00:00The distinguished gentlemen, the top Democrat on the Rules Committee, Mr. McGovern, for his
00:06leadership and for yielding. Thank all of the distinguished members of the Rules Committee
00:10for their steadfast and courageous, insightful participation and opposition to this rule
00:18and the substantive legislation that underlies this particular rule. I also want to thank
00:25Rosa DeLauro for her principled and strong opposition to this reckless Republican rescissions
00:34package. This effort by the Trump administration to once again hurt everyday Americans. Mr. Speaker,
00:44it was just said on the House floor that the American people are fed up with out-of-control,
00:52wasteful government spending. As Democrats, we're committed to making sure that taxpayer dollars
01:02are spent in an effective, efficient and equitable manner. This bill that's on the floor right now
01:11has nothing to do with waste, fraud and abuse. It represents an attack on the public health of the
01:21American people, the national security of the American people, the public safety of the American
01:28people, and the ability of the American people to actually get information, particularly in rural
01:33America, that they may need through public radio or public television in the face of an emergency.
01:43Mr. Speaker, no one is buying the notion that Republicans are actually trying to improve
01:51wasteful spending. In the aftermath of this one big, ugly bill that just passed this chamber
02:00and has been signed into law that explodes the debt by more than three trillion dollars
02:09dollars. And then asks everyday Americans to pay for part of the expenses in the bill by ripping away
02:20health care for more than 17 million Americans. Hospitals will close, nursing homes will shut down,
02:27community-based health clinics will be unable to provide services to everyday Americans, and as a result of the
02:36one big, ugly bill, people will die. It's an all-out assault on health care, the largest cut to Medicaid in American history.
02:44It also rips food out of the mouths of hungry children, seniors, and veterans. All of this being done to provide
02:52massive tax breaks to billionaires. And then, Mr. Speaker, in this one big, ugly bill that now has been signed into law,
03:04the debt and the deficit will explode by trillions of dollars. How dare anyone from the other side of the aisle
03:11claim to be the party of fiscal responsibility? That's fake, and that's phony.
03:18So when you look at this particular piece of legislation that's in front of us right now, this reckless
03:23Republican rescissions package, it undermines American national security and American leadership
03:34in the world. This is not an America first bill, it's a China first bill, because of the void that's
03:44being created all across the world. It's in America's interests, our national security interests,
03:52our leadership interests, to make sure that we're investing in development and diplomacy
04:00and democracy all across the world. Great leaders have recognized that throughout the American journey.
04:10It was Abraham Lincoln, who came to the House chamber in the middle of the Civil War,
04:16in the early 1860s, spoke to the Congress, and talked about America being the last best hope
04:28on earth. President Lincoln said that in the 1860s, visionary declaration
04:36of the role that America might one day play as the leader of the free world.
04:43And this legislation, this reckless Republican rescissions package, undermines our ability
04:50to keep our people safe here, and to project America's soft power all over the globe.
05:01Why would we undermine our ability to use diplomacy, democracy, and development to protect our own
05:09national security? Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, he promised that on day one, he was going to end
05:21the war in Ukraine. That's now going on. And in this particular piece of legislation, we're undermining
05:29the ability of Ukraine to continue to valiantly fight against Russian aggression.
05:37Russia is not our friend. They're our enemy. Vladimir Putin is a sworn enemy of the United States
05:44of America. Why is it, Mr. Speaker, that Republicans in this bill are undermining, once again, Ukraine?
05:51Ukraine stands on the side of democracy. Ukraine stands on the side of freedom. Ukraine stands on
06:00the side of truth. Russia stands on the side of autocracy and tyranny and propaganda. Why would we
06:09stand on the side of Russia? That's inconsistent with American leadership. But this reckless Republican
06:18rescission package, it does the exact opposite. Mr. Speaker, we just saw tragedy unfold in the Texas
06:27Hill Country. More than two dozen children have died. Parents should never have to bury their children. More
06:37than 100 Texans died in the deadly floods. And there are a lot of questions that need to be asked
06:45about government failure. State government failure in Texas. The governor of Texas, he's got a lot of
06:55questions that need to be answered. Instead, he's trying to rig the Texas congressional map in the
07:02middle of a search and rescue operation. He's got to answer some questions. Trump administration needs to
07:09answer some questions about the national weather service and the devastating cuts that have been
07:16inflicted on them. Trump administration, Mr. Speaker, needs to answer some questions about the stated goal
07:24to defund FEMA. So in the midst of this tragedy
07:30that we all need to collectively respond to in Texas, just like we need to respond to the tragedy
07:40that unfolded in California in the wildfires earlier this year. This reckless Republican rescissions
07:48package is going to undermine the ability of people in rural America and in small-town America to receive
07:59advance warning or necessary information when disaster strikes, when extreme weather strikes,
08:08when flooding strikes, when hurricanes strike. That's what happens when you shut down public radio
08:18and you shut down public television, which is what this reckless rescissions package will do.
08:24It's all extraordinary. Mr. Speaker, I don't understand why Republicans continue to advance legislation on
08:32the floor of the House of Representatives that hurt everyday Americans. Is it simply because the goal is
08:40always to reward billionaires, as was done with the one big ugly bill, providing them with massive and
08:51unnecessary tax breaks? Mr. Speaker, at the beginning of this Congress, we as House Democrats made clear
09:02that we will work with anyone in this town in order to make life better for the American people, to lower the
09:11high cost of living of the American people, to address the affordability crisis afflicting the American
09:18people. And we thought perhaps that we would have some partners in this necessary endeavor. Why?
09:31Because, Mr. Speaker, Donald Trump and House Republicans promised that you were going to lower costs. In fact,
09:38that costs were going to go down on day one, not my words,
09:43President Trump's words, costs having gone down in the United States of America, costs are going up.
09:49Inflation is on the way up. Life is getting more expensive
09:55for the American people. And nothing in this reckless rescissions package is going to make life more
10:03affordable for everyday Americans. It's going to complicate their life even further, just like what happened
10:15with the one big ugly bill. So, Mr. Speaker, we are strongly opposed to this legislation. Legislation
10:26that apparently Republicans don't even want to actually debate on the House floor. And once again,
10:33want to address an issue to be debated in this chamber under the cover of darkness.
10:44Finally, Mr. Speaker, the challenge that we have with this legislation is that the appropriations
10:55process has historically and traditionally been bipartisan. Democrats and Republicans working to try
11:02to come together to reach a spending agreement that meets the needs of the American people in terms of
11:10their health, their safety and their economic well-being. And do it, House Democrats, Senate Democrats,
11:19House Republicans, Senate Republicans, a bipartisan appropriations process to try to reach an enlightened agreement.
11:29But what this rescissions package signals to us and the people that we represent, more importantly,
11:35what it signals to America, as the OMB director just said, Republicans, Mr. Speaker, aren't interested in
11:43bipartisanship, aren't interested in common sense solutions to finding common ground anchored in Democrats
11:52and Republicans coming together. We know that's the case because we've made clear our willingness to solve
12:00the challenges that the American people face and work with anyone in this town, particularly when it comes
12:07to lowering the high cost of living in the United States of America. Republicans continue to do nothing
12:13about that, not a damn thing, to make life more affordable for the American people.
12:21And that's one of many reasons why we continue to be opposed
12:24to this reckless legislation that you bring to the House floor that hurts everyday Americans, will hurt
12:32children, will hurt families, will hurt older Americans, and will hurt people that Republicans represent
12:41in rural America, all while undermining American leadership in the world.
12:47And so, Mr. Speaker, once again, this is unfortunate. Once again, we see a Congress not functioning
13:00as a separate and co-equal branch of government, a Congress, given this Republican majority, not willing
13:08to serve as a check and balance on an out-of-control executive branch, but always willing to do the bidding
13:16of the executive branch as if we work for the Article II branch of government. We don't work
13:27for Donald Trump. We don't work for J.D. Vance. We don't work for the OMB director. We work for
13:32the American people, and that's why we are a hard no against this reckless rescissions package. I yield back.
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