Strategic Ports Reporting Act

Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentlemen from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Mr. Neal), who has done a tremendous job leading the Ways and Means Committee on our side.

I also thank Ranking Member Brendan Boyle, Ranking Member Jim McGovern, all the members of the Ways and Means Committee, the Budget Committee, the Rules Committee, every single Member of the House Democratic Caucus who have stood on this floor, stood before the Rules Committee, participated in markups on behalf of the American people, in defense of the American people.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to this reckless, regressive, and reprehensible GOP tax scam. This is one big, ugly bill that House Republicans are trying to jam down the throats of the American people under the cover of darkness.

This legislation will not make life better for the American people. The GOP tax scam represents an assault on the economy, an assault on healthcare, an assault on nutritional assistance, an assault on tax fairness, and an assault on fiscal responsibility.

There are more than 100 other reasons to vote against this one big, ugly bill that can be found by reading this more than 1,000-page document. Those reasons are too numerous to mention, but this legislation also undermines reproductive freedom, undermines the progress that we have made in combating the climate crisis, undermines gun safety, undermines the rule of law and the independence of the Federal judiciary. It even undermines the ability of hardworking and law-abiding immigrant families to provide remittances to their loved ones who just may happen to live abroad.

There are more than a hundred different reasons to vote against the GOP tax scam. In the days, the weeks, and the months to come, all of those reasons will be exposed for the American people in each and every one of your districts.

This bill represents a failed promise. Last year, Donald Trump and House Republicans spent all of their time talking about their promise to lower the high cost of living in the United States of America. In fact, Donald Trump and Republicans promised that costs would go down on day one.

We are now more than 120 days past the inauguration. Costs aren't going down. They are going up. Inflation is out of control. Insurance rates remain stubbornly high. Our Moody's rating, our credit rating has been downgraded. We have got people losing confidence in this economy. Republicans are crashing this economy in real time and driving us toward a recession.

Beyond that, costs are actually going up. The trade war that Donald Trump has recklessly launched, his tariff scheme, will raise the cost of goods, groceries, and gas for everyday Americans, the Americans that Republicans claim they were going to help, but the Americans that they are clearly hurting.

Republicans have destabilized the business environment. Small businesses are at risk of closing. Farmers, small family farmers are in distress. Businesses can't invest. People are not hiring. Republicans are actively crashing the economy, driving America toward a recession.

Republicans promised to lower costs on day one. Costs aren't going down. They are going up.

Now, as House Democrats, we believe that we have to build an affordable economy for hardworking, American taxpayers. We are committed to lowering housing costs, grocery costs, insurance costs, childcare costs, and utility costs. In America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, there are far too many people living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to make ends meet.

Here in this country, no American should find themselves in that situation. Republicans promised that they would do something about it, but things are not getting better. They are getting worse.

We could have partnered together to try and find a bipartisan path toward building an affordable economy for hardworking American taxpayers, but Republicans chose to go it alone, to try to drive their extreme right-wing policies down the throats of the American people.

That is what this one big, ugly bill represents, not simply a broken promise as it relates to your failures on the economy. Despite the gentleman from Louisiana trying to articulate all of the so-called successes that have taken place, we know that this Presidency has already been a failure, filled with crisis and chaos, cruelty, and corruption.

The American people know it, which is why Donald Trump, at the 100- day mark, was the most unpopular President in American history. The American people understand. It is unfolding right before their eyes. No matter what kind of MAGA spin you try to put on the situation, things are going to get worse.

Why? It is because of this big, ugly bill. It is not simply an assault on the economy, a broken promise, but it is an assault on the healthcare of the American people.

You see, as Democrats, we believe in this country that healthcare is not simply a privilege. Healthcare is a right.

From Medicare, to Medicaid, to the passage of the Affordable Care Act and subsequently enhancing it, we have begun to move America to a place where every single person in this land could have access to the healthcare that they need to live a life of dignity and respect.

At this moment in America, we have the lowest rate of uninsured people in our Nation's history, but this GOP tax scam will reverse that with this assault on healthcare. It is the largest cut to Medicaid in American history.

Here is what it will mean for the American people: Children will get hurt. Women will get hurt. Older Americans who rely on Medicaid for nursing home care and for home care will get hurt. People with disabilities who rely on Medicaid to survive will get hurt. Hospitals in your districts will close. Nursing homes will shut down, and people will die.

That is not hype. That is not hyperbole. That is not a hypothetical. The people that you all represent have been writing to us to make that clear. Thousands of people who have written to us--everyday Americans-- have made that clear. I will just present a few of those stories in the Record.

I have type 1 diabetes and was diagnosed when I was 7 years

old. I have had jobs with private insurance in the past, but

I lost my job during the pandemic. With childcare becoming a

major challenge, it made more sense for me to stay home with

the kids, but that also meant losing my health benefits.

Right now, we are all on Medicaid. It is crucial for me to

stay alive and healthy. I need insulin and supplies to manage

my diabetes every single day. Without it, I could die.

That is Shauna, who lives in Arizona's Sixth Congressional District.

My youngest son has leukemia. He was a self-employed

handyman and, therefore, he didn't have sufficient insurance.

When the cancer became more debilitating, he could no longer

work. He has undergone radiation, stem cell transplant, and

then more radiation. He is still fighting cancer, and without

Medicaid and the fine physicians, he would surely die.

That is Gregg, who lives in the Eighth Congressional District of Colorado.

As a cancer survivor with chronic illnesses, I rely heavily

on Medicaid and food stamps to get by. Without these

essential programs, people like me would suffer. I am

currently taking expensive medication to stay in remission,

but my condition and the side-effects of my treatment make it

impossible for me to work. Unfortunately, my work history

also disqualifies me from receiving Social Security benefits.

I am not alone in my dependence on these Medicaid and food

stamp benefits. Children, elders, and many others who are

sick or struggling also rely on them to survive. I urge you

to do the right thing for the people you represent. Without

food stamps and Medicaid, the consequences would be painful

and even deadly.

That is Julisa, who had a message for her Representative in Pennsylvania's Eighth Congressional District.

What we are here to say as House Democrats to Shauna, to Gregg, and to Julisa is that if your Representatives won't fight for you, we will. We will. We will. If they won't fight for you, we will fight for you, for your healthcare, for your decency, for your well-being, for your grace, and for your dignity.

Now, in addition to visiting the largest cut to Medicaid in American history, that is not enough for the MAGA extremists. CBO has independently confirmed that this one big, ugly bill will also set in motion a $490 billion cut to Medicare in this country.

Unfortunately, that should come as no surprise because we know that our Republican colleagues have been trying to attack Social Security for decades, as they are doing right now, not necessarily in this bill. Why? It is because the 1974 Budget Control Act prevents you from doing it, but you have been going after Social Security for a long time and going after Medicare for a long time. Elon Musk, who seems to function as your puppet master, has made clear his intentions, which you just follow as if you work for him.

Elon Musk wants to take a chain saw to Social Security, a chain saw to Medicare, as you are doing in this bill. Elon Musk wants to take a chain saw to Medicaid, as you are doing in this bill. Here is our message to you and the American people: No matter how long it takes, House Democrats are going to take a chain saw to Project 2025 because it is not in the best interests of the American people.

What this bill represents is your effort to try to put into law Project 2025. You acted like you didn't know anything about it. This is why you have no credibility right now. You spent all of last year lying to the American people, saying to them that you were going to lower the high cost of living. In fact, you are doing the exact opposite.

At the same period of time, you acted like you knew nothing about Project 2025, and this bill is an effort to try to implement it into law.

You mentioned credibility issues. I think it exists on the right side of this Chamber.

Not only have you gone after Medicaid. Not only have you gone after Medicare.

Mr. Speaker, you know what is interesting, is that every time I have come on this floor, I can use sharp language, he can use sharp language. You choose to admonish me. I don't work for you, sir. I work for the American people.

We can continue this. Every time I am interrupted, that is going to add another 15 minutes to my remarks.

Mr. Speaker, what we have seen is the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. It is an effort to devastate Medicare. Of course, what this bill also does is strip away some of the coverage provided by the Affordable Care Act.

Millions of people will lose their coverage as a result of this GOP tax scam. When you aggregate the assault on healthcare that is taking place, what we are likely to see is, at least, 13.7 million people are going to lose their healthcare in the United States of America.

That is what we are fighting for. That is why we are a ``no,'' amongst several other reasons on this bill. It is an assault on the economy. It is an assault on healthcare. It is also an assault on nutritional assistance.

Now, in the 1960s, the American people were shaken up and disturbed by images they saw after some investigations exposed the conditions of some people in America who were dealing with intense hunger in rural America, in underresourced communities, and communities of color, images of children with distended bellies, families rummaging through garbage in order to find food so they wouldn't starve.

That is what eventually led to the creation of what is now the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program because the American people concluded that in this great country, not a single child should ever go hungry. That is our position.

Apparently, it is not the position of our Republican colleagues. In this bill, SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, will experience more than $300 billion in cuts, the largest cut to nutritional assistance in American history.

Literally, Mr. Speaker, Republicans are taking food out of the mouths of children, disabled Americans, veterans, and older Americans. That is another reason why we are strongly opposed to this bill.

This is the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world. It is indecent to rip food out of the mouths of children and everyday Americans. It is indecent.

To make matters worse, we know that as a result of this bill, according to an analysis from the Urban Institute, there are 18 million children in this country who are at risk of losing school meals. Decade after decade after decade in America, we have made great progress. That progress, as it relates to alleviating hunger and food insecurity, is now at risk of being rolled back.

One of the excuses that I am sure we will hear from the Speaker of this institution is that this one big, ugly bill is all about waste, fraud, and abuse.

It is interesting because month after month after month, we continue to hear that phrase. Let's be clear: As Democrats, we believe in trying to make sure that Federal taxpayer dollars are spent in an efficient and effective way. We are all for that, but that is not what is being done in this bill. No evidence of waste, fraud, and abuse has been presented in a compelling way.

In fact, you know what is interesting, you are talking about taking away nutritional benefits that amount to $2 per meal, $6 per day, at the same time, when Elon Musk and his Federal contracts are worth $8 million a day.

If you are trying to find waste, fraud, and abuse, I have a suggestion: Start right there. Start right there. Don't take food from the mouths of our children. Start right there.

This is one big, ugly bill. It is a GOP tax scam. It is a reckless Republican budget. It is an assault on the economy. It is an assault on healthcare. It is an assault on nutritional benefits. It is also an assault on tax fairness.

Here is the thing: It is the largest cut to healthcare in American history coupled by the largest cut to nutritional assistance in American history in order to enact the largest tax breaks for billionaires in American history.

That is unacceptable. That is unconscionable, and that is un- American. That is un-American because my Republican colleagues promised that they would actually focus their efforts on trying to make life better for everyday Americans. However, disproportionately the benefits of this bill, as confirmed by independent observers, don't go to those who may be at the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum. They actually go disproportionately to those at the highest end of the economic spectrum.

A CBO analysis requested by Congressman Boyle and myself just confirmed that. It is not hype, not hyperbole, not a hypothetical; it is what will happen if this one big, ugly bill became law.

It is an assault on tax fairness and, of course, that is coupled with the assault on fiscal responsibility.

It is ironic to me that many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle claim to be the party of fiscal responsibility, but as Richie Neal has often eloquently articulated, that is not what the record shows. The record shows something very different.

This fiscal irresponsibility that comes from the other side of the aisle is actually connected to the obsession with massive tax cuts for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected. We have seen this rinse-and-repeat scenario play itself out over and over again.

President Reagan comes in to office, and what is his signature domestic priority? His signature domestic priority is massive tax cuts for the superwealthy. As a result, he escalates the debt and deficit.

Those policies, of course, are continued by his successor, President George H.W. Bush, but then President Clinton takes office. In his 8 years, he turns a deficit into a budget surplus. That is fiscal responsibility.

Then, after 8 years in office, President Clinton is replaced by President George W. Bush, who proceeds to follow the same playbook. They used to call it trickle-down economics. The American people aren't buying it because they figured out what trickle-down economics means: We may get a trickle, but we are guaranteed to stay down. That is what has happened over and over again.

President Bush comes into office, and he introduces massive tax cuts for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected. The 2001 tax cuts and the 2003 tax cuts turned a budget surplus into a massive deficit. His administration then further exacerbated the problem with a failed war in Iraq and a failed war in Afghanistan. They were asleep at the switch as it related to the economy, which resulted in the Great Recession.

Then, President Obama takes office to once again demonstrate what fiscal responsibility is all about. In 8 years, he takes the deficit that he inherited of $1.5 trillion and cuts it by a trillion dollars, notwithstanding the economic mess that he inherited, having to dig the country out of the Great Recession.

Of course, 8 years of President Obama brings us to the current administration in its first term. As my colleague from Louisiana talked about, what is their signature legislative accomplishment? The 2017 version of the GOP tax scam, where, by some estimates, 83 percent of the benefits were set in motion for the wealthiest 1 percent, and you borrow more than $2 trillion to do it, once again exploding the debt and deficit in the United States of America.

President Biden comes into office in his first 2 years, notwithstanding all the signature accomplishments--many of which did have some bipartisan support, particularly in the Senate. There were significant accomplishments led by President Biden, Speaker Pelosi, and Democrats in the House, partnering with our colleagues in the Senate. Notwithstanding all of those accomplishments, he reduces the deficit in his first 2 years by $1.7 trillion.

That is what fiscal responsibility looks like, so we are not going to be lectured on this issue.

Then, my colleagues have the nerve to talk about fiscal responsibility and to try to pass a bill that disproportionately benefits their billionaire donors like Elon Musk, and borrows--will add to the debt--more than $5 trillion.

That is an assault on fiscal responsibility. That is forcing our children and our grandchildren, all of them, to shoulder an unnecessary burden that will limit their ability to fully experience the American Dream.

That is why we oppose this bill. It is an assault on the economy, an assault on healthcare, an assault on nutritional assistance, including on our veterans, an assault on tax fairness, and an assault on fiscal responsibility.

As I close, let me make one other observation. I believe that there are people of faith on both sides of this Chamber, authentically people of faith on both sides of this Chamber. I am not one to question anyone's faith, but I do think we have to ask the question, particularly when you study the Gospel, and the Gospel in particular of Matthew 25:35-40, where Jesus talks about the importance of standing up for the least, the lost, the left behind, the poor, the sick, the afflicted, the homeless, the people who are confined, strangers in a foreign land.

When you know the Gospel, when you are charged with trying to live the Gospel, it cannot be the case that one goes to synagogue or one goes to the mosque or one goes to church, as I do, but one goes to church to pray on Sunday, and then comes to Washington, D.C., to prey on the American people the rest of the week.

You can't prey on the poor, prey on the sick, prey on the afflicted, prey on our children, prey on people with disabilities, prey on our veterans who served this country, and project that that is consistent with the faith that I at least know, anchored in Matthew 25:35.

Mr. Speaker, I think this, in some ways, is a sad day here for this institution. James Madison, one of our great thinkers, I believe it was in Federalist No. 51, talks about Congress at its best should function as a rival to the executive branch, serve as a check and balance on the out-of-control impulses of an executive that may emerge from time to time. Congress, according to James Madison, at its best would serve as a rival to the executive branch.

Unfortunately, our House Republican colleagues haven't followed the vision of this Madisonian version of democracy because they have consistently proven to be nothing more than a rubberstamp for Donald Trump's extreme agenda, and the American people are paying attention. The American people are paying attention.

I think that when the story is told of the 119th Congress, when the votes are ultimately cast on that first Tuesday in November next year, this day may

very well turn out to be the day that House Republicans lost control of the United States House of Representatives because the American people are paying attention.

They are smarter than you think, and they know when they are being hurt. They know when their interests are not being served, and they know when they have been lied to and deceived.

See, they know that Congress was meant to be a separate and coequal branch of government. We don't work for President Trump. We don't work for J.D. Vance. We don't work for Elon Musk. We work for the American people. That is what House Democrats are all about.

Mr. Speaker, because we work for the American people, we will continue to stand up for an economy that is affordable and makes life better for hardworking American taxpayers. We will stand up for Social Security, stand up for Medicare, stand up for Medicaid, stand up for nutritional assistance, stand up for our children, stand up for our veterans, stand up for our seniors, stand up for our families, stand up for the American way of life. That is what House Democrats will continue to do.

We will stand up today, stand up tomorrow, stand up this week, stand up next week, stand up this month, stand up next month, stand up this year, stand up next year, stand up at all times until we end this national nightmare and restore the American Dream for every single person in this great land, from sea to shining sea.

Vote ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Missouri for his leadership and getting us to this point. So many other chairmen will talk about that, too.

I rise in strong support, Mr. Speaker, of this one big, beautiful bill, this bill that is going to deliver on so many promises that the American people asked us to do for them.

We have elections in this country, and we had an election that had a lot of crystal-clear messages sent in November. We had a contrast, maybe one of the sharpest contrasts between two candidates for President.

If you read this bill, Mr. Speaker, and maybe some of my friends on the other side haven't read it by some of the comments they have made, because you would think it is 2017 all over again when you listen to the things that they said. They have said the same things they are saying tonight that they said in 2017, none of which turned out to be reality.

They had an opportunity to make their case for raising taxes on the American people. In fact, their candidate for President was for a lot of the same things they are for tonight: Letting the Trump tax cuts expire to punish those middle-class and low-income workers who benefited the most from those tax cuts. They benefited tremendously.

President Trump said that he was going to lock those tax rates in, not giving all these tax breaks the minority is talking about to millionaires and billionaires but, in fact, to help the working families of this country who are struggling.

They struggled after 4 years of the last administration. The weight of the failures of their policies raised inflation, raised interest rates, made homeownership unachievable, and made the ability to fill their own grocery carts unachievable. President Trump said he would reverse it.

How else did he say he was going to reverse it? President Trump said that we were going to produce more American energy.

Now, the other side of the aisle has been very clear for years with an all-out assault on American energy. They have carried it out. They have voted for it. They campaigned on it, and the voters rejected that false premise, that failed approach.

Now, maybe they are upset that the voters said: We want to produce more energy in America. However, Mr. Speaker, President Trump was crystal clear: If you elect us, elect President Trump, elect a Republican House and Senate, then we will deliver for you. We will open up more American energy from ANWAR in Alaska to the Gulf of America. That is what he campaigned on. Maybe they are upset that he is actually delivering on those promises and that this bill delivers on those promises.

It is a promise that will lower prices at the pump. When you go to the gas station, Mr. Speaker, you will be able to fill up your car. So that is in this bill.

It also creates more jobs. Now, there are some people, clearly, who don't like that. It is not just my friends on the other side of the aisle who don't want to produce more American energy.

Do you know who else doesn't want those provisions in this bill, Mr. Speaker? It is countries like Russia and countries like Iran who have been making billions of dollars a month selling their energy on world markets because of the failed Biden policies, the policies that allowed them to enrich their countries and use that money for evil to fund the war in Ukraine and to fund wars on terror around the world.

Terrorist organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis were funded by the billions of dollars a month that those countries got from selling their oil on world markets because America was shut down.

America will be shut down no more when this one big, beautiful bill is passed into law because we will be able to produce our own energy here in America.

My friend Chairman Smith worked incredibly hard to make sure that this

bill delivers for the whole country to get economic growth again.

You will see an American renaissance, a golden age in this country that we haven't seen in generations. Why would people vote against that? Who knows.

The press talks about the other side being a party in disarray, and maybe we are seeing it on display right now. When they are vocally opposed to these kinds of policies that will get the country back on track, why do they say tax cuts for the millionaires and the billionaires when they know it is not true?

I will tell you why, Mr. Speaker, because not only do they know that is not the case, but they know who benefits the most from this bill.

One of the great new provisions of this bill that President Trump campaigned on and that Chairman Smith made sure to deliver on was no tax on tips. Now, the last time I checked, Elon Musk does not get paid in tips. Do you know who does? A lot of hardworking people across this country.

Any restaurant you go to, Mr. Speaker, talk to the waiters and waitresses. Ask them about their hopes and dreams, ask them about their families, and what they would do with just a little bit more money in their paycheck. Do you know, Mr. Speaker, that big provision that every Democrat is going to vote against, the average tip worker makes $32,000 a year, and every Democrat will vote ``no'' on that benefit while they hide behind the lie of the millionaires and the billionaires. They know that is not the case.

They also know if they are going to vote against every hardworking waiter and waitress who averages $32,000 a year--how do they get away with it? They have to create some fake boogeyman that they can point to and say, gee whiz, look at the billionaire over there.

Class warfare, dividing Americans, is their way to try to get more power in Washington. How about we give people in America more power? Take it away from Washington and empower the people in this country who have been struggling for too long.

If you want to live the American Dream, it can still exist. For a lot of people, they thought it was going away. President Trump ran and said that he will renew that promise, but it only happens if Congress delivers.

The other side will vote against it, every single one of them in lockstep, and they will root against the success of this bill. Then, if it were to fail, they would just go, look at that, the country is still in demise, because they were against it every step of the way.

We saw this play out, by the way, in the state of the Union just a few months ago, right here in this Chamber, and America watched in shock. They want to see us come together. Can we at least come together on things we agree on?

There stood President Trump, right at that podium, Mr. Speaker. He talked about so many of the great things of this country--not partisan things, things that we used to all celebrate.

Mr. Speaker, President Trump pointed over there to the balcony where not only was the Presidential family seated, but they also had some special guests. He pointed to a 13-year-old boy who had just beaten cancer.

You want to talk about something that can unite the whole country, that can bring us all together to say that, yes, we might disagree on issues big and small--that happens; that is America--but we can all celebrate a 13-year-old boy who just beat cancer, Mr. Speaker.

What happened when he said that? We rose up and applauded, as we all should have. What else happened? The other side sat there, sat down grumpy, angry. I don't know why. I would not say it was because he beat cancer, but it was just because President Trump happened to point out that he beat cancer.

We should not root for or against a person like that based on what President Trump says he is for just because the talking points of the party went out that said be against anything President Trump is for. That is not a party platform.

This country wants direction. President Trump ran on a direction, and their party did, too. It wasn't like it wasn't laid out in the campaign. President Trump said that he would secure America's border. That actually was the number one issue all across the country.

I got to go around to a lot of parts of this country. You hear from a lot of different people. You see what their hopes and dreams are. You will also see from them, and they will tell you, what they want to see us come together to address. It didn't matter what part of the country you went to. They all said, for goodness' sake, can we secure America's border?

Millions of people were coming in illegally, many of them really bad people, gang members, violent people who were harming Americans. We saw it over and over again.

Laken Riley was murdered. By the way, the first bill President Trump signed into law was the Laken Riley Act to say that if you come here and harm an American citizen, you are gone, deported.

This bill allows for the deportation of violent criminals who come here illegally and harm American citizens. We should all support that. The other side doesn't. They will fly to Venezuela and El Salvador, Mr. Speaker, to try to get out of prison a gang member who beats his wife.

This bill allows President Trump to continue securing America's border. He has done phenomenal work on his own through executive action protecting America, but he needs money to build the wall. He needs money to let our Border Patrol agents have the ability to compete with the drug cartels of Mexico.

It is embarrassing that today the drug cartels of Mexico have better technology than America's Border Patrol agents. We said we are not going to allow that to happen again like the other side did. We are going to do something about it. We are going to give them those tools, night vision goggles, drones, other things so that they can actually do the job that they came here to do.

They put their lives on the line to keep us safe. The least we can do is allow them to have the ability to be safe themselves, to go home at night to their families while keeping our country safe. It is in this bill. We deliver on that promise and so many others.

We are making America competitive again in our military so that we can finally confront the threat that China poses militarily. We all talk about it and know what it means, but are we going to talk about it or do something about it?

President Trump wants to do something about it. This Republican majority wants to do something about it. In this bill, we deliver on that promise. Everybody who votes no is saying no to that.

Again, the minority can hide behind the millionaires and billionaires, but they are voting against strengthening America's military. That is in the bill. They are sure not talking about it on the other side, Mr. Speaker. We haven't heard them talking about it because they are about to vote against that. Let's be honest about it.

Mr. Speaker, when you think about those benefits, you also have to recognize what a ``no'' vote means today. We have two buttons. You can press ``yes'' or press ``no.'' If you vote ``no,'' you are voting against American energy, securing America's border, and helping those middle-class families. Mr. Speaker, you can run all the numbers. It would be a 22 percent tax increase on low- and middle-income families.

We are not talking about the millionaires and billionaires. We are talking about a family making $70,000 a year combined who is struggling to get by and would like to make a little bit more investment, maybe in their kids' education, and might want to take a family vacation. This bill gives them the opportunity to do it.

It also gives every small business in America the opportunity to make investments in America again. The 199A provision is locked in permanently so there is no uncertainty so we can grow more jobs in America. That is a good thing. It is a good thing for a lot of us here. That is what a ``yes'' vote gets.

A ``no'' vote tells every small business in America that they will be at a competitive disadvantage with the big corporations. You hear them rallying, Mr. Speaker, against the fat cats and the big corporations. Yet, if they vote ``no''--these are the facts--the big corporations, the global companies, get a

21 percent rate, and your local small business would end up with a 43 percent rate, more than double.

Your local small businesses would be noncompetitive with the big corporations. We said that is not fair. We want to allow our small businesses to compete on a global stage with the big national corporations, and we do that in this bill. A ``no'' vote doesn't do that.

Yes, we root out waste, fraud, and abuse, Mr. Speaker, waste, fraud, and abuse so that vital programs in America actually work better for the people who deserve them. Why would somebody come up here and defend hundreds of billions of dollars of waste, fraud, and abuse in Washington? There are hardworking families who are struggling and barely able to get by and pay their taxes. They are infuriated when they find out some of the waste that is going on up here. They are saying: When is somebody going to finally do something about the fraud so that I feel comfortable that if I am funding my government, it is going to go to help the people who deserve it and not some 35-year-old kid, who is fully able-bodied, who is sitting in his mom's basement playing video games, getting over $40,000 in taxpayer-funded benefits, while they are working two jobs, while the waiter/waitress averaging $32,000 a year is struggling to get by. We help them. That is who we are helping, those families who are struggling. We will get this economy moving again.

You can vote ``yes'' or you can vote ``no.'' I wish everybody would vote ``yes.'' A ``yes'' vote gets America's economy moving again. It allows President Trump to continue fighting for the hardworking families who elected him. All across this country, every swing State, the majority of the American population wants this kind of relief.

Republicans are going to keep moving forward, Mr. Speaker, and are going to deliver for those families who deserve this help, who want to see America come back. They know America can come back. They know America has been held back for the last 4 years. The same people who have been telling us that President Biden's health was just fine are now telling us all these other things about millionaires and billionaires.

We are going to get this right. This bill finally starts to right the ship of state. We all should come together and do that, Mr. Speaker. We have got so many great people who have worked so hard to get to this point, and we are still at the early stages. Let's send this bill over to the Senate, and give them an opportunity to have their say as well.

Ultimately, let's go deliver. Let's go deliver for that single mom who is working the night shift at a diner right now, who is going to have more money in her pocket because of this bill, who is maybe going to be able to send her kid to college because of this bill.

We are going to deliver for those families. You can say ``yes'' or ``no.'' America is absolutely watching. America went to the polls in November and said: We want this relief, and we are calling on Congress to provide this relief.

Republicans ran and said: We will do something about it, and we will fix it. We are actually following through, Mr. Speaker, on that promise made to the American people. President Trump is leading the way. President Trump is going to turn this country around, and this bill gives him the tools to do just that.

I urge everybody to vote ``yes.''

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 436, I call up the bill (H.R. 1) to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of H. Con. Res. 14, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 1.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, for the last 4 years, the American people have suffered one self-inflicted crisis after another--from the chaos at our southern border, to our crime ridden streets, to a cost-of-living crisis that decimated working families from sea to shining sea--leaving Americans weaker, our country more divided, and more vulnerable than it has been in generations.

Mr. Speaker, lest we forget how we got here and why this moment is so important and so consequential in the life of our country. Let's reflect on the recent history.

Under the leadership of Biden-Harris and congressional Democrats, our Federal Government failed to enforce the laws of our land and unilaterally surrendered our sovereign border to terrorist drug cartels.

On top of that, our military mission was reduced from warfighter readiness to ideological indoctrination. We lost the confidence of our allies, the respect of our enemies, and America's influence on the world stage.

Unbridled spending and failed fiscal policies sent our country's economy into a tailspin. Trillions in deficit spending, trillions more in regulations, cradle-to-grave welfare without work, and an all-out assault on American energy independence wreaked havoc on our economy and created the worst inflation crisis in 40 years.

In November, the American people gave President Trump a historic mandate and unified Republican leadership in Congress to reverse course on these failed policies and their disastrous consequences.

That is exactly what this bill does, Mr. Speaker.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act delivers:

The greatest single investment in border security and national defense.

The largest tax cuts for families and small businesses.

The most significant commitment to unlocking America's energy resources.

The largest reduction in spending in the history of the United States by two-fold.

However, in an attempt to derail our efforts, Mr. Speaker, you can be sure of this: Our Democratic colleagues will use their tired, old tactics of fear-mongering and false claims.

Mr. Speaker, they would like to lead you to believe that this reconciliation bill is a ``tax cut for the rich on the backs of the poor.'' Their narrative throughout this process has not only been misleading, Mr. Speaker, and completely untrue, it preys on the fears of our Nation's most vulnerable.

Here is the truth: The 2017 tax cuts lowered tax rates for every American household at every income level with the lower income families benefiting the most while actually increasing the amount of taxes paid at the top 1 percent.

Mr. Speaker, $3 out of every $4 in the Trump tax cuts didn't go to corporations. They went to individuals.

Workers experienced a record 25-year wage increase. Families received an additional $5,000 in median household income, and income for the bottom 50 percent grew three times faster than the top 1 percent.

As a result, Mr. Speaker, a record 6 million Americans were lifted out of poverty.

This won't stop our Democrat colleagues from scaring you, Mr. Speaker, with fallacious statements that children will go without food, seniors will be stranded without healthcare, and the disabled will be left to die in the streets.

All of this is just a cover for what they really want to do. They want to protect healthcare and welfare at any cost for illegal immigrants at the expense of hardworking taxpayers and our--our-- citizens who depend on them.

Crazily enough, Mr. Speaker, they also want to abandon the commonsense, Clinton-era work requirements that reduced government dependency by 80 percent. Instead, they would trap millions of people in poverty and rob them of the dignity of work.

By the overwhelming results of this last election, it is abundantly clear that the American people see through this too, and they have totally rejected the Democrats' radical agenda.

Their message to Washington was clear, Mr. Speaker. They want competent leaders, commonsense policies, and a commitment from all of us to put America and Americans first.

Now let's give the people what they voted for.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, just to be clear, the CBO doesn't say economic benefits. It talks about Federal resources. That letter actually affirms the success of our bill.

Because of reasonable, commonsense work requirements and because of prohibitions on illegal immigrants getting taxpayer-funded social services, we will actually have people moving up and out of the welfare trap. We won't have people siphoning off money who are not eligible.

That is success--not to them, but success to my Republican colleagues.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson), my good friend from the Keystone State and the chair of the Agriculture Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill), the chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services.

Mr. Speaker, my Democratic colleagues surely recognize and remember that for the last 4 years they racked up $8 trillion in record debt. If we add the record interest rates

from the record inflation, that would be another $5 trillion. I don't know that we need a whole lot more lecturing on the national debt.

Our balanced budget reconciliation bill actually reduces the deficit in the 10-year window by $140 billion, and it brings the debt to GDP down by 10 percentage points.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Guthrie), the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. Speaker, 91 percent, on average, of my colleagues, voters, constituents, friends, and families, pay the standard deduction. Democrats' opposition to this bill, if they were successful, would actually cut the standard deduction in half.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Graves), our Transportation and Infrastructure chair.

Mr. Speaker, I remind my colleagues that, over the last 4 years, their failed economic policies and their unbridled spending put a 20 percent regressive inflation tax on working families all across this great land.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Jordan), my good friend and our GOP chair of the Judiciary Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I have great respect for my ranking member, but he is rattling off numbers and saying that this many people will come off of the welfare rolls in my colleagues' districts.

Let's remind the American people: The people he is talking about are folks who are in this country illegally, or they are able to work, and they are not working. They are able to work, and they are not working.

Mr. Speaker, for the record, Democrats are opposing the commonsense policy and what every American's expectation is at a base level that people who are able to work will work. It is good for their soul. It is good for this country. It is the right policy, and my Democratic colleagues are fighting us on it.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from the Keystone State, Pennsylvania (Mr. Smucker), my friend and vice chairman of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Speaker, according to NumbersUSA, over the last 4 years when the Democrats were in charge of this town and millions of people were flooding into this country from across our border, we were spending $9,000 per illegal immigrant on taxpayer-funded social services.

Mr. Speaker, that is more than we spend on our own citizens who depend on Medicaid. That is more than we spend on military benefits for our veterans.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock), my friend and fellow Budget Committee member.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gill), a fellow Texan who is also on the Budget Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I agree with the gentleman. Budgets do reflect values. The values of the Republican Party and my colleagues are to protect 40 million families from having their child tax credit cut in half, 26 million small businesses who have the highest marginal rates would lose the 20 percent deduction, 2 million family-owned farms and the farming families would have the debt tax exemption slashed in half.

Mr. Speaker, those are our values. We want people to keep more of their money. We want this economy to grow. We want people to have better opportunities and bigger paychecks. We want to give folks hope for a better life to come up and out of poverty, out of welfare, and put their God-given talents to use.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter), a friend and fellow member of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I will tell you what is big: $900 billion in special interest tax breaks to green energy corporations that my colleagues passed unilaterally in the Inflation Reduction Act. That is big.

The billionaires that got rich off their tax breaks got a big break, and we aim to phase them out or repeal them so we can bring energy costs down and strengthen America's energy independence.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Stutzman), my friend.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, one of the problems with the work requirements in the supplemental nutrition program--and I am sure Mr. Takano knows this--is that States have been allowed to game the system and not effectively enforce those for able-bodied adults receiving services.

In California, in fact, nobody is working who is on food stamps who is able to work. Nobody is working, so it is not fair to those people. It is not fair to rob them of the dignity of work. It is not fair in our fiduciary role to the taxpayer.

Mr. Speaker, we are turning this ship around. We are cleaning the mess up here in Washington. We are putting incentives in place that will do well by everybody involved.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Joyce), my friend.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Fry).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Walberg), my good friend and the chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I don't think it is a scam to prevent a 22 percent tax hike on average Americans. Let's be clear. My colleagues and I don't think it is a scam to steward tax dollars and root out waste, fraud, and abuse across the people's government.

We don't think it is a scam to prohibit people who are not citizens of our country from draining the Social Security safety net and impacting its sustainability for future vulnerable Americans. That is not a scam. That is our job. We intend to do it.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Edwards), also a House Budget Committee member.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Clyde), who is a great champion for the Second Amendment, a good friend, and a Budget Committee member.

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, the nonpartisan CBO was off by $1 trillion in projecting the annual deficit back in 2022. They were off by $1 trillion in projecting what the revenue would be. It was record revenue after we passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. I just thought I would say that for the Record.

For the remainder of my time, I will say thank you to my ranking member. He is a great guy. He is a good friend and an excellent partner in this endeavor. I know he loves the country. We disagree today, and we have disagreed along the way, but we have also worked together to have record bipartisan legislation for the Budget Committee. I am just grateful for the gentleman. I thank the ranking member.

Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, by my calculation, I have now been up 43 of the last 45 hours, and I am not quitting yet. We are not quitting yet. That is because the stakes are just too damn high.

This is one of the most significant pieces of legislation we will ever vote on. This bill will bring about the greatest loss of healthcare in American history.

More than 6 million Americans who are currently on the Affordable Care Act will lose their health insurance if this Republican bill becomes law. More than 7 million Americans currently on Medicaid will lose their healthcare if this Republican bill becomes law. In fact, in total, 13.7 million Americans will lose their healthcare, according to the nonpartisan CBO.

That is bad enough, but then, late last night, we also got confirmation from CBO that something else is in this bill: over $500 billion worth of cuts to Medicare.

All told, given the cuts to the ACA, the cuts to Medicaid, and the cuts to Medicare, it is the largest loss of healthcare in American history as a result of this bill. Not even during the Great Depression did so many people lose their healthcare as will lose it in this bill.

There are even more cuts beyond that: cuts to nutrition assistance programs, cuts to Head Start, cuts to other education programs. The list goes on and on. Why? To help pay for over $5 trillion worth of tax cuts, most of which go to the top 1 percent.

As draconian as these cuts are, they actually don't even come close to paying for the size of the tax cuts.

How is the rest subsidized? With more debt financing, so much so that we have finally seen for the first time ever the Moody's Credit Agency on Friday downgrade the quality of the credit of the United States.

Today, we saw more market churn. Markets are worried. Now, most ordinary Americans, most people I call neighbors and friends back home in Northeast Philly, a very working-class and middle-class place, most people I know aren't paying attention to credit agencies and what Wall Street is doing, but it will affect interest rates. In fact, it already is.

Mortgage rates have gone back up over 7 percent and are set to rise by more. It is not just mortgage rates but auto loan rates and the rate that your credit card company charges.

At a time of increasing unaffordability in America, this bill doesn't make the situation better. It makes it far, far worse.

Mr. Speaker, this is not the kind of bill that is worthy of the Congress of

the United States. This is class warfare. It makes the poor poorer, the rich richer, and the middle class left behind.

Again, these aren't Democratic talking points. These aren't coming from progressive organizations. Last night, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released the distribution tables in terms of who will get what from this tax bill. They found the bottom 10 percent will be 4 percent poorer in household wealth under this bill, with most of the benefits going to the top 10 percent of Americans. Of that top 10 percent, of course, it is the top 1 percent that will get the most benefit of all.

Robbing the poor to reward the rich is wrong, bad economics, and, as one Republican Senator called it, morally wrong.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I remind my friend that this bill will kick 404,000 people in our State of Pennsylvania off their health insurance.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett), the ranking member of the Health Subcommittee on the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I would remind my friend from Arkansas this bill would kick 131,000 people in Arkansas off their health insurance.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from the Commonwealth of Virginia (Mr. Scott), the distinguished ranking member of the Education and Workforce Committee and also a member of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I would remind my good friend that this bill will kick 159,000 people in the Commonwealth of Kentucky off their health insurance.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Vermont (Ms. Balint), a distinguished member of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I would correct a disingenuous argument that has been offered repeatedly.

Folks on the other side throughout this past week and a half, 2 weeks, and we heard it tonight, say: Well, if we don't pass this bill, most Americans will face a tax increase. That is completely false.

Time and again over the past 2 weeks, both in Ways and Means and Rules, Democratic Members offered amendments to protect and extend the tax cuts for every American making under $1 billion a year. Every single Democrat voted for those amendments. Every single Republican voted against them.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur), a distinguished member of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I remind the gentleman that this bill will kick 404,000 people in Ohio off of their health insurance.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Jayapal), a distinguished member of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I have good news for my friend, the chairman of the Budget Committee.

We just verified with the Congressional Budget Office, and of the 13.7 million Americans who will lose their healthcare because of their bill, exactly zero are undocumented immigrants.

Mr. Speaker, the complete artifice that the other side is attempting to convince you of is that almost 14 million Americans will lose their healthcare, but don't worry about it. They are all illegals. They are all people who are defrauding the system. It is completely false, and every independent source has verified that it is false.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Chu), a distinguished member of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I remind the gentleman that this bill would kick 1.98 million people in California off their health insurance.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko), a distinguished member of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Speaker, the reality is, this bill, not according to our numbers, according to independent, certified, nonpartisan authority on this matter, verified at least 13.7 million Americans will lose their health insurance. Do you know why they want to talk about every subject under the Sun other than this? Because they know it is going to have devastating consequences for the American people, and it will have devastating consequences for them next November.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. McGarvey), a distinguished member of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Amo), a distinguished member of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Speaker, this bill will kick 494,000 people in Georgia off their health insurance.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Larsen), the distinguished ranking member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Raskin), the distinguished ranking member of the Judiciary Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, one challenge with doing this massive bill literally in the middle of the night--as I look up, if I am reading that correctly, it is 3:45 a.m. right now--there are all sorts of provisions that we are discovering in this massive piece of legislation being rushed through in the dead of the night.

I want to call out just one deeply troubling provision hidden in this bill, a provision that blocks States from regulating artificial intelligence for the next 10 years.

AI has the potential to be transformative, but only if it is developed and used in a safe, responsible way. That requires strong guardrails. This bill does the opposite.

The fact this was quietly tucked into this budget bill is reckless and wrong. It shows exactly who this bill was written for--not working families, but powerful special interests.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Takano), the ranking member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I would remind my friend from the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that this bill will kick 404,000 people in our State off their health insurance.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Ruiz), a distinguished member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I would remind the gentleman this bill will kick 220,000 people in South Carolina off their health insurance.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Mrs. Trahan), a distinguished member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I would remind the gentleman this bill will kick 370,000 people in Michigan off their health insurance.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Olszewski), a distinguished member of the Small Business Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Virginia (Ms. McClellan), a distinguished member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Kamlager-Dove), who is a distinguished member of the Judiciary Committee.

Mr. Speaker, perhaps it is because it is now past 4 a.m., but I feel like I have entered the twilight zone. We have 13.7 million Americans, at least, who are going to lose their health insurance because of this bill, another $500 million worth of cuts to Medicare on top of that, and what is one of their last speakers talking about?

A tax cut if you buy silencers, Mr. Speaker. This is bizarre. The reality is millions and millions of Americans are going to lose their health coverage all to help subsidize tax cuts for billionaires, oh, yes, and also tax cuts for those who buy gun silencers.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Riley), who is a distinguished member of the Agriculture Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, it has been a long debate. I think we started, I don't know, 48 hours ago or whatever it is by now.

However, make no mistake about it. This is not a debate that should have been happening in the middle of the night. It shouldn't have happened in the middle of the night last night in the Rules Community, and it shouldn't be happening in the middle of the night tonight.

Frankly, if I had a bill that I was proud of, I would want to put it on when people are paying most attention. I can understand, however, why there are some folks on the other side who might want folks to not quite pay attention to what is in this bill.

Mr. Speaker, you have heard speaker after speaker on this side, however, expose the damage that this bill for billionaires will do: 13.6 million Americans at least would lose their health insurance because of devastating cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.

Another one-half trillion dollars more will be cut in Medicare. There are all sorts of cuts to nutrition programs and food assistance, education programs and Head Start. The list goes on and on. Why? It is to subsidize tax cuts for the top 1 percent.

For the bottom 10 percent, we learned in the last 24 hours they won't even get a little bit of a tax cut. In fact, when all of the components of this bill are factored in, they will be 4 percent worse off than they were before.

Oh, by the way, for the side that always talks about deficit and debt, they really care about the national debt when there is a Democrat in the White House, but then when there is a Republican in the White House, they go about adding more to it.

Don't take my word for it, Mr. Speaker. The nonpartisan CBO shows, the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget shows, the right-of-center Cato Institute shows, and left-of-center groups show-- they have actually united the right, the center, and the left who are all in agreement that this bill adds trillions more to our national debt.

We can do better. As I said in the very beginning, this is one of the most important votes we will ever cast in this Chamber. I am proud to stand here on behalf of this side of the aisle and say: Hell no to this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, this big, beautiful bill must be so beautiful that we are debating it at a quarter past 4 in the morning to avoid the scrutiny of the public for a piece of legislation that was authored just hours ago.

I would challenge some Members on the other side to take an exam on what was added to this legislation before we have a chance to vet it.

The chairman, my friend, said how challenging his modest youth was. I share a similar story. Do you know what? We can both thank Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal for those opportunities.

When the chairman was talking about growth rates, I thought he was going to say bring back Bill Clinton because that is where those growth rates came from.

The cat is out of the bag: $2.3 trillion was borrowed in 2017 to pay for a tax cut that overwhelmingly went to people at the very top.

What are we about to do this evening, or this morning, or last night? We are going to borrow $4 trillion--and with interest payments over the next 10 years, $5 trillion--to justify a tax cut for the billionaire class. That is what this is about.

As the gentleman from Kentucky, no raving liberal, said, you are talking about adding $30 trillion to the debt over the next few years.

Mr. Speaker, 14 million people are going to lose their health insurance to pay for this tax cut for wealthy people. We gut Medicaid, food assistance, childcare, and healthcare.

Do you know what? Everybody in this Chamber, every Member of this House, should call their local hospitals and ask them to lay out the formula for how their pay works in terms of reimbursements. Overwhelmingly, it is almost two-thirds for Medicare and Medicaid. This is going to lead, particularly in red States, to closures.

Mr. Speaker, let me give you some numbers that I think are really intriguing, despite the argument that we heard from the other side about how all of this money is going to go to people at the lower end. Their slogan ought to be: We are rich, and we are not going to take it anymore. That is where this argument is headed.

Mr. Speaker, let me give you some numbers. If you made a million dollars last year, you are going to get $81,000 of tax relief. If you made less than $50,000--guess what?--you are not quite so lucky, but do you know what? A dollar a day goes a long way. That is where the numbers land.

When they talk about broken promises, I listened to a Republican tonight on TV, a younger guy. He said that they reject what CBO has had to say.

In the Ways and Means Committee and in the tax world, this is scripture. That is how important it is. We might not like the answers we get from time to time and might be upset about it, but we know that the people who delivered it are not Democrats, not Republicans. They are economists, tax attorneys, and CPAs.

Let me just remind everybody on the Republican side about a couple of other things that I think are really important. Most of them supported postal reform; that cost money. Republicans voted for the CHIPS Act; that cost money. They voted for the infrastructure bill; that cost money. Thirty of them voted for the Butch Lewis Act; that cost money. How about the PACT Act for our veterans? That cost money.

The Inflation Reduction Act, despite their efforts to deride it, their Members are going to groundbreakings and taking advantage of it right now. One piece of testimony the other night in the committee said that there is one congressional district that is receiving $6 billion of investment. Boy, I would hate to explain that to my constituents that I was sending $6 billion back to Washington.

I call attention to this because they supported these issues along the way, and now they want an excuse to cut taxes for the people at the very top. That is where these cuts are going, to the people at the very top. That is not to be denied.

I hope as we listen in the next few minutes, we hear the contrast that we would offer if we were in the majority, so we could agree tonight on the very basic fact that I am going to offer. We could agree with 98 percent of the tax legislation if they kept the number at $400,000 and fewer. People under $400,000 would keep their tax cuts, and people at the top would go to 39.6. Those are Clinton-Obama rates, and they worked fine for the country.

We all have some degree of honor to keep here. How about those soldiers from Afghanistan and Iraq? They deserve our care. They are closing veterans service organizations. I just did a townhall with veterans. They are astounded by what is happening already.

I am looking forward to the next 25 minutes of debate on this side and the next 25 minutes of debate on the other side because they are trying to sell Americans, at 4:22 in the morning, a bad piece of legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of Missouri, Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Smith).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Thompson), a recipient of the Purple Heart, who knows something about veteran issues.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone), the ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis), who has worked in the adoption space and is a model for America.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Sanchez).

I always do, Mr. Speaker, thank you. I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Alabama (Ms. Sewell), whose hospitals I have visited.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. DelBene), who really knows something about the child credit.

Mr. Speaker, I remind the gentlewoman that the SALT deduction that we offered in our tax bill on a secret ballot would have gotten all the Republicans from New York, New Jersey, and California.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore), who nobody has ever walked away from saying that they think she is undecided.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch), the ranking member of the Oversight Committee and my friend.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Beyer), who really knows something about the bond market.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Illinois

(Mr. Schneider), a very thoughtful member of the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I might say that the former President was writing historic legislation in the Oval Office and at least signing the products that came from these committees.

I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Panetta), a very important member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Gomez), a valuable member of the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Horsford), who is a terrific advocate for the people of his constituency.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Pressley).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, before I yield to the Democratic leader, I want to talk a little bit about what I began with.

First of all, let me just say as a courtesy and as a member of the Ways and Means Committee for 33 years, this debate should be taking place during the day. I know the Members on the other side feel the same way.

There is no reason at 10 minutes after 5 o'clock in the morning to debate a bill of this consequence. It is as simple as that. These were legislative courtesies that we once extended to each other. There is no reason for it to play out at a time when most Americans can't dial in to hear the debate.

Mr. Speaker, there is no getting away from the fact that the Republican Party, the party of fiscal rectitude, the party that has lectured us for decades on spending patterns, is about to borrow $4 trillion for a tax cut that is overwhelmingly going to go to people at the very top including the billionaire class.

What is troubling about it is that if we look back at these tax cuts, as I noted, it is $10 trillion of tax cuts from 2001 to this moment. In 2017, it is borrowed money. It is $2.3 trillion of borrowed money.

This is $4 trillion. When we are done paying the interest on it over the next 5 years, as the bond market reminded us again today, it is closer to $5 trillion, and the Republicans are the party of fiscal rectitude.

I call attention, again, to this because we would say that if you kept these tax cuts for people under $400,000 a year, Mr. Speaker, then you would get a buy-in from us. We are okay with that. We object to the idea that people who are about to derive the biggest benefit don't need it, and in most instances, they weren't asking for it as well.

The theology that tax cuts pay for themselves is nonsense. We have heard that forever, but it is that continued effort that Republicans have to suggest that no matter what happens, a tax cut should be the most important consideration.

There were two wars, Iraq and Afghanistan, two tax cuts during those

years? During the years of the collapse of Wall Street, there were $2.3 trillion of tax cuts?

Ronald Reagan had the good sense when he found out what the tax cuts meant against spending cuts, he reversed the position during that time.

However, Mr. Speaker, the current Republican Party subscribes to this notion that you can be for infrastructure--you can take defense spending now that is heading over $1 trillion, you can vote for the infrastructure bill, you can vote for the CHIPS Act, you can vote for postal reform--and, yes, 30 Members voted on that side for the Butch Lewis Act--and you can do all these things and simultaneously cut taxes.

No, Mr. Speaker, you can't, and we know that.

We are in a position to argue, I think, with great force for the American people because I know what happened. For all their talk about what happened in the tax cut of 2017, we easily won the House the next year.

The American people don't buy this. That is because they know where these tax cuts are going. They are intended to help people at the top when it is really the people at the bottom and in the middle who need help.

Hospitals are going to close. Children are going to go hungry, and healthcare is going to be denied, but the billionaire class is going to pick up a considerable number of dollars.

Again, the number that I cited earlier, Mr. Speaker, was that if you make $1 million, then you will pick up 90,000 additional dollars. That is almost 10 percent. If you make under $50,000, Mr. Speaker, you are getting $1 a day? Is that what this tax package means?

Defeat this bill. Send it back to the Ways and Means Committee. Compel that committee to negotiate. We can come up with a plan where the middle class would get the tax cuts, and then we would address subsequently the debt that is plaguing this Nation.

This legislation will take us to $40 trillion worth of debt, and they are going to lecture us on debt?

It is the old story: On Monday they blame us for debt, and on Tuesday they add $4 trillion to it.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve what I have remaining of time unfinished, but I will yield at the appropriate moment to the Democratic leader.

Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the fair manner in which you have done this, as well.

Mr. Speaker, I had not intended to rebut, Mr. Speaker, however, our tax bill had an $80,000 cap on SALT, and it passed the House of Representatives.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, let me say to my friend, the majority leader, everybody on this side was cheering for the success of that young man defeating cancer. The way we are going to defeat cancer is not to cut

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.