quality healthcare, go on vacation every now and then, and then, one day, retire with grace and dignity. That is the American Dream. That is the ability to afford and access the good life.
We believe, as House Democrats, that no single force in the United States of America has done more to bring the American Dream to life than organized labor. We will continue to stand up for organized labor today, tomorrow, and always, not undermine good-paying union jobs. That is what this bill, this
This is personal to me. My parents, Marland Jeffries and Laneda Jeffries, raised us, my younger brother, Hasan, and me. They raised us in a working-class, union household. I am thankful for that. We were raised in central Brooklyn.
My mom grew up in Connecticut, and I mentioned--that must be Jahana Hayes. I don't see Rosa DeLauro in my sight line, but I am so thankful for all the members of the Connecticut delegation. I am an unofficial sixth member of the Connecticut delegation.
My mom was raised in Bristol, Connecticut. She went to Bristol High School. I am thankful for my mom.
My dad, as I mentioned earlier, grew up in Newark.
That must be LaMonica McIver.
He grew up in Brick City. I mentioned earlier he had a nickname, Pudding. I failed to ask him, but I am going to see if my mom can unlock the key to that nickname for me. My mom grew up in Bristol, Connecticut, and my father grew up in Newark.
I mentioned earlier that he then went off to serve this country in uniform as an Air Force member and served in Germany during the Cold War. I think about that a lot. I didn't get to talk too much about it. I wish I would have had the opportunity to talk a little bit more with my dad about that. It is an extraordinary thing in the United States of America that someone could grow up in inner city Newark and then have the ability, in part thanks to President Harry Truman, to serve with people of all races to defend this great country.
I wish I would have had the opportunity to talk to my dad a little bit more about his experience in Germany because the one thing that I have been able to take away from that experience was that he came back having fallen in love with Heinekens and Becks. He came back after serving this country, Mr. Speaker, in uniform, as so many men and women in uniform do right now.
Let me make clear that we are so thankful. We are so appreciative of the courage of the men and women in uniform who serve in the United States military. We will always stand behind you. We thank you for your service, your patriotism, your courage, your heroism, your sacrifice, and for lifting up the freedom that is America.
They are not suckers. They are heroes. They are not suckers. They are heroes. We are thankful for their service. The men and women have no better hype person than Frederica Wilson.
My dad, as I mentioned, grew up in Newark. My mom grew up in Bristol, Connecticut. They met at Central State University. I am proud to note that it is a historically Black college and university.
Mr. Speaker, historically Black colleges and universities have given so much to the United States of America, and we will always stand behind them. We will always stand behind them. We will always stand behind them. I wouldn't be here right now without a historically Black college and university. I will never run away from that. I will never run away from that.
We can check the record, but we are proud of the fact that over the last few years prior to this administration, there has been historic investment in Hispanic-Serving Institutions, historically Black colleges and universities, and higher education.
That is part of who I am right now. I don't know if I will have time to tell the story of my grandmother. Maybe I will. I have got so many stories. I feel like I am in a hip-hop studio right now. They all relate to what makes every single one of us. Every single Democrat has a story to tell, a story to tell.
Brooklyn will get that. Every single one of us has a story to tell. That leads us to this moment. It is the reason why we are fighting hard against this incredible and unprecedented assault on the American way of life and an assault on organized labor.
My parents met at Central State University. Dad would tell my younger brother and I that it was love at first sight, but apparently my mom said: Not so fast. They worked it out, and I am thankful for that.
They met at Central State University, and, of course, I mentioned that mom was from Connecticut, my father was from New Jersey. Why was it that we grew up in New York City? Apparently, they compromised and moved to Brooklyn.
I was raised in Brooklyn, New York, in a working-class neighborhood in the middle of the crack cocaine epidemic. They were dangerous times in New York City in a union household. I am proud that I grew up in the Cornerstone Baptist Church. I am still a member of the Cornerstone Baptist Church.
Mr. Speaker, I grew up in this union household. I land on that moment, and every single one of us as House Democrats have a similar story to tell about why in our heart, in our soul, in our essence, in our experience we are so horrified by the attacks on organized labor because we understand the importance of what organized labor has meant to the American journey.
My mom and dad were both public servants throughout their entire lives. My mom worked for 45 years at DC 37, for the city of New York. My dad worked for 30 years. He was a member of the Public Employees Federation. He was a substance abuse social worker dealing with addiction during the heroin explosion of the 1970s, and the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s.
They got married in 1967, and they were newlyweds. Many people familiar with the history of the labor movement, particularly in New York City, know that in 1967, the Social Service Employees Union, which they both belonged to at the time, famously went on strike for better pay, better healthcare, better working conditions, and most importantly, better service to the clients that they served.
I thought about that fact. They were newlyweds, a few months in, and they had to make a decision, when the Social Service Employees Union went out on strike, whether they would cross the picket line, because it was unclear perhaps how they would pay for food and rent and clothing as newlyweds in a new city. Mr. Speaker, were they going to stand in solidarity with their union brothers and sisters?
I am so thankful, Mr. Speaker, when I learned that my parents made that decision to stand on that picket line for as long as it took in solidarity with their union brothers and sisters. That is part of our DNA. That is part of why we fight so hard. We can all trace a similar story, an inheritance from our parents and grandparents, all of us have that kind of story to tell.
Why am I so thankful that my parents made what I believe was a tough personal decision, but, of course, the right decision? It is because of what that union membership actually meant to my journey and my younger brother's journey.
In 1973, my younger brother was born with a serious heart condition. He is okay right now. He is doing well. Right now he continues to say on social media that he is our mother's favorite son. Let me say from the House floor: No, you are not. I think she favors both of us.
In 1973, my younger brother was born with a serious heart condition. He is okay right now. He was born with a serious heart condition. I am thankful that it was that union-negotiated healthcare that got our family through that difficult moment. That is why we do what we do. It is our own personal experience.
In the early eighties, my parents made a modest living. Neither of them, even at the tail end of decades-long careers, ever made more than $50,000. They made a modest living.
In the early eighties in Crown Heights, a rough neighborhood in central Brooklyn, they bought their first and only home. They were able to buy that home that my younger brother, Hasan, and I were raised in because of that union-negotiated salary. They paid off the mortgage down to zero because of that union-negotiated salary. This is personal to us. This is our own journey.
Lastly, as it relates to this part of my journey, this is why we all fight for what we fight for and why we stood behind Representative Mike Thompson's amendment to protect good-paying union jobs. I went to college. I went to Binghamton University.
When I first got here, I was surprised to learn actually that I was the first
I graduated from Binghamton University. My younger brother graduated from Morehouse College. Somehow, we managed to graduate from college without owing anything. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out how. As I mentioned, my mom and my dad just earned a modest living all throughout their careers. One day, I had a conversation with my mom. I was trying to figure it out. How did they pull that off?
She said: Well, I wanted to make sure my two sons could have a clean start to life. I borrowed against my union-negotiated pension to make sure my two sons could get free and clear of loans and get a higher education as part of our effort to experience the American Dream.
We all say to our brothers and sisters in organized labor: You don't ever have to worry about whether House Democrats are going to stand up for you because you have always been there for us.
That is our personal story. Every single one of us does this work because we have lived a life of opportunity that this great country has provided to us.
We are deeply troubled, saddened, and disgusted that this great institution, this House of Representatives, Mr. Speaker, and the Republicans are trying to jam this one big, ugly bill down the throats of the American people. This is a bill that hurts everyday Americans in order to reward billionaires with massive tax breaks. Shame on this institution if that bill ever passes.
We say to the American people we have been working hard to try to get this bill into a better situation, introducing amendment after amendment.
Representative Judy Chu is the chair emerita of CAPAC. One of our extraordinary leaders, my good friend, Grace Meng, now chairs CAPAC. Representative Judy Chu had an amendment that no one earning more than $10 million per year receives a tax cut to prevent this reverse Robinhood and the ballooning of the debt by $4 trillion. Mr. Speaker, Republicans voted down that amendment.
We support, as Democrats, providing tax relief to everyday Americans. We are willing to work in a bipartisan way to deal with that issue under the leadership of Richard Neal. Republicans decided, Mr. Speaker, as you know, to go down this partisan road, play partisan games, and try to jam this extreme budget down the throats of the American people.
Amendment after amendment after amendment was introduced by House Democrats in good faith and exercising common sense to try to improve this bill.
Representative Jimmy Gomez, the chair of the Congressional Dads Caucus here in the United States House of Representatives, had an amendment to ensure that people who make $1 billion a year don't get a tax break paid for by cutting Americans' healthcare and food assistance. Mr. Speaker, Republicans voted that down.
My good friend and classmate, Representative Suzan DelBene, had an amendment that would have made the child tax credit fully refundable. Suzan DelBene is a great champion of the child tax credit.
Let me also shout out a person who I believe is the mother of the enhanced and expanded child tax credit as well, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, Rosa DeLauro. We are thankful for Rosa's leadership. She is fighting hard on behalf of the American people.
Suzan DelBene is a great champion of the child tax credit. She had an amendment, Mr. Speaker, to make the child tax credit fully refundable, covering the 17 million children who are being left behind by the big, ugly bill, and to increase the child tax credit for families.
What Republicans are doing, Mr. Speaker, as you know, in this particular bill is not enhancing and expanding the child tax credit. They are undermining the child tax credit.
Representative Suzan DelBene, my classmate, along with Katherine Clark and others in the class of 2012, used to be the new kids on the block. Now, we are just the old G's.
Suzan DelBene introduced this amendment. Mr. Speaker, as you know, Republicans voted it down.
Representative Laura Gillen had an amendment. We dealt with this issue a little bit earlier, the new and permanent cap on State and local tax deduction. Representative Laura Gillen had an amendment to strike the new and permanent cap on SALT, which is something that Members of the House Republican Conference, Mr. Speaker, as you know, claim was a line in the sand for them. Specifically, Representatives from New York said that they support it, but Republicans voted down an amendment from Representative Laura Gillen.
Representative Mary Gay Scanlon from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, one of the great Members of the class of 2018, a great class, had an amendment that would protect infants and babies, American citizens born in this country, from the unconstitutional, un-American Trump executive order to end birthright citizenship. Republicans voted that down.
Let me make something clear: No matter what it takes, we are going to make sure, as House Democrats, that we stand up for the principle that every single child born in the United States of America, pursuant to the 14th Amendment, is an American citizen. We will never let anyone take that away, not now, not ever.
I thank Mary Gay Scanlon.
I am appreciative of Congressman Greg Meeks, my big brother in the United States Congress. We are family as House Democrats, committed to working hard and standing up on behalf of the American people. It is the honor of a lifetime to be part of this family and stand on the shoulders of Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, and Jim Clyburn. It is an honor to be part of this family to fight hard on behalf of the American people.
Representative Mary Gay Scanlon, I have to repeat this, had an amendment, Mr. Speaker, to protect infants and children, babies, against the unconstitutional and un-American Trump executive order to end birthright citizenship. Republicans voted that down.
Representative Pramila Jayapal had an amendment to prevent ICE from deporting United States citizens, Mr. Speaker, who are being deported by the Trump administration. I documented some of that earlier today. We are happy to provide more examples.
In fact, I am happy to debate my colleague, Speaker Mike Johnson, on any of these issues anytime right here on the floor of the House of Representatives. I sent him the invitation. I sent him that invitation. I sent him that invitation months ago. I am still waiting to get a response.
We are not running from the American people. We are ready to debate any of these issues anytime and anyplace, particularly right here on the floor of the House of Representatives.
Representative Pramila Jayapal had an amendment, Mr. Speaker, to prevent ICE from deporting U.S. citizens. Republicans voted that down.
I mentioned earlier that we do this work because we are informed by our own personal experiences. It is not about glory, and it is not about profit. It is about improving the lives of the American people, whom we are privileged to represent.
Jim McGovern and his wife, Lisa, are dealing with immense pain and immense personal tragedy, but they are fighting so hard on behalf of the American people. He had an amendment to restore the critical NIH research funding withheld by Donald Trump and Elon Musk to cure diseases like Alzheimer's and cancer, including pediatric cancer, childhood cancer, Mr. Speaker. Republicans voted that down.
Hundreds of amendments were introduced by Democrats to try to deal with the cruelty and callousness of Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill. Many amendments were offered by Democrats, and Republicans chose not to make these amendments in order. In other words, they just ignored them and dismissed their importance.
Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Representative Josh
Representative Houlahan and Representative Ramirez offered an amendment, Mr. Speaker, which exempts individuals with disabilities from having to prove eligibility for Medicaid every 6 months. That is a burdensome red-tape requirement designed to throw people off of Medicaid who are eligible. That amendment was dismissed.
Mr. Speaker, as you know, by House Republicans, Representative Sarah McBride, the distinguished gentlewoman from the great State of Delaware, the distinguished gentlewoman from the great State of Delaware, she offered an amendment that requires the CBO, the Congressional Budget Office, to certify provisions in this bill to make sure that those provisions will not reduce access to care or increase the cost of care for seniors who are duly eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. Mr. Speaker, as you know, Republicans dismissed that amendment.
Representative Rob Menendez offered an amendment that the health provisions will not take effect if it would lead to an increase in mortality rates due to reduced access to hospital services. Mr. Speaker, as you know, House Republicans dismissed that amendment.
Representative Val Hoyle introduced an amendment that strikes changes to provider taxes and preserves States' ability to use or increase provider taxes to fund Medicaid and protect hospital funding. Mr. Speaker, you know that, despite Representative Hoyle offering this amendment, Republicans dismissed it.
Rural hospitals will close as a result of Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill. They will close. Susan Collins acknowledged that fact, but House Republicans are here jamming a bill down the throats of the American people that will close hospitals in rural America, in urban America, in small-town America, in the heartland of America, and apparently, Mr. Speaker, they couldn't care less.
Let me be clear. We are going to stand up for those communities that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have abandoned. We are going to stand up for rural America, urban America, small-town America, the heartland of America, Appalachia. We are going to stand up for all of America, whether we represent you or not.
Representative Nanette Barragan, one of our co-chairs of Steering and Policy, along with Robin Kelly and DWS, offered an amendment increasing the hospital stabilization fund that they had to include in this one big, ugly bill. This amendment was designed to protect hospitals from closing and expand eligibility for safety net hospitals that we know exist all across America, in every corner in this country.
Safety net hospitals serve a large number of low-income patients, including those with Medicaid. Yet, Mr. Speaker, as you know, House Republicans dismissed this amendment.
Amendment after amendment after amendment the Democrats have introduced to try to relieve the pain that is being visited upon the American people by this one big, ugly bill was voted down by Republicans or dismissed out of hand.
Representative Costa introduced an amendment to protect those on the Low-Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program, who are also targeted by this one big, ugly bill, as part of an effort to ensure that all households on SNAP can continue to qualify. Mr. Speaker, as you know, Republicans dismissed that amendment out of hand, ignored it, did not see fit to take it up.
Representative Jill Tokuda from the great State of Hawaii introduced an amendment trying to prevent the nutrition title of this bill from taking effect, again, so the USDA can determine that the provisions of this one big, ugly bill would not result in material economic harm to farmers, ranchers, and producers. Mr. Speaker, as you know, Republicans dismissed that amendment out of hand.
Representative Lloyd Doggett had an amendment to extend tax cuts for the 98 percent of the American people who make $400,000 or less per year. Had that amendment been taken up and passed, it would have cut the cost of this one big, ugly bill by approximately 50 percent, and we would have been standing up for those everyday Americans who are now going to be hurt by other provisions in this GOP tax scam, this disgusting abomination. Mr. Speaker, as you know, that amendment was dismissed out of hand by the House Republican majority.
Representative Seth Magaziner from the great State of Rhode Island, only in his second term, somehow, he is the dean of the delegation. Along with my good friend Gabe Amo, Seth Magaziner had an amendment to provide a tax cut for the middle-class, paid for by increasing taxes on the wealthiest here in this country, taxes and a tax rate that had previously been at 39 percent, lowered by the original GOP tax scam in 2017.
You had this amendment to provide a tax cut for middle-class Americans. Instead, Republicans are spending a trillion dollars on massive tax breaks for the wealthiest amongst us. That amendment was dismissed out of hand.
Representative Steven Horsford, who also came in during the class of 2012, had an amendment to make no tax on tips, which we support--but we support no tax on tips becoming a permanent part of the law, and that is not what this one big, ugly bill does.
Tax breaks for billionaires, permanent; tax breaks for everybody else expire. That is not the way to stand up for everyday Americans. That is extraordinary.
Representative Steven Horsford's amendments to make no tax on tips permanent and to close loopholes that are in this one big, ugly bill were dismissed out of hand.
Amendments introduced by Ranking Member Huffman, Andrea Salinas, Dave Min, Emily Randall, and others protecting public lands were dismissed out of hand.
Amendments on energy introduced by Members like Luz Rivas were dismissed out of hand.
I think I will end this portion of my presentation--Mr. Speaker, I said, ``this portion of my presentation.'' I still have a little more time.
Donald Trump's deadline may be Independence Day. That ain't my deadline. Do you know why, Mr. Speaker? We don't work for Donald Trump. We work for the American people.
That is why we are right here now on the floor of the House of Representatives, standing up for the American people, for everyday Americans, for hardworking American taxpayers, fighting hard to make sure that we can live in a country where every American can afford to live the good life.
As I mentioned earlier, Mr. Speaker, part of being able to afford to live the good life, part of those five things that I talked about, which shouldn't be hard to agree upon--work hard, play by the rules, and then being able to be part of a country. Imagine a country where, when you work hard and play by the rules, you can afford to obtain the American Dream, to experience the good life: a good-paying job, good housing, good healthcare, a good education for your children, and, then, a good retirement.
We had a series of amendments, Mr. Speaker, introduced on the subject of education. I will say something about the Department of Education. Every agency and every department can, of course, be improved in terms of its efficiency, but the Department of Education does important work, particularly as it relates to the most vulnerable children amongst us.
As part of this unprecedented assault on the American way of life, President Donald Trump issued this executive order, effectively trying to abolish the Department of Education.
I know there are people all across the country, as I traveled throughout America, who are concerned about this. Let me make something clear: The Department of Education was established by an act of the United States Congress. It cannot be abolished by anyone pretending to be a wannabe king, not anyone. It is us, the United States Congress. We introduced, Mr. Speaker, a series of amendments related to this commitment, this recognition of the importance of education as part of accessing the American Dream.
Ranking Member Bobby Scott is also battling some issues. Life hits us all, but he made sure to make his way here to the House of Representatives as part of his commitment to stand up for the education of our children and others.
He had an amendment, Mr. Speaker, that strikes all the extreme parts of the Committee on Education and Workforce elements of this bill that make it harder for students to access high-quality education, jeopardizes child nutrition programs, and threatens financial student aid, all of which is being done recklessly, Mr. Speaker, by this one big, ugly bill. As you know, Republicans chose to ignore this amendment, to dismiss it out of hand.
Representative Sarah Elfreth introduced an amendment to try to increase the amount that hardworking teachers and educators are able to deduct on qualified out-of-pocket classroom expenses. That amendment was dismissed out of hand.
Tax breaks for billionaires, Mr. Speaker, but Republicans have decided that hardworking educators can't get an enhanced tax benefit for their out-of-pocket expenses. That is wrong, and as House Democrats, we will continue to stand behind the educators of the United States of America, the teachers in the United States of America, and those to whom we entrust our most precious asset: our children.
House Republicans, Mr. Speaker, aren't standing up for educators, for the teachers of America. This is extraordinary. We are going to continue to stand with our teachers and stand with our public schools all across the United States of America. That is what House Democrats are going to continue to do.
Representative Val Hoyle had an amendment to increase Pell grant funding for Pell grant awards that are severely undermined in Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill.
Mr. Speaker, it is extraordinary to me that this reckless Republican budget manages to go after blue-collar jobs, organized labor, hardworking American taxpayers who don't shower before going to work but shower after work, and that Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill goes after blue-collar, good-paying, prevailing-wage jobs here in the United States of America, and then also goes after access to higher education.
Representative Val Hoyle had an amendment, Mr. Speaker, increasing Pell grant awards that are severely undermined in this bill.
House Republicans chose to ignore this amendment and dismiss it out of hand. This is another one of those areas where our commitment is to experience the American Dream, whatever path you choose. This may be through career and technical education, as has been the case by many Members in their experience or their family experience, such as Don Norcross, who is one of our leaders in this regard, Debbie Dingell, and others.
Mark Pocan is part of the Labor Caucus leaders in this regard. Mark Pocan is part of the trades movement. Don Norcross is part of the trades movement. Debbie Dingell is so close to the UAW and the trades.
It is one of those areas where we also are informed by our personal experiences, why we find what is taking place, Mr. Speaker, in this one big, ugly bill so disgusting, these attacks by Republicans on the ability of all Americans to achieve the American Dream, to be part of imagining an America where everyone who works hard and plays by the rules can live the good life.
Higher education is not the entire solution, but it certainly is part of it. This was taught to me by my grandma Nana. She never had a formal 4-year education, but perhaps, she was the wisest woman I have ever known. She was determined to make sure that her two grandsons had the opportunity, as best she could, to obtain an education. Ultimately, we were coming out of this working-class neighborhood, Crown Heights in central Brooklyn, and we spent a lot of time in Bedford-Stuyvesant. She lived on the corner of Putnam and Lewis, right down the block from the Cornerstone Baptist Church.
She was determined to make sure that her two grandsons had the best opportunity, in her view, in grandma Nana's view to access education. When we were young, she said to my younger brother and I--I will never forget this conversation. We were in her home in Bed-Stuy. She said that the two of you are going to go to elementary school and then you will graduate, go to middle school and graduate, go to high school and graduate, and then go to college and graduate. Then she dreamed about us going to graduate school, get a law degree, a Ph.D., a medical degree, an MBA, some form of advanced education. We were, like: Grandma, we are going to be in school our entire lives.
She was so committed to that journey that every single time we graduated--this is a woman of modest means--she gave my younger brother and I, whoever was the graduate, $500 in cash. I still don't know where Nana got that money from. I know it came by her honestly. She saved for it, but it was designed to help incentivize her grandchildren to keep going through all of the obstacles.
Mr. Speaker, I made the mistake one day of telling that story, this $500 incentive, in front of my two sons, and they said: Dad, you have been shortchanging us our entire lives. Access to education is a part of the journey for many of us. It is shocking to me that this one aspect, not the only aspect, this one aspect that Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence once articulated, the father of the University of Virginia, Ben Franklin, the father of the University of Pennsylvania, and others saw an important role for enlightened education as just one path that we as House Democrats are trying to protect while also making sure that every single hardworking American can get the type of career in technical education, if they choose that path, to experience the American Dream.
Mr. Speaker, as I perhaps approach the end of this particular journey, let me just reiterate that as House Democrats, we maintained from the very beginning of this Congress, we acknowledged the election of President Donald Trump, offered to work with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle whenever and wherever possible in order to make life better for the American people, to stand up for the things that matter not as Democrats, Independents, or Republicans but as Americans, but the route, Mr. Speaker, that has been taken by House Republicans is to go it alone and to try to jam this one big, ugly bill, filled with extreme rightwing policy priorities, down the throats of the American people.
That is why, in good conscience, we can't stand here, Mr. Speaker, and support this effort, this one big, ugly bill that hurts everyday Americans and rewards billionaires with massive tax breaks.
Mr. Speaker, America is too expensive. Housing costs are too high. Grocery costs are too high. Childcare costs are too high. Energy costs are too high. Insurance costs are too high. America is too expensive.
President Trump and House Republicans promised to lower costs on day one, Mr. Speaker, but costs aren't going down. They are going up.
The policies unleashed by the Trump administration have been so chaotic, so all over the place. So much uncertainty has been created that the economy is being run off track, and nothing has been done to lower the high cost of living.
In fact, not a single thing in Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill will meaningfully make life more affordable for everyday Americans. That is just one of several reasons why House Democrats are ``hell no'' on this legislation. We were a hell no last week, a hell no this week, a hell no yesterday, a hell no today, and we will continue to be a hell no on this effort to hurt the American people.
And I know, for the record, Mom, ``hell'' is in the Bible.
The American people are understandably frustrated by the high cost of living. Yes, they are frustrated by the unprecedented assault on the American way of life, on our democracy, on the rule of law and due process, on healthcare, on Social Security, on nutritional assistance, but it is my sincere hope that we can find a path forward to actually address for the American people some of the underlying sources of their frustration.
The fact that far too many people--you have heard the stories, Mr. Speaker, and that is just a fraction of the
They are frustrated by a lot of the things that have gone on in this country since January 20. I am frustrated by a lot of what has gone on, disgusted by a lot of what has gone on, Mr. Speaker, in this country since January 20. We are better than this.
It is also important--one of the things that I hope, Mr. Speaker, we will be able to address at some point is the source of the underlying frustration. It is a frustration in the comments, in the eloquent words, of all of those Presidential leaders that I mentioned earlier today.
This frustration is economic frustration. FDR talked about it. Truman talked about it. President Kennedy talked about it. Johnson talked about it. Carter talked about it. Clinton talked about it. President Obama talked about it. President Biden talked about it. It is a consistent strand.
While progress has been made in the United States of America--we have come a long way on behalf of working-class Americans--there is still a way to go to ensure that, in this great country, hardworking American taxpayers don't simply work hard and play by the rules just to survive barely paycheck to paycheck but are able to actually thrive.
That is the America that we should all commit to work hard toward bringing about: good-paying jobs, good housing, good healthcare, good education for your children, and a good retirement, a fair shot at achieving the American Dream.
A good retirement, let me reiterate it for the record, means, Mr. Speaker, that people in this town need to keep their hands off the Social Security and the Medicare of the American people.
Keep your hands off Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, all of those things. Hands off.
One of the many reasons why we strongly oppose Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill is because it will result in the largest cut to Medicare, sets in motion the largest cut to Medicare, more than $500 billion by some estimations, in American history.
The American people are understandably frustrated, not for years but for decades, and far too many have dealt with the situation where the system is not building an economy that works for hardworking American taxpayers, for everyday Americans, for working-class Americans, for everyone who aspires to be part of the middle class.
It is our sincere hope that we can get to a place one day, perhaps in a bipartisan way, not connected to this extreme, reckless, and dangerous partisan bill, this one big, ugly bill that will hurt everyday Americans in order to reward billionaires, that we actually can get to the work of lifting up everyday Americans because the deck has been stacked against you for far too long. That is not the America that the American people deserve.
Part of the challenge, part of the problem, part of the issue as to why we find ourselves, everyday Americans, in this situation is because of the dominance of special interests in this town. This one big, ugly bill represents a massive giveaway to special interests in this country.
Mr. Speaker, we reject special interests because our job here in the United States of America is to protect the public interest at all times: today, tomorrow, always, and forever.
It is extraordinary to me, Mr. Speaker, that you have folks in this town talking about draining the swamp. Guess what? You are the swamp. You are the swamp. You are the swamp.
We have never seen anything like this, the type of corruption that has been unleashed on the American people and has poisoned, Mr. Speaker, this bill.
I see you are consulting the Parliamentarian, I think. I said, ``people in this town.''
I am thankful that my grandmother saw fit to have her grandson educated.
We have never seen the level, Mr. Speaker, of this type of corruption unleashed on the American people that has made its way into this one big, ugly bill. There are extraordinary levels of corruption in this town that has been unleashed on the American people. Corruption on steroids would be an understatement, in terms of what the American people are now being subjected to.
One of the things we look forward to changing in this town--I am going to make this commitment--House Democrats are committed to making sure that we end corruption once and for all in the United States of America: end corruption in Congress, end corruption at the Supreme Court, and end corruption with the administration. That is part of our agenda, an anticorruption agenda. That is what the American people deserve. That is what we as House Democrats are committed to bringing about; the exact opposite, Mr. Speaker, of what we see in this bill.
We are going to present to the American people an anticorruption agenda the likes of which have never been seen because it is too much. Fundamentally, it undermines the ability of government to deliver for everyday Americans. You see that politics at the end of the day is about the management of public money. That is why we need everyday Americans to participate in your democracy because politics, at the end of the day, is about the management of public money. It is about how taxpayer dollars are going to be managed.
What is extraordinary about this one big, ugly bill is that what we see, Mr. Speaker, is the management of public money, all of it being done in this highly partisan way. It is not designed to serve the best interests of the American people.
It is being managed, Mr. Speaker, in this GOP tax scam, this disgusting abomination, this one big, ugly bill. The management of taxpayer money is being misused and abused to hurt everyday Americans in order to reward billionaires with massive tax breaks.
That is a dereliction of duty, the mismanagement of public money. It is an abuse of the privilege that all of us as Members of the United States Congress have.
One of our promises to the American people: As we look toward the future, we will always be stewards of their money to make sure that we are allocating taxpayer dollars in a way designed to lift up the American people, not tear the American people down. That is the type of Congress that the American people deserve: The public interest over special interests; the public interest over special interests; the public interest over special interests. That is one of our promises to the American people, and we are going to work hard to earn their trust as we move forward and look toward the future.
I mentioned earlier in my remarks that I wanted to talk a little bit about faith. I grew up in the Cornerstone Baptist Church. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We walk by faith, not by sight. If you just have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move mountains. We have come this far by faith.
I can't leave this floor, Mr. Speaker, without talking a little bit about faith. I use ``faith'' in the broadest sense of the word. I am proud of what we are in this country: Jewish faith, Muslim faith, Hindu faith, Buddhist faith, Christian faith, all faiths.
That is the interesting thing. This rush to jam this reckless bill down the throats of the American people, all of it somehow connected to our 249th birthday that we are going to celebrate tomorrow, July Fourth, a journey launched by the Declaration of Independence and ultimately this principle embedded in the First Amendment around the importance of faith but also at the same time the importance of separating church and state.
It is all in the First Amendment, as interpreted by the Supreme Court. I don't have time, I think, to really deeply go into it. You have got the Establishment Clause and you have got the Free Exercise Clause. The Framers of this country recognized the importance of faith, our journey of religion. I am proud of my Christian faith, but I also recognize the importance of the plurality of all of us, men and women of faith, different religions, and also of the fact that here in America we embrace the religious and the secular.
Mr. Speaker, I alluded to this question of faith a little earlier. It seems to
Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of parallels to what is going on right now. I am going to focus at this moment on New Testament Scripture, the Gospels.
I think it was mentioned earlier by one of my colleagues. I think Don Beyer mentioned earlier Matthew 25:35-40 earlier. I think it is important that at this time in this moment and in this debate, before I leave the floor of the House of Representatives, this Scripture be entered into the Congressional Record.
``For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you invited me in.''
``I was a stranger and you invited me in.''
``E pluribus unum''; ``out of many, one.''
``I needed clothes and you clothed me.''
I was sick. I had medical problems. Maybe I needed Medicare or Medicaid or the Affordable Care Act or the Children's Health Insurance Program or Planned Parenthood. Mr. Speaker, I was sick, and you looked after me.
Mr. Speaker, I was in prison and you came to visit me. We have a right, as Members of Congress, to visit people who are detained. It is not just in law. It is right here in Matthew.
``Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?''
Of course, the reply from Jesus: ``Truly, I tell you whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.''
That is what we should do here in the United States House of Representatives. Our job is to stand up for the poor, the sick, and the afflicted, the least, the lost, and the left behind, everyday Americans.
That is what Matthew teaches us, and that is not what is happening in this one big, ugly bill. That is not consistent with what my faith teaches me. I am not down with this situation.
There are some folks in this town who go to church. Mr. Speaker, I said some people in this town go to church. I am not questioning anybody's faith. I am just making an observation. Some folks in this town go to church, and they pray, p-r-a-y, on Sunday. Then they come to Congress and prey, p-r-e-y, on the American people.
Mr. Speaker, I am not down with that kind of faith. That ain't my faith. That is not our faith. That is not faith that comes out of the Gospel. I can't find that kind of faith in Matthew 25:35. I can't find that kind of faith.
I do see something else. Can I talk about it for a moment? I do see something else. It is kind of what I am seeing connected to this one big, ugly bill. I don't know if this was an inspiration to this extraordinary assault on the American people, this corrupt piece of legislation.
I looked over my Bible, and this is going to come from John. It is not going to come from Second Corinthians, although the Apostle Paul has a lot to say about that.
Mr. Speaker, I said Second Corinthians and not 2 Corinthians. I don't know who I am talking about but, Mr. Speaker, if you are going to sell the Bible, you should know the Bible.
I am trying to figure it out because it is not in Matthew 25:35-40. I did see something in John 10:10. This frightens me in this moment that we are living in. It says: ``The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.''
It is incredible to me that we are here, dealing with a piece of legislation literally that steals money from everyday Americans, from hardworking American taxpayers. It steals money from Medicaid, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. It steals money from Pell grants, from the education of our children, and from energy assistance programs. The thief comes only to steal and kill.
I don't say this lightly, Mr. Speaker, but we stand behind this point. When you try to take healthcare away, what this bill does by taking healthcare away from everyday Americans, 1 in 17 million--this unprecedented assault on Medicaid, on the Affordable Care Act, on Medicare, and on children's health insurance--what you effectively are doing is hurting everyday Americans, hurting children, hurting women, hurting older Americans, seniors, and people with disabilities.
Nursing homes will close. Hospitals will shut down. Community-based health clinics will be unable to operate. We are actually here debating legislation, Mr. Speaker, that will result in tens of thousands of everyday Americans losing their lives because of the inability to get healthcare that they now have and is being ripped away from them.
John 10:10 says: ``The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.''
It is an all-out assault on the American people. It is an all-out assault on healthcare, the economy, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and nutritional assistance for veterans, farmers, law-abiding immigrant families, and small business owners. All the things that we have spent some time on this House floor talking about, this bill is trying to destroy, to destroy the American way of life.
I can't find anything in the Bible in the New Testament, certainly not in Mathew 25:35 and all the way through the 40th verse, but somehow, I happened upon John 10:10 in thinking about this one big, ugly bill. The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy, but America is a resilient nation. We are an exceptional nation. We are a strong nation. We have been through turbulence, trials, and tribulations, and we always somehow have found a way to make it through. It is because of the resilience, Mr. Speaker, of the American people.
Despite whatever happens today as it relates to this one big, ugly bill, if my Republican colleagues decide that, once again, Mr. Speaker, they are simply going to make the decision to serve as a reckless rubberstamp for President Trump's extreme agenda, I still have faith in the United States of America. I still have faith in the United States of America. I still have faith in the United States of America.
We will not let anyone in this town destroy what America represents, not ever. It is not going to be easy. We recognize that, but we have faith in the resilience of the American people.
As I get ready to close shortly, let me say it one more time. Our Republican colleagues tried to jam this reckless, extreme bill, Mr. Speaker, down the throats of the American people. They had the nerve to start this debate at 3:28 a.m., in the middle of the night, but we made clear that we were going to expose all the things that are being done to harm the American people, not in the dark of night but in the light of day.
This little light of mine, we are going to let it shine, but on behalf of the American people.
It is incredible to me that Republicans will try to jam this big, ugly bill down the throats of the American people in the dead of night, and then, to add insult to injury, Mr. Speaker, allocate 15 minutes to each side on the committees of jurisdiction, 15 minutes to the Ways and Means on each side and 15 minutes to the Budget Committee. That is extraordinary, but I am thankful and appreciative of all of my colleagues who stand behind me.
I thank all of my colleagues for their commitment, their courage, and their conviction, for standing up on behalf of the American people to deliver hopefully what is a message of concern but also a message of hope.
We have to fight a lot of battles on behalf of the American people. It is not over. We are fighting a lot of battles on behalf of the American people. This is just one of them. We wanted to make sure that the American people had an opportunity to fully and more completely understand in the light of day just how damaging this one big, ugly bill will be to the American people.
I plead with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, Mr. Speaker, I really plead with my colleagues to be inspired by some of the Framers of the Constitution, the great scholars and great thinkers who conceived of this incredible journey that we have been on in the United States of America, creating separate and coequal branches of government. They recognized that in
No king, no monarch, separate and coequal branches of government. This is the Article I branch of government.
Mr. Speaker, James Madison once made the observation in his view in one of the Federalist Papers that at its best, Congress should function as a rival to the executive branch. That was James Madison. Article I branch of government, the House and the Senate.
We are not here to bend the knee to any wannabe king. Mr. Speaker, we are not here to bend the knee to any wannabe king. We are here to be a rival to the executive branch in the best spirit of the House of Representatives, to push back against an out-of-control executive branch. That was the Framers' vision. I said that was the Framers' vision, the Framers' vision.
So as we prepare to take this consequential vote, Mr. Speaker, I just urge many of my colleagues in government, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle--Mr. Speaker, we don't work for President Trump. We don't work for JD Vance. We don't work for Elon Musk.
Mr. Speaker, as all of us prepare to cast this vote, I hope my Republican colleagues will come to the conclusion that we work for the American people. We work for the American people. We don't work for any President. We work with American Presidents. We work for the American people. So it is my hope that, as you evaluate this bill, all of the harm that is being unleashed on the American people, ripping healthcare away from more than 17 million Americans, effectively ending Medicaid as we know it, shutting down hospitals, including in rural America, in districts, Mr. Speaker, that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle represent. Nursing homes closing, one in four nursing homes, Mr. Speaker, will close as a result of the attack on Medicaid and Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill.
Mr. Speaker, this is extraordinary, this assault on everyday Americans, this assault on children, veterans, seniors, people with disabilities. It is incredible to me. All of this is in this one big, ugly bill. Ripping food away from children, literally ripping food out of the mouths of hungry children, hungry veterans, and hungry seniors.
Mr. Speaker, that is not America. We are better than that. Mr. Speaker, we are better than that. Ripping food out of the mouths of vulnerable Americans, that is extraordinary that that is what we are doing, extraordinary.
All of this is being done, this unprecedented assault on everyday Americans is being unleashed on the American people, Mr. Speaker, on the most vulnerable amongst us. All of this is being done to provide massive tax breaks to billionaire donors.
Shame on this institution if this bill passes. That is not America. We are better than this. We are better. We are better. We are better than this. I think that, as we prepare to vote on this one big, ugly bill, it is a tough time for the people in the United States of America. It is extraordinary, extraordinary extremism unleashed on the American people.
Mr. Speaker, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle promise to address the high cost of living. Nothing in this bill will meaningfully lower the high cost of living in the United States of America. Nothing. It is incredible to me.
All of the promises that were made by some people in this town that their top priority was going to be to lower the high cost of living in the United States of America, and then all of last year ran away from Project 2025, and acted like it didn't exist.
Then, Mr. Speaker, people come to town in the majority now and every single part of the extremism that we have seen unleashed on the American people is connected to Project 2025, every single part.
Here is why I have still got hope and optimism. I referenced this earlier today. As we prepare to experience the 249th birthday of the United States of America, let's take it back to that original document, the Declaration of Independence, 1776. Mr. Speaker, it had the aspirational part: ``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.''
That is the aspirational part of the Declaration of Independence.
As House Democrats, we are committed, no matter what it takes, to bring that about. Imagine an America where everyone who works hard and plays by the rules can live the good life and afford to live the good life: a good-paying job, good housing, good healthcare, good education for your children, and a good retirement.
That is what House Democrats are fighting for. That is the aspirational part of the Declaration of Independence, to bring that to life. The pursuit of happiness, that is the aspirational part.
Yet, then, when you look at that Declaration of Independence, the second part of it reads like an indictment against an out-of-control king. It reads like an indictment against an out-of-control king. I commend all Americans--perhaps sometime tomorrow, I am going to do this myself--to read that document in its entirety.
Why was that indictment issued? I think it was because the Framers of this great country were fed up with project 1775, and so they implemented project 1776. I know that there are people concerned with what is happening in America, but understand that what our journey teaches us is that, after Project 2025 comes Project 2026, and you will have an opportunity to end this national nightmare as part of Project 2026. I love the Framers. They gave us a blueprint for what should give us hope in this moment.
Mr. Speaker, I will close by referencing someone who we all served with. I will stand on the shoulders, if it is okay, on some of our civil rights heroes and foot soldiers, those whose character, whose conviction, whose courage should give the American people hope at a moment of great despair.
Many of us had the great honor of serving with Congressman John Lewis. It was a great honor, Mr. Speaker, to serve with Congressman John Lewis.
I came across something that John Lewis said in June of 2018, and, hopefully, no matter what the outcome of this vote, it will give people some hope.
The great John Lewis said: ``Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year. It is the struggle of a lifetime.''
That is our struggle. No matter, Mr. Speaker, what you decide to do today, that is our struggle. Standing on the shoulders of John Lewis, that is our struggle.
``Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble-- '' good trouble, good trouble--``necessary trouble.''
Standing on the shoulders of giants, John Lewis would often talk to us about his admiration for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King would refer to John Lewis as the boy from Troy.
Now, what is interesting to me, that civil rights movement--we can learn a lot from it--started December of 1955, and Rosa Parks sat down on that bus so that all of us could have the courage to stand up. It wasn't an easy struggle. All the odds were stacked against these civil rights heroes and foot soldiers.
During the early days of the movement, a difficult part of the movement, Dr. King--after they had been targeted, arrested, beaten, harassed by the authorities--traveled to Brooklyn, New York, and spoke at the Concord Baptist Church. I think it was in March 1956.
Dr. King said to a group of people of every race, every religion, every life experience at Concord Baptist Church in Bedford-Stuyvesant, he said to them: No matter what the odds, we have got to press on.
Dr. King said: If you can't fly, run. If you can't run, walk. If you can't walk, crawl. But at all times, press on, and keep pressing.
As I take my seat, I just say to the American people that, no matter what the outcome is on this singular day, we are going to press on. We are going to press on. We are going to press on.
We are going to press on for our children, press on for our seniors, press on for our veterans, press on for our unions, press on for our farmers, press on for our Dreamers, press on for working-class Americans, press on for the middle class, press on for all who aspire
Wow, Mr. Speaker, we have stood in this Chamber for over 8 hours listening to a lot of words, a lot of comments, a lot of inaccurate statements, and where I come from--could we have order?
Mr. Speaker, I come from the Show Me State, and what we just heard can be defined in one word, a bunch of hogwash is what we have heard for 8 hours on that side of the building. I will tell you, for the 8 hours--could we have order?
Mr. Speaker, the 8 hours of hogwash that we just heard will not change the outcome that you will see very shortly when we deliver historic tax relief for working families, small business owners, and farmers.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Johnson), our great Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Missouri for yielding.
Ronald Reagan said one time that no speech should be longer than 20 minutes, and unlike the Democrat leader, I am going to honor my colleagues' time and be a little more brief than that.
I just want to say something that many of us learned when we were children. We were taught: It takes a lot longer to build a lie than to tell the simple truth.
My friends and colleagues, on both sides of the aisle, have waited long enough. Some of us have literally been up for days now, but this day is a hugely important one in the history of our Nation. We have a big job to finish, and that is why we are here on the week of July Fourth, just days before--just a day before now America's birthday.
It was on that fateful day, as the Democrat leader acknowledged, that our Founders pledged their lives and their sacred honor to this grand experiment in self-governance that we are now here to steward. It is an experiment that falls to us to guard and to protect it. We take that very seriously on this side of the aisle.
In just a few moments, we will remind the world why the American experiment still endures today and why its best days are still ahead of us.
Mr. Speaker, with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act we are going to make this country stronger, safer, and more prosperous than ever before, and every American is going to benefit from that.
Today, we are laying a key cornerstone of America's new golden age. Now, listen, we have a few words of gratitude first. Scripture has been cited a lot this morning, I think mostly out of context, but what I will say, one thing we know about Scripture is that we are supposed to give honor where honor is due, and that is what we do on this side of the aisle.
I thank every single Member of the House Republican Conference for pouring their time and their heart and their expertise and experience into this process. I thank all of our amazing staff members, all of them. Their dedication, their endless hours, and their hard work made this all possible.
I thank the White House Office of Legislative Affairs, who have basically lived with us now for the last few weeks. Their patience and persistence and their professionalism is greatly appreciated. Our country's incredible Cabinet Secretaries have been involved, as well. They have assisted us in countless ways throughout this process.
Our Vice President, JD Vance, helped us navigate so many dire straits along the last several weeks through the House and the Senate, and of course, our bold, visionary, fearless President, Donald J. Trump.
President Trump is the creator and the champion of the America First agenda. We will deliver upon that today. We have come a long way. We began this process really about 15 months ago. We had a sense, and we believed that we would have unified government. We would have this moment where the Republican Party would be given control of the White House and the Senate and the House, and we determined to ourselves that we would not waste that historic opportunity.
We have had spirited debates. We have had months of deliberations, and now we are finally ready to fulfill our promise to the American people. That is what we are doing today. Before I respond to the allegations from across the Chamber, I just want to take us back to a day that most of us will remember so very fondly for the rest of our lives and that is November 5 of 2024.
That was election day, a fateful one for America. The reason that was so important, the reason it was such a turn in history is because the American people spoke with unmistakable clarity. We sensed it as we were all out campaigning. We saw that there would be a demographic shift in America, and that is exactly what the election yielded.
We, in our party, had a record number of Black and African-American voters come to the Republican Party. We had a record number of Hispanic and Latino voters come to the Republican Party, a record number of Jewish voters and union workers and suburban women and urban voters. They came out in record numbers to join the Republican Party and the America First agenda with President Trump.
That election was decisive. It was a bellwether. It was a time for choosing, and I will tell you what, the American people chose overwhelmingly. They chose the Republican Party. The reason they did that--they didn't come hesitantly. They came with hopeful anticipation. Do you know why?
They came because this is not your father's Democratic Party. They went so far full speed to the far left and their radical, woke, progressive agenda, that the nonsense that they tried to push on the people was rejected by the people.
These new voters that came to us had enough of the Biden-Harris madness and all the things they were trying to hoist upon the American people that they just don't believe in their hearts, and they were hopeful. They came to us with hope. They wanted us to restore common sense and accountability, and we promised them that we would do just that.
Those new demographics came to the Republican Party because of open borders wreaking havoc on their communities. They came because of weakness at home that fueled instability abroad, and because trillions in reckless spending put the price of gas and groceries further out of the reach for hardworking Americans.
It wasn't right. President Trump and our Republican majority in Congress are fixing all of that right now. President Trump said this week that we are the hottest country in the world again.
My friends, that is an objective truth. Hey, listen, how about all the wins for the President and this party? Here is just a sample from the last 2 weeks. The headline today will be: One Big Beautiful Bill Act passes the Congress.
You have to hold your applause. There are too many wins. Are you getting tired of winning yet?
The fourth jobs report in a row exceeds expectations.
A sample of the headlines: Lowest monthly border encounters in U.S. history. We closed the border.
In the last couple of days, there was a new trade deal with Vietnam, and all the countries around the world are lining up for that.
UPenn agrees to ban biological men from women's sports, and they ought to give a personal apology to every female athlete impacted by that nonsense.
Gas prices are at a 4-year low, my friends.
The Air Force and Space Force both hit their 2025 recruiting goals 3 months early.
Israel is agreeing to a 60-day cease-fire with Hamas. A successful strike on Iranian nuclear sites handles that problem. That is exactly right. Strength is back. America is back. It has resulted now in a cease-fire deal between Iran and Israel.
The NATO countries are increasing their defense spending, not just 2 percent but 5 percent of GDP.
The President got in charge and got a Rwanda-Congo peace deal.
The Supreme Court ended nationwide injunctions. How about that? That conservative majority on the Supreme Court also allows third-country deportations.
We have had a record-high stock market, and we are signing a China trade deal.
That is just the last 2 weeks, the last 2 weeks.
There are so many simple truths to share and so little time to do it because I want everybody to have a break here.
I just want to say this. It is really nice to hear Democratic colleagues suddenly take an interest in working Americans again. Did you pick up on that theme today?
Let's be clear: Working Americans stopped trusting Democrats a long time ago. That is a fact. They are looking to this side of the Chamber. They are looking to the Republican Party and our principles to deliver the relief and the reform that they have long demanded and most certainly deserve.
This One Big Beautiful Bill Act fulfills all the promises of the America First agenda. It is the people's bill. It is made for and shaped by the most diverse coalition of American voters in American history.
Today, we are making the dream of a government that puts the American people first a reality.
I would need this entire notebook to tell you all the great things in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. It is aptly named, but I will just tell you a couple of the highlights: record tax cuts for hardworking Americans, and historic savings, at the same time, to end reckless spending. We have energy dominance coming back to power our future. We have a secure border to protect American families. We have a strong military to restore peace through strength. We have a government that is now accountable and responsive to the people once again.
That is what we are delivering. For everyday Americans, this means real, positive change that they can feel, and they will feel much more when this bill is done. Families back home will have real relief, an average of $10,000 in their pockets, thanks to the largest working- and middle-class tax cut in the history of this great Nation. That is what we are doing today.
You have hardworking Americans like our waiters, our bellhops, and our hairstylists. They are going to keep 100 percent of their tips and overtime pay. That is money they earned. It does not belong to the government. It belongs to them, and they deserve to keep it.
Small businesses that want to build and expand new factories, do you know what they can do now? They can write off 100 percent of their investment. That will get us a lot more building.
Young families who want to buy a home will be able to, thanks to historic savings that will put our country on a stronger financial footing.
Pregnant women, children, seniors, single mothers, the disabled, and the low-income Americans among us receiving Medicaid and SNAP will have the peace of mind of knowing that we made these safety nets stronger with our reforms.
See, when Republicans are in charge, we bring common sense. We are going to make sure that Americans who do need and deserve those critical programs won't have to compete against people who can work but choose not to do so. That is not right.
This bill is going to put fairness back in the system. We are returning to common sense. We are returning to what is good and decent that people know in their hearts, and that is why they support it.
More Americans will be working, volunteering, and serving their communities because modest, commonsense work requirements will restore dignity and purpose to those on taxpayer-funded benefits.
The bill will also mean that safer streets are available in every ZIP Code around the country because our border will remain fully and totally secure.
The Republican Party stands for law and order, and this is the side that stands with law enforcement, the brave men and women who are on the front line. The idea that those who put their own lives on the line to protect us would be assaulted for doing their jobs is unconscionable.
I know you agree. I know. Amen.
Law enforcement will have the help of a border wall now that is 100 percent complete. Our immigration enforcement officers will get a boost from more manpower, resources, and detention space so that detained illegal aliens are not released back onto the streets like they were for the last 4 years.
Our homeland can rest soundly again under the protection of President Trump's Golden Dome. That is what we are investing in.
Look, any of these individual achievements would be historic victories for a Republican Congress or any Congress, and today, we are delivering on all of them in one big, beautiful bill.
That is what Americans can count on when we pass this legislation, and that is exactly what Democrats will vote to oppose today. That is a fact. We did not write this bill for the Democratic Party, the elites, or the media. This bill is for hardworking Americans, and they deserve it.
I am going to just say this as plainly as I can. This is the simple truth. If you are for a secure border, safer communities, and a strong military, this bill is for you. If you are for commonsense fiscal responsibility and reducing the deficit, this bill is for you.
If you are for fair and lower taxes, bigger paychecks, affordable gas and groceries, and restoring dignity to hard work, this is the bill for you.
It makes no difference whether our colleagues across the Chamber speak for 25 minutes or 25 hours, they can't change the truth. Today was about performance for some of them, but today for us is about results--a result that improves the lives of Americans regardless of their race, religion, color, or creed. It does not matter.
I tell you what Ronald Reagan used to remind us, you can always trust the American people. We do trust the American people. They can discern the difference. What they saw on display here today is that Democrats deliver performances and Republicans deliver results.
Today, my friends, we are ready now. We are going to deliver what we were sent here to do, and every American will benefit from it.
In 1793, just steps from where we stand today, President George Washington laid the first cornerstone of the United States Capitol. Over 50 years later, on July Fourth, Members of this body gathered once again to lay a second cornerstone.
Once more on July Fourth, at the height of the Cold War, Congress laid a third cornerstone. This week, with this vote today, with our Nation's birthday being tomorrow, we lay a fourth. With this bill, we can vote as stewards of that great legacy that we have inherited in this extraordinary Nation that we are blessed to live in.
We can lay another sturdy foundation for the future of this country, a future where working Americans can feel relief, where government can finally start living within its means again, and where the United States is safer, stronger, and more prosperous than ever before. That is right.
Now, I am going to say this as they mock America and mock everything and mock the bill, we will see how the people feel about that.
Listen, seriously, as friends and colleagues, really, across the aisle, what we celebrate tomorrow is the Nation's birthday. Let's put the politics aside for a minute and let's reflect on our blessings. No kidding, really. Tomorrow is the 249th birthday of our Nation. That is right.
I mean this sincerely: I thank my colleagues for standing, we all should be united in that. We are. We are. We have squabbles and we have partisan debates and all of this, but at the end of the day, we are all Americans, man. We have got to believe that. We have got to know it. We have got to recognize that we live in the greatest Nation in the history of the world. It is not even close.
My friends and colleagues, we are so blessed. We should not take it for granted. We live in the most free, the most successful, the most powerful, the most benevolent Nation that has ever been on the face of the Earth, and there is a reason for that.
The reason that we are the greatest Nation is because we were built on the ultimate foundation, and the bold declaration that my friend, Hakeem Jeffries, articulated earlier is true,
What is a self-evident truth? It is something that is obvious. ``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'' It does not say born equal, it says created equal. It is our creator, yes, that gives us our rights.
See, the powerful thing about that is we are the first Nation in the history of the world that acknowledged that our rights do not derive from government. They come from God himself.
You see those words up there, that motto, it says: ``In God We Trust'' right above the Speaker's rostrum. A previous Congress put that there in the early 1960s at the height of the Cold War.
There is a little visitors guide that people get when you do tours late at night, you have probably seen your constituents, visitors, and friends get the guide. If you turn, I think it is, about to page 21, it explains why that is there. It says: Congress voted to put that there as a rebuke to the Soviets' worldview at the height of the Cold War. Why? It is because Communism, Socialism find their roots in Marxism, and Marxism begins with the belief that there is no God. Marxism is wrong.
This Congress made a stand those many years ago, and we should do it again. We are different. We are distinct. We are exceptional because we acknowledge that right there, our motto.
It doesn't say in government we trust. It says: ``In God We Trust,'' and we better remember that. He has blessed us with this grand experiment in self-governance now for almost two-and-a-half centuries, and by God's grace, we are working hard and we are delivering on our promise to Make America Great Again.
This is, without a doubt, the most important vote of this Congress, and I think this one may be the most important vote that any of us take in our entire lifetimes and everybody better remember it, however you vote today.
My friends, the President of the United States is waiting with his pen. The American people are waiting for this relief. We have heard enough talk. It is time for action. Let's finish the job for him. Vote ``yes'' on the bill.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the so- called ``One Big Beautiful Bill Act.''
There is nothing beautiful about this bill. Over the past several weeks I've heard from many constituents in NW Oregon who are overwhelmingly opposed to this harmful and partisan legislation. I strongly opposed the original House version of this bill, which passed by one vote, but the bill that came back from the Senate is even worse. The Senate bill passed only with arm-twisting and a tie-breaking vote by the Vice President. And here we are again, in the middle of the night again, considering a bill that will have devastating consequences for Oregonians and Americans.
The cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act will result in up to 17 million people losing access to health care. There are 1.4 million Oregonians on Oregon's Health Plan, including 1 in 3 children. Hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes will be forced to cut back services or close, and people will die prematurely. Republicans are also defunding Planned Parenthood, which provides necessary family planning services and reproductive health care. No other provider network has the capacity, expertise, or reach to replace Planned Parenthood's essential care, particularly in underserved communities. When women can't access comprehensive health care services, they are more likely to die.
Significant cuts to food assistance will mean that more people, many of them children, will go hungry. This bill guts the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as SNAP, and takes away critical food assistance from vulnerable groups, including veterans, people who are homeless, stay-at-home parents, and youth aging out of foster care. Now is not the time to raise grocery costs for families and force states to choose between taking SNAP benefits away from large numbers of people or ending their SNAP programs entirely. This is inexcusable in the United States of America. Access to food stamps when I was in college helped me complete my education, and without that critical nutrition assistance it's likely that I would not be a Member of Congress today.
This Big, Bad Bill reverses the progress we've made addressing climate change, resulting in thousands of lost jobs in renewable energy, dirtier air and water, more extreme heat events, and poorer health outcomes. At a time when energy demand is surging and clean technologies are finally delivering lower costs and good-paying jobs, this bill slams the brakes. It phases out solar, wind, battery storage, and electric vehicle tax credits by 2028. According to the Energy Information Administration, this bill will gut the very incentives that are powering 93 percent of new capacity growth. This fossil fuel wish list will end more than 800,000 clean energy jobs by 2040, which will wipe out domestic manufacturing gains and shut down sectors that are finally bringing investment to rural communities.
That sabotage doesn't just hurt the economy, it endangers lives. Sidelining renewables and clean storage that keep the lights and air conditioning on during heat waves is a death sentence. Experts warn that heat wave-induced blackouts could kill 13,000 people. This bill doesn't just cripple our grid; it puts lives at risk.
This bill will exacerbate devastating heat waves and extreme weather events. It strips EPA funding, repeals protections against pollutants, and ends longstanding air quality rules that keep children with asthma out of the ER. Ending these safeguards could cause thousands more asthma attacks per day in frontline communities.
This bill also greenlights unchecked offshore oil and gas leasing. It guts environmental reviews and public comment requirements. It threatens fisheries, tourism economies, and coastal communities that will see pollution, spills, storms, and sea level rise long after the members who voted for this bill are gone. It abandons and condemns those most at risk to real, unmitigated danger to give tax breaks to Big Oil.
This Republican bill gives billions more to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when their unidentified, masked agents are abusing their power with dangerous sweeps that violate due process and create human and economic destruction. These indiscriminate raids do not make our communities safer--and often have the opposite effect when done in sensitive locations like courthouses and schools. That is 20 times more agents, arrests, and illegal detention centers. Further, the Trump Administration is diverting FEMA funds away from disaster recovery to build and operate an inhumane new prison for migrants in Florida. This funding will fuel more cruel actions and set our country on a more dangerous path.
I worked my way through community college, university, and law school with grants, loans, and work study, so I understand the importance of federal financial aid. Cuts in this bill will close the doors of opportunity to higher education for thousands of students who do not come from wealthy families. The lost potential from these cuts is wrong for students, the country, and the economy. This bill will slash billions of dollars in federal funding for higher education, raising student loan payments for working and middle-class borrowers, and making it harder for students to access an affordable college education. The bill eliminates PLUS loans for parents and graduate students and modifies repayment programs to remove some of the lowest- cost options for borrowers. By capping the amount parents and graduate students can borrow in federal loans each year without meaningful measures to lower the cost of higher education, the bill will close the doors of opportunity for many low-income students. These harmful policies will also impede access to graduate education and, by extension, exacerbate workforce shortages in professional fields such as teaching, behavioral health, and social work. Instead of investing in public education, this bill enacts a federal voucher scheme that redirects tax dollars to unaccountable K-12 private schools. This disproportionately and negatively affects rural communities and can violate the separation of religion and government.
Finally, this financially irresponsible bill adds between 3 to 5 trillion dollars in new debt. It's puzzling why any fiscal hawk voted for it.
And for what? To pay for tax breaks for billionaires and large corporations; tax breaks they don't need. This legislation is the most regressive giveaway and wealth transfer that Congress has ever considered. The top 20 percent of income earners will get at least 68 percent of the tax benefits and everyone else will see their costs increase. The poorest Americans will be paying for tax breaks for the richest.
I'm a policymaker, mom, and education advocate, and I know that our country does better when we treat people with humanity, break down barriers, and open doors of opportunity. This bill does nothing to Make America Great Again; it's one of the most dangerous, mean, and regressive bills I've ever seen, and I urge my colleagues to stand up for their constituents and reject this horrible bill.
Mr. Speaker, the Republican's big ugly, shameful bill is back on the House floor today.
Congressional Republicans and President Trump are pushing a massive transfer of wealth from American families in need to the wealthy elite of this Nation.
This bill will make devastating cuts to our communities in exchange for massive tax breaks for President Trump, Elon Musk, and their billionaire buddies.
I will be joining every Democrat in the House and Senate in voting against this travesty.
My colleagues across the aisle who support this bill are voting to cut 17 million Americans off from their healthcare--including 173,000 Minnesotans.
What will happen when those Americans delay preventive care and treatments they can't afford because they have no health care?
The ugly consequences of this bill include tens of thousands of premature deaths a year.
This bill will also force millions more Americans to pay higher premiums, higher co-pays, and higher deductibles for the health care they do receive. Republicans are voting to deliver bigger medical bills to their constituents while President Trump continues to ignore his promise to cut costs for everyday Americans.
Because these cuts weren't harsh enough for the Senate, they also slashed hundreds of billions of dollars in critical support that keep hospitals and nursing homes open, especially in rural and underserved communities. Roughly one in four nursing homes and hundreds of hospitals are at risk of closure without those funds. Do any of my colleagues really think that their constituents want fewer hospitals and a shortage of nursing homes in their communities?
Another ugly reality of this bill? It will make the largest cut to nutrition assistance in American history, jeopardizing access to SNAP benefits for 40 million Americans, including at least 32,000 of our neighbors in Minnesota.
Millions of children, seniors, people with disabilities, and veterans are at risk of going to bed hungry if this bill passes.
The deeper you dig into this bill, the more ugly, cruel, and completely avoidable consequences you'll find.
It weakens our public school system and makes higher education more expensive.
It gives sweetheart tax deals to dirty fossil fuel companies and makes it cheaper for them to extract gas and coal from our public lands.
It attacks our federal investments in clean energy, which will cost over 790,000 jobs over the next decade and raise household energy bills, all while adding to air pollution and worsening our climate crisis.
And even after all that, it will add $4 trillion dollars to the national debt with interest costs over the next decade, saddling future generations with the cost of tax breaks for the wealthy.
Apparently, Republicans are content with continuing to ignore Americans across the country who have flooded our offices with calls and taken to the streets to tell them to keep their hands off our healthcare, our education, and food assistance for our children, our elders, and our neighbors in need.
They certainly haven't held the townhalls where they would hear that no one wants them to give $1.3 trillion in tax breaks to the wealthy elite--the top 1 percent--and pay for it by cutting roughly $1.3 trillion from our healthcare and food assistance.
This is not the direction the American people want our country to go.
Mr. Speaker, I will be voting no on this betrayal of our values and our constituents, and I will continue to oppose all Republican efforts to take away food, healthcare, and basic government services that Minnesotans rely on.
Mr. Speaker, I have spoken publicly against this bill and its serious health care cuts. You can't pull a trillion dollars out of the health care system and expect health care providers to survive. Clinics, hospitals and nursing homes won't survive the massive pull out of funds. That kind of blow doesn't just show up on a balance sheet, it shows up in real lives. It also means people kicked off their coverage, parents forced to choose between paying rent or filling a prescription for their child, seniors skipping doctor visits or going without medication. And it means hospitals and community clinics closing their doors, leaving patients without care. These aren't just numbers, these are people, and this bill turns its back on them.
I grew up in a regular, hard-working household. Neither of my parents went to college. They worked hard, but they didn't have the money to send me to college. I was fortunate; fortunate to earn scholarships, to get student loans, to work while in school and to be able to chart a path toward. But the opportunities that helped me are stripped away for the next generation in this bill. With cuts to federal student aid and Pell Grant programs, the opportunity I had will be gone for those in the normal kind of family I grew up in if this bill becomes law.
The cuts to nutrition assistance in this bill are cruel. They will leave children hungry and seniors skipping meals because they can't afford food. And it doesn't end there, local farmers who sell agricultural products to those programs will lose an important market.
Here's the broader picture: this legislation borrows over $3 trillion to pay for tax breaks that overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest Americans. It's fiscally reckless and morally indefensible.
But there's something else we haven't talked about enough, and it demands our attention. Donald Trump said he would deport violent criminals. People were okay with that. Now we see instead something far more disturbing: masked, heavily-armed agents, often refusing to identify themselves, aggressively, sometimes violently, targeting day laborers, busboys, farmworkers, and some of the hardest-working people in this country. Not dangerous criminals, but the people who pick the food we eat and clean the tables we sit at.
These raids are terrorizing communities and sowing fear in public spaces across America: in schools, at shopping centers, at grocery stores, at job sites. This bill would supercharge those operations, handing them more funding than most foreign militaries, with even fewer restraints. This is not the America I grew up in, and it's not the America I want to leave to my grandchildren.
We can and must do better. For our economy, for our communities, and for the values we claim to stand for.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition and could never vote for this Big, Bad, Inhumane, and Ugly bill because it will wreck health care delivery, take food from hungry children, sentence seniors to early deaths, eliminate jobs, and destabilize our economy just to give the super rich and wealthy more influence, more power, more wealth. It takes from the poor, from the disabled, from the sick, and from the hungry and gives to the wealthy.
As our country prepares to celebrate its independence, the extremist Republican Congress and Trump Administration enact the most cruel, draconian, inhumane legislation that I've voted on since I've been here. Government, I seriously believe, should help people and not hurt them. At a time to celebrate that people from diverse backgrounds worked together to create a new country, the Republican Congress and Trump Administration advance hate and brutality to divide our great nation.
I reject this bill that makes poor people poorer, sick people sicker, and hungry people hungrier.
I reject this bill that bill rips health care from 17 million Americans, with over 535,840 Illinoisans expected to lose their health insurance, including 102,174 children and 27,000 seniors in my District alone.
I reject this bill that will close hospitals and kick people out of their nursing homes--not only in my district but across the country, especially in urban inner-city communities and rural communities for sure.
I reject this bill that explodes poverty and suffering while giving the wealthy trillions in tax cuts.
I reject this bill's irresponsible explosion of the deficit that triggers statutory cuts to critical programs supporting children and families. These Paygo reductions would eliminate funding for the Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting program--known as MIECHV--that is proven to improve mother and child health, family safety, and child development. It would eliminate the guaranteed funding for the MaryLee Allen Promoting Safe and Stable Families program that we know helps prevent child maltreatment and strengthen families. It would eradicate the Social Services Block Grant that provides substantial investment in childcare, child welfare, and adult protective services. These egregious cuts alone will cost Illinois over $72 million dollars and hurt Illinois' children, seniors, and families.
I reject this bill that gifts tax cuts to the wealthy, paid for by denying and depriving low-income, poor people, senior citizens, and sick people, the health care, food assistance, housing assistance, and economic development opportunities that they need.
There is a fundamental flaw in the thinking that brings this bill before us. It is Robinhood in Reverse. It takes from those who have the least--the poor, the disabled, the sick, and the hungry--only to give to those who already have the most, the wealthy. This bill is cruel. It is immoral. It is a crime about to happen. It is draconian. It is dangerous. It is criminal. So,
The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
Pursuant to House Resolution 566, the previous question is ordered.
The question is on the motion by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Arrington).
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that the ayes appeared to have it.
