00:00A woman from Oregon, Ms. Bonamici, for five minutes.
00:03Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
00:05Mr. Speaker, the news today is about a bill.
00:09It's a big bill.
00:10The Republicans' big, bad bill, which is cruel, cold-hearted, and completely unnecessary.
00:16And it's not even fiscally responsible.
00:18It's actually going to add to the deficit.
00:20This massive bill, which is more than 1,000 pages, was and is being negotiated behind closed doors.
00:28The debate started at 1 o'clock in the morning in the darkness of night.
00:33This bill is going to strip health care and food assistance from millions of Americans
00:37so billionaires can get trillions of dollars in tax breaks.
00:41Mr. Speaker, who's afraid of the big, bad bill?
00:43Well, a lot of people are, and for good reason.
00:46Make no mistake, if you rip health care away from millions of Americans, people will die.
00:51Right now, this is the largest Medicaid cut in American history.
00:55In fact, the headline today, summarizing the score on this bill from the Congressional Budget Office,
01:01said, Wealthy Gain, Low-Income People Lose from GOP Megabill.
01:06They're right.
01:07There's about 1.4 million Oregonians on Medicaid, including one in three children.
01:12And I challenge my colleagues, go to a pediatric cancer wing and tell a child with leukemia and
01:17their parents that they can't afford life-saving treatment.
01:19If you don't have the courage to tell that to their face, then don't support this bill.
01:25This bill takes food from hungry children.
01:28SNAP helps more than 775,000 Oregonians, 50% of whom are children, helps them put food on the table.
01:35This bill would lead to a significant reduction in food benefits for families.
01:40I guess billionaires can eat caviar in their mansions or on their yachts while launching
01:45celebrities and rockets on vanity tours of space, but everyday Americans will be left
01:50unsure about whether they'll have enough to feed their families.
01:53The top 20% of income earners are going to get at least 68% of the benefits in this bill,
01:58while Oregonians and Americans who benefit from Medicaid and SNAP will be left to suffer.
02:04Because of this big bad bill, student loan borrowers could be in debt until they die.
02:08Many students who get Pell Grants will be harmed.
02:11The bill will raise monthly student loan payments for working and middle-class borrowers affecting
02:1615 million people across the country, and that includes more than 50,000 Oregonian students
02:21and families who, with this bill, will have limited options for repayment relief.
02:26And no question, unless you're from a wealthy family, this bill will close the doors of opportunity
02:31for the next generation to access affordable college.
02:34Families will pay more for groceries, gas, insurance, and utilities, but oil companies and corporate
02:39executives will be getting tax breaks.
02:41This bill will hike the average household electricity bill by about 10%, forcing families to pay more
02:48while corporate polluters are getting a windfall.
02:50Nationwide families would pay an extra $6 billion.
02:55Republicans are going to make it easier for corporate polluters to poison our water and air.
03:00We'll see an increase in the number of wildfires and floods that devastate communities,
03:04and that will lead to continuing skyrocketing insurance premiums and property damage.
03:09Farmers and ranchers, they're collateral damage.
03:12This bill greenlights more drilling and mining that will spoil water supplies used for irrigation
03:16and livestock, poisoning the land while fossil fuel CEOs profit.
03:21Public lands, those belong to all Americans, not billionaire donors.
03:25But Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are going to privatize, drill, and destroy
03:30them for profit, and that will eviscerate the very spaces that make us America the beautiful.
03:36And finally, tucked into this bill is a 10-year block on state regulation of artificial intelligence,
03:42which might make sense if we had policies at the federal level for safety, security, and bias,
03:48but we don't, and the public will face unchartered and unchecked harm.
03:55So for all these reasons and more, I oppose this misguided legislation,
03:59and I urge every one of my colleagues to vote no, and I yield back the balance of my time.
