| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
Wasting Tax Money
00:15:42
|
||
| Challenges right now, obviously, and I'm sure this is in the questions coming up, is the reconciliation. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Don't get ahead of it. | |
| I know. | ||
| Reconciliation. | ||
| But I really think one of my jobs is to point out to Senate Republicans how much the decisions we're making now really impact the Trump energy agenda. | ||
| And we want energy dominance as a country. | ||
| Well, I think some of these decisions we're making on reconciliation actually impact that in a pretty dramatic way. | ||
| And I think one of my jobs is to get Republicans to divorce themselves from the kind of the angst at the IRA because of the way it developed and what it is. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Because it's attached to a Democrat? | |
| Yeah, well, no, like anytime reconciliation happens, it doesn't matter if it's Republicans doing tax reform or Democrats doing the Affordable Care Act. | ||
| The other side is excluded. | ||
| And that breeds a really bad environment afterwards for bipartisanship. | ||
| And so there is a lot of feelings that, hey, it's the IRA. | ||
|
unidentified
|
We'll take you line now to the U.S. House for debate on legislation to cut $9.4 billion in foreign aid and public broadcasting funding. | |
| Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 499, I call up the bill H.R. 4, the Rescissions Act of 2025, and ask for its immediate consideration. | ||
| The clerk will report the title of the bill. | ||
| H.R. 4, a bill to rescind certain budget authority proposed to be rescinded in special messages transmitted to the Congress by the President on June 3rd, 2025, in accordance with Section 1012A of the Congressional Budget and Empowerment Control Act of 1974. | ||
| Pursuant to House Resolution 499, the bill is considered red. | ||
| The bill shall be debatable for one hour, equally divided and controlled by the majority leader and the minority leader or their respective designees. | ||
| The gentlewoman from Michigan, Mrs. McLean, and the gentlewoman from Connecticut, Mrs. DeLauro, each will control 30 minutes. | ||
| The chair now recognizes the gentlewoman from Michigan, Mrs. McLean. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I request that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks, including extraneous material on the same measure under consideration. | ||
| No objection. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as I may consume. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise to voice my strong support for H.R. 4, the Rescissions Act of 2025. | ||
| Last November, the American people sent a clear message to Washington: stop wasting our tax dollars and get our fiscal house in order. | ||
| The President and House Republicans heard the American people and we heard them loud and clear. | ||
| We're keeping our promises to end the waste, the fraud, and the abuse. | ||
| This rescissions package sends $9.4 billion back to the U.S. Treasury. | ||
| That's $9.4 billion of savings that taxpayers won't see wasted. | ||
| It's their money, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| It's along with our One Big Beautiful Bill Act, is the first of many important steps House Republicans are taking to rein in wasteful spending. | ||
| In 2024, the federal government spent over $1.8 trillion, and that's in just discretionary spending. | ||
| The rescissions are only addressing one-half of 1% of that total. | ||
| Democrats would consider this a rounding error. | ||
| This administration has spent months combing through our federal budget line by line, identifying waste, fraud, and abuse. | ||
| And let me tell you, there is a lot. | ||
| I think the American people would be hard-pressed, or anyone would be hard-pressed to say that the government runs so efficiently that we can't find any more efficiencies. | ||
| But don't let the fear-mongering from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle fool you. | ||
| Those claiming that this rescissions will harm people in other countries. | ||
| I'm going to say that again. | ||
| Those Democrats saying that these rescissions will harm people in other countries are missing the point. | ||
| It's about people in our country being put first. | ||
| It is about putting Americans first. | ||
| What a concept. | ||
| Because American citizens support ending the waste, the fraud, and the abuse in places like USAID. | ||
| A yes vote today will stop wasteful spending on programs like $500,000 for electric buses in Rwanda, $4 million for a bean system research, $67,000 for feeding insect powder to children in Madagascar. | ||
| Again, okay. | ||
| $3 million for Iraqi Sesame Street. | ||
| I mean, Lord knows the Iraqi children need a little big bird in their life, right? | ||
| It's a good use of $3 million taxpayer monies. | ||
| I might want to use that $3 million on maybe some homeless vets or something like that. | ||
| But anyways, how about we take some of that cash back? | ||
| $4 million for sedentary migrants in Colombia. | ||
| Seems like an oxymoron, but $2.5 million for teaching young children, get this, how to make environmentally friendly reproductive health decisions. | ||
| Scratch my head on that one. | ||
| $833,000 for services for transgender people, sex workers, and their clients, and sexual networks in Nepal. | ||
| The list goes on and on. | ||
| I'm sort of embarrassed to read it. | ||
| But Americans know the federal government is wasting money. | ||
| And they're wasting Americans' taxpayer money. | ||
| And House Republicans are going to stop wasting your tax dollars. | ||
| It's really simple. | ||
| Because we're focused on actually putting the American people first. | ||
| You know, the American people in which whom we represent. | ||
| Not whether the people in Zimbabwe have vegan food to eat and not electric buses in Rwanda. | ||
| This is what those on the other side of the aisle want to defend. | ||
| The waste, the fraud, the abuse. | ||
| They actually advocate for it. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to join me in voting yes to end the insanity and actually put Americans first. | ||
| Let's rescind wasteful spending. | ||
| It's really simple. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. | ||
| Gentlewoman reserves. | ||
| A gentlewoman from Connecticut is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield myself five minutes. | ||
| I am opposed to this bill to aid and abet billionaires in stealing from the American people, and which does nothing to help the American people with the cost of living. | ||
| Since taking office, President Trump and Elon Musk unlawfully have stolen funds appropriated by the Congress, passed by Republicans and Democrats in the House and in the Senate, signed into law by the President, upending the separation of powers and our constitutional order. | ||
| For what ends? | ||
| That's to hand billionaires and the biggest corporations who already pay little or no taxes, give them another massive tax break. | ||
| It's $4.5 trillion of taxpayers. | ||
| You want to talk about wasting taxpayers' dollars? | ||
| This money is going to the wealthiest people and the biggest corporations. | ||
| That's where you should save the money, to make our government so broken, so dysfunctional, so starved for resources, so full of incompetent political lackeys and bereft of experts and professionals that departments and the agencies cannot feasibly achieve the goals and the missions to which they are lawfully directed. | ||
| That's where we are going. | ||
| And ultimately, to embrace privatization, to give the biggest companies unchecked power, to rig the economy against the middle class, workers and vulnerable families, ensure the American people have no faith in the ability of government to do good in their lives. | ||
| My colleagues, there is no inherent authority for the president to impound a steel fund. | ||
| There never has been. | ||
| I don't care if the president is Republican or Democrat. | ||
| The late Justices Scalia and Rehnquist said so. | ||
| Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kavanaugh have said so. | ||
| And by the way, they are no liberal torchbearers. | ||
| The Department of Justice and the Government Accountability Office have said so. | ||
| Over 200 years of American history say so. | ||
| Our founding fathers designed our government said so. | ||
| Alexander Hamilton said, and I quote: But where the purse is lodged in one branch and the sword in another, there can be no danger. | ||
| The power of the purse resides in the United States Congress. | ||
| This resilience package, dated May 28th, submitted June 3rd, 134 days after the president began unlawfully freezing funding, is an administration by present admission by President Trump and Russ Vogt that they are breaking the law by impounding $425 billion in appropriated funds across government. | ||
| They do not care about the consequences for Americans. | ||
| This is a bill to codify the right of billionaires, to rubber stamp the right of billionaires to steal from rural and vulnerable American communities, children, the global poor, for the sake of handing even more money to billionaires. | ||
| Congress needs to fight for the middle class, for the working class, and the most vulnerable, not to protect the interests of billionaires and big corporations. | ||
| Members considering voting for this own the reckless cut done by Elon Musk. | ||
| This is a bill to shut down rural television and radio stations, cutting off coverage of local news, eliminating emergency information like severe weather alerts, jeopardizing access to PBS Kids' Children program like Sesame Street. | ||
| This is a bill to rip life-saving support away from the hungry, displaced, and sick people in developing countries and conflict zones across the globe, to end programs that treat deadly diseases and prevent pandemics. | ||
| This is a bill to abandon the people of Ukraine while they resist Putin's tyranny. | ||
| This is a bill to cut $400 million from PEPFAR, a paragon of American leadership, save 26 million lives, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters. | ||
| Instead of facing a death sentence, people supported by PEPFAR are raising families, building their communities, helping their communities grow and develop. | ||
| This bill puts America last. | ||
| When we retreat from the world diplomatically, and through our assistance to vulnerable people, America will be alone without allies in a less stable world, without the support of the international community. | ||
| And do you know who will come out ahead? | ||
| China, Russia, Iran. | ||
| When people in need see bags of food and flour coming that say, USA, that shows the power of the United States. | ||
| That now will be traded for food aid from China. | ||
| We are here today considering cuts after months of unlawful empowerment stealing that will conceal a Republican reconciliation bill to make the billionaires in America even more rich. | ||
| Increase the debt by $3 trillion. | ||
| You increase the debt. | ||
| You rip health insurance away from at least 16 million Americans. | ||
| This bill rescinds $9.4 billion, which Congress just appropriated not even three months ago. | ||
| And now the President is asking the Congress to rubber stamp its proposal to steal from the American people without concern for the consequences. | ||
| This bill does nothing to help the American people with the cost of living. | ||
| The President said he was going to bring it down on the first day. | ||
| It's done nothing but made it worse. | ||
| I strongly urge my colleagues to oppose this bill. | ||
| It forfeits our global leadership. | ||
| It undermines national security, steals from the American people to hand more wealth to billionaires. | ||
| Thank you, and I reserve. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I just want to make sure we're talking about the rescissions. | ||
| Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the president. | ||
| I just want to clarify: we are having a debate on the rescissions package, correct, Mr. Speaker? | ||
| Anyways, Mr. Speaker, I yield one minute from the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Mast. | ||
| Gentleman from Florida is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Ms. McLean. | ||
| Yeah, I could use my minute for a number of things, but I think I'm going to use it now to apologize to all of you in the gallery. | ||
| I'm sorry, you just literally had to listen to somebody lying to all of you directly. | ||
| How many times did she say the word billionaire? | ||
| How many times did she try to say that she was trying to do something? | ||
| We're trying to do something to enrich billionaires. | ||
| That's not taking place at all. | ||
| We're cutting waste, fraud, and abuse. | ||
| Billions of dollars going to Canadian Lesbian Justice Foundation and transgender sex worker networks in Nepal and a whole list of things. | ||
| I would say that among the definition of things that we could do to eliminate those programs would be the definition of saving the American taxpayer money. | ||
| I'm going to leave it at that. | ||
| They expect you to believe what they say and not believe what you can see with your own eyes. | ||
| Let the American people be the judge of whether that's saving you money or whether that's enriching billionaires, ending programs like LGBTQI in the Caribbean and the Balkans and Uganda and all the dollars that we put into trying to support those programs. | ||
| That is waste, fraud, and abuse. | ||
| Our American tax dollars should not be spent in that way. | ||
| I'm sorry that they're lying to you in this way, but we're going to work through all this and work to save you all money. | ||
| I yield you back the remainder of any time that I have. | ||
| Sorry that lied to you, but you're going to expect to hear more of it. | ||
| Chair reminds members that the rules do not allow references to persons in the gallery. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I reserve. | |
| From Michigan Reserves, a gentleman from Connecticut is recognized. | ||
| I yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from Maine, the distinguished ranking member of the Interior and Environmental Subcommittee of Appropriations. | ||
| Ms. Pengren. | ||
| Gentlewoman is recognized. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mr. Speaker, thank you very much to my good friend from Connecticut for yielding the time. | |
|
Chainsaw Cuts to Public Media
00:15:19
|
||
|
unidentified
|
I rise today in strong opposition to this reckless attack on public media contained within this rescission bill and the millions of Americans who rely on and treasure their local public television and radio stations. | |
| Every state will feel the impact of this $1.1 billion recession. | ||
| In fact, 70% of these cuts will directly impact local public media stations, $770 million, including more than $4 million to my state alone. | ||
| In rural states like Maine, local stations and networks like Maine Public are often the most accessible and sometimes the only source of news and information. | ||
| Whether it's children's programs like Sesame Street and Daniel Tiger, high school basketball tournament coverage, or trusted news shows like Maine Calling, public media has been a vital part of Mainers' lives for generations. | ||
| Speaking of lives, these stations literally save lives. | ||
| Wildfire evacuations, missing child alerts, winter storm warnings, which are pretty common in Maine. | ||
| If there's an emergency in your town, chances are the local public media station is sounding the alarm and giving you the information you need to stay safe. | ||
| The purpose of public media is to inform, educate, engage. | ||
| It makes people's lives better and has undoubtedly made our country stronger. | ||
| And this president wants nothing more than to destroy it. | ||
| This is not about fiscal responsibility or finding waste, fraud, and abuse. | ||
| Do you know how much these services cost per year? | ||
| Less than $2, less than one cup of coffee. | ||
| It's certainly not about cutting something people don't like. | ||
| 70% of Americans support public media. | ||
| In this political climate, that kind of consensus is unheard of. | ||
| This is about one thing, the president's vendetta against the free press and his authoritarian desire to control the media. | ||
| Public media enriches our lives, nourishes our minds, and makes our communities safer. | ||
| It deserves to be preserved and protected, not gutted to score political points. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to vote no on this rescission, and I yield back. | ||
| Gentlewoman's time has expired. | ||
| The chair from Connecticut Reserves. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield one minute to the gentlelady from Iowa, Ms. Henson. | ||
| Gentlewoman is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I was overwhelmingly rejected the Washington status quo in November, demanding an end to unelected bureaucrats misusing taxpayer resources. | ||
| President Trump's rescissions package cuts $9.4 billion, including $3 million for Iraqi Sesame Street, $6 million for net zero cities in Mexico, and $1 million for voter ID in Haiti, not here in the United States. | ||
| We're only scratching the surface with this package, but imagine being able to redirect those dollars to veterans care or specialty crop programs in a state like mine. | ||
| This package also rescinds funds for NPR and PBS. | ||
| For decades, public broadcasting has not adhered to objectivity standards enshrined in law. | ||
| It has pushed biased narratives and forced inappropriate content on children, like a movie celebrating the sex change of a child and a feature on the racial origins of fat phobia, whatever that means. | ||
| Children should not be fed woke propaganda, certainly not on the taxpayer dyne. | ||
| That is coming from a former broadcaster. | ||
| And I want to thank President Trump for exposing this waste and working to protect America's hard-earned dollars. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to join me in passing this bill, and I yield back. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman from Tennessee, Mr. Cohen. | |
| The gentleman is recognized. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| If there was fraud, there'd be arrests. | ||
| There are not fraud. | ||
| There have not been arrests. | ||
| You're depending on the word of Mr. Musk, who took out from the president of Argentina a chainsaw and waved it around. | ||
| A chainsaw. | ||
| He took a chainsaw to the budget, not a scalpel. | ||
| You want to improve something? | ||
| Improve it. | ||
| Kennedy Center, you want to improve it? | ||
| You want hee-haul? | ||
| Have he-haul, but don't get rid of the Kennedy Center. | ||
| There will be people who will die. | ||
| This bill is good for Russia and China and undertakers because it's going to have people dying. | ||
| Bill Gates said this is the richest man in the world, Musk, taking advantage of and killing the poorest children in the world. | ||
| They're not going to be getting PEPFAR programs created by George Bush. | ||
| They're not going to get sustenance that they need that's riding in ships right now. | ||
| Don't end it. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mend it. | |
| This is a terrible bill. | ||
| This is Musk's bill on drugs. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Expired. | ||
| Reserve. | ||
| Members are reminded to address their remarks to the chair. | ||
| Please, sir. | ||
| Gentlewoman. | ||
| Reserves. | ||
| Gentlewoman from Michigan, you're recognized. | ||
| I'll just remind you: fear-mongering at its best. | ||
| I now yield one minute to the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Bean. | ||
| Gentleman's recognized. | ||
| Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Chair McLean. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I know there are budget hawks, and I know there are people that care about the deficit, which should be everybody in this room. | ||
| I know they are getting impatient. | ||
| They're wondering when is the House going to finally take action and make the Doge cuts official. | ||
| The answer, Mr. Speaker, is today. | ||
| Today is the day we take the first step in restoring fiscal discipline and getting our nation back on track. | ||
| H.R. 4, the Rescissions Act of 2025, cuts unnecessary spending and ensures tax dollars are not wasted on reckless foreign aid. | ||
| No more tax dollars to fund DEI programs in Serbia. | ||
| No more tax dollars to fund DEI musicals in Ireland. | ||
| No more tax dollars to fund electric vehicles in Vietnam. | ||
| Taxpayers, Mr. Speaker, you know, have said enough is enough. | ||
| I say enough is enough. | ||
| Let's pass this bill, Mr. Speaker, and let's go get them. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I yield back. | |
| Gentlemen's time's expired. | ||
| Gentlelady, Reserves. | ||
| Gentlelady, Reserves. | ||
| The gentlelady from Connecticut is recognized. | ||
| I yield one minute to the gentlewoman from Washington, Ms. Jayapa. | ||
| Recognized, please. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| This rescissions package is all about going back on the agreements that Republicans just made in March. | ||
| It's about the fact that Congress had approved this funding before Elon Musk took a literal chainsaw, an illegal chainsaw, to foreign aid and public broadcasting and a whole bunch of other things that Americans care about. | ||
| And then guess what? | ||
| The court said no. | ||
| So now Trump has ordered his minions here in this House to go back on their own agreements and undermine your own authority to appropriate money, all so that they can legitimize his sometime shadow president, Elon Musk. | ||
| This is yet another betrayal bill. | ||
| It slashes USAID funding even more. | ||
| And the cuts have already killed 300,000 people across the world. | ||
| It will kill even more. | ||
| It destroys our global leadership. | ||
| And it's yet another attack on free speech in our country by slashing money for public TV and broadcasting that are many Americans' only source of news, weather, and children's programming. | ||
| Vote no on this bill. | ||
| It is another betrayal. | ||
| Reserves. | ||
| Gentleman from Michigan. | ||
| That we can have free speech in America. | ||
| The government just doesn't need to fund it. | ||
| But with that, Mr. Speaker, I yield one minute to the gentleman from Indiana, Mr. Mesmer. | ||
| The gentleman's recognized. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Madam Chairman. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4, the Rescissions Act of 2025. | ||
| For decades, Americans have been waiting for their leadership to deliver on the promise that fiscal responsibility was on its way. | ||
| Wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars have been overlooked for far too long, and for far too many years, leaders have kicked the can down the road, hoping a future Congress would make the hard decisions required to stop the financial bleeding. | ||
| As a proud Hoosier, I know that if we are doing our best to live within our means of our family, the government should do no less. | ||
| Congress must deliver on the promise of safeguarding American taxpayer dollars, and I'm proud to vote today to make this first initial step to eliminate wasteful government spending. | ||
| The Department of Government Efficiency did our country a great service in lifting the veil on how much fraud, abuse, and terrible waste of taxpayer dollars is truly happening in our government agencies. | ||
| By passing the Resisions Act today, I join my colleagues in showing Americans that we hear them, and we know that this challenge, this change must be made. | ||
| It's high time we worked toward getting our fiscal house in order, and this is the first step. | ||
| I yield to the private sector. | ||
| The gentlewoman reserves. | ||
| I reserve. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield five minutes to the gentleman from New York, the distinguished ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr. Meeks. | ||
| Gentlemen is recognized. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I want to thank the ranking member for allowing me to speak. | |
| Mr. Speaker, this recessions package isn't about fiscal responsibility. | ||
| It's about abandoning America's legacy of compassion, ceding global leadership, and turning our back on the most vulnerable. | ||
| The President's demand to slash $8.3 billion in life-saving foreign assistance is plunging America deep into moral bankruptcy. | ||
| Because despite what Secretary Rubio and others have falsely claimed, cuts to U.S. foreign assistance have caused unnecessary deaths around the world. | ||
| And the cuts in this rescissions package, based on outright lies, will cost many more lives. | ||
| Now, maybe they don't care about lives, but I think we have a moral obligation that we should. | ||
| And my Republican colleagues should know better. | ||
| Why? | ||
| Just months ago, they voted for this funding. | ||
| They understood, and I believe they understand now, if they would tell the truth, that we all should and all know that foreign assistance is smart policy and a national security imperative. | ||
| Rescinding these funds now will have a real and immediate consequences. | ||
| This package cuts $400 million from PetFar. | ||
| These aren't Democratic pet projects, as some would have you believe. | ||
| PEPFAR was established by President George W. Bush and saved more than 26 million lives while slowing the spread of HIV aid around the world. | ||
| Cutting these kinds of funds is another death sentence for children and women who depend upon our life-saving medication that cost us just pennies. | ||
| It cuts $1.3 billion from humanitarian assistance, while over 300 million people around the world urgently need food, shelter, and Medicare. | ||
| These aren't abstract numbers. | ||
| These are real lives that are at stake. | ||
| It also, and to justify these cuts, the President has misled the public about the very agencies carrying them out. | ||
| Take USAID, for example. | ||
| It has never failed in audit, never been found out of compliance with laws or regulations. | ||
| In 2022, it ranked third among nine federal agencies for evidence-based budgeting and decision-making. | ||
| Now, let's contrast that. | ||
| Contrast that with the Department of Defense, who's getting more money. | ||
| The Department of Defense, which has failed its audit seven years in a row, failed their audit. | ||
| So, if this was truly about waste, fraud, or abuse, we'd be having a lot different conversation here this afternoon. | ||
| This package also slashes funding for UNICEF, which works to protect children around the world and means yanking more than 40 million kids out of school. | ||
| It eliminates programs that help almost 4 million people have clean drinking water. | ||
|
unidentified
|
This package hands, you know, who's excited about this package? | |
| I can tell you who's excited about it: China, Russia, North Korea, Iran. | ||
| They're excited about this package because they would love to do this themselves if they could, because they know that that takes away who we are and our relationships, and then they will try to jump in. | ||
| They are laughing, they are happy because they see us surrendering, because that's what this is. | ||
| This is a surrender. | ||
| We cannot be fooled by this budget talk. | ||
| You know what? | ||
| Look at it. | ||
| These funds really are less than 1% of our overall federal budget, less than 1%. | ||
| Meanwhile, if you look at what the Trump administration and our GRP colleagues are doing, they are actually adding deficits of trillions of dollars to do what? | ||
| To give tax breaks to billionaires. | ||
| So, this is not really about fiscal restraint. | ||
| This is about saving lives, is what we should be talking about. | ||
| Those billions of dollars that they're going to get in tax cuts is not going to change the lives of those being ass. | ||
| Let us reject this bill, this recession bill. | ||
| Let us vote no and restore the money to save lives. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| Gentlemen, reserves. | ||
| Gentleman from Michigan. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield one minute from the gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Harris. | ||
| Gentlemen's recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Madam Chairman. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, if we can't unite and say no to exporting transgender ideology abroad, if we can't say no to taxpayer-funded left-wing propaganda, and we can't say no to funding pet projects that put America last, then what is the point of being called a Republican? | ||
|
Defund Stupid Subsidies
00:15:08
|
||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to defund NPR, PBS, and USAID. | ||
| For decades, Republicans have campaigned on being fiscal conservatives, but all we have to show for it is a national debt skyrocketing towards $37 trillion. | ||
| Let me be clear. | ||
| There is nothing fiscally conservative about forcing taxpayers to fund vegan food promotion in Zambia, voter ID in Haiti. | ||
| We were sent here to do government differently, and nothing could be a clearer test of our commitment than to pass this recision package. | ||
| The time to act is today. | ||
| If we continue on our track, our grandchildren will be enslaved to a debt that will dwarf our current monstrosity. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, with that, I yield back my time. | ||
| I reserved. | ||
| Gentlewoman reserves. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield three minutes to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts, the distinguished Democratic whip, Ms. Clark. | ||
| Gentlewoman's recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Sunday is Father's Day, and what do dads want? | ||
| They want a fair shot. | ||
| They want to know if they work hard, they can provide for their families. | ||
| But right now, most families in America can't even afford the basics. | ||
| 60% of families in the richest nation on earth cannot afford the first rung of the American dream. | ||
| So what are my Republican colleagues doing about that? | ||
| They voted for a big, ugly bill that makes it even harder to raise a child in America, takes away health care from 16 million Americans, takes food benefits from working parents. | ||
| They're cutting half a trillion dollars from Medicare, and they're hiking costs of everyday items with their tariffs. | ||
| All to fund, all to fund tax breaks for the billionaire class. | ||
| That alone is a betrayal of working families. | ||
| But the GOP is not stopping there. | ||
| They're not stopping at dismantling people's financial security. | ||
| Today, they're threatening their physical security. | ||
| Because when you defund public broadcasting, you are defunding emergency broadcasts during hurricane season, tornado season, wildfire season. | ||
| And that's not even enough. | ||
| They have to take even more. | ||
| Today, you are also voting to dismantle our national security. | ||
| There are three shields that defend our homeland. | ||
| Defense, diplomacy, and development. | ||
| When you destroy our capacity to address famine, control disease, and build infrastructure in developing nations, you are ceding our power to our rivals. | ||
| You are planting the seeds of future wars. | ||
| A prominent Republican said this week he just couldn't justify these investments. | ||
| And in this debate, I have heard that this is about putting America first. | ||
| What are you talking about? | ||
| You just cut food programs and health care for American families. | ||
| And here's what you fundamentally don't seem to understand. | ||
| There is no security for billionaires in this country without security for a hungry child. | ||
| There's no security for the ultra-rich donors without security for working parents. | ||
| In the words of President Kennedy, if a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. | ||
| Please vote no. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Gentlewoman reserves. | ||
| Gentlewoman's recognized from Michigan. | ||
| I yield one minute to my friend from Ohio, Mr. Jordan. | ||
| Gentleman's recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I thank the gentlelady for yielding. | ||
| This bill is real simple. | ||
| Don't spend money on stupid things and don't subsidize biased media. | ||
| I mean, there's all kinds of media that's biased that they can take care of themselves. | ||
| MSNBC proves that every single day. | ||
| Think about the NPR, the statement just made about NPR. | ||
| We had a Uri Berliner award-winning journalist who worked for NPR for over 20 years, decided NPR had lost its way and did a little, asked a basic question. | ||
| Basic question. | ||
| What's the political affiliation for the editors for NPR in the Washington, D.C. area? | ||
| And guess what he found? | ||
| 87 editors, political affiliation, 87 Democrats, zero Republicans. | ||
| Not 44-43, not 50-37, not 60-27, 87-0. | ||
| This bill simply says stop subsidizing. | ||
| They can make money on their own. | ||
| All the other media outlets do it. | ||
| And quit spending money, taxpayer money, hard-earned taxpayer money on stupid things. | ||
| IRGS vote. | ||
| Gentlemen's time expired. | ||
| I reserve. | ||
| She reserves. | ||
| Speaker, I yield one minute to the gentleman from New York, the distinguished Democratic leader, Mr. Jeffries. | ||
| Gentlemen's recognized. | ||
| I thank the distinguished gentlelady from the great state of Connecticut for yielding and for her tremendous leadership in pushing back against this reckless Republican rescissions package. | ||
| It's extraordinary to me that once again we're on the floor of the House of Representatives, not debating legislation that Republicans bring forward, Mr. Speaker, that is designed to lower the high cost of living in the United States of America, a promise that Republicans repeatedly made last year to the American people and now have repeatedly broken. | ||
| Throughout this Congress, not a single bill has been brought to the House floor by my Republican colleagues that addresses the high cost of living in the United States of America. | ||
| Not a single bill. | ||
| House Republicans and President Trump promised that costs were going to go down in the United States of America. | ||
| In fact, they said costs were going to go down on day one. | ||
| But we know that costs haven't gone down in this great country, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Costs have gone up. | ||
| And America is too expensive. | ||
| Housing costs are too high. | ||
| Grocery costs are too high. | ||
| Utility costs are too high. | ||
| Child care costs are too high. | ||
| Insurance costs are too high. | ||
| America is too expensive. | ||
| And Republicans have decided that in the face of this affordability crisis in the United States of America, that they are going to undermine America's ability to protect our national security through the exercise of soft power and addressing in a bipartisan way the HIV and AIDS epidemic, | ||
| a program that was first put into place by President George W. Bush and has saved the lives of millions of people across the world and of course people here at home by fighting against this epidemic. | ||
| America is made safer when we are able to invest in diplomacy and development and democracy across the world, particularly in the face of aggressive efforts by China and Russia and other malignant actors to move the world in a different place. | ||
| So this reckless Republican rescissions package will undermine America's national security, undermine public health here in this country and across the world. | ||
| And it actually represents an attack on children. | ||
| This is extraordinary to me. | ||
| We're on the floor of the House of Representatives, not debating legislation that is designed to make this country and our economy more affordable, but actually debating legislation that targets Elmo and Big Bird and Daniel Tiger and Sesame Street. | ||
| That's what we're doing. | ||
| by going after public broadcasting in the United States of America. | ||
| Sesame Street has a letter of the day. | ||
| I believe the letter of the day today is C. How appropriate? | ||
| Because this Republican bill is cruel and it cuts children's programming all across the country. | ||
| How can this be? | ||
| That your priority right now is Republicans, do nothing on the economy, nothing to make life more affordable, nothing to address the high cost of living. | ||
| Instead, Republicans are attacking Elmo and Sesame Street and Big Bird and Daniel Tiger. | ||
| Your priorities are all wrong. | ||
| And this is on top of a GOP tax scam, Mr. Speaker, where Republicans are trying to visit on the American people the largest cuts to health care in American history, targeting Medicaid, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, the Children's Health Insurance Program, and women's health by trying to defund Planned Parenthood. | ||
| That's what Republicans in this Congress are trying to do through the GOP tax scam, this disgusting abomination, the one big ugly bill. | ||
| And you're going after school lunch programs for children, supplemental nutritional assistance for children, and now children's programming. | ||
| Doesn't suggest to me that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are actually trying to strengthen families. | ||
| This legislation would weaken families, weaken our ability to lead throughout the free world, and weaken public health and safety for everyday Americans and people all across this country. | ||
| And so, Mr. Speaker, I urge a no vote. | ||
| And also, I'm hopeful that my colleagues at some point on the other side of the aisle will actually decide to focus on the issues that matter. | ||
| To lift children up, not target them. | ||
| To lift families up, not target them. | ||
| To lift older Americans up, not target them. | ||
| To lift veterans up, not target them. | ||
| To lift health care for everyday Americans up and not target them. | ||
| That's what House Democrats will continue to do on behalf of the American people. | ||
| It's high time that our Republican colleagues join us. | ||
| Vote no against this reckless Republican rescissions package. | ||
| I yield back the balance of my time. | ||
| Gentleman from Connecticut. | ||
| Gentlewoman from Michigan. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Fear-mongering at its best. | ||
| But I will reserve one minute for my friend, Mr. Davidson from the great state of Ohio. | ||
| Gentlemen is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| America's resources should always serve America's interests. | ||
| 22 rescissions to wasteful foreign aid and biased media totaling $9.4 billion is a good start. | ||
| I commend this legislation because the national debt as it climbs towards $37 trillion, U.S. taxpayers deserve a government that serves them, not radical policies abroad or at home. | ||
| The reality is the radical left has seized these institutions and wielded them for an agenda that doesn't serve America's interests. | ||
| Wasted government revenues siphoned off the backs of Americans' tax dollars should not be tolerated. | ||
| I commend the $1 billion rescion to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. | ||
| Taxpayer funding for woke media entities is absurd. | ||
| NPR and PBS already have a business model that doesn't need to rely on 150 million Americans' taxed income. | ||
| It does not need to promote any agenda, including their radical agenda, with stuff like what to do if you experience a microaggression or some other promotion of their agenda. | ||
| Additionally, international institutions have abandoned their original missions to promote development in exchange for radical gender ideology and climate priorities. | ||
| That's why I support the rescissions package, and I urge opposition to urge support for the bill. | ||
| Generalwoman, I recognize. | ||
| Reserves. | ||
| Generalwoman from Connecticut. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield five minutes to the Generalwoman from Florida, the distinguished ranking member of the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee. | ||
|
unidentified
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Ms. Franklin recognized Mr. Speaker, I rise today in fierce opposition to the Republicans' reckless rescission bill, a backdoor scheme to claw back critical federal funding that protects America's global leadership, public safeguards, and trusted public broadcasting, | |
| all while bypassing congressional constitutional authority. | ||
| Let's be clear, this is not a budget tweak. | ||
| It's an attack on our values, a direct hit to our national health, safety, and prosperity, and a green light for authoritarian overreach. | ||
| This package cuts essential investments in international development and humanitarian programs, life-saving tools that fight disease, prevent terrorism, supports democracy, and open markets for Americans' businesses. | ||
|
Starving Children, Crumbling Democracies
00:03:30
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|
unidentified
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And here's the kicker, Mr. Speaker. | |
| Congress approved this funding just two months ago, and Donald Trump signed it into law. | ||
| And now Republicans want to rip back the cover just to, I should say, cover up, the massive hole they are blowing in the deficit with tax giveaways for billionaires. | ||
| Their so-called fiscal responsibility comes at the expense of starving children, crumbling democracies, public-private partnerships that have changed American innovation to solve the world's toughest challenges. | ||
| Foreign assistance, which has long represented just about 1% of our national budget, it's not charity, it's strategy. | ||
| Don't take my word for it. | ||
| Military leaders from both parties have warned us for years, if we fail to lead with soft power, we'll end up paying in blood, bombs, and war boots on the ground. | ||
| Cutting foreign assistance will deepen desperation, fuel extremism, push fragile societies towards collapse. | ||
| And when that happens, we all pay the price. | ||
| Refugee crises surge, diseases spread, trade routes shut down. | ||
| Our troops and diplomats face greater danger, and our homeland security is weakened. | ||
| And here's an example of what's on the chopping block: PEPFAR, which has saved over 26 million lives and nearly 8 million babies from being born with HIV. | ||
| Food assistance, which stabilizes community and creates agricultural markets. | ||
| Public-private partnerships that channel American innovation to solve the world's toughest challenges. | ||
| And let's talk what happens and what is happening when we pull back. | ||
| When the United States steps away, others step in, and not with good intentions. | ||
| China is flooding developing countries with infrastructure loans and digital surveillance systems. | ||
| Russia is exporting mercenaries and disinformation. | ||
| And while we're debating whether to send a bag of rice or clean water pump, our adversaries are buying influence. | ||
| They're forging military alliances and rewriting the rules of global engagement. | ||
| It's not theoretical. | ||
| This is happening right now. | ||
| Take Africa, for example, a region poised to become, listen to this, one quarter of the world's population. | ||
| U.S. assistance has helped build stability there through nutrition programs, education, and public health. | ||
| But if we walk away now, we're not just abandoning our values. | ||
| We're surrendering one of the world's fastest-growing marketplaces to China. | ||
| So let's be clear: regions we assist aren't just aid recipients, they're emerging economies and future trading partners. | ||
| And pulling back the door opens these regions for authoritarian regimes like China to dominate the future commerce, connectivity, and development. | ||
|
Why PEPFAR Matters
00:05:05
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|
unidentified
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This is not just cruel, it's strategically self-defeating and economically foolish. | |
| Make no mistake, this precision package is Project 2025 in action, dismantling our institutions, silencing the oversight, and handing U.S. global leadership over to the dictators on a silver platter, leaving us alone in the world. | ||
| And this bill attempts to rubber stamp the Trump administration's illegal actions, blocking funding already approved by Congress, firing career public servants, and hallowing our entire agencies. | ||
| And let's be honest, this is not going to lower the cost for American families. | ||
| It is not going to reduce the deficit, but it will make the world more dangerous, make Americans less safe. | ||
| Just give me 30 seconds. | ||
| We can't, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Gentlewoman's time has expired. | ||
|
unidentified
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And make us less prosperous. | |
| I urge no. | ||
| I think we're going to have to go. | ||
| No warm reserves. | ||
|
unidentified
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I'm good. | |
| The gentlewoman from Michigan is recognized. | ||
| I yield one minute to the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Fine. | ||
| Gentleman recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| You know, I've heard from my colleagues on the other side that we should be focused on issues that matter, that we should be thinking about our kids. | ||
| As I lay awake at night here in Washington, I've only been here a couple months, but as bad as I thought it was going to be, it is far worse. | ||
| Because Rome is burning, and too many people in this building say that's a great opportunity to roast marshmallows. | ||
| See, the fact of the matter is, if we can't make these cuts, which are as simple and as easy as you would think, $6 million to fund media in Gaza, funding PBS and NPR, even if it was a good idea, you can't do it when you're borrowing trillions of dollars a year. | ||
| If we can't make these cuts, which should be the easiest imaginable cuts, then there's no hope for us. | ||
| So I am grateful to my leadership for bringing this forward. | ||
| I am grateful for President Trump doing it, but make no mistake, this is only the first step if we want to put out the fire. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Gentlemen's time has expired. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, reserved? | ||
| Gentlewoman from Connecticut is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield one minute to the gentlewoman from Illinois, Ms. Kelly. | ||
| Gentlewoman's recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Ranking Member DeLauro. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to President Trump's rescission package that steals $400 million from PEPFAR, a life-saving global health program. | ||
| Let me remind my colleagues that PEPFAR is a bipartisan effort first led by Congresswoman Barbara Lee and signed by President George W. Bush. | ||
| It has been reauthorized on a bipartisan basis four times. | ||
| Right now, Republicans who are supportive of PEPFAR are calling the White House seeking assurances that it will be protected. | ||
| Do not listen to the President's empty promises. | ||
| Nothing in this bill protects PEPFAR. | ||
| If I were to put it simply, PEPFAR saves lives. | ||
| It has already saved 26 million lives. | ||
| That's indisputable, and it should be enough to continue to fund one of the most successful global health programs in history. | ||
| If I cannot appeal to my colleagues' humanitarian side, perhaps they will listen to all the ways PEPFAR serves American interests. | ||
| PEPFAR is a cornerstone of global health progress and U.S. diplomacy. | ||
| If Congress was to bow to President Trump's demands to pull PEPFAR, funding would leave GAAP. | ||
| For this reason, I will offer a motion to recommit this bill back to committee if the House rules permitted. | ||
| I would have offered their motion with an important amendment to this bill. | ||
| My amendment would strike the PEPFAR recision. | ||
| I asked unanimous consent to insert this into the record. | ||
| Gentlewoman's time's expired. | ||
| Gentlewoman from Connecticut Reserves. | ||
| Gentlewoman from Michigan, recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield one minute to the sponsor of the bill, the gentleman from Louisiana, the majority leader of the House, Mr. Steve Scalise. | ||
| The gentleman is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank my friend, our conference chair, Ms. McClain, for managing this time on this important bill. | ||
| And, Mr. Speaker, a lot of people come up here and they talk about trying to get America's fiscal house in order, about the idea of getting back to balanced federal budgets. | ||
| I don't know many people here who are against it. | ||
| I know when we later in this Congress put a bill on the floor to require a balanced federal budget. | ||
| There will be many Democrats, Mr. Speaker, who will vote no on that because when it comes time to actually put your votes on the board to back up the principles that most Americans relish, they walk away. | ||
|
Why Borrow Money From Our Children?
00:08:35
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| They won't be there when it actually matters. | ||
| You know, everybody could talk about cutting wasteful spending. | ||
| And even if you don't necessarily agree that it's wasteful spending, and what we're bringing today is wasteful spending, but even if you think, okay, might not be as bad as some other things you don't agree with, we all have to agree, Mr. Speaker, that as we just saw a few weeks ago, Moody's downgrade the credit rating of the United States. | ||
| Wasn't a recommendation, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| It wasn't a warning that, gee whiz, if you folks don't get your fiscal house in order, this might happen. | ||
| They actually did it. | ||
| They downgraded the credit rating of the United States because spending has to get under control. | ||
| And the party over there that spent the last four years under President Biden spending like drunken sailors and all due respect to drunken sailors because they don't spend this bad. | ||
| But the trillions of dollars of debt that were racked up had consequences, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| It had consequences not only in terms of our national debt, it affected the pocketbooks of families all across America because that spending, bloated spending in Washington, money we don't have, by the way, increased inflation to the point where people couldn't even go to the grocery store to fill up their carts. | ||
| They couldn't afford to go to the gas station to fill up their cars. | ||
| They couldn't afford to take out a loan to buy a house because interest rates had gotten so high that today we're spending more money servicing our interest than we are in America's national debt. | ||
| These are all real, dramatic facts that concern most Americans. | ||
| And they say, thank goodness, Congress is finally bringing a bill to the floor to start cutting some spending that aren't priorities. | ||
| Call it wasteful if you want, call it whatever you want, but these aren't things that we can afford to spend, even if you agree with them. | ||
| Because it's not money we have in the bank. | ||
| It's all borrowed money, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| And so where did we start? | ||
| Well, the White House laid out a number of things. | ||
| But they looked at that USAID program. | ||
| They didn't gut the whole thing. | ||
| But they said there are a number of things that are being done that just don't represent the values of the United States and are being done in foreign countries while we don't have our fiscal house in order here in America. | ||
| So how about we start there? | ||
| And I know the Democrats on the other side are acting like, oh my God, the world's going to stop spinning on its axis if this spending goes away. | ||
| So why don't we talk about some of the spending that will go away. | ||
| Again, borrowed money, not money we just took out of the bank, money we borrowed from countries like China to spend on that is a debt to our kids. | ||
| So each one of these I list, Mr. Speaker, you should ask, if you vote yes, you're finally relieving that debt burden. | ||
| But if you vote no, you think it's okay to send this bill to our kids. | ||
| We're not paying for it today, Mr. Speaker, but our kids would if we keep doing it. | ||
| If the other side votes no, they want to keep borrowing money from our children to spend a million dollars on voter ID in Haiti. | ||
| The same party that doesn't want voter ID in America calls it racist. | ||
| Wants to fund voter ID in Haiti. | ||
| $6 million for net zero cities in Mexico. | ||
| I know some of their best supporters are waving a Mexican flag in an American city right now, and they support those efforts. | ||
| Most Americans don't, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| $3 million for Iraqi Sesame Street. | ||
| The minority leader held up a Sesame Street character here on the floor as if Sesame Street's somehow going to go away. | ||
| I was just watching a commercial on TV yesterday where the cookie monster was actually doing an advertisement for Netflix because a private company is paying money to run Sesame Street. | ||
| It's not going away. | ||
| It's doing just fine. | ||
| Very lucrative. | ||
| What will go away is some of the far-left radical views that are being espoused. | ||
| You can, by the way, when this goes away at NPR, you can still turn on about six or seven other channels and get the same far-left radical views, but they're all going to be private companies, Mr. Speaker, not taxpayer-funded entities. | ||
| If somebody wants to pay money to go on one of their services that they stream or get over the top or however they get their digital content, they can still do that. | ||
| And there are a lot of options, never been more options. | ||
| Some people joke that they buy their services for their cable or whatever else they get, and that there's 200 channels and they might only watch four or five of them. | ||
| There is still going to be a plethora of options for the American people, but if they're paying their hard-earned dollars to go get content, why should your tax dollars go to only one thing that the other side wants to promote? | ||
| Let everybody compete on a fair basis. | ||
| So, you know, they can still watch Sesame Street in Iraq, but let the Iraqi people pay for it, not the taxpayers of the United States of America's children. | ||
| Today's taxpayers aren't paying for it because it's all borrowed money. | ||
| $2.1 million for climate resilience in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and East Africa. | ||
| $500,000 for electric buses in Rwanda. | ||
| Rwanda is more than free to go buy all the electric buses they want or diesel buses. | ||
| Why should the taxpayers of America be borrowing money from our children to buy electric buses for Rwanda? | ||
| $33,000 for being LGBTQI in the Caribbean. | ||
| Taxpayer money that a no vote today says is more important than strengthening a program like Social Security. | ||
| I say not. | ||
| $643,000 for LGBTQI plus programs in the Western Balkans. | ||
| Borrowed money. | ||
| $567,000, Mr. Speaker, for LGBTQI Plus programs in Uganda. | ||
| $5.1 million to strengthen the, quote, resilience of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer global movement. | ||
| Not sure what that global movement is? | ||
| They can continue that movement in some other way, but just not with the taxpayer dollars of the United States of America's children. | ||
| Again, there's no bank account that $5.1 million came out of. | ||
| It's all borrowed money that a no vote says is more important than strengthening Social Security. | ||
| $135 million in contributions to the World Health Organization, which we all saw during COVID, was the mouthpiece for the Chinese Communist Party. | ||
| I would imagine if we stop this $135 million funding, the CCP may pick it up because they were regurgitating their talking points during COVID. | ||
| So at some point, Mr. Speaker, the question we've all got to answer is, number one, do you believe in fiscal responsibility? | ||
| And maybe some people have other priorities than these they'd like to defund, but if you think these are all things that are worth borrowing money from our children to fund, then that's what the no vote represents. | ||
| If you think it's time we start somewhere, and here's the place to start, not to finish, just the beginning, to finally start getting control over spending and respecting those families who are working hard, who are working two shifts at the diner to pay taxes on tips that will soon go away if our one big beautiful bill passes, or somebody who's working overtime because you want to send your kid to college and you find out this is where your taxpayer dollars are going and you're disgusted and say, | ||
|
Today's The Day
00:15:38
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| when will somebody do something about it? | ||
| Today's the day to do something about it. | ||
| Talk is cheap. | ||
| Put the action on the floor. | ||
| Let's finally get control over spending. | ||
| In a small way, start a bigger picture towards a balanced budget, but it starts here. | ||
| Vote yes, get this done, and let's keep moving forward to strengthen this great country. | ||
| With that, I urge a yes vote and yield back, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Gentlewoman from Michigan is recognized. | ||
| She reserves. | ||
| Gentlewoman from Connecticut. | ||
| Mr. Scurry, I yield one minute to the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Doggett. | ||
| Gentleman is recognized. | ||
| Where lies are king, the truth is the enemy. | ||
| Institutions that spread knowledge are defamed as enemies of the people. | ||
| NPR and PBS are targeted here today precisely because they are so good at delivering the truth. | ||
| Like millions, I tune in to both of them daily. | ||
| Trump tweets radical left monsters that so badly hurt our country. | ||
| What hurts Trump are facts when he demands flattery. | ||
| This attempt to quash thorough objective NPR and PBS reporting is a sign of Trump's weakness, of his drive toward tyranny. | ||
| Trump doesn't want a country of engaged, informed Americans. | ||
| He prefers those who salute on command, like for his North Korean-style, taxpayer-funded, wasteful $45 million birthday bash this Saturday. | ||
| Reject these dangerous Doge cuts and defend the right of the American people to know. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the President. | ||
| Gentleman from Connecticut Reserves. | ||
| Reserves. | ||
| Gentleman from Michigan is recognized. | ||
| The gentleman from California, Mr. McClintock. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, this is the first of what needs to be many rescission bills stopping the waste of public funds. | ||
| The absurd expenditures the Majority Leader just listed speak volumes about the scandalous corruption and carelessness of a bloated government. | ||
| Every dollar comes from working American families struggling to pay both their bills and their taxes. | ||
| Now this waste is enabled by two classes of expenditures that we should forswear forever. | ||
| One is grants, cash handouts to political favorites with little accountability or oversight, whether directly or through agencies like USAID. | ||
| The other is subsidies that replace the judgment of consumers with that of politicians, distorting the flow of capital from its highest and best use. | ||
| As we express our outrage at this waste and take this first step to claw it back, let us remember that Congress approved all of it, and it's time that we repented before we bankrupt our country. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Joey from Michigan Reserves. | ||
| Reserve, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Joey from Connecticut is directly. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield one minute to the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Beyer. | ||
| Gentleman is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, people will die. | ||
| And that's not hyperbole. | ||
| It's reality. | ||
| When you cut PEPFAR, which is the signature program of President George W. Bush, created to eradicate the AIDS epidemic, people will die. | ||
| And LMB Director Russ Vought confirmed that the bill cuts PEPFAR by $400 million. | ||
| When you cut funded family planning programs, tens of millions will be denied modern contraceptives, resulting in millions of unintended pregnancies, tens of thousands of preventable pregnancy-related deaths. | ||
| When you cut funding for international peacekeeping and the people escaping violence, people will die. | ||
| When we reduce development assistance that ensures people have access to food and clean water, people will die. | ||
| When you cut money to Ukraine for food security and energy grid resilience, more people will die in their war against the Russian invasion. | ||
| USAD is our strongest soft power vehicle. | ||
| And even if you don't care about how many people will die, it's one of our strongest assets to saving money by decreasing military conflict risk. | ||
| And I also want to speak up for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, critical kids' educational programs. | ||
| This bill is bad for America. | ||
| People will die. | ||
| And I yield back. | ||
| I reserve the law. | ||
| The gentleman, Reserves. | ||
| Joan from Michigan is recognized. | ||
| Okay, Mr. Speaker, I just can't take the fear-mongering anymore. | ||
| Let me correct the truth with the other half of the truth. | ||
| We're talking about PEPFARV, $4.4 billion, and we're talking about cutting less than 1% from that whole entire program. | ||
| We're not saying that you have to cut AIDS. | ||
| Perhaps let me tell you what other programs we could cut for the American people. | ||
| You're saying that people are going to die because you want to cut the funding. | ||
| We're not saying that, so how about we do this? | ||
| How about we cut $3 million for circumcisions, vasectomies, and condoms in Zambia? | ||
| How about that? | ||
| How about we cut $5.1 million that is used to strengthen the resilience of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer global movements? | ||
| I got an idea. | ||
| How about we, instead of spending it there, how about we spend that money and invest in the American health care? | ||
| I could go on and on, but this fear-mongering has absolutely got to stop. | ||
| With that, I'm going to yield one minute to my friend, Mr. Smucker. | ||
| Members are reminded to address their remarks to the chair. | ||
| The gentleman is recognized. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mr. Speaker, this bill represents a tiny fraction of the total we are spending annually. | |
| It's a tiny fraction, 0.2 percent, one-fifth of a percent of what President Biden added to the debt over the last four years. | ||
| Yet Democrats are saying that these savings are cruel, that they literally said this will destroy America as we know it. | ||
| No one outside of the Beltway will take them seriously. | ||
| Have my Democrat colleagues even looked at what's in this bill before attacking? | ||
| Is it cruel to suggest that American taxpayers shouldn't have to pay $60,000 to celebrate DEI in the Netherlands or $30,000 to foster, quote, queer feminist discourse in Albania? | ||
| Is it cruel to cut a program spending $700,000 to expand fruit and jam sales in Honduras? | ||
| By the way, speaking of Jan, my last name is Smucker, but even I know that's a bad deal. | ||
| Time's expired. | ||
|
unidentified
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Mr. Speaker, I can tell you what would destroy America as we know it, and that is this unsustainable debt that we're passing on to our kids and grandkids. | |
| I urge my colleagues to support this resistance package, and I yield. | ||
| Gentlewoman reserves, gentlewoman from Connecticut. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield one minute to the gentleman from California, Mr. Sherman. | ||
| The gentleman is recognized. | ||
| Last month, Secretary Rubio responded to me and said no one had died as a result of the gutting of USAID. | ||
| But Boston University School of Public Health shows us that 300,000 people have died already because they were cut off from food and medicine for tuberculosis, AIDS, and malaria. | ||
| And the Center for Global Development says that 3.3 million preventable deaths will occur because of the gutting of USAID. | ||
| But they won't just die there. | ||
| Americans will die too. | ||
| Because when malaria, tuberculosis, and AIDS infect anyone in the world, those diseases replicate, they mutate, and they migrate back here in more virulent forms. | ||
| Evan Anzu, a five-year-old boy, was cut off from his HIV medications in February and died. | ||
| He is the first to die at the hands of Elon Musk and Donald Trump. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask that we rise. | ||
| I ask unanimous consent that we observe a full minute of silence in the memory of this child victim. | ||
| I ask unanimous consent. | ||
| It was expired. | ||
| Let us remember Ivan Atsu. | ||
| Gentlewoman from Connecticut. | ||
| I reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Reserves. | |
| Gentlewoman from Michigan. | ||
| I yield one minute to the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Gill. | ||
| Gentleman is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| If Fox News or Talk Radio or any other conservative media outlet came to me and asked us if we should provide them with taxpayer-funded handouts, I would say no, and I believe that most of my colleagues would as well. | ||
| I certainly think that far-left propaganda outlets like NPR should be defunded. | ||
| Remember, this is an outlet that believes writing articles about fat phobia and queer animals constitute serious journalism. | ||
| They have the right to say whatever they want to, but they do not have the right to our tax dollars. | ||
| And to my colleagues who say that this is only a small part of our budget, I would ask them what outside of border security and national defense would they like to cut from our budget? | ||
| They've never seen a foreign country they don't want to shower with our tax dollars or an illegal alien that they don't want to give welfare to. | ||
| This is a logical first step to get our finances under control, and I urge my colleagues to vote for this rescissions bill. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| I reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman from Michigan Reserves, the gentleman from Connecticut is recognized. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I yield one minute to the gentleman from Rhode Island, Mr. Magazine. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman from Rhode Island is recognized. | |
| Mr. Speaker, more than any other day I have been in Congress, the cruelty of the Trump administration and the Republican majority is on display. | ||
| They are asking us to rubber stamp Elon Musk's cuts to PEPFAR, which saves millions of lives treating people with HIV, funding for clean water, funding to fight malaria, fighting to help people starving from famine. | ||
| And Donald Trump and Republicans are doing this at the same time they're giving trillions of tax cuts to the rich. | ||
| And why are they at it? | ||
| While they're at it, they're also cutting educational programming for children like PBS. | ||
| Why are they doing this? | ||
| Not to reduce the deficit, because this $9 billion is a fraction of a fraction of the tax cuts they are trying to pass for billionaires. | ||
| This is the richest people in the world taking food and medicine away from the poorest children in the world. | ||
| I have news for Elon Musk and Donald Trump and the billionaires. | ||
| No matter how much money you have, no matter how many poor people you take food and medicine away from, it will not fill that hole inside of you. | ||
| To my colleagues from the House, history will judge us today. | ||
| You have a chance to be heroes. | ||
| Vote no. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman from Connecticut yields. | |
| The gentleman from Michigan is recognized. | ||
| I reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Reserve. | |
| Sorry. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield one minute to the gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. McDowell. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman from North Carolina is recognized. | |
| Mr. Speaker, today we do what lifelong bureaucrats in this town fear most. | ||
| We cut their funding. | ||
| For far too long, Washington bureaucrats have taken advantage of the American taxpayer, sending their hard-earned money to fund the corrupt foreign aid complex and pushing government funding for educational programs that groom our children. | ||
| That stops today. | ||
| The Rescissions Act of 2025 is not just a bill. | ||
| It's a part of a much larger course correction. | ||
| This bill rips back over $9 billion from the clutches of globalist NGOs, projects that fund radical gender ideology and the Green News scam. | ||
| The great people of North Carolina didn't send me here to manage decline. | ||
| They sent me here to help President Trump usher in the new golden age. | ||
| So let the left scream, let the media moan and groan. | ||
| But today, we are putting Americans first and looking out for their hard-earned tax dollars. | ||
| I urge a yes vote and yield back. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlewoman from Michigan Reserves, the gentleman from Connecticut is recognized. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I yield one minute to the gentlewoman from California, Ms. Kamla-Gordo. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlewoman from California is recognized. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this package. | ||
| It is embarrassing. | ||
| It is trifling. | ||
| This is a funding package that Republicans actually agreed to and voted on last Congress when they were in the majority. | ||
| Republicans must be missing Biden now because they actually had more influence under him than under Trump. | ||
| Now Republicans are going back on their own agreement and giving up their own power with this package. | ||
| The real question is, why show up here if you have an orange daddy doing your work for you? | ||
| This vote actually puts every Republican on record as supporting Elon's attack on democracy when even Steve Bannon said that Elon and Doge found no waste. | ||
| With this package, Republicans are one step closer to a country that looks more like the adversaries we profess to oppose. | ||
| Americans will be left to clean up this mess, and we will have zero standing in the international community and we will have zero claim to global leadership while you all have killed off Elmo. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to vote no on this trash and I yield back. | ||
| I reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities towards the president. | |
| The gentlewoman from Connecticut reserves. | ||
| The gentlewoman from Michigan yields. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I never realized Elmo was more important to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle than the American people. | ||
| But anyways, I yield one minute to my friend, Mr. Muser from Pennsylvania. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman from Pennsylvania is recognized for one minute. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I thank Chairwoman McLean for her leadership. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, during President Trump's first term, we had pro-growth policies, pro-growth economy, and tax revenues growth. | ||
| Then, even after COVID, the Biden administration accelerated the deficit with unchecked spending, caused the deficit to double, which increased service on the debt from $400 billion in 2019 to nearly $1 trillion last year. | ||
| That's why this package takes steps to rein in irresponsible agencies. | ||
|
Codify Doge Tax Cuts
00:15:12
|
||
| Some have been taken over by ideologues doing things that are simply not in the interests of the American people. | ||
| Maybe USAID has done some good things, but they've also done many things that were totally inappropriate. | ||
| Agencies like this need to be defunded or reformed. | ||
| The American people aren't going to put up with it anymore. | ||
| To that end, why is the government still funding public television and radio when most people have hundreds of channels to get their news and information from? | ||
| And these stations are some of the most partisan stations out there. | ||
| Can you imagine? | ||
| It was stated earlier if a conservative station was funded, the left would have screamed, vilified, and exterminated it a long while ago. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, let's pass this resilience package and codify President Trump's spending reductions into law and save our country along the way. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I yield back. | |
| I reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentlewoman from Michigan Reserves. | |
| The gentlewoman from Connecticut is recognized and has 30 seconds remaining. | ||
| I reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlewoman from Connecticut Reserves. | |
| The gentlewoman from Michigan is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield one minute to Representative Boebert from the state of Colorado. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman from Colorado is recognized for one minute. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Madam Chair. | ||
| I've rise in support today of HR4, President Trump's big, beautiful rescissions package. | ||
| This bill slashes radical foreign aid at the State Department, USAID, and the U.S. Institute of Peace for woke gender ideology and equity nonsense that mocks American values. | ||
| Why are we bankrolling wokeism abroad when ranchers and small business owners in my district are struggling? | ||
| HR4 defunds PBS and NPR's bias media circus. | ||
| For years, taxpayers have been forced to subsidize a public media system that's less about informing and more about indoctrinating. | ||
| To my friends across the aisle, I know you love your globalist pet projects, but the American people are fed up. | ||
| The voters that sent us here are watching and they're done seeing their dollars shipped overseas and funneled into biased media. | ||
| H.R. 4 is a victory for taxpayers, and I urge its adoption. | ||
| I yield. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlewoman from Michigan Reserves, members are reminded to address their remarks to the chair. | |
| The gentleman from Connecticut is recognized. | ||
| I reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentlewoman reserves, the gentlewoman from Michigan is recognized. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I yield one minute to the gentleman from Missouri, Mr. Ander. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman from Missouri is recognized for one minute. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise in support of HR4 to codify President Trump's Doge tax cuts. | ||
| Americans have been awash in unsustainable debt and waste, and Americans have known it long before Doge began its work. | ||
| But what many didn't realize is just how bad the problem is: $14 million in cash vouchers for illegals at the southern border, $3.3 million for being LGBTQ in the Caribbean, | ||
| $47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia, and $1.5 million to promote LGBTQ employment in Serbia, not to mention the hundreds of millions wasted on the politically biased government media known as NPR. | ||
| Enough is enough. | ||
| We must rein in Washington's reckless spending and hold bureaucrats accountable. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to join me and put Americans in fiscal sanity first in this, what I hope will be the first of many rescission bills. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I yield back. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman Reserves, the gentleman from Connecticut is recognized. | |
| I reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlewoman Reserves, the gentleman from Michigan is recognized. | |
| Mr. Speaker, how much time remains on each side? | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman was eight minutes. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield one minute to the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Webster. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman from Florida is recognized for one minute. | |
| Mr. Speaker, the American people are called on today to do what they had been asked to do from their elected officials, and that is cut waste, fraud, and abuse. | ||
| Today we deliver. | ||
| Together with President Trump, we are eliminating billions of dollars of spending that's wasteful spending on left-wing organizations who mock millions of Americans. | ||
| We'll also wasteful spending on radical programs in lands far, far away. | ||
| They do not put America first. | ||
| I consistently voted to cut the spigot of spending, and I'll continue to do that, continue the record, and pass this bill today. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to do the same. | ||
| Yield back. | ||
| Reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlewoman reserves, gentleman from Michigan, gentlewoman from Connecticut Reserves. | |
| The gentlewoman from Michigan is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield one minute to the gentleman from West Virginia, Mr. Moore. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman from West Virginia is recognized for one minute. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| As chairman of the RSC Rescissions Task Force, I'm proud to support this bill to codify the Doge cuts. | ||
| The American people know waste, fraud, and abuse when they see it. | ||
| They want us to eliminate Democrats' radical agenda, including $5.1 million for global LGBTQ movements, $3 million for circumcisions in Zambia, and $833,000 for transgender surgeries in Nepal. | ||
| This package also ensures tax dollars aren't used to weaponize media against the American people. | ||
| The CEO of NPR called President Trump a fascist while claiming her network is unbiased. | ||
| These outlets can be as insane as they want. | ||
| They might want to check CNN's ratings before doing that. | ||
| They're just not going to do it with the American taxpayer dollars anymore. | ||
| This rescissions package is only the first step, and I urge my colleagues to support it. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I yield back. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| Reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlewoman Reserves. | |
| Reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman Reserve. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I yield one minute to the gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Harrigan. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman from North Carolina is recognized for one minute. | |
| Mr. Speaker, the American people are sick and tired of watching Washington burn through their paychecks on wasteful, ridiculous, and downright offensive projects. | ||
| This rescissions package is our chance to prove that we still remember who we work for here in Washington. | ||
| We're cutting $2.5 million for electric vehicles in Vietnam, $47,000 for transgender surgeries in Colombia, and nearly $10 billion for NPR, PBS, and other bloated liberal pet projects that have no place in a responsible budget. | ||
| Washington acts like taxpayer dollars are theirs to waste, but they are not. | ||
| Every cent belongs to the men and women who work long hours, pay their bills, and expect their government to act with a shred of discipline. | ||
| This is about more than numbers. | ||
| It is about trust. | ||
| It's about respect, and it is about time. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to pass this bill and prove that Congress can still do the right thing. | ||
| Gentlemen with Reserves. | ||
| I reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlemen with Reserve, gentlemen is recognized. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I now yield two minutes from the gentlelady from North Carolina, Ms. Mace. | ||
| South Carolina, South Carolina, my apologies. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman from South Carolina is recognized for two minutes. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Under President Donald Trump's leadership, this rescission package codifies $9.4 billion in Doge cuts by canceling some of the most egregious Biden-era waste, fraud, and abuse. | ||
| Here are just some of the funding we are canceling today. | ||
| $4 million for sedentary migrants in Colombia. | ||
| $3 million for circumcision, vasectomies, and condoms in Zambia. | ||
| $5.1 million to strengthen the resilience of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer global movements. | ||
| $3 million for Iraqi Sesame Street. | ||
| $2.5 million for teaching young children how to make environmentally friendly reproductive health decisions. | ||
| $833,000 for services for transgender people, sex workers, and their clients, and sexual networks in Nepal. | ||
| The American people are begging Congress to get off its ass and codify the Doge cuts and stop this taxpayer-funded nonsense. | ||
| Failure is not an option, and I yield back. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I'm prepared to close. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman with reserves. | |
| The gentleman from Connecticut is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. | ||
| I ask unanimous consent to insert into the record the text of Representative Kelly's amendment. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection. | |
| Mr. Speaker, President Trump promised to bring down the cost of living. | ||
| He made it worse. | ||
| He is illegally stealing congressionally approved taxpayers' dollars and these services for the American people. | ||
| You want to deal with waste, fraud, and abuse? | ||
| It's to deal with cutting back on the $4.5 trillion tax cut for the billionaires that the Republicans have supported and voted on. | ||
| Tax cuts for billionaires in the biggest corporations. | ||
| If you vote for this bill, you own every reckless cut crafted by Elon Musk. | ||
| You are rubber stabbing illegal cuts, and you own it. | ||
| And I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Great job, Mr. Senator. | |
| The gentlewoman yields. | ||
| Members are reminded to refrain aging in personalities towards the president. | ||
| The gentlewoman from Michigan is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I want to be clear. | ||
| These rescissions should get bipartisan support. | ||
| We, as elected officials on both sides of the aisle, have been entrusted with the hard-earned tax dollars of the American people. | ||
| The duly elected President of the United States has asked this Congress to protect the American people's tax dollars. | ||
| It is the least we can do. | ||
| The administration has identified waste, fraud, and abuse of American taxpayer dollars. | ||
| It is our responsibility as representatives to act on those abuses and rescind the money. | ||
| All of us should be able to vote to eliminate $45 million in duplicative spending in the African Development Program. | ||
| We should all be able to support eliminating $1.7 billion for radical gender projects in the Economic Support Fund. | ||
| Every member of this chamber should be able to support a rescission of $2.5 billion in the development of assistance programs. | ||
| That bankrolled corrupt leaders in foreign countries. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, the American people are watching their representatives today. | ||
| Emphasis on their representatives. | ||
| They are watching to see if their representatives have the courage to actually fight for them. | ||
| Or will their representatives defend waste, fraud, and abuse of the bloated federal government? | ||
| I can say with certainty that House Republicans will always put American people first. | ||
| And I hope on the other side of the aisle they might have the courage to join us. | ||
| I encourage my colleagues to join me in voting yes on H.R. 4 so that we can take the necessary first step in rescinding the wasteful spending of the American taxpayer dollars. | ||
| And with that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. | |
| All time for debate has expired pursuant to House Resolution 499. | ||
| The previous question is ordered on the bill. | ||
| The question is on engrossment and third reading of the bill. | ||
| Those in favor say aye. | ||
| Those opposed, no. | ||
| The ayes have it. | ||
| Third reading. | ||
| A bill to rescind certain budget authority proposed to be rescinded in special messages transmitted to the Congress by the President on June 3rd, 2025, in accordance with Section 1012A of the Congressional Budget and Empowerment Control Act of 1974. | ||
|
unidentified
|
For what purpose does the gentlewoman from Illinois seek recognition? | |
| Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The clerk will report the motion. | |
| Ms. Kelly of Illinois moves to recommit the bill HR4 to the Committee on Appropriations. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Pursuant to clause B of Rule 19, the previous question is ordered on the motion to recommit. | |
| The question is on the motion. | ||
| All those in favor say aye. | ||
| All those opposed say no. | ||
| In the opinion of the chair, the no's have it. | ||
| The motion is not agreed to. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentlewoman from Illinois seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask for the yays and nays. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The yays and nays are requested. | |
| Those in favor of a vote for the yays and nays will rise. | ||
| A sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. | ||
| Pursuant to clause 8 of Rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. | ||
| Proceedings will resume on questions previously postponed. | ||
| Votes will be taken in the following order. | ||
| Passage of S331. | ||
| The motion to recommit HR4. | ||
| Passage of HR4 if ordered. | ||
| The motion to recommit H.R. 2056. | ||
| And passage of H.R. 2056 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 to vote on passage of Senate 331 on which the yays and nays are ordered. | ||
| The clerk will report the title of the bill. | ||
|
Fentanyl Classification Vote
00:03:34
|
||
| Senate 331, an act to amend the Controlled Substances Act with respect to the scheduling of fentanyl-related substances and for other purposes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The question is on the passage of the bill. | |
| Members will record their vote by electronic device. | ||
| This is a 15-minute vote. | ||
| And this is the first vote of the day in the House, a measure to permanently classify fentanyl with the highest penalties and controls, listing all fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I drugs. | ||
| The bill already passed the Senate. | ||
| If it passes here in the House, it'll head to the White House for President Trump's signature and still to come votes on cutting $9.4 billion in foreign aid and public broadcasting funding and a bill repealing a DC sanctuary city law. | ||
| Also, a short time ago, California Senator Alex Padilla was forcibly removed from a news conference being held by Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noam in Los Angeles amid protests over Trump administration immigration policy. | ||
| will show some of what happened in L.A. Exaggerated and imbalancing. | ||
| Sir, sir, hands up, hands up. | ||
| I'm Senator Alex Padilla. | ||
| I have questions for the secretary. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Because the fact of the matter is, a half a dozen violent criminals that you're rotating on your, on your hands off. | |
| On the ground, on the ground, hands on your back. | ||
| Hands behind your back. | ||
| Lay flat. | ||
| Lay flat. | ||
| Other hand, sir. | ||
| Other hand. | ||
| There's no recording loud on here. | ||
| I do have an apology. | ||
| There's no recording loud out here for FBI rights. | ||
| Is that what I'm sorry? | ||
| There's no recording line right here. | ||
| That's my boss after you're recording. | ||
| There's no recording line. | ||
| I'm not a member. | ||
| There's no recording line. | ||
| I understand. | ||
| Mr. Padilla is expected to hold a news conference after he was forcibly removed from the news conference that was held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles. | ||
| And when he does, we'll try to bring that to you live. | ||
| As the vote on classifying fentanyl as a Schedule I drug continues, we'll show today's briefing with House Democratic leaders. | ||
| Good morning, | ||
|
Republicans' Unpopular Spending Plan
00:15:07
|
||
| everyone. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| From the very beginning of this Congress, House Democrats have made clear that we will work with anyone in this town who's interested in making life better for the American people. | ||
| House Democrats believe that America is too expensive. | ||
| We're committed to lowering housing costs, child care costs, grocery costs, insurance costs, and utility costs. | ||
| There are far too many people in the United States of America who are struggling to live paycheck to paycheck. | ||
| That should not happen in the wealthiest country in the history of the world. | ||
| Republicans and Donald Trump spent all of last year promising to lower the high cost of living. | ||
| They haven't done a damn thing to do it. | ||
| Not a single thing. | ||
| Trump promised that costs in America would go down on day one. | ||
| Costs aren't going down. | ||
| They're going up. | ||
| Inflation is on the way up. | ||
| Our credit rating as a country has been downgraded. | ||
| The bond markets are having an adverse reaction to Trump's presidency. | ||
| The Trump tariffs are going to increase costs on everyday Americans by thousands of dollars a year. | ||
| Donald Trump and House Republicans are crashing the American economy and are driving us toward a recession. | ||
| Yet House Republicans later on this afternoon are going to put forward a reckless rescissions package that's going to undermine America's national security, | ||
| hurt our ability to protect the American people in terms of their health, their safety, and their well-being, including by going after a George W. Bush bipartisan initiative that has saved thousands, | ||
| actually, hundreds of thousands, actually millions of lives across the world by combating the HIV and AIDS crisis. | ||
| And yet Republicans want to rip billions of dollars away from America's efforts to keep her people safe and secure to satisfy some extreme ideological crusade related to a deeply unpopular effort, formally led by Elon Musk, | ||
| to devastate the American way of life. | ||
| And in all likelihood, every single House Republican, despite the claims that there's some anxiety, will cave to Donald Trump and vote for the reckless Republican rescissions package. | ||
| House Republicans aren't interested in functioning like a separate and co-equal branch of government and holding the Trump administration accountable for its extremism. | ||
| House Republicans will continue to behave like nothing more than a reckless rubber stamp for Donald Trump's extreme agenda, just like they did yesterday, and they'll do the same thing today in voting to cut programs that are important when it comes to protecting the health, the safety, | ||
| the national security, and the economic well-being of the American people. | ||
| Questions? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Leader Jeffries, does uniting against this rescues package possibly risk handing Republicans an easy optics win in terms of presenting themselves as the fiscally responsible party? | |
| The last thing that Republicans are at this moment in time or have ever been over the last few decades is fiscally responsible. | ||
| The one big ugly bill that Republicans are trying to jam down the throats of the American people will detonate the deficit by more than $3 trillion and add trillions of dollars to our national debt, which is already out of control because of reckless Republican spending during the first Trump administration. | ||
| Approximately 25% or so of our nation's debt in this country, a debt that is out of control, that we need to do something about, approximately 25% of our nation's debt was accumulated during Donald Trump's first four years in office, | ||
| which relate in many ways to the original GOP tax scam, where they set in motion tax cuts that disproportionately benefited the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected, and borrowed more than $2 trillion, adding to our debt to benefit their billionaire donor. | ||
| It's extraordinary. | ||
| There is not a single Republican in this town that can credibly argue they are the party of fiscal responsibility. | ||
| And in fact, that was one of the reasons why Elon Musk called the one big, ugly bill a disgusting abomination, because it will set in motion the possibility that America is on an unsustainable path toward bankruptcy. | ||
| That's trillions of dollars. | ||
| And Republicans won't have any ability to convince anyone About the reality being different. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mr. Goodwin, what do you make of Congress and Republicans in Congress just approving this spending back in March with the CR, then the chewing and trolling a couple months later want to cut out some of that, the conceivable inconsistency of that, approving that to keep the government open and then changing policy just a couple months later? | |
| It's not shocking to me because at the end of the day, Republicans have consistently been lying to the American people about trying to build an affordable economy, about stability in the federal government, about meeting the needs of the American people. | ||
| And then, after jamming a partisan bill through the House of Representatives, turn around and are doing the bidding of this extreme administration by cutting billions from programs that are designed to protect America's national security interests and stop diseases or epidemics from reaching our shores. | ||
| That's what the PEPFAR program is all about. | ||
| And it's a bipartisan program. | ||
| It was President George W. Bush's initiative, working with Democrats in the House, like former Representative Barbara Lee. | ||
| These are exactly the type of things that we should be embracing, not running away from. | ||
| But Republicans have been extreme in their approach and deeply ideological. | ||
| They've got no plan, no vision, no ideas, and no bill that actually improves the lives of everyday Americans and is designed to build an affordable economy. | ||
| And this legislation is just the latest example of Republicans trying to jam their extreme right-wing ideology down the throats of the American people, which will hurt everyday Americans. | ||
| And it's all ultimately in service of rewarding their billionaire donors. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The United Nations nuclear watchdog has officially declared Iran in breach of its nonproliferation obligations. | |
| Do you believe it has crossed a red line that would warrant a military response? | ||
| Have not had a security briefing on this issue. | ||
| So before I can address it with any degree of certainty, I'll need to have that secure briefing. | ||
| Thanks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Mr. Leader. | |
| You called the Republicans' budget bill a tax scam, and it includes provisions like no tax on tips and overtime, and it also increases the child tax credit. | ||
| What are your thoughts on provisions like that? | ||
| Republicans actually have decreased the child tax credit from the enhanced and expanded child tax credit that was enacted into law as part of the American Rescue Plan. | ||
| The reason why the enhanced and expanded tax credit no longer exists is because Republicans killed it. | ||
| So they can't claim any credit for anything as it relates to the child tax credit in this bill. | ||
| Now, we have repeatedly said to our Republican colleagues that there are a wide variety of areas where we can make life better using the tax code for everyday Americans that we as Democrats support, including no taxes on tips, where we have a far more comprehensive bill than the expiring provisions that are in the GOP tax scam. | ||
| That's one of the reasons why the GOP tax scam is such a fraud. | ||
| The provisions in the GOP tax scam that benefit billionaires and wealthy corporations are permanent. | ||
| And any modest relief that Republicans are providing to everyday Americans expires shortly after it is enacted. | ||
| And understand something, that all Republicans are doing with respect to tax rates is to keep the tax rates currently where they are right now. | ||
| That's not putting additional dollars in the pockets of most Americans. | ||
| So once again, they're overpromising and they're going to underdeliver. | ||
| Just like Donald Trump and Republicans did all last year. | ||
| The core promise that Donald Trump made to the American people is that I'm going to lower your costs on day one. | ||
| That didn't happen. | ||
| We're months into the administration. | ||
| Costs aren't going down. | ||
| They are going up. | ||
| The Trump tariffs is actually raising costs by thousands of dollars a year and making life more expensive. | ||
| So there's a reason why the GOP tax scam right now is deeply unpopular. | ||
| Not a single public opinion survey has been released that shows the one big, ugly bill with a favorable approval rating. | ||
| Not a single public approval survey. | ||
| It's underwater across the board, including in some instances with Republican-leaning voters and definitively with independents. | ||
| The American people know that Republicans are trying to scam them. | ||
| And the more they know, the worse it gets. | ||
| This one big, ugly bill is the largest tax cut for billionaires in American history at the same time that it's the largest cut to health care in American history. | ||
| More than 16 million Americans will lose health care as a result of this bill. | ||
| Tens of millions more will pay higher premiums, co-pays, and deductibles. | ||
| It's the largest cut to nutritional assistance in American history, more than $300 billion cut from the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, meaning Republicans are literally snatching food from the mouths of children, veterans, and seniors. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Why? | |
| To pay for massive tax breaks for their billionaire donors. | ||
| The more the American people learn about the one big, ugly Republican bill, the more unpopular it becomes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Looking long term at the appropriations process, are you concerned at all about where that stands and the ability to pass an appropriations bill by the next fiscal year? | ||
| Donald Trump and House Republicans have a decision to make. | ||
| Do they want to work in a common sense, bipartisan way to find common ground, or are they going to try to jam an ideological right-wing bill down the throats of the American people in a partisan fashion? | ||
| If they choose the latter approach, we're going to have challenges in September. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Mr. Leader. | |
| When the reconciliation bill was under consideration in the House, Democrats had days of actions, weeks of actions, shadow hearings, just, like you said, a more environment. | ||
| Now that the bill is under consideration in the Senate next week while you all are in recess, will there be any activities with Senate Democrats? | ||
| What will you be up to as you continue to make the case against this bill for the American people? | ||
| Next week, we're going to have a Save Our Hospitals Week of Action. | ||
| And that will be all across the country, and we'll do it in partnership with advocacy organizations, health care professionals, doctors, nurses, social workers, technicians, and most importantly, everyday Americans whose health will be devastated by the GOP tax scam if this one big, ugly bill ever becomes the law. | ||
| Hospitals will close if Republicans are successful in passing the GOP tax scam. | ||
|
Narrowest Republican Majority Since 1931
00:03:39
|
||
| Hospitals in rural America will close. | ||
| That is incredibly disturbing. | ||
| Lives will be lost. | ||
| Hospitals in urban America, in suburban America, ex-urban America, small town America, and the heartland of America will close. | ||
| That has an impact on everyone, not simply people who get their health care through Medicaid. | ||
| That's bad enough that you're ripping health care away from millions of people. | ||
| But as a result of the GOP tax scam and the fact that hospitals are being targeted, that's not just our view as Democrats. | ||
| Hospitals have been on the hill saying it to all of us over the last few weeks, last few months. | ||
| And so next week, while we're out on the district work period, collectively, I think you're going to see hundreds of different events that will take place as part of our effort to save our hospitals in the United States of America. | ||
|
unidentified
|
It's been reported that Texas Republicans are going to meet with the White House today to talk about redistricting. | |
| How are House Democrats prepared to respond to a mid-cycle redistricting in Texas? | ||
| It's very interesting. | ||
| Two points here. | ||
| One, despite all of the talk that Republicans won some massive mandate in November of 2024, this majority that House Republicans have right now is the narrowest that any party has had since 1931 during the Great Depression. | ||
| They have the narrowest majority that any party has had in the House of Representatives since 1931, almost 100 years ago. | ||
| And when Republicans in the House are at full strength, they're at 220. | ||
| When Democrats are at full strength, we're at 215. | ||
| That means it's a three-vote difference between House Democrats and House Republicans. | ||
| Now, North Carolina is a 50-50 state. | ||
| And prior to the extreme mid-decade redistricting that Republicans engaged in so they could rig the majority for themselves, the North Carolina delegation, as recently as January 2nd of this year, was seven Democrats and seven Republicans. | ||
| That was the North Carolina delegation in Congress. | ||
| That makes sense. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You can find the Democrats briefing online at c-span.org. | |
| it to take you live to California, where U.S. Senator Alex Padilla is holding a press conference after he was forcibly removed and handcuffed at a DHS press conference a short time ago. | ||
|
Senator at Press Conference
00:02:55
|
||
| Good afternoon, everybody. | ||
| Senator Alex Padilla. | ||
| You guys have some questions. | ||
| I'm going to read a brief statement. | ||
| I will not be taking questions, but allow me to read my statement. | ||
| I'm here in Los Angeles today, and I was here in the federal building in the conference room, awaiting a scheduled briefing from federal officials as part of my responsibility as a senator to provide oversight and accountability. | ||
| While I was waiting for the briefing with General Guillot, I learned that Secretary Nome was having a press conference a couple doors down the hall. | ||
| Since the beginning of the year, but especially over the course of recent weeks, I, several of my colleagues, have been asking the Department of Homeland Security for more information and more answers on their increasingly extreme immigration enforcement actions. | ||
| And we've gotten little to no information in response to our inquiries. | ||
| And so I came to the press conference to hear what she had to say to see if I could learn any new additional information. | ||
| And at one point, I had a question. | ||
| And let me emphasize: just as we've emphasized the right for people to peacefully protest and to stand up for their First Amendment rights, for our fundamental rights. | ||
| I was there peacefully. | ||
| At one point, I had a question. | ||
| And so I began to ask a question. | ||
| I was almost immediately forcibly removed from the room. | ||
| I was forced to the ground. | ||
| And I was handcuffed. | ||
| I was not arrested. | ||
| I was not detained. | ||
| I will say this: if this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question, if this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, | ||
| you can only imagine what they're doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day laborers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country. | ||
|
Brief Press Q&A
00:02:49
|
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| We will hold this administration accountable. | ||
| And we'll have more to say. | ||
| We'll have more to say in the coming days. | ||
| Let me say it just briefly in Spanish as well. | ||
| Soy, Senator Alex Padilla. | ||
| Y estú aquí por que tove una junta para receiver más información de los representantes de la administración. | ||
| Especiallymente porque del principio del termino de Donald Trump, y especialmente está útima semana por lo que aú curido aquí en la region de los Ángeles. | ||
| We have pedo más información para ténde de las policas la segias de la administración. | ||
| Y las puestas anciido minimas. | ||
| Tube Junta here to receive more information when the secretariat has a prize in the same edification, in the same piece. | ||
| Calmamente fui a escuchar para ver si podría aprender algo nuevo sobre los esfuerzos y las acciones del departamento. | ||
| A un punto de la rueda de prensa, traté de hacer una pregunta. | ||
| Muy calmado, all tranquilo, tú buena pregunta, y casi mediatamente. | ||
| Los agentes, me sa caron, porceable me forcaron de la sala, first completamente al piece posiero un esposas. | ||
| No me restado, no medeteniero. | ||
| But una Erram pregunta. | ||
| Esta, si estas la reaction a senador con una pregunta y majinance, what están haciendo con cocineros or naleros, campesinos y other immigrantes no violentos? | ||
| La cumeda, los Ingles en otras areas de Souda California y en el count preguntas, en este momento Terosíquís speakar lo que o curgio y tenamos más que decir en los días. | ||
|
Please Peacefully Protest
00:07:50
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| Que biendes. | ||
| Just want to once again, just want to once again for not just the community here in Los Angeles, but throughout the country, because there is a lot of concern, there is a lot of tension, there is a lot of anxiety, and a lot of people are beginning to make plans for what they may or may not do come this Saturday. | ||
| Please peacefully protest, just like I was calmly and peacefully listening in that press conference and preparing, attempting to ask a question. | ||
| No violence, no vandalism. | ||
| Please continue peacefully protesting, and that's all I will have to say today. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Can you give us an answer? | |
| Why did you come in and do that? | ||
| 321 and the nays are 104. | ||
| With no members voting present, the bill is passed. | ||
| Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. | ||
| Pursuant to clause 8 of Rule 20, the unfinished business is the question on agreeing to the motion to recommit from 8 on HR 4, offered by the gentlewoman from Illinois, Miss Kelly, on which the yeas and nays are ordered. | ||
|
Agents Arrest Senator?
00:12:38
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|
unidentified
|
The clerk will designate the motion. | |
| Motion to recommit HR4, offered by Ms. Kelly of Illinois. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The question is on agreeing to the motion to recommit. | |
| Members will record their votes by electronic device. | ||
| is a five-minute vote and a second vote now in this round on whether to send legislation cutting funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting to committee It's a first round of spending cuts requested by President Trump as part of Doge. | ||
| During the vote, we'll show a reaction from senators to their colleague Alex Padilla of California getting thrown out of a DHS briefing in Los Angeles and handcuffed a short time ago. | ||
| Mentioned a few minutes ago that I had seen a video that sickened my stomach. | ||
| A U.S. senator being manhandled, we now know by federal agents and dragged out of a hearing room. | ||
| Now there's a second video. | ||
| It's even worse. | ||
| He's been thrown to the ground. | ||
| Again, manhandled, brutally taken down, handcuffed. | ||
| It was disgusting. | ||
| Anyone who looks at it turns, it turns anyone, anyone who looks at this, it will turn their stomach to look at this video and see what happened reeks, reeks of totalitarianism. | ||
| This is not what democracies do. | ||
| Senator Padilla was there, legitimately in that building, to ask questions of what's going on in California, which everybody wants to know answers to. | ||
| We don't get answers when we ask the administration questions in one way or another. | ||
| So Senator Padilla was exercising his duty as a senator for his constituents to try and find out what happened. | ||
| And instead, he gets manhandled, thrown out of the room, thrown on the ground, and handcuffed. | ||
| We need a full investigation immediately as to what happened and who did what and what's going to be done to see that this doesn't happen again to Senator Padilla or other American citizens who are seeking their right to redress. | ||
| It's despicable. | ||
| It's disgusting. | ||
| It is so un-American. | ||
| So un-American. | ||
| We need answers. | ||
| We need answers immediately. | ||
| I yield the floor. | ||
| I yield to my colleague from New Mexico. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mr. President, I recognize the senator from New Mexico. | |
| Mr. President, I'm sure the American people right now are just starting to see what happened to the United States Senator from California, the senior senator from California, Alex Padilla. | ||
| He's at a press conference in California where the Secretary of Homeland Security is, and he wants to ask some questions. | ||
| With all this going on in California, look, I don't know what all happened, but federal agents took him down. | ||
| Took down a United States Senator that they're doing their job. | ||
| Why aren't more people down here speaking up about this nonsense? | ||
| This is ridiculous. | ||
| I'd use some other language, but I'd probably get tossed off the floor right now. | ||
| Growing up on a small farm and cleaning a barn, my dad taught me how to take a shovel to all the stuff that came out of the animals. | ||
| You know what that's called. | ||
| I know what it's called. | ||
| And some of the animals that did that were males. | ||
| They were bulls. | ||
| And the stuff that came out of them has a few names to it. | ||
| I'll call it manure today. | ||
| This is nonsense. | ||
| This is awful. | ||
| How can these federal agents get away with this? | ||
| Is the President of the United States telling folks to go down and start arresting United States senators, taking them down to the floor? | ||
| Is that what we've come to? | ||
| The executive branch doing this to our colleagues? | ||
| This is a Democrat. | ||
| What happens when it happens to a Republican? | ||
| Will I hear from my Republican colleagues then to say, no, we should not do this, Mr. President? | ||
| Back down, back off, you are wrong. | ||
| Will someone here have the backbone to tell the President of the United States, you crossed the line. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Stop it. | |
| I'm so disappointed. | ||
| So disappointed. | ||
| And as a Latino, United States Senator, for this to happen to another Hispanic here, there are several of us that are Hispanics here, Democrats and Republicans. | ||
| Speak up. | ||
| When one of my predecessors was here, Dennis Chavez, there were places he could not eat in this town because of the color of his skin, because he was from a state called New Mexico. | ||
| Are we going to use our voices? | ||
| Are we better than this in the United States of America? | ||
| Are we going to show all the other folks in the world that choose to do this to the people that were duly elected by their people? | ||
| No, just go arrest them, throw them down on their face, treat them like garbage. | ||
| We're better than this in America, y'all. | ||
| We got to speak up. | ||
| I hope by tonight every Democrat and Republican member of this body has the courage to say something. | ||
| This has gone too far. | ||
| It's not right. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Quorum call. | |
| I've come to the floor to say extremely outraged that the executive branch's security team have shoved a U.S. senator out of a room, have proceeded to put that U.S. senator on the ground and to handcuff that senator. | ||
| This is what we expect to see in authoritarian nations. | ||
| They can't tolerate a question and they start to attack the institutions. | ||
| This is what we're seeing in the U.S. right now. | ||
| We're seeing it in the form of the president willfully breaking the law on the rules controlling the executive branch time and time again. | ||
| We see it in his attack on the press, his attack on the universities, his attack on extorting law firms. | ||
| We see it in the form of his views in the nays are 218. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The motion is not adopted. | |
| The question is on passage of the bill. | ||
| Those in favor say aye. | ||
| Those in opposed, say no. | ||
| In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. | ||
| For what purpose is the gentleman from Connecticut? | ||
| The yeas and nays are requested. | ||
| Those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. | ||
| A sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. | ||
| Members will record their vote by electronic device. | ||
| This is a five-minute vote. | ||
| And a final vote now on legislation to cut $9.4 billion in foreign aid and public broadcasting funding. | ||
| It's part of the first round of spending cuts requested by President Trump as part of Doge. | ||
| We're going to show more reaction to Senator Padilla being removed and handcuffed during a Homeland Security briefing in Los Angeles while this vote is underway. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. President. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mr. President, I recognize the senator from New Jersey. | |
| I never thought I would imagine having to stand here and discuss what I saw today. | ||
| A United States senator in his own community, in the city in which he grew up, elected under the authority of the people, stepping forward to get answers to legitimate questions. | ||
| And we see him being thrown to the ground after being removed from a room forcibly and put into handcuffs by multiple people. | ||
| This to me is such an abuse of authority. | ||
| It is a violent act. | ||
| And there can be no justification of seeing a senator forced to their knees, laid flat on the ground, their hands twisted behind their back, and being put into restraints. | ||
| If you see the video at that point, he's not fighting, he's not pushing. | ||
| But this is a pattern and a practice. | ||
| This is not an isolated incident. | ||
| I remind people that in my own community, in the city of Newark, we had a congresswoman and a mayor at a facility. | ||
| The mayor invited into the gate the congresspeople invited into a conference room and then the mayor asked to leave who did leave and then numerous agents run out to arrest that mayor. | ||
| Now the judge in this case said it was outrageous, reprimanded the Trump administration for the arrest in and of itself. | ||
| We see time and time again with this administration trying to precipitate a response by the misuse and the abuse of force. | ||
| This is more akin to authoritarian governments. | ||
| When you see a democratic nation having their executive begin to arrest mayors, begin to arrest judges, begin to arrest a United States senator who is simply asking for answers to their questions to remove them from a room forcibly, to throw them to the ground, to put them in restraints. | ||
| This is something that we should not tolerate. | ||
| And by we, this is not Democrats and Republicans. | ||
| This is we in this body. | ||
| We have a constitutional obligation to provide oversight to the executive, a constitutional obligation to ask questions, to make inquiries, a constitutional obligation to check and balance the authority of the executive. | ||
| And so here we saw before our eyes a senator in their district, in their state, asking questions, and we see him being shoved out of a room, but it did not stop there, shoved to the ground, shoved onto his belly, and have his arms pulled behind his back. | ||
| This should outrage every United States senator. | ||
| This should outrage every United States senator. | ||
| I would like to yield the floor to my colleague. | ||
| I thank the gentleman for yielding. | ||
| Excuse me, I would have a question. | ||
| I would yield to a question. | ||
| Will the gentleman yield for a question? | ||
| I will yield to a question while retaining the right to the floor. | ||
| I thank the gentleman for yielding. | ||
| I just watched footage of our colleague, my California colleague, Senator Alex Badilla, being forcibly removed from a briefing by the Secretary of Homeland Security's staff. | ||
| He went there to observe and to ask questions, and I watched with horror on this video seeing these agents grab my colleague, my fellow senator from California, grab him, push him out of the hearing as he was identifying himself as a U.S. senator, bring him into a hallway, bring him down to the ground, bring his arms behind his back. | ||
|
Bending Towards Autocracy?
00:04:25
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| I saw this happen to my colleague, and I am shocked by how far we have descended in the first 140 days of this administration, where we have a president calling out the military over the objection of a governor to try to intimidate and interfere with law enforcement in California, | ||
| calling out the Marines to try to inflame tensions in our city, and now this latest act when a U.S. senator goes to demand questions about the lawfulness or lawlessness of these actions to see him tackled to the ground, brought to the ground. | ||
| What is becoming of our democracy? | ||
| Are there no limits to what this administration will do? | ||
| Is there no line they will not cross? | ||
| We see lawlessness after lawlessness. | ||
| We see threats to judges of impeachment and of physical harm. | ||
| We see arrests of members of Congress. | ||
| And now this. | ||
| All of us have lived as part of a generation since World War II that was used to seeing our freedoms ever expanding. | ||
| We saw walls coming down. | ||
| We saw new democracies being born. | ||
| We came to think that somehow this was inevitable like the laws of nature, that it was the moral arc of the universe always bending towards justice, only to see that it was not bending towards justice. | ||
| And to see this now at home, to see in the United States of America the executive use force like this against a member of a co-equal branch of government, to see that it has come to this already. | ||
| And not a peep yet from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. | ||
| No whisper of dissent yet. | ||
| I hope that changes. | ||
| I hope that changes that the founders separated the powers between the executive and the legislative and the judiciary because they wanted to set ambition against ambition, ambition of one institution against another to protect all of our freedom, but that requires that we go beyond our partisan affiliations and when something is wrong, dead wrong, when something is a threat to our democracy, that we call it out regardless of party. | ||
| And this is wrong. | ||
| This is wrong. | ||
| We ask, how do you lose a democracy? | ||
| How does one lose a democracy? | ||
| This is how you lose a democracy. | ||
| Actions like today, but even more importantly than what has just happened is what will happen in the next 24 hours. | ||
| Will this be roundly condemned? | ||
| Will this be roundly condemned or somehow will we just fall down some partisan line again and see another leap towards autocracy in this country? | ||
| Alex Badilla is one of the most decent people I know. | ||
| One of the most dedicated public servants I know. | ||
| Someone of just the greatest character. | ||
| We all know him well in this institution. | ||
| He embodies public service. | ||
| He never forgot where he came from. | ||
| He came from very humble origins, and he never forgot where it came from. | ||
| And the beauty of this country is you could come from a very humble origin and you could end up here. | ||
| When I first got here, John Tester, a farmer from Montana and a senator from Montana, told me about a conversation he had with John D. Rockefeller when he got here. | ||
|
Alex Padilla's Removal
00:04:50
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| And he said, Rockefeller told him you and I came from very different places, but we both ended up here. | ||
| It's the beauty of America that Alex Padilla could end up here by dint of his brilliance and his integrity and his compassion. | ||
| And all of that is at risk. | ||
| All of that is at risk right now if we let the abusive handling of this good man and so many other good men and women around. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The nays are 2-12. | |
| The bill is passed. | ||
| Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. | ||
| The House will be in order. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from California seek recognition? | ||
| Parliamentary inquiry. | ||
|
unidentified
|
As a combat veteran, I want to know what this House is going to do. | |
| This attack will be illegally attacked and drugged to the ground. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I move that the House now be adjourned. | ||
| The question is on the motion to adjourn. | ||
| All those in favor say aye. | ||
| All those opposed, say no. | ||
| In the opinion of the chair, the no's have it. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from California seek recognition? | ||
| Ask for a roll call vote. | ||
| 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. | ||
| And here, a motion to adjourn after a short time ago, California U.S. Senator Alex Padilla was removed and handcuffed during a Homeland Security briefing in Los Angeles. | ||
| It was being held by Secretary Christine Noam. | ||
| We've been showing a reaction from his fellow senators, and we could be hearing shortly from House Speaker Mike Johnson about the incident. | ||
| We'll bring you his remarks live if he does make any comment. | ||
| And again, here, a protest vote in order to adjourn the House after U.S. Senator Alex Padilla was removed and handcuffed during a Homeland Security briefing in Los Angeles. | ||
| While this vote finishes up, we'll show you what happened at the briefing. | ||
| The fact of the matter is, a half a dozen unquittals that you're rotating on your head off. | ||
|
Press Sound Protests
00:15:41
|
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|
unidentified
|
On the ground. | |
| Get my back. | ||
| Get my back. | ||
| Get my hands going. | ||
| Get my back. | ||
| Leave me flat. | ||
| Leave me flat. | ||
| Other hand, sir. | ||
| Other hand. | ||
| What's wrong? | ||
| That's my boss. | ||
| I have to go for a new class. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You can't get the result of it. | |
| I'm not a member of the press. | ||
| I'm your sound. | ||
|
unidentified
|
On this vote, the yays are 206 and the nays are 218. | |
| The motion is not adopted. | ||
| Pursuant to clause 8 of Rule 20, the unfinished business is the question on agreeing to the motion to recommit on H.R. 2056, offered by the gentleman from Massachusetts, Mr. Lynch, on which the yays and nays are ordered. | ||
| The clerk will redesignate the motion. | ||
| Motions to recommit H.R. 2056, offered by Mr. Lynch of Massachusetts. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The question is on agreeing to the motion to recommit. | |
| Members will record their votes by electronic device. | ||
| This is a five-minute vote. | ||
| And a vote here on whether to send a bill back to committee repealing a D.C. sanctuary city law. | ||
| It requires DC comply with requests by federal immigration authorities on immigration status issues with non-U.S. nationals in the district and to comply with detainer requests for non-citizens being held in custody, effectively repealing a 2020 DC Sanctuary City law. | ||
| DC Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser also recently proposed the law be repealed. | ||
| If this vote fails, a final vote on repealing the DC law will be next. | ||
| Also, we've been showing you reaction after California U.S. Senator Alex Padilla was removed and handcuffed during a homeland security briefing in Los Angeles. | ||
| We've been showing reaction from his fellow senators during votes here in the House. | ||
| On this vote, the nays are 205 and the nays are 15. | ||
| The motion is not adopted. | ||
| The question is on passage of the bill. | ||
| Those in favor say aye. | ||
| Those opposed, say no. | ||
| In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. | ||
| For what purpose does the member from Massachusetts seek recognition? | ||
| I asked for the call to the yeas and nays. | ||
| The yeas and nays are requested. | ||
| Those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. | ||
| A sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. | ||
| Members will record their vote by electronic device. | ||
| This is a five-minute vote. | ||
| And the last vote of the day and the week on repealing a D.C. sanctuary city law. | ||
| While the votes underway will show remarks by U.S. Senator Alex Padilla after he was forcibly removed and handcuffed during a DHS briefing in Los Angeles regarding Trump immigration policy. | ||
| Good afternoon everybody I'm Senator Alex Padilla. | ||
| You guys have some questions. | ||
| I'm going to read a brief statement. | ||
| I will not be taking questions, but allow me to read my statement. | ||
| I'm here in Los Angeles today, and I was here in the federal building, in the conference room, awaiting a scheduled briefing from federal officials as part of my responsibility as a senator to provide oversight and accountability. | ||
| While I was waiting for the briefing with General Guillot, I learned that Secretary Noam was having a press conference a couple of doors down the hall. | ||
| Since the beginning of the year, but especially over the course of recent weeks, I, several of my colleagues, have been asking the Department of Homeland Security for more information and more answers on their increasingly extreme immigration enforcement actions. | ||
| And we've gotten little to no information in response to our inquiries. | ||
| And so I came to the press conference to hear what she had to say, to see if I could learn any new additional information. | ||
| And at one point, I had a question. | ||
| And let me emphasize, just as we've emphasized the right for people to peacefully protest and to stand up for their First Amendment rights, for our fundamental rights. | ||
| I was there peacefully. | ||
| At one point, I had a question. | ||
| And so I began to ask a question. | ||
| I was almost immediately forcibly removed from the room. | ||
| I was forced to the ground and I was handcuffed. | ||
| I was not arrested. | ||
| I was not detained. | ||
| I will say this: if this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question, If this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, | ||
| you can only imagine what they're doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day laborers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country. | ||
| We will hold this administration accountable. | ||
| And we'll have more to say. | ||
| We'll have more to say in the coming days. | ||
| I mean, just want to once again, just want to once again, for not just the community here in Los Angeles, but throughout the country. | ||
| Because there is a lot of concern. | ||
| There is a lot of tension. | ||
| There is a lot of anxiety. | ||
| And a lot of people are beginning to make plans for what they may or may not do come this Saturday. | ||
| Please peacefully protest, just like I was calmly and peacefully listening in that press conference and preparing, attempting to ask a question. | ||
| No violence, no vandalism. | ||
| Please continue peacefully protesting, and that's all I will have to say today. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Can you give us an answer to that? | |
| Why did you come in and do that? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Why didn't you do this? | |
|
Designating District Work Period
00:00:50
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|
unidentified
|
Vote. | |
| The yays are 224 and the nays are 194. | ||
| The bill is passed. | ||
| Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. | ||
| The House of Communication. | ||
| The Speaker's Rooms, Washington, D.C., June 12, 2025. | ||
|
Ava's Passing
00:11:39
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| I hereby designate the period from Thursday, June 12, 2025 through Sunday, June 22nd, 2025, as a district work period under clause 13 of Rule 1. | ||
| Signed sincerely, Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House of Representatives. | ||
|
unidentified
|
For what purpose does the gentleman from Florida seek recognition? | |
| Mr. Speaker, I ask for unanimous consent to address the House out of order. | ||
| Without objection. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, nine years ago today, on June 12th, 2016, at 2.02 a.m., our little happy town of Orlando, Florida was changed forever as we saw 49 angels and 53 others who were killed and 53 others who were injured in a mass shooting during Latin night at the Pulse Nightclub, | ||
| a safe place for the LGBTQ community located just south of downtown Orlando. | ||
| At the time, it was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. | ||
| I was proud to work on both sides of the aisle in June of 2019 to introduce the National Pulse Memorial. | ||
| In June 2020, it passed the House but did not pass the Senate. | ||
| But finally, in June 2021, it was introduced and passed into law and signed by President Biden. | ||
| We know that this national memorial happened because this was a national tragedy. | ||
| At the time, we saw memorials and moments of silence across the nation, across districts from Sea to Shining Sea. | ||
| And in membrance of these who we lost and those who were injured and their families, I asked my colleagues to please stand and to join me for a moment of silence. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield back. | ||
| The gentleman yields. | ||
| The chair will now entertain requests for one-minute speeches. | ||
| What purpose does the gentleman from Arizona seek recognition? | ||
| Unanimous consent to address the House for one-minute revised and extend my remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So ordered. | |
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| I rise to honor the memory and selfless service of Officer Gabriel Fascio of the Apache Junction Police Department. | ||
| End of watch, June 8, 2025. | ||
| Gabriel was wounded in the line of duty on June 2nd, 2025, while attempting to apprehend a suspect who was brandishing a weapon and waving it at motorists and residents. | ||
| Gabriel and his fellow officers bravely responded to the call and pursued the suspect further south. | ||
| After using all available means to bring in the suspect without incident, their commands were not obeyed and the suspect could not be brought down with less lethal tools. | ||
| The suspect fired his weapon at Gabriel and his fellow officers who returned fire. | ||
| Sadly, in the exchange, Gabriel was stuck in the face before the suspect was hit and taken into custody. | ||
| Gabriel fought valiantly but could not overcome the wounds he sustained. | ||
| Six days later, he passed away at only 46 years old, surrounded by his family and fellow officers. | ||
| We honor his sacrifice as the first Apache Junction police officer to be killed in the line of duty. | ||
| He was beloved by his fellow officers and his dear family, with whom we mourn. | ||
| Gabriel, we pray for your family and brothers in blue. | ||
| Your service and protection of the people of Apache Junction in Arizona's 5th District will live on forever. | ||
| Thank you, and may God welcome you home. | ||
| I'd ask for a moment of silence, Mr. Speaker. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| For what purpose does the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask to address the House for one minute and to revise and miss my remarks. | ||
| Without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise today on this National Woman Veterans Day as a veteran of the United States Air Force to tell Secretary Hegseth and President Trump that women who raise their hand and swear an oath to protect and defend this nation are not going anywhere and we will not be silent. | ||
| From the earliest days of our nation, women have always served, both officially and unofficially, facing off against America's enemies. | ||
| And today, women make up nearly 18% of the active duty force and 22% of our National Guard and Reserve. | ||
| Studies prove that their service improves innovation and mission outcomes, making our military stronger, smarter, and more prepared to face the challenges of modern warfare. | ||
| The administration's artificial barriers on who can lead and who can serve are disrespectful and irresponsible. | ||
| Firing and pushing aside decorated female leaders who earned their positions diminishes military readiness and devalues the standards and integrity of the very military itself. | ||
| Women in our military are not insignificant or inconsequential. | ||
| We are indeed essential, and we cannot be pushed out or erased. | ||
| Thank you, and I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentlewoman yields. | |
| For what purpose does the gentlewoman from Texas seek recognition? | ||
| Without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| I rise today with a heavy heart to honor a tremendous young woman from the 24th Congressional District, Ava Moore. | ||
| She was a leader, a patriot, and a bright light in our North Texas community. | ||
| From the first time that we reviewed her application to the U.S. Air Force Academy, it was clear that she was destined for greatness. | ||
| In May, Ava was home for just a short break before heading off to basic training. | ||
| While kayaking with friends on Grapevine Lake, Ava's life was taken in a senseless and preventable tragedy. | ||
| Our entire office is heartbroken about her loss. | ||
| I had the privilege of speaking with Ava's father, a man of great faith, kindness, and forgiveness. | ||
| Even in the face of unimaginable loss, he told me that he was remaining hopeful and positive because, in his own words, that's how Ava would have wanted it. | ||
| Our nation is at a loss with Ava's passing. | ||
| May we honor her by remembering the incredible woman that she was, and may God bring peace to her family, knowing that her legacy and her example will last with all of us. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I yield back. | ||
| The gentlewoman yields. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentlewoman from Texas seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address the House for one minute and to revise the rest of my remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the extraordinary life and legacy of Reverend Rilly Rainwater of Carrollton, Texas. | ||
| Reverend Rainwater was more than a pastor. | ||
| He was a pillar of justice, a steward of history, and a relentless voice for civil rights. | ||
| From preserving the Carrollton Black Cemetery to organizing the city's annual Martin Luther King Day Junior Day Parade for more than 25 years, he brought our community together in the spirit of equity and remembrance. | ||
| His work wasn't just in the pulpit, it was in the streets, in our schools, in our city hall meetings, and in the daily struggle to make North Texas more just and united. | ||
| Reverend Rainwater now joins his beloved wife, Juanita, with whom he shared a life of faith, service, and community leadership. | ||
| Together, they made North Texas better. | ||
| Today, we remember a man whose faith was inseparable from action, whose love for his neighbors left an imprint on our institutions, and whose memory is a blessing to us all. | ||
| May we continue to carry his torch forward, and I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentlewoman yields. | |
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Pennsylvania seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I request unanimous consent to address the House for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise today to recognize two exceptional students from the Greater Lehigh Valley, Adam Wyatt and Rhea Gandorga, recipients of the 2025 Congressional Award Gold Medal, the highest honor Congress can bestow upon a civilian youth. | ||
| Adam, a student at Nazareth Area High School and an Eagle Scout, has used the program to build leadership skills, service, and discipline. | ||
| From studying Russian and leading his family on a 19-day European tour to interviewing local veterans, he's taken on challenges that show real initiative and follow-through. | ||
| Rhea, a student at Moravian Academy, volunteered at a camp for children with special needs, worked to better herself academically, played on her school's tennis team, and planned a family trip to Toronto. | ||
| Her work reflects both compassion and determination and a clear commitment to personal and civic growth. | ||
| Adam and Rhea exemplify the values of service, perseverance, and personal development. | ||
| I'm proud to recognize their achievements and the positive impact they've had on their local community as young leaders in the Greater Lehigh Valley. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I yield back. | ||
| The gentleman yields. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from New York seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I seek an advanced consent to address the House for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman from New York is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Today, I want to recognize a group of Westchester residents who have taken on the role of civic involvement of issues of importance to the local, county, state, and federal level, the leaders and advocates in my home district. | ||
| These individuals have taken Taken on that most traditional of American values, active citizenship, in matters of public policy. | ||
| We have seen our values under attack, the right to vote, the rights of free speech and due process, the rights to benefits earned through honest worker service to our nation. | ||
| It will take everyday citizens to stand up and say, no, we don't agree with what is happening today. | ||
| We see a better future for America. | ||
| I would like to recognize Margaret Bradbury, Kim Snyder, and Rhianna Navitt in New Rochelle, Jenny Gere in Mammaronick, Suki Van Dyke and Rye, Chris Tom in Eastchester, Jenny Bernhardt and Liz Scaffiti, White Plains, Gabby Boardwin and Marjorie Hsue in the River Towns, Eileen O'Connor and Elizabeth D. Bethune in Yonkers, Susan Van Dolsen of Harrison, and Shannon Powell of Mammaronick. | ||
|
Capitol Assault Accountability
00:11:23
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||
| The work they are doing has earned our respect and deserves our praise. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield my remaining time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman yields. | |
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Florida seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address this body for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| $168 billion. | ||
| That was the amount the federal government improperly paid last year. | ||
| We paid some bills two or three times. | ||
| We paid the wrong invoices altogether. | ||
| We paid invoices we didn't know we paid because there was no tracking mechanism. | ||
| If only, Mr. Speaker, there were a bill to require the Department of Treasury to ensure accuracy and eligibility in federal spending. | ||
| Wait, there is. | ||
| I just filed it, Mr. Speaker, and it's the Delivering in Government Efficiency Doge in Spending Act. | ||
| The war on waste, fraud, and abuse begins today by requiring the Treasury Department to simply track, verify, and cross-check payments, and that's what the Doge and Spending Act will do. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, the American people deserve accountability and transparency. | ||
| I urge all my colleagues to join me, and I am saving a co-sponsorship for each of you. | ||
| Let's deliver results, and Mr. Speaker, let's go get them. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman yields. | |
| For what purpose does the gentlewoman from Hawaii seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I arise to address the House for one, ask unanimous consent to address House for one minute and to revise and consume my remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of National Women's Veterans Day. | ||
| Last week, I spoke with a combat veteran from Kaneohee, Hawaii, my hometown. | ||
| She was among the first class of women to graduate from West Point, and two decades after leaving the Army, she returned to serve as a chaplain. | ||
| She deployed to Afghanistan, earned airborne and air assault qualification, and was awarded the Legion of Merit and five meritorious service awards. | ||
| Yet, she felt compelled to come all the way to Washington, D.C. to join in a veterans protest on D-Day because the very progress she helped to secure, she now saw being callously unraveled. | ||
| Women's history erased from defense websites, senior female leaders pushed out, accountability on sexual assault fading, and a narrow, male-centric culture of lethality that sidelines women in service. | ||
| She asked me, how is it we are fighting and having to refight the battles we have already won? | ||
| Shame on this administration for turning its back on women like my constituent who've worn the uniform and are now made to fight again for the dignity and respect they have already earned. | ||
| Women veterans are watching and they will not be silent. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentlewoman yields. | |
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Georgia seek recognition? | ||
| I ask unanimous consent to address the House for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the Frederica Academy baseball team, which won the program's first-ever state championship this season. | ||
| Since 1969, Frederica Academy has earned 76 state titles across all its athletic programs, except for one. | ||
| Their baseball program had battled a history of ups and downs, not quite being able to finish the drill until now. | ||
| Fighting back from near elimination early in the playoffs, the St. Simons team overcame adversity to make their first state title series since 2018. | ||
| The boys swept their opponents from Pinewood Christian to earn the GIAA Class 3A Baseball State Championship in history for their athletic program. | ||
| Under head coach Tim Orlowski, these young men exhibited persistence, sportsmanship, and humility in their title run. | ||
| Join me in congratulating this team of incredible young men and everyone who supported them in their journey to achieve history for Frederica Academy. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman yields. | |
| For what purpose does the gentlewoman from New York seek recognition? | ||
| Without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise today to address the cruel rescission package that just passed the House strictly on partisan lines. | ||
| Let me be clear. | ||
| This legislation is a shameful, backwards attempt to cancel $9.8 billion in funding that had already been passed into law. | ||
| It cuts critical investments in life-saving programs that support reproductive health and education. | ||
| It also slashes funding for the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, also known as PEPFAR. | ||
| This bipartisan initiative had been supported by both parties for 20 years. | ||
| As a volunteer who stood on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic, I witnessed firsthand and remember when an HIV diagnosis was tantamount to a death sentence. | ||
| But because of programs like PEPFAR, this is no longer so. | ||
| In fact, since its launch in 2003, PEPFAR has saved 26 million lives and enabled 8 million babies to be born without HIV infection. | ||
| The package also threatens funding to public broadcasting like NPR and PBS, which educate, informed, and enrich the lives of Americans. | ||
| The American people have been clear that they want Congress to lower costs and make life easier for working families. | ||
| Instead, we're spending our time threatening health programs and trying to take Sesame Street off the air. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman yields. | |
| For what purpose does the gentleman from California seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to address the House for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Mr. Speaker, today was a tremendous victory for sanity in California. | ||
| I had the opportunity to join President Trump at the White House, where he signed into law a resolution I introduced to reverse Gavin Newsom's ban on gas cars once and for all. | ||
| I want to thank my colleagues here in Congress on both sides of the aisle who joined us in passing this and getting it to the President's desk where it was signed into law today. | ||
| Because of its passage, Californians can now continue to drive a car of their choice rather than one that is dictated to them by the government. | ||
| And we're pretty close to killing the high-speed rail disaster once and for all as well so we can invest money in our roads where it is needed. | ||
| I think, Mr. Speaker, that we truly are on a path back to sanity in California. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I yield back. | |
| The gentleman yields. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from California seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address the House for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Mr. Speaker, in just one week, this administration has sent ICE to conduct raids into my community to meet arbitrary deportation quotas. | ||
| They have unnecessarily sent National Guard and Marines, which have only inflamed peaceful protests, and they have thrown down to the ground a U.S. Senator, my U.S. Senator, and handcuffed him for trying to ask questions to a DHS Secretary Noam. | ||
| This is happening because the administration does not like that they have different opinions from, does not like that they have different opinions from the state of California. | ||
| My constituents deserve more from the president. | ||
| Our democracy deserves more from the president. | ||
| I stand with all Californians who want to keep pushing and keep using our voice and keep peacefully protesting the actions of this lawless president. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Members are reminded not to engage in personalities toward the President. | |
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Nebraska seek recognition? | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise today to recognize the accomplishments of 4-H students from Fillmore County, Nebraska. | ||
| They competed in the American Rocketry Challenge national finals last month. | ||
| Selected from over 1,000 entries from across the nation, the students qualified as national finalists after designing, building, flight testing, and launching their rocket under highly specified requirements to target an impressive 790 feet and land while keeping the rocket's payload intact. | ||
| On May 16th, I was delighted to welcome members of the club, which calls itself the steampunks, to the Rockets on the Hill event along with Coach Christina Woods. | ||
| Team leaders Kelsey Ellison and Ruby Long displayed their model, the product of a two-month engineering process. | ||
| Through their hard work and technical excellence, these young people have made Nebraska's 3rd District proud. | ||
| With such dedication, they will continue to reach even greater heights. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman yields. | |
| For what purpose does the gentlewoman from Virginia seek recognition? | ||
| I have for one minute to revise and extend my remark. | ||
| Without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, on January 6th, 2021, a crowd of people stormed the Capitol, seeking for the second time in American history to take by force what they could not win at the ballot box. | ||
| Capitol Police were beaten as they tried to protect members of this body and the Vice President of the United States from harm. | ||
| Congressional leaders begged President Trump to send in the National Guard. | ||
| He refused. | ||
| But Virginia, the birthplace of American democracy, did. | ||
| Four years later, President Trump pardoned the individuals who sought to harm members of Congress and who did hurt Capitol Police who swear to keep us safe. | ||
| Now, as people exercise their constitutional right to protest, President Trump has deployed the National Guard and the Marines. | ||
| And now an administration that ignores the Constitution it swore to preserve, protect, and defend seeks to intimidate, assault, and arrest members of Congress exercising their oversight duties outlined in that same Constitution, like Representative LaMonica McGuyver and Senator Alex Padilla. | ||
| Next year, we have the opportunity to celebrate 250 years of a remarkable idea of power derived from the United States. | ||
|
Pride in Education
00:08:38
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|
unidentified
|
Gentleladies' time has expired. | |
| Not from a king, but only if we choose to yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlelady yields back. | |
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Utah seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask Unanimous Consent to address the House and revise and dismember. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I'm proud to recognize Utah State Teacher of the Year, Saya Posey, an outstanding educator who embodies the mission of the America, excellence, innovation, and high expectations. | ||
| She comes from a long line of teachers. | ||
| Her great-grandfather taught in a one-room schoolhouse in West Virginia. | ||
| Her mom was a retired kindergarten teacher. | ||
| Now teaching eighth-grade U.S. history at Northwest Middle School in Salt Lake City, Ms. Posey brings history to life through project-based learning. | ||
| Her students have earned top honors at regional and state National History Days competitions. | ||
| She has proof that when we empower great educators and focus on merit, our students thrive. | ||
| I thank her for her leadership and proudly recognize her this service today. | ||
| Thank you, Burst, and I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman yields. | |
| For what purpose does the gentlewoman from Ohio seek recognition? | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I request the unanimous consent to address the House and to extend and revise my remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Today, I rise to honor the 90th anniversary of Alcoholics Anonymous, a global, peer-led, spiritual-based 12-step program and an organization founded in Ohio's 13th congressional district in my hometown of Akron, Ohio. | ||
| In June 1935, a meeting between Bill W., a New York stockbroker, and Dr. Bob, an Akron surgeon, both struggling with alcoholism, sparked a movement that would change millions of lives around the world. | ||
| With the guidance of Dr. William Silkworth, they came to understand that alcoholism is not a moral failing, but a disease of the mind and body that requires treatment. | ||
| From that understanding and their commitment to helping others, Alcoholic Anonymous was born. | ||
| What began as one small group meeting at Akron City Hospital has now grown into a global fellowship with over 123,000 groups in 180 countries and literature translated into more than 100 languages. | ||
| With an estimated membership of over 2 million people, Alcoholics Anonymous has helped countless individuals find hope, recovery, and community. | ||
| AA's legacy of humility and service is reflected in its traditions, especially the principles of anonymity and putting service before self. | ||
| And those who are members are dedicated because each year they pilgrimage to Akron for Founders Day to pay tribute to Dr. Bob and provide hope and support for one another. | ||
| Today, I am proud to stand here to celebrate the 90th years of Alcoholics Anonymous and their healing and perseverance. | ||
| And I am very proud that this extraordinary legacy began in Ohio's 13th congressional district. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlewoman yields. | |
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Indiana seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to address the House for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise to spotlight the over 32,000 Honorable Hoosier veterans across Indiana's 6th District. | ||
| A recurring theme I've heard from veterans as I move around the district is how difficult it can be to obtain the care that they have earned through their service. | ||
| I'm listening to these concerns and working hard to address them. | ||
| I had the opportunity this month to welcome our Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Mr. Doug Collins, to the Rudebush VA Medical Center back home in Indiana, where we discuss these very concerns close to our Hoosier veterans. | ||
| I'm supporting legislation that ensures our veterans receive the care and benefits that they've earned, and I'll continue to fight for our Hoosier veterans from my post here in Washington and back home in my district. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| The gentleman yields. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Georgia seek recognition? | ||
| Ask for permission to address the body for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| A judiciary cannot stand as a pillar of trust and independence unless it is also anchored in accountability. | ||
| Yet, as it stands, federal judges facing serious misconduct allegations can stop an investigation in its tracks by simply stepping down from the bench. | ||
| This loophole not only undermines public trust, but leaves serious questions unanswered about conduct unexamined. | ||
| My legislation, the Trust Act, would fix this by requiring an investigation to continue even if a judge resigns or retires to avoid accountability. | ||
| This cannot and should not be a partisan issue. | ||
| Congress must act to ensure that credible allegations follow judges beyond the robe and that retirement or resignation is not mistaken for resolution. | ||
| I encourage all of my colleagues to support this legislation, and with that, I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman yields. | |
| For what purpose does the gentlewoman from California seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise to address the House for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| Today, I rise to honor and remember Otto Frederick Wambier as June 19 marks eight years since his tragic death at the hands of the North Korean regime. | ||
| Otto was a dedicated young man who graduated as tetorian of his high school in Ohio before attending the University of Virginia. | ||
| While on a school tour in North Korea in 2015, Otto was imprisoned, tortured by the North Korean regime. | ||
| He died just a few days after his release at just 22 years young. | ||
| Otto experienced what no human being should ever have to go through. | ||
| May his story continue to remind us of all the atrocities the North Korean regime is capable of. | ||
| We remember and we will continue to honor Otto and his memories. | ||
| 우리는 어루를 영원히 기억할 것입니다. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentlelady will provide a translation. | |
| And the gentlelady yields. | ||
| And for what purpose does the gentleman from Rhode Island seek recognition? | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, today the House majority took a shameful vote to cut billions of dollars of aid that goes to PEPFAR to treat people around the world with HIV. | ||
| They cut aid from malaria. | ||
| They cut aid for clean water around the world. | ||
| But thankfully, this bill did not cut funding for emergency food aid like Plumpy Nut. | ||
| The problem is that even though this funding has not been cut, it is still available, the Trump administration continues to hold up the money instead of getting it to companies like Adesia in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, that manufacture this food aid to ship it around the world. | ||
| We continue to have a now five-month pause, quote unquote, in the delivery of emergency food aid to starving children. | ||
| The Trump administration needs to keep its word to deliver this food aid. | ||
| The money is available so that lives can be saved. | ||
| This is the 21st time that I have spoken on the House floor demanding that the Trump administration restore emergency food aid. | ||
| I will continue to speak every legislative day until they do it. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman yields. | |
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Georgia seek recognition? | ||
|
Celebrating John M. Stuckey Jr.
00:02:59
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||
| Mr. Speaker, I request unanimous consent to address the House of Representatives for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the life of a man whose legacy was marked by intellect, integrity, and a deep devotion to profession and family, Mr. John M. Stuckey Jr., who passed away on May 30th. | ||
| John was born on August 9th, 1939, in Shreveport, Louisiana, and was a graduate and lifelong supporter of Louisiana State University. | ||
| Following college, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he earned his law degree from George Washington University and served his country as an intelligence officer in the United States Army. | ||
| After his honorable discharge as a captain, John worked in the legislative branch in which we all serve as the chief of staff to Senator Bill Brock. | ||
| Thereafter, he and his wife Sandra moved to Noonan, Georgia and established Roanoke Farm, from where John would become a pioneering leader of the Georgia Republican Party. | ||
| He led President Nixon's campaign in our state and was later elected and served as chairman of the Georgia Republican Party from 1987 to 1989. | ||
| In Noonan, he spent many lunches at Mama Lucia's, where he regaled his friends with stories of history, sports, and politics. | ||
| He was integral in the establishment of Brownsmill Battlefield Historic Site, and he raced with his grandchildren on John Deere Gator rides across the family farm. | ||
| John is survived by his wife Sandra, his son, and my friend John, his daughter Erin, and four wonderful grandchildren. | ||
| John M. Stuckey Jr. service to his country and legacy across our community will be felt for generations to come. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I yield back the balance of my time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman yields. | |
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Florida seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address the House for one minute to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Mr. Speaker, nine years ago today, 49 lives were stolen and ripped away from us at Pulse Nightclub in my district in my home of Orlando, Florida, a safe haven for Orlando's LGBTQ community that was turned into the site of unimaginable horror and a mass grave. | ||
| Pulse was more than just a club. | ||
| It was love, it was joy, it was freedom, and a space for a community facing constant adversity from our state and people like in our administration. | ||
| Just today, Governor Ron DeSantis deleted from the annual anniversary statement the words and acronyms LGBTQ and Hispanic, when most of the people who were killed that day were from the LGBTQ plus community and Hispanic. | ||
|
Horror Trump's Assault on Democracy
00:03:19
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| This was armed bigotry and it was armed hate. | ||
| I'm oftentimes asked why I don't join moments of silence that include Republicans for gun violence. | ||
| And the reason why is because they refuse to do anything about it. | ||
| And I'm not going to be a prop in some social media video that's posted later to placate constituents. | ||
| They do nothing about ending gun violence. | ||
| And so we're going to continue to honor them with action, not just with thoughts and prayers. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I yield back. | |
| Gentleman yields. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentlelady from California seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address the House for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Today, Americans watched in horror as the Trump administration assaulted a United States senator. | ||
| Senator Alex Padilla is not only the senior U.S. Senator in California, he is my childhood friend, my mentor, and the senator to my constituents of the 29th Congressional District in California. | ||
| What we witness today are actions of an authoritative government. | ||
| The Trump administration quickly resorted to violent actions to silence Senator Padilla, erase our democracy, and rewrite our nation's values. | ||
| Every American should be outraged at how the Trump administration is treating anyone who dares to stand in their way. | ||
| Whether you are a U.S. senator or a U.S. citizen or an immigrant, no one is protected by the Trump regime. | ||
| It is my job to ensure that my constituents, immigrants, and all Americans are protected from this administration's horrible actions. | ||
| If a U.S. senator is treated this way on camera, imagine how they're treating immigrants when the cameras are off. | ||
| Today, I stand as a proud daughter of immigrants. | ||
| I stand with Senator Padilla, and I stand for all the residents of California's 29th congressional district. | ||
| Thank you, and I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlelady yields. | |
| Pursuant to clause 13 of Rule 1, the House stands adjourned until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow. | ||
| The House has finished work for the week after voting to cut $9.4 billion in current foreign aid and public broadcasting funding. | ||
| The bill is the first round of spending cuts requested by President Trump as part of Doge, the Department of Government Efficiency. | ||
| Lawmakers also approved a bill to repeal a DC Sanctuary City law and a measure to permanently classify fentanyl with the highest penalties and control. | ||
| That fentanyl bill now goes to the president for his signature. | ||
| The chamber will not be in session tomorrow to allow members to attend the funeral for former New York Congressman Charlie Wrangell in Harlem. | ||
| Watch live coverage of the House here on C-SPAN. | ||
| Democracy. | ||
| It isn't just an idea. | ||
| It's a process. | ||
| A process shaped by leaders elected to the highest offices and entrusted to a select few with guarding its basic principles. | ||
| It's where debates unfold, decisions are made, and the nation's course is charted. | ||