Feb. 25, 2025 13:30-17:31 - CSPAN
04:00:57
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
Source
Participants
Appearances
| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
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Yes Sir Interruptions
00:04:05
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unidentified
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The Ukrainian President, Zelensky, I believe his name is. | |
| He's talking about kind of NATO and the United States. | ||
| And then out of nowhere. | ||
| Bill, Alabama, Democrat. | ||
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unidentified
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Good morning. Good morning. | |
| NATO was very good doing the alliance and fighting Hello's regime and all that Europe come together. | ||
| So NATO was NATO was formed after World War II. | ||
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unidentified
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Yes, sir. | |
| Yes, sir. | ||
| During that time, I'm still waking up. | ||
| But coming to now, Zelensky should have known Trump was going to kick him in the teeth. | ||
| I also have a problem with the United States sending so much money abroad that when you have south side of Chicago, you've got Herndon homes and places in Atlanta, Houston, | ||
| Overtown in Miami, 7th Avenue in Los Angeles, all these places that are deprived of the black neighborhoods, Chicago, if we could get just an inkling of that money to go to boys and girls' clubs. | ||
| So or help rebuild these private sectors. | ||
| We'll leave this to return to the floor of the U.S. House. | ||
| The previous question on House Resolution 161 and adoption of the Resolution 161, if ordered. | ||
| The first electronic vote will be conducted as a 15-minute vote. | ||
| Pursuant to clause 9 of Rule 20, remaining electronic votes will be conducted as five-minute votes. | ||
| Pursuant to clause 8 of Rule 20, the unfinished business is the vote on ordering the previous question on the House Resolution 161, on which the yays and nays are ordered. | ||
| The clerk will report the title of the resolution. | ||
| House Calendar Number 4, House Resolution 161. | ||
| Resolution providing for consideration of the joint resolution, House Joint Resolution 20, providing for congressional disapproval under Chapter 8 of Title V, United States Code, of the rules submitted by the Department of Energy relating to Energy Conservation Program, Energy Conservation Standards for Consumer Gas-Fired Instantaneous Water Heaters, providing for consideration of the joint resolution, | ||
| House Joint Resolution 35, providing for congressional disapproval under Chapter 8 of Title V, United States Code, of the rules submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to waste emissions charged for petroleum and natural gas systems, procedures for facilitating compliance, including netting and exemptions, and providing for consideration of the concurrent resolution, House Concurrent Resolution 14, | ||
| establishing the congressional budget for the United States government for fiscal year 2025 and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2026 through 2034. | ||
|
unidentified
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The question is on ordering the previous question. | |
| Members will record their votes by electronic device. | ||
| This is a 15-minute vote. | ||
| The main business in the chamber today is the House Republicans' version of the 2025 budget plan. | ||
| Lawmakers voting on whether to begin debate on that bill, plus two others, legislation to repeal the EPA's oil and gas emissions fee and a repeal of the Energy Department's water heater rule. | ||
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House Republicans Defend Waste
00:06:18
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unidentified
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The budget bill instructs 11 House committees to report legislation that would implement the president's agenda, and that includes expanding individual and business tax cuts, money for border control and immigration enforcement, as well as funding for defense. | |
| All of this while significantly cutting other federal spending. | ||
| Julie Serkin of NBC News posted that after House Republicans huddled behind closed doors this morning, Speaker Johnson still has a math problem for his budget resolution. | ||
| Congresswoman Sparts tells me she is a no. | ||
| Representative Davidson is a no. | ||
| Representative Massey is a no. | ||
| A handful of others are leaning no, conservatives and moderates. | ||
| So as we watch this vote, here are the House Republican leaders at their news conference this morning. | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| See? | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| So good morning, everyone. | ||
| I want to start with last week. | ||
| Videos of protesters yelling at members of Congress went viral, right? | ||
| But the content focused on the confrontation, not the why. | ||
| Some of the people that hijacked those town halls are happy with the bloated status quo. | ||
| They want the bloated status quo to continue. | ||
| They don't want to get our country back on track. | ||
| And to make matters worse, even the DNC chair openly suggested that the outrage at the town halls across the country was orchestrated. | ||
| But here's the truth: getting us out of nearly 37 trillion in debt, it's not going to be easy. | ||
| President Trump and the White House Republicans have started the conversation on wasteful government spending, and 77 million voices outweighed those voices at the town halls. | ||
| We got our marching orders. | ||
| We listened to the American people, and they told us they wanted change. | ||
| And buckle up because that's exactly what we're giving them. | ||
| And our friends on the other side of the aisle, please keep going down the path of defending and even advocating for government waste, fraud, and abuse. | ||
| The message they all are sending is clear, and we see whose side they're on. | ||
| Look no further than their newest messaging strategy. | ||
| The minority leader unveiled it last week. | ||
| It's called Share Your Story. | ||
| Can you guess whose story they're sharing? | ||
| It's government employees, like a locksmith from Yosemite National Park. | ||
| Not the stories of lives lost due to illegal immigration. | ||
| They're not asking to share those stories. | ||
| Not the stories of innocent lives that were lost due to fentanyl that came from across the border. | ||
| Not the stories of hardworking Americans struggling to make ends meet. | ||
| Democrats are sharing the stories of government employees and this sad attempt of fear-mongering that makes Democrats look even more deranged. | ||
| It is absolutely insane that they think making government work more efficiently is a bad thing. | ||
| Remember that government efficiency is a constitutional crisis in the Democrats' minds. | ||
| They continue to defend and advocate for waste, fraud, and abuse. | ||
| They don't want it to stop. | ||
| Democrats are ignoring the American people and siding with the swamp. | ||
| They keep defending DEI employees and USAID, while Republicans fight the bloated and inefficient bureaucracy. | ||
| And we fight it for the American people. | ||
| For years, we've heard about delays at the IRS, lost Social Security checks, mistreatment at the VA. | ||
| Did the Democrats do anything about it? | ||
| Did they set up a listening session to have people tell their stories? | ||
| No. | ||
| I think they only care about Washington and bloated bureaucracy in D.C. | ||
| It is truly a shame, despite the American taxpayers' wishes. | ||
| They're doubling down on the broken system, and they are the ones that broke it. | ||
| While Democrats keep displaying their derangement, telling out-of-touch stories, let's talk about those who can't tell their stories. | ||
| Like Lincoln Riley, who was raped and murdered by an illegal alien. | ||
| Did the Democrats tell their story? | ||
| How about Zach Cullen, who died of fentanyl poisoning? | ||
| Did the Democrats set up a hotline to listen to their stories? | ||
| Or how about a pastor in Michigan, Stephen Singleton, who was killed by an illegal immigrant? | ||
| Did they tell their stories? | ||
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unidentified
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No. | |
| And you know why? | ||
| They can't tell their stories because they're dead. | ||
| Yet Democrats are soliciting sob stories from bloated bureaucrats with six-figure salaries. | ||
| Give me a break. | ||
| Now, it's time for us to tell our story. | ||
| And that's what we're going to do. | ||
| We're going to turn our attention to this week. | ||
| House Republicans will focus on saving lives and taxpayer dollars. | ||
| Then President Trump has been clear. | ||
| He wants one big, beautiful bill that unlocks his full agenda, not just part of it, everything. | ||
| And that's what our one big, beautiful bill does. | ||
| This week, House Republicans will take the next steps in the process to deliver President Trump's full agenda. | ||
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Delivering On Tax Promises
00:12:29
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| The House budget resolution invests in border security and our national defense. | ||
| It also saves taxpayer dollars by rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse. | ||
| It will encourage investment in the energy industry to increase production and to actually lower costs. | ||
| If we don't pass this bill, Americans will suffer the largest tax increase in history. | ||
| The Budget Committee passed it with unanimous GOP support. | ||
| And remember, this is just the starting point to unlock the process. | ||
| After the resolution passes, committees will begin the real work, the work to find savings and create investments, savings in our budget to make America competitive and investments to make our country secure. | ||
| That's what the President and the American people want. | ||
| And who would go against their agenda? | ||
| We're helping the President keep his promise because the American people gave us a decisive mandate. | ||
| Secure the border, unleash American energy, restore peace through strength, and make America competitive again. | ||
| If we remain united, we can pass this transformational legislation. | ||
| And when we do, we will be remembered as the most successful conference in American history. | ||
| I will now turn it over to Rep. Tim Moore from North Carolina to speak about the budget as he serves on the budget committee. | ||
|
unidentified
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Thank you. | |
| Thank you, ma'am. | ||
| Excuse me, sir. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
| I appreciate the opportunity to join the Republican leadership team today in support of this House budget resolution that puts America back on the path of fiscal responsibility and economic prosperity. | ||
| Before coming here, I guess I've been a member about, what, six weeks so far? | ||
| It feels a lot longer, Mr. Just saying. | ||
| The time I've been here, I've had the opportunity to see how things work, but for 22 years as a member of the State House, 10 years as Speaker of the State House, I had a part in changing our budgets that made North Carolina one of the most competitive states in the country. | ||
| We took a budget shortfall and turned that into a surplus. | ||
| We cut taxes. | ||
| Frankly, we did a lot of the things that I'm seeing this leadership team work to try to do here at the national level. | ||
| And that success ultimately happened then and will happen here because we prioritize taxpayers, the real hardworking people and not bureaucrats. | ||
| You know, as a member of Congress, I want to help bring that same common sense attitude and track record that we did in the states here. | ||
| And I can tell you that all of the new members of Congress have come in with that same view of what we can do to help move the country in the right direction. | ||
| The American people spoke this year. | ||
| They spoke loudly. | ||
| President Trump is in the White House. | ||
| You have a Republican majority in the House, a Republican majority in the Senate, and these bodies are ready to go to work to get this done. | ||
| This bill is a huge step forward in that direction, addressing energy independence, addressing the border, finally reining in out-of-control spending. | ||
| It's great to see this happening. | ||
| You know, they say the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over and over again to expect a different result. | ||
| Finally, finally, we see real change in Washington to get this spending under control. | ||
| And there's a lot of fear-mongering out there right now, people claiming that this is going to be cut and that's going to be cut. | ||
| Look, nobody's going to want to hurt hardworking American people. | ||
| That's not anywhere in here. | ||
| Those are frankly just lies that some folks are telling. | ||
| This bill is going to rein in wasteful spending. | ||
| It's going to rein in fraud. | ||
| It's going to rein in abuse. | ||
| It's going to do all those things. | ||
| And I just want to give a shout out to the leadership team really for being so engaging. | ||
| I can tell you, as a new member of Congress, that every member has been invited to be a part of this process. | ||
| We've had weeks and weeks and weeks, I believe, of the listening sessions being fully briefed. | ||
| And I can tell you that Chairman Arrington on the budget committee really worked very hard to reach out to everyone to make sure everyone's voices were included. | ||
| So I'm proud to be here with the leadership team today and proud to be in support of this budget bill. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| What good job did on November 5th, 77 million Americans gave Donald Trump a mandate to deliver on our America First agenda. | ||
| Americans voted to secure our borders, unleash American energy, grow the U.S. economy, and bolster our great military, and prevent the largest tax hike in American history. | ||
| They voted to make America great again by reversing the damage Joe Biden and Kamala Harris did to our country over the last four years. | ||
| And House Republicans have put forward a budget that establishes a clear path to do just that. | ||
| Now is the time to act and get a budget over to the Senate. | ||
| And it's important to remember that our budget resolution merely unlocks the opportunity for committees to begin drafting legislation. | ||
| That is where the real work is going to begin. | ||
| So I'd caution the media against echoing Democrats' hysteria on where savings will come from. | ||
| Our budget resolution is a blueprint to save America and rein in reckless and wasteful spending while delivering on President Trump's campaign promises. | ||
| We have been given a historic opportunity with a Trump trifecta, and every member of our conference plays an important role in ensuring that we get it done. | ||
| This is our moment. | ||
| Now it's time to go out there and do it. | ||
| And I turn it over to our majority leader, Steve Squees. | ||
| Thank you, Whip. | ||
| It's a really important week. | ||
| When you think about what we've laid out in our agenda, The culmination of months of work has gone into what we are doing this week to finally start delivering on the mandate that President Trump, House Republicans, and Senate Republicans were given by voters across the country in November. | ||
| Voters said they want a secure border. | ||
| We deliver in this budget that we're going to pass this week. | ||
| Voters said they don't want a tax increase. | ||
| And believe me, that was on the ballot because Donald Trump said, I want to keep the 2017 tax cuts in place. | ||
| We don't want an increase for anybody, and we want to build on it. | ||
| He added more things. | ||
| Kamala Harris said she wants those tax cuts to expire, resulting in a multi-trillion dollar tax increase on the American people. | ||
| The voters decided very clearly with President Trump they don't want that tax increase to hit. | ||
| We deliver that in this budget. | ||
| The American people said in November they want more American energy to be produced. | ||
| We deliver in this budget, and we do a lot of other things too. | ||
| But it all starts by getting this budget passed. | ||
| And so as you watch this process start, you would think the Democrats would want to be joining with us in recognizing that the American people asked for all these things that we're going to be doing. | ||
| But what are the Democrats doing? | ||
| They're all going to vote no. | ||
| Every Democrat will vote no on this budget. | ||
| Now, they're not going to go to the American people and be truthful and say why they're voting no. | ||
| They want Washington to keep more of your money so that you don't get that money back. | ||
| They want a multi-trillion dollar tax increase. | ||
| They said it during the campaign and they lost, but they still want that tax increase so they will all vote no. | ||
| They don't want a secure border. | ||
| They said it for the last four years. | ||
| They still haven't accepted the results of the election. | ||
| So what do they do if they can't deal with the truth? | ||
| They've got to lie. | ||
| Just listen to what you've been hearing the last couple of days. | ||
| Some of you have even been reporting it. | ||
| I'm going through the budget. | ||
| This is the House Republican budget that was passed unanimously by Republicans. | ||
| Every Democrat voted no. | ||
| Go through this entire bill. | ||
| Do you know that for every Democrat talking point where they talk about the horrible things that this budget's going to do, they talk about Medicaid cuts. | ||
| Everybody's going to be thrown, according to Democrats, into all these horrible situations. | ||
| There's only one problem. | ||
| The word Medicaid is not even in this bill. | ||
| This bill doesn't even mention the word Medicaid a single time. | ||
| And yet all Democrats are doing is lying about what's in the budget because they don't want to talk about the truth of what we're voting to start. | ||
| We're voting to start a process. | ||
| This doesn't end the process. | ||
| This allows 11 committees in Congress to go in open view on C-SPAN, to have hearings in March where you can all watch, you can all hear the debate, you can watch the amendments fly back and forth, where we're going to be debating how government can work better for the people of this country, how we will deliver as Republicans on the promises that were made and the mandate was given by the voters in November. | ||
| And Democrats are against all of that. | ||
| And so instead of just sitting back and licking their wounds, that they're completely out of touch with the American people, their only choice is to resort to lying about what's in this vote today. | ||
| There is no Medicaid in this bill. | ||
| There are no Medicaid cuts in this bill, yet that's all they're saying. | ||
| They're talking about millionaires and billionaires. | ||
| Now they're just talking about Elon Musk. | ||
| Democrats are so infatuated with Elon Musk that they will vote against low tax rates for hardworking middle-class families. | ||
| Do you know that the last time we checked, Elon Musk does not work for tips? | ||
| But you know who does? | ||
| Millions of hardworking Americans that will get the no-tax on tips promise that President Trump made that we will deliver on starting with the passage of this budget. | ||
| Millions of Americans will benefit from that provision that we're going to add into our reconciliation bill. | ||
| Do you know the average pay for a tip worker in America? | ||
| The average pay is $32,000. | ||
| And we will be helping millions of those families who average $32,000 so that they don't have to pay tax on tips or they don't have to have the 87,000 new IRS agents that Biden added going after them, trying to get them to pay thousands more in taxes when all they're trying to do is put food on the table for their families, working two or three jobs. | ||
| Again, that's not Elon Musk we're talking about. | ||
| That's millions of families who average 32,000 a year that Democrats will be voting against helping. | ||
| They will be voting Democrats against helping millions of small businesses in America. | ||
| Over 130 million families in America will see their individual tax rates go up when Democrats hit the red button and vote no on this budget. | ||
| But House Republicans are committed to defending those families, to standing up for those families, to stopping a tax increase from hitting those families. | ||
| The corporate rate is already locked in. | ||
| It's a permanent rate at 21%. | ||
| So we're not talking about the big multinational corporations. | ||
| They are, they're lying, talking about millionaires and billionaires when millionaires and billionaires aren't even 1% of who benefits. | ||
| 99% of the people that would see a tax increase with a no vote are people that make less than a million dollars, less than a million dollars. | ||
| That's who Democrats want to see a tax increase on. | ||
| While they lie and use the names of billionaires, they're going to be kicking in the gut the hardworking people of America. | ||
| We don't want that to happen. | ||
| That's why we're going to move this budget and start this process and start delivering on the mandate that we were all given. | ||
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Voting Day Conversations
00:03:06
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| And the man who's been the most patient person I know, listening to everybody who's got every issue, and I know a lot of you are saying, oh, gee whiz, do you have the votes? | ||
| Are you going to vote? | ||
| And, you know, I've heard this guy as a no. | ||
| Every big vote we've taken, and I've been the whip before, I've been the minority whip, majority whip, majority leader. | ||
| Every time we've had a big vote on the House floor, we're talking to members all the way up until the moment the vote closes. | ||
| During the vote, we're talking to members. | ||
| Go look at every big vote we've had. | ||
| Today is no different. | ||
| Sure, we're still talking. | ||
| We talked to the Speaker and I were in a meeting last night for over an hour talking to a lot of members that had questions. | ||
| We ended that meeting with every one of them finishing as a yes vote. | ||
| We still have more conversations to have today, just like we do on any day of any big vote. | ||
| So we're not going to stop working because millions of people are counting on us to deliver for them the mandate they gave us. | ||
| Introduced you, the Speaker of the House. | ||
| Well, thank you so much. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
| It's a big day in America, a big day on Capitol Hill. | ||
| I'm glad to see full participation by the media and the press corps here this morning. | ||
| A lot going on. | ||
| I want to thank the leadership team for their extraordinary work and their patience. | ||
| This has been going on for quite some time to prepare us for this day, this week, and the consequential actions that we'll be taking as a House Republican majority to move this ball forward. | ||
| We'll talk about it a little bit. | ||
| I want to thank also Representative Tim Moore, a very talented member for North Carolina's 14th District. | ||
| And if he sounds like he's done this before, he has. | ||
| He was the Speaker of the House in North Carolina for 10 years. | ||
| And he's an example of the high caliber of a freshman class, the new members, new House Republicans who have joined us, doing extraordinary work. | ||
| And he took on the heavy load early on in the budget committee. | ||
| It's not an easy assignment, but I thank him for that work and all of our colleagues, Chairman Jody Arranton and all the budget committee members who have been working so hard. | ||
| Before we get to that, let me just say last week marked one month of the Trump administration. | ||
| It's just been a month. | ||
| It seems like much longer than that because so much has been accomplished. | ||
| What a difference the last 30 days have made. | ||
| America, once again, has a real leader in the White House, and you see the effects. | ||
| He's taking action to make America safer, stronger, and more efficient. | ||
| And we are delivering on our campaign promises. | ||
| It was not just the promises of President Trump, it was the promises of House Republicans. | ||
| And just as we promised, I was on the campaign trail all last year, as you know, went all around the country, and I told them these things would happen. | ||
| Just as we promised, by using his executive authority and instructing Federal agencies to follow the law, illegal border crossings are now down dramatically. | ||
| And you've heard some of the numbers. | ||
| Illegal alien encounters are down 87 percent. | ||
| Known gotaways are down 93 percent. | ||
|
President Trump's World Stage Commitment
00:03:47
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| This is what real leadership looks like. | ||
| And deportations of violent illegal aliens are well underway, as you know. | ||
| In other areas, just as we promised, on the world stage, America is showing strength again. | ||
| We maintain peace through strength. | ||
| That's a core principle of our party. | ||
| President Trump understands that. | ||
| He more than understands it. | ||
| He acts upon it. | ||
| Before he even took office, he secured a ceasefire agreement and a return of hostages in Gaza. | ||
| Colombia quickly reversed. | ||
| They reversed their course and they vowed to accept citizens who were in America illegally from that country. | ||
| Canada and Mexico quickly agreed to bolster their border security. | ||
| Canada now has a border czar and they are going to help us make sure that fentanyl doesn't flow over that border. | ||
| Just as we promised, President Trump is making transformational change to the bloated Federal bureaucracy. | ||
| Every single person understands the government is too big, it does too many things, and it does almost nothing very well. | ||
| We've got to fix that, and we will. | ||
| The Doge auditors are doing work that Congress has not been able to do because we could not crack the code. | ||
| We could not get inside these agencies to get the very important information that we have long needed. | ||
| But they have found tens of billions in waste, fraud, and abuse, and it has only been a month. | ||
| That process continues. | ||
| Just last week, Doge uncovered a $2 billion grant to a Stacey Abrams-affiliated group that only had $100 in their bank account, a cheap website, and zero experience in managing energy projects that was the subject of that grant. | ||
| Just one glaring example of the enormous misuse of taxpayer dollars, and we're finding that. | ||
| Every day we're learning more and more about what has been hidden from Congress for so long. | ||
| And this is going to change the way the Federal Government works and operates. | ||
| It is truly transformational. | ||
| Just as we promised, as President Trump works to clean up the mess President Biden has made, Congressional Republicans are taking action to do the same. | ||
| Last week, Leader Scalise released a list of Biden administration rules that House Republicans will roll back through the Congressional Review Act legislation. | ||
| This week you are going to see that. | ||
| You heard a little bit about it. | ||
| We'll focus on the EPA rule. | ||
| This EPA rule imposes a significant fee on methane emissions from oil and gas natural gas facilities. | ||
| And what the effect of that is that it raises prices and it reduces energy production, domestic energy production. | ||
| It makes no sense. | ||
| We'll also roll back a Department of Energy rule which effectively bans certain natural gas water heaters from the market. | ||
| Democrats, rather bizarrely, chose home appliances as their target of their Green New Deal agenda. | ||
| And House Republicans will stand up for consumer choice and common sense and overturn this rule. | ||
| Not only are we taking action to roll back Biden's agenda, we're also working to codify President Trump's agenda. | ||
| We can't allow a future administration to unwind all of these important reforms. | ||
| So we're planning to take up our budget resolution as early as today, which is a major step, as you know, to unlock the process in delivering President Trump's America First Legislative Agenda. | ||
| We are very close right now. | ||
| As you just heard the leader, Leader Scalise, explain, there is always more work to do right up to the end for a big vote like this, and this is a big one. | ||
| We are very, very close, and we are excited about the progress, and I am very positive, and I am absolutely convinced we are going to get this done. | ||
| There is a lot of misinformation about the budget resolution. | ||
| You have heard some of this being cleaned up this morning. | ||
| I won't repeat it all. | ||
| But this resolution itself contains no policies. | ||
| It is a framework only. | ||
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Recorded Vote Debate Expected
00:04:58
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| And it is the product of months and months of work completed with the input of over 95 percent of the individual members of the Republican Conference. | ||
| We held dozens of listening sessions. | ||
| We met with nearly every member of the conference multiple times. | ||
| And truly, this has been a bottom-up approach to the process. | ||
| So we are proud of the final product, the work product. | ||
| And again, it's sort of the kickoff in what will be a four-quarter game. | ||
| And that very important, very consequential game begins as soon as we get this thing passed. | ||
| This has been necessary because we promised to deliver President Trump's full agenda, not just a part of it. | ||
| We're not just going to do a little bit now and return later for the rest. | ||
| We have to do it now. | ||
| And that one big, beautiful bill will include securing the border, restoring America's energy dominance, dismantling the deep state, growing our economy and ensuring we don't have the largest tax increase in U.S. history, as was just recounted here, and a return to peace through strength. | ||
| We do not have time to waste. | ||
| The American people are expecting us to deliver on this, and we will. | ||
| And House Republicans need to unite so we can keep this process moving forward, and I think they all understand that. | ||
| We're working right now to get everybody on board. | ||
| I think everybody wants to be on this train and not in front of it. | ||
| And so we're going to answer the remaining questions and get everybody on board, and we're going to deliver on that mandate we told the American people that we would do. | ||
| Then I'll take a couple questions. | ||
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unidentified
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Mr. Speaker. | |
| You said that this is just the start of the process. | ||
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unidentified
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Can you say unequivocally that further down the line there won't be any cuts to Medicaid programs? | |
| Yeah, so look, let me clarify what we're talking about with Medicaid. | ||
| Medicaid is hugely problematic because it has a lot of fraud, waste, and abuse. | ||
| Everybody knows that. | ||
| We all know it intuitively. | ||
| No one in here would disagree. | ||
| We had a hearing in budget just last week, or week before last, and they asked the experts, and the estimate is, I think it's $50 billion a year in fraud alone in Medicaid. | ||
| Those are precious taxpayer dollars. | ||
| Everybody is committed to preserving Medicare benefits for those who desperately need it and deserve it and qualify for it. | ||
| What we're talking about is rooting out the fraud, waste, and abuse. | ||
| Every taxpayer, it doesn't matter what party you're in, you should be for that because it saves your money and it preserves the programs so that it is available for the people who desperately need it. | ||
| That's what we are about. | ||
| And that's what you're going to see happen. | ||
| We want to make sure that illegal aliens who do not qualify are not on the rolls, and we know that they are in many places. | ||
| We can achieve a lot of savings with that. | ||
| We can eliminate all these fraudulent payments and achieve a lot of savings. | ||
| What you are doing with that is you are shoring up the program and you are making sure that the people who rely upon that have it and that it is a better program. | ||
| That's what we are talking about. | ||
| You have heard the President say that. | ||
| You've heard members of the House Republican Conference say that. | ||
| And no one else has said anything else, except the Democrats who have ads out that are lying about the intention here. | ||
| That's the fact. | ||
| The leader just held up the resolution. | ||
| Do a word search for yourself. | ||
| It doesn't even mention Medicaid in the bill. | ||
| So that's the important part. | ||
| I just explained those categories of savings. | ||
| I just explained that. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So we're watch how the on this vote, the yays are 216 and the nays are 210. | |
| The previous question is ordered. | ||
| The question is on adoption of the resolution. | ||
| Those in favor say aye. | ||
| Those opposed say no. | ||
| In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. | ||
| As for, Mr. Speaker, ask for a recorded vote, please. | ||
| A recorded vote is requested. | ||
| Those favoring a recorded vote will rise. | ||
| A sufficient number having risen, a recorded vote is ordered. | ||
| Members will record their votes by electronic device. | ||
| This is a five-minute vote. | ||
| So lawmakers are now voting on the rules guiding the debate on the Republicans' version of the 2025 budget plan, plus two others, legislation to repeal the EPA's oil and gas emissions fee and a repeal of the Energy Department's water heater rule. | ||
| The rules calling for three hours of debate on the budget bill, managed by the Budget Committee and the Joint Economic Committee. | ||
| And that debate is expected after this vote. | ||
| So during this vote, we'll drop in now on union members rallying against Trump administration policies. | ||
| Live coverage here on C-SPAN. | ||
| Because that is not okay. | ||
| So we are telling you, just as Randy said, we are here today because we are going to fight back. | ||
| Are we going to stand up and fight back? | ||
|
Ready to Build Power
00:05:52
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|
unidentified
|
We're going to fight like our jobs depend on it. | |
| We're going to fight back like our lives depend on it, literally. | ||
| Because they do. | ||
| We are going to fight like hell. | ||
| And look around you today because this is power. | ||
| We could reach millions and millions of people across this country because we know the best way to fight back against bullies is to band together and we build our power. | ||
| Are you ready to build our power? | ||
| That's what I thought. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you, Liz. | ||
| Up next, we have Ask Me Secretary Treasurer Alyssa McBride. | ||
| Union family. | ||
| Let me hear you if you are ready to take a stand for our community for our co-workers and for our country. | ||
| I'm the Secretary Treasurer at ASPSME, and we are proud to be 1.4 million members strong. | ||
| Thousands of them in hospitals and universities and veterans' homes. | ||
| We show up for our communities with care and with courage and with compassion. | ||
| And we're proud to link arms in solidarity with you here in DC and virtually those who are tuning in. | ||
| We are the frontline workers who keep our communities safe and strong. | ||
| These are researchers and lab techs and janitors and maintenance workers. | ||
| Because when they say indirect costs, you know what they're talking about? | ||
| Human beings who clean labs and keep generators going and maintain special equipment because we make science happen. | ||
| Like at Oregon Health and Science University, which is a research powerhouse full of brilliant minds, heads and hearts and hands, putting an end to Alzheimer's and cancer and opioid addiction. | ||
| Those are AFSB members like Lynn Swarbrick, who's been taking on tuberculosis for 23 years. | ||
| And her funding comes from the NIH. | ||
| Slashing those costs is a direct hit on her, on her co-workers, but most importantly, on our nation's capacity to fight deadly disease. | ||
| And that's why we've got to stop them from slashing through our health care systems, our research, our beloved health care system, because more Americans will get sick, more infectious disease will spread, more medical progress will grind to a halt, and more of our neighbors will be in harm's way. | ||
| Because we prevent disease, we prevent death, we prevent disaster, and we prevent disinformation. | ||
| So we're here with a message. | ||
| We will not be silent. | ||
| We will not sit down. | ||
| We will not step back. | ||
| Because in our labor movement, when you take on any of us, you take on all of us. | ||
| We are fueled by a power that they can't stop, and that's people power. | ||
| We've got to stand together against this assault. | ||
| So let me ask you right now to commit to get organized and stay connected to each other, linking arms today and every day, to communicate not just with our allies and within our workplaces, | ||
| but with our elected officials, especially today, because today we can reach our members of Congress to say vote no on the House budget resolution that will cut public services to give tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and giant corporations. | ||
| We have the power! | ||
| Call you members of Congress. | ||
| Go see them if you're in D.C. Get on the phone if you're out there across the country. | ||
| And most important, we've got to build our union power by asking other workers to join us in our labor movement because we are the only people who can stop this assault. | ||
| Thank you for showing up, for standing strong, for speaking out in solidarity. | ||
| Next up we have UAW International Board Region 6 Director Mike Miller. | ||
| Good afternoon everyone. | ||
| UAW represents 5,000 fellows at NIH and over 100,000 workers at universities and research institutes across the U.S., many of whom are funded by federal grants. | ||
| From finding cures to rare diseases, cancers and Alzheimer's to restoring vision to the blind and developing non-addictive opioid pain relievers, their work is saving lives and making them better every day. | ||
| Their work also has huge economic benefits. | ||
| Every dollar invested into NIH research equates to $2.46 in economic activity. | ||
|
Without Objection
00:09:56
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|
unidentified
|
In 2023, NIH funding supported over 400,000 jobs in the United States and created nearly $100 billion in economic activity. | |
| During Trump's first term as president, NIH funding increased by over $10 billion, which translated to an increase in 60,000 jobs and injected $20 billion into communities across every single state. | ||
| And so much of the research conducted at the NIH and at universities funded by the federal government is research that the private sector simply cannot or will not undertake because it's too risky or too early stage. | ||
| But this critical research enables accelerating scientific innovation and economic growth, and it has led to the days are 211. | ||
| The resolution is adopted. | ||
| Without objection, a motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from California seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Democratic caucus, I offer a privilege resolution and ask for its immediate consideration. | ||
|
unidentified
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The clerk will report the resolution. | |
| House Resolution 162. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Resolved. | |
| I'd like the following name members. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be considered as read. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the reading is dispensed with. | |
| Without objection, the resolution is agreed to and the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. | ||
| The House will be in order. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Texas seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on HCON Res 14. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection. | |
| Pursuant to House Resolution 161 and Rule 18, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the consideration of HCON Res 14. | ||
| The chair appoints the gentleman from Arkansas, Mr. Womack, to preside over the Committee of the Whole. | ||
| The House is in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for consideration of H-Con Res. 14, which the clerk will report by title. | ||
| Concurrent resolution establishing the congressional budget for the United States government for fiscal year 2025 and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2026 through 2034. | ||
| Pursuant to the rule, the concurrent resolution is considered read for the first time. | ||
| General debate shall not exceed three hours, with two hours confined to the congressional budget, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on the budget or their respective designees, and one hour on the subject of economic goals and policies equally divided and controlled by the representative Mr. Schweikert of Arizona, Representative Beyer of Virginia, or their respective designees. | ||
| The gentleman from Texas, Mr. Arrington, and the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Mr. Boyle, each will control one hour of debate on the congressional budget. | ||
| The chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Arrington. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. | ||
| Gentleman is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, today we will unlock the policies for making America safe and prosperous again by advancing the FY25 budget resolution. | ||
| Gentlemen, we'll suspend. | ||
| Members of the chamber, would you kindly take your private conversations from the floor so that debate on the subject at hand in the House, the People's House, may continue. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas. | ||
| As I was saying, Mr. Chairman, today we're going to unlock the policies to make America safe and prosperous again. | ||
| This fiscal framework will guide the process for restoring the fiscal health of our nation by reining in reckless spending and reigniting economic growth. | ||
| In addition, and importantly, it provides critical resources to our commander-in-chief to secure our borders, strengthen our military, and provide for the common defense. | ||
|
Saving Seniors' Benefits
00:08:04
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| But for the next two hours, Mr. Chairman, my Democrat colleagues are going to reach way back to the only plays they know how to run, making false claims and fear-mongering. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Why? | |
| Because they are still, even after the recent election, disconnected from the people's reality. | ||
| Because they're more concerned with protecting unionized government bureaucrats and woke and wasteful government programs than they are about protecting taxpayers and their sacred treasure. | ||
| Why? | ||
| Because their commitment isn't to we the people in this fateful moment. | ||
| It's to we the government and to derailing the mandate from the people for common sense policies and President Trump's America First agenda. | ||
| I'm going to take some time to set the record straight, Mr. Chairman, so that every time the American people hear these false claims to mislead them into thinking that the tax cuts somehow benefited the billionaires and corporations and that Republicans are cutting benefits for seniors and the poorest among us. | ||
| I want the American people to know the truth. | ||
| And here's the truth. | ||
| The Trump tax cuts lower tax rates for every American household at every income level while increasing the amount of taxes paid by the top 1 percent. | ||
| According to the Washington Post, which by the way gave Democrats not one, not two, not three, four Pinocchios every time they made these misleading claims. | ||
| They said three of every $4 in the Trump tax cuts didn't go to corporations, but they went to individuals, cutting taxes for the lowest income individuals by 10% while cutting taxes for the top 1% of the income earners by less than one half of 1%. | ||
| In addition, we saw a record 25-year wage increase for median household incomes. | ||
| Real wages at the bottom 10% rose two times faster than the top 10 percent. | ||
| Real wealth at the bottom half of households rose three times faster than that of the top half of our country. | ||
| A record 6 million people were lifted out of poverty. | ||
| Black, Hispanic, and Asian American citizens experienced historic high incomes and all-time low unemployment. | ||
| Here's the reality, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| Our Democrat colleagues oppose the American people's tax cuts back in 2017, and they oppose their tax cuts today. | ||
| And if they were successful in this endeavor, here's what would happen. | ||
| We'd have a 22 percent tax hike on every American citizen on average. | ||
| They just suffered through a 21 percent tax hike from the inflation tax over the last four years and the worst cost of living crisis in modern history. | ||
| Median income families would lose $1,700. | ||
| 26 million small businesses would pay at the highest marginal rate and lose the 20% deduction, putting them on a comparable level to the corporate tax rates. | ||
| Child tax credits, families, 40 million families would have the tax credit for their children cut in half. | ||
| And 91% of the American people that get the standard deduction would have that cut in half. | ||
| Those are the results of the Democrats standing in the way of what would be, if they were successful, the highest tax hike in American history. | ||
| Here's the other false claim. | ||
| To pay for these tax cuts, the Democrats are going to say that Republicans are cutting benefits for seniors and for, again, our poorest and most vulnerable among us. | ||
| Here's the truth, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| Republicans are fighting to right-size a woke, weaponized, and bloated bureaucracy to root out the trillions of dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse, and to rein in the reckless spending of the Biden administration and our Democrat colleagues from over the last four years. | ||
| Prior to 2019, before President Biden took office, and he and the Democrats jammed $2 trillion through in the so-called COVID relief, even though maybe 10, 20 percent of that money actually went for the purposes of COVID relief. | ||
| Our budget back then was $4.5 trillion. | ||
| Today, it's $7 trillion. | ||
| With the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, they gave away $700 billion in tax credits to green energy corporations. | ||
| They expanded Obamacare subsidies to people making more than a half a million dollars and already had, many of whom already had employer-sponsored health care. | ||
| And they expanded the IRS, $80 billion, 80,000 IRS agents, shaking down mostly middle-class people and small businesses. | ||
| With the stroke of a pen, President Biden wasted $2 trillion unilaterally of taxpayer monies by opening up our welfare services, taxpayer-funded welfare services to people in this country illegally. | ||
| He waived work requirements for means-tested welfare programs from SNAP to Medicaid and beyond, trapping people in poverty and dependence on the federal government. | ||
| He mandated expensive and unreliable electric vehicles for all Americans and a whole lot more. | ||
| In fact, we're spending $9,000 per illegal immigrant in this country for the millions of people who violated our sovereignty and came to this country in violation of our immigration laws. | ||
| $9,000 of what taxpayers pay for people who are here illegally for taxpayer-funded social services. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, that's more than we spend on the most vulnerable Americans for Medicaid. | ||
| That's more than we spend collectively for our veterans for their military retirement. | ||
| The President, President Biden, weakened government program integrity, allowing people who aren't eligible for Medicaid and other programs to receive benefits. | ||
| Case in point, we used to review the Medicaid rolls twice a year to make sure people who were on the rolls were those who were most vulnerable and those who qualified according to the law. | ||
| That was revoked by the Biden administration, and they only did it once a year. | ||
| And if you changed it back, you'd eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse and save $160 billion of taxpayer monies. | ||
| He implemented unconstitutional and regressive student loan bailouts, forcing working Americans to subsidize the upper middle class, law students, medical students. | ||
| These are folks that deferred their education. | ||
| These are hardworking people that didn't think they could afford college. | ||
| We have an unprecedented opportunity, Mr. Chairman, and my fellow Republicans, and we have a sacred obligation at this moment to meet this moment with the urgency it demands. | ||
| Now more than ever is the time for Republicans in Congress to demonstrate the courage of their convictions and take the bold action in this historic moment, save this country, save our children's future, save us from wrecking the greatest economy in the world, for jeopardizing our national security and our leadership in the world. | ||
| The world is counting on a safe, strong, and free America. | ||
|
Gentleman's Time Reserved
00:15:30
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||
| And I believe that this bill encapsulates the policies that are going to restore America's greatness. | ||
| And with that, Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support it, and I yield. | ||
| And I reserve the remainder of my time. | ||
| Gentlemen's time is reserved. | ||
| Gentleman from Pennsylvania, Mr. Boyle. | ||
| Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. | ||
| Gentlemen is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, we should be quite clear about what this is really about. | ||
| This budget represents a Republican betrayal of the middle class, and I'm proud to rise and oppose it. | ||
| Here's what's at stake. | ||
| My friends on the other side of the aisle want to deliver $4.5 trillion of tax cuts, almost all of which go to the richest 1% of Americans. | ||
| Now, how do they pay for it? | ||
| How do they pay for that $4.5 trillion of tax cuts? | ||
| First, at least $880 billion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. | ||
| Those cuts from Medicaid, by the way, represent the largest cuts to Medicaid in American history. | ||
| 72 million Americans get their health care from Medicaid. | ||
| We're mostly talking about seniors, children, and those with disabilities. | ||
| Another 20 million Americans get their health care from the ACA. | ||
| So combined, we are talking about 92 million Americans whose health care is at risk. | ||
| And why? | ||
| All to deliver tax cuts to billionaires. | ||
| But now we have a math problem because even with those, the largest cuts to Medicaid in history, you don't get anywhere close to $4.5 trillion. | ||
| So how do they finance the rest of it? | ||
| Well, we have more cuts, hundreds of billions more in cuts to education programs like school lunches, Head Start, student loan repayment. | ||
| We also have $230 billion of cuts to nutrition assistance at a time when grocery prices are at record highs. | ||
| So all told, that gets you to at least $1.5 trillion. | ||
| But remember, the size of the tax cuts are $4.5 trillion, and they want to add some more spending on top of that. | ||
| So what do they do to make up the difference? | ||
| Increase the national debt by $4 trillion, a massive increase to our national debt from the same crowd that for the last four years has done nothing but shed crocodile tears about the size of our national debt. | ||
| You can always tell when there's a Democrat in the White House, because that's when the other side cares about the size of the national debt. | ||
| But when there's a Democratic or excuse me, a Republican president, Republican House, Republican Senate, the top priority is always tax cuts for the top 1%. | ||
| A budget isn't just numbers on a spreadsheet. | ||
| It's a reflection of our values. | ||
| It's a reflection of what kind of country we are and want to be. | ||
| There was a lot of campaigning going on throughout this country, and especially in my state, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, this past November. | ||
| After all, we are the biggest battleground state in the nation. | ||
| A lot of promises were made on both sides. | ||
| A lot of it was about reducing costs for ordinary Americans. | ||
| Not once, ever in that campaign did I ever hear the other side say, we're going to cut Medicaid to the tune of $880 billion, the biggest cuts to Medicaid in American history. | ||
| In fact, we have a president who said, and I quote, I will love and cherish Medicaid. | ||
| Then a few hours later, he endorsed the House Republican plan that slashes Medicaid to the tune of $880 billion. | ||
| When this president promises to love and cherish something, watch your wallets. | ||
| Folks, I think the American people are going to figure out what this is about. | ||
| It's right there in black and white. | ||
| The $880 billion I talked about, it's right there in their 58-page resolution. | ||
| The $4 trillion increase in debt, right there in black and white in their resolution. | ||
| No amount of spinning will get you away from that simple reality. | ||
| This is cutting health care and all sorts of programs for the American people in order to deliver tax cuts for billionaires who don't need it. | ||
| I urge every member in this House to oppose this reckless and unfair plan. | ||
| And with that, I reserve the balance of my time. | ||
| Gentlemen's time is reserved. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, what you won't hear from my Democrat colleagues is any mention of the half a trillion dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicaid program that jeopardizes that program for the most vulnerable Americans and does a disservice to every taxpayer in this great country of ours. | ||
| By the way, betrayal of the middle class. | ||
| When I hear that, what comes to mind is the unbridled spending and the failed economic policies that gave us the worst cost of living crisis in modern history. | ||
| And a whole lot of people suffered under that 21% inflation tax, and a whole lot more people would suffer under a 22% tax increase if they were successful in killing the American people's tax cuts. | ||
| Now I'd like to yield one minute to my friend and the vice chair of the budget committee and a key architect, I would say, of this budget blueprint, Mr. Lloyd Smucker from the Keystone State. | ||
| Gentleman from Pennsylvania is recognized for one minute. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I'd like to thank the chair for yielding. | |
| Mr. Speaker, we've heard how this budget resolution will deliver tax relief to working and middle-class families. | ||
| It'll put a stop to crime and drugs flooding over our southern border, and it'll jump-start the American economy. | ||
| And this is exactly what the American people are looking for today. | ||
| Unfortunately, we've also heard a lot of falsehoods from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. | ||
| And so I'd like to set the record straight. | ||
| The House Republican budget resolution will stop a 22 percent tax hike for the average taxpayer. | ||
| It will put $1,700 back into the pockets of a median family of four and will prevent the child tax credit from being cut in half for 40 million families. | ||
| This bill doesn't take from the working class. | ||
| It puts money in their pockets. | ||
| And while my colleagues on the other side try to drown out these facts with tired talking points and fear-mongering, let's ask the American people directly, how does a 22% tax hike help you pay your bills? | ||
| Families, how does taking $1,700 out of your pocket and cutting your child tax credit help you raise your kids? | ||
| Okay, I get 30 seconds. | ||
| Give the gentleman 30 more seconds, please. | ||
| The gentleman is recognized for an additional 30 seconds. | ||
|
unidentified
|
It doesn't. | |
| And Republicans are working to stop those tax hikes by passing this budget resolution. | ||
| President Trump was elected by the working class, and this budget will deliver on the promises he made to them. | ||
| I'm very proud to support this budget resolution and urge my colleagues to vote yes. | ||
| Thank you, and I yield back. | ||
| I reserve, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| Gentleman's time is reserved. | ||
| Gentleman from Pennsylvania. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, I would remind my fellow Pennsylvanian that this bill would put 3.1 million people in Pennsylvania at risk of losing Medicaid. | ||
| With that, Mr. Chair, I yield two minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey, the ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Mr. Pallone. | ||
| Gentleman from New Jersey is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| And I thank the gentleman. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this Republican budget resolution. | ||
| Make no mistake about it. | ||
| This budget will lead to millions of Americans losing their health care coverage. | ||
| All so Republicans can give giant tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations. | ||
| The only group that wants these tax breaks is Wall Street, not the average American. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, if Republicans pass this resolution today, we'll be forced to cut a minimum of nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid, our nation's largest health care program. | ||
| And for those who are saying that somehow the Medicaid program has a lot of waste, let me remind us that Medicaid is the leanest federal health care program. | ||
| Every independent study says that Medicaid is financially sound, the most financially sound federal health care program. | ||
| The consequences of these cuts will be devastating. | ||
| Medicaid provides health care to one in three Americans, nearly half of the children in the United States, and it's the largest source of funding for nursing homes for seniors and people living with disabilities. | ||
| This is a life-saving program for 80 million Americans. | ||
| They count on it every day. | ||
| And yet today, House Republicans are unnecessarily rushing forward with a budget resolution that will impose the largest health care cuts in our nation's history. | ||
| Millions of people will lose their health care. | ||
| But that's just the beginning. | ||
| Health care prices will sharply rise. | ||
| Hospitals, particularly those in underserved and rural communities, will be forced to close. | ||
| So too will nursing homes. | ||
| Seniors will lose the care that they rely on, and doctors and nurses will be laid off. | ||
| Emergency rooms will once again be overflowing as people are forced to delay care until absolutely necessary. | ||
| And states will be bankrupted and forced to make painful cuts to important health care services. | ||
| This is the reality, not what the Republicans are telling you. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, it doesn't have to be this way. | ||
| If just a few of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle take a stand today, we can stop this from happening. | ||
| So I implore my Republican colleagues to think about the harm, the devastating harm that would be done to their communities if this budget resolution is adopted. | ||
| Stand up. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to think twice and vote no, and I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas. | ||
| Chairman, I yield one minute to the gentleman from the Tar Hill State, former Speaker of the House of North Carolina, and Budget Committee Member Mr. Tim Moore. | ||
| Gentleman from North Carolina is recognized for one minute. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | |
| Last November, the American people said enough is enough. | ||
| They're tired of government waste. | ||
| They're tired of rising prices, and they're tired of policies of the last administration. | ||
| This budget is a critical step forward towards reining in out-of-control federal spending. | ||
| To be clear, this resolution has no provisions that make cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. | ||
| For those folks watching at home, read the bill. | ||
| It's not in there. | ||
| When Democrats vote against this today, they are voting to raise the average Family of Four's taxes by nearly $1,700. | ||
| They're voting to raise taxes on small business. | ||
| They're voting for open borders, and they're voting for higher energy costs. | ||
| I'm proud to have worked with my fellow House Budget Committee members on this bill, as well as the chairman who's done an amazing job on this. | ||
| I encourage my colleagues to vote yes on this important measure. | ||
| I yield back, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas Reserves. | ||
| High Reserve. | ||
| Gentleman from Pennsylvania. | ||
| I would remind the gentleman that this bill would put 2.8 million people in North Carolina at risk of losing Medicaid. | ||
| Mr. Chair, with that, I yield two minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts, the ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee, Mr. Neal. | ||
| Gentleman from Massachusetts is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Well, the looting is underway. | ||
| Our colleagues are running the same failed playbook of trickle-down handouts. | ||
| My friend, the gentleman from Pennsylvania, said the family of four, they're going to get $1,700. | ||
| Look at the tax distribution tables at what billionaires are going to get in this. | ||
| That's the real issue that's in front of us on this occasion. | ||
| Let me go to another point that I think is fascinating. | ||
| Doge is rummaging through your private records even as we speak. | ||
| How about the following? | ||
| Imagine what the Republican reaction would have been if Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, or Joe Biden said we're going to borrow $4 trillion more for these tax cuts for the wealthiest amongst us. | ||
| Don't kid yourself. | ||
| Medicaid, 71 million Americans, Medicare, Social Security, the American people depend upon these issues. | ||
| I'm stunned that Republicans would borrow $4 trillion to justify tax cuts for the wealthiest amongst us. | ||
| And by the way, people who aren't even asking for those tax cuts. | ||
| Their cuts will affect every part of American life, including those who need basic sustenance every day. | ||
| $4 trillion, and look at the alignment. | ||
| $1.2 trillion here for cuts, but $1.2 trillion for tax cuts. | ||
| Oh, let me figure that one out. | ||
| They are going to cut Medicaid to justify what it is that they want to do. | ||
| There is no reason why billionaires should be getting a massive tax cut. | ||
| Totally unnecessary, and in the end, that's what this legislation is about, despite their protestations. | ||
| $1,700 for a family of four. | ||
| Tens of millions of dollars for billionaires. | ||
| That's where these tax cuts are going. | ||
| I want you also to understand this. | ||
| The people are watching. | ||
| We're going to defend Medicare. | ||
| We're going to defend Medicaid. | ||
| And we're going to defend all of these entities that have made a difference in American life for average people every single day. | ||
| Let me close on this note. | ||
| My father had a great saying. | ||
| He used to say, Jesse James at least had the respect to wear a mask. | ||
| They should be wearing masks for what they're doing today. | ||
| And I yield back my time. | ||
| Gentleman from Pennsylvania Reserves. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, I yield one minute to my friend, the gentleman from Kansas, another budget committee member who had a hand in developing this fiscal framework, Mr. Ron Estes. | ||
| Gentleman from Kansas is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support for starting the process to pass one big, beautiful bill for America. | ||
| For four years, Americans suffered from an open border, crippling inflation, massive federal spending, and burdensome regulation. | ||
| On top of that, we're on the verge of increased taxes for families, workers, and small businesses if we fail to act. | ||
| Our mandate is to restore and secure our nation, both physically and financially. | ||
| It's critical that we pass a bill that enables us to address all of these priorities, including an extension of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. | ||
| In my home state, Kansans will see an average of $2,200 increase in their taxes if we don't act now and we allow the tax cuts to expire. | ||
|
Oklahoma's Financial Wreck
00:15:49
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| My colleagues on the other side of the aisle have made false claims about this budget resolution that will cut Social Security. | ||
| As chairman of the Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, I want to emphasize with the strongest terms possible that this budget resolution does not do a single thing to cut Social Security. | ||
| In fact, Social Security cannot be amended in the budget resolution in the budget reconciliation process. | ||
| The Byrd Rule prevents consideration of reconciliation in the Senate that changes the Social Security program. | ||
| I support today's budget resolution as a next step in advancing America's first policies, and with that, I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas reserves his time. | ||
| Gentleman from Pennsylvania. | ||
| Mr. Chair, the gentleman from Kansas is right. | ||
| It is a big, beautiful bill for billionaires. | ||
| I would also remind the gentleman that this bill would put 410,000 people in his state of Kansas at risk of losing Medicaid. | ||
| I yield two minutes now to the gentleman from the Commonwealth of Virginia, the ranking member of the Educational Workforce Committee, also a distinguished member of the budget committee, Mr. Scott. | ||
| Gentleman from Virginia is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this resolution. | ||
| It's frankly hard to take my colleagues on the other side of the aisle seriously when they come up here and give speech after speech complaining about the deficit and then support this resolution that what increases the deficit. | ||
| Let's start with some facts. | ||
| Every single Democratic president since Kennedy has left for their Republican successors a better deficit situation than they inherited. | ||
| And every Republican president since Nixon has left a worse deficit situation than the one they inherited, all without exception. | ||
| So here we are again. | ||
| Republican president following a Democratic president, and Republicans are set to increase the deficit and national debt just like clockwork. | ||
| Democrats have been finding solutions and cleaning up Republican messes for six decades, and thanks to Republican tax cuts and for the corporations in the top 1%, they added over $7 trillion to the national debt during Trump's first term, and here we go again. | ||
| Help billionaires run up the debt and make everybody else pay. | ||
| As ranking member of the Committee on Education and Workforce, I'm particularly outraged that Republicans want to fund these tax cuts for corporations and billionaires by making cuts to educational and nutritional programs. | ||
| This could end up cutting things like meals on wheels, children's feeding programs. | ||
| It could jeopardize Head Start, make it harder for students to receive K through 12 education on higher education, and it will certainly rip away health care for millions of Americans. | ||
| There is nothing economically responsible for this budget because it increases the deficit. | ||
| It helps billionaires, but working families and middle class will pay the price. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this resolution. | ||
| Gentlemen from Pennsylvania continues to reserve. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| I yield one minute to the gentleman, my good friend from Oklahoma and our conference policy chair, Mr. Kevin Hurd. | ||
| Gentleman from Oklahoma is recognized for one minute. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding. | |
| You know, one of America's most famous sons, Will Rogers, once said, It costs 10 times more to govern us than it used to, and we're not governed one-tenth as good. | ||
| And that was in 1932. | ||
| I can only imagine what he would say today. | ||
| That's why this vote is so important. | ||
| It moves us closer to delivering on the mandate the American people overwhelmingly demanded in November. | ||
| We are on an unsustainable path, and every member of this body knows it. | ||
| Every member. | ||
| This budget resolution commits us to investing in strong border security and strengthening our national defense. | ||
| It directs committees to find ways to make the president's tax agenda permanent. | ||
| It paves the way to unleash American energy production. | ||
| The budget resolution calls for historic spending cuts as Congress works with the President to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse, something that every single one of us, regardless of party, should applaud, all in one big, beautiful bill. | ||
| Failure to reunite on this vote very well may result in breaking up the president's agenda. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to vote yes. | ||
| Together, we can build a stronger, more prosperous America before it's too late. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas Reserves, gentleman from Pennsylvania. | ||
| Mr. Chair, I would remind the gentleman that this bill would put 990,000 people in Oklahoma at risk of losing Medicaid. | ||
| I am now happy to yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from Minnesota, the ranking member of the Agricultural Committee, Ms. Craig. | ||
| Gentlelady from Minnesota is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise to oppose this resolution that prioritizes tax cuts for billionaires over the well-being of hardworking American families and the livelihoods of our nation's farmers. | ||
| The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is our nation's most effective anti-poverty tool and a key part of the Farm Bill, which Republicans want to cut by $230 billion. | ||
| This would cause millions of hardworking Americans to suffer, including some of the most vulnerable in our communities, children, seniors, and the disabled. | ||
| Decimating SNAP in this way would break up the coalition that is critical to passing a bipartisan farm bill and hurts the entire food supply chain when times are tough in farm country and in many communities, especially rural communities across this country. | ||
| Right now, as people across our nation are struggling with the high cost of groceries, SNAP helps American families keep food on the table. | ||
| And let's be clear about what we're talking about. | ||
| $6 a day for people in need. | ||
| Six bucks to those who qualify. | ||
| SNAP reduces childhood poverty, improves health outcomes, and generates hundreds of thousands of jobs throughout the food supply chain. | ||
| Because when you spend a dollar on food, you aren't just paying for the food in your cart. | ||
| You're helping to pay for the salary of the grocery store clerk who stopped the shelves, the trucker who delivered the food to the store, the manufacturer who produced the packaging, and the farmer who grew it. | ||
| The future of a bipartisan farm bill, which our farmers desperately need, is in Republican hands today. | ||
| If you cut SNAP to pay for tax cuts for your wealthy donors, it's on you. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to vote no. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman from Pennsylvania Reserves, gentlemen from Texas. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, I yield one minute to the gentleman from Virginia, the first state, my good friend and member of the budget committee, Mr. Ben Klein. | ||
| Gentleman from Virginia is recognized for one minute. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | |
| You know, back in November, the American people issued a resounding rejection of the profligate policies of the Biden-Harris administration that existed over the past four years by electing President Donald Trump. | ||
| In the first month of the new administration, President Trump has answered this election mandate, signing executive orders aimed at securing our nation's borders, unleashing domestic energy production, and rooting out the waste, fraud, and abuse that was left over as the final remnants of Biden's failed legacy. | ||
| However, the President cannot achieve all of these policy objectives alone. | ||
| He needs Congress. | ||
| It will take those of us in the House and Senate concerned about addressing our fiscally irresponsible the last four years, working together in unified fashion to pass a reconciliation package that is set in motion by today's budget resolution to give this administration the tools they need to succeed in fulfilling their election mandate. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to vote yes on this budget as we work to deliver real savings for the American people. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I yield back. | |
| Gentleman from Texas Reserve, gentleman from Pennsylvania. | ||
| I would remind the gentleman this bill would put 1.8 million people in the Commonwealth of Virginia at risk of losing Medicaid. | ||
| I now yield two minutes to the gentleman from Texas, distinguished colleague on the budget committee, Mr. Doggett. | ||
| The gentleman from Texas is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, this is the Republican reconciliation because it makes a wreck of our nation's finances and it makes the wreck of the lives of so many of our fellow Americans. | ||
| These Republicans are so troubled, so very troubled about our nation's debt that they want to add trillions more to it. | ||
| In fact, according to the bipartisan Citizens for a Responsible Federal Budget, they want to make it bigger by about $4 trillion, deeper in debt. | ||
| Elon Musk Doge, it is Dodge also, is a sideshow for a multi-ring circus of deception and lies designed to create the illusion that billions are being saved from waste, fraud, and abuse when Doge itself is the abuse. | ||
| Even with these fake savings, the insatiable demand of these Republicans for additional billionaire tax breaks requires denying opportunities to middle-class families, denying access to a family physician, first by slashing hundreds of millions from Medicaid, for which Trump professes to love and cherish. | ||
| Medicaid, which pays for half the babies born at Seton Hospital in Austin, half the children that go to the children's hospital there. | ||
| Millions of Americans will lose health protection, and millions more will lose educational opportunity. | ||
| For those who are facing a dread disease like cancer, Republicans are cutting innovative medical research in the hope for a cure. | ||
| With the looming threat of a bird flu pandemic, 40% cut in the staff of the Centers for Disease Control, CDC. | ||
| All of this represents more Republican broken promises. | ||
| Remember when Trump last month was going to bring down grocery prices drastically? | ||
| Well, the only thing drastic is the pain of this Republican budget. | ||
| Now Trump tells us we'll have a golden age in America. | ||
| With this budget imposing so many burdens on our finances, the sick, the hungry, and students, we see who gets the gold, those billionaires that were on the front seat of his inauguration as working families are betrayed. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, I wonder when my Democrat colleagues will direct their indignation and outrage to the fact that Doge and our friend Elon Musk has exposed a tremendous, outrageous, and utterly offensive waste like transgender operas in Columbia, DEI musicals in Ireland, transgender comic books, $20 million on Sesame Street, | ||
| which is I would only have to assume my Democrat colleagues think that's the way to find peace in the Middle East. | ||
| It's insane and it's offensive to the taxpayers, but you'll never hear a single word about that in this debate today. | ||
| And with that, I yield one minute to my friend, General Jack Bergman from the great state of Michigan. | ||
| Gentleman from Michigan is recognized for one minute. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| It's crucial that we're clear about the focus of today's debate. | ||
| Our aim is not to remove vulnerable Americans from the government assistance programs they and their families depend on. | ||
| On the contrary, we are focused on strengthening the integrity of these programs to ensure the taxpayers' dollars are directed to those who genuinely need them. | ||
| In the past decade, Medicaid has accounted for over $550 billion with a B dollars in improper payments, making it one of the government's largest sources of payment errors. | ||
| It would be irresponsible and a betrayal of our fiduciary duty to American taxpayers not to make a focused effort to recover these misused funds and redirect them to those who need them most. | ||
| That said, it's essential that these efforts are made with a careful approach that avoids unintended consequences for vulnerable Americans and providers. | ||
| As my colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee begin their critical efforts, I would urge them to keep this in the top of mind, and I urge all my colleagues to support this good resolution. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas Reserve, gentleman from Pennsylvania. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Mr. Henry. | |
| I would remind the gentleman that this bill would put 2.4 million people in Michigan at risk of losing Medicaid. | ||
| And Mr. Chair, let's be clear. | ||
| That's what this debate is about. | ||
| Because the other side is great at trying to distract you, holding up the shiny object of a few outlandish stories about tens of thousands of dollars to distract you from the trillions of dollars that are at stake. | ||
| One in three Americans, one in three, get their health care from Medicaid. | ||
| That is at risk because of this proposal. | ||
| And don't forget it. | ||
| Don't allow yourself to get distracted. | ||
| With that, I am happy to yield two minutes to the gentleman from California, my colleague and friend on the budget committee, Mr. Peters. | ||
| Gentleman from California is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Our national debt is more than $36 trillion. | ||
| We borrow nearly $2 trillion every year just to pay our expenses. | ||
| And we spend more on interest payments now than we do on Medicaid, schools, childcare, and the national defense. | ||
| Republicans have raised the alarm about this deficit, but this budget actually makes the debt and deficit much, much worse. | ||
| They say we have a spending problem. | ||
| Okay, then cut annual spending to a level that's covered by our revenues and stop the deficits. | ||
| But that's not what they're doing here. | ||
| Oh, they will make big cuts to health care, air traffic controllers, cybersecurity, the people who fight wildfires, but they will not use those savings to cut deficits. | ||
| They will use those savings to pay for tax cuts for people who don't need them. | ||
| America doesn't have a spending problem. | ||
| We have a borrowing problem. | ||
| And this budget would lead to more borrowing we can't afford. | ||
| It would limit our ability to borrow money when we do need it, when there's a future urgent need. | ||
| But today, the economy has low unemployment and high interest rates the exact wrong time to blow up the debt. | ||
| This bill will add between $4 and $11 trillion to the debt, which will increase interest rates, raise prices, and keep inflation high. | ||
| And our kids are going to pick up the bill. | ||
| Don't vote for this self-inflicted harm. | ||
| I work with many of my Republican colleagues as co-chair of the Bipartisan Fiscal Forum on controlling the debt and deficit. | ||
| And I know some are sitting here quietly agreeing with me. | ||
| I know personally also how hard it is to buck your party, because when Democrats held the House, the Senate and the White House, I voted no on our reconciliation budget to get a better product. | ||
| Let me tell you, it was very unpopular. | ||
| But I held my ground, and people at home knew I was standing up for them. | ||
| We got a better product, and they sent me back. | ||
| We work with presidents. | ||
| We don't report to them. | ||
| We report to our constituents as independently elected members of Congress who are elected on the exact same day as Donald Trump. | ||
|
Reining In Reckless Spending
00:15:17
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| Do your job. | ||
| You know better. | ||
| Vote no. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman from Pennsylvania Reserves, gentleman from Texas. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, I yield one minute to the gentleman from the great state of Texas, my friend Mr. Brandon Gilt, also a member of the budget committee. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Chairman Arrington, for your leadership throughout this process. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, President Trump delivered historic results. | ||
| He is securing our border, restoring common sense, lowering costs, and reestablishing America's strength in the world. | ||
| And he is stopping our tax dollars from funding woke, perverted projects that the other side of the aisle seeks to push. | ||
| But today, 60 percent of American taxpayers are facing rising taxes and uncertainty. | ||
| To address these challenges, this resolution will provide for the extension of the Trump tax cuts, funds the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history, and cuts at least $1.5 trillion in waste, fraud, and abuse from our federal budget. | ||
| This is something that should receive bipartisan support. | ||
| Our commitment to fiscal discipline is clear. | ||
| Conservatives on the budget committee added a provision that incentivizes a total of $2 trillion in reductions. | ||
| The American people are begging for Washington to unlock the Trump agenda, which this bill does. | ||
| They gave us a mandate to save this country. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to support this resolution, and I yield back my time. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas Reserve, gentleman from Pennsylvania. | ||
| I would remind the gentleman that this bill would put 4.2 million people in Texas at risk of losing Medicaid. | ||
| Mr. Chair, I'm happy to yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from Ohio, distinguished member and friend from the budget committee, Ms. Captor. | ||
| Gentlelady from Ohio is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| I thank the Ranking Member for the opportunity to speak and thank him for his great work and say that budgets are about choices for the American people. | ||
| If we look at what is happening with this current budget, it's a bonanza for billionaires. | ||
| We live in a moment in our country when 1% of our population, the very top, hold as much wealth as the bottom half of our country. | ||
| 1% of the top, billionaires, millionaires, hold more wealth than the bottom half of our people. | ||
| It's an astounding moment in which we are living. | ||
| The very top are not paying their fair share, and everybody in America knows it, including them. | ||
| How many more mansions do we need to see that take up acres and acres? | ||
| How many yachts do these people actually need? | ||
| Some of the old movies about Goldfinger and all come to mind. | ||
| Some people seem to like gold a whole lot in this country. | ||
| If the tax cuts that are proposed in this bill offer a few hundred dollars to people who live in the bottom half of our country, which is most of the people that I represent, the bottom half of incomes, the people at the top are going to get hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars back. | ||
| I say to myself, do they have any conscience about what is happening in their country and that to take away the health care, Medicare, Medicaid, the cuts that you're proposing, you will cause death in this country. | ||
| To me, what is happening here is shameless. | ||
| Here's a chart. | ||
| If we look back at who caused the debt in our country, wow, it's pretty obvious. | ||
| If we go back to the Reagan presidency, all you're doing is just repeating what happened. | ||
| They added $2 trillion. | ||
| Then the Bush tax cuts added $8 trillion. | ||
| The Trump tax cuts are already over $2.5 trillion. | ||
| Your lady, an additional 15 seconds. | ||
| The gentlelady is given an additional 15 seconds. | ||
| I thank you. | ||
| The Afghan and Iraq wars declared by Republican presidents added $8 trillion. | ||
| So if you look at this, Two-thirds of what we owe were caused by your side of the aisle. | ||
| I represent a lot of Republicans, and I'll tell you what, they're honest people, and they'll pay their taxes, but they don't like this excess. | ||
| It's hurting America. | ||
| The Republican budget is just a bonanza for billionaires. | ||
| Shame on you. | ||
| Gentleman from Pennsylvania reserves his time. | ||
| I would remind my colleagues in the House to direct their comments to the chair, please. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| I yield one minute to the gentleman from the great state of Georgia, my friend and another Budget Committee member, Mr. Andrew Clyde. | ||
| Gentleman from Georgia is recognized for one minute. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | |
| I rise today in strong support of the House Budget Committee's FY25 budget resolution, which advances President Trump's America First agenda by unlocking the budget reconciliation process to achieve the President's priorities and restore fiscal sanity in Washington. | ||
| This budget resolution paves the way to extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed into law by President Trump in 2017, which fueled historic economic growth and raised real wages. | ||
| This resolution also provides instructions to reverse Biden's assault on domestic energy, rein in reckless spending, and deliver critical resources to the Trump administration so we can secure our border and strengthen our national security. | ||
| Finally, I want to address the fear-mongering among our Democrat colleagues. | ||
| This budget resolution does not cut benefits for any legitimate recipient of Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security. | ||
| I challenge anyone to find a single provision in this 45-page resolution that cuts benefits because they can't. | ||
| This resolution simply sets a budget framework so we can deal with the incredible fraud, waste, and abuse in Medicaid to stabilize and preserve it for those who really need it. | ||
| GAO alone estimates that the fraud in Medicaid is given another 15 seconds. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
GAO alone estimates that the fraud in Medicaid is at least $50 billion a year. | |
| And Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to submit this report from the GAO into the record, which states $50 billion a year of improper payments, and I yield. | ||
| Gentleman's request is covered by General Leave. | ||
| Gentleman from Pennsylvania. | ||
| Well, since the gentleman asked the question, I'm happy to answer it. | ||
| Right there in the bill, $880 billion directed to the Energy and Commerce Committee as a floor to find savings, another word, for cuts. | ||
| There is only one place that can come from. | ||
| Literally, if they cut 100% else of everything ENC has a purview over, it would still leave them hundreds of billions of dollars short. | ||
| It has to come from Medicaid. | ||
| It has to come from the ACA premiums because much like when Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, he replied, because that's where the money is. | ||
| Likewise, in terms of the ENC cuts, the $880 billion, it has to come from Medicaid because that's the only place you can find $880 billion. | ||
| Don't be fooled by their rhetorical tricks. | ||
| And with that, I yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from New Jersey, a distinguished member of the Budget Committee, Ms. Watson-Coleman. | ||
| Gentlelady from New Jersey is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| Standing in opposition. | ||
| During their campaigns, Donald Trump and my Republican colleagues promised to get to work to lower prices for the American people. | ||
| This budget is a betrayal of that promise. | ||
| It's a betrayal of millions of our children, our parents and our seniors. | ||
| It's a betrayal of the one-third of New Jersey children who rely on Medicaid. | ||
| It's a betrayal of the one-third of new mothers who count on Medicaid for their prenatal care. | ||
| It's a betrayal of six in ten New Jersey seniors living in nursing homes. | ||
| It's a ripoff of New Jersey taxpayers as Republicans have prioritized tax cuts for their billionaire donors over the lives of everyday citizens who will suffer under this new budget. | ||
| My neighbor, Tom Kaine, has over 70,000 Medicaid recipients, including over 27,000 children. | ||
| Does Congressman Ban Drew from New Jersey know a vote for this budget means abandoning 177,000 of his residents for the billionaire class? | ||
| Does Congressman Chris Smith know that there are 178 Medicaid recipients in his district, including nearly 100,000 children, who will be cut and will lose their coverage simply to enrich Trump's billionaire friends? | ||
| A few weeks ago, I offered an amendment in a budget committee to eliminate these disastrous cuts. | ||
| Not a single Republican gave me a vote on this issue. | ||
| Last night, I offered the same amendment to the Rules Committee and the same outcome. | ||
| Not one Republican vote. | ||
| I only hope that there are at least a few of my Republican colleagues today who have the courage and the humanitarian to stand up for their most vulnerable constituents and to vote no. | ||
| I urge a no vote here and I yield back my time. | ||
| Gentleman from Pennsylvania Reserves, gentlemen from Texas is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, I yield two minutes to the gentleman from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, our Agriculture Committee Chair, and my friend G.T. Thompson. | ||
| Gentleman from Pennsylvania is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, this budget resolution begins the process of delivering on President Trump's agenda, and that agenda is clear. | ||
| It's securing the border, it's unleashing economic growth, it's providing efficiency and accountability in government. | ||
| It's reining in reckless spending that spurred record inflation. | ||
| My colleagues on the other side of the aisle continue to talk about the harmful provisions within this resolution. | ||
| In reality, this is the beginning of the process. | ||
| It's the beginning of a course correction as desperately needed following four years of policy that placed America in a position of excess and decline. | ||
| Speaking of excess, since President Trump's first term, increased enrollment and exploitation of the 2018 farm bill by the Biden administration ballooned the annual spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by 66% of the total cost of $256 billion, leaving workers on the sidelines while small businesses paying record wages struggle to find help. | ||
| This egregious executive overreach not only violated the Congressional Review Act, but likely reduced the fraction of people participating in the workforce and contributed to inflation. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, we must meet the vital supplemental food needs of Americans that Congress committed to fulfill through SNAP, and we will. | ||
| We cannot allow excess or lack of accountability within a bureaucracy, though, to compromise fulfilling that obligation. | ||
| Thoughtful policies that recognize the value of work, hold states accountable, promote program integrity, and in the long run, protect the safety net for those Americans who truly need it should be our priority. | ||
| At the same time, we must use this process to advance the needs of the farm economy. | ||
| We cannot leave our most ardent supporters in rural America without new resources and empty-handed for a third year. | ||
| House Republicans have a mandate to restore America's faith in government, and we will protect hardworking taxpayers, bringing the largest tax increase in American history, and will provide for the neediest among us while simultaneously delivering a foundation for economic growth and prosperity. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, let us ensure America is once again the land of opportunity and thriving communities. | ||
| And passage of this resolution is one step in that process. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| The gentleman yields back his time. | ||
| Let me remind the managers on both sides of the time remaining in this portion of the debate. | ||
| The majority side has 39 and three-quarters minutes remaining. | ||
| Gentleman from Pennsylvania still manages 37 and one-half minutes remaining in this portion of the debate. | ||
| Gentleman from Pennsylvania is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chair. | ||
| I would remind my friend and fellow Pennsylvanian who just spoke, this bill would put 3.1 million people in our beloved Commonwealth of Pennsylvania at risk of losing Medicaid. | ||
| With that, I yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands, distinguished member of the Budget Committee, Ms. Plaskett. | ||
| Gentlelady from the Virgin Islands is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise in opposition to this budget. | ||
| We know that a budget is a statement of values. | ||
| In simple terms, you put your money where your mouth is. | ||
| And the money my Republican colleagues are getting right now is going to the class that they are beholden to, the Uber wealthy. | ||
| The bulk of those calls' savings come from slashing Medicaid funding, which ensures that 70 million Americans and funds from the Children's Health Insurance Program CHIP, where another 10 million American children are held. | ||
| Those savings that they're getting are being created so that they can then give that money, give those savings to the ultra-rich. | ||
| 20% of the population of the Virgin Islands are at risk of losing their health care under this budget. | ||
| Veterans, children, families that are working, that are barely making it, rely on this. | ||
| My fellow Americans, right here, right now, Republicans are trying to steal health care from 80 million people, and they're heading to the bank as millions of Americans are left helpless. | ||
| What is happening? | ||
| What's going on? | ||
| Republicans are intentionally targeting grandmothers, targeting children, targeting veterans that live in your neighborhood. | ||
| My fellow Americans, they're going to throw some peanuts, a couple of hundred bucks at each one of us, and tell us that you're getting some taxes back. | ||
|
Americans Need Certainty
00:15:27
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| But that's the amount of money that the very wealthy are getting. | ||
| Average, $314,000 are going to them at the expense of American people. | ||
| Fraud, waste, and abuse. | ||
| They're going to tell you they're using that money to get rid of illegals. | ||
| They're going to tell you that they're going to try and dramatically change the landscape. | ||
| No, they're only changing the landscape for those individuals that they are beholden to. | ||
| $2 trillion of cuts for $4 trillion of money that are going into the pocket of individuals that they are beholden to. | ||
| That's what's happening. | ||
| I'm disappointed, but I'm not surprised that the Republicans have used this process to satisfy the people that they are most beholden to. | ||
| Americans must stand up. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman from Pennsylvania Reserves, gentleman from Texas. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, I say for four minutes. | ||
| To my friend from the great state of Missouri and my chairman of the House, Ways and Means Committee, Mr. Jason Smith, for four minutes. | ||
| Gentleman from Missouri is recognized for four minutes. | ||
| I want to thank the chairman for yielding. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, four years ago, President Trump left Joe Biden a blueprint success. | ||
| And then Democrats proceeded to open our borders, undermine American energy, and spend trillions of dollars on handouts to the wealthy. | ||
| They created the highest inflation in 40 years that made it impossible for working families to survive. | ||
| That's why the American people sent Donald Trump back to the White House with a mandate. | ||
| Now it's up to Congress to deliver on that mandate to make our economy work again for working families. | ||
| The economy isn't just numbers on a chart. | ||
| It's the farmer who wakes up at 4 a.m., the mom or dad working two jobs to get by, the shop owner figuring out how to keep the store lights on, and the truck driver working overtime. | ||
| To my Democrat colleagues, let's be clear. | ||
| A vote against this budget is a vote to raise taxes on low-income Americans. | ||
| $2.6 trillion of the tax cuts in this are people making less than $400,000 a year. | ||
| You campaigned on not allowing taxes to increase on people making less than $400,000 a year. | ||
| Let's see if your voting card shows up. | ||
| Extending the Trump tax cuts will give the lowest income families a tax cut of 15%, the highest of any income group. | ||
| On the other hand, failing to extend these tax cuts means the average taxpayer will see a 22% tax hike. | ||
| The average family of four making $80,000 a year will see their taxes go up almost $1,700. | ||
| That's two months worth of groceries. | ||
| Americans need certainty that relief is on the way. | ||
| Workers need certainty that their taxes won't go up. | ||
| 26 million small businesses need certainty that their tax rates won't rise to 43 percent in a few short months so that they can focus on investing and hiring more workers. | ||
| Two million family-owned farms need certainty they won't be forced to sell their farm to pay an increased death tax. | ||
| They need to know right now if they should be contacting an estate planner for the massive tax hike that's coming. | ||
| Parents need certainty that their guaranteed deduction of $30,000 won't be cut in half and their child tax credit won't be slashed from $2,000 to $1,000. | ||
| Following passage of the Trump tax cuts, wages increased by 4.9%, the fastest two-year growth in real wages in 20 years. | ||
| 5 million new jobs were created. | ||
| More than 6 million people were lifted out of poverty. | ||
| Real median household income rose by $5,000. | ||
| The economy grew a full percentage point higher than CBO's initial forecast, and revenues have remained steady at 17% of GDP. | ||
| Building on President Trump's tax cuts will deliver a new golden age of prosperity. | ||
| Over 1 million new small business jobs each year, $284 billion in economic growth from more manufacturing, and billions in new investments to revitalize our poorest neighborhoods. | ||
| We will reignite our economy with a return of policies like 100% immediate expensing and incentives to make sure RD is happening here and not being outsourced around the globe. | ||
| We will deliver on President Trump's commitment to tax relief for tipped workers, help for seniors struggling with inflation, and tax relief for overtime workers. | ||
| President Trump's policies will spark an economic recovery, and that recovery starts by passing this budget so we can send one big, beautiful bill to President Trump's desk. | ||
|
unidentified
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I yield back. | |
| Gentleman from Texas Reserve, gentleman from Pennsylvania. | ||
| I would remind the gentleman that this bill would put 1.3 million people in Missouri at risk of losing Medicaid. | ||
| With that, Mr. Chair, I yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas, distinguished member of the budget committee, Ms. Escobar. | ||
| Gentlelady from Texas is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Mr. Ranking Member. | ||
| To my fellow Americans, let's talk about what's really happening here today. | ||
| Housing costs are up, groceries are up, inflation is up, Donald Trump is threatening more tariffs, which means our costs will continue to go up. | ||
| It's no wonder that the bond market is flashing a warning sign about slowing economic growth under Donald Trump. | ||
| And my Republican colleagues, instead of working with us to lower costs, what are they doing? | ||
| They are working to give billionaires massive tax breaks. | ||
| And they'll do that by making life costlier for everyone else. | ||
| In fact, this budget bill that will be on the floor today will have enormous consequences. | ||
| It will make America poorer, sicker, and hungrier. | ||
| It will close hospitals and clinics. | ||
| It will kick seniors out of nursing homes. | ||
| It ends support for Americans with disabilities. | ||
| It will double health care costs and more. | ||
| That's just the Medicaid portion of it. | ||
| In Texas, in my state, over 4 million Texans stand to lose with the cuts that they will implement that this bill will unlock, but with cuts to Medicaid. | ||
| And it's not just that. | ||
| It gets worse. | ||
| This budget bill will explode the national jet, the national debt. | ||
| Excuse me. | ||
| Why? | ||
| So that billionaires can have another yacht, another luxury home, another jet. | ||
| It doesn't have to be this way. | ||
| We just need some of our Republican colleagues to stand with us and vote to protect the American people, reject these billionaire tax breaks, reject the harm that it will do to their constituents and ours, and protect the American people. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to vote no. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman from Pennsylvania continues to reserve. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, I yield two minutes to the gentleman from Arkansas, the chairman of our Environmental and Energy Committee, Mr. Bruce Westerman. | ||
| Gentleman from Arkansas is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| Thank the gentleman for yielding. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the fiscal year 2025 budget resolution. | ||
| My constituents know firsthand how the failed policies of the left resulted in increased grocery and energy bills, opened our borders, imperiled our national security, accelerated our debt, and have made it next to impossible to build and use our natural resources here at home, making us dependent on our adversaries. | ||
| This budget creates a blueprint to deliver on the promises we made to the American people, righting the wrongs of the past, unleashing America's energy potential, and implementing the full America First agenda. | ||
| Advancing the budget resolution opens the door for the budget reconciliation process. | ||
| It will allow committees to begin our work on the nuts and bolts of budget reconciliation, implementing savings across government and harnessing our biggest revenue generators, such as domestic energy production. | ||
| By unlocking access to our energy and mineral reserves, actively managing our forests, streamlining burdensome permitting processes, and repealing wasteful IRA spending, we will deliver a responsible reconciliation bill that builds the wealth of our nation. | ||
| As a former member of the House Budget Committee, I appreciate the budget process and have great respect for Chairman Arrington and his staff in getting this budget resolution to the House floor. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, while our colleagues across the aisle are using made-up numbers that have no basis or substance as a scare tactic on the American people, I can say as a former state legislator and I'm happy to remind my colleagues across the aisle that Medicaid is a state and federal program and not a single person will lose Medicaid coverage unless their state makes that choice. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, this resolution has my full support and I encourage my colleagues to vote for it and I yield back. | ||
| Gentlemen from Texas Reserves, gentlemen from Pennsylvania. | ||
| I would remind the gentleman that this big, beautiful bill for billionaires would put 820,000 people in Arkansas at risk of losing Medicaid. | ||
| Now, Mr. Chair, I yield one minute to the gentleman from New York, the Democratic leader of the House and my friend, Mr. Jeffries. | ||
| Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to the reckless Republican budget, which is a betrayal of working-class Americans, middle-class Americans, children, seniors. | ||
| and everyday Americans all across the country. | ||
| I thank the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the budget committee, Brendan Boyle for his leadership, all of the members of the budget committee, all of the members of the House Democratic Caucus who are standing up for the American people by opposing this reckless Republican budget that will devastate people all across the land. | ||
| It's not consistent with promises that were made to the American people. | ||
| It's the exact opposite. | ||
| Here's the promise that was made to the American people over and over and over again that Republicans were going to drive down the high cost of living in the United States of America and combat inflation. | ||
| That was the promise that you made to the American people. | ||
| As House Democrats, we're working hard to lower housing costs, lower grocery costs, lower insurance costs, lower utility costs, and lower child care costs because we know America is too expensive. | ||
| We want to drive down the high cost of living. | ||
| But on the other side of the aisle, we haven't seen a single bill introduced by Republicans to drive down the high cost of living, address the affordability crisis in the United States of America. | ||
| Not a single executive order issued by President Trump has anything to do with driving down the high cost of living. | ||
| Not a single administrative action taken this year by the Trump administration has anything to do with driving down the high cost of living. | ||
| In fact, costs aren't going down in the United States of America. | ||
| Costs are going up. | ||
| Grocery prices are going up. | ||
| Inflation is going up. | ||
| Republicans are crashing the economy in real time. | ||
| So you've betrayed The American middle class, working families, everyday Americans, children, and seniors with this $4.5 trillion budget scheme. | ||
| And don't come to the House floor and act like this was being done in the name of fiscal responsibility enough with that narrative. | ||
| There's nothing in the Republican track record to suggest to the American people that you are the party of fiscal responsibility. | ||
| Absolutely nothing. | ||
| President Reagan comes into office, his signature, legislative accomplishment, is a massive unpaid-for tax cut for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected. | ||
| And what does it do? | ||
| Increases the debt by $2 trillion. | ||
| That's not fiscal responsibility. | ||
| That's recklessness. | ||
| That's your record. | ||
| Those kind of fiscal policies continued for eight years, carried over into the presidency of George H.W. Bush. | ||
| And then we see a massive debt handed over to President Bill Clinton. | ||
| What do Democrats do with that massive debt? | ||
| We turn that debt into a surplus over an eight-year period of time, and the economy exploded. | ||
| That's what fiscal responsibility looks like. | ||
| That happened under President Bill Clinton. | ||
| Stop saying to the American people that you're the party of fiscal responsibility. | ||
| The facts say exactly the opposite. | ||
| And so a budget surplus is handed over to President George W. Bush, who proceeds in 2001 and then again in 2003 to pass massive tax cuts, same playbook. | ||
| Here we go again: massive tax cuts for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected that explode the debt by $8 trillion. | ||
| And at the same time, we have a failed war in Iraq and a failed war in Afghanistan. | ||
| Over time, adding another $8 trillion to our nation's debt. | ||
| That burden is handed over to President Barack Obama, who during the period of his time in office, when he had a $1.5 trillion deficit, cuts it by $1 trillion, despite the fact that he also inherited from Republicans the Great Recession and had to turn things around. | ||
|
GOP Tax Scam Impact
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| So he cuts the deficit by a trillion dollars from $1.5 trillion to $500 billion. | ||
| You asked about numbers? | ||
| Here are the numbers. | ||
| And then that gets handed over to President Trump in his first term, who proceeds, of course, to follow the same Republican playbook, has nothing to do with fiscal responsibility and everything to do with massive tax cuts for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected. | ||
| And so Republicans pass the GOP tax scam, 83% of the benefits set aside for the wealthiest 1%. | ||
| And in connection with the GOP tax cam, explode the debt by another $2 trillion that you force working families, middle-class folks, and everyday Americans to pay for. | ||
| Republicans are not the party of fiscal responsibility. | ||
| Stop trying to convince the American people otherwise. | ||
| Same playbook. | ||
| In fact, during the administration of Donald Trump, during his first four years, the debt exploded to such a degree that 25% or so of our nation's debt came from just the first term of President Donald Trump. | ||
| 25%. | ||
| We've been around for over 248 years. | ||
| The party of fiscal responsibility. | ||
| And then, of course, President Biden inherits significant deficit, overwhelming debt in his two years, first two years, gets a lot done and cuts the deficit by $1.7 trillion. | ||
| There's still a lot of work for all of us to do. | ||
| But do not pretend that any of this, that this budget resolution has anything to do with fiscal responsibility or keeping your promises to the American people. | ||
| You promised to lower the high cost of living, have done nothing about it. | ||
| And so here we are again. | ||
| There you go again with this GOP tax scan. | ||
| Same exact playbook. | ||
| $4.5 trillion worth of cuts for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected disproportionately to benefit billionaire donors and well-connected corporations. | ||
| To make matters worse, you would actually cut programs, cut the social safety net, cut the things that matter to working class Americans, middle-class Americans, young people, seniors, and others, including up to, if not more, $880 billion of cuts to Medicaid. | ||
| That's the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. | ||
| That doesn't help working class Americans, doesn't help middle-class Americans, doesn't help children, doesn't help older Americans. | ||
| It will devastate them. | ||
| Devastate children, devastate people with disabilities, devastate seniors, devastate pregnant women all across the country, devastate nursing homes, shut down nursing homes, shut down hospitals, including in rural America, in urban America, in small town America, in the heartland of America. | ||
| That's what the Republican budget betrayal is all about. | ||
| Devastate supplemental nutritional assistance programs for our children, for our veterans, for our families. | ||
| That's what the Republican budget is all about. | ||
| It has nothing to do with making life better for everyday Americans. | ||
| It will hurt everyday Americans. | ||
| So Democrats are not going to provide this reckless Republican scheme, this out-of-control budget, a single vote, not a single vote, because we're standing on the side of the American people. | ||
| We will fight this reckless Republican budget today. | ||
| We will fight this reckless Republican budget tomorrow. | ||
| We will fight this reckless Republican budget until it's buried deep in the ground, never to rise again and stand on the side of the American people at all times. | ||
| Vote no. | ||
| Gentleman from Pennsylvania reserves his time. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, I yield two minutes to the gentleman from Alabama, my friend and the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Mr. Mike Rogers. | ||
| Gentleman from Alabama is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Thank you, Chairman. | ||
| I rise in strong support of this resolution, and I commend the Speaker, the Leader, and the Chairman Arrington on their tremendous work. | ||
| We've heard about all the ways the House budget resolution will deliver on President Trump's America First agenda. | ||
| That includes making a generational investment in national defense. | ||
| The $100 billion in defense spending this resolution unlocks will enable us to begin restoring American deterrence, prioritizing lethality, and ensuring peace through strength. | ||
| It will help defend the DOD's mission at the border because border security is national security. | ||
| It will help improve the quality of life of our service members and their families. | ||
| It will help us start to revitalize our defense industrial base and restore readiness accounts to ensure we can fight tonight. | ||
| It will also help us start to expand U.S. shipbuilding capacity and enhance our missile deterrence. | ||
| It will also help begin restocking our nation's arsenal of critical munitions. | ||
| And it will help us position our military to out-compete and out-innovate China. | ||
| Achieving the President's goal of peace through strength will ultimately require us to get defense spending back above 4% of GDP. | ||
| But none of that can happen unless we pass this budget resolution today. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution. | ||
| I yield back the balance of my time. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas Reserves. | ||
| Gentleman from Pennsylvania. | ||
| Mr. Chair, I would remind the gentleman that this bill would put 950,000 people in Alabama at risk of losing Medicaid. | ||
| With that, it is my honor to yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from Minnesota, distinguished member of the budget committee, Ms. Omar. | ||
| Gentlelady from Minnesota is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| Thank you, Ranking Member. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise in strong opposition to this Republican budget resolution because it is not a budget. | ||
| It is a blueprint for American decline. | ||
| Let's be clear. | ||
| They want to exploit your labor, your tax dollars, and gut your earned benefits, all to bankroll tax cuts for their wealthy friends and donors. | ||
| They want to increase your health care costs while Elon Musk and his friends hoard even more wealth. | ||
| And they have the audacity to call it fiscal responsibility. | ||
| This proposal will only deepen the constitutional crisis we are already in. | ||
| A president trying to rule like a dictator, an unelected billionaire using hate and fear to expand his control over our country, and congressional Republicans pretending this chaos is normal even as their own constituents call them out for their cowardice. | ||
| Our government is being hallowed out. | ||
| Our institutions are falling apart. | ||
| And today, House Republicans are slashing programs that people rely on to enact massive $4.6 tax giveaway to the rich. | ||
| So I ask my Republican colleagues, who will you serve? | ||
| The people who sent you here or the billionaires trying to buy our democracy? | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman from Pennsylvania continues to reserve his time. | ||
| Members are advised to not only direct their comments to the chair, but to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the president. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, the minority leader regurgitated a talking point from the Democrat Party we've heard now for years. | ||
| We heard it prior to the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017. | ||
| He said 83 percent of the tax cuts and jobs act benefits would accrue to the top 1 percent of income earners. | ||
| The Washington Post, which is no bastion of conservative journalism, said that, well, they gave him two Pinocchios for that one and called it a zombie claim, called it galling, and PolitiFact agreed with them and said it was flat-out misleading. | ||
| With that, Mr. Chairman, I'd like to yield a minute to my friend, the gentleman from California, Mr. Tom McClintock, also a member of the House Budget Committee. | ||
| The gentleman from California is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, this resolution not only saves an average family about $16,000 over the next 10 years through reduced spending, it also prevents a crushing $1,500 annual tax hike on a struggling family earning just $75,000 a year. | ||
| I have news for the minority leader. | ||
| That ain't rich. | ||
| They can't afford it, and they don't deserve that. | ||
| The details will come in the reconciliation bill, which can't be drafted until this resolution passes. | ||
| So our Democratic colleagues ought to wait to see what the committees actually propose before setting their hair on fire. | ||
| You know, the people didn't save our country last November. | ||
| They gave us the tools to save it. | ||
| It's now up to us to use them. | ||
| This resolution unlocks a powerful tool and is a critical step to stop the reckless theft of the earnings, the productivity, the prosperity, and the dreams of the American people. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas reserves his time. | ||
| Gentleman from Pennsylvania. | ||
| Mr. Chair, I would remind the gentleman that this bill would put 13.4 million people in California at risk of losing Medicaid. | ||
| I would further remind my friend, the chair of the Budget Committee, that it was not the Democratic leader's statistic that he was quoting, about 83 percent. | ||
| It was the Congressional Budget Office that found that 83 percent of the 2017 Trump tax cuts go to the richest 1 percent of Americans. | ||
| With that, I yield two minutes to the gentleman from New York, distinguished member of the budget committee, Mr. Tonko. | ||
| New York is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| It was quite remarkable to go back home to New York's 20th district last week after spending 12 hours moving this monstrosity through the budget committee. | ||
| Everywhere I went, folks were imploring me, begging, pleading to stand up to this cruelty. | ||
| And that's after weeks of receiving nonstop calls from thousands of activated and engaged constituents, many of whom are reaching out to me for the very first time. | ||
| I held a town hall at Albany High School, and like many of my colleagues in recent weeks, it was packed. | ||
| The energy in the room was palpable. | ||
| Fear, helplessness, anger. | ||
| Why, Mr. Speaker, are we forcing through legislation that will hurt the very people we represent? | ||
| My constituents should never have to stand up and tell me they will interrupt their lives to fight with me in D.C. against the Republican agenda, but they did. | ||
| Our job is to serve the American people, not rip access to basic necessities away from them at the behest of a president who declared himself king. | ||
| Frankly, it's insulting to me, to this institution, to the working families of New York's 20th district, and every American who is still struggling just to get by. | ||
| But here we are, blowing a $3 trillion hole in our national debt to serve billionaire oligarchs instead. | ||
| Billionaire oligarchs and donors who will never have to wonder whether they can afford to go to the doctor, retire with dignity, or even put food on the table to feed their children at night. | ||
| It's outrageous. | ||
| It's a rip-off. | ||
| It's a heartless betrayal of the American people, the middle class, working families, and future generations. | ||
| My district has asked me, where is the solution to this? | ||
| It rests right in this chamber. | ||
| Let us assume the responsibilities, the duties, the authority, the power we have by the Constitution with the power of the purse placed in our hands here in the House of Representatives. | ||
| Let's act accordingly. | ||
| They didn't want a president to circumvent Congress. | ||
| They didn't want an agent who never had a background check, who was never confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and who is wielding a chainsaw at our programs and not showing sensitivity, compassion, intellect, and academics that will make the true difference. | ||
| With that, I yield back. | ||
| Yields, gentlemen from Pennsylvania reserves his time. | ||
| Once again, the chair would remind and implore all members to not engage in personalities toward the president and direct your remarks to the chair. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| I yield one and a half minutes to my friend, the gentleman from the Hoosier State of Indiana, Mr. Marlon Stutzman. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution because it delivers on the promise that we made to the American people by extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and fulfilling President Trump's agenda. | ||
| This is direly needed. | ||
| For the past four years, the American people have lived through the longest sustained period of debt and deficit in our nation's history. | ||
| During that same time, Americans have also had to grapple with hyperinflation and record high energy costs and grocery costs at the grocery store. | ||
| This budget will usher in a new golden era that the American people are yearning for and where free enterprise can flourish, energy production is unleashed, and our fiscal health is restored. | ||
| This budget does so by extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which delivered wage increases of 4.9 percent and the lowest poverty and unemployment rates in 50 years. | ||
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Supporting the Coast Guard Budget
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unidentified
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This budget also achieves a deficit reduction of $1 billion over 10 years and achieves massive savings in our spending. | |
| Washington doesn't have a revenue problem. | ||
| Washington has a spending problem. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, the American people sent us here to fulfill a mission, putting our nation back on a trajectory towards success and prosperity. | ||
| Passing this resolution is the first step in that process. | ||
| This budget doesn't betray the middle class. | ||
| It saves the middle class and empowers the middle class for a prosperous future. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I support this resolution and I encourage my colleagues to do the same. | ||
| This is the first time that I remember where we are actually being fiscally responsible, and I yield back the balance of my time. | ||
| Gentleman Yields, gentlemen from Texas Reserves, gentlemen from Pennsylvania. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, I would remind the gentleman that this bill would put 1.8 million Hoosiers at risk of losing Medicaid. | ||
| With that, I'm happy to yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from California, the ranking member of the Financial Services Committee, Ms. Waters. | ||
| Gentlelady from California is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I strongly oppose the Republican budget ripoff. | ||
| I hear from constituents every day about the high cost of living. | ||
| Under the Trump administration, health care costs are rising, and putting food on the table is getting harder as egg prices skyrocket and housing remains unaffordable. | ||
| Unfortunately, the Republican rip-off is a slap in the face to working families. | ||
| Trump, Elon Musk, and House Republicans are asking us to support axing Medicaid by $180 billion, even though food stamps reduce rural poverty. | ||
| Republicans will cut this program too by $230 billion. | ||
| Republicans are defunding the police by stripping funding from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the CFPB is the only federal cop on the block to hold Wall Street banks and big tech payment apps accountable when they cheat Americans. | ||
| It is shameful that while families suffer from high prices, Musk is firing thousands, thousands of federal workers and stealing sensitive data from his competitors. | ||
| Although this ripoff cuts $2 trillion in vital programs, and what do Republicans plan to do with this money? | ||
| Oh, they're going to give it. | ||
| They're going to give it to the billionaires in this country. | ||
| $4.5 trillion. | ||
| $4.5 trillion in tax cuts. | ||
| If that math doesn't compute, it's because they expect Americans to buy the next mega yacht for Jeff Bezos. | ||
| Well, I tell you, we're not going to do that. | ||
| And we want to tell you today, we're no. | ||
| Democrats are no on this budget. | ||
| It is outrageous that you all have the audacity to come here with this budget that harms so many Americans and ask us to support billionaires and think we're going to buy it? | ||
| You think we're going to support it? | ||
| Well, you got another thought coming. | ||
| We ain't doing it. | ||
| Chairman from Pennsylvania Reserves. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, I can't believe my ears criticizing the audacity of us here in Washington, our nation's capital, giving the hard-earned money back to the people, letting them keep more of their money as they've suffered for years under record inflation, record interest rate hikes, record consumer debt. | ||
| How dare us give money back to small businesses and working families so they can pay the bills and provide for their families. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, I now recognize and yield two minutes to the gentleman from the show me state of Missouri, our House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman, Mr. Sam Grapes. | ||
| Gentlemen. | ||
|
unidentified
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Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| I rise today in support of the House's fiscal year 2025 budget resolution, which is a critical step needed to unlock a reconciliation bill that's going to help secure our border, revitalize our military. | ||
| It's going to unleash American energy independence and extend tax cuts for American families and small businesses. | ||
| Simply put, this budget delivers on all of President Trump's America First agenda by prioritizing the economic and national security of hardworking Americans. | ||
| Failure to act on this budget resolution, our House Republican budget, risks trillions in tax increases on Missouri farmers, small businesses, and families. | ||
| So as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I'm pleased to see that the budget directs an investment of $100 billion for our national defense after years of underinvestment. | ||
| And as chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I am ready to do our part to produce a bill that fulfills President Trump's border security agenda by providing funding for the United States Coast Guard for drug and migrant interdiction. | ||
| The Coast Guard has been underfunded for years. | ||
| However, this administration recognizes that the Coast Guard is the workhorse when it comes to securing our maritime border. | ||
| And I'm grateful for the President's focus on providing robust resources to the services to do even more. | ||
| And I know that the men and women in the Coast Guard are very much up to the task. | ||
| Despite delivering these robust investments, this budget still requires the Transportation Infrastructure Committee to generate at least $10 billion in savings overall. | ||
| Committee Republicans have been hard at work to make sure that we are prepared to support the Coast Guard while also being good stewards of taxpayers' dollars by responsibly offsetting our investments. | ||
| With that, I would urge my colleagues to support this budget resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| Gentlemen from Texas Reserves. | ||
| Gentlemen from Pennsylvania, recognized. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, the chair of the budget committee moments ago said something to the effect of this is about giving the people their money back. | ||
| Not so. | ||
|
unidentified
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How's it going? | |
| This is about the one in three Americans on Medicaid who are at risk of losing it. | ||
| Because what is in this budget plan in black and white, the largest cuts to Medicaid in American history, cuts to other programs like SNAP, school lunches, Head Start. | ||
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Republicans Wasteful Billionaires' Plan
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| And why? | ||
| To deliver tax cuts, 83% of which go to the richest 1% of Americans. | ||
| That's what this plan is about. | ||
| With that, I'm happy to yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut, my friend, the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, Ms. DeLauro. | ||
| Two minutes. | ||
| As ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, I am responsible for funding programs and services that the American people rely on. | ||
| I also see the importance of programs like Medicaid, which help tens of millions of people afford health insurance. | ||
| After all their talk about lowering the cost of living, Republicans wasted no time in making their real priorities clear. | ||
| For this majority, billionaires and the biggest corporations always come first. | ||
| Elon Musk, President Trump are hard at work trying to gut Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, which helps nearly 100 million Americans afford health insurance, medications, life-saving care. | ||
| Nationwide, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program provide medical coverage to nearly 4 in 10 children. | ||
| Almost 40% of the children in the United States get their health care through Medicaid. | ||
| These programs were designed, improved, and expanded over decades by both parties to help people deal with the high costs of health care, and they have delivered for so many families. | ||
| In my district alone, there are 229,000 people on Medicaid, including 79,000 children, 33,000 seniors. | ||
| Medicaid paid for 3,000 births last year, providing comprehensive prenatal delivery postpartum care to newborns and mothers. | ||
| These are programs that help families and children. | ||
| Medicaid works. | ||
| Elon Musk is only interested in helping the richest among us. | ||
| His dream is to fully extend more than $4.5 trillion worth of tax breaks to their billionaires and the wealthiest corporations in the world. | ||
| How will they pay for these tax cuts, pay for this massive giveaway? | ||
| Republicans want to pay for this with cuts to Medicaid, $880 billion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, putting coverage at risk for millions of Americans and raising their premiums. | ||
| To cut even more from the program, they also want to make it harder for people. | ||
|
unidentified
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Thank you. | |
| Who bears the brunt of these cuts? | ||
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Republicans Slash Essential Programs
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| Seniors, children, low-income families, people with disabilities, those struggling the most high health care costs are the first ones left behind. | ||
| Republicans are coming for Snap Next, threatening 40 million Americans who are just trying to put food on the table. | ||
| Democrats will stand where we always do on the side of the middle class against yet another wrecked Republican budget that steals even more wealth for billionaire class. | ||
| Thank you, and I yield back. | ||
| Gentlemen from Pennsylvania Reserves. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, I yield three minutes to my good friend from the great state of Ohio, also chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Mr. Jim Jordan. | ||
| Recognized. | ||
| I thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| I thank the gentleman for yielding. | ||
| The budget resolution will allow us to cut taxes, reduce spending, help our national defense, and secure the border, which is exactly what we told the voters we were going to do in the election. | ||
| I always say this, we make this job way too complicated. | ||
| It's pretty darn simple. | ||
| What did you tell the voters you were going to do when you put your name on the ballot? | ||
| If you get elected, go do what you said. | ||
| The American people elected us. | ||
| Majority in the House, majority in the Senate, 77 million voted for President Trump. | ||
| We told them what we were going to do. | ||
| Now it's time to do it. | ||
| And this is step one of that process. | ||
| Ranking member referenced the American people. | ||
| We're remembering the American people exactly what we told them why they elected us. | ||
| And to do all that, it takes resources, particularly the one that focuses on our committee, securing the border. | ||
| It takes resources to do it. | ||
| And the reason we need so many resources to secure the border is because the previous administration screwed everything up so bad. | ||
| Day one of the Biden administration, they made three decisions. | ||
| No more building the wall, no more remain in Mexico, and when you get here, you will not be detained. | ||
| You will be released. | ||
| And when you do that and advertise to the entire planet, those are the new policies, everybody comes. | ||
| 10 million people came, almost the equivalent of the entire population of the state I get the privilege of representing. | ||
| And so now to fix that, you got to find resources, you got to find savings, you got to do what we're doing in this legislation. | ||
| Because it takes personnel, it takes equipment, it takes space, it takes detention beds, it takes judges, it takes lawyers to handle our new, to secure that border and handle what needs to be done to fix what they caused, what they created. | ||
| So I want to thank the chairman and the good work he's done, the Republican members of the budget committee for putting this together. | ||
| Look, he's right. | ||
| If we don't do this, taxes are going to go up on the families across this great country. | ||
| I don't want the taxes to go up on the families I represent in the 4th District of Ohio. | ||
| I don't want that to happen. | ||
| I want the border secured. | ||
| I want to reduce spending because I know we're running trillion-dollar deficits and we piled up $36 trillion in debt. | ||
| And I want to help our national defense because it's still a dangerous world. | ||
| Just got back from Israel last week. | ||
| We know how dangerous it is. | ||
| They know how dangerous this world is. | ||
| So this bill is common sense and it's step one of a three-part process to get us to what we told the American people we were going to do, what they elected us to do. | ||
| And that's why I hope we can pass this. | ||
| I urge a yes vote. | ||
| And again, thank the chairman for his good work and his committee's work. | ||
| And with that, I yield back. | ||
| Thank you, Chairman. | ||
| I appreciate you. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas Reserves. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, the gentleman from Ohio is actually right. | ||
| It is a dangerous world. | ||
| And you know, Mr. Chair, what makes it more dangerous is when under this administration, the United States is voting with Russia and North Korea and Hungary and voting against every single one of our Democratic allies. | ||
| That makes a dangerous world infinitely more dangerous. | ||
| And with that, I'm happy to yield to my friend, the gentleman from California, the ranking member of the Natural Resources Committee, Mr. Hoffman. | ||
| Gentleman recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chair. | ||
| I thank the gentleman. | ||
| Four weeks. | ||
| In just four weeks, Donald Trump has sown chaos all over this country. | ||
| His administration is defying court orders, firing federal workers, freezing vital funding that our constituents depend on, impacting everything from wildfire preparations to water security and health and housing programs and a lot more. | ||
| All of this under the guise of cost savings. | ||
| But the reality is there are no meaningful savings or other benefits for average taxpayers. | ||
| Real people's lives are being turned upside down. | ||
| Our National Park Service, workers at a number of federal agencies, farmers, firefighters, everyone who depends on federal services is feeling the squeeze of this reckless agenda. | ||
| Meanwhile, Republicans are preparing their budget reconciliation bill, which is going to cost at least $4 trillion. | ||
| Now, our Republican colleagues are being coy about the specifics, but Americans can connect the dots. | ||
| You can't do a tax cut for billionaires of that magnitude without either dramatically slashing Medicaid and maybe Social Security and Medicare while you're at it, or dramatically exploding the deficit. | ||
| So, just like every other action before us, Republicans' budget is a betrayal of the American people. | ||
| They're choosing billionaires over programs everyday people depend on. | ||
| In my district alone, hundreds of thousands of people will lose Medicaid. | ||
| Tens of thousands will lose SNAP benefits that help put food on the table. | ||
| The Natural Resources Committee is tasked with finding at least a billion dollars of these savings, the billion dollars for their billionaire joyride. | ||
| Their plan is to sell off public lands, do more favors for big oil. | ||
| I yield the gentleman an additional 15 seconds. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| More favors for big oil, even though they are rolling in record profits, even though we're already producing and exporting record amounts of oil and gas. | ||
| And, of course, their old favorite, open up the Arctic Refuge for drilling, and pretend that that will bring in money as well. | ||
| Last time it brought in zero dollars when they did that in 2017. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, I'm going to vote no, urge my colleagues to vote no, and I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman from Pennsylvania Reserve. | ||
| Texas recognized. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, I yield two minutes to my friend from the great state of Michigan and also the chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee, Mr. Tim Wahlberg. | ||
| I thank my friend from Texas. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, in November, the American people delivered a clear and resolute mandate to this Congress. | ||
| Rein in out-of-control spending. | ||
| For too long, bureaucrats in Washington recklessly spent Americans' hard-earned tax dollars and drove up our national debt to nearly catastrophic levels, hurting all Americans and especially the most vulnerable. | ||
| For example, the Biden-Harris administration attempted to spend as much as $1 trillion through his illegal and irresponsible student loan bailouts. | ||
| And virtually nothing was done to control the cost of federal student loan program, meaning students will be able to take on even more in student loan debt and drive up the burden on all Americans, even those who never went to college or received a degree. | ||
| Why should we continue to spend Americans' tax dollars on a system that is clearly not working? | ||
| Something must change, and Americans are sick and tired of this wasteful spending. | ||
| With Republicans in control of the House, Senate, and White House, we have a real opportunity to cut through the waste, fraud, abuse, and falsehoods in Washington. | ||
| Reconciliation provides us with a chance to address Washington's spending problem. | ||
| Under the new Trump administration, we can cut spending, deliver on the mandate given to us by the American people, and put more money back in Americans' pockets. | ||
| I thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| And as I begin to yield back, I will await the false report on Medicaid in Michigan. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Mr. Chair, I want to disappoint the gentleman from Michigan, so I'm happy to inform him the accurate number that this bill would put 2.4 million people in Michigan at risk of losing Medicaid. | ||
| With that, I yield two minutes to the gentlewoman for Washington State, distinguished member of the or distinguished former member of the budget committee, Ms. Jayapaul. | ||
| Ladies recognized. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, this bill is a Republican betrayal of the middle class of working families across the country. | ||
| If you are at home watching this, I want you to think about what Republicans want to slash from your life so that they can lower taxes for the biggest corporations and wealthiest billionaires like Elon Musk. | ||
| They want to cut a minimum the floor of $880 billion from Medicaid, which covers health care for 72 million Americans. | ||
| Medicaid pays for nursing homes for five out of eight seniors across the country, pays for health care for 38 million kids, including over 3 million kids in Texas and 1.2 million kids in Ohio. | ||
| In fact, it pays for 64 percent of childbirths in Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise's home state of Louisiana. | ||
| Any Republican who votes for this resolution is voting for those cuts, as well as devastating cuts to nutrition and Medicare. | ||
| Don't listen to Republicans who try to say that Medicaid won't be touched. | ||
| I introduced an amendment to protect Medicaid, which they blocked during our budget markup because they intend to cut Medicaid. | ||
| Remember when Donald Trump said that he would tackle inflation and lower costs on day one? | ||
| Well, here we are, a month in, and prices are rising. | ||
| Musk has taken a literal chainsaw to tens of thousands of jobs, putting families and local economies at risk. | ||
| This budget resolution makes it clear that the only people that Republicans are willing to fight for in this country are the wealthiest billionaires who apparently now rule the country. | ||
| This is unbridled greed and corruption. | ||
| Vote no on this disastrous budget resolution. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman from Pennsylvania Reserves. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, I yield one minute to my good friend from the Cornhuskers State of Nebraska, who is also chair of Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, Mr. Adrian Smith. | ||
| Gentleman is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| The American people want us to have a thoughtful exchange here, and I want to hopefully contribute to that, especially when I hear some of the accusations made that are just off base, misleading, false. | ||
| And Warren Buffett has paid a record amount in taxes. | ||
| I think that's worth noting. | ||
| That's been in the press very widely in the last few days. | ||
| But this budget framework delivers on House Republicans and the President's promise to minimize tax burdens for Americans across the income spectrum, promote security in our communities, and unleash economic growth. | ||
| The resolution would allow us to extend the historic tax relief from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which has been enormously successful, and we know this, in allowing families to keep more of their paychecks and supercharging growth for small businesses. | ||
| If these tax cuts are allowed to expire, as we've heard, the average American would suffer. | ||
| Make no mistake. | ||
| Small businesses, family farms, so many other folks. | ||
| In addition to averting the most severe tax hike in American history, this deficit-neutral budget will reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio by 202 percentage points. | ||
| I'd like to yield another 15 seconds. | ||
| The American people, again, want us to have a thoughtful exchange on this. | ||
| Let's elevate the debate and stick to the facts, realizing we can do well for the American people by doing so. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I yield back. | |
| Gentleman from Texas Reserve. | ||
| I yield back in. | ||
| And you're recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chair. | ||
| I would remind the gentleman this bill would put 340,000 people in Nebraska at risk of losing Medicaid. | ||
| I now yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from California, member of the budget committee, Ms. Chu. | ||
| I rise in opposition to the Republican ripoff. | ||
| Budgets tell priorities, and as inflation goes up and Americans continue struggling to pay their rent, purchase groceries, and afford going to the doctor, Republicans stand united. | ||
| Sell out the working class by ripping away health care coverage and food from children to pay for tax cuts for the rich. | ||
| This is the unbelievable but real cruelty of their budget. | ||
| Make devastating cuts to Medicaid for 135,000, mostly seniors and children, in my district alone, slash SNAP benefits for thousands of hungry children and families, end ACA premium tax cuts that currently save families over $6,000 annually. | ||
| And for what? | ||
| To give $5 trillion in handouts to those who need it the least, the ultra-rich and big corporations. | ||
| And let's be clear, my Republican colleagues will declare that this resolution is necessary to extending the 2017 Trump tax scam to purportedly help the middle class. | ||
| This is a lie. | ||
| The majority of the tax cuts that they aim to extend will only benefit the rich, and the middle class will lose so many of the benefits they rely on. | ||
| In their 2017 Trump tax scam, Republicans slashed the corporate tax rate and watched 100% of those benefits flow to shareholders, billionaires, and high-paid executives. | ||
| And what did workers get? | ||
| A big, fat zero. | ||
| But even still, President Trump wants to cut the corporate tax rate by even more. | ||
| What's more, Republicans' apparent concern for fiscal responsibility is nowhere to be found. | ||
| Their budget will actually balloon our national debt in a reverse Robin Hood scheme that betrays working Americans. | ||
| Time has expired. | ||
| I'll yield the lady an additional 15 seconds. | ||
| My constituents deserve better. | ||
| All of our constituents deserve better. | ||
| I once again voice my opposition to the Republican ripoff that will do nothing to address the needs of everyday American people. | ||
|
Kentucky's Budget Concerns
00:15:46
|
||
| Gentlemen of Reserves. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas, recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| I now yield two minutes to my good friend from Arkansas and the House Chair of the Financial Services Committee, Mr. French Hill. | ||
| Thank you, Speaker. | ||
| I thank Mr. Arrington for yielding this time. | ||
| What's irresponsible to those watching this debate is the truth about the Biden-Harris policies: that when you combine irresponsible fiscal policy in this nation over the past four years and an irresponsible monetary policy, what's irresponsible, Mr. Speaker, is the fact that our families are suffering from inflation, the highest in 40 years. | ||
| It takes a $1.21 for what it cost a dollar just four years ago. | ||
| The resolution before us changes the direction. | ||
| It delivers on President Trump's agenda to put the American people first. | ||
| This resolution does protect the American people from the largest tax increase in American history. | ||
| And let's set the record straight. | ||
| The top 1% are paying more in taxes, the most they've ever paid in the history of the country. | ||
| They pay 45% of all the taxes in this country. | ||
| And yet, those, the rest of us, at less than 50%, they're paying the least amount of tax they've ever paid in American history. | ||
| This bill goes on to support border security and national defense that President Trump campaigned on and Republicans campaigned on, and it reins in wasteful spending. | ||
| It reduces our long-term debt to GDP. | ||
| And in the Financial Services Committee, we're pleased to follow the directions of the House Budget Committee and deliver on spending reforms by cutting back one of the most wasteful agencies that we have, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. | ||
| And with that, I yield back to the Chairman. | ||
| Gentlemen from Texas Reserve. | ||
| Well, Mr. Chairman, upon hearing that the richest 1% of Americans pay 45% in taxes, my heart is breaking. | ||
| I'll be sure that at church this Sunday we take up an extra collection, but God knows the billions of dollars they're about to get in this budget resolution will certainly help line their pockets. | ||
| With that, I'm happy to yield two minutes to the gentleman from the Commonwealth of Kentucky, distinguished member of the Budget Committee, Mr. McGarvey. | ||
| Gentlemen is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the Republican budget resolution and urge my colleagues to reject it for what it is: a total scam and betrayal of the middle class. | ||
| A budget isn't just a policy document. | ||
| It's a moral document. | ||
| And in their budget, the Republicans make their moral code clear. | ||
| The rich get richer, and the rest of us pay for it. | ||
| There is no reason a teacher in Louisville, Kentucky should pay more in taxes than Tesla did last year. | ||
| Kentuckians, let's talk about how this budget will hurt you. | ||
| This budget mandates at least $880 billion of cuts to Medicaid, $230 billion of cuts to take meals away from seniors, veterans, and kids, and at least $330 billion of cuts to our public schools. | ||
| Let me make this clear for those of you watching from Kentucky. | ||
| If you are one of the 1.4 million people in the Commonwealth who gets health insurance through Connect, Republicans are coming for your health care. | ||
| If you have a kid in JCPS, Republicans are coming after their education, fewer teachers, fewer opportunities, and no more free school lunch. | ||
| If you are one of our veterans or our seniors or the one in five Kentucky kids going hungry as we speak, Republicans want to take away your next meal. | ||
| It's wrong. | ||
| I met with over a thousand of my constituents this weekend. | ||
| They're angry. | ||
| I'm angry too, because this budget hurts people. | ||
| And for what? | ||
| So Elon Musk can get even richer? | ||
| It's a scam. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Gentlemen from Pennsylvania Reserves. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, I yield one minute to the gentleman from North Carolina, also a budget committee member who's helped us draft this budget framework, Mr. Chuck Edwards. | ||
| Recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chair. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, first of all, I'd just like to acknowledge the great work that our budget chairman has done to bring us to this point today. | ||
| It's taken him hundreds of hours and tested his blood pressure quite seriously to get us to this point. | ||
| And I rise today in firm support of this resolution. | ||
| In November last year, 77 million Americans demanded changes in how our federal government is working for them, particularly in the disastrous policies from the last four years. | ||
| And I plan to help deliver on those demands by fixing how Washington works and implementing President Trump's agenda to make America first. | ||
| This resolution gives us the framework that we need to meet the demands of those 77 million Americans. | ||
| Those demands include fixing our border, this crisis once and for all. | ||
| This resolution does that. | ||
| Those demands include unleashing American energy. | ||
| This resolution does that. | ||
| Gentlemen, time has expired. | ||
| Mr. Chair, I urge strong support for this resolution. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| Thank you, Chairman. | ||
| Reserves. | ||
| Mr. Chair, may I inquire as to how much time remains on each side? | ||
| 15 and a quarter minutes remaining for Pennsylvania. | ||
| 15 and a quarter on this side. | ||
| Right. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| And I would remind the gentleman that just spoke, this bill would put 2.8 million people in North Carolina at risk of losing Medicaid. | ||
| Now with that, Mr. Chair, I'm happy to yield two minutes to the gentleman from Rhode Island, a distinguished member of the budget committee, Mr. Amo. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mr. Speaker, I ask myself two questions on every vote. | |
| Who does this benefit? | ||
| Who does this hurt? | ||
| Today, the answers are clear. | ||
| This Republican budget resolution would benefit the richest 1%. | ||
| Who would it hurt? | ||
| Working-class families struggling to make ends meet. | ||
| It threatens third graders in my hometown of Pawtucket who rely on the community eligibility provision to eat school, breakfast, and lunch. | ||
| It threatens a new mom on Aquitneck Island who needs Medicaid to afford postpartum care. | ||
| And it threatens seniors in East Providence who depend on Medicaid's home and community-based services to stay connected to their loved ones as they age at home. | ||
| All of these ordinary Americans would get hurt. | ||
| For what? | ||
| To pay for tax cuts for the rich. | ||
| Don't believe me, look at the numbers. | ||
| The Republican plan could slash $230 billion from SNAP and $880 billion from Medicaid. | ||
| Two proposals which allow them to turn around and shovel $1.1 trillion in tax giveaways to the richest 1%. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, when I first read through this resolution, I thought surely it must be a mistake. | ||
| There's no way that Republicans would intentionally hurt working Americans, right? | ||
| Wrong. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Democrats tried to stop the madness over and over, but Republicans refused to listen. | |
| Just yesterday, Republicans refused to consider my amendment to block cuts to SNAP and programs that provide free and reduced-priced lunches for students. | ||
| You heard that right. | ||
| Republicans want to make it harder for hungry children to eat. | ||
| Republicans also refused to join me in supporting Medicaid. | ||
| It provides health coverage to 72 million Americans, including over 300,000 Rhode Islanders. | ||
| That's not a typo. | ||
| Republicans are putting the needs of billionaires above the needs of ordinary Americans. | ||
| If that isn't a betrayal, I don't know what is. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman yields, gentlemen from Pennsylvania Reserves, gentlemen from Texas. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, I yield one minute to the gentleman from the Tar Hills State of North Carolina, also Budget Committee member and good friend Mr. Addison McDowell. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman from North Carolina is recognized. | |
| I thank the Chairman for yielding. | ||
| And while we may not agree on whose state has better barbecue, one thing we do agree on is that today is a momentous day. | ||
| Not for one party, but for all Americans. | ||
| Today, we take a giant step towards fulfilling the mandate given by millions of Americans. | ||
| For too long, the people's interests have been drowned out by an agenda pursued by elite left-wing politicians. | ||
| You see, elite left-wing politicians don't feel the impact of their reckless policies. | ||
| Whether it be pursuing open border policies or policies that fuel inflation, it's normal citizens who feel the impact. | ||
| Today, we start the process of restoring America's strength rather than pursue a reckless ideological joyride agenda. | ||
| This resolution paves the way for historic investment in our country's border security, permanent tax relief for the middle class, getting rid of the inflation tax that's hit the working class, and rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse throughout our government. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, Americans demand better. | ||
| This resolution does that. | ||
| I urge you yes vote and yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Ms. Expired, gentlemen from Texas Reserves, gentlemen from Pennsylvania. | |
| Well done. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chair. | ||
| I would remind the gentleman this bill would put 2.8 million people in North Carolina at risk of losing Medicaid. | ||
| I now yield two minutes to the gentleman from Florida, member of the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Moskowitz. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman is recognized for two minutes. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| You know, today, Representative Thomas Massey, who is a budget hawk who walks around with the debt clock, which by the way, I bought it's $99 on his website, or on a website, talked about today that the Republican budget, if the Republican budget passes, the budget deficit doesn't get better, it gets worse. | ||
| And then Elon Musk commented and he said, that sounds bad. | ||
| Boy, that is awkward. | ||
| I mean, you know how much we hate it when you guys fight amongst each other. | ||
| And, you know, so that wasn't enough, right? | ||
| Then Representative Massey went to the meeting, the Republican meeting, where the budget was being discussed, and he came out and he said, you know what? | ||
| They convinced me. | ||
| They convinced me that he's a no. | ||
| And the reason he's a no is he said over the next three years, it's going to add almost a trillion dollars to the debt. | ||
| And he said, and that's in the most best case, the most rosy scenario. | ||
| And then he said that's a lie. | ||
| Man. | ||
| You know, so this clock that we have that has the debt, you know, it's still going up. | ||
| Doge has not yet reversed it. | ||
| And I say that as a member of the Doge caucus who wants to shrink the size of government and cut spending. | ||
| But this 36, instead of your budget making it a 35, it's going to make it a 37. | ||
| We're going to go to $37 trillion in debt. | ||
| And so look, if you pass this today, this idea about Doge or the Republicans being fiscal hawks or wanting to cut spending is no longer reality. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Members are reminded to address their remarks to the Chair, Gentleman Yields, gentlemen from Sylvania, Reserves, gentlemen from Texas. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, I want to remind the gentleman that the last four years, President Biden and my Democrat colleagues set a record of $8 trillion added to the national debt. | ||
| If you add the $5 trillion in interest expense, well, I don't know that anybody's going to ever accomplish that feat. | ||
| That's $8.5 trillion borrowed a day. | ||
| And during that reign of reckless spending, they added $116,000 to the debt burden that our children will bear into the future. | ||
| With that, I recognize and yield two minutes of time to my friend from California, also a budget committee member, Mr. J. O'Brien. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman from California is recognized for two minutes. | |
| I thank my chairman of the Budget Committee and my friend from Texas for yielding. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, this year we will borrow almost $2 trillion, which represents almost a third of all federal spending. | ||
| For the first time in the history of our country this year, we will spend more on interest paying the national debt that we have already borrowed. | ||
| And in several years, three-quarters of all federal spending, borrowing, will be just to pay interest on the money that we have already borrowed. | ||
| Several years after that, we won't even have enough money to pay the interest on the national debt, which will signal a devastating default for our country. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, we cannot allow that to happen. | ||
| And yet, Mr. Speaker, we have a spending problem. | ||
| We do not have a revenue problem. | ||
| Last year, we collected more dollars in federal tax revenue than ever in the history of our country. | ||
| That's why this budget resolution is so important. | ||
| It starts us finally down the path of reducing federal spending rather than increasing federal spending, and it does it without increasing taxes on hardworking Americans. | ||
| That's why I'm proud to urge a yes vote. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlemen yield. | |
| Gentlemen from Texas Reserves, gentlemen from Pennsylvania. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chair. | ||
| I would remind the gentleman this bill would put 13.4 million people in California at risk of losing Medicaid. | ||
| With that, Mr. Chair, I now yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from Vermont, a great member of the budget committee, Ms. Ballant. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlewoman is recognized for two minutes. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to the Republican budget. | ||
| Here's the deal. | ||
| Republicans have the House. | ||
| They have the Senate. | ||
| They have the White House. | ||
| And they could be passing legislation to actually make your lives better, to lower costs on groceries, on prescription drugs. | ||
| They could be lowering the cost of housing. | ||
| But instead, they are attacking the very programs that working and middle-class families rely on this country. | ||
| It is a betrayal. | ||
| We were sent here, all of us. | ||
| We were sent here to work on behalf of the people back home. | ||
| We were sent here to lower costs for people, to alleviate suffering. | ||
| And I know that my colleagues were as well. | ||
|
Why They Increase Deficit
00:06:25
|
||
| So I ask you, why are they letting Trump do this? | ||
| Why? | ||
| This Republican budget doesn't do anything to address the costs that working people are facing. | ||
| They have proposed a budget that gives massive, massive tax cuts to the wealthiest and corporations in this country. | ||
| And how will they pay for it? | ||
| They will pay for it by making deep cuts to Medicare to the tune of $880 billion and deep cuts to SNAP benefits. | ||
| That's right, taking food away from families who need it. | ||
| And they will be increasing the deficit. | ||
| So it is long past time for them to stop lecturing us about the debt when they know full well that their math is not maving. | ||
| They are adding to the deficit with this program, and they are literally giving the money away to the wealthiest who do not need it. | ||
| When I vote on this Republican budget, I will be thinking of all the working families back home in Vermont, people who sent me here to work on their behalf, not against them. | ||
| I'm thinking of families who worry that they won't have Head Start. | ||
| I'm thinking about the people who, thank you so much. | ||
| I'm thinking about the small businesses in Vermont who have reached out to me to say that Trump's proposed tax war with Canada, tariff war, is going to crush them. | ||
| I'm thinking about the 150,000 Vermonters who are dependent on Medicaid. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to reach an unfair budget, and I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman's Times Expired, Gentleman from Pennsylvania Reserves, gentlemen from Texas. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| I yield a minute to the gentleman from Wisconsin, Mr. Glenn Grothman, also my colleague on the House Budget Committee. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| I think I have to address some of the things that I think are out of line or misspoke with regard to the other party today. | ||
| First of all, I want to point out there are not a lot of details in this budget. | ||
| The budget has a lot of top-line numbers in which we try to keep tax cuts that went into effect eight years ago in effect because we need a strong economy with high employment. | ||
| But there are no specific cuts in here. | ||
| The frustrating thing I hear from the other side is that they're taking out that any cut or any reduction in spending is a problem. | ||
| Let me remind people: 26% of the current level spending for the current year is borrowed. | ||
| That should be of huge concern to everybody. | ||
| The average American has about $100,000 their share of a debt. | ||
| Think of that. | ||
| A family of four has $400,000 in their share of the debt. | ||
| The average person or the average American in the budget coming up this year will be spending about $20,000. | ||
| I yield the gentleman another 15 seconds. | ||
| Just follow up one more time. | ||
| Remember, America has to know that 26% of every Social Security dollar, 26% of every new tank, 20% of every new education dollar is borrowed. | ||
| And at a time where interest rates are going, interest costs are going up. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you, Commissioner. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlemen's Times Expired. | |
| Gentlemen from Texas Reserves, gentlemen from Pennsylvania. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chair. | ||
| I would remind the gentleman this bill would put 1.2 million people in the Badger state at risk of losing Medicaid. | ||
| With that, I'm very happy to yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, distinguished member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Ms. Presley. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlewoman is recognized. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of the Massachusetts 7th Congressional District. | ||
| As the House prepares to vote on a truly horrifying Republican budget resolution, one void of empathy or common sense, I'm thinking of and censoring the people in my district who stand to be harmed the most. | ||
| Families in Matapan who receive their health care through MassHealth, the Medicaid program from Massachusetts. | ||
| Mothers in Chelsea who rely on SNAP to feed their babies. | ||
| Disabled veterans in Randolph who receive life-saving care and benefits through the VA. | ||
| Families in Roxbury who rely on Head Start for child care. | ||
| This Republican majority said they'd spend the next two years cutting costs for the middle class, but the only thing they're cutting is trillions of dollars from life-saving programs our communities depend on to make ends meet. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, this has never been about efficiency. | ||
| Tell me how it is efficient to make people across this country sicker, hungrier, poorer, more vulnerable. | ||
| Tell me how it is efficient to buy more toy rockets for Donald Trump's billionaire friends while parents can't afford groceries. | ||
| The cruelty is the point. | ||
| What a callous shame and a sham. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to stand with the people, protect families, and reject this shameful budget resolution. | ||
| In the words of a righteous faith leader whose place of worship Donald Trump recently attended, have mercy. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I yield. | |
| Gentleman Yield, gentlemen from Pennsylvania, reserves, gentlemen from Texas. | ||
| Well, Mr. Chairman, I think God had mercy on this country, and he's given us a shot, a shot now to turn this country around and to give it back to the American people and to return to common sense policies to put the American people first and to clean up the mess in Washington, D.C. | ||
| And we've seen the exposure of the waste and the woke and the bloat. | ||
|
A Steady Diet of Fiscal Responsibility
00:08:08
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| And it's immoral to hand our country like this to the next generation. | ||
| We're long overdue to get our fiscal house in order, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| And the American people deserve to keep more of their money. | ||
| The American people deserve fiduciaries in Congress that will take care to steward their tax dollars. | ||
| And the people who need these programs that we created for the most vulnerable, they deserve to have the programs without having folks siphon off monies or people ineligible draining those programs. | ||
| We got a lot of work to do. | ||
| We won't be intimidated by the rhetoric. | ||
| We won't be scared into paralysis anymore as a Republican Party. | ||
| We're standing up with our president and fearless leader, Mr. Donald J. Trump. | ||
| And we know the American people are behind us 100%. | ||
| We're leaning in. | ||
| And we're going to save this country. | ||
| And we're going to give our children a fighting chance at the blessings of liberty and the land of opportunity. | ||
| With that, I yield two minutes to my good friend, who is a fighter for our freedom and fiscal sanity. | ||
| He's on the budget committee from South Carolina, Mr. Norman. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman from South Carolina is recognized for two minutes. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise in full support of the House budget resolution. | ||
| And Jody, I just want to thank you for the yeoman's work that you've done. | ||
| You've stood tall and you stood strong. | ||
| You know, for those who are watching on TV and for those of you who are listening, you know, we've got a steady diet of the same old worn-out tactics, rich, poor, divinity politics, taking children, food from hungry children. | ||
| You hadn't used Granny is going over the cliff yet, but I assume that's coming. | ||
| You know, my question to my good friends on the other side, where were you the last four years? | ||
| Where were you? | ||
| We got a steady diet of high inflation. | ||
| We got a steady diet of 15 million illegals coming across this country, using every public school, every hospital, not being a citizen, draining the payroll, and draining the economy of America. | ||
| What about the empathy for the poor unaccompanied children who came over here and are in sex trades and if they're still living, many of them, well over 400,000 children? | ||
| What about the inflation at every level? | ||
| Where were you the last four years? | ||
| House prices, where were you? | ||
| Interest rates. | ||
| You were nowhere to be found. | ||
| Where were your solutions? | ||
| You didn't have any because we've got a total two worldviews. | ||
| You think taxes paid by Americans is your money to spend like you want. | ||
| Elon Musk and what Donald Trump are doing are identifying the waste. | ||
| Let the American people judge. | ||
| 77 million Americans judged on who they thought could lead this country, and it wasn't an NFT president who couldn't give a press conference if he had to or read a thank-you card. | ||
| That's who you put up with for four years. | ||
| And folks, the past is the judge of the future. | ||
| This bill, I would love to have $5 trillion in cuts, but we've got more. | ||
| I'll yield the gentleman another 30 seconds. | ||
| We've got more to go. | ||
| This is the first step. | ||
| The journey starts with the first step. | ||
| We're going to fight and we're going to stop the policies that have bankrupted this country that y'all have indicated, that y'all have put up with for the last four years. | ||
| Time's up. | ||
| It's time for a new day. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman yields. | |
| Members are reminded to direct their comments to the chair, gentlemen from Texas, Reserves, gentlemen from Pennsylvania. | ||
| Mr. Chair, I would remind the gentleman that this bill would put one million people in South Carolina at risk of losing Medicaid. | ||
| But I appreciate the previous speaker's candor, his saying that he wants $5 trillion worth of cuts, and to quote him, this is only the beginning. | ||
| So I hope that every middle-class American hears that and knows what is coming. | ||
| That by his own words, this is just the beginning. | ||
| This is bad enough. | ||
| What are we talking about? | ||
| $880 billion worth of cuts to Medicaid and the ACA, $230 billion worth of cuts to nutrition programs, $330 billion of cuts to student loan programs, Pell Grants, Head Start, school lunches, and more and more. | ||
| And why? | ||
| Also, tax cuts worth $4.5 trillion can go to the richest 1% of Americans. | ||
| With that, Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield two minutes to a wonderful new member of this body, the gentlewoman from New Jersey, a distinguished member of the Transportation Committee, Ms. Poe. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlewoman is recognized for two minutes. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise for the first speech on the floor of this body to reject the Republican so-called budget. | ||
| I came to Congress to help my constituents. | ||
| I came here to provide direct relief to struggling Americans and lift people up. | ||
| This Republican budget does none of those things. | ||
| It is nothing more than a blueprint for cruelty. | ||
| This GOP budget will destroy Medicaid and take health care away from millions of Americans. | ||
| In my district alone, this could strip health care from the 215,000 people on Medicaid, blow up hospital budgets, raise insurance premiums, and all to give trillions in tax cuts to the millionaires. | ||
| Another cash giveaway to the super rich at the expense of ruining American lives. | ||
| I reject and I intend to vote no to this cruel Republican budget and yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| From Pennsylvania Reserves, gentlemen from Texas. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, my good friend and ranking member made a comment about Mr. Ralph Norman from South Carolina and said, listen closely to what he said. | ||
| He'd like to cut $5 trillion from the budget. | ||
| Well, you know what? | ||
| My name to that list because the GAO says there's $5 trillion of fraud throughout the four corners of this federal government. | ||
| That's the people's money. | ||
| And we ought to spend every waking hour together across the aisle, bipartisan, to go and root out that waste and fraud that is fleecing the taxpayers. | ||
| So you can count me in the camp of Mr. Ralph Norman when the government accountability office says that there are $5 trillion of defrauding the people's government and the people's money. | ||
| You're not going to hear anybody on the other side of the aisle, and there's some good people and well-intended people. | ||
| But in this debate, you're not going to hear them talk about illegals being on welfare rolls or the fact that their president, President Joe Biden, with the stroke of a pen, welcomed illegals on to welfare and health care roles. | ||
| We can't even afford social security benefits that will, the fund of which will be insolvent within the next 10 years. | ||
| And instead, we're bringing people that aren't even citizens onto the social safety nets that are paid for by taxpayers. | ||
|
Surprised by Silence
00:02:20
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| And we're not spending that money, that precious treasure of taxpayers, to shore up Medicare and Social Security. | ||
| It makes no sense to me, but you know what? | ||
| It made no sense to the American people, and that's why they gave this president a mandate and gave this country unified Republican leadership. | ||
| Now, they are still in denial, apparently, and they're definitely disconnected from the reality of the last four years. | ||
| They may have had all the best intentions, but the pain and the suffering that the American people endured because of the reckless record trillions of dollars in spending and the failed economic policies of the last administration is real. | ||
| They didn't forget it. | ||
| And they voted with that acid test, that fundamental question: is my life better today? | ||
| There's never been, I don't think in American history, a clearer contrast between the two parties, back-to-back, Republican total control in 17 and 18, Democrat unified leadership on the heels of that, the philosophies, the values, the worldviews, the policies, and the consequences borne by the American people. | ||
| And they have chosen a very different path, and they have asked us to reverse course and to reverse the curse that looms not only over this country, but our children's future. | ||
| And I'm just, I am surprised that I haven't heard one sentence about the waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government at $5 trillion. | ||
| I'm surprised that I haven't heard any criticisms of the millions of people who've come to this country illegally and drained Medicaid, according to CBO, by billions of dollars. | ||
|
Medicaid Siphoned: Illegal vs. Vulnerable
00:07:23
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| That was a letter in response to an inquiry that we sent. | ||
| How much of the tax dollars and Medicaid are being siphoned off for people who are here illegally? | ||
| I can't believe that there's not more indignation on account of the fact that $9,000 is what we're spending on people who broke the law, violated our sovereignty, and are here in this country illegally. | ||
| And taxpayers are spending $9,000 per illegal immigrant for social services that That were intended for the United States citizens. | ||
| And that $9,000 represents more money than we spend on our own vulnerable American citizens on Medicaid. | ||
| But you're not going to hear any of that today. | ||
| But the American people know better. | ||
| They've always had the better judgment, and they made the right call. | ||
| And we aim to deliver for them. | ||
| I don't know if my colleagues here, how much time do I have, Mr. Chairman, remaining? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Ms. Remaining. | |
| I reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman Reserves, gentlemen from Pennsylvania. | |
| May I inquire as to how much time I have remaining? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman has four and a quarter minutes remaining. | |
| I am prepared to close. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman is recognized. | |
| Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| I yield myself the balance of my time. | ||
| First, let me say before my closing, my good friend and chair of the budget committee, and we've worked closely together in opposition a lot of the time, but actually in agreement some of the time with some real achievements, though not today. | ||
| He said something that really interests me, that there's this GAO report showing $5 trillion of fraud. | ||
| Well, I certainly would be interested in seeing that report. | ||
| The size of the entire budget every year is only $6.5 trillion. | ||
| So how in the world $5 trillion out of $6.5 trillion is really fraud? | ||
| I find that a little hard to believe. | ||
| Now, Mr. Chairman, we are at a pivotal moment. | ||
| I said at the beginning of this debate some two and a half hours ago that this budget resolution represents the Republican betrayal of the middle class. | ||
| For the last two and a half hours, you have heard speaker after speaker on my side expose exactly why that is so. | ||
| First and foremost, and I think most crucially, the $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid, the largest cuts in American history to Medicaid. | ||
| Why is that important? | ||
| 72 million Americans rely on Medicaid. | ||
| Another 20 million rely and get their health care through the Affordable Care Act. | ||
| They are also at risk. | ||
| We have heard further that while those are the biggest cuts, there are even more. | ||
| Hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to nutrition assistance, school lunch programs, Pell Grants, Head Starts, and the list goes on and on. | ||
| And why? | ||
| All to deliver $4.5 trillion of tax cuts to the richest 1% of Americans. | ||
| And let's not forget the fact that in order to cover the rest of the costs of those tax cuts, they are increasing the debt limit by $4 trillion. | ||
| They like to talk about debt and how horrible it is, but this piece of legislation will make our debt situation far worse. | ||
| This is the Republican betrayal of the middle class. | ||
| Day after day, in my home state of Pennsylvania, you had candidates from both sides talking about how the number one priority should be to lower costs for Americans. | ||
| The President made that promise. | ||
| He said he would do it on day one. | ||
| Well, here we are, more than a month in. | ||
| Not one executive order, not one bill to lower costs for the American people. | ||
| Instead, we have this bill to take money from the middle class and give it to those who need it the least. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I am proud to lead the opposition to this Republican betrayal of the middle class. | ||
| I urge every member of this House to vote no. | ||
| With that, I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman Yields. | |
| The gentleman from Texas is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, I'd like to make my closing remarks, consume as much time as we have on the clock here. | ||
| But let me also pay respects to my ranking member. | ||
| He is a great guy. | ||
| He has been a really good partner. | ||
| We've done some really important things together on a bipartisan basis. | ||
| In fact, we've passed more bipartisan legislation to fix the broken budget process, which doesn't serve either party in this institution well. | ||
| And I give him equal credit, if not more credit, because when you're in the minority, there's tremendous pressure not to work with the majority. | ||
| But he's an American first. | ||
| And we may disagree, but I know where his heart is. | ||
| Now, let me answer the question of the ranking member. | ||
| The $5 trillion is a CBO score. | ||
| That's a 10-year budget window score, just like the $2 trillion that we have as a goal to reduce reckless, wasteful, and fraudulent spending. | ||
| Now, Mr. Chairman, the reconciliation process is generally to reconcile the House and Senate budgets, but more than a process for matching up revenues and outlays. | ||
| This exercise, more importantly, is reconciling the difference between the American people's interest, expectations, and values and a federal government that has totally lost its way, forgotten who it serves, and too often has failed to faithfully and fairly and efficiently execute the laws of the land. | ||
| And if we learned anything from the November election, it's that the American people want a strong country. | ||
| They want a competent leader, common sense policies, and they want all of us to put America first. | ||
| And that's what this budget resolution does. | ||
| I'd like to think of this budget resolution as a promissory note to our children to preserve the land of liberty and opportunity by safeguarding it from an unwieldy government with unbridled spending, taxing, and regulating that threatens to destroy it. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, I said this in the Budget Committee, and I'm going to say it now to close. | ||
|
Somewhat Unique Opportunity
00:13:02
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| The era of wasteful, woke, and weaponized government is over, and this budget resolution will be its tombstone. | ||
| Here lies one of the darkest chapters in American history. | ||
| Open borders, record crime, lawlessness, feckless foreign policies, cost of living crises, enough. | ||
| It's time to reverse the curse. | ||
| It's time to reverse the reckless spending, the failed policies, do the first and most important job of the federal government, keep the American people safe. | ||
| That's exactly what we intend to do, and that's exactly what we've delivered with this framework. | ||
| So, Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to vote yes on House Concurrent Resolution 14, and I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman, Mr. Schweikert, and the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Beyer, each will control 30 minutes on the subject of economic goals and policies. | |
| Chair now recognizes the gentleman from Arizona, Mr. Schweikert. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| I yield myself as much time as I may consume. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlemen's recognized. | |
| And Mr. Chairman and to the minority, I first want to apologize to everyone. | ||
| I have one of my crappy lung infections, so at some point, I'm going to start coughing and doing an inhaler. | ||
| Just ignore me. | ||
| Somehow I thought that'd be funnier. | ||
| Mr. Chairman and to my good friend Mr. Beyer, this I think is somewhat of a unique opportunity for those of us from the Joint Economic Committee. | ||
| We actually take math seriously. | ||
| We don't always see things alike, but the fact of the matter is the Joint Economic Committee, I think started in 1956, has this remarkable history of some of the world's greatest economists coming and speaking before it and walking us through it. | ||
| And that's why this moment we're going to try to do something that's special. | ||
| Instead of just sort of sharing feelings, I'm going to ask us to share math. | ||
| And within that, we're going to walk through what's actually in the budget resolution. | ||
| This is a reconciliation budget. | ||
| It's not a regular budget. | ||
| This is a budget that opens up the ability because the insanity we go through of moving something through the Senate in its 60 votes. | ||
| So the 1974 Budget Control Act, this is the dance we go through. | ||
| The other thing I'm going to try to walk through is where the actual math lays in the box that's been given to us by the budget committee. | ||
| And then the part I'm going to do, the Schweikert little bit of hope, is is this the moment? | ||
| Is this the moment of policy that actually forces us, both the left and the right, that if there's cuts, modernization, changes, updates in methodology of how we deliver services, is this the stressor that makes us do something that's hard, but also do something that's truthful? | ||
| I'm also going to try repeatedly to make the point, Mr. Chairman, and show why we are primarily doing this. | ||
| We have a handful, actually a bunch of provisions of the 2017 tax reform that begin to expire. | ||
| Most of these, most of those provisions actually the benefit of small businesses and the working class. | ||
| And I will show that over and over and the distributional effects. | ||
| And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield. | ||
| Excuse me. | ||
| I reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman Reserves. | |
| The gentleman from Virginia is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to this budget resolution and I yield such time as I may consume. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlemen is recognized. | |
| Mr. Speaker, this budget is disastrous for the American economy. | ||
| It will balloon our deficits, it will lead to higher interest rates, and it will make the things Americans buy every day more expensive. | ||
| It will slash critical investments in the things that make us healthier, safer, and more productive. | ||
| Things like cancer research, aviation security, and our national park system. | ||
| And it will decimate critical programs that support the people we represent, stripping health care for millions and make it harder for families to put food on the table and make ends meet. | ||
| All of this for billionaires and corporations that get tax cuts they do not need and that our country cannot afford. | ||
| I'm pleased to do this with my friend, Chairman Swikert. | ||
| I also believe in math, and I rarely brag, but I'm good at math. | ||
| Americans have been clear. | ||
| They want lower prices and an economy that works for them. | ||
| Yet instead of focusing on making life easier for American families, at every turn, this administration and our Republican colleagues have engaged in a scorched earth policy, a policy that creates chaos across the country as the richest person on the planet eliminates services that our nation depends upon. | ||
| My friend from South Carolina earlier said the policies would bankrupt our country. | ||
| What's he mean? | ||
| Health care for our families, food for the working poor who overwhelmingly live in Republican districts? | ||
| Sure, get rid of any identified bloat, as every president does. | ||
| But this is a budget about billionaires, not about the American women, men, and children we represent. | ||
| Yes, I want to move towards a much smaller budget deficit. | ||
| I listen to David Swikert every closing afternoon during his special order hours. | ||
| I hate the higher interest costs. | ||
| But who pays? | ||
| Our families or the 1,000 billionaires, that small percentage, 1% or less, of American population that has way more wealth than they could ever spend in lifetimes to come. | ||
| You know, this budget depends on my Republicans have long sung from the altar of fiscal responsibility, yet the plan they put in front of us today is a fiscal sacrilege. | ||
| It depends on fantasy math. | ||
| It ignores that their deficit-busting tax breaks will add at least $4.6 billion, trillion dollars, on our nation's credit card, adding even more interest that our families must pay. | ||
| And this interest has real costs. | ||
| It slows economic growth. | ||
| It depresses the standard of living. | ||
| It leads to higher inflation and higher interest rates. | ||
| And it makes it even harder for families already faced with high prices and borrowing costs to make ends meet. | ||
| Wasteful, woke, and weaponized policies, my friend from Texas said. | ||
| That's a very small percentage of the federal budget. | ||
| You're going to never achieve what's in this budget resolution on wasteful, woke, and weaponized policies. | ||
| So what is this Republican plan? | ||
| How do they address? | ||
| They double down on the policies that will widen the growing wealth grab this nation by giving billionaires trillions in handouts while providing pennies to the middle class. | ||
| According to the Treasury Department, the top 1% of Americans, those making over $750,000 a year, can expect to get an annual tax cut of over $32,000. | ||
| Working families will see a tiny fraction of that. | ||
| Of course, the other main beneficiaries will be the wealthiest executives of the wealthiest corporations at a time when corporate profits are at an all-time high. | ||
| Americans who rely on government services will be told they need to make sacrifices to pad those profit margins even further. | ||
| How does that make any sense? | ||
| To pay for these tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy, the Republican budget proposes to cut programs Americans rely on to afford health care and to put food on the table. | ||
| Almost 100 million Americans, including seniors, children, families, and those from every corner of this country, depend on Medicaid in the Affordable Care Act to afford medical care. | ||
| Yet this budget would slash almost $900 billion from these critical programs, ripping away life-saving coverage and raising health care costs for those who rely on them. | ||
| And at a time when prices at the grocery stores continue to climb, this budget would make it even harder for the 40 million Americans who rely on SNAP to put food on the table. | ||
| The budget we are considering today will nothing to support the economic growth of this nation. | ||
| It will benefit the wealthiest at the expense of those who make this country work. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to reject it. | ||
| With that, I reserve, Madam Speaker. | ||
| The gentleman from Virginia Reserves. | ||
| The gentleman from Arizona is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Madam Chairman. | ||
| All right, let's, I've got to figure out: do I sit here and just spend my time correcting things that are mathematically not true or not in the design of what's actually here, or just over and over say how much I like working with Mr. Beyer as my because one day you'll be the chair and I'll be in your position. | ||
| So let's actually walk through some basic math together. | ||
| What will our spending be this year? | ||
| It will be $7 trillion. | ||
| What is actually in the cuts? | ||
| Remember, the horrible draconian cuts is a $120 billion in a year. | ||
| So $7 trillion, a trillion is $1,000 billion for those of you who are math dysfunctional. | ||
| Let's walk through. | ||
| And $120 billion is the Armageddon. | ||
| So let's actually have a little, and I'm probably going to end up using these a couple times here because I think they make a point. | ||
| The way a reconciliation budget is laid out, it creates a series of boxes. | ||
| Here's all these authorizing committees. | ||
| We need you to find savings. | ||
| We need you to find those savings through modernization, through waste and fraud. | ||
| And we're going to spend a little time actually talking about some great documents even the Biden administration produced on waste and fraud. | ||
| And I'm sure every member here has actually read them and some of the other articles we have from Wall Street Journal doing on Medicare Advantage and all these others. | ||
| And many of them, when all added up, are trillion-plus dollars. | ||
| Are we capable of actually being intellectually honest and walking through? | ||
| So one of the charts, and we're going to come back to this again, is you've been hearing the Armageddon being said, but it's Medicaid. | ||
| Look, I used to do my state's Medicaid budgets. | ||
| Now, Arizona has a somewhat unique system. | ||
| We actually buy managed care, capitated policies for our indigent population, and it's remarkably effective. | ||
| And we deliver remarkably effective health care cheaper than almost every other state in the country, demonstrating that actually planned design, managed design, actually can both be much healthier for our society and save money. | ||
| But you don't actually start to have those revolutionary conversations in Congress until you have moments of stress like this. | ||
| So once again, I just want to add, in the document, 96% of the budget authority within energy and commerce is not touched. | ||
| We're talking 4% of their budget authority. | ||
| And that's spread over a decade. | ||
| If we can't find 4% of modernization in these programs, we're actually in much more trouble, much more trouble, than even just the brain trust here as we tell our stories. | ||
|
House Republicans' Choice Vote
00:04:01
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||
| And with that, Madam Chair, I reserve. | ||
| The gentleman from Arizona reserves. | ||
| The gentleman from Virginia is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Madam Speaker. | ||
| While we're doing math, when I divide $2 trillion in savings and cuts over 10 years, I get $200 billion a year. | ||
| With that, let me recognize the gentlelady from Massachusetts, the whip of the House Democratic Caucus, Ms. Clark. | ||
| How much time? | ||
| For four minutes, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| The gentlewoman's recognized for four minutes. | ||
| Thank you, Madam Chair. | ||
| Despite all the promises on the campaign trail, House Republicans have chosen to do three things with their majority: raise the cost of putting food on the table, raise the cost of getting health care, and use that money, deserving taxpayers' money, to cut billionaires' taxes. | ||
| That's it. | ||
| That's the agenda. | ||
| And let's look at the scale of what they're sacrificing. | ||
| Funding that feeds 15 million children. | ||
| A program that pays for half of all the births in America. | ||
| A service that keeps nursing homes and health centers' doors open. | ||
| All to cut Elon's taxes. | ||
| If that sounds outrageous to you, Madam Chair, and I sure hope it does, you are not alone. | ||
| Let's be clear about the kind of money we're talking about. | ||
| You know what it costs to keep a kid on Medicaid? | ||
| $10 a day. | ||
| How about keeping that child fed with SNAP benefits? | ||
| $6 a day. | ||
| What do Republicans want to give away to the already rich? | ||
| $6 million per billionaire. | ||
| Think about that. | ||
| For a billionaire, $6 million is not even a rounding error. | ||
| For a hungry child, it's enough to eat every single day for 34 lifetimes. | ||
| Inflicting hunger on children to give billionaires money they don't need and won't even notice, there is no moral code under which that is acceptable. | ||
| There is no public demand for it. | ||
| There is no logical reason for it other than total fealty to billionaire donors, billionaires who will never feel they have enough. | ||
| I'll close with a family that has been on my mind. | ||
| A mom-to-be, five months pregnant. | ||
| She and her husband are happy, they're in love, and they are excited for their daughter to arrive. | ||
| But every month, their budget is tight. | ||
| They get a little bit of help from food pantries, but sometimes, even if they arrive by 6 a.m., the food is already gone. | ||
| Without the SNAP program, the mom said, I honestly don't know what we would do. | ||
| Honestly, don't know what we would do. | ||
| Every Republican has a choice to make with this vote. | ||
| Will they vote to keep that mom and her daughter fed, or will they keep patting the pockets of those who will not even notice? | ||
| The American people can forgive a lot, but they will not forgive this betrayal. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I yield back. | |
|
Functionally 1.2 Shock Absorber
00:04:10
|
||
| The gentleman from Virginia Reserves, the gentleman from Arizona is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Madam. | ||
| Look, I love public policy by storytelling, but this being the Joint Economic Committee, let's actually go back to math. | ||
| And to Mr. Beyer, I want to make sure I'm communicating right, but at least we're down to, instead of the Armageddon, his number was: well, if you cut $2 trillion over 10 years, that's $200 billion. | ||
| He's right, but that's actually not what's in the document here. | ||
| It's functionally 1.2 with a shock absorber. | ||
| Once again, I'll give you the shock absorber, depending on what Ways and Means ultimately does. | ||
| So thank you again. | ||
| I mean, it shows actually we're fairly close on math. | ||
| Another thing, and this is just someone who actually had worked on the tax reform in 2017 and the storytelling that has existed, particularly with my brothers and sisters on the left. | ||
| Madam Chairwoman, how would you feel if I could document to you that the post-2017 tax reform was more progressive? | ||
| Now, there were lower rates, but the top portion of income earners actually were paying a higher percentage of federal income tax. | ||
| So when you actually start looking at this, remember, and this is the distributional problem that I was going to try to walk through. | ||
| I believe when you do the math here, 5% of the population, now these are people making stunning amounts of money. | ||
| And if we want to have a discussion, should they pay more, guess what? | ||
| This opens up that discussion because there are no rates locked into this. | ||
| It just creates the capacity to now have the discussion. | ||
| But the fact of the matter, the top 5% pay 38% of all federal income taxes. | ||
| Half, functionally half the workers in the United States pay less than 1%. | ||
| And what is it? | ||
| The bottom, and I'll take a correction if someone actually knows the actual number. | ||
| I think the bottom 25% actually receives more because substantially earned income tax credit, which is the old negative income tax model. | ||
| Look, we have a distributional problem. | ||
| If you want to have a discussion of wealth and income equality, I have some great charts to show you of what inflation did, what the previous functionally three and a half years of inflation did to wealth in the working class. | ||
| When you inflate up people who have assets and you crush those who are trying to survive, congratulations. | ||
| But remember, before the pandemic, under the TCJA, the tax reforms of 2017, it was the fastest closure of income inequality in American history. | ||
| What's being discussed here is do you allow those very tax benefits for small businesses, for individuals, to expire. | ||
| Now, we don't get a huge economic pop from continuing them. | ||
| You maintain consumption, but we know if you don't do them, that loss of consumption in those populations actually really hurts us economically. | ||
| I'm going to reserve in a moment, but then we're going to come back and we're going to talk about some of the other provisions that were just, once again, Madam Chair, just trying to create the capacity so we can actually have the more elegant debate of what should the distributional effects be? | ||
|
Madam Chair's Request
00:15:39
|
||
| Where do we get the most economic growth from? | ||
| And next time we're going to come back, let's actually do a bit of where the economic growth can come from and we'll walk through what the model of expensing and those things. | ||
| And with that, I reserve. | ||
| The gentleman from Arizona Reserve, the gentleman from Virginia is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Madam Chair. | ||
| To add to the distributional impacts, the top 5% pay 38% of the taxes, but they have more than 60% of the wealth. | ||
| The bottom 7% pay very little, but live hand to mouth, including more than 12% of our children. | ||
| Madam Chair, I yield two minutes to the gentleman in California, the chairman, the distinguished chair of the House Democratic Caucus, Mr. Aguilar. | ||
| The gentleman is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| I thank the gentleman for yielding. | ||
| Thank you, Madam Chair. | ||
| I rise in opposition to this Republican budget. | ||
| House Democrats came to Congress ready to work with our Republican colleagues to lower the cost of eggs, take on price gouging, expand the child tax credit, build more housing, and put the pocketbooks of working families first. | ||
| This is what the American people told us was their top priority. | ||
| And these are the issues that drive our caucus. | ||
| Instead, Madam Chair, they have turned their attention to the only policy priority that they really care about, ensuring billionaires pay less. | ||
| My constituents can't afford eggs at the local grocery store while my Republican colleagues are fighting amongst themselves about who to hand out tax breaks to corporations or individuals. | ||
| Tesla pays $0 in federal taxes while teachers and firefighters in San Bernardino are paying more than their fair share. | ||
| Here is the reality, Madam Chair. | ||
| My Republican colleagues are going to take away health care from more than 10 million Californians to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. | ||
| This is not going to make the cost of eggs cheaper or housing less expensive, but it is going to put children and seniors who need health care at risk. | ||
| House Democrats believe that the people who work for a living ought to get a little breathing room, and the wealthy and well-connected shouldn't get special treatment. | ||
| The Republican budget is not good for the economy. | ||
| It's not good for the country, and it's a betrayal of the middle class. | ||
| I urge a no vote. | ||
| The gentleman from Virginia Reserves, the gentleman from Arizona is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Madam Chairman. | ||
| I actually made a board for what the gentleman's point was showing that within this budget recons or this reconciliation budget document, how much additional tax cuts are there for C corporations. | ||
|
unidentified
|
There's your board. | |
| Being a little sarcastic, but that's sort of a personality trait. | ||
| The fact of the matter is, once again, the talking points don't match up with the reality here. | ||
| Your taxes, everyone in this room, your taxes go up at the end of this year. | ||
| If you run a small business, a pass-through, not a C corporation, a pass-through, your taxes go up. | ||
| If you're part of an employee-owned company, so you've come together and you're managing yourselves almost like an employee co-op. | ||
| Your taxes go up. | ||
| Now, what also do I hope, but I don't know if the capacity that this creates will allow us to do it, but I sure hope so. | ||
| We have some great data, and I won't make you live through my charts, that show expensing, research and development, expensing, and expensing. | ||
| It has a cost in the 10-year window. | ||
| Okay, hopefully everyone has listened to my dozens and dozens and dozens of speeches walking through what expensing is. | ||
| Expensing is nothing more than depreciation. | ||
| Do you take it in one year or let's pretend seven years? | ||
| But you still get the exact same amount of reduction in your taxes. | ||
| It's a timing effect. | ||
| The difference is if you can take it in the first year, if you do it over seven, you have to finance it. | ||
| We actually have great economic modeling that shows when you do expense research and development, when you do expensing, you actually get a virtuous cycle of, well, we bought the piece of equipment so we do it better, faster, cheaper. | ||
| Well, our competitors just did it. | ||
| The next year, we got to do it again. | ||
| And that was one of the reasons, particularly pre-pandemic, we had that sudden spike of capital expenditures to productivity. | ||
| The punchline on that is that actually does not exist now. | ||
| It's already fading out for those C corporations, which actually have their rates already locked in, but also for all those other small businesses to make those capital expenditures. | ||
| Why is this really important? | ||
| Well, there's lots of data that shows that part of the tax code actually does, from an economic growth standpoint, create incredible vitality. | ||
| And it's a timing effect. | ||
| It's the tyranny of living within a 10-year window in our models. | ||
| I just hope that actually starts to actually elevate a little bit of the economics discussion instead of the storytelling. | ||
| And with that, I reserve. | ||
| Gentleman from Arizona Reserves. | ||
| The gentleman from Virginia is recognized. | ||
| Madam Chair, I am thrilled to yield one minute to the gentlelady from Wisconsin, a distinguished member of both the Ways and Means Committee and the Joint Economic Committee, Ms. Moore. | ||
| The gentlelady is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Thank you, Madam Speaker, and Mr. Beyer. | ||
| You know, Republicans pretend to care about the nation's debt and annual deficits, but they have instructed Ways and Means to add $4.5 trillion to the debt to provide tax cuts to the wealthiest. | ||
| Now, what we have heard from our Republican opponents here today, that if we don't pass this resolution, that everybody's taxes are going to be raised. | ||
| Well, I'll tell you what. | ||
| There will be crumbs from the master's table for the average American earning under $200,000 a year versus tax cuts for the wealthiest corporations and individuals. | ||
| That is the math. | ||
| I know how fond you are of math. | ||
| That is the arithmetic. | ||
| And let me tell you, the handouts of the wealthiest will come on the backs of the least of us. | ||
| From affordable health care to the ACA and Medicaid, veterans health care, nursing home coverage, food assistance, student loan repayment options, energy tax credits, national security, cancer research. | ||
| You all contend that 78 million people voted for this. | ||
| No, they did not. | ||
| 15 seconds. | ||
| In more seconds, Madam Chair. | ||
| Did you know 78 million people did not vote for this? | ||
| Who do you think you are fooling? | ||
| And they are not fooled by your notion that somehow these tax cuts are going to pay for themselves. | ||
| And they're backed up by all kinds of economists, the CBO, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. | ||
| Time has expired, and members are reminded, yield back. | ||
| Members are reminded to address their comments to the chair. | ||
| We reserve, please, Madam Chair. | ||
| The gentleman from Virginia Reserves, the gentleman from Arizona is recognized. | ||
| Madam Chair, average family, $2,853. | ||
| That's your crumbs. | ||
| I would argue for the average family that have been crushed by the previous three, four years in inflation. | ||
| If you don't make 27% more money in my district, you are poorer today than you were four years ago. | ||
| Having their taxes go up $2,853, and that's the average. | ||
| And I promise you, I think in my district, it was closer to $3,300. | ||
| I'm blessed to have a more prosperous district. | ||
| That is not crumbs, Madam Chair. | ||
| And with that, I reserve. | ||
| Gentleman from Arizona Reserves, the gentleman from Virginia is recognized. | ||
| Madam Chair, I yield one minute to the gentleman from Illinois. | ||
| Distinguished Men with Joint Economic Committee and our preeminent environmental economist. | ||
| Gentleman from Illinois is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Madam Speaker, I want you to imagine that a friend came over to you and said, Donald Trump taught me how to save 50% on my shoe purchases. | ||
|
unidentified
|
All you got to do is cut off one leg. | |
| It's just math, as the gentleman from Arizona says. | ||
| So let's get out the saw and head to Foot Locker. | ||
| Now, if you were a good friend, you would tell them you're crazy and you need to stop thinking that Donald Trump likes you. | ||
| But here we are today talking about the idea that we're going to save money by gutting Medicaid, slashing food assistance, defunding white-collar law enforcement, you know, the police, and exploding budget deficits so that we can do what Donald Trump told you he wants, give a $4.5 trillion tax cut to the wealthiest Americans. | ||
| And so I would say to my Republican colleagues as a friend, Donald Trump doesn't like you. | ||
| He doesn't really like anybody. | ||
| He just assumes that you will never find the courage to stand up to him, so he's going to keep asking you for more until you finally do. | ||
| If you are sick of being bullied, if you're ready to act like the leaders you claim to be and make sure that we leave this country in a little better shape than we found it, grow a spine and vote hell no on this budget resolution. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I yield back. | |
| I reserve. | ||
| Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the president. | ||
| Gentleman from Virginia Reserves. | ||
| The gentleman from Arizona. | ||
| Madam Chair, may I inquire into time? | ||
| I may need you to go forward. | ||
| The gentleman from Arizona has 16 and a half minutes remaining. | ||
| The gentleman from Virginia has 18 minutes remaining. | ||
| Okay, Madam Chair, I reserve. | ||
| The gentleman reserves. | ||
| The gentleman from Arizona Reserve, the gentleman from Virginia is recognized. | ||
| Madam Chair, I yield one minute to the gentleman from Illinois, the distinguished ranking member of the China Select Committee, Mr. Kristen Berthy. | ||
| The gentleman from Illinois is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Madam Speaker, I rise today as the ranking member of the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition with the Chinese Communist Party, the CCP, to express serious concerns about the proposed cuts in the Republicans' budget resolution. | ||
| First, the resolution includes $880 billion in cuts to programs that risk stalling the advancement of technologies crucial to our competition with the CCP. | ||
| Second, these cuts will likely jeopardize our ability to enforce critical export controls with the Chinese, as well as gutting programs that help us reshore manufacturing from China. | ||
| While we've got to restore our fiscal house, these cuts to critical programs amount to the GOP's perverted version of DEI, devastating, extreme, and irresponsible. | ||
| The CCP is cheering for the GOP budget resolution tonight. | ||
| I object. | ||
| I yield. | ||
| The gentleman from Virginia Reserves, the gentleman from Arizona. | ||
| Thank you, Madam Chairman. | ||
| Can you believe this, Madam Chairwoman and my friend, Mr. Beyer? | ||
| We broke our printer. | ||
| But thank heaven we didn't break the markers. | ||
| So I thought actually, just because we're doing fact, well, we're trying to do fact-based, the average family, your taxes are going up at the end of this year, $2,853, and 62% of taxpayers, 62% of taxpayers will see hikes. | ||
| And I'm sorry, we just didn't have time to make a much prettier chart for everyone. | ||
| Remember, after 2017, we actually moved up, but some of that was some of the deductions and things were added. | ||
| We moved up the threshold so almost the half of our taxpaying population actually didn't pay income taxes. | ||
| They still had payroll taxes and FICA and those things. | ||
| A bunch of that population that has not paid taxes in years and years and years will be getting tax bills with the opposition to this. | ||
| Madam Chair, I'm going to reserve and then we'll come back and go over more. | ||
| Gentleman from Arizona Reserve, the gentleman from Virginia is recognized. | ||
| Madam Chair, I yield one and a half minutes to the gentleman from New York, the distinguished ranking member of the Administration Committee, Mr. Morelli. | ||
| Thank you, Madam Chair, and I thank the distinguished gentleman. | ||
| The gentleman is recognized for one and a half minutes. | ||
| Thank you, Madam Chair. | ||
| I want to thank my friend, the gentleman from Virginia, for giving me time. | ||
| I rise today in strong opposition to this budget resolution. | ||
| As an appropriations committee member, thoughtful consideration of government spending is a responsibility I don't take lightly. | ||
| I believe every hard-earned taxpayer dollar must work for all Americans, not fuel widely irresponsible economic theory. | ||
| I'd like to think my colleagues on the other side of the aisle believe the same thing, given the rhetoric we've all heard over the last several years. | ||
| So I encourage the American people to watch what House Republicans do, not what they say. | ||
| Remarkably, instead of lowering costs, this reckless budget resolution bestows tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% of Americans while jeopardizing essential health care and nutrition programs. | ||
| For this reason, I strongly oppose the budget resolution authored by House of Republicans. | ||
| Shockingly, gutting programs our communities rely on isn't harmful enough because this resolution will also require taxpayers to borrow another $1.6 trillion over the next 10 years. | ||
| Our nation's founders vested in the House of Representatives a unique set of powers to make it responsive to the will of the people. | ||
| The father of our Constitution, James Madison, said the House should have immediate dependence on and intimate sympathy with the people. | ||
| House Republicans demonstrate no dependence on nor sympathy with the American people. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to reject this handout to millionaires and billionaires and work on a budget that instead advances the interests of American families. | ||
| With that, Madam Chair, I yield back. | ||
| The gentleman from Virginia from Arizona is recognized. | ||
| Madam Chair, once again, here's the budget document. | ||
|
Budget Resolution Debate
00:08:45
|
||
| Here's the spreadsheets. | ||
| I keep hearing you're giving away to billionaires. | ||
| Where's that? | ||
| Where is it? | ||
| Madam Chair, it doesn't exist because this is a box. | ||
| This is a box that allows us, and understand, I am passionately concerned about debt and deficits. | ||
| But this may be for an idiot like myself the first opportunity where members of leadership and those are ready to allow people like me to come in and walk through how we can improve, change the cost of how we deliver services. | ||
| And we need this type of document to do it. | ||
| And you deal with the reality of what we're allowed to touch, you do realize the majority of mandatory spending, we're not even allowed to touch in a budget reconciliation because it's interest in Medicare, is the majority. | ||
| And every day we wait to modernize, we're in that much more trouble. | ||
| Last thing before I do yield here. | ||
| We're going to spend $86 trillion, and partially doing this off the top of my head, over the next decade. | ||
| This budget reconciliation, we're hoping to get, let's say we're blessed we get $2 trillion offsets, so that creates a couple trillion in additional borrowing. | ||
| You're talking a fraction, a couple percent of the spending. | ||
| I would argue this is the moment for us where it's not about cuts. | ||
| If any of you have ever just even bothered to look at the MedPAC reports and those, and this was done by the Biden administration, we have potentially over a decade hundreds of billions in here that aren't going to services, aren't going to make our brothers and sisters healthier. | ||
| Help us. | ||
| Help us engage the morality of doing this better, faster and cheaper. | ||
| And, Madam Chair, I yield to the majority leader. | ||
| And excuse me, I yield to that's right. | ||
| I yield to the gentleman from California, Mr. Valadeo. | ||
| And how many minutes to Mr. Valadeo? | ||
| One minute. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Two minutes. | |
| I thank the gentleman. | ||
| Mr. Valdez from California is recognized for two minutes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I thank the gentleman from Arizona. | |
| I also like to thank the leader, Scaliseth, for his time today. | ||
| We have a historic opportunity to advance the key priorities of this administration with a one-bill solution. | ||
| And I fully agree we need to move forward in a way that reflects the needs of the American people. | ||
| This budget resolution unlocks the next step in the reconciliation process to deliver on our priorities. | ||
| That includes extending key provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, like doubling the standard deduction, expanding the child tax credit, and maintaining the death tax exemption. | ||
| These policies make a real difference for working families, farmers, and small business owners and allows them to keep more of their hard-earned money. | ||
| We also need to fulfill our commitment of securing our border, strengthening our economy, and rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse. | ||
| It is my understanding after this resolution passes, House leadership will be working with the Senate to come to an agreement on reconciliation language so that the committees can begin drafting specific policies to achieve the administration's agenda. | ||
| There has been a lot of political rhetoric about what this upcoming budget resolution does and does not do, and I want to be clear on where I stand. | ||
| As a representative of one of the most agriculturally rich districts in the country, it's my constituents who are responsible for putting food on everyone's tables. | ||
| My district also has one of the highest Medicaid populations in the nation. | ||
| I've heard from countless constituents who tell me the only way they can afford health care is through programs like Medicaid, and I will not support a final reconciliation bill that risks leaving them behind. | ||
| Medicaid cuts are deeply unpopular with the American families who sent us here to deliver on President Trump's agenda. | ||
| I understand Medicaid is not explicitly named in this bill, but achieving $880 billion in budget cuts within ENC's jurisdiction would be really difficult, is not an easy task. | ||
| I ask that leadership remains committed to working with my colleagues and I to produce a final product that strengthens critical programs like Medicaid and SNAP and ensures that our constituents are not left behind. | ||
| Would the gentleman yield? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana. | |
| Thank the gentleman for yielding. | ||
| I want to thank the gentleman from California and the Central Valley for his passion. | ||
| He's been a vocal advocate for the things that are necessary to keep these programs like Medicaid strengthened. | ||
| And as we know, so many of these programs are weakened right now. | ||
| The gentleman's time has expired. | ||
| The gentleman from Arizona, yield additional time to Mr. Valadeo. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Madam Chair, I yield another 15 to 20 seconds. | |
| 30 seconds to the gentleman from California. | ||
| The gentleman from Louisiana was speaking, so I'll recognize the gentleman from Louisiana. | ||
| Thank you, Madam Chair. | ||
| And as I was saying, the gentleman from the Central Valley has been so passionate about this issue. | ||
| And as we move this through the process, he surely has my commitment and all of leadership that we'll continue to not only listen to him, but his district is going to have a very loud voice as this process moves forward to protect and make sure that people who are on these programs, who are deserving, who need these programs, are going to, frankly, we all ought to be focused on getting better services to these people and rooting out the waste, fraud, and abuse. | ||
| That's what we're focused on, protecting those people who are on these programs, who need them so desperately, as Mr. Valadeo has fought for years to deliver, and he will continue to do that. | ||
| We absolutely commit to that for him and others. | ||
| I yield back to the gentleman from California. | ||
| The gentleman from Arizona Reserve, the gentleman from Virginia is recognized. | ||
| Madam Speaker, I yield one minute to the gentlelady from New York, the distinguished ranking member of the Small Business Committee, Ms. Velasquez. | ||
| The gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to the gentleman for yielding. | ||
| I rise today in strong opposition to this Republican repos. | ||
| This budget slashes $880 billion from Medicaid, putting 286,000 people in my district, including nearly 100,000 children, at risk of losing health care. | ||
| Madam Chair, cruelty is the point. | ||
| It also targets food assistance, leaving over 147,000 New Yorkers in my district struggling to afford meals. | ||
| Cruelty is the point. | ||
| And why? | ||
| All these to hand out trillions of dollars in tax breaks to the top 1 percent. | ||
| Republicans tried to district before in 2017. | ||
| They promised it will raise wages, pay for itself, and boost the economy. | ||
| It didn't. | ||
| Instead, it made the rich richer while working people fell further behind. | ||
| Now they are doubling down, making Americans sicker, poorer, and hungrier, just to funnel more money to their billionaire donors. | ||
| Republican responsibility is economic cruelty. | ||
| Vote no. | ||
| The gentlewoman's time has expired. | ||
| The gentleman from Virginia Reserves, the gentleman from Arizona is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. | ||
| Economic literature, and I have, actually, I think even the board here demonstrated that if we go back to the original TCJA, those corporate tax cuts, over 70% show up in wages. | ||
| That's one of the reasons there was such remarkable wage growth without inflation. | ||
| If you care about workers, you get tax policy correct. | ||
| And with that, Madam Chair, I'd like to yield 60 seconds, a magic 60 seconds, to the leader. | ||
| The majority leader, the gentleman from Louisiana, is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Thank you, Madam Chair, and I thank my friend from Arizona for yielding for one minute. | ||
| I rise in strong support, first of all, of this budget resolution. | ||
Chapters
- 00:00:00 Yes Sir Interruptions
- 00:03:51 House Republicans Defend Waste
- 00:09:54 Delivering On Tax Promises
- 00:22:09 Voting Day Conversations
- 00:25:00 President Trump's World Stage Commitment
- 00:28:33 Recorded Vote Debate Expected
- 00:33:17 Ready to Build Power
- 00:38:55 Without Objection
- 00:48:36 Saving Seniors' Benefits
- 00:56:26 Gentleman's Time Reserved
- 01:11:41 Oklahoma's Financial Wreck
- 01:27:15 Reining In Reckless Spending
- 01:42:18 Americans Need Certainty
- 01:57:47 GOP Tax Scam Impact
- 02:12:44 Supporting the Coast Guard Budget
- 02:19:29 Republicans Wasteful Billionaires' Plan
- 02:22:15 Republicans Slash Essential Programs
- 02:37:27 Kentucky's Budget Concerns
- 02:52:59 Why They Increase Deficit
- 02:59:10 A Steady Diet of Fiscal Responsibility
- 03:07:03 Surprised by Silence
- 03:09:08 Medicaid Siphoned: Illegal vs. Vulnerable
- 03:16:17 Somewhat Unique Opportunity
- 03:29:04 House Republicans' Choice Vote
- 03:32:51 Functionally 1.2 Shock Absorber
- 03:36:47 Madam Chair's Request
- 03:52:12 Budget Resolution Debate
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